The Northern Guardian. — 1898-10-06 (Hartlepool, Cleveland, England)

WATCHMAKER.  SALES BY AUCTION.  IHURSDAY, OCTOBER 6, 1898.  THE CRISIS IN CHINA.  The destiny of China is to become a still more dangerous Turkey, for, whilst in the realm of the Sultan there exist some of those elementary forces which promote national cohesion, these are almost entirely absent in the amorphous empire at present nominally ruled by a Dowager-Empress strongly suspected of having compassed the murder of her nephew. The news that a member ol , the British Legation in Pekin has been stoned in the streets, and that a Chinese rrxretary of the American Legation has been assaulted by a mob, points to the dangerous feeling abroad. Pekin is evidently as full of explosive material as the political world is of rumours; some of the provi ne% are in a state of rebellion, and an aggressive movement on their part against the capita! is threatened, and not improbable. Meanwhile, a curtain is drawn over the proceedings at the Ctinese court, where the retrogressive party, headed by the Dowager-Empress, is completely In the ascendant, and the group of Chinese leaders who aimed at the reform of abuses on Western principles have been secretly executed. Reform has been cut short by a ruthless coup d'etat, and the administrative ameliorations are forgotten in the confusion of a dangerous cr:His. How far the changes will affect the relative position of the Powers now jea:ous:y wAching *oath other is uncertain. Englishmen in the Far East are, as usual, urging the British Government to adopt a policy, of extreme vigour. We are called upon to avenge the death of the Emperor, and to arrest and remove both the Empress and Li Hung Chang, but Lord Salisbury has apparently no intention cf taking any rash step. Patience in dealing with the intricate Chinese preibiJm at the preset moment is essential. Premature action on our part might easily disrupt whatever administrative machinery exists for holding the vast empire together, and provoke worse dangers than those we are called upon to remedy. We have a magnificent fleet in Chinese waters, but interventian. in the affairs of China, opposed to the feeling ot the population, would be an irreparable blunder. We cannot force Chinamen to think and act as Europeans. There is a strong sentiment opposing all Western innovations, especially on the part of the class which in any other country but China would be raorded as the most patriotic. We hafre nothing to do with dynastic troubles except when they affect our own interests. The domestic intrigues of the Chinese court take plaoe in secret. places beyond our political cognisance. It would be the greatest possible error to array against us that dead weight of crtEcialdom which battens on secret plunder legalised by the custom of a thousand years. The whole question is one of politicaf expediency, not of Chinese morals, which we are quite powerless to influence. Our object is 'to maintain our share in the enormous and growing trade of the country in the face of active and aggressive rivals. By alienating Chinese feeling we shall simply play into the hands of Russia, who, from her own strain of Tartar blood, is enable to appreciate the strange and apparently contradictory workiags of the Celestial intellect. The Western illusion that China was peopled by one race animated by community of sentiment must be dismissed. But in the coming changes, whatever may be their nature, the English people expect their Government to maintain their interests and prestige; nor is time any reason to doubt that this is within their .power.