Canute Alibis

The white man in China last week was King Canute uneasy on his little throne, the foreign concessions, defying the tide of Chinese Nationalism not to engulf him. Throughout Europe disgruntled great men were busy explaining why the China tide is rising:

Viscount Inchcape of Strathnaver, biggest British-Oriental ship magnate, Chairman of the P. & O. and many another steamship line:

"The antagonism to the British in China is largely due to our sending missionaries there. . . . The ancient faiths in China are as sacred to the Chinese as is Christianity to ourselves. The sooner our well-meaning people give up their crusade in India and China the better for us all!"

The Bishop of Salisbury: "The Chinese object not to the foreigner's religion but to the foreigner's commercial invasion and exploitation. . . . How can Christians believe in incarnation and not want the uttermost heathen to hear about it?"

The Duke of Sermoneta, famed Italian Oriental scholar: "Modern Christianity has become so truly European and non-Asiatic that it is no longer comprehensible to Asiatic minds."

The Bishop of Exeter: "The Chinese should have been taught still to reverence the Confucian civilization, blending it with the Christian faith, much as Greek philosophy was incorporated with Christianity at the beginning of our era. ... At present the 'converted' Chinese regard civilization as a thing purely material. . . . For this false and dangerous view England must accept her share of blame. . . .

"But American educators in China have spread the doctrine of revolution by giving prominence to American history textbooks. From these many Chinese have gotten the idea that a new era dawned on the world when the American colonies broke away from England. Believing that American greatness began with revolution, the Chinese have followed suit with revolutionary movements of their own. . . . Someone ought to protest against such dissemination in the Orient of the poisonous idea that revolution is a necessary antecedent to prosperity."