The Kenilworth Advertiser. — 1898-08-27 (Kenilworth, Warwickshire, England)

ILWORTH ADVERTISER, SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 1898 ! VIEWS OF THE WEEKLY PRESS.  WLETED-A STATESMAN.  Discussing the Chinese crisis the Speaker remarks. is it not nhrions to those who Irvik at the opposing fortes as they now stand /MU upon the chem. ',oar.: of high politics that :here is here • problem which in all its 'lenient* eemands the highest skill atatesinanehip, but which, granted our possessior ..1 such skill, is certainly capable of a solutiov alturther in ma- fg ur? - 'Co speak plainly, the cards are on the table, and, in spite of the imbecility.... no miluer w. id ispos.ibie—whieh has characterised our Ministersiduring the pest timbre mouths, there , Is etill ram* to retrieve the 'past and win the game hriliontly, provided only we have at the head of efflrms a player who knows how to make the best ire of his resources. How would the situation seem to such a player? Against him he has arrayed Ciie brilliantly daring aid utterly unscrupulous diplomacy of Russia, backed by the timid friendship of Prance and the secret sympathy of Germany, and supported by the corruption of the Pekin officials and the steady advance of the Muscovite Empire in the direction of China. All these constitute very foimidable factors in the situation; and we do not wet der at the fact that they ell the timid and muddle headed officials in Downing-street with perph sky and dismay. But against them what would a great English Minister be able to set? He would have the tradition of our prestige in the Far East. a tradition which still lingers, though the thing itself has been allowed to slip from our grasp. He w(uld have the possible support of Japan—a support which might certainly be secured upon proper cooditions—and something more than the possibility of a good understanding and close co-operation with the United State', based upon our common interests, loth precient and future, in the commercial development of the Far East. Finally, he would have at hi, command forces of war such as no oth i r nation can pretend to possess—forces which, if the sword were to be drawn, would make us absolutely su retre not only on Asiatic seas but on waters nearer home. It will be seen, then, that if we are to engage in a struggle for existence, in which Great Britain has to face something very like a European coalition against her in the Far East, we are by no means so ill-prepared for the contest as some seem to suppose. If we had to face Russia alone—whilst the rest of the world formed a ring and saw fair play—we should really have nothing whatever to fear.  Ttika CIITA  The Kimlife will certainly be beaten before Michaelmas, says the Saturday Review, according to the programme, but when we ask what is to happen next the answer is by no means clear. A big force of we-armed men accustomed far years to live by plunder and rapine will be dispersed; some will be slaughtered in battle, more will be killed afterwards by the haling and other tribes who have long scores to settle; some will come over to the victors. But after all this there will be a considerable remnant. There is one poiut in connection with the campaign that must be spoken of, and that is the eotition of tlie newspaper correspondents. They are reeffiettal as the) have never been in war Lefore —"terrorised "is a word that has been used. The Sirdar exercises a two-fold censorship. In the first place he"pasees " the men—those who do not please him being peremptorily rejected and sent home; and in the second place he "passes" the news, which accounts for the fact that not a scrap of real information has come through since the campaign started. What all this leads to in the way of servility and the suppression of unpleasant facts rosy be imagined. Those who are not sufficiently pliant are expelled From the camp. In one shocking care, we understand that the suicide of a young and highly gifted correspondent of a London morning paper was the result of his discovery that he had been peremptorily dismissed, and practically ruined by General Kitchener's ukase. But the daily papers will not speak, for if they did, their correspondents would suffer.  .