TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 10739, 20 August 1900, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

The story of Lord Elgin's The March advance on Pekin some forty on Pekin. years ago helps one to understand some ot the difficulties the allied armies must liave met recently on the march. Tlie allies of those days were the English and French, and with only those two nationalities there were frequent delays, owing to disagreement over the plan of campaign. A much worse trouble was the slippery diplomacy of the Chinese Emperor and his officials. Their policy was to spin endless details for discussion, and to profess to come to terms wbile they were secretly encouraging their generals to make every effort to gain' a victory over the foreigners; in the event of

'.their failing, the Pekin Govi-rnment would iisown tfeefil. Hie Treaty of Ti.n-.sin had /been agreed to, but when the British Envoy, Mr Bfac-, arrived, the In.p_f.-_ CVm-nlia* I sioners requeste*- Mm to discuss some unI settled details, though the t_ot*> ft_ed fo? S ratifying lb* ...aty had a_m__. elaped. ! Th. entftoG© to ttce Peiho was found barfed snd at ths Taku Forts the British were i repulsed. The garrison, -toWever, de- • dared they were only' -oe_l militia, acting without ordefs from Pekin, Y_i papers •nere afterwards found in the g-n_rai's > quarters proving that the Emperor, white expressing a desire .or peace, was urging |! his military officers to lose no ' chance ot ;j obtaining a victory. In ths midst of tha ! negotiation, a little later, Loo-, Parkes, and their companions were treaoherously seized, imprisoned and ill-treated, and afi attempt was "made to lead Sir Hope Grant and his army into a trap. The route taken wa_ by river and land, the sea forced being at that time under another Admiral SeyMoti? (tlie" unci- of the pmebt Vi&B-AdMif&l Seymour, Who led th. tffiswx*s_-_l Pekin expedition), While the lami forces niimbeTed among the officers such famous' soldiers as Napier and Wolseley. Th. initial difficulty Was the capture of the Taku _?orts. aud the occupation of Tien-tsin. The plan adopted was to capture the village of Pehtang, and attack the forts in the rear. The town Was undefended by troops, but the allies had a narrow escape of losing as many men as they would -have done in a battle, for the garrison before leaving had placed shells in magazines in siiclt a position that they would be exploded by moving some gunlocks- put in a spot where they were certain to be trodden oh. The plan, howeveJF, was divulged by a Chinaman, who was more "humane than patrietic, ;

Frequent reference has been The Road's made to tit. delay caused around to the present allies by the Pekin. state of the roads along the

river. The roads in China are said by __-_u.se to be the worst in existence. When paved, they consist ol blocked stone, embedded loosely in the surface of the ground. Hiese stones are frequently carried' off by people of tile neighbourhood for their own use. The country around Pekin is a flat plain, at some seasons almost like a bog. Nearly all theCWri.se fivers are subject to flood-/, though the Peihi? is not so famous in that; respect as the Hoang-Ho, which in I_S7 converted a plain about half as large as Scotland, and densely populated', into a raging sea. After the capture of Pehtang, the allies almost despaired, of getting on to one of-she main roads -lead-tig to tire Peiho, for the whole of the surrounding country had been.under water, aiid was more or _es_ impassable; the region around Pebtang consisted' jjf nothing bti. fliuA There was but one road, an .elevated causeway, and that was blocked by a Mrge Chines, army. Wolseley at last discovered a cart track, by whioh he led some of the troops, taking the C_in_s_ in tha rear, Willie the rest of the army attacked them in front. Sir Hope Grant gives to account of their difficulties in dragging the artillery over this bit oi country. "The horses got bogged, and tlm wagg__i_ stuck fast. At last, we were compelled to ..{ive the waggon bodies -behind us, and to content ourselves with the guns and waggon limber.. , At one time I really thought we sliould be obliged to give tip the attempt, but the struggle was continued and sound ground reached." Another sol* clter writes that in the fearful trudge across ths mud, the Punjaulj+se threw their boots away, and, tucking up their trousers, pushed boldly on. But at Pekin itself no resistance Was made, though, if it had been necessary to '.besiege atj\ the wall would have beeft ».orflii'dable obstacle. The main wall is almost ssixif feet high, and about fifty feet thick at the top. Lord Elgiri writes: "I doubt whether if all our siege guns.had been fired at it for a week, they could have;,effected any practicable breach iri a work of sttch solid construction." But with no courage or patriotism to man them, the Avails were a mere mockery. The Pekin Government never seems to have entertained the idea of standing a siege.

One of the Academy picRelics of the turGs, though not by a Lake-Dwellers, greatly distinguished- ar-

tist, shows an original fancy. It is called "The Lake-Dwellers," and aims at reconstructing for artistic purposes, those primitive scenes, long centuries before th_. Christian era, relics of which have been preserved: for us in the great deposits deep under the Swiss lakes. The reconstruction might have been more scientifically exact', however, without detriment to its picturesque qualities, and Professor Hutton would certainly find something <.-.) criticise in the figures, which show so little of any structural suggestion assigning them to the Lacustrine age. Even unprofessorial Christchurch folk have indeed a right to be critical about Lake-dwellers. They are a people whose ways and customs we have every opportunity to be acquainted with. Our Museum shows not only the excellent model of a Lake settlement, as approved by Dr. Keller, but a particularly good collection of weapons, tools, adornment-, specimens of their food and clothing, etc., by which to recompose, in the architecture of fancy, the daily affairs and guiTOtindings of this long extinct race. Why the lakes were chosen for settlement is easily comprehensible. If the waterlay, like natural clearings, in the midst of shaggy mountains and impenetrable forests, the mere fringe of which could, with inconceivable difficulty and slowness, in that stone age, be cut away for domestic purposes, it is natural to suppose the lake would present itself as a fre*e and open space for habitation, while the long, narrow causeway which connected the dwellings with the shore was the defence against wild beasts or wilder human enemies—the only anxiety the scheme involved, as to the bringing up of children under such circumstances, being dispelled by the custom of tethering the young barbarians by the foot by a projecting stake that they might not overstep the watery floor, as mentioned by Herodotus in his account of the Paeonian Lakers. They were a contented and a peaceful folk, it woidd seem, these ancient predecessors of the Swiss, for their implements of offence are few compared with those devoted to husbandry, household needs, and such beginnings of arts and sciences as this primitive world might know. And, on tbe whole, they were a particularly well-provided folk. Actual food fragments, discovered in those peaty depths, include various wheat*, cherries, hazel nuts, crab apples, with bones of the ox, the pig, the bison, vms, elk, ibex, and chamois, the wild boar and the stag. With the fish of their own lake—which Professor Keller's model represents drying amongst the huts in Maori fashion—thia must have given a very varied dietary. They had differest-sized dogs, too, amongst their do-

-.esfcio animals, pro"baMy to assi-i ir ftu__t.'•ng; and there is even a Lake lie is small, and supposed -ojjfive bs«a chiefly used as an article o-.'food. fJi e final element of interest is sullied to the relic, "by Pmt&sgat Hut-tori', lat.sfc importation ef __-t_ ffohi fossil bones and sk_lLv. The Lake man, from the small tov-liko character of his implement-, has been judged to have been himself small, with slender Oriental hands and feet. It j s said tfcat a Peruvian lady, a descendant of Montezuma, was the only grown person of this century who could slip her hand into a bracelet Which had clasped an cvi dently full-grown Lake-dweller's wrist. To j make things complete, our "Antiijt.ities" . room should certainly be able to show what I human relics remain of this strange pigtnv j race, older than the Helvetians or the Celt*. with their small, constructive,, and not :' cruel heads, and flexible Hindoo-like hands.

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