it-
192
CANAL SCHEMES AND BRITISH TRADE.
(Daily Press, 17th March.)
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
we are most opposed, there is common ele- ment and a better understanding of our differences between ourselves and the people of the States than prevail between us and any other nation. It is well to remember that it is scarcely more than thirty years since the first line of steamers crossed the
Pacific Ocean; even now the lines of steam-
new
[March 24, 1900.
BELLING THE DOWAGER.
THE failure of her long contemplated coup (Daily Press, 21st March.) of the New Year has not improved the temper of the Dowager Tze Hsi, and a con- dition which may be best described as a reign of terror prevails through the Empire. Seen far above the ignoble crowd of para- lysed satellites who form her ministers, the figure of the woman Tze Her stands out as that of some savage, but noble beast of pray, surrounded by a hungry pack of parasites, ficient to send packing in mortal terror, whom one roar of the grunder beast is suf- If, however, the physical aspect of the Dowager Empress be that of a beast of proy, level;
her instinct of terrorism into quarters where," her mental attitude is on a similar. and she has been recently seeking to extend from the nature of the case, it must recoil
on herself. She has taken stock of the the bureaucracy of China. From them she craven crowd of intriguers who constitute knows she has nothing to fear; they have been so accustomed to be led that they have forgotten now to think for themselves; bé- sides, they are ready to sympathise with her in her reactionary policy, more especially in her hatred to foreigners and foreign insti- tutions, for have they not in their own persons felt the bitter sting of the foreigner, who would deprive them of those little per- quisites of office which ever since the days of the Master himself have ever appertained to the holder? The dislike of the foreigner, which was at first a mere sentiment, has lately grown into an hallucination, which haunts the Empress's waking, and disturbs her sleeping hours; and it is sufficient that any one of her retinue should have had
The Treaty concluded with the United States, in abrogation of the CLAYTON-BUL WEB Convention, is one which will commend itself to most intelligent Englishmen. If, on the one hand, it withdrew the claim of Engers are comparatively few compared with land to interfere actively in the construction, those of the other oceans; but with the open on the other it provides that her interests ing of the Canal auther phase of thing is shall be carefully guarded, and that the certain to arise. The Pacific is not wanting Canal shall at all times be open to her ships, in fertile islands, whose productions have naval and merchant, without favour or dis- hitherto failed to reach the markets of the @rimination. The Government of the United world, because of the difficulty of con- States has always declared this to be its munication. All this must undergo a policy with regard to the Canal. It has change with the opening of the it the subject of a solemn convention, taking in Australia, New Zealand and the Fijis now formally ratified this policy by making passage, and as Great Britain already holds the international convention regarding the the most important and most productive of Suez Canal as the model of the new treaty. the Pacific lands, there is already an assured That convention has come to be acknow- opening for her enterprise. But the Trans- ledged as a part of the common code of Isthmian Canal, it is important to recall, is international law regulating the intercourse of not the only, nor perhaps the most impor- civilised nations, and leaves little room open tant, enterprise at the moment occupying for dispute, so that the question under what the attention of the States, in which Eng national flag the work may come to be lish interests are largely concerned By actually carried out becomes a matter of her admirable system of ship-canals. Canada merely private interest. That the people has hitherto succeeded in diverting to her own ports the lion's share of the enormous traffic of the Great Lakes; how great is this traffic may be guessed, when we look at the statement that during the last year no less than 20,000 vessels of a capacity of 22,000,000 tons passed through the Bault Ste Marie Canal from Lake Superior to Huron, Seventy-five years ago the United States constructed the Erie Canal, lending from Albany on the Hudson to Buffalo on Lake Erie; and for many years this aufficed for the traffic: but with the growth of steam
dealings, however innocent, with an out- navigation, and the increased advantages lander, especially if that outlander be an offered by Canada, the stream of traffic Englishman, to incur her enmity and eventually selected the Dominion route.
become a marked man. The case of WENG The result of this has been that New York TUNG-HO is a marked instance of this pecu- has found its export trade seriously ham- liar phase of mind, which shows how unba- pered; the Canadian Government has pro-lanced has become her intellect. WENG vided a through water-way from Superior
was the teacher of the late Emperor, and in to Montreal with a minimum depth of 14 feet, while the Erie Canal only affords his day was known for his conservative pro- elivities. He was a man faithful to the passage to ordinary barges. Governor ROOSEFELT, of New York, one of the ablest Chinese ideal of unswerving integrity, and was personally attached to his young charge. American statesmen of the day, has taken He reminds usin &me respects of the story of the matter in hand, and is promoting the Wo K'O-TU, the Censor who displayed his construction of a deep-water canal from Lake
devotion to the young Emperor TUNG-CHI The scheme is a Erie to the Hudson. formidable one-little if anything inferior by sacrificing himself on the Imperial grave, to the Trans-Isthmian project; but in the in despair of amending the slight cast upon present extension temper of the State is the memory of his beloved master in leaving almost certain to b carried. The distance him without an heir. For his devotion to to be traversed is about 360 miles, and the TUNG-cur's successor, the still more un- differences in level are serious, amounting fortunate KWANG-H8U, WENG has had to in the present canal to over 600 feet; and undergo the hate of the insatiable TZE-ISI, the estimated ecst is put down at no less and not only he, but all who were in any than 60,000,000 dollars. The promoters way connected with the unfortunate boy. openly state that their object is, not only Emperor. It is one of the characteristics of this Celestial Catherine, that she has to make a shorter route from the Lakes to the sea, but to make it entirely through recently forbidden the access of any dis- American territory and eventually to turn agreeable truths, and her craven attend- into Amerionn toutes and American boats, ants, knowing the effects of disobedience, the vast trade of the Lakes, which now seeks leave her in ignorauce of all that is going its ocean outlet by way of the St. Lawrence. on outside the walls of the palace. It is It is not to be denied that these inton probably though this ignoranco that she has recently been seeking to outrage the tions are serious, and threaten boldly our maritime supremacy. Fortunately trade plainest amenities of international usage. begets trade, and if we lose on one hand, That the favourites who flourish in the there will be doubtless corresponding ad- Palace of the Dowager should cringe under vantages to be gained on the other, if wo face the inevitablo in a proper spirit.
of the United States #hould desire that a Canal, whose most marked utility is that it will connect more closely than before the Atlantio and Pacific coasts of the great Re- public, is natural enough and indeed is a subject of laudable ambition; on the other hand, there was no great desire on the part of British capitalists to invest in so distant and difficult an undertaking, while the pos- session of the Canal could not but lead to international jealousy. From every consi- deration it was politic that the construction should be left in hands of the most interested nation, and as that nation was connected with our own by the ties, not only of blood, but also of a general community of interest, the Government, with the approval of the nation at large, as soon as the stage for the commencement of the work was imminent, declared its intention of not permitting the clauses of the existing treaty to stand in the way of construction. This friendly feeling was doubtless strengthened by the experience of both nations with regard to International control of joint undertakings, The joint administration of Samoa, for in- stance, was not an experiment such as the United States would care to try their hand at a second time, nor was the Dual Control in Egypt such an institution as England would wish to support again. On the whole Lord SALISBURY'S Government may well be congratulated on the measure. But eveil more than this; there is, we believe, a general desire on the part of the nation that
the Canal should be taken in hand at as
early a date as possible, and the United States were certainly in a better momentary position to do this than England. We have spoken so recently on the probable effect of the scheme on British trade that we need scarcely repeat our words on the subject; but on the whole we believe that it will be an advantage for British trade, and if it in- troduce in certain lines an increased compe- tition, will in others prove an incentive to our powers of production. It is not likely to provoke such a revolution in the com- merce of the world as followed the opening of the Suez Canal, and yet for all that it will profoundly improve the position of many of our Pacific dependencies, as well as bring the West Indies into the direct line % of the world's commerce. From all these points of view the Canal cannot but be advan- "tageous' to us as a nation, and it becomes a matter of importance that it should be in friendly hands. At all events, even whên
The Japanese Press state that at the request of Korea the Japanese Government has agreed to adopt measures to avoid the serious incon- reniences brought about by the present condi- tion of the ginseng trade. It is now believed that the sale of the valuable herb will be made a Government monopoly.
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the threats of a woman such na ita mistress is conceivable; that a man so marked by his astuteness na Li Hung-CHANG should follow, shows how utterly incapable of self-help is the bureaucracy, of China. The history of Macao is not, we fear, one of which the colony may be proud, nor have its relations In the past with the Viceroy of the Liang Kwang evinced much of dignity. There are, however, as we pointed out when first