A Solution for China.
A Berlin journal, which professes to enjoy the confidence of the Chinese Minister to Germany, has suggested quite a new solution of the Chinese difficulty. It holds that a mors exemplary punishment than that of death should be inflicted on Prince Tuan, Tang-fun-Siang and their associates. Tbe decapitation would certainly not act a3 a deterrent to others in the land of people so notoriously indifferent to physical suffering. Tbe principal culprits in the recent disturbances, therefore, should be given an opportunity of " atoning for their crimes by expiation and self-communion in foreign lands." The Emperor of China, it is suggested, should request the sovereigns and presidents of Europe and America to take tbe guilty Princes and rfficials into custody " for an indefinite period." It is to be made part of the discipline of the criminals that they should study European institutions " in the fields of military, political, administrative, industrial and commercial economy." Nor are »« morals and customs" to be neglected, while of course the barbarous tongues of the West will be learnt under the guidance of competent interpreters to be appointed for the purpose. The persons thus undergoing punishment will have to submit monthly reports to the Emperor at Pekin, describing the progress of their studies. An important detail is the provision that " the banished shall be required to report concerning all ordinances designed for their edification and conversion aiming at the cultivation of more friendly feelings towards foreigners." The crimes of Tuan and his friends were committed, we are told, during " a period of mental aberration." The banishment would give them an opportunity to reform, and at ihe same time enlighten them concerning the manners and customs of the " foreign devila" against whom they plotted. The Berlin suggestion has not teen taken seriously in Great Britain, but it certainly contains more than a giain of common-sense. —Lyttelton Times.
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Bibliographic details
Hastings Standard, Volume V, Issue 1427, 18 January 1901, Page 3
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313A Solution for China. Hastings Standard, Volume V, Issue 1427, 18 January 1901, Page 3
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