The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-02-03

tuENa
.uaro or tho Governments Supporters.
Special Gable Dsspatch to THE Sun.
Ioxpoy. Feb. 1.-The Standard, a Tory organ.
,oins In the outburst Of the Ministerial papers
against the Governments backdown In the mat
fer Of opening Talienwan as q free port. 1t de-
soribcs the surrender. assuming that 1t 10 a
surrender, as a painful anti.climax to the recent
vigorous rhetoric and patriotic sentiment Of
several OF the Ministers. 1t says:
1.-THE disuuioting feature of the story is
,bot Il suggests suspicious of a larger and
wider surrender. We all inferred that q definite
check would DO placed on any aggressive, revo-
lutionary designs In regard to Ohina. There
was to be no disruption, no partition. II that
was not the Specification Of the Ministerial
declaration it is a pity they were uttered.
There is really no sense in talking of open
doors IL tho doors are to BIO slammed In our
faces. 1t might have been wiser, It certainly
would have been more digniied, to have said
nothing at all, rather than to have filled the air
with magniloquent phrases which are not to be
followed by action"
The Standard then appeals to the Government
to SGT all doubts at rest, and continues: Lord
Salisbury cannot manage his foreign policy az
II he were q Gear or n Kaiser. The country and
Parliament have q claim to know what In being
done. 1t is a case for playing with the cards on
the table. II our policy is really as bold and
generous az the Ministers profess, there can DO
very little to conceal"
On the other hand the Graphic. which Ii as
ptanchly conservative as tho Standard, de-
pounces the outcry as hysterical, fatuous nom
ucnse. 1t points to tho fact that tho whole
Talienwan story has never received a shadow Of
official sanction. whether regarding the alleged
proposal for opening the port or abandoning the
same.
This, however, will be read In connection with
o speech made this evening by Mr.. James
Lowther, NJ. p. for the Isle of Thanet, division
of Kent, who has held important Govern
ment offices. and who is intimate with
Mr.. Henry Chaplin, President Of the
local Government Board. and other members
of the Cabinet. Mr.. Lowther said that the
negotiations had been unfairly, perhaps pre-
maturely, commented upon. There were parts
of China, he added, which unquestionably came
within the sphere of Russian influence rather
than British, and the Government could hardly
be expected to drag tho nation into war for the
purpose of indicating o supposed right.
Meanwhile the Liberal newspapers watch
their Tory contemporaries flashing the Govern.
ment with much amusement. They declare
that they are content to wait until events provo
whether tho lamentations are premature.
The Daily Netrs finds 1t interesting to note
that d" the great Salisbury myth seems at last to
DO dissolving now that the paint is of the lath.
and the rank and file Of the Tory party are con-
WINGED that their hero has been making one of
his graceful concessions again and sacrificed
the interests Of Great Britain to his timidity and
want Of backbone"
The Chronicle says that If Lord Salisbury has
really retreated after ali the talk Of dragging
back British prestige with him. the position
OF the Government will be perilous.
The Times this morning does not refer to the
Talienwan question.
her demand for the opening of Talienwan as a
free port has aroused widespread protest and
evaporation, especially among the Govern
ment's supporters. Not o single Conservative
newspaper fails to express sharp dissent In
deed, the Government organs are more severe
than the opposition journals.
Tho Globe says: FOR ten days the Ministers
permitted the country to remaini In the amiable
delusion that the conditions telegraphed TO Pc
kin were tho terms which they were prepared
to enforce. The Government enjoyed for days q
cheap reputation for frmness and determine
ton. but it seems that public opinion has been
entirely misled. The Ministers have only them.
selves to thank II they lose prestige at homo
and abroad"
The 81. Jdmes's Gdsette declares that 1t cannot
believe the report. "It would be too humiliat-
Ing" the paper says. "look at 1t from whatever
point of view we please"
The Pail Mall Gazette says: "Now that the
public knows what it has to swallow It can got
its ~eyeteeth and digestive organs into order, for
Talienwan will require some swallowing. Hav-
ing put our foot down, we ought to have kept it
there. Graceful CONCESSIONS after tall talk
have been too prevalent lately. In fact they
have become FOreipn Ofica fatichea"