There is some apprehension that the hand of the Chinese
Government may be forced, but it is probably exaggerated. According to rumour, the mob of Pekin has shown excitement, and the War Party has, therefore, triumphed. The Marquis Tseng denies this, and it is antecedently improbable. That the public opinion of the Chinese is the ultimate force in China, the Government not having the means of sitting upon bayonets, is a truth which Europe is slowly learning, but the Govern- ment is not so weak as the rumour would indicate. It has a powerful garrison and a large Tartar mob in Pekin, -upon both of which it can reckon, and it could in dangerous circumstances call up cavalry from the desert. It can, moreover, safely assure its people that Tonquin will not be surrendered, or even promise war if it is not evacuated. There is, no doubt, a strong war party among the great officials; but it acts under well-understood rules, and is not likely to incur the deadly enmity of the Court by encouraging mob coercion. In China, in matters of that kind men stake their heads, a fact which helps to explain the extreme caution and slowness with which all serious resolves are taken in Pekin.
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