The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1907-05-05

p. All ROADS or In |
vestigatlon lead back to
1900. That was the most eventful
year in China's hoary history. AL
eardy It's vast economic and polital !
significance looms so large that the |
massacre OF more than 200 mission
aries is coming to be regarded as n
mere phase of a great epoch
The Boxer troubles were the birth |
throes of new China In those terri,
BILE days tho nation. all unwittlngly,
broke forever with her self satisfied. |
self-secluded past. And the punish
ment meted out to her. including all |
the horrible and shameful excuses of
the foreign troops. and everything
else that was comprehended within
that unprecedented orgy OF lust. loot
and lawlessness. has put the fear of
civilization into the hearts OF the Chi
nese. Whatever reaction may come
and write in the midst OF one the
nation Will never again array itself
blindly against the world. Further
more 1900 convinced China that Chris
tianity is here to stay; the sword. the
fire and the stake of torture cannot
extirpate It.
Since 1900 each year in Ch!nas his
tory has accomplished more progress
than formerly was achieved in CEN
turtles. Undoubtedly this country has
lnaue greater str!ucS IN the past SIX
years than In the preceding two mill
lennlums. The change has been so
swift, so startling. SO Kaleidoscope
that the world outside cannot compre-
bend 1t. Missionaries who come back
q fter years Through have to pinch
themselves to make sure that they are
awake.
China's Greatest Man.
This province of Chill, which in
cludes Picking and Tien-Tsjn, affords
the most extraordinary evidences of
transformation Its viceroy Is Yuan
shin Kai. China's greatest man. al
| though at the moment overthrown by
tho Manc!iu rcactionaries who now
dominate Picking. 1t was Yuan Shin
| lIai who created and controlled the
modern army of 10000 men which Is
one of the assets of new China. 1t
was Yuan Chin Kai who made over
| into a modern city a large part of old
native Tien-Tsln. It was Yuan Shin
| Kai who established there and at
Peking a police system and a fire de-
partment. and Instituted regulations
which have diminished to an enor-
nous extent the nlthiness of tho
streets. 1t was Yuan Shin Kai who
made the narrow. rough and tortuous
alleys which throughout centuries
have passed for highways give way
to wide, smooth. straight, modern
thoroughfares. 1t was Yuan Shih Kai
who fostered a system of modern edu-
cation of all branches. and who
| opened public reading-rooms and lee
ture halls, thus instilling the leaven
of modern progress into the minds OF
all young China.
To-day Yuan Shin Kai's sun is un-
| ,l1 ~ q
| the command Of the army, of all his
numerous posts except his viceroyalty.
and of what is all-important in Chinese
politics-his enormous revenues.
| The Manchu reactionaries who COM
pose the palace clique are on top: but
no one expects them to attempt the
mad follies of seven years ago. Halt
| ed as a reformer by these, Yuan Shih
Kai is also hated by the extreme
wing of reformers themselves, whom
he betrayed in 1900, thus making pos
sible the coup detat" whereby the
Empress seized the reIs of power
from the feeble hands of the Emperor
| There is said to be blood feud be-
erful subject, and all sorts of con-
lectures are made as to what will hap
! pen when the Empress dies,
But the reform spirit grows daily
Tho Revolutionary society is lncreas-
I lngly Formidable Nobody here would
he surprised Mt a national political
| connagration and revolution which
would be as different from tho pres
ent sporadic outbreaks as a war is
from a skrmish. But, at the same
time, nobody expects China to &c
back to the old days, From what !
could CLEAN of tho opinions of Sir Rob
ert Hart and the Oldest diplomats
merchants and missionaries. n general
, massacre Of Foreigners is not an i'm
possibility; but it will not he by gov
erhment connivance as before. And
whatever comes, China Is inevitably
destined to become ono OF the nations
controlled by the Western ideals of
civilization.
This much Of the political conse-
quehces Of the Boxer outbreak it has