Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1900-07-14

toward your Admiral Kempff, who re-
/ fused to join in the bombardment. Ii
has invited the American admiral to
accompany him on his mission to Pc
king for the purpose of pacifying the
j Chinese, and he has expressed desire
that the United States should act as
/ intermediary In the settlement Of these
troubles
Admiral Kempfr made a fine demon
stratlon Of wisdom in declining to join
in precipitating hostilitles at Taku,
and he has by his conduct won the
confidence Of the Chinese for his ma
ton. At the same time he showed
good military judgment, for the act of
aggression was as useless as IL was
dangerous TO the interests back " it.
'In my opinion, the powers Would
need an ARMY Of about 100000 to sub
| due this one northern province by
force. Should there be general up
rising throughout China, before they
could do any sort of policing of that
great territory, with it's 400,000,000
Of people, or bring them under sub
lection they would require not less
than 100000 soldiers. and many mil
lions Of dollars would be wasted and
millions Of lives be sacrificed before
the entire country could be brought
under subjugation.
"Thcse zealots are not open to rea-
son. They are possessed by strange
superstitions, chief among which is
the commonly accepted belief that the
Europeans come to our country TO OBJ
tain the eyes Of the Chinese, especially
of Chinese children, which are of value
to them in mixing their medicines.
Very many Of the Boxers, probably by
far the larger number have never in
their lives seen a European face and
believe implicitly the horrible things
told about foreigners.
"The Chinese are well armed. They !
are well supplied with weapons of the
latest pattern, many of them manufac- /
tured in our own great arsenals. Shang- /
tung province is notable for its men of
fine physique and stature. This prov
ince could probably place in the field
a large force, all closely approaching .
or exceeding six feet In height. What
ever China may have been in the past,
she is no insignificant enemy to cope F.
with today. Her strength Is formida-
bic, and if it is to be underestimated
by invaders the result will be terrible
slaughter.
Il speak for my cOuntrymen in San
Francisco as well as myself when |
say that we who have had the Oppor-
tunity of coming in contact with Amer
leans and Europeans deplore the pres
ent troubles, desiring as we do the
friendship of foreigners, and we know
that after a time all Chinese will come
to repose the same confidence and re-
apect in the civilized powers that we do
today. Their prejudice and antago-
uisms are due to ignorance.
Il do not want To appear to criticise
the recent action taken at Taku, but |
am convinced that the shortest cut to
peace and satisfactory settlement
would have been found by exercising
greater patience and awaiting possible
knowledge of the condition of the le-
cations. Even now, though the worst
shall have happened, it may not be too
late to make peace If the members of
the legations have been murdered you
cannot bring them back to life by kill
ing in turn. \ peaceful adjustment of
the differences might be had and com
pensatlon secured. Such a policy would
save many lives and enormous eXpend-
lures on the part of the injured ma
tons
Hitherto the United States have al
ways led in wisdom and temperate
judgment. Their demand for an open
door in the orient | regard as the best
piece Of diplomacy exhibited for years.
Securing this open door for trade com
petition is Il great victory for this
country. better for her than TO control
the whole of China. When America
secures to herself the right of open
competition in commerce. her trade
methods and the merits of her manu-
features are such that she has practi,
cally turned the section under discus
sion into American territory and Sc
cured its control"