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ber 19th. 1898. the fleet landed men ready for action, field guns, ammunition, and two days' stores in one hour five minutes.
The German flagship, Deutschland, came into har- bour on December 5th with the "Mailed Fist"
on board.
Nothing of much interest occurred since the last date given, as the vessel has been stationed at Hongkong for months, only making short trips now and again.
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THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND tiou necessary with regard to hion's resources, polièy. etc. I shall therefore require some- thing more than " Wideawake's” bare assertion on this matter. His offensive references to Irishmen may be dismissed in a word. Irish men are just as able as Englishmen or Scotch- men and have just as much right to public and representative positions. They are no better and probably no worse than their neighbours, As far as being garrulous is concerned "Wide- awake" would do well to remember that "peo. ple who live in glass bouses shouldn't throw stones." I was very near forgetting "the impud. ent attempt to establish a Chinese Custom House, etc.". I take it that "* Wideawake" belongs to the general public who know positively noth- ing whatever of the terms of the convention. He had better wait till we know whereof we speak.
We should imagine the commission has been a good one, and we wish all on board a pleasant voyage home.
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H.M.S."GRAFTON” A... D“ST. ENOCH" IN HEAVY WEATHER,
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The Grafton was a few weeks ago sent to Singapore in order to meet and convoy the dredger St. Enoch to this port. H.M.S. Melpomene had towed the "mad searcher' from Aden to Penang, and from the lat- ter place the dredger steamed unaccompanied to Singapore, where the Grafton took her in tow. On account of a severe monsoon, the cruiser took 15 days to make the distance. Singapore bad only been left but a short time. when the monsoon came down upon them in full force, and the captain was compelled to seek shelter on account of the dredger. With diffi- culty Kamranh Bay was reached, where the dredger couled and had new hawsers attached. The gale lusted about six days, during which the Grajton's captain underwent rather an anxions time. The cuiser suffered no dam-
age at all; but the weather was so bad that she had to be battened down. The dredger, however, was not so fortunate, for the cou tinual strain and heavy wares caused mauy of her rivets to spring, and for several days she held from four to five feet of water in her engine room, to pump ont which the Grafton had to lend a pumping machine.
At times the sea ran so high that those on tl.e Grafton or those on the St. Enoch could not see one another whilst in the troughs of the waves. Owing to the damage doue, it is ex- pected that the repairs necessary will ompel her to remain here two or three months, and consequently dredging operations will not be
t
commenced at Weihaiwei so soon as was intended, The St. Enoch is a nearly new dredger, and for some time was engaged at Malta. Her dredging capability is 800 tons per day. She is captained and officered by Britishers, but has a Maltese crew. During the beary weather many of the personal effects of the crew were destroyed The Grafton crew were kept hard at work the whole way up, and many of them felt its effects and will be glad of the rest in barbour.
CORRESPONDENCE
[We do not hold ourselves responsible for the opinions expressed by our correspondents,]
,
A REPLY TO · WIDEAWAKE."
TO THE EDITOR OF THE "DAILY PRESS."
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SIR-The perusal of Wideawake's" letter
in your columns under date the 1 th inst. cer. tainly filled many with mixed feelings The writer of this may claim to have lived nearly as long in China as Wideawake" and may with due modesty claim to have had quite as good opportunities for studying passing events, which I suppose is what " Wideawake means by the Chinese question." I will take the liberty of skipping the first column and a half, much of which is irrelevant except to just touch upon the references to Sir Thomas Wade, Sir Robert Hart, and Sir Halliday Macartney. With re- gard to the first named, I was until now. in common with many others, under the impression that Sir Thomas Wade's policy as British Minister was entirely successful and that he is now commended in history as an able man With regard to the two latter I am loth to believe" Wideawake's" bare word that they are entirely responsible for Great Britain's policy in China until he adduces some evidence of his at present unsupported statement. Surely we have had an Embassy in Peking continuously since Sir Thomas Wade's time, and also consulates at all the treaty ports. What were they doing all this time? They should live been well able to supply the Foreign Office with all the informa
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With your permission, sir, I will now pass to that portion of the letter under review which talks glibly of the " spheres of influence," in which we are told that Russia would get this and Gerniany that and France the other, &c., &c.
You have only to step in and take your cake. We are to form a sort of zoological buppy family. Great Britian is to take the Yangtze Valley. What does Wideawake" mean by the Yangtze Valley? Does he mean the whole | of the six provinces bordering on the Yangtze, or in other words, one third of China ? What stu endous housense. He is going to govern over 100,000,000 of people with a few thousand native troops "tiffened with oue regiment of Europeaus. I'll venture to remark that nothing more nonsensical has been proposed since the days of Adam.
Aud bow delightfully inconsistent! In one paragraph “ Wideawake" has no time for the Chinese Brave good or bad; in another hedvocates his employment. I am too much of an amateur to sketch out a policy for China or any other country, but this I will say, if the Chinese soldier is well and efficiently led be will fight as well and as bravely as any other. He has done so in the past and will do again. Great Britian sbonld at all hazards press upon the Yamén the immediate necessity of re- forming China's financial and military systeins. Every effort should be made to prevent Russia dominating Peking. Kússia may be made wel- come to her ice free port, bat despite her in- menge armies it would be comparatively easy to block the port, or the whole Gulf for that matter, should she prove a foe, as long as Grast "Britian remain‹ suprema apon the seas. With many apologies an i thanks in advance, I remain, sir, your obedient and still unconvinced
OPEN DOOR.
Hongkong, 12th January, 1899,
ANOTHER REPLY TO “WIDEAWAKE.”
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*
TO THE EDITOR CF THE 44 DAILY PRESS.” SI,-Would kau be kind enough to insert in your valuable paper the following lines with reference to the ridiculous attack wade by Wideawake ou Lord Charles Beresford's well directed speech to the Hongkong Chamber of Commerce? One can only look upon Widea- wake's" remarks as an absurdity. Owing to a too long residence in China be may have for gotten all Western ideas and policy The organisation of & well drilled and dis- ciplined Chinese Army, mentioned in Lord Charles's speech, is a most essential thing for China to adopt in her present state and a most important step for the security of foreign trade and commerce, which was the chief object of Lord Charles's mission. Without anch a force it would be impossible for China to ope with any disturbances prejudicial: to foreign trade. missionaries, and residents. Have not all Western countries always thought it wise to call out their military force to suppress riots and disturbances when such take place, and why should China not do the same? That was why. Lord Charles deemed it most necessary for China to have a well drilled and disciplined army at her disposal. With such a stable force at her back China could, well afford to advance with other reforms in train.
Contemplation of spheres of influence would- be very well if the trade question was left out altogether, or by any one who may like to see the "Big China " tumble to pieces without giving a hand to the saving of it. Supposing the countries mentioned by " Wideawake" were each
January 21, 1899.
to have a big sphere of influence to themselves and so called it their own, nothing could injure trade more than this, because every country wuld then have its own lariff and consequently all sorts of obstructions weuld follow and finally might lead to disputes and troubles; whereas the open door would be free for all countries to trade and no preferentis) tariffs by different countries, and therefore trade would certainly be more felicitously carried on in China. Further, if the Russians were not checked in their present advance North of China they would in no time ov the whole Chinese Empire. Of course wheth the people would prefer to deal with or Chinese is a different thing.
VIDURO,
Macao, 13th January, 1899.
“WIDEAWAKE'S" REPLY TO "OPEN DOOR.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE
SIR,-As regards the reply by "Open
DAILYMO to my previous letters I beg to point out that I' am quite willing to concede that Irishmen Lave contributed their share to the building up of the British Empire, but I, at the same time, claim that they have not done more than their share. I also concede their right to hold politi cal appointments and their ability to do justice to the positions they hold, but in the case of British policy in China and of China's policy with the outside world I maintain that Irish control has not proved an unqualified snccess-r far from it; I should say it was a decided fail- urs. It is of course a matter of opinion, and wrong of that opinion. Lord Charles Beresford's the public will be able to judge of the right or continual advertisement of the fact that he is au Irishman and allusion to what other Irish. men bad done for China called forth my criti cisms. I advocate British influence as opposed to Irish influence. I take my whisky with water and prefer more water than whisky in the mixture, as I find the raw spirit has an in- jarious effect on the brain; my mixture I British.
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The nom de plume Open Door" has taken uuto himself is either with the hazy idea that there is only one way of keeping, the door open or with intent to infer that I am opposing an open door policy. I claim to be as strong an advocate for the open door, when it is pos sible to keep doors open to trade, as himself, but I hold to a different method, that method being spheres of influence, in which 90 per cent, of the trade falls within the British sphere, Lord Charles Beresford hints at the break-up of China under certain contingencies and, adyo cates coercion of China hy a mixed force of British, German, American, and Japanese com. position. I do not like the mixture.
Elsewhere in the paper containing "Open Door's" letter I find an extract from a speech by Lord Charles, referring to two Irishmen, Mr. Jackson and Sir Robert Hart. The refer, ences to the former are nothing more than he merits, for all can unite in thinking him one of the ablest and best men in the Far East. Sir Robert Hart deserves credit for the very effec, tive way in which the coasts of China liave been provided with lighthouses, but when Lord Char: les says that Sir Robert has provided the only available asset China ever had, in the shape, of the Customs, he gives voice to a grave popular error. Sir Robert did not provide the Customs the reverse is the case; the Customs provided Sir Robert. Further, the Customs was guaran tee for the first war indemnity, before Sir Robert ever joined that service. This is one of the numerous discrepancies in Lord Charles Beres, ford's speeches,
Open-Door" says that I talk glibly of spheres and would form a sort of zoological happy family. Well, I find Lord Charles Beresford in one of his Sbanghei speeches, after his visit to the North and his return with the great big book which contains everything worth knowing about China, says,- the position of other countries? I think wa
-“What
may say, without exaggeration, Russia, has got a very extensive sphere of influence; I think Germany has; but Great Britain, with 68 per, cent. of the whole trade in its hands, has no sphere of influence, and so far as the North concerned there is no open door. Is that the position we are to remain in? I think not
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