The Savannah morning news., 1901-03-17
WITHDRAWING FROM CHINA.

n
All the American troops in China, with
the exception Of $50 which are to aot as
legation guard. have been ordered 40
Manila. The withdrawal of our troops Is
TO be completed by the last of April.
VIII the other Powers withdraw
their trooos also? The indications are
that all will not Just now there is a
strong probability Of trouble between the
Russian and British forces, growing out
Of a dispute over railway property.
It is regrettable that greater restraint
has not been placed upon foreign troops
in China, especially those of the Powers
Of Europe From all accounts the out
RACES they have committed on inoffensive
ana practically defenseiess populations Of
towns and cities of China will set back
the work of Christian missionaries for at
least two generations. These outrages
for barbarity and savagery have seldom,
II ever, been equalled in civilized war
fare.
In our dispatches yesterday it was
stated that the Germans had recently Wis
tied the prosperous market town OF Nau
Ming, sixty miles from Pekin. and CON-
pletely looted IT, They desecrated the ma
tive Christian chapel despoiled the wo-
men Of their trinkets. Ii-treated the iu-
habitants and generally acted like saw
ages
japanese newspaper. the Niroku Shin
20, published in Toxic. recently contain
cd an account OF the looting of the
wealthy city of Tung-Chau. which is cali
ed the gate of Pekin, and contains go. 600
Inhabitants. The looting was done by
troops of continental Europe
Not only were the people robbed of
about everything they possessed. but they
were treated in the most shocking man
ner, especially the women. According TO
the report OF the commander OF the ia
panese troops stationed there. says the
Niroku Shinpo, the Chinese women who
were violated and afterwards murdered
by European soldiers. together with those
who had committed suicide to avoid the
unbearable shame thus forced upon them,
amounted to 573. How many more met
the same fate and were not reported is
beyond the possibility OF discovery" 1t
seems, according to the account in this
Japanese newspaper. that many of the
women destroyed themselves by jumping
headforemost into the water casks. found
In the yards of all Of the houses of the
town, in order to escape a worse fate.
The half viii not be told of the horrors
Of the campaign Of the allies in China.
Enough of the details. however. has been
published from reliable sources to make
Christian people wonder whether. after
all. their civilization is so much superior
to that of peoples who are cqassed as
heathens. because 1t must be remembered
that the Japanese soldiers took no part
In the looting, and did not disgrace their
flag and uniform by violating women and
maiming and numbering inohenslve men.
women and children. They were as care
full in their behavior in China as they
are in their own country. And it is a
source of satisfaction that there have
been no sweeping charges Of the forego-
Ing character against the American sol
diers.
Before the invasion of China by the
allies China and Japan had an exalted
idea Of Western civilization and respect
for the Christian religion. japanese
statesmen frankly confess they have been
profoundly shocked by the conduct
Of the European soldiers in China
and If the japanese were shocked must
rot the Chinese be more firmly
convinced than ever that they are much
further removed from barbarism than the
Europeans?