A FRIENDLY VIEW.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 3389, 8 October 1900, Page 4

A FRIENDLY VIEW.

Herr Brandt, German ex-Minister to China, advises caution m dealing 1 with the Chinese, whom he defends against the accusation of illogical opposition t» Europeam progress. He expresses himself m the Deutsche Serve (Stuttgart) to the following effect : — "A good many harmless creatures m the countries of the civilised West would like to fertilise China with the bodies of its mandarins, m order to prepare the coiratry for Western 'pjrogress.' They iaveigh against the pigtail which the Chinaman refuses to cut oft, and they do not know that this pigtail means to the Chinaman progress and reform, for it and the Manchu dynasty are only 300 years old, and what are 300 years to a nation with a history of 3000 ? ' Our own correspondents/ and other loafers of different rank who attempt to inform the public regarding China, do not, of course, admit that the Chinese can have anything to say for themselves. It would be well for these people to study the speeches of Wu Ting Fang, the Chinese Ambassador m Washington, and show greater civility to the Chinese. China is an agrarian country, m the widest and m the narrowest sense of the word, and this is the reason why the Chinese look with contempt upon the merchant, just as the German agrarians do, who believe that commercial men have no other aim than to rob the farmer of! his money. But China is also the land of learned men. Taken as a whole, officials cannot succeed without passing strict literary examinations based upon Confucian teaching.of which the religious deference shown to ancestors is the basis. It is not too much to say that the Chinese cannot well imagine their country without Confucianism. With these two cardinal points of Chinese character, interference comes on the one hand from the foreign missionary, on the other from the foreign merchant, and both are held, not unjustly, responsible for the troubles which China has with foreign Governments. The alleged decay of China is not nearly so apparent as most people m Europe imagine. One of the best jndges.Mrs Bishop(nee Miss Isabella Bird) has shown m her book, ' The Tang-tae and Beyond,' that this decay does not exist as far as the masses are concerned. The mandarins fulfil their many duties on the whole very faithfully. That they receive extra fees, which are not even always regarded as bribes* by the people, is due to the system whioh allowß them only the most wretched, pay. The mass of the people are very freo m China, ' and rarely come into contact with the official world, except wken .they pay their taxes. With regard to his family life, his business, his pleasures, his daily wants, the Chinaman is the freest citizen of the freest country m the world. Were there half as much interference on the part of the Government or the police m a Chinese city as we stand m Western countries, the people would rise m open rebellion. The Americans alone seem to understand that the trade of China is anything, and that a forcible partitioning of Ckina would hurt trade. It is not wise to describe every petty band of robbers as a 'revolutionary party, or to describe the Empress-Regent, who has shown such remarkable ability for 40 years, as a tyrant opposed even to sensible reform. There are a few sickly hair* m theChinaman's pigtail, and it may benefit him to remove them ; but he will hardly be grateful if, m order to do so, we pull with koth hands at the wkole appendage. '