This
Method, However, Was Presently Abandoned For That Of Open Escalade, As,
For Instance, At Tashkend, Khojand And Uratapa.
Finally, the plan was
adopted of storming breaches, to permit of which breaching batteries would
be thrown up at very close quarters, after which, a favorable time being
chosen, the place would be carried by storm.
From every point of view,
this proved to be the most effective method. The Chinamen, as has been
proved repeatedly, is like other Central Asiatics in this respect, that,
under cover, he sustains the heaviest fire with indifference; he never
surrenders except under bold assaults, which he cannot withstand.
What is the conclusion to which the observations of all first-hand
students of China have conducted them? Their conclusion is that it is a
question of vital importance, a matter of commercial life and death, for
England to maintain and consolidate herself in the Yangtse basin, which
cannot possibly be done except by an effective occupation of the upper
Yangtse, and by developing in every possible way her communications along
that watercourse, and by the West River from Hongkong, also by railway
connection with Upper Burmah and through that province with India. Mr.
Colquhoun, for his part, also believes it to be high time that countries
like the United States, Australasia and Germany should set themselves to
watch with attention, not to say anxiety, the situation in the Far East.
He advises them to reflect upon the history of the ancient empire formed
by Genghis Khan and his successors, for that history is repeating itself
to-day. Russia is conquering by modern methods the kingdoms of Genghis and
Kublai Khan, and the Russian Czar, once emperor of China, will take the
place of the Tartar conquerors who carried fire and sword beyond the
Carpathians and the Vistula and throughout eastern, western and southern
Asia.
THE END
End of China, by Demetrius Charles Boulger
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