THE MAEQUIS TSENG ON CHINA.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1489, 22 February 1887, Page 4

THE MAEQUIS TSENG ON CHINA.

Those who knew tuu iwaiquis TBeng m this country (says a London correspou dent) will never forget bis radient iac-> and the genuine amiability of his char&oter. He is a statesman withal. The article he has written for the Asiatic Quarterly Review shows how much tie tias profited by his contact with western civilisation and mudee of thought. The key to tha article may ba found m this passage:— "By light of the burniog palace, which had been the pride and delight of her Emperors, she (China) commence** to see that she had been asleep while all the world were up and doing ; that she had been sleeping m the vacuous vortex of the storm of foroas wildly whirling around her." In other words, China is now fully awake According to the Marquis, she has betn taught a lesson which Europe can hardly yet be said to have learnt She is net of opinion " that it is oniy with blood that the stain of blood can be wiped out " On the contrary, she thinks that "the stain of defeat lies m the defects and mistakes which led to it," and that m order to wipe It oat the best way is to institute the necessary reforms. For this reason China Is now chiefly concerned with her coast defences and the reorgnisatlon of her army. The Marquis denounces the cruel or inhospitable treatment which the Chinese experience In various oivilised countries; and he also makes some significant remarks on the nggreesive temper of the European inhabitants of the foreign settlements In China. No other Chinese statesman has ever produced so great an impression upon English public opinion as the Marquis, the reason being that be employe RhglUb Ideas as effectively as we do oorgaivsß, and also that we have begun to attach a high value to the Chinese alliance.