New-York tribune., 1901-05-07
THE WOES or CHINA.
proof.


our Washington correspondent gave us yes
terday some most impressive extracts from
highly important report upon China which is
now IN the hands of the State Department and
of which the first publication has thus been
made through the columns of The Tribune. As
interesting news we. Of course. eagerly printed
the matter As n force likely to exert any
moral influence il is. we fear. to be regarded
with more desire than confidence. When DIR.
Dillon made his appalling disclosures of Euro
pean infames in China tho world for the most
part shrugged its shoulders. spoke of the writer's
Celtic exuberance of imagination" and resumed
talking about the weather When Mr.. Wildman
and others repeated the hideous tale the world
mildly protested against the publication of
details so unpleasant 10 fastidiOuS taste. and
again found fascination in the contemplation of
/ current meteorolOgy Now one of the most
trustworthy official observers fully confirms the
most frightful phases of the Chinese situation.
rs previously portrayed and-well. this fine
May weather is really an engaging topic.
Nevertheless, il is we'll to set some of these
things down matter of record and If there
are those who will have to blush thereat the
United States will not he among the number.
The lOOtng. outrage and wholesale massacre of
unoffending Chinese women and children can
Z not Dp cn3TgPu 10 our account ht Sidlt VI
affairs which has made these things possible,
and which has made of one of the chief prov
inces Of China an anarchic hell, has been pro-
duced and maintained in contradiction to and
in violation Of the policy suggested and urged
by the sInited States. That policy involved
conspicuously the restoration and maintenance
of order. by the native administration so far as
possible by foreign authority temporarily wher
ever necessary. Ii has ever been in matters of
more than one character cardinal American
principle that law and order must be main
tained as prerequisites to everything else and
this, too that no power has a moral right 10
destroy one government without establishing i'm
its place another NJ least equally good
Now. IL is through wanton disregard Of these
principles that these hIdeous doingS IN China
have come 10 pass. Alien powers have stricken
down the native government and have put none
I'm It's place indeed have prevented the putting
Of any in It's place And they have aimed first
al securing all the loot and all the vengeance
they could, leaving tho question of law and
order out Of consideration. Nominally the
powers have not been at war with China. not
even with the Chinese Government. Actually
they have been waging the most bitter and
savage kind Of war. not only against the Chi
neSe Government, but also against the Chinese
people without regard to conduct sex or age.
II was not only Russia that did 50. with her
determination of whole towns and cities Of
peaceful and unofendinG Chinese, and her
masSacres OF Chinese 'coloniStS in siberia who
had not even heard Of the Boxer revolt; other
powers in the territory internationally occupied
have done nearly e not quite as III. The official
reporter quoted says that the wnnton impalinc
of infants by European lancers was merely one
Of the minor occurrences in that reign Of hor-
rors. Another undisputed authority quoted by
Our correspondent calls attention 10 the practice
Of the soldiery of demanding cash tributes from
villages, in default of which the villages would
he destroyed by fire Then. when the home
less survivors of arson and murder were thus
forced into practical outIawry, they were hunted
down and killed 10y those who had made them
50. And the best informed resident observers
estimate that million Chinese have thus been
slaughtered since the foreign armies occupied
the land.
II is a situation from which civilization might
well turn I'm hcartsIck horror. For. recognizing
the fact that the Chinese began the troubles
with savage violence and with conduct as bad
as il could be. 1t Is awful thing 10 record
that a union OF the civilized Christian powers of
the world could do no better than 10 wreak
savage vengeance-a vengeance as savage i'm
quality aS any outrages Of the Chinese and
lHiiltdNuTdIhH more tAltnuti III lNantltN. IT
civilization and Christianity could do no better
than that they should for dccency's sake have
kept out of China altogether They could have
done incOmparably better If only Russia had
fOrcgone her land grabbing designs and other
powers had refraned from plans of pccuniary
aggrandlzement and al had pursued the Just
and simple policy enunciated at the outset and
consistently upheld by the United States
namely, tC rescue ,he imperllled. to restore
order, to exact such reasonable reparation as
was obtainable and to assist the Chinese GOV
ernment in the re-establishment of authority
throughout IFS unimpaired domain. Those prln-
ciples have been disreGarded by more than one
power, and il = for that reason that the whole
Boxer episode will be remembered by future
ages. not for the magnitude of the Boxer ont
RACES but for the nmeasurably greater mag
nitude Of the woes inflicted upon China by
Christian powers.