THE CHINA CRISIS.

Evening Post, Volume LX, Issue 103, 29 October 1900, Page 4

THE CHINA CRISIS.

If we caft only rely upon the accuracy of our cable news from the Far East there are indications that the Chinese Courtis beginning to recognise the necessity of abandoning the anti-foreign leaders to their fate. The Times, whose information is generally correct, states that the two Peace Commissioners — Prince Cln'ng and Li Humg-elTang — have "asked the foreign Ministers to name the Chinese officials deserving of punishment, and to say what form the punishment should take. The Emperor, it is also alleged, has in a decree recognised the guile of Tung Fu-hsiang, whose Jlansu soldiery played, such a prominent part in the attack -*jpon the .Legations. It seems more than a mere coincidence- that we should have learnt on Saturday that the death of Kang-yi, a violently anti-foreign Pek'm official, was confirmed ; and again, today, that Yu-hsien, Governor of Shansi, had committed suicide. . Yu-hsien was formerly Governor of Shantung, but the great anti-foreign rising which was, it is said, planned for a later da*%, broke out prematurely in his jurisdiction, the Shantung Boxers being over-hasty. The Chinese Government was not at that time | prepared to face the foreign Powers, so | )Tu-hsien was removed from office, on the ground that he had allowed anti- Christian outrages in his province. He was, however, shortly after appointed to the Governorship pf the inland province of Shansi, where he was comparatively safe from 'foreign interference. He seems to have been, the only one of the great Provincial satraps to Set about carrying out the instructions contained in the alleged edict ordering the extermination of foreigners. ■ A horrible story is tohd by a Christian refugee with reference to a wholesale slaughter of Shahsi missionaries" in Yuhsden's Yamen, or official residence, at Tai-yuen-fu, and there is reason to believe that, like Li Ping-heng and Kang-yi, this infamous mandarin was not only a strong supporter but a practical exponent of the reactionary policy. I£ he has now com- I m'itted suicide, it may be either that he ! has been ordered in the terms of. the j usual official euphemism to "eat gold," be- i cause of the difficulties into whioh he and his friends have plunged the Court j or that | j he sees the ajiproaching "debacle" oi the reactionary cause, and fears the vengeance .of the justly incensed foreigners. In sharp contrast with the conduct of Yu-hsien has "been the enlightened moderation of Chang Chi-tung, and Liv Kunyi,, the two Yangtee viceroys who, the Berlin correspondent of the Daily News says, sought and obtained the promise of support from the allies rather than adopt the sanguinary policy of the Tuan faction. This evidence of an organised attempt to exterminate^ the foreigners is increasing, and the Russians have apparently found corroborating testimony in the Mukden archives. It is currently reported in China that after the capture of the Taku forts, the anti-foreign faction feared that their plans had become known, and a circular telegram was despatched to all the Viceroys and Governors ordering war to the death with all foreigners. The story runs that Hsu Chingcheng and Yuan Chang, the two TsungliYamen Ministers who were executed by order of the Empress-Dowager, owed their death to having altered the word "exterminate" to "protect" in the telegram as sent to the Yangtse Viceroys, but this tale may be an invention to cover the prudent l'efosal of Chang Chitung and Liv Kun-yi to follow the example of Yu-hsien and the Governor of Manchuria. It is satisfactory to have some grounds for 1 hoping that the. Chinese Court is beginning' to see the wisdom of coming to terms with the allies, but it is somewhat ominous that the foreign representatives should, as is hinted in the caae of Paoting-fu, be over ready to consider the susceptibilities of offending officials. The Boxers are not, it is to b& feared, yet suppressed, and the alleged leniency may be the result of information leading to a suspiiiion, that the rising may be renewed as winter) separates the allied troops from their naval base.