Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-07-20
THE DUTY OF THE HOUR
EX-MINISTER DENLY ON THE
CHINESE SITUATION.
If Massacre Has Taken Place 1t Must
BE Punished and the Dynasty
OverthrOwn.

to China. writes at length in Golfers Week
| ly regarding China's obligations to foreign
ers. He says:
| las China has consented that foreigners
may live on her soil she must protect them.
If she does not, the foreign powers will,
| themselves, send troops into her territory to
do what China fails to do. There is no
evading this duty. The existing insurrec-
| ton, which seems to have reached the cap
ital itself, will be put down. if not by the
| Chinese government, then by the treaty
| powers. If positive assurances from the
great powers can be secured to the effect
that the partition of China will not be at
| tempted. peace will prevail again and bust
ness will proceed as usual. 1 repeat here
what 1 have said elsewhere, that every
| riot in China emphasizes the necessity of
| our holding the Philippines In the present
| crisis in China have been able to send
| in few days troops from Manila to join
| in the protection of Americans.
1T may be disagrecable to the admins
tration to engage in what may prove war
| o. some magnitudc-but We cannot abandon
| our fellow-citiZens who are in China under
the stipulations of the treaties Sentiment
| tahsm must give way to common sense. If
a government docs not protect its people,
what does it do except collect taxes? We
nave never taken any portion of China for
our own That same position should be
now maintained. While military co-opera-
lioil tdHlioI. pTDDdDly- De dNOlueu. II SnOulO
be understood that our troops are in China
for the sole purpose of protecting out peo-
pie. / have not space to forecast the ques-
tions that may come up when China is
quoted.
Foreign Residents in Pekin.
"A residence under the shadow of the i'm
perial city was thought to be the safest
place in the empire. In the summer nearly
| all the foreign residents scattered in the
lrs,
fifteen twenty miles from the capital. or
at the watering place called Peitaho with
not the least fear or dread of attack. For
nearly forty years attack came The
women and the children roamed unattended
all over the country. There We're picnics
in the old temples, on the hills and beside
the streams. and idle summer life went on
| on the borders of the great plain in which
dwelt one hundred millions of people. My
family and l spent twelve summers at the
American temple twelve miles from Pekin.
The door were rarely locked. No
precautions We're taken. We lived
with the denizens of the temple
and the country people. We bought their
vegetables, eggs, chickens. ducks fruits
meats and all that they had to sell. When
there was sickness in the neighhorhood we
did what We could to alleviate it. Many a
| dose of quinIne was administered by us
Unattended except by single mafoo, we
roCe every day for miles through the viii
lagos and fields. We exercised some chart
" among the poor, and we distributed boxes
OF American seeds among the farmers
Everybody knew u.s. and not once did we
receive the slightest insult or injury. Per-
E&p5 l ought to mention that the Russian
minister who was soJOurning at my temple
while his legation was being built was
robbed of some money, but it was strongly
suspected that the thief was one of his own
servants.
Menaced by Saynges.
1t Is all changed now. These people are
savages. 1t is certain that many men,
perhaps millions, are banded together with
the fixed purpose to drive out the foreign
ers- 1t seems also to be sure that the ac-
tual government has Joined with the rioters
to accomplish the same end. 1t is an up
rlSal of the dark-skinned man against the
| white man. Ii is scarcely worth while to
inquire who is to blame. l could myself
/ from my own knowledge, point out various
[ cases in which rank injustice has been done
| to the Chfnaman, as it has been done to
| the African and the Indian, but In this
emergency there is no place for recrimfna-
| ton We are confronted with the most
/ dangerous condition OF things that ever
existed in the far east Self-preseryat!On
becomes the supreme duty of the hour
On the result not only the wealth which
| has been accumulated slowly for nearly a
century Is dependent, but also the lives of
many white men and women are in dam
ger Banks, railroads. steamboats,. mills,
merchandise, the myriad stores of trade,
ing compared with the frution Of gigantic
| hopes of a boundless commerce between
our continent and Asia. In this contest be-
tween an enlightened civilization and the
reaction of desperate barbarism, the wise.
the prudent. the progressive man will be
found in alliance with his own race.
Worse Than the Maine Disaster.
| IF our ambassadors and their suites have
! been murdered the crime must be pun
ished. The sinking of the Maine impelled
US to war. Dreadful as that crime was
1t pales before Chinese treachery If any
government at Pekin aided and assisted in
wholesale murder We never certainly
knew that Spain ordered the destruction of
the Maine, but if leo white people have
been slain at Pekin. there is no doubt
that the persons controlling the govern
ment actively assisted in the stupendous
crime.
Must BE Punished.
That crime must be punished. The en-
peror, the empress, the princes and the
mobiles must be put aside. Better partition
than wholesale murder. but partition need
not come. Radical measures must be
adopted. There must be new dynasty
Chinese this time. The Manchu, with his
tyranny and his vices. must be driven out
and must help to do it. Therein comes
the rub for us. In the face of imminent
peril and overwhelming duty traditions
must give way as they nave often done In
our history 1t is delicious to live always
away from foreign complications, unem-
barraSsed by the worlds doings; but great
ness brings with il its overpowering obi
cations. Every day the railroad kills men
today II killed more than a hundred Still
the railroad must survive.
Must Go on to Pekin.
"And so, though men will be killed and
Will die of disease on the fiat plains between
Tien Tsin and the capital, still they must
go thither. To stand entirely aloof from
the European powers would destroy our in
| fuence. If we go in with them in the effort
| to restore order we may be able to exercise
| a great Influence in determining the destiny
| of China What then, should We ask?
| First, the protection to merchants and
| missionaries. and then the autonomy of the
| empire. 1t is sad to reflect that practically
we had all this from 1913 to 1900 Riots
/ there were. but the great work of intro
| ducing modern civilization into China went
| on.
| Whose the Blame:
| ION whom will history lay the blame that
the nascent progress of the orient has been
| checked and sayagery has resumed its