THE YELLOW PERIL.

North Otago Times, 22 September 1908, Page 4

THE YELLOW PERIL.

.; ■ •■: n ■: '.»,.' . /i;--.';/. •; China; and' Japan,, ai;o at; present the , dark horses in the,future strugglo ,pf the chief races of the' wbrld J for 'supremacy'in'the'direction of its■■' destinies ■;: and this fact; lends,a; ; cortain amount of importance to an article in the Contemporary Review, by'Mr Edward' Poord, written' for the purpose of 'sho,wuigj(t'hat( while the Gflrmanic , hordes were instrumental ; in tho de- ■ st-'ruciion' of 'the Roman.'lmperial 'sys- , tern in Southern and Western Europe, "they, themselves were .in full retreat , before other hordes of barbarians of a | much lower order moving west from Central Asia." The great wave which submerged tho institutions of.an enipiro so vast and powerful as that of Romo was really impelled by a still mightier wavo behind it, This was composed of \ the Hiungnus,; better known in history, as the ;Huns, who, expelled from China by the genius' of the sovereign who' built the'iGreat Wall, migrated to tho south ward, and, after many vicissitudes ,^fl "swarmed into the plain of Hungary, N drove. Burgu'ndians, Sucves, Vandals, ' and Alcmanni in frantic terror' before them, until the whole mass was forced upon and across'the'Rhino," and' the Roman Empire as a world power was doomed." ...Sir Foord's'narrative of these events, which, occurred during the first three centuries 'of the present era, is both graphic and perspicuous. They resulted in the obliteration of cities, peoples, agriculture and arts; and the extinction of European civilisation for a period of, something like n thousand years. But this momentous . episode points to an impressive march. There is now a Tartar race in (lie Par East which "Jess than thirty, years, ago showed itself capable of evolving .good leaders and of fnflicting bloody defea',B upon a powerful ■ European antagonist." Therefore, argues Mr Poord, these same Asiatics "are at least fully equal t'o tho people of the West in tho dualities that go to the making of groat nations."- Alongside oi them China is waking up ft nd arm- -»?, and the. < t m\ion tlierefom- ariseswhether the mass of 400,000,000 of people, half of whom are bom soldiers, may not in the time to come cnange the course of the world's history, as they did in bygone centur.cs?