The Northern Guardian. — 1895-08-15 (Hartlepool, Cleveland, England)

DAILY)  THURSDAY, AUGUST 15, 1895.  CHINA AND EUROPE.  THE horrible massacre in China raises a question of extreme difficulty, such as must tax Lord Salisbury's diplomatic ingenuity to solve. Practically, we demand the adequate punishment of the murderers and claim an opportunity of seeing that justice (as we understand it) is carried out. Whether the Chinese Government, whose feeble administrative grip ha s been still further weakened by the late war, will have the power to enforce its authority, if it has the desire, opens a second problem of great importance. In short, this deplorable incident might easily become a psychological epoch in the history of the Far East, in which the freedom of action of the Chinese Government in the country it nominally rules should undergo important modifications. If England and America finally decide to send a Commission, protected by an armed force, to the scene of the massacre, because the Chinese officials are too treacherous to punish the " Vegetarian " rebels themselves, will not the executive authority of the Emperor over his people be dangerously weakened? Whatever happens, it will scarcely be claimed that the blundering scheme of government which has held China together for so many centuries can undergo further strain without danger of collapse. Even if the series of disasters and humiliations suffered in the war with Japan had not hastened the crisis, it was obvious to the Europeans best acquainted with the country and its races that the ancient cohesion was steadily being undermined by natural processes of decay. The direct interference of European powers in the internal affairs of China cannot fail to hasten the avalanche. If Japan had been allowed to reap the fruits of victory as she understood the harvest, the vast Empire might perhaps have crumbled at once. But it is, and always has been, one of the aims of Great Britain to maintain China as a huge buttress against Russian expansion in the far East. Nothing has occurred to alter this policy. A sudden change in the balance of power might well let loose jealousies which nothing short of a great war for possession of the falling fragments could appease. The chaos and confusion, the revolts and the massacres, the terrible bloodshed, the conflicting interests, the scramble for the scattered outlying states, in which England, Russia, and Japan would be active, threaten a turmoil on too great a scale for any settlement but that arrived at by fighting. If the Chinese show themselves really desirous of avenging the slaughtered missionaries, and atoning for the crime of which they must bear the responsibility, Lord Salisbury will doubtless refrain from harrying them more than is necessary. To slaughter with gunboats and marines the people who reject the teachings of Christianity is the worst possible means of spreading the gospel of Christ. If the Chinese methods were Western methods, they would long ago have protested against the intrusion of missionaries amongst a fanatical and ignorant populace. Li Hung Chang long since might, with great weight of logic, have pointed out to the British Government that the presence of Christian missionaries enhanced the difficulty of ruling the country, and that if these heroic evange lists were not recalled the Chinese Government would in no wise be responsible for their safety. To such a representation as this European Governments could scarcely have been deaf. Hitherto our efforts to convert China have been fruitless, and it is full time Tor the English and American people to take a practical and business-like view of the whole question of Chinese missions. The truth has been far too long concealed from the good and generous people whose funds render them possible. At all events, young women should not be allowed in their youthful ardour to seek a "martyr's crown," to risk their lives amid savage hordes of ignorant Chinese peasants. But nothing short of an impartial inquiry on the part of ' the Government will suffice to place the missionary question in China in its true light. Meanwhile, we recommend those of our readers in doubt to read what Mr Curzon has said on this subject in his "Problems of the Far East."