mes.

And England has thrived at the expense of the Chinese. While England
has been accumulating her ill-gotten gains, opium has devastated the
population of China. It seems to me that no one but a Chinese can
understand the misery. No wonder a Chinese official of high rank made
the following ever-memorable request to a retiring British Minister:
"I am sorry you are going away, but as you have to, I do wish so much
that you would take your opium with you back to England!" And, I
daresay, that was the greatest slap Great Britain has ever received.
Christian England! I beseech you to visit the homes which your opium
has ruined and desolated. Christian England! I beseech you to rise
and call a halt in your infamous traffic. Christian England! Be quick
and make amends, for unless you do so, God will never forgive you.

There are many ways in which England can redeem the wrong she has
done to China. First of all, she should stop the traffic in opium.
Then she can also redeem herself to-day by joining the United States
and Japan to bring about a speedy and peaceful settlement of the
trouble in China. If these three powers should declare that they
would never permit her dismemberment, China would certainly be
preserved. If this good work is accomplished, the United States,
England and Japan will be China's greatest friends. They will be
rewarded with commerce and other special privileges. In other words
they will receive a thousand-fold in return.

But to grab China by the throat and say to her, "Give us the best you
have," is barbarous and non-Christian; for it is contrary to the
teaching of Christ. To take advantage of China's weakness is inhuman.
China, to-day, is like a man who married in the late years of his
life, and was blessed with a large family of children who were too
young to be of any service to him. For the last few years he was
sickly and weak. The house in which he himself and family lived was a
fine one, and was the only inheritance from his father; but his many
neighbors, who were rich and powerful, and able to assist and
establish him if they wished, were, unfortunately, a little selfish,
and looked toward his inheritance with longing eyes. Five of the
neighbors, with an insatiable desire for gain, and with the forced
consent of the owner, took those rooms which each deemed best for his
own interest and gain. These neighbors are now devising schemes and
pretences by which they may grab the best remaining