Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-11-19

lttoIleu GU ADMIT tnat there IS SuCn d
thing as crime. do you not?''
Yes, certainly"
And you believe that crime must be pun
ished?"
Yes"
THAT is all the missionaries ask. The
Chinese have committed crimes and the
missionaries ask only that the criminals be
punished"
This was the first time that had sue
ceeded in scoring against the willy Yang
Do not think, however, that he permitted
himself to show defeat. He merely closed
his eyes tight, as is the right of an old
man, and smoked out the few whiffs that
We're left in the tiny metal bowl of his pipe
After few minutes he bestirred himself to
brew two more bowls of tea. This DONE
and one bowl handed to me, we slowly sip
ped at the fragrant mess. In China it is
almost sacrilege to talk while the flower of
best tea is under your nostrils. Yang SZu
was doing some quiet thinking, though
nothing In his stold yellow face betrayed
the fact.
In the course of five minutes however
this old man of Shansi had digested my
last remark sufficiently to be able to reply
to it.
over in your country" he suggested
when criminal is to be punished the one
who was wronged decides what the punish
ment is to be?
'Oh, no. The courts decide that"
But the one who was wronged tells the
court what the punishment ought to be-"
"Of course he doesn't If he did he would
Yet your missionaries telling the
foreign devil nations what they ought to
do by way of punishment"
Yang opened his eyes quite wide. That
was sign that he thought he had me-
The missionaries l retorted ARE ad-
Vising the outside governments because the
governments themselves know very little
about the Chinese. The missionaries being
right on the ground know the Chinese very
we'll, and are therefore competent to ad-
wise.
over in your country" replied Yang. cit
must often happen that the one who is
wronged knows much more about the
criminal than the judge does. Yet you tell
me that the who is wronged would be
put in the stocks if he dared tell the judge
what to do. Why do your missionaries ask
a greater privilege before the law in China
than they would in their own country?"
This said, Yang turned his whole atten-
ton on, to his pipe, emptying it with care and
rehl1ng with even more care. He lighted
the tobacco and smoked the pipe out in
silence, edging little away from the odor
of the Manila cigar that l was smoking
tobacco, which Is another of their affecta-
tons. 1t is all l can do to endure Yang's
detestable Chinese tobacco.
Shall l tell YOU at last inquired the old
yellow banker, what the nations ought to
do here in China?''
by all MEANS.
well, then, first of all, let me tell you
that the missionaries by demanding whole
undoing all the work they have spent so
many years in building up. They are miss
ing great opportunity in not taking the
part of the Chinese. When your country
and the countries of Europe stamp around
here in shoes that are made of iron and talk
with the voice of thunder, your missionaries
should remember what they have taught
us, and should obey their own teachings
When your diplomats and your generals
come here among us to exact punishments
your missionaries should step in between
our people and the foreign devils and say:
Stop. These are the people we are irving
to make Christians of. They have done
wrong. but they sorry. We have taught
them that Christians forgive wrongs, and
that the man who does not forgive wrong
is not Christian. That is what we have
taught these Chinese. and they have be-
lieved us. Do not make liars of US. If
you do the Chinese will never again believe
US. and there will be no more Chinese
Christians"
Poor old Yang had talked so fast that he
was out of breath. but he talked, too, with
the earnestness of a man who believes all
that he says.
eff the missionaries would talk thus, and
If your diplomats and generals would heed
Them then we would see that your religion
is something that you really believe in"
continued Yang SZu. ut would help YOUR
Christianity with us, for every man likes to
be forgiven rather than punished 1t
would help trade, too. and that is some
thing that 1 want to see. The foreign
Can you trade with the dead? Your SOL
dierS-1 do not say the Americans, but
some of your white soldiers-have been de-
populating this metropolitan province of
Chilli. Yet it is the center of the govern
ment. the money and the trade of China
Is that the way for your foreign devils to
make money here?
Last night 1 was reading some Chinese
history. Ours is the most wonderful his
tory in the world. The story runs that in
the time of the Sung dynasty the ancient
capital of kai-fung-fu revolted. Kai-fung-
fu was the greatest city that ever stood in
China. Nowhere in all the world was there
ever city great, for within its walls
dwelt 100000 people When the city re-
VOTED the imperial generals and armies
were sent to take the city. There was a
long siege and much fierce fighting Thou
sands of the emperors soldiers were killed
and many of the generals. When the city
was taken the emperors generals talked
together to see what should be done Nearly
all of them said Let us drive the sword
deep into these millions of rebels. that nei-
Their they nor the children shall ever again
rise against the dynasty
But one general, he who had been the
bravest in the fighting, and who was also
a great and wise scholar. differed with the
rest If you do this thing he said you
will kill the people whom the emperor
| needs You will destroy the people who
pay taxes and who buy rice of our farmers.
You would deprive the emperor and the
government of a big share of its riches
The wise generals advice prevailed, the
citys population was spared. and wealth
and happiness came out of the forgiveness
Is there no lesson in our history to guide
your white diplomats and generals?"
Yang is hard man with whom to ar
que. He holds the floor without effort. He
is plain business man. IMMERSED in the
ways of diplomacy, which is studied as a
special art in China. What will happen if
our foreign diplomats allow themselves to
argue with Chinas ministers?
b. r. SELWYN
Copyright, 1900