New-York tribune., 1907-12-05
Literary Nese,.s and Criticism.


records impressions of places more or less init
nately connected with the great conflict be-
tween Russia and Japan and discusses the re-
suits or the war far as they may affect the
interests and destinies of the British empire
Ihls IS sober theme. worthily treated by
capable and interesting writer. No intelligent
person sIpposes for one instant that af-
fects only the combatants. The civilized world
Is t'c audience. and the side issues. the effect
on the spectators. the reflex action of events
are scarcely less important than the fate of the
beiiiger5nts themselves. Hundreds Of mill ions
&C As.atics hold their heads highe: and draw a
longer breath because an Oriental nation has
downcd a European power. When the babus
OF Bengal are boycotting British goods and the
agitators OF the Punjab are denouncing their
''oppressors' even the broken spirited poems Of
Java may be dreaming Of independence. And
what of China. with population and potential
wealth nine times those OF Japan? Is China
really awakening or viii It only turn over and
slumber on? VIII the array OF yellow against
white intensity and sweep the East Ike the
placue2 And what about Japan-can she hold
her pace? How far can she go? And there IS
India with its army, its trained consular and
civil service. lis accumulated fund of govern
mental experience, its preparedness for emer-
-ences and the immeasurable advantage Of its
furtherance or rindrance of the game in the
Far East? An answer tc questions like these IS
sought in 4 seasons flight through Manchuria
and Corea and Japan and the region that sep
arates them from Hlndustan.
The author is duly impressed with the fact
that Chinese are successful under British rule.
7 In Singapore and the Malay Peninsula. IN Bur-
nah. too, and other places. large share or
| business is in Chinese hands. Chinese labor is
efficient and contented and Mongolians make
good citizens and loyal subjects. This does not
prevent the Chinese at home from cherishing
animosties against Britons along with Arneri-
cans and japanese, their preservers, hardly less
strong than against those peoples who have
been openly working for the dismemberment
Of the great empire. But careful comparison OF
views particularly Of resident missionaries
leads to the conclusion that such hostility is not
increasing and that a healthy respect for for
eigners was a marked result OF the Boxer
trouble. The missionaries class command
respect; many good Chinese scholars, and
live on terms of more or less intimate famll-
iarity with the natives, and for the purposes OF
the inquirer they more reliable source or
information than the commercial classes. But
it need not be supposed that diminished hostility
is TO be replaced by instant affection for the
foreigners.
China has taken IN her slow way the advice con
tinually proIfered her from the West, 70 employ
FOREIGNERS to furnish with armament and TO
drill her soldiers. She has got together a great
a large force Of men not altogether despica6le from
fghting point of view, in spite Of the essentially
peaceful character OF her people With RUSSIA de
feated by nation that China holds to be her own
other nations likely to interfere with her auioao!S
in effectual check, she is forming the inflated
Nina she has not forgotten catastrophe which
zrp in q UnaSOiQaDle
and protects his person with soiicitude that IS
sefa0ie' Seif. Du' S-'' mas '@9''0N' '''',''9
The Chinese administration IS bundle Of
contradictions officials still habituaily employ
torture in the ordinary dispensation of Justice
though the people are the most law-abiding IN
The world. The government is one Of fnaction
exacerbated by tax gathering. The central
government does not bother with the provinces
it only requires sufficient renittances and the
assurance that the people are content. Towns
are insanitary and devoid Of elementary con-
ven!ences, but close beside some of the worst
of Chinese towns are European managed for
eign settlements with every modern improve
rnent which 1nultttudes of Chinese prefer 70 the
Ynisnaana ged native quarters Progress Is local,
partial and slow and is in1peded by the intense
national loyalty 70 existing institutions. But
the inexhaustible fund Of industrious and capa-
bic labor available for transportation to any
field is a force to be reckoned with by the
world.
Coming 10 Corea, the author AYERS that pa
tfence and self-restraint In dealing with sub
ject people have not been displayed by the Jap
anese in the peninsula Everything tends to
show the japanese have made false start. The
blood Of the Empress murdered by japanese in
stigation has never been washed away. The
G|.lSa r1Iao GraI
good tempered He is d coward only because
experience warns him not TO expect justice from
his rulers The system Of forced labor teaches
him to idle lest he enrich the tax gatherer. Jap
anese methods do not always commend them
selves to the Western mind. 1t gives shock
TO find officers disguised as coolies, phOtogra-
pliers or domestics in order TO acquire informa-
ton OF experience. The traders. artisans and
laborers have poor standard OF commercial
probity. Japan IS tourists paradise
told, because the tourist is source of profit to
its people, but it is no place for the European
who has to make his living Regulations will
be interpreted to his disadvantage and he viii
find native competitors favored at every point
The Chinese merchant is content 10 work with
and through the foreigner. The Japanese will do
nothing Of the kind. but is determined to get busi-
6tlon OF Japan Is 10 aPive @ tH a nd Out If thole
OF China, ManchuTa and corea, to absorb tie
carrying trade and TO employ none but Japanese IN
the handling and distributing of the goods
An ambition honorable and legitimate enough
in itself arouses. however the indignation OF the
foreigner who finds the state leagued with pri-
vate enterprise against him. The promises or
the government to treat foreigners upon an in
dustrial and commercial equality with Japanese
in Manchuria and Corea leave much to be de-
sired in fulflment and IT must be admitted that
+t,o &c