Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1900-07-18
The Punishment of China.


Displays of wisdom after the event are
as useless as they are irritating Into
the cup of the sorrow which the civilized
world is being forced to drain let no one
cast an added drop of bitterness, for,
While 1t is true that if due notice had
been taken of the warnings given the
legations might have been withdrawn
from Pekin in time to prevent the stag
gerlng horror which there is too much
reason for fear has occurred. when the
awful danger which hung over those of
our race and kin at Pekin was fully re-
allied nothing that the wit of man could
devise, nor that the unlimited resources
of the powers could provide, was left I'M
done or untried to avert the stroke which
an unbridled barbarism had aimed at its
chosen victims. Our awakening may have
come too late; but let nobody pretend to
have been more alert than the millions of
his fellows.
Until the retreat of the discounted re-
lief expedition under the command of Ad-.
mlral Seymour had opened the eyes of the
world to the change that had taken place
in China since 1895, it would have been
impossible to convince anybody in Europe
or America that a we'll armed and disci-
plined force of two or three thousand men
could not have marched to and from Pc
kin at will. The Chinese army was re-
garded as being the same sort of rabble
as that which was driven out of the theo-
retically impregnable fortress of Port
Arthur at loss of two men to the tri-
umphant Japanese. 1t was felt in the le-
cations, as in the civilized world with
out, that under no conceivable circum-
stances would any difficulty be encoun-
tered by force such as could be landed
from the warships at Taku at moments
notice and sent up to Pekin to escort them
to the coast. The lesson enforced by the
war in South Africa had not been learn
ed. namely that supplied with modern
arms of precision an unorganized mob of
determined men is inferior in no essential
respect to an army of pipe-cIayed soldiers
A Chinese villager provided with his
Mauser rifle can shoot as far as his
European antagonist, and unless over
whelmed by enormously superior num-
bers, he can and probably will maintain
the defensive as long and as stoutly as
did the armed peasants of the two Afri-
can Republics.
The Chinese government has acquired
within the past five years 4S0, 900 Mauser
rifles, according to an official statement
made in Parliament by the British under
secretary of war; according 10 the infor-
nation gathered by the grand staff of the
Russian army the number is 100000 The
latter figure is probably nearer the truth
than the former, inasmuch as Captain
Mallory, our military attache at Pekin,
hot
European manufacture had been sent to
China by German manufacturers during
the current year. Like the Beers, the
Chinese have provided themselves with a
large quantity of guns of the best makes
and have learned how to use them, as
their practice at Taku and Tien Tsin has
provided beyond peradventure. Moreover.
at the gun factory near Shanghai. where
antiquated gingals were proudly and with
well-feigned innocence shown to Admiral
Beresford and lauded as the finest product
of the works, an uncounted number of
three-inch field pieces have been produced
and distributed throughout the empire
Any visitation of retributive Justice
upon China would be a task the diff
Guilty WHEREOF should not be underestimate
ed. Any failure, due to too precipitate
advance would enormously increase the
magnitude of the task. A defeat of the
international army would mean the ex-
tension of the anti-foreign instruction to
provinces hitherto held in order by the
efforts of friendly viceroys. Any unto
ward act of vengeance, by which the in
nocent should be made to suffer for the
guilty might have a similar effect. A
war on a nation of 400 900. 900 occupying
territory of four and half million square
miles. would be appalling, and a success
full termination thereof might prove TO
be beyond the power even of armed
Europe with the aid of America and
Japan.