NOTES ON AFFAIRS IN CHINA

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 10707, 13 July 1900, Page 6

NOTES ON AFFAIRS IN CHINA

News from Hong Kong, dated July 10th, is of a most cheering character, as it is of such a nature that it leaves no doubt in our ■mind's as to the safety of the foreign Am-liass-adors and other Europeans at Pekin. The conflicting stories that have been cabled all over the world very naturally have created a feeling of doubt in many minds as to the reliability of news from China, but we are inclined'to take a hopeful view. There was a ray of hope on account of the conflicting nature of the reports and Jdie sources from which they emanated, Consequently we are not surprised to be informed that tho Dowager Empress is still alive and at the head of affairs ; in fact, we dtubt very (much if she ever relinquished her control. Taking this view of the situation, we are not in any way surprised to learn that Prince Ching, in command of the Manchu troops that garrison Pekin, had taken the field in aid of* the foreigners, although we cannot understand why he should epike the guns that he must have captured from the Boxers, or remove the ammunition from tht' vicinity of the guns, unless perchance the guns were position guns, and his Manchu troops were unwilling to turn the guns against the • Boxers, or were unable to hold the captured ordnance and munitions. The etory as cabled certainly requires some explanation 'before one can place complete confidence in all the details, but there nre very good grounds for believing that Prince "Ching and possibly some other powerful mandarins have been able to upset the plans of Prince Tuan. The refusal of the Vkeroy of Shan-tung to obey Prince Tuan when he ordered an attack on the Viceroy of the neighbouring province of Iviang-su, and the action of several of the Viceroys of provinces along- the Yang-tse-iviang, has probably convinced the Dow* tiger Empress that it would be impossible to resist the combined 1 forces of Europe, and particularly so when so many of the Viceroys wavered in their support of the 3oier programme. Kiang-su province ia a long, narrow strip of very irregular shape, about 310 miles long by an average width of 60 miles. pulation of tho province is 20,905,171, or 470 persons to the square mile. This province has a- very extensive coast line; besides, it has a great number of miles of navigable waterways, jrarriculariy m the Yang-tee river. Che-foo is a treaty port about 40 miles 'from Wei-hai-wei, on the coast of Shan-tung, to the west of the British port. , Tlie statement of Mr Wyndham m the House of Commons shows that China bought an immense number of rifles, guns and munitions otf war in the last five years; it is remarkable that British firms sold to China 71 heavy position guns for fortifications. 123.fi?1d guns, ami 207 machine guns, while Germany supplied 460,000 Mauser rifles during the same period. These purchases are in very marked contrast to the purchases made by Great Britain, although the last named certainly required very many more weapons than she bought during the same period. The bravery of the Northern Ch.nese has never been doubted by any military or naval officer who has had ah opportunity of observing the race. Every competent critic who has studied the Chines-re soldier has been convinced that all that China needed was an awakening to a sense of her own greatness to make her mistress of Asia, if xiot of the world. Brave, patient, and obedient, the Chinese soldier only lacked training and arms of modern pattern to make' turn a dangerous enemy if properly led. We now hear that he fights with skill and deliberation, even although he has little, if any, confidence in his officers, and it is a matter of interest to hear on such gocd authority as the officers of the allied forces engaged at Takn and Tien-tsin that the Chinese artillerymen fought their guns with a great deal of skill. This shows that the Chinese army is a different body of men to the army that Japan defeated so eaajly. It also shows that the training given by the German officers who have been employed to instruct that branch of t"te army has done qronders in a very short time. All English military officers were compelled to leave tho Chines, service'not later than February, 1891, or else throwtip their commissions in the British service. * ;