May 12, 1900.]
course of action.
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CHINA
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THE GOVERNMENT AND OUR
COLONIES IN CHINA.
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OVERLAND TRADE REPORT. bute any particular momentary significance | owe every step forward in the path towards to them. This does not, of course, detract civilisation. The human mind is, in, fact from their value as an object-lesson. The so constituted that without enthusiasm na- question now is, can the present situation tions cannot be led to undergo the personal
(Daily Press, 9th May.) endure much longer without any open rup- sacrifices necessary to bring about a vital
The Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs ture? The hope of the continuation of peace change; and it has been the absence from is sustained chiefly by the fact, which the the Chinese mind of anything approaching did not add anything to the strength of the wiser among Ja anese politicians fully re- to enthusiasm that has resulted in the gen-Government's Case in the matter of China cognize, that Japan has little to gain by a eral stagnation of the intellect. This in the defence which he made in the House victory otherwise than diplomatic. They natural defect of the Chinese mind has been of Commons on the 30th March. He ex- know that Russia has never sat down after aggravated by a false system of education; pressed a certain amount of satisfaction, defeat and accepted the situation. The and it is to the credit of the Emperor which no one else who took part in the Crimean War is a strong instance. Ap- KWANG Hau that he was able to see this, debate was prepared to share, at British parently Russian ambition received a grave and surrounded himself with men of like policy in China during the past year. check when the allies defeated her in the calibre. Revolutions are not made with From information which had reached the Crimea. But, as was admirably pointed out rose-water, we have the authority of a great | Government, he declared, neither had Bri- by the writer who uses the pen-name of European statesman for saying; nor, we may tish trade suffered in China nor had British This VLADIMIR, in his hook on Russia and the add, are they affected by angels; and KANG, prestige suffered in any respect. Siberian railway, Russia gained much more if he has some of the virtues, has likewise throws a curious light on the value of the in the Far East than she lost in the West, and his proportion of the vices which go to make information which is supplied to the Go- that during the actual progress of the war. a successful revolutionary leader, and herein vernment. With regard to the diplomatic Then there is the action of the other Powers lies the great danger, and a danger which victories of the Tsungli Yamen, of which interested in the development of Corea to grows day by day. The change has been the details can be disinterred with a little be considered. The extremely problematic so long delayed that China's very good patience from the recent Blue Book, Mr. nature of the issue may have the fortunate friends, who but a few years ago would have BRODRICK's simple but very insufficient effect of driving both nations to determine looked upon reform with sufficiently friendly answer was "Have foreign Powers met at least to exhaust all the resources of eyes, have now come to look for the rever- with no difficulties from the Yamen ?" diplomacy beforethey think of a more serious tion of the property as an event within We do not, however, propose to treat But it may be noted that measurable distance. China is moribund, the question of general policy, but only 00 the references made in The Japan Daily Mail, in a recent article, and the physici ns have given up hope of to touch does not find it possible to take a cheerful the recovery of the patient. The patient the course of the debate of the 30th March Mr. view of affairs, With regard to Japanese bad not in his lifetime troubled himself to the British colonies in China. aspirations in Corea our contemporary says:
about the usual social amenities, and, now WALTON, who continues steadfast in his "Unless Russia herself abandon either Vila- that the end has come, they have assembled role of champion of British rights in China, "divostock or Manchuria, she cannot pos- themselves about his bedside, waiting for insisted that, though repeated declarations sibly allow Corea to be held by a Power the breath to leave his body. Is is of policy had been made by Her Majesty's "which would thus be in a position to cut any wonder that a panacea, likely to Government which, if carried out, would concerned with "her in two. The geographical situation restore the patient to life and vigour, have satisfied everyone
meet with scant welcome in British interests in the Far East, an a "is most unfortunate from the point of view should "of those that desire to see Japan and Rus- such a company? KANG is not yet suffi- matter of fact they were not carried out.
sia remain at peace.'
ciently advanced in his knowledge of state- With regard, for instance, to the terms on craft to recognise how intensely selfish is which the acquisition of Weihaiwei and the human auimal; the Empress Dowager is Kowloon had been secured, these declara- bringing down the once great and respected tions had proved delusive. Mr. BroDRICK, "effective empire of China to disgrace and perdition; in his reply, dealt with the yet the woman who is doing all this is boundary "question at Kowloon. What honoured and respected, while the true is it we asked for and obtained?" he said, Emperor is held a captive, and exposed to We obtained 200 square miles addition to every process of contumely and contempt, the colony of Hongkong. That in itself is a fed on the coarsest of food, and the Empress not inconsiderable accession." Shamchun, herself given little better than rags to clothe he continued, we were obliged to take herself withal. The foreign Powers who temporarily owing to the opposition threa openly profess an intense interest in China tened by disorganised Chinese troops; but sit round, and laugh and chaff one another; when the cause of offence was gone, should nay, what is worse, do not wait for the not the punishment be withdrawn too? He patient's death, but quietly annex his house- granted Mr. WALTON's contention that we hold goods under his very eyes; and the should by taking a further tract of land in Dowager dances in and out and gives to the first instance have secured an effec- each a slice of the good things going. KANG tive boundary; but asked whether the is no stateman not to perceive that all this advocates of an extended boundary consi- mere human nature. Such is the in-dered the probable number of troops
to or later required maintain evitable conclusion that sooner
that boundary. has to come to very reformer, to the As this section of the subject successful as well as to the unsuccessful. dropped at this point amid the cheera of Mr. Great thoughts, as Lord BRACONSFIELD) BRODRICK'S followers, it would seem that found out, "have very little to do with he was allowed to secure an apparent argu
But it is impossible to the business of the world, and human affairs, mentative success. even in an age of revolution, are the sub- believe that the House endorsed the opinion ject of compromise; and the essence of com- that true economy should rest content with promise is littlenes." Every reformer who an ineffective boundary because it would not essays the task undertaken by KANG YU require so many men to guard it. What of WE has sooner or later to discover this defence in time of war? Was not the whole inevitable truth, and happy is he to whom idea of the extension of territory to make the knowledge has not come too late. the boundary effective? A certain melan- KANG's aims are lofty, his sympathies wide, choly satisfaction may be felt by the people his love for his country pure; five years of Hongkong, ourselves included, who in no ago much could have been done, but the half-hearted way denounced the retrocession patient has already out-lived his friends, of Shamchun as a most absurd blunder on and KANG as a hoaler is out of place the grounds both of military defence and of amongst the hungry crowd of watchers. moral effect on the Chines. But it in al- most inconceivable that a responsible Mini- ter should stand up and say :: "I quite grant that we ought to have taken a further tract of land, but think how expensive it would have been to maintain the proper boun- dary !"
KANG YU WEI AND REFORM CHINA.
(Daży Pess, 8th May.) Recently The North China Daily News has been publishing some interesting manifestoes from the "reformer" KANG YU WEI, which call for some notice. Without attempting. as some of his more foolish admirers have done, to exalt KANG to the rank of a possible statesman, there is much in what he puts forward that may well be taken into serious consideration. He is above all a patriot, and we shall not be going far afield when we affirm that one of the great wants of China has ever been patriotism: he feels deeply the present degradation of his country, and, though we may not be at oue with him in all the measures he would pro- pose, there is no doubt that many of the steps he recommended to his master were in the right direction, and were both wise and expedient. There is something touch- ing in the personal homage he renders to the unfortunate boy Emperor, and the sovereign who has been able to excite so personal a devotion, as did KWANG HSU from the ministers whom he elected to place around him, could certainly not have been devoid of many of the brightest attributes of governance. We think all the more highly of Japan that she has succeeded in extricating herself from the trammels of her very good friends the Eu- ropean Powers, and we would be very well content to see Kano's dream of a great Chinese Empire carried to a successful issue. We write this because there is evidently a very great misconception of the charac- ter and part taken by KANG YU WRI in the present movement. That he is himself little better than a visionary we are willing to admit, but the history of the world teaches us that to visionaries we
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It is reported that Mr. John Barrett, former U.S. Minister to Siam, will be appointed on the Commission to study the markets and in- dustrial progress of the Orient, as the repre- sentative of the Pacific Coast.
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