War Threatens China

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 7, 1902

War Threatens China

PEACE is wavering again in China. If the word that comes to us from observers in that country is correct, war is soon to break out again, and the situation promises to be worse than that which recently called the troops of Europe and the United States to the gates of Peking. Note the following statements made by Charles F. Gammon, superintendent of colporteurs for the American Bible Society in northern China:—

“While at Shanghai, I observed that the Chinese government was openly violating the provisions of the protocol. The great empire would shake off European domination. Thousands of boat-loads of small arms and ammunition were passing weekly up the Yang-tse-Kiang, and the arsenals were being enlarged and worked day and night. Cargoes of explosives were being received, and the dowager empress had issued instructions to recruit the army, and also to inform her as to the fighting strength of each division, and the time required to concentrate the forces at a given point. There were and are many unpromising features which weighed heavily upon the minds of those interested.

“I must believe that the end is not yet, and that within ten years, and possibly within five, a war will ensue the like of which the world has never known. For centuries China has been making repeated attempts to expel the foreigner, each time profiting by past experience, each time with more power and success, each time better equipped and better planned. It is now preparing as never before, buying vast quantities of superior weapons, and reorganizing its armies on a correct basis. Therefore, the next attempt will be in force, and terrible in execution. It will result in a universal upheaval and the final dismemberment of this empire—at a terrible cost.”