THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1889.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVI, Issue 9285, 12 February 1889, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1889.

The disturbances which are occurring in China should not come as a surprise to us. In Friday's Herald we announced by cable message from Hongkong that news had been received at Shanghai that a "riot" had occurred the previous day at Tching Kiang, a town on the Yangtse-Kiang, that the rioters had attacked the offices of Mr. Oxenham, the British Consul, which were burned; that the fire had spread to the adjoining buildings, and the houses of seven foreigners Avere also destroyed, and that H.M. ship Merlin, of the China squadron, had been ordered to proceed at once to the scene for the purpose of protecting the property of British residents. We have been subsequently informed by cable that the riots were the result of a Chinese conspiracy against foreigners, that they were organised by the officials, and that these were aided by the soldiery. Now in all this we have nothing to wonder at. The place at which these disturbances have occurred is an important entrepot of trade on the Yangtse-Kiang River, about forty miles below the great city of Nankin, and some eighty miles overland from Shanghai, It, derives its chief importance not only from its being a port accessible to the largest ocean-going steamers, but from being located at the place where " The Great River" of China is crossed by the Imperial or Grand Canal—a system of water communication which connects together all the principal river and other internal navigation of China. It is, therefore; a point at

which Chinese and foreign commerce meet, and at which commercial contaci is of very olden date. An entente ai such a place is not, therefore, to be connected with the intense conservatism and ignorant prejudice against foreigners that may be supposed to find a habitat among a people living in remote localities and in the primitive conditions of Chinese society; and there can be very little doubt that in this explosion of popular passions against British residents, we see the working on the Chinese mind of that exceedingly imprudent behaviour in which these colonies have been indulging. It will be observed that a British warship has been ordered round to the place to protect the interests of British subjects, and it would be interesting to know what kind of face the British authorities can put on such proceeding after the riotous and illegal proceedings in which not only the mobs but the Governments of these colonies have been indulging towards Chinese residents. Of course it is competent foi any one to assume the "high and mighty" attitude of scorning to be called on to treat the Chinese as we would have the Chinese to treat our fellow subjects resident among them. Our social system as well as the comity of nations is supposed to be based on the principle involved in the injunction " whatsoevei ye would that men should do unto you. do ye even so unto them" ; but larrikinism in high places ignores the obligation, and not only have Chinamen in the colonies been in the past the victims oi the most atrocious violence at the hands of mobs on the goldfields and of hood lums in the cities and towns, but theii rights have been taken away by the hands of those who are speciallj chai'ged with the maintenance of the law, and confessedly in violation of tht existing laws of the country. In what way commanders of British warships in Chinese waters can reconcile theii repression of Chinese attacks on foreigners, and their objections tc the expulsion of British subjects from the ports of the Yangtse-Kiang with the violent and disorderly conduci of mobs and Governments alike in Australia towards Chinese residents will be a problem to task their powers of diplomacy. Should we hear of i Chinese warship being ordered rounc to Sydney harbour to protect the interests of Chinamen who have beer subjected to civil wrongs and persona' outrage, it would doubtless appear tc many an ominous if not an insoleni challenge ; and yet there is every like lihood that just as outrage on Chinamen in Australia has evoked this outbreak of violent demonstration against Englishmen at Tchin Kiang, so this demonstration of naval power on the Yang-tse-Kiang will be followed by a naval display of the force of China in Australian waters, in protest against the ill-treatment to which Chinamen are subjected in the colonies. Of these hostile demonstrations against British residents in China, which are euphemistically called " riots" —just as we always speak of any people fighting against us as being " rebels"— it is reported that they have been organised by the officials, and assisted by the soldiery. This may or may not be true. The statement bears a strong family likeness to those allegations that are commonly made by angry people magnifying the disaster or indignity to which they may have been subjected. If this expulsion of British subjects has been officially instigated, the incident is all the more significant and pregnant with evil. No one can say bhat the Chinese Government would not have been justified in ordering such i course. It would have been simply tihe lex talionis which is as distinctlyrecognised in the dealings of all civilised aeoples with one another as is the law )£ nations ; and as the Chinese authorises have a naval strength in those seas, greater not only than that o£ England n the East, but than that of all the Powers of Europe combined, such a lew departure would not be likely to be irrested by the mere visit of a British nan-of-war to the estuary of the Yang-ise-Kiang. It is to be hoped that the statement that the attack was made at :he instigation of the officials and by -,he help of the Chinese soldiers is but in. exaggeration indulged in by the : ugitives to cover their flight, but we ive free to confess that this is exactly ;hat which would seem to be the natural ind reasonable policy for the Chinese government to pursue, as a protest igainst the unfriendly and exclusive iction of both America and England, or it least of the English colonies—towards the subjects of the Emperor of Jhina.