Manawatu Herald. THURSDAY, JULY 26, 1900. China.

Manawatu Herald, 26 July 1900, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. THURSDAY, JULY 26, 1900. China.

« Thb internal agitation in China is one of which no one knows the origin or the end, and it will be wonderful, and much to the credit of the diplomats if pacification is secured without a general European war. Our latest news informs us that Russia has proclaimed a state of war in Siberia, and in Asiatic and Eussian Turkestan, part of which territory is perilously close to India. The religion of China consists of three classes — Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism. The Emperor is considered the sole High Priest of the Empire, and can alone, with his immediate representatives and Ministers, perform the great religious

ceremonies. The Confucian is the State religion. Large numbers of the people profess all three religions, which are accompanied with elaborate rituals, but the bulk of the people are Buddhist. There are also 30,000,000 Mahomedans. Roman Catholicism has long had a footing in China, and has about 1,000,000 adherents. The number of Protestant adherents is estimated at 50,000. Thus both England and Turkey have indirectly an interest in the struggle outside what other European countries have, and the hopes and fears of the Mahommelan members of the British and Turkish Empires may influence the course of events differently than what might be expected. We have heard of the Mahommedans praying in their mosques that success might not lay with the Russians, which has been of sufficient moment to cause the latter government to request the Sultan of Turkey, as Caliph of the Moslem world, to tranquilise the Chinese Mahommedans. This affords an apt illustration of the power still possessed by the Turk, who has been for years described as " the sick man." " The Statesmen's Year Book " | for 1900 gives the population as 402,680,000, and the area of China as 4,218,401 square miles. Europe has 860,000 of a population, and is 8,800,000 square miles in extent. It also states that the army of China comprises the Eight Banners and Ting Ping, or national army. The former nominally contains about 800,000 men, descendants of the Manchu conquerors and their allies. The number maintained on a war footing is from 80,000 to 100,000. The whole force is divided into three groups, the Manchus, Mongols and Chinese, and forms a sort of hereditary profession, within which inter-marriage is compulsory. Like some savage nations China breeds warriors. The Ting Ping or Green Flags consists of 18 corps, one for each province. The nominal strength is from 540,000 to t>60,000 men, of whom about 200,000 are available for war, nnetv t r more than one-third being called out. Besides these forces there are mercenary troops, raised in emergencies, and Mongolian and other irregular cavalry about 20,000 strong, but of no military value. The total land army on a peace footing is put at 300,000 men, and on a war footing at about a million. The army as a whole has no unity or cohesion ; there is no proper discipline, the drill is mere physical exercise, the weapons are long since obsolete, and there is no transport, commissariat, or medical service." The Year Book may be correct as to what the army was, but is evidently at fault as to what the Chinese army is, as the latest cablegrams have proved that they not only possess arms of precision but also know well how to use them. It is a matter for grave consideration as to how China is prepared for war, as it is evident no one outside of the inner circle know, as taking her fighting power in proportion to her population we have only to compare France and Germany with her. France with a population roughly at 88 millions can put three millions of soldiers in the field ; Germany with 52 millions can put nearly four millions in the field, and as these proportions are roughly one fourth of the population of those countries, China, in like manner should be able to put 86 millions of men in the field. To subdue China would be a work which would tax the combined power of all Europe, and would be then very much in favour of the Chinese after the seaboard of the country had been captured, as but few railways run into the interior, and roads are bad, and the canals used by the inhabitants could easily be destroyed. Thus whatever is done will be but partially done, and the " heathen Chinee " will jog his usual course anywhere beyond five hundred miles from the sea, as he has been in the habit of doing for centuries past.