The morning times., 1896-08-30

thing until it is beaten into their heads
Not that they are stupid by any means
| The Chinese are better merchants than the
Japs. having the Incompatible merits OF
prornptDess and exactitude and gift for
finance China is far wcalthier than Japan
| What has reh.gated her TO the rear rank
| in the procession OF the great nations is
her fatal fault Of pride. With a civiliza-
ton older than that Of any European coun-
Try, as old as the perished giories OF Greece
and theburied temples of Egypt. the average
| Chinaman finds il impossible to conceive
| ttat the outside barbarian can have any
7 thing to teach him.
| Very different are Russia ard China,
| for instance. Both are vast iH-cemented
empires. made up OF many different ma
/, tioDalities. iil-educated and always snoldier-
| ing in revolt .unniercifuy taxed nd robbed
by officials; but Russia is E1w fIesii
| vigorous country emerging from barbarisn
1 and looking confidently toward TIE future
| China is an old and exhausted oivilizatit:.
| decadeAt, get proud OF it S very faults and
ihtOlerant OF change No wonder that.
! along the sparsely settled frontiers OF
| Central .Ashia the Russian boundary is
| constantly set over at the expense OF
| China In 1858. the same year as the
| s;orming OF and the capture OF Canton,
| China made over to Russia 900 600 square
miles of land a space equal to more than
| four times all New England. but the Chinese
faith in the omnipotence of the Tien -tzee
| OF ..Son Of Heaven remained unshakes,
nor has it been weakened by the continual
pihbings Of The Russian Lear at tie frSn-
tier since then
II IS probable that the number of the
aggeraied. They are generally est mated
III 400, 900 900, but no one knows how
many there really are. certainly the
Chinese. who have no scientific census,
| while foreigners see trule only the
most thicSly settled por;ios, where life
swarms along the canals and the valley
Of the Yellow River, or "China's Sorrow"
and other streams. The so called census
of 1872. upon which later computations
! are generally based. gave a total of 36o,
l 0iu, 900. This was doubtless too large.
and there is every reason to believe that.
because of starvation. floods, pestilence, re-
beilion. infantcide, execution and other
blessings of life in China, her people are
not increasing in number In spite o: ti.e
congestion Of population along the coast,
there is no very large city. Pckiug is about
ton with Brooklyn Canton is about as
large as Brooklyn. Shanghai. a part of
which is the only fairly decent town in
China. merely because it is ruied and ro-
Iced by the foreign consuls, is about the
size of Buffalo.
Still. even il China has not 400, 900 900
people, it is undoubtedly very popu-
ous country. 1t has immense resources
There are still nearly > GOO. 030 square
miles of land, Que tenth OF the habitat hle
globe. China proper is less than one
tiird of the empire. but is seven times as
big as France. The country is naturally
fertile but has been exhausted by long
cropping and the rivers have risen in
their beds. bet ween their levees. until they
run away above the fat land of their
valleys. and every unusually nigh noo-I
is marked by frightful disaster. There Is
much mineral wealth absolutely uuworked.
There Is a large canal system. whose locks
are usually mere inclined planes. up and
down which the small r1at hottomed hoats
are dragged. Invention is practically IN
Impiety, and the railroad is an insult TO
ConfuiZee. There are very few places
outside of Shanghai where the hated for
tigner is really safe without native prv-
lection, aud n their treatment OF each other
the Chinese show amazing heartiessncSs
and Indifference to human pIin ara SUf
fering. Judicial torture is still i'll use,
the death by thousand cuts standing
at the head of the list OF horrors of pun
Ishment, aud medicine and the treatment
OF disease are little better understood
than by Rushmen or HottcntoJs.
Japan has courts rs good as Frances.
university equal to the best in Germany.
many towns with admirable health de-
partmcnts, native engineers. architects and
scientists. China has herContGriJn Ixims
and her pride. Missionary effort has ac-
complishcd much in u pan. ,;r:ic'iCtilv s e. h
ingin China. The Tac-ping rebellion, which
began practically asa chriSii.,H "T ~ i,.is;
monotheistic. rcVclt against isi'lltTy. was
.ncrcilessly pat down b. Ii Hung Ghangaad
the Christian Chinese Gordon DCubtlcSs
there was no other course possible than To-
Ipholh even q had government against
anarchy. The rule OF the aeping- wang,
or Prince OF the Universal Peace soon
developed crankiRess peculiarly Chinese.
Bat if there couli he in China revolution
OF intelligence it might Ire her salvation.
Sucha thing, however. isiigipossiblc. ANY
reform in China must begin, as it did In
Japan. at the top, with the emperor ia
pans wonderful progress has BEEN made en-
.ircly with the reign of the great MutsuhitH.
not even yet an old man. He has had the
advantage OF ruling q people passionatcly
sttac,ed to n high ideal of duty. brave.
martial by habit, quick and generous Ja-
pan honurs the soldier. China despises him.
In the difference lies a world Of meaning.
But the greater advantage 81 Japan ;ics.
after all. In the high ideal OF personal
honor or responsibility which her people
cherish. They are magnificent materia:
ror nation building. The Chinese proper
are brave race, and bigger and stronger
than the Japs. but. like the Koreans, they
have been taught by centuries of oppres-
sion and robbery to entertain a low idealof
honor and to meet aggression rather by
low cunning than by sturdy resistance
Still. they are faithful to their emperor
IN :, blind and unqucstioning way. and IL
aven Mutsuhitn were to reign in China
he. too. might work wonders in one reign.
II s'ich an emperor were to reign now he
wouii probably find Ii Hung Chang in the
roi. %: conservative protesting against
the Loo rapid change Of policies.