The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-07-26
A BoTCHED JOB.

BOTCHED JOB.
The administration organs are dis
posed to make loud acclaim on. the SUBJ
ject of the presidents response to the
Chinese request for intervention. The
foreign press and their governments on
the other hand are far from being dis
posed to view the subject in any such
light. and are decidedly critical as to the
attitude of the United States toward
China and the powers respectively.
There is little to boast about in that
response, and there is much in it to
which foreign governments have a right
to take exception, aside altogether from
their objections to the avowed unwilling
ness OF the administration to act i'll CO.
operation with them, save for the protec-
ton of American life and property.
Considering the circumstance that the
Chinese request for Intervention is ad-
dressed to the nation and is placed on the
ground that 1.-THE object Of the United
States is international commerce. the
language of the first sentence of tho
answer to that request is quite remark
able. If it is not accepted by the other
powers as involving an implied insult to
them 1t will be because they do not
choose to openly regard its plain import.
The president of the United States is
glad that the Chinese emperor recog>
nizes that the people of the United States,
whom ne represents, 'desire Of China
nothing but what is just and equitable"
Standing alone the inference from this
sentence would inevitably be that the
other peoples beside~ lose of the United
States desire something in the premises
that is not just and equitable. But when
it is followed up as it is, by language
as i'll considered, ilI-chosen and crude as
| is contained in the succeeding sentences,
there IS no way of avoiding such con-
cluslon. After the sentence quoted the
presidents response to China proceeds as
follows:
1.-THE purpose for which we landed
troops in China was the rescue Of our
legation from grave danger and the pro-
| lection of the lives and property Of
Americans who were sojourning in China
in the enjoyment of rights guaranteed
them by treaty and International law.
The same purposes are publicly declared
by all the powers which have landed mil
! itary forces in your majesty's empire"
There was no occasion whatever for
such affirmations. The Chinese govern
ment is supposed to understand our pur-
pose in landing troops and is quite fully
aware that the same purposes have been
avowed by the other nations. Unless tho
idea in the mind of whoever framed this
response was that he was called upon to
bring out by antithesis the difference be-
tween the professions of the other ma
tons and our recognized intent, it must
be regarded as sheer buncombe intended
for American rather than Chinese con.
sumption. If the intention was to make
the contrast between our mission In
China and that of the other nations Wis.
ible beyond all concealment the man who
adopted it may safely be regarded as
never having heard of a man named
Talleyrand or Of his definition of the use
Of language in the conduct of diplomatic
relations. The response as a matter of
fact is a hopelessly botched job. We're
it not true, as the response states, in its
closing sentence, that IN order success
fully to intervene the concurrence of the
other nations is necessary, the state de-
partnent might have used Choctaw in
its response or transformed the entire
document into piece of campaign lit
erature. In actual operation, however, It
will probably be found that the response
in this case has been so badly bungled
as to put an end to all assurance that
the United States will be allowed to ex-
ercise its good offices in the present diff
f1culty.
We occupy splendid position in China
in all directions save alone, perhaps, in
connection with the participation of our
troops in the Tien Tsin episode. But ii
we desire to throw away all the ad-
vantage which we at present enjoy and
to completely nullify all influence which
we NAV have either with China or the
powers, another document or two of this
wretchedly ill-advised character will do
the Job for us with the utmost complete
ness.
THE REAL EVIL.