New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1900-06-23
FACING TIE WORST N CHIN4.


To hope the best but to be prepared for the
worst is the sane rule for every crisis. 1t is
the rule that should be applied to the present
crisis in China. For more than a week past IT
has been applicable Seldom in history has
there been anythns more ominous than the
absolute silence of Picking and Tien-Tsin. The
latter is little more than score of miles, the
former only fOurscOre miles from the coast and
from the decks of American and European
warships and each contains or did contain,
hundreds of foreign residents. That for week
or more not one word of news should have been
received from them, though al the world was
on very tenterhOOks of anxiety and eagernesS TO
hear from them. is one of the most eXtraOrdi-
nary incidents in history. That the railroad
was blocked and the telegraph interrupted did
not matter. Any one of a thousand native
Christians in Picking would at any time have
been glad to serve as Il runner TO bring news
out. and would have done with unsurpassed
fidelity and skill. Was it impossible for one to
get through and make two days journey 10
the coast? If so, what state of affairs may
we not fear! Moreover. there is, or was, Admi-
raj Seymour, with his little army OF the best
fighting men on earth, all equipped with the
best modern weapons. What became of them?
Whether they went on to Picking or came back
TO Tien-Tsn, word was TO be expected from
them. Did they meet with a fate worse than
that of the British army in the Khyber Pass, of
which at least one survived?
Such dreadful speculations have been forced
upon the mind for a week past; and now that
news does begin TO filter through there is little
TO relieve anxiety. Tien-Tsin, we are told, is
being bombarded, and has been for days; not,
as some rashly coniectured at first by foreign
warships, none of which can get within twice
NH
means that the foreign quarter of the city is
the target. II is added that the whole foreign
quarter is in flames and that the American
Consulate has been destroyed. Large guns are
being used, wherefore il is said the Chinese
army is making the attack, and not merely
mob Of Boxers. The foreigners have been max
ing a stout resistance. They have used artil-
lery with deadly effect, and have inflicted
heavy losses upon the Chinese. But they are,
or were. so few and the Chinese so many. And
the fighting began on Sunday last and has been
going on ever since. a force of a few thousand
Americans and Europeans cannot hold out for
ever against a hundred thousand, or perhaps a
million, Chinese; and it is well within the
bounds of possibility that between Taku and
Picking there more than million China
men arrayed against the foreign devils"
Meantime with these startling reports from
and from Picking remains unbroken. But we
know that there We're fewer foreigners there
with less means of defence, and many more
hostile Cinnamon. OF a certainty all we can
do is to hope the best and be prepared for the
worst, and meantime to rush in to the rescue or
TO the vengeance every available man with
gun.
The most Ominous feature Of the whole case
is this-that for, we might say, the first time,
the whole Chinese population is aroused against
! foreigners of all classes. Never before has
there been such unanimity. When the Manchus
| have been anti-foreign the Chinese have been
friendly, and vice versa But now, probably
| through the extraordinary shrewdness of the
| DOwager Empress botn classes are acting in
! harmony. Manchu and Chinaman have laid
aside their immemorial enmity and joined hands
against the foreigner. There can therefore be
no playing Of one class against the other United
China must be faced. And that means the fac
ing of mass which, however ignorant. undis-
| ciplined and i'll equipped is so stupendous in
! bulk as to be quite overwhelming in contrast
to any army that can be sent against it, Per
! haps it is a mob. But mob of a million men
| is a formidable thing; and China can put a
| hundred such mobs in the field We are not
saying she will do so. 1t may still be possible
! to confine the trouble to narrow limits But it
| would be folly for either statesmen or soldiers
to ignore the fact that they face to face with
! a possibility and a direct menace of the very
/ worst that can be conceived. 1t is a time. if
ever there was one, for sinking all personal or
| national ambitions jealousies intrigues. and
| going in frankly and fairly for the REDEMPTION
of a quarter of the human race from anarchy.