The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-10-08
WHAT Ii HUNG CHANG HAS DONE.
His Intelligence Far I'm Advance Of
His Race-His Present Place.

His Race-Hfs Present Place.
John Russell Young, in North American
Review.
AS to the estimate of Ii Hung Chang.
by General Grant, as a statesman worthy
TO rank with Beaconsfield, Gambetta and
Bismarck, ii will be that Gen.
Grant was not given TO extravagant opln-
ions of men, and that he had seen Ii upon
terms of extreme intimacy. Ii Is difficult
TO find a standard of comparison Behind
shs Mae5s5n the sea' forces OF wef advanced aSasS's em,
pires. They did not create, but carried out
what was begun. Bismarck was the sue
cessor of Frederick the Great, Gambetta
of Mirabeau, while Lord Beaconsfeld could
only have found his ideal in the conquer
ing soul of Chatham. Lii Hung Chang was
alone with his problem. History gave him
no precedent. the political forces of China
no encouragement, the outside world no
sympathy. The Western nations looked
would preserve the conservatism of China,
and at the same time bring that conseryat-
ism into synchronical relations with other
war, realizing that If China would endure she
must take heed Of blood and iron. He
rejected nothing, Was constant in the pres
of electricity. He comprehended the mean
ing of credit. the dependence Of China lLoD
an education beyond the Hanlin College
that men must live in deeds and not in
n anhinnsen O n We 70 educate m1iif young ncbo Shine se
would found better schools and train them
at home. Seeing that China was paying
ton goods, he would build his own mills. in
which the Chinese would handle their own
yarns. He established the China Mer-
merce under his own flag. He strove to es-
tablish his banking system, and only failed
through the folly of agents. There was no
lishment OF the foreigner in China, which
he did not mean in time to supersede in
the interest of his people.
The attitude of the viceroy TO the pres
ent war will. / think, be like that of Gen.
eral Scott to the American civil war. He
is no longer a young man. Too old to take
the field, younger soldiers will win the
different story had the contest occurred
when he was forty, and not, as now, an
old man of seventy-three, burdened with
years and illness. He could then have
a peril he never invoked, he looks out upon
a storm he cannot calm.
1 see in him an historical figure of the
century-the one Chinese statesman with
the prescience and courage to lead his
people toward what is best in our West
ern civilizations; a masterful, intrepid sp:r-
it, who has done his work with fortitude.
/ see in him a pathetic figure, remembering
his own fair, proud hopes as to China and
Japan-now dashed to the ground through
this miserable and unnecessary war. / see
in hin the truest of Chinese patriots. low
ing his native land with single-minded de-
votion. L see IN him a statesman ever the
friend OF the United States. And recalling
as l do many personal kindnesses during
the long period OF our friendship, / send
him in this trying hour a word of Affection
and good will, with the hope that out of a
war which can have no other incentive than
an intrigue of Western powers-looking
toward the endless imp.acable game Of
aggression in Asia-China and japan will
emerge, with the happy If sadly earned
consciousness that their independence can
only be maintained by friendship, alliance
and peace.