The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-09-23
THE QUESTION OF PUNISHMENT.

| THE QUESTION OF PUNISHMENT.
| A dispatch from Berlin explains that
Germany's motive for demanding the
surrender of Boxer leaders to be tried
| and punished was founded upon the fact
! that Ii Hung Chang, during his recent
interview with DR. Mumm Won Schwartz
zenstein, the German minister to China,
mentioned a number of names of alleged
high mandarins hitherto wholly unknown,
! as those responsible for the Pekin out
RACES, and said that China was willing
to punish them
The same dispatch contains the follow
ing announcement. authorized by the
German foreign office:
What we want to avoid is an oppor-
tunity for allowing China to impose any
sham concessions upon the powers by
QeIlVerlng up for punishment persons
VINO had nothing to do with the Pekin
atrocities. Hence it is advisable for the
| representatives of the powers irA China
10 designate beforehand ali who are no
toflouSiy guilty. Germany does not wish
10 prejudice the case in any way. She
wishes to reach an agreement with the
powers regarding the guilty and their
punishment"
10 SoAlCWA uncertain from this
statement whether Germany fears that
Earl Ii has furnished false information
as to the guilty, or if his testimony is
accepted as true, and haste is desired in
order to prevent the escape of the sus-
poets. To one who has even a small un-
Outstanding of the Chinese character
there would seem to be little choice. so
far as either surmise affects the logic of
Germanys position. But if Germany is
DESTROYS of guarding against possible de-
ce1t and the substitution of inconsequen-
tiai and innocent persons for the real
culprits, EarllL himself will need watch
ing Aside from being representative
Chinaman, he is by all odds the smartest
and most far-seeing one alive. He very
likely anticipated from Germany. on ac-
count of the death of Baron Won Ketteler,
precisely just such a demand as is being
made by that country, and it would not
be at all out of keeping with the Chi
nese policy, which Ii is supposed to
serve whenever he can, if the names of
the strange mandarins were given as
the basis for gigantic swind1e when it
comes to punishment
With all his shrewdness and cunning
Earl Ii has laid himself open to suspi
cion by his haste in selecting a list of
persons whom the Chinese government
is willing to punish for the Pekin out
ages in China whom the government
would gladly behead en- aim st any provo
cation, and there is also a large number
whom it does not want to execute.
Among the latter may. be the very ones
responsible for the murders. of foreigners,
and if there is going to be any capital
punishment there is more than shadow
of excuse for Gerfnany's insistence that
the powers shall decide for themselves
land agree among themselves upon the
identity of the TingIcaders. In country,
where punishment by proxy is regarded
as perfectly satisfactory, and In nsin-
stance where the high rulers have the
strongest personal reasons for SO re-
garding it. Justice would be defeated by
leaving the selection of the culprits to
either Earl Ii OF to the government So
far as deceit on this point is concerned,
the former is the more dangerous. owing
to his position as peacemaker and osten-
sible sympathizer with the grievances
of the powers.
So far as demanding punishment of the
guilty, and only the guilty, is concerned,
Germany is in harmony with the United
States and all other powers The disa
greement begins over the demand that
China shall deliver up the chief conspira-
tors to be punished by the foreigners.
The United States would give the Chi
nese government an opportunity to try
and punish the culprits itself. Germany
cannot assent to this because it regards
Prince Tuan and the dowager empress
directly responsible, and it cannot be
expected that the Chinese goeernment
would pass the, sentence of DEATH or any
ether sentence, upon its own head There
ought to be no objection, however, to an
agreement upon the identity OF those
who deserve punishment, SO far as the
evidence obtainable will reveal them.
The question of how and by whom they
are to be punished could just as well be
determined later.