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LOYALTY AND PROSPERITY,
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
the painful experience of the past as to the results of over speculation; while, turning to the regulation of the municipal affairs of Victoria, it must be admitted that there is abundant work for the hand of the reformer and that much remains to be done to bring the city up to a proper standard of clean- liness and wholesomeness.
[June 4, 1896.
of answering one question by asking another of a totally irrelevant character, and it is quite likely he was cross-examining the reporter on other matters while the latter was fondly imagining that he was filling his note book with important state secrets When at last brought to the point the ex- Viceroy never commits himself to any. definite statement, and the reporter in the end has to draw upon his imagination for his facts and evolve opinions out of the vaguest generalities. It would require no great stretch of that imagination to fancy the Ambassador had denied the existence of a treaty between Russia and China, or rather he should have said a new treaty- for there are already two or three in exis- tence and even the cautious Li might not object to state that Russia and China were in accord, or that he hoped equally harmonious relations would be established with France. It must not be forgotten that these supposed statements were made in reply to questions, and that it would not be specially difficult to interpret the replies in a particular manner. We have no inten- tion to accuse interviewers of garbling or misinterpreting the answers laboriously obtained from the Chinese Ambassador, but we wish to point out the folly of attaching undue weight to these telegrams.
The immense throng which attended the unveiling of the Queen's statue on Thurs- day and witnessed the magnificent pageant by which the ceremony was attended may well have felt proud of the colony in which they reside and of the Empire of which the colony forms a part. The
LI HUNG-CHANG AND HIS MISSION. event came several years behind its proper date, but for that there is a good It is to be feared that before His Excel- and sufficient explanation. The order for lency LI HUNG-CHANG gets to the end of his the statue was placed, and the commission travels, we shall, thanks to the interviewer, was executed, with all due despatch, but at be wrought into a most hopeless state of that time the colony contained no suitable muddle with regard to the object of his mis- site for it, and it was necessary to wait for sion. Of course the public are aware that the completion of a part of the Praya primarily, at least so far we can rely on any reclamation, that splendid work which forms Chinese official utterances, the Ex-Viceroy's such a substantial evidence of the growth and visit to Russia was to represent the Emperor prosperity of the place. It was peculiarly of CHINA at the coronation of the CZAR appropriate that the Hon. C. P. CHATER, the NICHOLAS II. This was an exceptional originator of the reclamation scheme, should, honour for the Son of Heaven to pay to any as the present Chairman of the Jubilee Com-ruler of the Western Barbarians; but then mittee, on Thursday have appeared as the Russia, though perhaps somewhat inadver- representative of the community to ask Her tently, had rendered China a most signal Majesty's representative to unveil the service, having saved for her a great pro- statue, and as he looked around and saw vince of Manchuria, which otherwise she the fine stretch of ground, virtually the would have been compelled to cede to the creation of his own brain, with its evidences victorious Japanese. So the greatest man- of being speedily covered with handsome darin in all the wide Celestial Empire-a buildings, he may justifiably have expe- man who had had for many years practically rienced some feeling of pride and self-cou- the conduct of China's foreign relations and gratulation. On such an occasion even his who was of all the astute Chinese officials political opponents would be willing to set the most experienced in bluffing them-was on one side differences of opinion on ques- told off to try and fool the Muscovite. tions of domestic policy and to recognise Whether or not he will succeed in this task that however much Mr. CHATER may have we are as yet unable to say, but at any rate been mistaken on the question of local self- he will endeavour to retain the advantages government he has at all events been right gained by the Marquis TSENG in the last on the question of the Praya reclamation and treaty. Great, however, is the interviewer, has laid the colony under lasting obliga- and it was not long before he began to dis- tions to him.
cover purposes for the aged Chinese states- man's great expedition. After the Corona- tion is over, we were assured-and Reuter's Agency flashed the news through ten thou-complished sand miles of wire-that LI HUNG-CHANG would visit the Courts of the various Treaty Powers with a view to obtaining their sanc tion to an increase of from five to eight per cent ad valorem on the duties levied by China on foreign imports. This was great and in portant intelligence, and aroused no little interest and some anxiety in the Far East, inasmuch as though the customs duties are light, the inland exactions are very heavy. Later it was rumoured that this formed no part of Ilis Excellency's programme, and possibly this is truc, for Lt is hardly so
EX
We need not dwell on the feelings of loyalty and affectionate regard for Her Majesty exhibited by the community on Thursday. Now that the event is passed and the public enthusiasm has found due expression, we may be permitted to dwell on some of the collateral considerations it sug- gests, more especially the demonstration it afforded of the prosperity of the colony. Seldom has the sun shone on a crowd--we refer to the Chinese as well as to the Europeans--so little touched with the canker of distress and discontent, and if the imaginative persons who at a distance invent tales of the decimation of the popu- lation by the plague could have seen the bright and animated throng which sur-energetic as formerly. rounded the Queen's statue on Thurs- day they would have felt themselves covered, in their own minds, with confusion, The brief but graphic contrast drawn by the Governor between the Hongkong of fifty-nine years ago and the Hongkong of to-day was excellently conceived and, as His Excellency remarked, at the present moment the colony presents a remarkable 'object lesson to the newly arrived resident or traveller, unequalled in any other part "of the world." Of the future prosperity of Hongkong His Excellency said he had not the slighest doubt, and he referred to the certain opening of the West River and of additional ports in China as giving a further impetus in the near future to trade between Great Britain and China, which will necessarily bring with it increased prosperity to Hongkong. The colony at the moment is indeed basking in the sun of prosperity, and there is scarcely a cloud to be discerned on the commercial horizon. But Hongkong has experienced periods of depression in the past and will doubtless be exposed to similar adverse influences in the future, against which it behoves us to beware, profiting by
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are informed, also through Kenter, that La's mission is net what has bực sĩ: 14 d--“ that his mission, apart from "the Commation festivities, was to study the European systems in view of making reforms in the Government of China. He said that no treaty existed between Russia "and China, but that the two countries were entirely in accord, and that he "desired similar relations with France." The interviewer appears to have been baffled in his attempt to draw the veteran mandarin into an exposition of his ideas as to the relations between Great Britain and China, but he is evidently hopeful that he or some brother professional will be able to extract the information when His Ex- cellency has visited London. Now, without any great fear of contradiction, out here at least, we think we may characterise this im- posing announcement as mere words, idle words. The interviewers evidently do not know LI HUNG-CHANG. They imagine him child-like and bland, quite ready to impart information, and eager to talk. As a matter of fact he is a pastmaster in the art of evading questions. He has a habit
No doubt the ex-Viceroy of Chihli will' make many observations and acquire much information during his European tour, but it is rather difficult to regard him either in the role of reformer or as prompted by any strongly patriotic desire to introduce reforms in the Chinese adminis tration. During his long tenure of almost absolute power in Chili he did next to nothing either to reform the administra- tion or to check abuses. On the contrary, it is matter of notoriety that his protégés and subordinates were a mong the most ac-
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squeezers " in the Empire, and he was not above profiting by their corruption. Of course it may be possible that now his fortune has been secured-he has become rich beyond the dreams of avarice out of the spoils of office-His Ex cellency desires to place temptations out of the reach of former colleagues, and to pose, in his declining years, as a model of official purity. We fear, however, his own coun- trymen will-whatever contract hunting foreigners may affect to believe-decline to take him seriously in this character, for it certainly does not fit. Neither is any thing he may let fall to interviewers con- cerning China's foreign relations worth serious consideration. Always chary of committing himself, he would be doubly on guard at the present moment, more es- pecially if there is any thought of revising the tariff. While His Excellency is in Russia he will say the things he thinks will be most acceptable to the Russian; when he reaches Paris, he will, if visited by the ever present reporter, let fall phrases de- signed to tickle French vanity; if he makes a stay in Berlin, he will have a new story framed for German ears; and on arrival in London, he may even recant all he had previously stated or that had been attributed to him and magnify Great Bri- taip at the expense of her rivals. These supposed deliverances of the Chinese Am- bassador while on his travels are likely to prove more mischievous than useful and it will be as well therefore to receive them with caution, subject to flat contradiction by the mail to follow. The too ready accep tance of what is mere idle talk as the inspired utterance of the Representative of China can only create trouble and cause disappointment,
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