Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-02-06


Russian revolution. because in both
cases what has taken the world
largely by surprise was long prepar-
ing and was forecast by many pre-
liminary warnings.
Actually the Russo-Japanese War
was the first in a series of events
which ended in the comparatively
complete destruction of Western pres
tige in Ashland it was by prestige
alone that Europe maintained and eX-
banded it's Asiatic position While
small force could accomplish
large results and modern material,
machinery and methods intimidated
the Oriental mind. it was possible fer
Europe almost literally to eXpoloit the
millions of Asia for its own profit and
in its own way.
The World War disclosed Western
civilization as relatively bankrupt. All
the vast resources of Europe and, IN
part, of America were presently con-
centrated in the tremendous occupa-
ton of self-destruction. From the
war all European states emerged APP
proximately bankrupt and practically
exhausted At one time the Victors
recklessly accepted principles which
We're utterly contrary to their prac'
tees both in Asia and in Africa and
gave frequent evidences of their in
liability to defend their own material
interests.
Effect of Turkish Move.
The greatest single disaster which
overlook postwar Europe in its deal
ing with Asia was Chanak. When
the whole of Europe surrendered I'M
conditionally to less than a hundred
thousand hungry and i'll equipped
Turkish soldiers, when Renal Pasha
"a inn
anople and then at Lausanne tore
up the Treaty of Sevres and destroyed
all the SerYitudes which the great
spowers had inflicted upon Turkey in
a century, the prestige of Europe
was shattered, not merely in Angora
but in Asia.
At the same time the latter stages
of the war and the preliminary pre-
tensions of the Paris Peace Confer
ence set afioat many doctrines of
which self ton was at once
the most potent and the most sub
versive of the whole structure of
European power in Asia and North
Africa. This principal would not
in itself have been fatal, however, had
it not been accompanied by various
evidences of the weakness of the
West
Two other factors must be reckoned
with. For half a century young
Chinese students have been studying
democracy in many countries, but in
the main in the United States. Year
by year there has gone back to the
Orient a certain contingent of iHuml-
mated minds in which there has been
lodged, perfectly or inperfectly, the
conception of democracy as 1t exists
in the United States and of independ-
ence as it is found in all great
Western peoples.
Work of Missionaries.
This ferment has been stimulated
by the activities of missionaries in
China, Thus, ii is not any great
exaggeration to say. as many Europe
an critics are now proclaiming, that
the Chinese revolution has been made
in the United States. That the vast
mass of China, the almost innumer-
able millions of the population of the
empire, are even touched by any
intellectual ferment is of course alb
<surd. But there has been created
an elite. with intellectual bases, and
there has always been the vast mass
of the Chinese people dominated by
an instructive hatred of the foreigner.
Finally, Red Russia, having been
definitely beaten in all it's attacks upon
the capitalistic West which were
launched in Europe, has naturally
and inevitably fallen back upon the
line of least resistance. After the de-
feat before Warsaw in 1920 the thrust
ing power of bolshevism in Europe
was broken, but after the pitiful sur
render of the West at Chanak the
whole Asiatic field was thrown open.
The strategy of bolshevism is no more
TO attack Europe where il is strong,
but where it Is weak.
And just as Europe is weakest in
Asia, Great Britain. which is the most
convinced and consistent opponent OF
Soviet Russia in Europe. is most vul-
nerable in Asia. 1t is Great Britain
which in India rules over hundreds
of millions of Asiatics and in China
occupies the first rank economically
and financially. No blow to the Brit
ish Empire can be even conceivably
as severe as that struck in Asia. Nor
can any defeat in China fail to have
repercussions in India itself.
The British situation is, in fact al
most impossible. Chinese trade and
commerce are very considerable
factor in British domestic prosperity.
Enormous amounts of British capital
are invested in China. Not only is
Hongkong the principal base of Europe
in Asia. but the British settlement at
Shanghai is the most important com
mercial foundation of the West in the
Chinese Empire.
Boycott Losses Large.
For several years now the battle of
the boycott has been carried on
against the British, and the losses in
trade have been colossal If the Brit
ish can be driven out, if their trade
can be smashed, If Aheir whole eco
nomic, financial and political infiu
ence can be destroyed, then the estab
lishments of the other European coun
tries can have little permanence
France. Belgium, Italy, all will have
to follow Britain out.
If, however, the British resort to
force in the face of what has peer
until very recently mainly passive
offensive, then they run every danger
OF fomenting and expanding native
passion and instantly rendering more
: complete the boycott which has
already done them such great INJURY
All British policy, at bottom, up t
very recent days, has consisted II
watchful waiting and enormous self
control. -
There has been at least the hope
- rot the expectation that the present
agitation, like so many others, woult
die down, disappear; that after
period in which losses were great
normal conditions would return. There
has been the belief that the creates
danger would lie in some overt ae
of violence which would intensity an'
prolong the present phase.
aut in the nature of things thi
policy of wait and see" has had ever.
outward evidence of weakness. 1t ha
avoided increasing the Chinese passion
by any act of force. but it ha
nevertheless contributed TO increasini
activity. because it has demonstrates