We regret to read in certain quarters cries for savage
ven- geance on the Chinese. They are, perhaps, natural, but they can serve no end except to make them fight as men fight when quarter is refused. It is indispensable that there should be punishment for the atrocity committed in Pekin, and punishment such as will resound through Asia, where already, as, for instanct, in Turkey, men are muttering that the Chinese have shown the right way, but the phnishment should fall on the dynasty, not the people. To "slaughter all Pekin" is only to imitate Prince Tuan. The Allies ought, if they enter Pekin, to execute the authors of the tragedy what- ever their rank, and to refuse absolutely to make peace with a Manchu on the throne, but they ought also to avoid promiscuous slaughter except upon the battlefield. If they do not they will destroy their own coherence, for English- men and Americans remain Christiana, and rouse a popular hatred more dangerous than many lost battles.. The caution is the more necessary because Continental, as well as Japanese. generals are apt to believe that in Asia the most effective weapon is terror, and that if mobs see only soldiers killed they do not feel the necessary emotion. It is forgotten that terror has two results.
