no
500
THE SPANISH reserVE SQUADRON.
(22nd June.)
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
United States might, if resistance ceased at once, allow Spain to withdraw her naval and military forces from the island with the honours of war.
THE REGENERATION OF CHINA,
to
The Spanish reserve squadron is reported to have passed Gibraltar steaming eastward. The probability is that by this time it is steaming westward again, or soon will be. Can these dry bones live? From Peking was announced in the middle of May there have recently come reports which that the squadron was expected to sail for scem to indicate an inclination the Philippines at the end of the month. reform
on the part of the ruling On the 30th May it was stated that it powers. The Emperor is partially emerg- had already left for an unknown desing from his seclusion, and at the re- tination, and a Havas telegram recently ception of the French Minister the other gave currency to a report that it had day condescended to wear a foreign decora- been seen in the Indian Ocean. So far tion.
"The Princes, Dukes, and Nobles" of as the Far East is concerned the force has the Imperial clan are to be encouraged to more substantiality than a phantom travel in order to study foreign countries squadron, for it is impossible to believe that and their administration; WENG TUNG-HO, there has ever been any serious intention of the leader of the most conservative party sending it to this part of the world. To do and formerly the Emperor's tutor, has been so would mean its total loss to Spain. The dismissed from office; the establishment of composition of the squadron as given in Chambers of Commerce is to be encouraged; home papers received by the last mail was as and the development of the country by rail- follows:-The battleship Pelayo, the cruisers ways is being underteken, not quite volun- Carlos V., Alfonso XIII., and Vittoria, thetarily, it is true, but that is an im- despatch-boat Giralda, the auxiliary cruisers material circumstance. It has long beea Rapido, Alfonso XII., Buenos Aires, and recognised Antonio Lopez, and there torpedo vessels. The two first named are powerful ships of over 9,000 tons each and consequently considerably larger than any individual ships the Americans have on this station, but with the vessels shortly expected the latter would have the advantage in numbers, and in Manila they have a convenient base while the Spaniards if they came out would have to work without a base.
that
there would be по
real progress in China except under the influence of pressure from without. The country has now been subjected to some rather tight squeezing, and what the effect will prove to be remains to be scen. Chiun has at different times been compared to various incongruous objects, such as a sleeping giant, a stranded whale, and a jelly fish. Which of these does she most resemble? If a sleeping giant the cataclysms to which she has recently been subjected ought to be sufficient to thoroughly rouse her; SPANISH OPINION ON THE WAR if a jelly fish or whale her case in hopeless.
(23rd June.)
The statement contained in Reuter's tele- gram, published to-day, to the effect that a manifesto signed by thirty-eight provincial associations and eighteen newspapers in Catalonia declares that immediate peace will alone prevent the ruin of Spain, may be taken as an indication that public opinion in the peninsula is tending in favour of the prompt termination of the war. That implies a recognition of the hopelessness of the struggle. Spain possesses no means of assuming the offensive, and her defensive powers in her outlying possessions are
· rapidly diminishing, The United States flag is probably by this time float- ing over Manila, or if not it is only a question of days how soon it will be. In Cuba Spain is making a stouter resistance, but every day sees the weaken- ing of her forces there and the strengthening of those of her opponent. No shade of doubt can be entertained as to the ultimate
result, and the prolongation of the stuggle only means making the final reckoning so much the heavier. This is apparently re- cognised in Catalonia, which has been termed the Lancashire of Spain, and whose political opinions probably carry as much weight in Spain as those of Lancashire do in England. The Spaniards no doubt believe in the justice of their cause, but they are as helpless to defeud it as was gallant little Denmark to stand up against Germany in the war of 1861. They have made a sufficient resist ance to satisfy their conscience on the point of honour, and finding themselves in a position of inferiority they might as well surrender to superior force now as after further damage has been inflicted upon them. Cuba and the Philippines are irretrievably lost to Spain, and a prompt recognition of that fact would now be her best policy. Having achieved the liberation of Cuba the
A very few years will supply the answer, for things cannot much longer continue to drift as they have been allowed to do in the past. China is now surrounded by great and greedy Powers, some of them assiduously working for her destruction, in order that they may divide amongst themselves her possessions. In England she has a friend anxious to secure the maintenance of her integrity, but little can be done to help her if she will not or cannot help herself. At present a glimmer of hope presents itself that she is about to set her house in order and imitate, though at a great distance, the progressive policy of her island neighbour, Japan; but it is only a glimmer, and after the many disappointments of the past it would not be wise to build too much upon it.
CUOLIE OUTRAGES AT KOBE.
[June 25, 1898.
outrage is recorded by the Kobe Chronicle as follows:-A few days ago two drunken coolies, in the presence of ten or a dozen others, deliberately pushed two little children-DAISY ESDALE and little Dick FULLERT into a pond at the foot of Futatabi. All the men appeared to have at first joined in the " fun," but when the children called for help some of the coolies pulled them out and then apparently chased the others. All the men Fortunately the pond at that point was not soon disappeared. very deep, the water not going much above the waists of the children, but the depth of the coolies. Things are surely coming to a the water probably mattered but little to
pretty pass in Kobe, adds our Porary, when even children cannot walk abroad unprotected for fear of molestation by the uncivilized element of the com- munity.
SUPREME COURT.
18th June.
contem-
IN APPELLATE JURISDICTION.
BEFORE SIR JOHN CARRINgton (Chies JUSTICE) AND MR. JUSTICE WISE (PUINE JUDGE), WITH LIEUTENANT STERLING (H. M. S. "BONAVENTURE") AS ASSESSOR.
THE
11
"KWANGLEE POWAN COLLISION, In this case, which was commenced on Monday, June 13th, Mr. Franois, Q.C. (instruct- ed by Mr. Dennys) appeared for appellants and Mr. Pollock (instructed by Messrs. Deacon and the China Merchants' Steam Navigation Com- Hastings) for respondents, the appellants being
pany, owners of the Kwanglee, and the respondents the Hongkong, Canton, and Macao Steamboat Company, owners of the Powan.
Mr. Francis, in summing up for appellants, submitted that the appeal was simply from the findings adverse to the Kwanglee. The first question before the court of appeal was-Was she wrong in not carrying a stern light? It. was alleged she was under the provisions of the Regulations for the Prevention of Collisions at Sea. It was alleged that if not bound by that Article she ought as a matter of ordinary and seamanlike care under the circumstances to have carried such a stern light. With re- ference to the first point he only wished to call their lordships' attention to the provisions of satisfied with the judgment of the court below the Merchants Shipping Act. He was quite on the point, and respectfully submitted that his friend had not shown any ground what- over for disturbing it. Their simple con- tention was that they were not bound by. the Collision Regulations. The second ques- tion was-If she ought to have carried a stern light, did her neglect to carry such a light cou- tribute to the collision? These being the two questions for the decision of their Lordships sitting there as a Court of Appeal, he proposed to submit for their Lordships consideration what he conceived to be, on the authority of the casos cited, the powers and the functions of the Court of Appeal with reference to this matter. He submitted that that appeal was a re-hearing, that the Court of Appeal was bound to re-consider and re-examine the whole case put before the Court below de nuovo in the light of the argumɔnts submitted to it on both sides on appeal. Mr. Francis dealt at some length on this point.
Almost every batch of papers received from Kobe contain accounts of outrages perpetrated upon foreigners by Japanese coolies. So intolerable has the prevailing state of lawlessness become that a deputation of the residents waited the other day upon the Consuls to urge the necessity of joint action being taken to put an end to it. The interview was private, and no public announcement has yet been made of the course decided upon by the Con- suls, but no doubt strong representations will be made to the Japanese Government. The latter would do well to attend to the re- presentations and take such measures as may be necessary to afford adequate pro- BEFORE SIR JOHN CARRINGTON (Chief tection to foreigners, for the present state of affairs is calculated to bring the good name of Japan into disrepute. One is tempted to ask, what would happen in China if in any particular town foreigners were systematically subjected to the outrages they have to endure at Kobe? The latest
Their Lordships reserved judgment.
CRIMINAL SESSIONS.
JUSTICE.)
THE CAINE-ROAD MURDER.
Joan de Matta Ozorio, clerk, was charged with the wilful murder of Francisca Xavier de
Jesus, who resided at 2, West Terrace.
The Attorney General (the Hon. W. M. Goodman), instructed by Mr. H. L, Dennys