The Washington weekly post., 1900-09-04
Anna GOuld's Husband. as a
Writer, Discusses Boxers.
HE hAS NEVER BEEN In CHINA
Nevertheless lie Has some orisiaaf opiu-
Ions Abont the YeIisw Peril, Which He
Frankly Confes-es Were Ob1ained by
Asssaaeus Reading Of the View. Of 9th.
ers-Asseciated with Philosophers aud
Academieians as Contributor.
From the New Yors Sun.

Prom the New YORK sun
| count bOnil4ee De CastIIane. whose
inafrlase 10 a daughter Of Jay Gould has
n'afe MS name pretty we'll known 10
A'httiednA. Is cn the scene once more
Siia IN new role. Count Bonifaces e..-
pi''its of one kind and another have fol-
io"ed each other With sufficient rapIdiiy
AID Rave been varied enough in Character
q eliminate the possibility Of any part!eu-
lar surprise al what he might happen 10
be - next Yet his advent among The
leaned philosophers and acedcmicians,
Nh0 to great extent make ID the scOie
or contributors 10 Al. Ferdinand Brune-
tleres heyue des DeuX MouGes, is not an
event That was anticipated In the August
| number OF the Revue, nevertheless the
Industrious young nobleTaah name sp-
! pears with those Of Alfred Fouillee
Charles BenOist. 4. Dastre, and n Brune-
| uere himself as among the contributors
1t Is about Boxers and Secret Societies
| in China" that Count "Boni de Castel-
lane undertakes 10 enlighten the world
Not that he has any special information
about the Boxers or about Chinese Sc
| cret societies He has never Travelled in
/ China and has never made a particular
study of Chinese affairs. He has talked
with people supposed TO know something
| about the subject. and he has read divers
articles in the newspapers-particula
in English and German papers-sisce the
recent troubles in China broke out. AS
| explanatory of his sources of informa-
| tion and Of his appearance upon the Re
vues learned rostrum, Count de Boniface
says
Most OF the great political events
\ utb hax b.r in Il
or attributed, TO secret societies Conform
| ably 20 this tradition people have thought
| they saw in the recent events in that
country the hand of an association. an or
ganiZation whose curious name-R0xers-
has latteriy become sadly famous. But
what is this association? What are these
| secret Chinese organizations? This, in the
absence OF any direct information, 1t is
| difficult. almost impossible, To know with
any degree OF certainty. IL can only be at
a later day that We may be able TO obtain
| If, indeed, they are ever got together
the materials for complete ard definite
study of this subject, which in itself is 50
| mysterious. But the writer has had the
curiosity to seek out in the numerous ar
| ticles conversations, and letters publish
ed latterly in the newspapers of the lead
| ing cOuntTies-partcularl In the English
and German newspapers-those things
which seemed TO be the most probable and
best established"
Net sneh a simple Movement.
With this explanatory preface Count
Boni proceeds TO give the conclusions
about the Boxers that his studies have de-
velOped. In general terms his view of the
Boxer uprising is that it is not the move
ment Of any particular secret society,
with which the Empress might be able TO
treat. that she might be able TO hold IN
check. and TO which she might oppose her
influence Of the ether secret societies. 1t
is not, in Count Boni de Castellane's view.
movement so simple as this, but. on the
contrary, a formidable insurrectionary
movement, involving and carrying with il
all the secret societies of the central re-
gion of China, from Chill to PeKin, and
rallying TO its standard the entire popuIa-
tion, all infuriated against the Euro
peans.
In unchaining such a force" continues
NJ de Castellane "the Empress has been
guilty OF an imprudence analogous to
that of a European government which. in
order TO maintain the domination of q cer-
tain party, or even of institutions Them
selves, would make appeals to the anti
social forces, anarchists, or coliectivists
which at the present are multiplying rap
idly pretty much all over the Western
word. At this game she runs the risk OF
destroying not only her own individual
power and dynasty, but even China itself
The European Intervention necessitated
by recent events cannot fail 10 end i'm a
manner entirely different from tbe inter
ventions OF the past it Is very improbable
that 1t will result merely in the restora-
| tion al Pekin of Influences favorable 10
the Occident. The powers will require
more, and the solutions Of the problem
that one can toresee at this moment are
likely TO be much more radical
The hfst solution suggested is the dts
memDerment or the middle empire and Its
division among the different Western ma
uOns which have claims 10 be met-In 9TH
er words, covetcusness to gratify of this
there is perhaps but ligle chance II is
desired by England, Germany. and Janan.
IL does not meet the views either of Rus
sla or of France. France wishes To nur
sue, under the present political stain ona
tEe economic conquest of Southern China
RUSSIA has no reason for wishing = az
Vision of China. A tradition of her dinlo-
mats IS regret for the division of Poiand
at the close of the eighteenth century
which had the essential defect that il was
a DIVISION; that is. that 10 Prussia and
austria were given parts Of a whole an
OF which would have been just exactly
| 1g hkF
protectorates that the hand can he hsS,
| placed, at one single move upon a sregf
empire. Russia has substantial traditions
IN that line. In Chinese Turkestan g.
hdd pFotectorates which We're transform
ed very readily into direct possassions
She has over Persia a practical prots.-
| tordte IN. which she did not even have "a
ask the acquiesence of other bowers A
similar move on her part at Pekin has
been prepared long In advance Z haDT,, /
combination OF circumstances was oer,IrrS
ing England in South Africa an inst ~
moment when this Chinese exrlosi-',.
came. What cOvet0usness. what -
Ar at thls moment lowering about China
Two years of imprudent blind goyernrn.ni
were suf1cient 10 raise them up an al
lsldeS-SoNefnment that let loose. All ~
permanent elements Of trouble 4Ud -
strecnoh thdl the secret societies for CEN
tuIies and centuries have been perpet,,at- !
Ing IN the empire Of The Son Of H.,
The obscure name Boxers Is The s,nhoI
0i the eVll which one day or another viii
XIII China" "'
No Real Society OF Boxers.
In reaching the conclusion that there Is !
in reality 10 distinct society Ia Cbina =,
tie name of Boxers Count Boniface 90,
at some length into the history ~ a.
name, or rather nickname. Boxers" IL
hpds al the outset that there are M - |
thaa three societies 10 which this 49,,
has been applied and that one OF those
societies Is divided into two sects. Tbfs
last named society is OF ancient orfgir
while the other two are quite recent
This, continues NJ de CasteIlane ..i,,s-
tifies certain degree o. skepIicism on he
entire Boxer question. II this skepticisn,
Is followed TO the eud We may reach IN,
conclusion that the Term Boxer i tbus
readily applied 20 50 many different sacrs
for the simple reason that, properly sueak-
ing. IL does not belong 10 any one ln par
ticuiar; inAt there = no society called The 4
Boxers. bat that Europeans having been /
assaulted sBd boxed b. whatever ins.,-- I
gents happened along. have assumed art5- /
lrarlly that their particular boxers were /
members OF one of the secret societies. of
which they had had cause to complain In 4
the past or OF some society analogous
80, LII h a IIffIa a : fLn.l..h .......- -