The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1898-04-22

| of America, when aroused, put on his
| armor. girded up his lons, and pre-
pared to defend his honor. War has
actually existed for two months Spain
must get off our continent"
Situation In Ch1ha
| But while we view with interest our
| diplomatic conditions, we will be wise
IL we sweep the horizon and. realize the
| great history that Is being made In the
| Orient.
The situation In China grows rapidly
| from bad to worse. The imperial gov
| eminent Is drifting hopelessly to ruin.
The emperor, surrounded by eunuchs
| and concubines, If not a besotted imbe-
Gle, Is puppet In their hands. 1t Is
| case OF ignorance teaching the ignor-
ant, or the blind teaching the blind,
and so far as can be seen by even the
wisest and most experienced observers
| the end is not far off,
The japanese have a proverb which
| says: There is no medicine for a fool"
and every days revelations In the cap
ital OF the far east show that the say
ing Is as true 0f the emperor as Of the
| humblest subject, and that even IL the
| means of salvation for himself and his
throne were offered him again and
again, as 1t has been more than once
| in the last decade, there is not the
slightest chance Of his accepting it.
| In II Hopeless Plight.
Corruption, cowardice, and stubborn
| ness unite to place the country and its
| government in a helpless plight. Their
| only chance for the last quarter Of a
| century has been to call disinterested
| Americans to aid them in the work Of
| regeneration and reorganization, and
| this has been shown to them repeatedly,
| but in vain. First, General Upton, then
| General Grant, and finally Generals
| Gordon, Wilson and Foster, with more
| or less particularly, pointed out to the
! Chinese statesmen the road by which
| humiliation and ruin might be avoided,
| but they rejected all counsel and stead
| lily held on to their corrupt methods
because they were sanctified by age
| and custom"
| And now a new danger stares them
In the face and paralyzes them with
fear. The news has recently reached
| the Chinese capital that the Germans
| have struck the first blow at the in
tegrity of the country. Russia has long
been advancing against the northern
side OF the empire, If not sapping and
| mining her vitals, while England and
| France have been overthrowing her
| outposts one after another in the south
and west. Observant travellers and in
| telligent students of modern move
ments and possibilities have long
| looked upon the partition of China as
| near at hand, but today even the prin-
| cess and members of the Tsung Ii va
men are forced to admit that it has be-
! come a leading feature in the plans OF
! the great European powers.
Exposed Their Own Weakness.
| These purblind mandarins now see
that in calling these German officers to
| instruct their ignorant banner men and
still more ignorant sailors In modern
/ tactics they have only exposed their
| own weakness and corruption to the
! curious eyes of men who are swift to
make known their discoveries to their
| home government. The German kaiser
has not had his emissaries there for
| the purpose of teaching Cinnamon how
| to make war, but for the purpose of
| gathering information useful to his own
government when he shall be ready to
reach out for his share of Asiatic plum
der. The same may be said Of England
when she lent Captain Lang to the Chi
nese government to Command the north
ern fleet.
The faulty of all this is almost in
comprehensive, and appears absolutely
so in view of the fact that Americans
might have been had to do this work
men of superior ability, whose country,
it is we'll known, even to Cinnamon,
had no desire to acquire a foot of Chi
nese territory, or even to establish a
sphere Of commercial influence" any
where in Asia.
Ii Hung Chang travelled around the
world and what he saw bewildered that
great Oriental statesman. He saw
many nations Of white men, all of them
rich and powerful. He saw their bat
tleships and their soldiers. He realized
how helpless China would be In con-
test with these combined powers, with
Japan ready at any moment to also
fly at her throat.
The Emperor an Imbecile.
But all of his wisdom and knowledge
will avail nothing for China, because
the emperor is an imbecile. Ii Hung
Chang is situated as Richelieu once was,
with great empire to sustain ana
with fool of a king to be managed
and controlled at the same time. Ii
the CnlneSe statesman call save Hio Sih-
pire he will be a marvel Of diplomatic
skill.
OF course, knowing what he does OF
the powers of Europe, he will not I'M
dertake to fight for the perpetuty OF
the empire, but he will rather hope and
pray that European rapacity will not
demand every inch Of territory at once.
The Chinese people are not warriors.
They are not fighters and never have
been. They are a docile race, fitted
rather for mental service than for dar-
ing deeds. They have no army and no
navy which can compete with the mill
tary and naval forces even of the weak
est nation in civilization.
The partition of China has begun.
Where will it end? The greatest seer
cannot foretell. 1t seems, however,
that China must follow the course OF
other great nations which have disinte-
grated. The rise and fall of the holy
Roman empire is known to all readers
of history. 1t takes centuries for ma
tons to develop and recede. 1t may
be a thousand years hence, that