The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1900-11-07

with the storm for time. Eventually
came others who could not be tenn
porized with, and the Western wave
eventually swept his descendants away,
for a time.
No one can read the Chinese proposals
for a basis of peace without seeing this
temporizing policy sticking out. These
proposals are as follows:
1. That as the attack on the Foreign
Legations was a manifest violation of
the law of nations, there can be no
question about China's obligation to
apologize.
2. That China is bound to pay a pro-
per indemnity.
8. That the amount of the indemnity
to be paid to the Powers collectively
shall be fixed first, and subsequently,
the indemnities to each Power sepera-
tely, and that so soon as an arrange
ment is arrived at on these points, the
allied forces shall be withdrawn.
4. That if any revision or supple
menting of existing treaties or any con-
GLIDING of new conventions be contem-
plated, the present opportunity should
be taken.
5. That as the allied forces were put
in motion solely for the avowed pur-
pose of succoring the Legations, an
armistice should commence simulta-
neously with the opening of peace ne
gotiations.
That such proposals will be accepted
as a basis is of course absurd, because
they only promise an apology and a
possible indemnity but they will gain
their end by causing delay, and that is
all that they are for.
That even Russia views the Chinese
question as an unsolved problem and
one can see in what direction she is
drifting by the following extract from
Novosti, a semi official journal of some
weight. 1t says:
1T has been said in some foreign
publications that the aim of the allies
was accomplished when Picking was
taken. But the presence of Graf V.
Waldersee is by no means unnecessary.
No one knows as yet what turn affairs
may take. Daily we hear of new riots
in China, and it is apparent that the
Chinese Government though anxious to
make peace, still encourages the Box
er movement. 1t should be remember
ed that Graf V. Waldersee is comman-
der-in-chief in Pe-chi-li only. But it
would be queer if only a fictitious
power were given him there. He will
have trouble enough, as it is, to make
the Chinese understand that repara-
ton really must be made. Should
China have neither money nor credit,
then the powers would be justified in
taking territorial pledges, and the
COMMUNICATIVE chief will have to deter
mine the places and the number of the
troops occupying different places"
This is a fair clean avowal for the
partition of China as against such a
program as the Chinese proposals to
the representatives of the Western
powers.
1t is a thousand pities that the tele-
graph takes away the responsibility of
men on the spot, and that everything
that men now do is in a large measure
directed from the capitals of Washing
ton, London, Paris, Berlin and ST.
Petersburg. Cliye would never have
acquired the fruits of his victory of
Assaye, nor would Warren Hastings
have gained his diplomatic triumphs,
winning an empire with only handful
of troops, if either of them had been
at the end of a telegraph wire. The
fact that it took near six months for
their dispatches to reach home, and
another six months for them to receive
a reply, enabled them - carry out their
schemes. 1t would be utterly impossi-
BILE for either a Give, a Warren Hast
ings to act in China at the present
day, and yet it is lust that kind of in
tellect and self-confident courage
which is required to deal with the Chi
nese court at the present moment. If
the status of the Chinese Empire is not
settled now, it will be left unsettled
for probably half a century to come,
and will cost many lives in the course
of settlement.