FACING DANGER

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 112, 14 May 1927, Page 20

FACING DANGER

UPHOLDING ENGLAND'S PBES-

TIGE IN CHINA,

If there is. one thing which stands *ut prominently amid all the chaos of ' |he, Chinese situation it is the iinpcrjlkurrjal>ie good ■ nature and calm of' theaverage young British sailor and sol : iflier -in'" the face of provocation and danger. At Kiukiang a few marines ignored the raving violence of a mob for several hours; at Hankow a handful of Bailors, and' marines not morely faced m similar mob for'eight hours without, turning a hair, but actually replied to their worst/ insults and injuries with some thoroughly' English jokes, while at Shanghai tVo sentries, by the moral influence of their 1 presence, held up 500 armed Chinese, troops until reinforcements could arrive. And these young'men are no doubt quite unaware that they did anything ont o£ the ordi»aTy, writes Henry Powell in the "Daily Mail." In the typical English way they were probably much ; jnore .amused than annoyed . or alarmed. .- - For the, Englishman can always see Ihe funnyl side of' things even: in. a perilous situation—the tighter the corner the stronger becomes his sense of humour. This was proved again; and •gain during the war, and is, in truth; one of the great assets of our national character. .

The Communist who thunders -about the -"brutal and arrogant aggression" cf our soldiers and sailors in China is ludicrously wide of the mark. They : are the best-tempered and most, long-suf-fering of men, and they are much inqre likely to laugh at an infuriated Chinese than to iise a weapon, oven'under the most severe provocation; for one and *U they josaess-^as nearly "all : Englishmen do—t°e saving gifts of humour, balance, and self-restraint. These... yoing men—many of them Httle": more than fcoys—are the finest proof j.>ve .could have that England is not decadent. Unknown to th emselves' they are upholding' onr prestige throughout the world by .their niagnifi-. eenf "self-restraint and sense "of duty in the face of danger and insult.