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THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
possible, the recollection of recent tragic and sinister events in the capital, and she was ready to sacrifice race prejudices and oli time traditions to recover lost prestige and inspire some new confidence in the present administration. She has established a pre- ce fent which will " broaden slowly down " to others and pave the way for the final destruction of that most injurious seclusion which has been gradually sapping the pres- tige as well as the power of the Son of Heaven instead of preserving it.
Even China moves !
(January 14, 1899,
THE FUTURE FIS AL POLICY IN THE PHILIPPINES.
Nor is it likely to help forward the cause that this Chamber had given the question their he has at heart. At the same time the pub- | altentiou. lication of the facts stated by the Times cor- respondent cannot fail to serve a useful pur- pose in preventing the other Powers from being duped by the Russian Chancellor. A time may come, perhaps, in the approach ing century, when some movement in the direction of converting swords into plough- | shares may take place, but the closing years of the nineteenth century are not likely to wit- ness such a chauge. We wish the Emperor NICHORAS every success in his crusade gainst barbarous, costly, and savage War
Government. on the subject, and to inform the and
we hope that he may live to see the address the Foreign Office. through the local
Singapore Chamber of the steps to be taken.
THE CZAR OF RUSSIA'S DIS KMA-leading Powers all animated by a true and
MENT PROPOSALS,
loyal desire to promote and secure the blessings of Peace, but in the meantime he will do well to try and introduce into his great empire a little more of that freedom the want of which has created Nihilism and is laying the seed of a formidable revolu- tion, which may some day blaze into a civil
war
not less terrible than that which
overtook France a hundred years ago and left her to this day in a state of political unrest and uncertainty.
ANGLO-FRaNGH RELATIONS.
(Daily Press 11th January.)
twenty years, and it seems rather foolish of her now to get irritated herself at the more publication of the facts counected with one of the disputes that have occurred during that period. We opine that the Madagascar blue book is only the precursor of others, and that Lord SALISBURY has determined to make known the true course of Anglo-. French relations in recent years with a view to bringing the regime of continual bickering to an end and so avoiding dan- gerous irritation in the future.
HONGKONG GENFRAL CAMBEE
OF COMMERCE.
(Daily Press, 12th January.) The Times has again undertaken a great and patriotic work. Now that the Emperor NICHOLAS II. has become the Apostle of Peace and is urging, with what we believe to be most genuine interest, his project for disarmament, it is obviously not only useful but essential that we should know whether the CZAR speaks for Russia as a Power There was a time, not so very distant, when Russian Czars were really the Autocrats of all the Russias, when their lightest word was not only law, but was obeyed im- plicitly in the remotest corners of their The French press, so Reuter informs us, vast dominions. But, under the rule of accuses Great Britain of encouraging dan- the ROMANOFFS, the system of government gerous irritation. France, both by her in Russia has been gradually undergoing governments an: her press, has bee: eu- a great change. A new law is still nomin-couraging dangerous irritation for the last ally the will of the Cza, and the simple peasants still abjectly submit to a degrading tyranny because they regard it as the rule of the Little "Father," but the real power has passed into the hands of a Bureaucracy, which has practically reduced the CZAR to a figurehead, and which dictates the policy for which he is made responsible. The CZAR is still allowed the shadow of his former authority, but in actual practice he is, in foreign and domestic politics, reduced to a mere register of the decisions of the Council of Ministers. It suited the Russian Chancellor no doubt most entirely that the young CZAR, whose desires are known to be in the direction of general peace aud commercial progress, should coine for- ward with proposals for international dis- arniament, for if other Powers 'could be caught napping and, in their desire to re- duce the military burdens under which they groan, induced to agree t› some scheme of the kind foreshadowed, it would be quite in line with Muscovite ideas. But for the Russian Government, which already maintains so gigantic an army and which is strenuously adding to the navy at a rate out of all pro portion to the needs of the country for self- defence, to set the example by at least re- fraining from making uncalled for additions to the expen liture in these departments evidently was not to be thought of. The Times, following the example of the French papers some years ago, who sent a special commissioner to Egypt to report on British financial administration there, has deputed its correspondent in Russin to make an independeut and unbiased report of what is going on in the arsenals and dockyards, and his account is to the effect that despite the Czir's recent pence mani- festo, feverish activity prevails in the Russian dockyards and that the numbers enrolled in the Army and Navy in October and November are larger than in any pre- vious year, while reinforcements are being sent to the Far Fast as fast as transport permits. This state of affair is not, it must be con- fessed, much o
calculated to inspire con- fidence in the ability of NICHOLAS II. to enforce his precepts by example,
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A letter from the Singapore Chamber of Commerce, dated the 28th December, was next to know whether, in view of the annexation considered. The Singapore Chamber wished of the Philippine Islands by the United States, this Chamber proposed to make any representa- tions in favour of the fiscal policy for those islands under the new régime being, as far as practicable, in the direction of Free Trade, how it intended to act, and suggested that the two Chambers should work in unison.
After some discussion, it was decided to
LORD CHARLES BERESFORD'S MISSION. Read reply from Lord Charles Beresford, dated Hankow, 4th December, in acknowledg meat of a series of resolutions passed by the Committee at a special meeting held on the
19th November, 1898, and forwarded to his lordship with a covering letter on the 21st idem.
On the proposal of the Chairman it was decided to publish the resolutions referred to.
THE CHAMBER'S FINANOES.
The Secretary stated that the yearly accounts showed that the Chamber was in a flourishing financial condition.
Some other matters of minor interest were alluded to.
(Correspondence.)
THE CHINA QUESTION AS AFFECTING COMMERCE.
The Incorporated Chamber of
Commerce of Liverpool,
Liverpool, 16th November, 1898. Dear Sir, am directed to transmit (under separate cover) for the information of your Chamber, printed copy of letter on the above named subject, sent by this Chamber to Her Foreign Affairs, and am specially to call your Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for |attention to the resolutions therein contained.
-I am, yours faithfully,
THOMAS H. BARKEE, Secretary. The Secretary, Chamber of Commerce, Hong-
koug.
The Incorporated Chumber of Cominerce of
Liverpool. The China Question as affect ing Commerce. Copy of letter sent to Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs o. November 11th, 1898.
At the monthly meeting of the General Committee of the General Chamber of Com- merce, held at 11.30 am on Tuesday, the 10th (Chairwau), A. Hacpt, J. J. Bell-Irving, T. January, 1899. Present: Messrs. R. M. Gray Jackson, A. McConachie, W. Poate, H. A. Rit- chie, N. A. Siebs, and R. C. Wilcox (Secretary).ber was held here yesterday under the chair
MINUTES.
The minutes of the previous meeting (held 6th December, 1898) were read and confirmed.
NEW MEMBER, Messrs. Geo. R. Stevens & Co. have been
elected to membership of the Chamber.
My Lord, I am directed to inform you that. a general meeting of the members of this Cham
manship of Mr. F. C. Danson, President, to | hear addresses by Mr. R. A. Yerburgh, M.P., and others, on the above named subject. Thế meeting was supported by several of the Meme! bers of Parliament for Liverpool, by many representatives of the Chamber of Commerce, of South Lancashire and other districts, and by... a very large body of representatives of the Se-leading firms of this city..
THE WORKING OF THE POST OFFICE. Read letter from the Government, dated 16th
•
December, in which it was announced the cretary of State had been requested by H.E. the Officer lately Administering the Govern ment to appoint an experienced official from the English Post Office to fill the vacancy occurring in December by the retirement, on pension, of Mr. G. S. Northcote from the post of Assistant Postmaster-General, and that meantime every- thing possible would be done to prevent a recur- Chamber. rence of the irregularities complained of by the
This letter had been acknowledged and copies of it had been supplied to the Press.
THE CHINA QUESTION AS AFFECTING COMMERCE.
Read letter received from the Liver-
pool Chamber of Commerce, dated 16th despatch on the above subject addressed by that November, enclosing printed copy of a body to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and calling the special attention of the Chamber to the resolutions contanied therein."
It was decided to acknowledge receipt of this letter and inform the Liverpool Chamber
At the conclusion of Mr. Yerburgh's address, and approved by the Council of this Chamber, the following resolution, previously considered
Mayor of Liverpool, supported by Mr. Archibald was moved by him, seconded by the Lord Little and Sir John Willox, M.P., and un- animously adopted, viz.:- Resolved-That this Chamber, recognising
the immense field offered to British enter prise by the opening up of China and the development of ils resou ces, trusts (1) that Her Majesty's Government will give every possible assistance to British merchants: and capitalists who are engaged in business. in that country, and prepared to invest mousy in it, and (2) that, especially in the matter of railway construction, Her Majesty's Government will secure for British enterprise in the Yangtsze regions similar preferential rights to those which Germany, Russia, and Fried have already claimed in the regions of China which those powers respectively regard as their special spheres of influence; and the Chamber