The Washington herald., 1920-02-19
Chinese Threaten to En,broil
Portuguese South Sea Port;
Island Soldiers Mobilize

| with Magellan. frown down with
undisguised hostility, as well they
might, upon the peaceful traders OF
the Western democracies. for these
naughty guns wear upon their
muzzles the proud announcement
in Latin that they represent the
last argument of kings"
Dyke Causes Quarrel
The present alarming situation
has been provoked by the renewal
of the Portuguese attempt to build
a separating dyke for the purpose Of
making the Macao settlement a COM
plste island instead of merely a
peninsula nearly surrounded by wa
ter at high tide. 1t is the defense
of this narrow neck of land leading
TO the colony OF only a few miles in
extent that has harassed the sue
cessors of the conquistadores. not all
the time or even every year. but
certainly intermittently for centur-
les. Along this neck of land men
who are wanted by the, high courts
of the Portuguese colony make their
escape, while "highbinders'' and 9TH
er 'unwelcome folks from all over
trouble.
The great lesson that this clash
of interests teaches is not without
its social value, the East is East
and the West is West! The momen
your European instaIls himself any
where on the east cost OF Asia he
loses no time in converting his place
of sojourn into an island. This has
been the case with the Dutch in the
seventeenth century at Nsgasaki, as
with theiPortuguee here.
Chinese Cautious.
In these places dikes had to be
built. Only the English and the
French were fortunate in making
their landing on the Shsmeen. which
was a ready-made island off Can
ton. These settlers from many and
diverse European countries had
probably never heard Of the dictum
OF the ancient Chinese sage, who.
when the Imperialism of the west
ern world first began to show it,
SELF, sought to reassure his coun-
try men with the words: China is a
ses that salts, all the rivers that
floS into it but they felt their
dar ger and dug deep separating
dit, hes and erected high protecting
palisades wherever they could.
After all the noise and bother IL
has made in the world. it is sur
prising to find that Macao covers
only twenty-one miles. or part of an
island on the west side OF the estu-
airy of the Canton river. and prob
ably does not comprise within its
borders more than 10000 inhabitants
While the more or less authe entic
title deeds to the place. which the
Chinese call the "Harbor of the
Goddess ANA" apparently lgo back
no further than the middle of the
seventeenth century. IL is a matter
of record that the Portuguese built
factories for trading purposes on
this much disputed neck of land as
far back as 1851. or fifty years be-
fore our jamestown was founded
Colony Started Early.
What a difference there has been
between the development OF this
imperialistic empire. and that of our
democracy. But confess ] think
the density of the surrounding popu-
lation also exerted a retarding in
fiuence upon the development of the
Portuguese colony. The place has
certainly been. in fact, a Portuguese
colony ever since the middle of the
sixteenth century. although the
Chinese have always refused to
recognize absolut. territorial rights.
and until 1850 at least. the Por-
tuguese apparently always paid a
yearly rental of $500.
On the disputed and debatable neck
of land there still stands a ruined
wall with which the Chinese sought
to exclude the outside harbarians
from the rest of the island. and
doubtless the dyke. the cause of the
present trouble. was begun in re-
taliation. II the Chinese control
their wall. the Portuguese want their
dyke. This is. I am afraid. the at
titude of higher as well as lower
politics.