The,Timee correspondent at Shanghai forwards a most in- teresting account
of Colonel Gordon's opinions upon Chinese preparations for war. He recommends that the Chinese should give up free emigration to America, that they should submit the Kuldja difficulty to arbitration by General Grant, and that they should arm themselves for defence, on principles in accord- ance with their position and resources. Their advantage is their numbers and their general, though low, civilisation, and Colonel Gordon would have them use them. That is, he ad- vises them to abandon their effort to form a grand armed steam flotilla, which Chinamen cannot work ; and the use of rifled guns, which they do not understand ; and the pur- chase of first-rate breech-loaders, which perplex the soldiers. Instead, they should submit the multitudes at their command to a simple discipline, and defend the exposed points of their country, particularly the Grand Canal, which feeds Pekin, by mortars in fifties and hundreds. The Chinese understand and can work mortars. The mortars and simple rifles will not kill so many as Armstrongs and Berdans, but they will kill more men than foreigners can spare. That sounds like advice which if taken would make of China a formidable Power, but we doubt if it will be taken. It is advice for a Government which dare arm the masses of its people, and the Pekin Government dare not. Perhaps, too, Colonel Gordon has under-estimated the effect of the despair which comes on soldiers who find them- selves pounded by shells and rifle-balls from those whom their own weapons will not reach. We must not forget Sadowa.
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