CHINA IN EBULLITION.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 60, 1 July 1907, Page 4

CHINA IN EBULLITION.

Al>Ti-I)VNASTIC MOVEMENT. FUS3U3ILITIKS OF A UUEA'I KEVOLT. Hongkong, May 23. Xew wine is being poured into old bottles in China, and the result nuiy he more startling and lasting than the Boxer rising; nothing less, in fact, than a revolt ajrain-it the Maneliu dynasty. Every thoughtful ol»erv«»r of th*» Ear Ea-t i\i»U that China is moving towards great things. InU no one can guage the lull extent of the anti-dynaslic and ii;titrin parties, nor prophesy in what manner new forces will become manifest. China to-day U vastly different form the China of the Itoxer rising.

Tin' war in Manchuria lias laupjlit its e.son to the Chinese, and the desire for progress and ivhum lias found expression in the depaU-h of to | different parts of Hie world. and in I li" <l.l nil 11- tor internal and provin< i;il reforms. Students have been despatched broadcast to Japan itnd America and other countries, and large numbers have returned to China. Throughout I lie Empire virile anil well-informed native papers have sprung up. and they pre-< tii the new ideas with a considerable decree of intemperance. The masses have now a voice, anil Ihi- voice of the native press not to be despised. Even ill Canton, under the despotic rule of a viceroy, one paper boldly charged (he authorities with corruption,* and although punishment and suppression resulted. the impeachment itself was significant of new conditions. THE FAMINE. The enlightened men of China, Chinese officials such as Yuan Shih-kai, Tuan Fang. Tang Shao-yi, jjjd the new viceroy of Manchuria, iTsu Shih-chang, arc known throughout China and beyond as advocates of reform and progress. Another factor which must play a great part iu any uprising is the terrible famine in Central China. The widespread misery and distress offer golden opportunities to the agitator, and point to the posißility that revolt may start ill the Yangtse Valleys. Although the Government have taken some steps to relieve the distress which affects millions, on the whole they seem to have miserably failed to cope with the situation. While men, women and children are being wiped off like Hies by hunger and misery, while the dead are being dug up and eaten, and while girls are being sold into slavery for a few- bowls of rice, the Empress Dowager is reported to be building wonderful and costly fountains, and to be installing other extravagances at Pekin.

The despatch of tlie commissioners abroad was a concession by the Empress and the Pekin clique to the growing tide of popular feeling. These commissioners have returned and have presented their reports, which were generally bi" • and enlightened. Although the question of a constitution was peremptorily shelved hv the powers that be. yet a comprehensive and 'most necessary scheme for provincial and judicial reform was drafted and submitted to Pekin. There were abundance of rumors and innumerable announcements regarding the date od which this scheme would !>e issued, and the native press and the people awaited these reforms with eagerness. Consistent and thorough action in this respect would have greatly strengthened the position of the present dynasty, hut it is now understood that the whole scheme has been hung up through tlie influence of the reactionary party. The reformers and anti-dynastie party, who are by no means one and the same, have thus lost all confidence in the reali'y of Government promises, and the feeling lias been intensified that the only roa«i to the generation of China is that of su •ee«sful revolt.

JXFUTYCE OF VICEROYS. Meanwhile at I'ekin the Mancluis are I jealous of th" great influence and power of certain Chinese viceroys, where union of Iwth lace- is imperative to maintain peace, there exist jealousy and ill-feel-ing. The la ter has been intensified by the advent of the ex-Viceroy Tsen Chun-li-uh, who wis known as Shum while rilling over ( anion and the Kwaugtuiig provinces, wh cli are close to Hongkong. He was -oppise.l to have lost his position at the i istance of the Powers 011 tlie grounds fiat he was not Suppressing the pirates. Shuni is a great favorite with the Empress Dowager, having received and sheltered her during Hie lloxer rising. 1-aUerly he has been visiting the capital ard has been shedding ini- ! peaclmients li;e peas, with the result that the high \lanchu princes are greatly incensed. While lie was thus stirling up troubl*. a sensation was caused liv the action ->f a cen>or ill impeaching Prints- Ching. lie great Maucliu leader, and his son. Hi the one ease it was all alleged brilie 0 e Kill 111 HI. and the other a little matter of a singing girl. Such happenings hav > tangled matters at Pekin. and thus avor the revolutionaries. If the Empress. Dowager were still as active and capable as in the past, she hlglit Mircessfi llv unravel the tangle, jlmt she is stated to be nearly seventy [ vears old. anil r o be growing feeble and incapable. Consequently her death may I not he far distant, and meanwhile her weakness is others' opportunity. A SEUIkS OF REVOLTS. 011 such founc.ations a good ileal may be built. The celebrated Cobius c.nc, with its dynanii e setting, was only one sign of the movement which is steadily going on bene a h the surface. There have been many revolts of late. Xllarrned and badiy-led revolts, in many cases, but iu some instances strong bodies of soldiery had to wage bitter civil war before order was restored, and more than one rising caused grave apprehension at the capital. The fine modern drilled troops uider Yuan and Tuan Fang probably prevented grave results. These also were only indications. It is believed that -he revolutionary party lias branches thioughout China, are secretly importing anus aud ammunition for a great struggle when the time is ripe, aud is reeiiving powerful support from Chinese abroad who desire to see old barriers to progress swept away. Recently one of the Viceroy Yuan's intelligence officers reported that a body of revolutionaries liad left America, with a cargo of arms aud ammunition, in order to commence a revolt iu the Yaiigtse Valleys. Again, almost at the same time came the announcement that at Tieutsiu, whi-h is near Pekin, Customs official? ha 1 discovered SOW riiies. SMOO bayonets, a id rounds of ammunition intended for the revolutionary party. How many similar cargoes hail already pas-ed through is a matter for conjecture. Oilier indications are the warnings received by missionaries! that a rising similar to :he Boxer revolt is coining, and the fact that Tientsin has been placarded with Mystic "Hloody Mauds.''

sdmk jDssiisim nx Jt is hard to I 'll whether hitch a viMiiir would be anti-foreign. as well as aniidyna*tic. as it i-> to #ua;je tlie probable attitude of the leaders of China's new armies in such a time of sUe-v>. If they throw ill their M with th*» rebels, whhn will lie lUllikely unle-s forced by M;in ehu >usjiieiu!i-«. lien the dynasty would fall like a pace of eard> unless the Power* intended. if", on the other hand, they fought with the dyna-'y. then China wonl! be convulsed with merciless warfare. It al the present time men like Yuan and his Tuan

were entrusted with the work of preserving order t it'ie would be a po-?d-fif lit V thai the evoliltioji would be liip-|M-d in the bud. but it is highly improliable that Mlel. SUJireme power would he entrusted t«> '"hinese. 'Die whole position i*. there* ore. delightfully \;i;jue. Surmise eatinot proeeed far beyond certain known Kiel-; ilie power of the revolutionaries an I their reception of iinancial aid. arm- and ammunition from abroad: the profound dissiti-farti"ii «• f the MiidwiK th- Chinese press, and threformer* with the policy of negation ami intrigue: tie Intye breeding ground of trouble jii tli- va-t famine areas. \o one eat! tell hj« w far the time is ripe for the jrrprtt eliort. or in whnt shape if will romp; whet'ier it will be postponed until the death if the Kmpre-s. or l*»fore the famine ceases: whether the movement will be anti-foreign a* well as nnti-dynastie: whether the commanders of the modern troops ( ,f China wi'l throw in their lot with the Manchus or against them: whether a Power may not Jiave a linger in the pie. as was surmised in the Boxer rising. One fact may be

stated. fJiven a second Koxur rising with the foreign drilled troops acting in concert with the rebels, nud the Powers would have a task before Hiem infinitely greater than all the past fierce struggles around Tientsin and Pokin.