Peking to Lhasa : vol.1 / Page 368 (Color Image)

0368	Peking to Lhasa : vol.1

284 PEKING TO LHASA

clash in every direction. One solution, to give

one country, which can only be Japan, a mandate

to act, would probably not be agreed to, and

probably, after their experience in Siberia, the

Japanese themselves would not be willing. Even

supposing the Powers were unanimous, they could

not act without a force to carry out their reforms.

The question is, Where is this force to come from ?

The tendency is to scrap ships, reduce the number

of soldiers as far as possible, and economise in

every way. Intervention therefore would mean

a big increase of expenditure, which might and

probably would be opposed to public opinion. It

is easy enough to call for foreign intervention, but

will the taxpayer at home submit to paying the

bill ? Under the Manchus there was a definite

Central Government, and after the Boxer troubles

an allied force of between 50,000 and 70,000

soldiers was able to coerce the Manchus by occupy-

ing Peking, Pao-ting Fu and Tientsin, but this

state of affairs no longer exists in China. If

effective intervention is impossible under present

conditions both at home and in China, the only

thing is to try and reform very gradually and to

move very slowly.

Some people advocate the disbandment of

soldiers, but they do not suggest what provision is

to be made for the men when disbanded. Previous

efforts have shown that men so disbanded have

gone off with their arms to swell the number of

brigands. It is an undoubted fact that there are

far more soldiers in China than are necessary, and

that they have an unlimited supply of rifles of all

sorts, Mauser pistols, etc., whilst the brigands are

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