Page:The Truth about China and Japan - Weale - 1919.djvu/147

 years accustomed men to the belief that soldiers are an essential part of politics—national as well as international—and that it is only the man with the rifle who is the man with a policy. In the opinion of the writer justice as well as expediency requires a relaxation of the safeguards established as a result of the now forgotten siege of the Legations. The few thousand foreign troops in North China no longer mean what they once did; the Chinese army is to-day far too powerful in artillery to be overawed by what was once an impressive force. To protract what is a daily source of irritation is a senseless policy: no statesman can endorse it.

A foreign evacuation protocol is therefore just as essential as an evacuation by Chinese generals of the provincial capitals: the two things should go hand in hand.

Already there is an efficient gendarmerie in Peking, perfectly trustworthy and perfectly able to do its duty if police and politics are separated. The Peking police-schools are gradually transferring more and more men to various parts of the country; and that recruits are excellent and well-trained is shown by the fact that the foreign municipality of Shanghai is requisitioning them and finding them supe-