Evening star., 1928-11-04

moral prestige during the attempts of
peaceful conferences.
After the sanguinary days of March,
1927, in Marking, when some American
and British citizens were killed and out
ragged, 1t seemed, rightly or wrongly,
! that the collective note for excuses and
reparations had been taken by London
as a providential way out It is fire.
quently like that in feeble diplomatic
situations. A series of fumblings and
| contradictions can create SO false a po-
sition that sudden crisis seems almost
hope of salvation. At least it seemed
so to those who watched the develop
| mentS from China. And was there.
Unfortunately for the die-hards, but
| fortunately for the progress of the
| world, the United States declared itself
| opposed to any action. In a tWinkling
the Chinese shifted the scene of their
responsibilities. They began to behead
| Communists and Sir Austen Chamber
lain retired from his position suffi-
| GENTLY to declare to the House of Com
mons that, "in view of recent develop
mentS modifying the Chinese situation,
the punishment of those responsible for
the Marking outrages has taken a COM
| pletely new aspect. The really guilty
parties-that is, the Communist agita-
tors-have been punished by the Ma
tionalist authorities with a severity
which no foreign power would have
been prepared to adopt"
This meant sponging over the past.
Unfortunately for British prestige, all
China knew the text of the collective
note by heart, and that note insisted
on a written apolgy from the Southern
generalissimo, Chang Kai-shek an
apology that was never written. Worse
than that, all China knew that it was
only American opposition that had pre-
vented the launching Of a punitive
expedition.
England is right in preaching that
any blow leveled at her prestige is lev
eled against European prestige. There
is only one conclusion to be drawn: it
is the whole of European prestige which
has been wounded of late.
In spite of everything, the potential
force of the great past of liberal Eng
land has not yet entirely disappeared
England has more than once known
how TO change her attitude radically
| and to adapt it, with marvellous rapidity,
to new requirements. I could not con-
ceive Western mind really conscious
of the fateful solidarity of our peoples
| desire the return of England, in China,
to a moral and political situation
worthy of her great history.
England took upon herself a great
| role in the middle kingdom and knew
how to keep it-as long as she repre-
sented there the forces of a living cur
rent It is not by dreams of strong
handed actions against a fatal reality,
such as the awakening in Asia, that
her former prestige can be re-estab-
lished. In going against the lessons
of history she can only accomplish,
there and elsewhere, sets of vain and
sterile violence.
The other side of the picture is given
| by the present situation - and the
potential one-of the United States IN
China
A strange contrast with Englandl In
China England possesses territories
some in absolute sovereignty, such as
Hongkong; some on lease. as Weihai-
wei. She has six flourishing settle
which, theoretically, is international,
and exclusive of Hankow, which is no
longer fiourishing or in British hands.
The amount of English capital invested
| in China is valued at more than a
billion dollars A British force of oc-
, cupation is encamped at Shanghai; a
| powerful fleet is moored at Hongkong
The United States possesses almost
| nothing there: it has a legation at
Peking-a modest house compared with
the gorgeous Italian and French pal
aces rebuilt in 1901 after the Boxer
siege-and directs a few consulates
scattered over the whole immense ter
ritory of China. The numerous
branches of the Y. M. G. A., UP to
CONTINUED on Fourth Page.l