St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1901-02-20
"To the Person Sitting in Darkness, y

The charges Of footing in China have
now been made specific as to time, place
and some of the parties engaged in the
affair. Now that the charges are more
than generalities the representatives of
the powers can hardly afford to ignore
them or refuse to punish the guilty if the
charges are sustained. Demands for re-
paration from China are a mockery of
justice if the Christian hooters are to go
free Omaha Bee.
If required by the circumstances, will
respond to Dr. Smiths letter at some
length in the North American Review,
but at present | will limit myself to few
words. Whenever he can produce from
the Rev. Mr.. Ament an assertion that
the Suns character-blasting dispatch
was not authorized by him; and when
ever DR.. Smith can buttress Mr.. Aments
disclaimer with a confession from Mr..
Chamberlain, the head of the Laffan
news service in China, that that dis.
patch was false invention and unauth-
orized, the case against Mr.. Ament will
fall at once to the ground. There has
been time-51 days-to get these abso-
lutely essential documents by cable.
Why not get them now? Does Mr..
Smith believe that with loose and wan
dering arguments and irrelevant excur.
sions all around outside of the real mat
ter in hand, he can pull Mr.. Ament out
OF the unspeakable scrape he is in rs.
L. Clemens in the New York Tribune.
Ifit be commended that the expedition
against China is not war, but a civiliz
ing agency, the obligation is all the
greater to observe, at least, the we'll
known customs of civilization. To rob
banks and plumber private houses, and
collect from every source the treasures
which have been accommodating for hun
dreds of centuries is not a fair illustra-
ton of Goth century civilization. 1t be.
longs to the 9Th or 9Th century, when
the barbarians poured down upon Rome.
: Baltimore American.
Suppose that Mark Twain, when he
returned to his home in Hartford after
his long soj0urn abroad had discovered
that American BOXERS" had robbed 700
of his friends-he has thousands Of
friends-had destroyed all their
houses save one, and had killed 300 of his
friends with Accomplishments of great
barbarity. What would he have said
about it? Not, "Taels l win, Heads
you lose"
We do not know what he would have
said, but knowing something Of the
strong sympathies of the golden heart
of the man we think that he would not
have let the sun go down on his wrath
before deliverering vigorous protest
against such cruelty, and he probably
would have headed a movement to
bring the guilty parties to Justice. He
would stick to it with all the tenacity
and wisdom of "Puddenhead Wilson"
until he saw it accomplished - Chicago
Advance.
The verdicts upon Mark Twain's re-
cent magazine article on imperialism are
delightfully."- sour in some portions of the
great West. Out in St. Paul, the Pion-
eer Press remarks that "a man who sees
nothing but hypocritical game of grab
in our endeavors to carry the blessings
Of freedom and civilization to the Filipin-
os is lacking in moral sense" In other
quarters it is observed that Mr.. Twain
was never weaker in his literary art, and
shows marked signs of degeneracy.-
springfield Republican.