Chinese rebellions are said to "live on loot",
i.e., on the forcible confiscation of private property, but is that worse
than winning battles on the forcible deprivation of personal liberty?
This is nationalism gone mad! It fosters the desire for territory grabbing
and illustrates a fundamental difference between the Orient and the Occident.
With us government is based on the consent of the governed
in a way that the Westerner can hardly understand, for his passion to expand
is chronic. Small nations which are over-populated want territory
for their surplus population; great nations desire territory to extend
their trade, and when there are several great powers to divide the spoil
they distribute it among themselves and call it "spheres of influence",
and all in honor of the god Commerce. In China the fundamentals
of our social system are brotherhood and the dignity of labor.
What, I ask, is the advantage of adding to national territory?
Let us examine the question calmly. If a town or a province is seized
the conqueror has to keep a large army to maintain peace and order,
and unless the people are well disposed to the new authority
there will be constant trouble and friction. All this, I may say, in passing,
is opposed to our Confucian code which bases everything on reason
and abhors violence. We would rather argue with a mob and find out,
if possible, its point of view, than fire on it. We have yet to be convinced
that good results flow from the use of the sword and the cannon.
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