TOPICS OF THE DAY.
CHINA AND EUROPE.
IT is possible at last to follow with somethine,b like full comprehension the history of the upheaval in China which is now distracting the world, and one incident in which his produced throughout Europe a unanimous out- burst of rage and horror. It is clear from the narrative drawn up by Count von Bulovv, from the trend of the lies circulated by the Chinese Viceroys, from one or two authentic decrees, from the revelation in the Yorth, Obina Herald of May 16th, and from the flashes of white light contained in the letter of a student interpreter to his father—a letter full of knowledge and judgment, though purposely couched in a schoolboy jargon intended to soothe away alarm—that the central cause of the outbreak was the Empress-Regent. That tiger-hearted woman decided, probably, when she superseded the Emperor, to adopt the anti-foreign policy of the great Conservatives in her Court who were headed by Prince Tuan, the ultimate leader of the "Boxer" secret society, and who were ready at that price to support her claims. She probably bought Prince Tuan by promising to make his son Emperor, and thenceforward the preparations for war on Europe were committed to him, and went forward with wonderful energy, secrecy, and despatch. Quantities of arms were imported, scores of thousands of men were drilled in districts invisible to Europeans, especia ally Shantung ; the real troops of the Empire. who were all on the Western frontiers were called up to Pekin, and there can be little doubt that a general massacre was planned for a particular date. Some occurrence, as yet obscure, however, drove the Empress, as the student interpreter records, half crazy with rage ; circulars were sent warning the Viceroys that all foreigners were doomed (vide M. Delcasas first speech), and orders were issued for a general attack on the Legations as an unmistakable declaration of war. The idea was not at first to kill the Ambassadors, but to seize them, and then demand that Europe, as the price of their lives, should thenceforward treat China, in Prince Tuan's words, "as a sealed book." They were all invited to the Tsung-li-Yamen, but all save the German t Baron von Iletteler, whose disbelief in Chinese courage was invincible, refused to go, and his death en route nearly deranged the plot. It warned the Ambassadors that the Empress intended to shed blood. So strongly, however, was the idea of capture entertained in the Imperial Palace, that the English and French Legations were not shelled, as they might have been from the walls behind them, but only attacked by soldiers and armed mobs, both with strict orders to reserve the Ambassadors alive. It is probable that this policy, of which the Viceroys obviously knew, would have been per. sisted in, and that theAm hassadors would have been starved into submission, but that. Prince Ching, the second Manchu Prince of the Imperial House, who had been roughly dis- missed by the Empress from the Premiership in, favour of Prince Tuan, believed his own life to be threatened, and being still commandant of the Palace Guard, forwarded pro- visions to the Embassies, or rather to the British Embassy, whither all the Legations and their guard had retreated. In that vast palace, with its high-walled compound, hope bad gradually died away, and when its inmates knew, through Sir Robert Hart, that Admiral Seymour's dare- devil dash had been useless, and saw that their own munitions were failing, they, in concert with Prince Ching, made on July 6 a final desperate sortie. There was the one last supreme chance that if it succeeded the combined force might rush the Palace and, hold the Empress and Prince Tuan hostages for the safety of the Embassies. It was too late. Prince Ching's guard deserted him, be was killed, with his military chief of staff, and the Europeans were beaten back, with. their ammunition nearly exhausted. Then Prince Tue.% im- patient of further delay, abandoned the idea of capturing the Ambassadors, ordered a final assault, and began the shelling which, but for the design we have explained, he could have begun at once. The external wall was battered in, the Chinese soldiers and mob-leaders swarmed in in lountless numbers, and the European gentlemen of the Einbwiee, with the few surviving marines—after slay- ing the ladies and children to-preserve them from outrage and torture—died in the compound and the great hall, sword in hand. The horror of torture was, we believe, spared them, but there has never been such a scene since history began. The representatives of all Europe, the men who even in Pekin held themselves the equals of Kings, and could not believe to the last that even in that separate world of China there were men who dare take their lives, died fighting to the last, without hope as without fear ; many, as appears from the courier's account, when wounded entreating their comrades to hasten dissolution with their revolvers. We will stimu- late no cry for vengeance, but if Europe endures this, its claim to direct and moderate the politics of the world is changed into a futile boast. There is no more need to destroy Pekin than there was to destroy Delhi, but if Europe is to retain its self-respect, not only the individual criminals, but the dynasty which gave them their power, and the caste which supported them in their crimes, must be swept away. There must be an end of the Manchu.
The tragedy at Pekin will prove, we fear, to be but one of a series which will move the peoples even more, though no other can equally insult the Courts. The hope, which is so general in Europe, that the Viceroys will protect the foreigners will prove, we believe, a, baseless illusion. Why should they, when they can obtain promotion and exemption from the certainty of being poisoned, by sub- mission to the legal central- power ? If the Empress is reigning, she is the recognised Sovereign ; if Prince Tuan, he is the natural Regent during his son's minority. Both have ordered the extirpation of the foreigner, and neither will pardon disobedience. The Viceroys, it seems to us clear, have been playing for months into the hands of Pekin, and are playing still ; some with artistic lying ; some, like Li Hung Chang, by forwarding troops ; one at least, the man who rules in Manchuria, by an active collec- tion, which must have been going on for months, of force and guns sufficient to defy the Russian force upon his ground. The men who have dared order a Russian city upon Russian ground to be stormed will dare anything. The plot has covered the whole Empire. Already the Viceroys in the interior are throwing off the mask, and within a month we shall find that the Viceroys of the coast provinces have thrown it off too, and that in every settle- ment where there are Europeans the only place of safety will be shipboard, if even that will be safe, for the sailors also are at the .mercy of Pekin. It is true that Tientsin has been taken, and it is supposed that that event will restore the prestige of Europe and incline all Chinamen to be submissive. We doubt it greatly. Frightening the Court is of little use, for the Court fights, • as it well knows, with a rope round its neck, and the people will be no more frightened than if Tientsin had perished in a flood. There are a hundred Tientsins in China, and no one of them all cares what becomes of any other one. The centre of power is the dynasty, and the dynasty can spend a thousand men a day, and feelit no more than the ocean feels when a wave fails to overcome an iron liner. The Courts, we are glad to see, perceive the truth quite accurately. Every week the armament they deem sufficient increases in strength, and the march to Pekin, for which Admiral Seymour and two thousand men were a few days ago deemed sufficient, will not now be attempted with less than a hundred thousand men. It is vain to talk of speed when six Governments have to provide supplies, food, and transport for such masses. The Japanese are ready, but nobody else is, not even we ourselves, though we do not hesitate to spend, and to become ready time must be allowed. A mighty Empire with twice the population.of Europe has declared war upon five of her States, and if those States do not employ all the resources of military science, they may be defeated. Energy is needed, and daring, and extravagance, but when an Empire like China has to be conquered by a composite force, hurry is out of place. Our countrymen most beware still of the old illusions. The capture of Tientsin, if we have captured it, is a goad preparatory step, but who would have dreamed six months ago that for ten thousand Regulars to take Tientsin would be a difficult and a glorious feat ? •
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