The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-05-03
pursuit. was by war vessels of a foreign

n the southern waters the French have been wiping out, with commenda- ble industry, piratical lairs and fleets English cruisers have kept down buc- caneering raids in the north, and Eng ! auth critics are now arousing Chinese ire by threatening to patrol tie rIvers and canals In order to wipe out the remaining freebooters of the sea who persist in plying their trade i upon the inland water courses. Piracy a Chinese Habit. 1 So strongly has the habit of piracy be- come ingrained in the Chinese character that heroic measures may be necessary to uproot it.
 Time was when all the adjacent wa ters Of the Pacific were cruising grounds for piratical junks, and many a mer- chant vessel has fallen prey to the slant eyed bandits of the sea-
 A hundred years ago the bloodiest pi- rate fleet in Chinese history was com manded by Woo-che-tsing, who assumed the romantic title of "Scourge of the Eastern Seas" At times thousands of junks were under command of this man. About this time. too, one of the most adventurous and daring woman pirates of all time sprang into the llmelight.
 In 1907 the chief outlaw of all the Chinese coast, Ching-yih, perished in violent gale. His widow at once took command of the pirate fleet, and in more than a hundred fights showed that her teeth were those of the barbarian.
 She was the new woman of her time in the east. Men feared her and obeyed, even the most uncomfortable and plooo- thirsty.
 Rigid discipline and exact submission were demanded by her and readily gwen; She paid for what supplies she dernanoea ashore, but was merciless Tn her eA"' tions from prizes afioat'
 Few Piratical outrages Lately.
 Of late years there have been com paratively few piratical outrages on e.ie high seas off China's coast. But the ola pirate system of robbery has been Worh- ing at full blast in scores or seciuoee harhors and on the rivers and canals oi the interior ,
 Almost any piratica1 expedition may De organized at Shanghai. There one may find the -Aotsam and jetsam of the "offo awaiting employment
 These become, on occaslohs' iiou9i buccaneers They organize ralds, piah piracfes and engage in any desperate en- terprise that promises large returns lney s are simply following the example set ioi them by their predecessors.
 Rut the main obstacles that the nations of the world have to overcome are those that have to do with the real orlenlai
 
 character ,,. .
 Driven, vitually, from the high seas, the Chinese pirate has now taken to tue rivers and canals. There are long stretches of these water courses where there are no representatives Of law anu order. -,
 Accordingly, the pirate may hold up travelling iunks as he will. He may pill lage to his hearts content and escape mic the interior safe from pursuit
 If may be a long time before thls iorlh of piracy is discounted and stopped. u ia the last form of the famous, piracies of China-and those piracies are the last piracies of the world.
 Difficult, indeed, has 1t been to convince these people that their buccaneering eA- nloits were unlawful, without the indorse- ment of civilization and abhorrent to mankind.
 They have been pirates for centuries, they wish to be pirates still, and they resent bitterly the edict of civilization that they shall no longer be "the scoorge of the eastern seas.