294
CHINA'S CONCESSIONS TO FRANCE
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
~ April 16, 1898.
THE POLICY OF THE OPEN DOOL | shows that while in the year 1880 the vessels
AND ITS APPLICATION,
that left Hongkong for Cochin-China, If it be true, as alleged by the Times, that
Hainau, and ports in the Gulf of Tonkin China has yielded all the demands of France, The policy of the open door, of which numbered 243 of a tonnage of 145,213, there can be little doubt that we will soon Great Britain stands forward as the cham in 1896 they numbered 465 of a tonnage of be informed of equivalent concessions made pion, is theoretically of unassailable sound- 430,421. Many of the vessels engaged in to Great Britain. This was what happened ness, but, like some other sound theories, it this trade leave Hongkong in ballast, but in respect to the Russian demands, and the is capable of being misapplied in practice. the tonnage leaving with cargo was 294,664 next telegram may have in store for us a It is misapplied if it is used to bolster up in 1896 as against 100,020 in 1880, or an surprise as great as was the acquisition of barbarism against civilisation, for although increase of nearly 200 per cent., and of that Weihaiwei. At the least we may look for in barbarous countries a so-called open increase it must be assumed a large propor- the much needed rectification of the bound market may exist for British goods the tion represents British goods. There can. aries of Hongkong. Great Britain at present market is in effect less open than it would be no doubt that the establishment of Russia holds a strong position in the councils of be under a civilised Government even
in Manchuria will lead to a similar or even Peking and it cannot be supposed that an if coupled with preferential tariffs. The
greater increase of trade in that direction. opportunity like the present of securing all British public has of late been too prone Anyhow we have to thank Germany, Russia, that this colony desires would be neglected, to assume that every advance made by and France for having materially contri- The guarantee as to the non-alienation of another Power must necessarily prove buted by their recent action to the the three southern provinces must presum- injurious to British trade, whereas experi-opening up of China and to the revital ably have been given subject to satisfaction ence has shown that the contrary is generisation of British diplomacy in China. of Great Britain's demands with respect to ally the case. It would, of course, be more Mr. CURZON was right when some months the territory in Kwangtung required for the satisfactory if other Powers would invari-ago he said there was room in Asia for all. rectification of the boundaries of this colony.ably apply the principle of free trade to It would have been a lamentable mistake Instead of being formally eeded the their new possessions, and in that direction if Great Britain had gone to war to prevent territory in question will in all probability Great Britain is justified in urging the Russia having a little room. be handed over under lease, as that seems to policy of the open door upon them, but be the fashion now in vogue in respect of whether that policy be adopted or not the concessions made by China. The tenure is substitution of a civilised for a barbarous not a satisfactory one and may in the future government must always be considered as give rise to difficulties both for China and in itself a net gain, even from a trading her lessees.
point of view. An interesting and im- portant report from Sir H. H. JOHNSTON, Consul-General in Tunis, on the condition of the Regency under the French pro- tectorate, which was assumed seventeen years ago, was laid before Parliament the other day by the Foreign Office. In this report a graphic contrast is drawn be tween the state of affairs in 1880 and that which now prevails. In 1880 life and property were thoroughly insecure; it would have been impossible for any European to have travelled about many parts of the Regency without a considerable escort, and impossible to penetrate some parts ualess at the head of an army. It was as difficult, dangerous, and expensive to travel about Tunis then as it is now to visit the far interior of Morocco. Now the whole Regency is as safe for tourists as France, and the change as regards the lives and property of natives is equally great. It is with the question of trade that we are now chiefly concerned, however, and on this point Sir HARRY JOHNSTON has much to
GREAT BRITAIN'S DIPLOMATIC SUCCESS IN CHINA,
While local Jingoes are lamenting that the China question has been settled without
"scrimmage" and complaining that dip- lomatically we have been beaten all along the line, that Great Britain's prestige has been lost, and that the country is going to the dogs, it may not be without interest to see what our neighbours have to say An article in the Courrier about it all. d'Haiphong on The English Policy in "China" opens with the assertion that
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China has given Great Britain a guarantee against the alienation of any part of the Yangtsze Valley, and she is said now to have given a similar guarantee to France with respect to the three southern pro- vinces. Does this guarantee imply a corres- ponding obligation on the other side to assist China to resist any aggression by other Powers in the regions specified? Another question that presents itself is
England has achieved a great diplomatic whether the leasing
of a port for
success in China and taken a brilliant a term of years would be considered |
revenge for the occupation of Kinochau an alienation within the meaning of the
by the Germans and of Port Arthur by "the Russians.". The article was written guarantee? China is nominally supposed to have surrendered none of her sovereign
evidently before the announcement of the rights in respect of Kiaochau, Port
lease of Weihaiwei and refers only to the Arthur, ΟΙ Weihaiwei, and similarly
advantages gained before that event. In she might lease other ports. without a sur-
the first place reference is made to the render of her sovereign rights and therefore
opening of the waterways of Chinn to steam without alienation, unless the Powers to
navigation. It is true, the writer says, that whom guarantees against alienation have
England has obtained no exclusive advant- been given choose to place a stricter inter-
age in this, that the navigation_will be pretation on the term and are prepared to
open to vessels of every nationality, but support that interpretation against all
that, he holds, is only an appearance; The next few years, we fear, are Twenty-five years ago British com- the British share representing four-fifths
say.
total foreign trade of China likely to see a crop of controversies in China mercial influence was dominant in Tunis; of the almost as large and as vexed as that which but from 1876 onwards it began to decline.it is almost exclusively to England's has arisen between various rival Powers in The English bank there came to an end, benefit that this opening of the rivers will Africa. Great Britain will no doubt be various British enterprises were abandoned, enure. By the side of Eugland Germany able to hold her own in the conflict of inter- and British trade declined from £300,000 | sets, but she must be prepared to make for- in 1876 to about £200,000 in 1881 and ward movements when it is seen that other 1882. France stepped into the vacant Powers are bent on cutting her out. A place, and when the disintegration of the suitable reply to France's pretensions in Arab Government was complete it fell to Southern China would be the construction the lot of France to replace it. Since then of a railway with British capital and of British trade has slowly increased, and in British material from Kowloon to Canton 1897 amounted to about £680,000. That, and thence, following for the most part the however, has been under the policy of the course of the West River, to the Chinese open door, for the trade of all countries has town of Lungchow, near the Tonkin bound-hitherto been treated on an equal footing. ary. There the British and French lines would meet and the two nations might either shake hands or fight as their inclina- tion or national temperament might dictate.
comers.
Under the new policy of differential tariffs we must be prepared to treat Tunis as an essential part of France. Nevertheless, Sir HARRY JOHNSTON foresees, even under these conditions, a considerable future for A sad case of suicide occurred on board the British trade in that part of North Africa, O. & O. steamer Gaelic shortly before her ar if the present tariff is not sensibly altered rival at Shanghai. Early in the morning of the in regard to British goods. We have had a 4th inst., several of the crew were startled by similar experience in the neighbouring the report of o firearm which appeared to come from the cabin occupied by the ship's butcher. French possessions in Indo-China, where An inspection of the room revealed the fact that under French protection a considerable the unfortunate man had committed suicide by British trade has grown up which the in- shooting himself through the right temple. Atroduction of a differential`tariff has not medical examination of the body was made by the doctor of the vessel, and the deceased was subsequently buried at sea.-Nagasaki Press.
been able to stifle. Exact figures of the Indo-China trade are not available, but a reference to the Harbour Master's report
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and Japan will take important places in the trade of China, but as to France, alas! what will she gain by the opening of the rivers? The writer of the article goes on to com- plain of the want of enterprise shown by French shipping and the repressive nature of the French navigation laws, and having delivered himself at some length on this point, returns
to the other concessions obtained by England. The Son of Heaven has undertaken that the office of Inspector- General of Customs shall always be en- trusted to an Englishman, so long as British trade with China exceeds that of any other Power. This gives to England an indirect control of the Customs Administration for "She will lose this an indefinite period. "control only when her commerce becomes "inferior to that of some other nation, that "is to say, when hens have teeth." Besides this, the article continues "China has formally agreed not to lease, hypothecate, or sell to any Power whatsoever the territory of the Yangtsze Valley. Now "the Yangtsze is much the richest part of "China, and it is that, apparently, that "Great Britain, with her usual keen scent,
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