392
pleasantness if he permitted this peaceably. He agreed affably, to the extent of saying that they could enter at once. They pointed out that if they entered it would be necessary for him to withdraw with all his men. He was found will- ing to withdraw.
Those remaining on the Pigmy during this interview had at first seen few or no signs of animation in the forts. Then the forts guns were uncovered, and there was some doubt as to whether they would be fired on or not. The situation was explained when Comdr. Green returned from the friendly talk on shore, and ordered Lieut. H. D. Briggs and eighteen men to land and occupy the place. No time was lost in this. The Chinese in the meanwhile had gathered up goods, chattels, lares and penates, and, led by the obliging General, had left empty forts to the bluejackets.
The incident did not finish bore. Word had come before of a force of Russian troops advancing on the forts overland, and later in the day they put in an appear. ance. First they essayed the Railway Station, but they found the officer in charge polite but obdurate. The place had been occu- pied by Her Britannic Majesty's sailors, it was pointed out, and there was no admittance. They applied and appealed to Sir Walter Hillier and to Col. Powell, but with the same result. Fin- ally the Russians had to content themselves with a camp on the shore, while the eighteen tars and their officer held the forts. The Pigmy then got up steam again, and returned to Taku, there to report what had happened. They were ordered back, strengthened by fifty bluejackets from another vessel. Another war-vessel was before them at Shanhaikwan this time, however, for they reached the fort to find the Russian Buric landing men by searchlight. The Russian sailors, it seemed, also desired admission to the forts. They applied at once, but again came a polite refusal.
Things remained in this wise for some hours 1 when the Centurion, bearing Admiral Seymour, arrived on the scene. It was decreed thereupon that the Railway Station and the sea fort should fly the international flags, and this was done, international guards relieving the men of the Pigmy. As for the other forts, they were apportioned among the other nations at the rate of one fort to two or three nations. So ended an interesting affair, smartly carried out, and hovering just near enough to the brink of hostility to be worth chronicling for its own sake.
CHINA HONOURS.
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PŘESS AND THE CHINA ASSOCIATION
AND THE GOVERNMENT.
The following letter was addressed by the China Association to the Foreign Secretary on 12th September:
It is felt that the magnitude of the interests at stake, and the far-reaching consequences of any action that may be taken at the present crisis, constitute a sufficient justification for placing before your lordship a statement of the views entertained by this Association upon certain essential features of the situation.
"It can hardly be necessary to reiterate that the Association viewed with extreme distrust the preliminary assurances of the Empress Dowager that her usurpation must not be in- terpreted as antagonistic to reform, but as implying a change of method more consistent with Chinese views. That distrust was quickly justified. The reactionary character of her Government has since been gradually accentuat- ed. The displacement of officials and their supersession by others of a more and more reactionary type has been continuous. Warn- ings that an anti-foreign outbreak was in course of preparation have been frequent; and it is not possible, now that these anticipations have been verified, to reject the evidence of complicity which such coincidences afford.
..
It is unnecessary, however, to labour a point upon which the association feels satisfied that your lordship must be convinced. The imme- diate object is to emphasize the corollary that which does not exclude those primarily respon- no settlement can be regarded as admissible
sible for the outbreak from power.
We are able, fortunately, to discriminate between the attitude of the Empress-Dowager and her advisers, and that of the chief provincial magnates and the inass of the nation.
**
Personal responsibility rests notoriously upon Prince Tuan, Kang Yi, and the Empress's trusted henchman, General Tung Fab-siang. Yu Hsien, who was openly accused of fomenting the
Boxer"
movement while Governor of Shantung, is charged now with having been privy to the murder of numerous missionaries and converts in Shansi, while Hau Tung is known by common repute to have been actively concerned both in the persecution of progressive officials and in the recent anti-foreign cam- paign.
"It is folt that the exclusion from power of a faction so deeply compromised should be regard- ed as essential preliminary to negotiation, whereas the unconditional withdrawal of the Allied forces from Peking would constitute a Admiral Seymour has been appointed G.C.B practical invitation to them to return. It may Captains Bayley (H.M.S. Aurora), Burke (Orbe expedient, for reasons of state, to guarantee lando), Callaghan (Endymion), and Jellicoe (Cen the personal immunity of the Empress-how turion), C.B.; Vice-Admiral Bruce, K.C.M.G. convincing soever the evidence of her complicity Lieutenants Lowther-Crofton (Centurion); | may appear.
But no valid reason suggests Charrington (Alacrity), Mackenzie (Whiting), itself for extending that immunity to her and Phillimore (Barfleur), and Engineer Cockey responsible advisers. (Centurion) have received the D.S.O.; and Mid- shipman Guy (Barfleur) has received the V.C. The following list of promotions is published :-
Commanders Fraser, Granville, and Beatty to Captain;
Lieutenants Kemp, Luard, Hulbert, Colomb, and Keyes to Commander;
Sub-Lients. Ballard, Walcott, Bristhwaite, Cochrane, aud Kennedy to Lieutenant;
Staff-Surgeon Thomas to Fleet Surgeon; Surgeons Browne and Hall to Staff Surgeon; Staff Paymaster Alton to Fleet Paymaster; Asst. Paymasters Rotter and Hargraves to Paymaster;
Majors Johnston, R. M. L. I., and Luke R.M.L.I., to Brevet Lieut.-Col.
Capt. Wray, R.M.L.I., to Brevet Major. Lieut. Armstrong, R.M.L.I., to Captain,
R.M.L.I.
Commander Boothly, Midshipmen Herbert, Jones, Mayne, Gipps, Guy, Shore, and Osborne and Asst. Engineer Cossey, noted for early promotion:
The National Convention of the Raw-silk Manufacturers of Japan will be held for three days from the 16th alt, to discuss important questions concerning the raw-silk manufactur- ing industry. It is reported that they propose to ask the Japanese Government to relieve them from the present difficulty by allowing them subsidies. zičku
The ills that have flowed from the coup d'état of 1898 cannot, unfortunately, now be undone. The Progressive officials who have been executed cannot be recalled; the recent massacres cannot be obliterated; but the culminating outrage of attack on Legations and their inmates teaches a lesson that may not be ignored. Every con- sideration of dignity and prestige demands that that outrage should be punished and its authors treated as criminals incapable of recognition.
"It follows, equally, that the only hope of security for the future lies in a change of régime.
The restoration of the Emperor would auto- matically terminate the ascendency of the Reactionaries and would ensure the punishment as rebels of those who are responsible for hold- ing him in durance, and who are chiefly respon-
sible for recent events.
[November 17, 1900.
any harm with which they may be threatened
in consequence of the attitude they have been encouraged to assume.
备帽
The restoration of the Empress, in a word, means continued reaction, persecution, and unrest. It is impossible.
4
The restoration of the Emperor means re- sumption of the Progressive policy which was interrupted by the coup d'état of 1898, and in which the best hope of maintaining the in- tegrity and promoting the welfare of China is to be found.
"There is no purpose of wearying your lord- ship by recapitulation of arguments that have been adduced in previous communications; but the supreme importance that financial consider- a single allusion may be pardoned, in view of ations are likely to assume.
"Finance is probably the greatest among the many difficulties that beset a backward nation brought suddenly in contact with modern civilisation. It is the most urgent, certainly, of the problems that confront China, and is only to be solved by fiscal reform. Her rulers have tried, with characteristic incompetence, to meet modern exigencies with medieval resources. Discontent has been caused already by con- straining crude devices that answered well enough under different conditions. But the limit of capacity, in that direction, appears to have been reached; and fiscal reform is a necessity if additional requirements are to be met without subjecting the people to additional taxation which they might hardly endure.
番
The recognised sources of revenue in China are similar to those in India. The area of the
two countries is similar; the national resources of China are certainly not less; and the differ- once between the revenues at the disposal of the two Governments constitutes a measure of the incompetency of the Chinese fiscal administra- tion.
"The Emperor and the advisers he had gather ed around him perceived the necessity of re- forms if China is to survive as an integral State. His attempts to abolish sinecures and introduce the principle of a budget rank, indeed, among the proximate causes of the conspiracy which has had such disastrous consequences, not only for foreigners but for Chinese themselves. Such reforms are opposed to the selfish interests of the courtiers, permanent officials, Manchu pensioners, and sinecurists who gave their sup- port to the lately dominant clique; and they are in the last degree unlikely to be inaugurated under what may, for convenience of designation, be called an "Empress” régime.
"It is a common saying that the inhabitants
is taking place in another; but that is because of one province in China care little about what
Chinese wars are generally looked at in the light of rebellions which affect only the districts concerned. The present circumstances are exceptional. hesitation that the attention of all China is It may be affirmed without
directed at present towards Peking; and that the outcome is awaited with hope as well as anxiety by different classes in all provinces alike.
the capture of Peking and the flight of the "The Reform party hope, without doubt, that Empress imply the suppression of the re actionary clique. The mass of the people are waiting to draw an inference as to the reality or ephemeral character of her defent. If the Allies withdraw from Peking before enforcing terms and re-establishing a form of Government whose very existence would signify her down- fall, it will be construed as a retreat; and s great opportunity of inaugurating changes that are essential to the welfare and integrity of the Chinese Empire will be lost.”
H.M.S. Endymion arrived at Nagasaki on the 3rd inst. from Taku, having on board Bir Claude and Lady MacDonald, and sailed again “The coutinued ascendency of the Reaction- for Kobe at five o'clock in the afternoon. From aries would involve the probable extension to Kobe, the ship proceeded to Yokohama, but Sir other provinces of the turbulence, which has pre-Claude and Lady MacDonald were to land at vailed in the region north of the Yellow River, but which has been averted in the south by the sagacity of provincial officials, who had a clearer perception of the actuality of the force at work. It would involve, too, almost inevitably the vindictive punishment of these great officials for their refusal to join in a movement which the Court party desired to make universal; whereas the honour and the interests of Western nations are concerned in shielding them against
the first port and continue their journey to Tokyo by rail. They landed in Nagasaki, visited some of the sights of the city, and lunched with Mr. and Mrs. Longford; but owing to the instructions which have been issued to British officials forbidding them to take part in public functions for the space of four weeks, on account of the death of HRH Prince Christian Victor of Schleswig Holstein, no formal reception could be held.