April 9, 1896.1
295
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
ditional acceptance of the invitation that had "Australians; seven or eight hundred Cana- been sent to him at Shanghai, for he had dians and Newfoundlanders in the North no other calls upon his time or attention "American Squadron; and so on." So during the period of his stay in Hongkong.much for the navy. With regard to the He was not cutitled to infer any discourtesy army the correspondent suggests that a from the failure to send him a second tele Colonial Army Corps should be formed, gram and at the most ought to have ascribed with England as the normal seat of its it to nothing more than an accident, or an mobile Eeadquarters; that the colonies be unintentional oversight. There was nothing severally invited to furnish one or more to prevent his coming ashore there and battalions, squadrons, companies, &c., so as then, or at any hour that was convenicut to make up an army corps of the peace to him. Fear of the plague or the failure strength of our existing First Army Corps; to reply promptly to his telegram of cond- and that they permit this corps to be at the tional acceptance are evidently mere subter-service of the Empire at large for Imperial fuges intended to cover the real reason purposes subject to conditions to be ar- of his not landing. He is said to le ranged. The various contingents, it is sug- very punctilious on points of etiquette gested, might be provided by the establish- and to entertain the idea that he should hement in the colonies of the system of linked treated according to Chinese etiquette rather battalions, and one of each pair of such than that he should adapt himself to foreign battalions might be always on Imperial etiquette. If that position were conceded service, or lying in England awaiting it, it might have been deemed the Governor's while the other remained in its colony, place to call in state on La in the first where the depôt would also be. It is instance, for L no doubt would consider calculated that if, in addition to the sums himself entitled to claim seniority of rank; already dispensed by the colonies for but any idea of the Governor's paying the defensive objects, an amount a little exceed- first call would have been entirely in- ing £2,000,000 a year were available, the admissible even if it had been suggested. cost of the proposed measures would be Another consideration that 110 doubt covered; and a scheme is suggested whereby weighed with L was that restrictions this sum might be saved to the colonies were placed by the French mail authorities and rendered available for the purpose of on the number of his suite who would be naval and military expenditure by a con- permitted to land, qn account of the quaran- version of their debts with a British guaran- tine restrictions at Singapore; he would | ter, which would result in a large reduction only have been permitted to bring ashore of interest. with him a few of the superior officers of his suite and consequently would not have been able to make that imposing display in the eyes of the natives that a Chinese official loves. Had he been able to land under such circumstances as would have given the Chinese the idea that as the representative of the Emperor of China he was the Governor's superiar in this colony he would possibly not have been reluctant to take advantage of the opportunity.
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Such is in brief the scheme suggested. The Daily Graphic sent an interviewer-to obtain Lord WOLSELEY'S opinion upon it and the Commander-in-Chief at once put his finger on its weak spot. The idea, his lord- ship said, was a splendid one, and he wished it could be realised, but, he continued, "My experience of the colonics, and especially of Canada, convinces me that it would be almost impossible to raise a permanent "force for servicc wherever needed. The "colonies have all the material for soldiers
rot of corruption. It has been urged in extenuation of Li's administration in these matters that he was unfortunate in his subordinates. But may not the saying "Like master like man apply to the case?
(2nd April.) With reference to LI HUNG-CHANG's failure to call upon the Governor during his passage through Hongkong certain facts have come to our knowledge which, though they in no degree modify the opinion we expressed of the Ambassador's conduct in yesterday's issue, it is right we should place on record in order that our readers may be in a position to judge for themselves. It appears that about a fortnight ago the Chargé d'Affaires at Peking notified the Governor that LI HUNG-CHANG Would shortly be passing through the colony and suggested that it would be advisable to show him all possible courtesy. Sir WILLIAM ROBINSON circulated the despatch amongst the unofficial members of Council and consulted them as to the form of entertain- ment to be offered. The programme decided upon was an official landing in the morning, luncheon at Mount Austin Hotel (that place being decided upon in order that the Ambassador should have the opportunity of travelling by the tramway), a review of the garrison in the afternoon, and a dinner at Government House, to be followed by a reception and a dance. A telegram aras sent on Wednesday, the 25th March, through the Consul-General at Shanghai, asking His Excellency if he would accept the entertainment proposed, and on the Friday a reply was received from the Consul General saying LI might accept the first three items, namely, the official landing, the lun- cheon, and the review, provided his coming on shore would not entail quarantine at Singapore. Whether this provisional accep- tance strictly required a reply or not may be a matter of opinion, but it was no doubt advisable to reassure His Excel- lency as promptly as possible on the ques- tion of quarantine. We believe Sir Wi LIAM ROBINSON at once gave instructions to telegraph to Singapore for the requisite Under the heading of "One Queen, one information, but unfortunately the reply flag, one flect" there recently appeared in was not received from the Straits Govern- the Daily Graphie a series of letters by a ment until Saturday, when it was too late to correspondent signing himself " Splendid transmit the information to L at Shanghai, Isolation" which have attracted considerable as his steamer had then left. Before leaving attention. The correspondent commences Shanghai the Ambassador is said to have by referring to the magnitude of the Empire, caused a despatch to be sent to the Consul- both as regards population and trade. General saying that as he had received no There are in all, he says, 402,000,000 souls reply and as he was informed plague was raging whose welfare is bound up with that of the in Hongkong he must reluctantly decline to flag; more than half the shipping and car- avail himself of Sir WILLIAM ROBINSON'S rying trade, and probably quite half the invitation. In ordinary course it might have wealth, of the world belong to us and our been expected that this would have been fellow subjects; yet, with certain compara- promptly telegraphed to Hongkong, but this tively trivial exceptions, the whole respon does not appear to have been done, and con- sibility and expense of providing for the sequently the Governor was in ignorance systematic defence of this huge inheritance until the steamer arrived of what the Am- fall upon, and are borne by, the 40,000,000 bassador's intention was. Had the Consul people inhabiting the United Kingdom. General telegraphed the decision arrived at Some of the colonies maintain defensive | are. no preparations would have been made and forces of their own, and colonial volunteer sonic unpleasantness would have been spared. contingents have before been seen fighting The neglect to do so is open to coniment, for imperial cuds and would do so again and it may also be said that if it was should necessity arise, but "there is no exist- intended to send an invitation to Li at all"ing organised union for Imperial Defence; it would have been better to send it carlier than was actually done so as to afford more time for correspondence. But all that, ac- cording to our view, does not in any way affect the judgment to be passed on Li's conduet. His Excellency was met by the Governor's Aide-de-Camp immediately upon the arrival of the steamer and when he knew that his landing here would not entail qua- rantine at Singapore he might, had he been so disposed, have given effect to his con-
44
THE COLONIES AND IMPERIAL DEFENCE.
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of the best type. In case of invasion threatening the integrity of the Empire, "Canada, for instance, could put into the "field a splendid army, and these troops "would, I am convinced, fight to the last in "defence of their country; but it can hardly "be hoped that thousands of men in each
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colony would give up the occupations on "which they depend for a livelihood in "order to volunteer for military service. People who have gone to settle in Australia or Canada as farmers, or who are farmers hy birth there, cannot he expected to leave "their homes and postpone the development "of their property during the period neces
sary for military training with an army corps. And the mechanic or labourer can generally earn such good wages that he is not likely to sacrifice them for the purpose "of serving with the colours. There is no surplus population that can be relied upon to feed the ranks."
If the men
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not available the scheme neces-
sarily falls to the ground. The colonies! possess splendid fighting material, but it would only become available in such an emergency as would call out the Volunteers. in Great Britain. Equitably, however, "and because there is no organised union we every part of the Empire ought. to contri- are in danger of wasting our strength when-bute to Imperial defence according to its ever we may be called upon to put it forth.” "Splendid Isolation" therefore suggests that instead of the fleet being as at present manned and officered almost exclusively from the population of the United Kingdom colonial training shops should be estab- lished, so that "we might in time see a large part of the Australian Squadron composed "of vessels chiefly officered and manned by
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means, if not in men then in money where- with to pay men recruited in centres where labour is less valuable. That brings us to the military contribution question which has created so much bitterness in Singapore and, in, a less degree, in Hongkong and Ceylon. No Government would think of trying to impose a compulsory military con- tribution on the self-governing colonies, but