The Hawaiian gazette., 1911-11-03
CHINESE REBELS
REVOLT IN FEAR
Not Of Manohus, but Of the Policy
Of the Rulers which Leads
10 DlslnleoratIOn.

to Dlslnlenration.
-
We have grown 20 used to wars and
rnmors Of wars In China that We may
easily minimize the Importance Of the
present disturbance, says the San Fran
cisco Argouaut. And yet the fact that
China has been in state Of incipient
revolution for years is the best possible
proof that there must be destination
somewhere, that sooner OF later the ere
must break out Mechanically. IL may
be now or il may be in the future, but
there seems to be no particular reason
why we. should hope for the delay OF
the inevitable. The present revolution
lists appear to have NO spite against the
foreigners. They profess their willing
ness to proceed in an orderly and re-
sponsible way and they viii probably
do so unless some suppressive interfer-
ence from outside is allowed to arouse
the fury of the dangerous hordes in
the great cities. Some kind of a rev.
olution in China is as certain as the
sunrise. japan passed through a SINH
lar crisis before she could break away
from her feudal system, and in fact all
nations have faced the same ordeal on
their way to autonomy. China g real
danger is not from her own revolution
lists, but from the greed of other ceun-
tries, who are ready enough to find ex.
cuses for interference, and already as
sumo a sort of proprietary right over
| Chinese territory and its resources.
70 say that the present struggle is
| I -, -1c AknA
/ little meaning. 1t is true that the Man
chus dispossessed the Mings and have
ruled the country ever since, but there
is no rival to the Chinese throne in
the sense that the Orleans and the
\ Bonapartist families are rivals in the
| French republic. No one ever suggests
that Ming be placed on the throne
of China. Indeed there are no Mings
of the ruling caste in the whole coun-
try. The word is used as a rallying
cry for all Cinnamon who identify the
! rational misfortunes with the ultra con-
| servatism of the Manchu invaders. It
is an appeal to the popular mind that
can feel but that can not reason. 1t
is focus point for reformers of all
/ parties and of all programs.
Roughly speaking, it may be said
that China is now divided into two par
ties, the conservatives and the progress
sives. At the head of the conserva-
tives are the Manchus, who represent
the whole vast system of what, in any
other country, would be called graft,
but that hardly deserves that name in
China, seeing that it has the legitimacy
of long usage. The Chinese province
has much more independence than an
American state. It makes its own
f 1 a IorriaC 10 nj oa0nFdu
to the central government the recng-
milton of a tribute. The provincial
authorities exact as much as they can
from the people and pay as little as
they can to the government, and they
keep the difference. That is the secret
\, of all government in China. Eve:y Of
fetal extracts as much as he can from
the man below him and pays as little
al he can to the man above him. A
long and descending scale of ''differ-
ences' represents the emOluments of
the official world. The average China
MIN has no particular objection to the
system, but he does object to the in
tense conservatism that is necessary TO
it's preservation. 1t implies a preserva-
tiOn also of all those evils that have
led the foreigner to regard the China
man as a barbarian, that have inflicted
upon him the humiliation of extra-ter.
ritoriality, that have robbed him of his
provinces and of his ports, and that are
likely at any time to result in further
degradations and in still greater losses
Intelligent China now recognizes that
it must either reform itself or continue
to be treated as a barbarian. But il
/ can not reform itself so long as the
Manehus are welded to the old system
so long as they are that system itself
Hence the rallying cry which is only
prO-Ming as a matter of sentiment, but
that is anti Manchu' as a matter of ma
tional preservation. The present rebel
lious movement is essentially one OF
fear, fear of national disintegration
Of foreign aggression, of the loss Of
whatever independence still remains Il
the country.
Z 1t is only the most short-sighted who
0 can look upon the Chinese as a race
doomed to extinction or absorption
The self-complaeency of the West is Of
course equal to anything, but due per
. spective Of the facts seems to point Il
a very different conclusion. The Chin
csc people are in somewhat the same
= condition as Colorado desert before
irrigation. So far from having ex
i. hausted their capacities they have new
" tNNH bNNu ny Jul
. own most approved theories they have
all the elements of success from the
moment when they shall start in tn,
race. They are frugal, temperate, and
endowed with the hardy virtues of per
, severance, energy, and thrift. They
! have an enormously rich country with
j mineral and agricultural values past al
computation and they have cheap laboi
in inexhaustible. quantities. Certainly
/ their condition Is more promising thar
/. was that Of the Japanese hundred
I, years ago, and they have all the virtue
Of the japanese and few Of theii
= faults. Whatever may be the outcom,
= Of the present struggle, whether IL b.
I decided now or whether the decision b,
n postponed for a while, tho ultimate set
Element can be Of only one kind. Chini
y ID preparing TO place her colossal bull
+ IN line with the other world forces, shI
Q i nhons 10 play the game according 4
. the miles, and The aize Of her country
b and the characteristics OF her people
nfe not such as 10 be ignored. She hal