September 10, 1898.]
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
AN ANGLO-GERMAN ALLIANCE.
213
had to give evidence of ability and character in the open battle of life, and he is almost in-
file. It is true that unfortunate selections stands conspicuously out from the rank and variably a man who for some reason or other
service of the Far East, the failures are com- appointments to the diplomatic and consular are occasionally made, but judging from the
paratively few. If there is less starch and red tape about the American Minister or Consul than about his colleagues there is on the other hand very frequently a good deal more energy and sometimes more ability. Holding office for only a limited period the temptation to make hay while the sun shines may present itself yielded to, but on the whole the service rather strongly, and in some cases may be
lar view of the American public service is commands and deserves respect. The popu derived chiefly from the American news. papers, and perhaps one could hardly desire better authority, but in instituting com- parisons between the American and Eng- fish Services the same standard should be applied to the evidence on both sides es fur as possible. On this point some suggestive remarks are made in a recent issue of the San Francisco Chronicle. Having quoted some charges made in an English re- view against the India Office, the article goes
to say:
"It would be im-
and had built up a reputation for astuteness in his dealings with foreigners which had made him appear to the Peking Authorities
(Daily Iress, 7th September). an indispensable medium. Even the proof Britain and Germany will be received with The news of an alliance between Great of his failure and of his gross betrayal of his lively entisfaction. Akin by race and in country's welfare did not long serve to keep him in the cold shade to which in any Germans have often fought side by side, their methods of thought, the British and other country he would have been eternally relegated. His great wealth enabled him
never against each other. Of late yeant to gradually again win over supporters in
an unhappy tendency towards estrangemers the capital, including the avaricious Em-seemed to have set in, the feeling in both countries became influmed, and in certain press Dowager, and he is once inore en- dowed with great powers, and in a position All this has now, apparently, so far as the eventualities might have become dangerous, to again sell the interests of his unfortunate Governments arc concerned, been smoothed country to the highest bidder. We are not aware that opium has had any particular away, and it will not take long to restore share in corrupting the mind of this aged terms of the projected alliance, however, cordiality between the two peoples. The but ill.brel and unpatriotic official. On the will be closely scanned. So far as they are other hand, that erratic but energetic and disclosed by Reuter's message they appear well meaning satrap, CHANG CIH-TUNG favourable to both sides. The colonising of has, if we are not misinformed, been for Asia Minor by Germany is not a scheme years a votary of the much abused drug. Yet that Great Britain has occasion to object to, He has either sold his country nor piled up while on the other hand the acquiescence of a gigantic fortune out of the spoils of Germany in the consolidation of British rule office and the making of contracts.
in Egypt will be a distinct and material ad vantage. Although we cannot admit the validity of the objections hitherto advanced by Germany to the purchase of Delagon Bay by Great Britain, the withdrawal of those objections will allow matters tu progress more smoothly in that direc- tion also. It is to be presumed, however, that the agreement will include many more items than those mentioned, amongst those still to be disclosed being in all probability some of special interest to the Far East. Whatever may be thought of this or that item of the agreement, however, there can be no difference of opinion as to the desirability on gen ral grounds of a good understanding and firm friendship between Germany and Great Britain. If the United States joined the compact and the three Powers were able amicably to settle their own affairs amongst themselves, they would be in a position to dominate international politics, to enforce the policy of the open door in all undeveloped countries, and to ensure the preservation of peace throughout all the world.
No. Dr. DUDGEON'S affirmation may have been very solemnly made, and he may have felt very deeply that in some cases which have come to his knowledge the vice of opium smoking has enfeebled the body and marred the career of certain officials, but one swallow does not make a summer, and only a section of the mandarins indulge in the drug, while of those who do many are quite as clear in their faculties and fully ILS energetic in body as abstainers from the drug. Alcohol is, we anhesitatingly affirm, quite as banef: a foe to health, morality, and energy as opium, and is as often fatal to the pro- spects of promising Caucasian officials as the former is to the rectitude of the celestini mandarins. If Dr. DUDGEON had traced the Chinese defeat to the great national vice of "squeezing" he would have got very much nearer the mark. After so long a residence in China, the learned doctor should know pretty thoroughly how this system spreads its ramifications into every department of state, how it is carried into all commercial operations, how it serves gradually to demoralise and 'ruin the best| of employé and renders really honest ser- vice almost impossible in the Flowery Land. But he only sees-opium! Alas! for the obfuscation that prejudice will raise in the vision of so many excellent individuals! Unfortunately this inability to separate fads from facts may occasionally prove pregnant of mischief. If our friend had confined his prejudice to his own bosom no harm might have come from his illusion. Unhappily he could not content himself with that he craved publicity for his belief and ideas, and, having given them to the world with all the weight of his long experience, they are likely to be accepted by certain persons as sound conclusions. Therein lies the pity of it. Given a fair start, an error or a misstatement is ever hard to overtake, and many who know nothing on the subject will be very apt to accept this wonderful affirmation of Dr. DUDGEON'S as well founded and reasonable.
It is to be hoped that some equally oli resident in Peking has since favoured Reuters representative with another side of the picture and different deductions, so that the antidote may have quickly followed the bane. Otherwise we shall have the Anti-Opium Society presently denouncing the British Government as the immediate
instrument of China's downfall. The de- light thereupon of LI HUNG-CHANG and his gang many be readily imagined,
THE CIVIL SERVICES OF AMERICA AND GREAT BRITAIN.
(Daily Press, 8th September.)
It has been predicted that the adoption will lead to the adoption of a system of of a colonising policy by the United States permanency in the civil service of the Republic, the present system of distributing the offices amongst the supporters of the successful party at the elections being abandoned. It is the fashion in England to severely condemn the present American sys- tem, on account of its supposed corruption, fact, an application of the principle of com- but it is a system not devoid of merit. It is, in petitive examination in more advanced form than that which pails in our own country, where we take boys fresh from school or college, put them through a were academical examination, and, if they auc ceed, attach them permanently to the service of the state, turning them into a groove in which in too many cases they prise, devote themselves lose their power of initiative and enter- to enjoyment, regard the few hours a day they have to spend in office as a disagreeable and oppressive necessity, and are generally speaking, content to do as little work as is compatible with the preservation of their rank in the order of seniority. In America, on the other hand, a man before he can attain to office has had to pass a competitive examination of a different nature; "he has
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possible for such n statement, if it "concerned the Government at Washing- "ton, to appear in an American re- "view of standing without creating a pro-
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found sensation, for it would be immedi
"ately followed by a newspaper investigation
which would promptly disclose the facts. "It appears, however, that the publication "in the Westminster Review charging grave "crimes has passed unnoticed by the Eng-
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lish press. The reason for this abstention from comment is on the surface. It is not "because British journalists are opposed to printing scandalous matter. The alacrity they display in taking up nasty divorce cases, and the unction with which they exploit the charges made by HooLEY, show "that they are not averse to printing sensa "tional matter if it is privileged, as all "court proceedings are in England. But "to make charges against officials, or to "state facts which may subject his paper to a libel suit, is something which the English "editor carefully avoids. Corruption may display itself in the most offensive man- ner, but he considers it noue of his business "and of no concern to the public until some one drags it into the courts. The English plan of running newspapers has "the effect of making the people of that 'country seem much better than they are; "the American method results in grossly
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exaggerating our infirmities." We can- not quite endorse our contemporary's remarks on the indifference of English
journalists to official corruption, but it must be admitted that plain speaking is carried much farther in the American than; the English press. If this plain speaking occasionally causes unnecessary and unjust suffering to the individual, it must on the other hand be admitted that it sometimes
results to the public advantage. On the we may prefer our own system whole of journalism, with its greater respect for individu: I privacy, and our own system of a permanent Civil Service, but very exaggerated ideas are sometimes entertained both as to the personal character of Ameri can journalism and the corruption of the American Civil Service.
There were 2,061 visitors to the City Hall Museum last week of whom 176 were Europeans,