The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1900-07-14
An Optimistic View.

~ lating to China is Professor
r. *. Douglas of the Brit
ish museum, who for eight years was
employed in the Chinese consular SER
vice and is now professor of Chinese
at Kings college in London. In
recent issue of the London Telegraph
we find an expression of opinion by
him with regard to che present crisis
in China, which is rather more en-
couraging than the majority of such
utterances, and on account of its au-
thor's eminence it is worthy of
| notice.
Professor Douglas accepts the
| theory that the Boxer uprising was
| directly formented by the dowager en-
| press, whom he credits with enough
ignorance of outside conditions to be-
lieve that she could, with the army at
| her disposal, turn all foreigners out of
| China and keep them out. The more
| intelligent officials of her court. he
| thinks, tried to dissuade her from this
| rash enterprise, but were unable to
| and the uprising which she originally
| encouraged, soon grew beyond her con-
troll and swelled into n torrent of fan
atheism, pillage and disorder. Pro-
| fessor Douglas regards the whole epi-
| sode as a purely internal affair and
| not one in which Russia has had any
hand.
AS to the future, he finds no elc-
| ments which need prolong anxiety be-
VOnd tha rnpmpptorv Jiacrltioe To-
| which the powers find themselves en-
| tangled. In his view the dowagcr en-
| press will be set aside and Kwang
| Hsu, the deposed emperor, restored to
throne which he has every right to
occupy. That he is frail in body and
| of feeble determination would not
| matter, for in China it is the office
that exacts respect ani loyalty not
| the man; and, besides, the devotion of
| the nation to tradition and precedent
would give him a larger popular ad-
| herence than would be possible for any
| other ruler. There are many enlight-
| ened Chinese who are perfectly
| equipped to guide the emperor in his
| control of the state and who would
| themselves be influenced only by the
| interests OF the country, and without
| any prejudices against the strangers
within their gates. If Kwang Hsu,
says Professor Douglas, were once es-
| tablished in power, he would have
such such an accession of authority
| that he would be in position to con-
| troll any enemies that he might have
| among those who had formed the en-
| tourage of his aunt. He would then
| be able to pursue the policy of re-
| form, of which his short tenure of un-
| divided power presented an example,
and that his plans of government
would be acceptable to the nation Pro-
| fessor Douglas deduces from the uni
versal JOY which hailed his famous
| edict ordering the establishment of
schools and colleges throughout the
| empire. Professor Douglas is no be-
| lever in the deep~rooted aversion
which the Chinese are said to cherish
towards Europeans in general, and
| Christians in particular. He holds
that the bulk of the people have no
cares about politics or religion, and
that governmental in7,a'rity and in
capacity are responsible for the spo-
radio outbreaks which occur from time
| to time.
Signs are not wanting that this esti-
mate is substantially correct.
1t now becomes apparent also that
| Japan does not propose to act entirely
for glory in taking the lead in sup
pressing disc rider in China