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THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
[July 2, 1898.
LI HUNG-CHANG AND ENGLAND'S | come to see that to fight for such a rotten | of immense value and may well be sacrificed
POLICY IN CHINA.
OW
FRENCH DESIGNS IN SOUTH CHINA.
institution would be the veriest madness. In Mr. BLACKMORE's well-known novel against it, sooner or later. In the recent We are much more likely to have to fight "Lorna Doone" will be found an instance crisis it would have been the better policy of meanness that it would be hard to beat to have left the corrupt and effete Peking In those days the maximum wages to be Government to stew in its own juice and paid to a farm labourer were fixed by law, have guarded our own interests without JOHN RIDD, in his kindness of heart, raised assuming anything in the nature of a pro- the wages of an old servant above the legal tectorate of the decaying Empire. rate, and instead of receiving gratitude and HUNG-CHANG may find, however, if he pre- good service in return, got only insub-sumes upon British good nature too far, ordination; the servant was master of the that the policy that has recently been situation, for when reproved he always pursued is capable of readjustment and that threatened to prosecute his employer coercion may take the place of protection. for his breach of the law in raising his wages, which at once reduced him to helpless silence.
that LI HUNG- CHANG is ouce more in the ascendant at Peking Great Britain may expect a simi- lar measure of gratitude from China. How much truth there may be in the rumour retailed by our Tientsin correspondent of an altercation between Li and Sir CLAUDE MACDONALD it is impossible to say, as it rests on Chinese information and may have been grossly exaggerated, but that some sort of a scene occurred there can be little doubt, and the narrative as it stands is quite consis- tent with Li's character. He is said to have censured Sir CLAUDE on account of his mauners and to have threatened to demand his recall. That Sir CLAUDE would prove himself well able to repel the personal rude- ness we may be assured, but with a man like Li to deal with he will not find the course of diplomacy easy.
The reascendancy of LI bodes no good
either to the interests of his own country or to those of Great Britain. Judging from his past he may be expected to play steadily into the hands of Russia, while towards England he will adopt a hectoring and truculent tone, taking advantage of the fact that England has assumed the role of China's friend and protector and cannot, while adhering to her present policy, very well resort to retaliatory measures. An embroilment between Great Britain and China would delight Russia and Frauce beyond measure, as it would give them the opportunity of making a scramble and securing for themselves great advantages without paying for them in any way. Great Britain appears in the character of a peace preserver, and peace preservers seldom earn the thanks of any one and are not infre quently assailed on all sides and especially by those in whose particular interests they are acting; being committed to the policy of preserving the integrity of China, Chinese statesmen of the charseter of Li HUNG-CHANG will think they eau insult her with impunity, sing to retaliate would endanger the success of the policy she has adopted.
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When the recent risis in the affairs of China commenced there were two courses open to Great Britain, namely, to leave the Chinese Government to its fate, mark out our own sphere of influence, defend it against all comers if assailed, and leave the other Powers to do what they liked outside our sphere; or, secondly, to preserve the in- tegrity of China and maintain the principle of the open door throughout the length and breadth of the Empire. The latter was the policy adopted and it was carried out ably and for the time being successfully, though not to the satisfaction of the Jingo party, who would have had the country rush into war in pursuit of a will-o'-the-wisp and without any material advantage to be gained. What that party will think of its precious protege the Chinese Government when it begins to kick and wax arrogant we shall perhaps hear ere long; possibly they will
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for larger objects. Even the Independance, terests of Tonkin, seems to suggest that it while advocating what it deems to be the in- would be a good thing if France took Pak- hoi and then developed it; it is only the development of the port by France while open to foreign shipping that our contem- the port itself remains Chinese and therefore
course always in favour of shutting out Liporary objects to. French opinion is of foreign trade as far as possible wherever the tricolour flies, and that is the policy that would be pursued in South China should the country pass under French rule. Trade goes on, however, notwithstanding the benighted policy pursued; Tonkin con- tinues a valuable commercial dependency of Hongkong and in course of time no The concession granted to France to con-
doubt Kwangchowwan will also become so. struct a line of railway from Pakhoito of the trade of South China are in any French dreams of dominating the whole Nanning is not viewed with approval by the Independance Tonkinoise, which sees in will always be the principal artery of trade. case doomed to failure, for the West River it an injury to the prosperity of Tonkin. That magnificent stream has by British Such a.line, our contemporary says, would efforts been opened to navigation by the attract all the trade of a 'rich_and immense vessels of the whole world, and by the region for the benefit of Pakhoi and to
same efforts it will be preserved as an open the prejudice of Tonkin. Goods would no longer take the route by Langson, Phulang into an agreement with Great Britain that waterway. France has, moreover, entered thuong, and Haiphong, for the most direct,
neither Power shall seek exclusive the cheapest, and the shortest route would be by Nanning and Pakhoi, and the advantages in the province of Yunnan, millions of francs expended on the line and it will probably transpire shortly that from Phulangthuong to the frontier of with reference to Kwangtung and Kwangsi, a similar agreement has been entered into China would be thrown away. The interest Such agreements, however, are liable to be of France, our contemporary frankly says, torn up or gradually nibbled away, and is that communication from Pakhoi to although we do not anticipate any im- upper Kwangsi and Yunnan should remain mediate danger of further French aggression difficult, long, and costly. It is not difficult it is well to take note of the direction in to understand the position taken up by the which popular opinion is setting. It is well Tonkin paper. What is difficult to under- also that Great Britain should have vested stand is the policy of France in seeking such interests to oppose to those of France should a concession As that which has been occasion arise. A railway from Kowloon to granted or accepting it if it was offered. Canton and beyond appears to be as desir The Independance suggests that the reasonable from a political point of view as it un- may perhaps be found in the wish to do a good turn to some Company or other or to
doubtedly is on commercial grounds. secure contracts for the ironwork required. A GOVERNMENT NOTE ISSUE FOR That, however, would hardly seem a suffic-
HONGKONG. ient explanation of France's entering upon the work of developing in China a rival The expediency of a Government uote route to that via Tonkin. The explanation, issue is now being discussed in mercantile we should think, may be looked for rather circles. The Banks, we hear, have in their in political reasons. Tonkin as a trade route note issues reached the amount authorised has proved disappointing, and France is by their charters and have had their atten- now seeking to establish a special influence tion officially called to the fact, so that no in South China with a view to ultimate further expansion of the amount of paper annexation should opportunity serve. The money in circulation can be looked for Empire of Annam, now a French posses- under existing circumstances. That is a sion, once extended as far as Canton, and serious state of affairs, for notes have become Frauce, as the successor to the heri- the principal circulating medium, very few tage of that Empire, would like to transactions being settled in specic. The sec its boundaries again pushed forward Chinese are also said to have taken to to its former limit. This view is not hoarding notes instead of silver, and it is authoritatively formulated, but a perusal of certain that they use them very extensively the French newspapers shows that their preference to silver when they have trend of opinion and desire lies in that occasion to transfer large sums from place direction. In the meantime efforts are to place outside the colony. Thus it being made to establish substantial interests happens that while the colony re- in the region in question. The occupation quires an expanding currency for its of Kwangchowwan was equivalent to mark increasing trade the currency is in fact ing on the map the point up to which being restricted. The scarcity of bank French imagination of future empire notes is not the sole or principal cause allows itself free play for the present, and of the prevailing tightness of money, to join Kwanchowwan and Tonkin by but it is believed that it is a contributory bringing the intervening territory under cause, and that a Government note issue French rule will sooner or later become a would afford an appreciable measure of subject of actual agitation. A French railway relief, since there are considerable stocks of from Pakhoi to Nanning would serve as a silver in the colony which would at once stepping stone to further concessions, and pass into circulation if they could be con- so the extension of French influence in verted into notes. In the Straits Settle- South China will proceed, each successivements a Government note issue has been step exciting perhaps little interest but bringing the end inevitably nearer. In the meantime some injury may be done to be the Tonkin transit trade, but that trade is not
adopted, the Government notes circulating side by side with those of the Banks. A similar arrangement might be made here. 'Certain it is that something must be done