The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-01-28
RELIGIOUS INTERESTS IN CHINA,

RELIGIOUS INTERESTS IN CHINA. There Is side of this complex Chinese question to which our countrymen have
 hitherto paid no attention, but which
 may prove, we think will prove, to be
 of considerable importance. We were @ little puzzled at first to understand why the Vatican, which does not love the Hohenzollerns, should be so eager
 in It's support of William Ills policy in the Far East; why Catholic Bishops | should bless his efforts, and Cardinals who are not Germans by blood should wish him "God-speed;" or why the | Centre party, whose constituents abhor | taxation, should be so half hearted In | their criticisms of the navy bill. A little reflection, however dispersed that
 cloud. The Papacy looks far forward, | and has long ago decided that the con version of China and its dependencies
 would be the most useful as well as | the greatest triumph any Christian
 church could achieve.
 | It should reconcile to Christianity a fourth of the human race, and place at | the disposal of the Vatican almost limitless means for achieving further
 conquests. The Jesuits, therefore, and | the agents at the disposal of the Pro-
 panganda have cultivated Northern
 China assiduously, and have been very
 successful, making thousands of con-
 verts, who are at least so far enlight-
 ened that they will endure very severe
 persecution without abandoning the | faith. Rome, which never forgets the | past, believes that external pressure
 can be so used as greatly to help on | Christianity, and is, consequently,
 delighted to find that when Catholic | missionaries or their converts are
 murdered a potentate so great and masterful as the German Emperor is
 willing to interfere. France Is willing,
 too; in Tronquin she did great things;
 and she is disposed, though agnostic at
 home, to play the ancient role of Eldest
 Son of the Church abroad, as we see in l her tendency to repress Protestant
 missions in Africa; but France is by no
 means fond of great efforts, and in
 the future prove but a lukewarn | friend
 1 For there is religious danger ap- preaching which the Vatican regards with dismay, and which may destroy all French willingness to demonstrate
 on behalf of Catholic missions in China. It is Russia first of all which will acquire broad territories in China and though l Russia Is tolerant enough towards the | Mohammedans and Pagans within her l dominions, there can be no doubt that her governing group in St. Petersburg always desire, and will always desire, l the extension of the Orthodox faith, | which may of them believe with a certain feryor, and which all of them
 hold to be the keystone of the unity
 and the separateness of Russia. All
 experienced missionaries believe that | whenever the Asiatc races adopt | Christianity they will do 1t In great
 masses, and their belief is peculiarly
 strong about China, where the masses | are homogeneous, and if once pene-
 trated by an idea will act on 1t, as the Russians once did, with astonishing rapidity. It seems to Rome at leas, possible that within the coming century all China may adopt nominal
 Christianity. and that the form of il
 may be that of the Greek Church--a prospect to make Xavier turn in his
 tomb at Goa. Rome, therefore is and
 will remain permanently hostile tc
 Russia in the Far East, and Rome car
 make herself acutely felt in many
 countries, the United States among
 them, which produce good officers ant
 possess fair fieets.-London Spectator.