- January 16, 1896.]
"butter from a dog's mouth than John Bull "from territory where he has installed "himself." He is also settled in the Transvaal, and we take it that there equally he has come to stay.
A HUNANESE REFORMER.
It is at first sight curious to find
among the Hunanese an earnest advocate for the opening up of the province to foreign trade and intercourse. The people of Hunan are notoriously the most anti-foreign of any of the eighteen provinces, but this is probably not so much from genuine conservatism and exclusiveness as from ignorance and the prejudice born of ignorance and sedulously fostered by designing persons.
As a matter of fact Hunan is the seat of a great deal of the learning of the Central Kingdom; it is the home of many of the most distinguished families, and it furnishes to the ranks of the officials the largest contingent of any pro- vince in the Empire. This very fact, how ever, has in no small degree, coupled with its inland position, helped to bring about the anti-foreign spirit that found such malignant expression in the flood of libellous anti-missionary literature of recent years and caused the riots and murders in the valley of the Yangtsze. What TENNYSON's Northern Farmer said of the poor in the British Isles,
The poor in a lump is bad "
applies pretty generally to the official class in China. in & body they are unques- tionably bad, because they are with few exceptions corrupt, and they dread the growth of any influence calculated to put their craft in danger. When therefore a fanatic like CHOU HAN comes to the fore with a surprising facility of invention and equal power of vindictive expression, and pens a series of horrible accusations and assertions about the foreign teachers of the Christian faith, stirring up the passions of the populace against them to boiling point, the mandarinate generally approved, applauded, and protected the libelled.
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
come the Fan-kwei. He states that he has repeatedly petitioned CHANG CHIH-TUNG, when that official ruled at Wuchang on the subject, but without effect. He has since ad- dressed a paper to Sir ROBERT HART asking for his support in the effort to get his native town of Yingtien opened to foreign commerce, and finally he makes an earnest appeal to the Foreign Ministers to combine to ask the Chinese Government to take this step in order to benefit Hunan by dissipating the ignorance that at present renders the ignorant masses so hostile to strangers and blind to their own true interests.
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tc
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Mr. YI WEI's papers are not only very interesting as affording a gratifying proof that there is in Hunan a pro-foreign party but also on account of the practical suggestions they contain. As a native of Hunan, he naturally understands his fellow provincials and is thoroughly acquainted with the resources and capabilities of the various ports. Something may perhaps be allowed for his not unnatural preference for his native place before other towns, but his selection of Yingtien as the most promising place for the future treaty port has much in its favour. He says concerning it :--" The town of Yingtien, in the jurisdiction of Siangyin, is distant from the provincial 'capital, Changsha, about 200 li (sixty-two miles). The above named town is on the highway connecting with the provinces of "Yunnan and Kweichow on the west; "Kwangtung and Kwangsi on the south; "and on the north is the Tungting Lake. In a word Yingtien can be truly said to be one of the keys of Hunan. Although its "water communication is not very deep, still "it is free from sandbanks and shoals to ob- struct navigation. It is just the place for a port of call for steamers and contains decidedly more advantages than Changsha for such a purpose.' If Yingfien is identical with the populous and busy town known on the maps as Siangtan no doubt Mr. YI WEI is correct in his conclusions. It is also, as he points out, quite true that Changsha has always a large floating population of idlers and unemployed, form- While, however, we are prepared to main; ing the material out of which it is easy to tain that the official class in China are as a collect a mob. The suggestion that mis- whole venal and corrupt, we are equally sionaries should only be admitted to the ready to admit that there are bright excep- port after the people had become accus- tions to the rule, and of these the late Mar- tomed to foreigners and had learned the ad- quis TSENG and KwOH SUNG-TAO, both of vantages of commercial intercourse with whom were Hunanese and both of whom them is characteristically practical. Pos- were for several years accredited as Ambas- sibly the missionaries would take a com- sadors to London, were distinguished ex-pletely opposite view and consider that they amples. Unfortunately for China the ex- perience and knowledge gained by these two intelligent and patriotic Chinamen was soon lost to their country, partly by the jealousy and distrust of the Peking Au- thorities and partly in consequence of their early removal from the arena by death. One of the greatest disappointments to the friends of progress in China was the prompt and complete effacement from political life of these able men on their return to their native country, before they could in any way influence its policy and administration. It would appear, however, from two papers addressed to the Foreign Ministers by an expectant Assistant Magistrate of the First Class in Hunan, named YI WEI, that the seed sown by KwоH SUNG-TAO, in his writings and possibly by verbal advice to coming mon, has not fallen altogether on stony ground, for this young mandarin comes boldly forward as the advocate of the open- ing up of his province to foreign trade and intercourse. Not only is the movement voluntary on his part, but it would appear that he represents a party in his province and that one city. at least is ready to wel-
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are the best pioneers of western civilisation as well as of religion, but we can quite be- lieve that the other idea would recommend itself to the Chinese official mind. The author of the paper winds up with another rather canny idea. He would only employ natives of the town in constructing the necessary port works; people belonging to other districts or provinces should not be allowed to come in and reap these advant- ages. Mr. YI WEr is evidently a free trader; he wishes to secure what advantages may be reaped from the establishment of foreign hongs at Yingtien to the hatives. These are mere details of course, and there is worldly wisdom in his reflection that if the advent of foreigners brought the in- habitants profitable employment it would render the opening of the port popular. It is refreshing to find a Hunanese official- expectant or otherwise-so eager to see this isolated province opened up to foreign trade as to earnestly advocate it, and, undaunted by rebuffs, to persevere in his efforts to secure for his district the benefits that he feels per- suaded would accrue from intercourse with: the contemned foreigners.
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THE DEFENCE OF SHANGHAI,
A correspondent of the N. C. Daily News suggests that Shanghai should be defended by heavy guns and submarine mines and that the Volunteers should be trained in the use of these weapons. He writes as though the Settlement were a British possession, and from that point of view has no difficulty in making out a good case, “On the outbreak of hostilities between Great Britain and "other Powers," he says,
** our merchant "vessels would be at once exposed to the danger of attack from commerce-destroying cruisers. These cruisers would probably "hover outside the entrance to the principal shipping ports, lying in wait for rich prizes, ready to cut them off. There is, at pre- 'sent, nothing to prevent an enemy's cruiser "from following our merchant ships up the "Woosung river, and taking them, or des- troying them, even from alongside the wharves, and that under our very eyes. Half-a-dozen torpedo boats, coming up at night on a raiding expedition, could effect "incalculable damage in a few hours." That is true enough, but unfortunately for the correspondent's case Shanghai is not a British possession. This is very tersely put by another correspondent, who says- "Your Correspondent H. V. S., in his in- "spiriting encouragement to British residents
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to rise in defence of their lives and pro- perty, appears to have overlooked two "rather important points: that Shanghai is a Chinese port, not yet become British; "and that a good few of the foreigners re- "sident in Shanghai have not the honour "to be British subjects. In a war in which "China is not involved, the port is a neutral port, and all foreign lives and property in it are entitled to neutral rights, "which
would be forfeited by such
<
LE
measures
as H. V. S. advocates." In the event of a war in which Great Britain was involved, however, the neu- trality of Shanghai would not be worth very much if the enemy were strong enough to overcome our power on the sea. Suppose, for instance, that Russia, Germany, and France were arrayed against us and possessed the preponderance of strength afloat, what would be simpler than for them to arrange with China for the loan of Shanghai, as Russia is reported to have arranged for the loan of Kyauchow? If thereby they equld damage British trade and it suited their plan of campaign they would have no hesitation in using Shanghai as a basis of operations and China would be powerless to refuse any request they might make for the use of the port. The proposal of H.V.S. to establish defensive works cannot be en- tertained, but on the other hand the legal fiction of the neutrality of the port cannot be regarded as any effective substitute for big guns.
SUPREME COURT.
8th January.
IN ORIGINAL JURISDICTION.
BEFORE SIR FIELDING CLARKE (CHIEF) JUSTICE).
THE NATIONAL BANK OF CHINA, LIMITED,
v. CHUN KING TING,
Plaintiffs sued for a writ of foreign attach-
ment against the property of the defendant
Mr. H. E. Pollock (instructed by Mr Ellis) appeared for the plaintiffs, and said the claim was being proceeded with ex parte under the provisions of sub-section 17 of section 82 of Ordinance 18 of 1873, which relates to foreign attachment. The plaintiffs' registered offices