January 17, 1903.}
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CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
'hat we should not be justified in ignoring ultimate challenge of Britain's supremacy 1 the movement. And this brings us to the in Afghanistau. In Persia, Russia bas consideration of what has been attempted i a'rcady got a very firm foothold, but in in some quarters to set forward as a Afghanistan she has at present to play a grievance, and that is the seeming disfavour very quiet, not to say underhand, game, into which the Hupeh Viceroy, CHANG | Turning to Russie's line of action in North CIH TUNG, is represented to have fallen China an 1 Corea, we arrive at a questi u with the powers that be. That CHANG has which concerns us far more intimately, for deserved well of his country is not to be a weak British policy in the North cannot denied, and no foreigner would desire to but produce immediate effects in Central see any discredit cast upon him. At the and South China. With the Manchurian same time, it is not right to forget that the question, as it now stands, we dealt briefly salvation of China in. 1900 was due entirely | a few days ago. Since then a new Russian to the inspiration of the aged Viceroy at move in Crea has been reported. It is to Nanking, and that had it not been for the be noted that Russia recently abated her statesmanship of Lit, his colleague at activity in Coroa, concentrating her atten- Wuching would have cut but a sorry tin oà Manchuria. Now that the ocupa figure. Nor did CHANG commend himself tion of Manchuria is an accomplished fact, to the people of Kiangsu when ou a previous she proccess once more to re-open the occasion he held the sea's as Viceroy of the Corean question on the old lineš. Fre Lo.gr Provinces. We do not men to quently in the past have we sen attempts allege that affairs are progressing satis- to get Curea to adopt a Russian as principal factorily at Peking; far from it, they are adviser, almost as frequently have the in hands at once feeble and dishonest, and Coreans been urged to unite their telegraph need to be narrowly looked after. This is, system with that of Russia-a próposal not however, by no means a reason why w in itself menacing, but dang rous as part of should seek to complicate them still further the Russiau gaine. The visit of such by imputing wrong mot ves to every action, dignitary as the Corean Crown Prince to The serei y of good men is heavily felt in St. Petersburg is also an old ruse. All Chius, now that she has lost the servic.s of tends to show that the screw is once more two such faithful subjects as LIU KUNG YI being put on Corea, at a moment when and To Mu, Lut that is ad the more reason Russia is moving in two other extremities why we should be disposed to bɔɔk with of Asia. It is impossible not to adufire the hope on the recut appointments. Uafor- skill which marks the triple stroke. Surely tunately we do not know sufficient of the it may be thought, one of these thres new men appointed to pron su se caedetinit disputes must result favourably to Russia, judgment, and it is therefore only reasonable and if in the other two she is defeated to give them the opportunity without she will at any ra'c suffer no loss,
A grave carping criticism to show of what they are cause for auxiety arises from the doubt capable.
RUSSIA AND COREA.
(Daily Press, 12th January.) The state of affairs between Great Britain and Russ'a at the present moment appears to be particularly unquiet, a fact which will perhaps justify us for sɔ frequently touch- ing in these columns on matters involving the country ruled by the Tear. Just w there are three points in parti ular at which British and Russian interests come into direct conflict, over the Dard inelles, in Parsia and Afghanistan, and in Nor h eustera Asia. Neither of the first two questions concern us much out here, exept in so far as they tend to prolus friction between the two great Powers involved. Tax Dardanelles affair is really an international matter for not only Britain bat als all th3 leading Powers of Europe are afficted by Russia's violation of the Treaty of Paris. The fact that Germany is inclin d to give in to Russia is a sign of the continuance of modern German policy, and we are there fore rather surprised at the icitation manifested at home. France aturally takes the side of her ally. If Austria and Italy, as reported probable, agres with Grea Br tin, they will oy by consulting their own interests, for neither of them ciu desire to see a new maritimo Pow.r in the Mediteranen, which is what is portende] by Turkey yielding to Ras'a in the present dispute. As for the activity of Rússia in Pers aand on the Arch mist in frontier, and the att tule of which the latest manifesta. tion is the statement of the St. Petersburg Novoe Fremya, commenting on Mjor Macmahon's mission to Sistan, that priva e disputes between Pori and Afghanistan are no concern of Eagland, an i that Russia cannot witness the despitch of the mission
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whether the British Goverumeut will be sufficiently wideawake to watch the outcome ia all the e regions of the world. Under Lnd SALISBURY's leadership, its record in Asia ic affairs was not particularly glorious, in some respects it was even painfully ba1. There are not wanting indications" of a change for the better, but the task which is apparently before Great Britain is an arduous one. There is fortunately, how- ever, an aspect of the Corean question, the principal aspect indeed, which presents the case more favourably for us. The chief country interested in the non-ali-nation of Corea is Jipa, our new ally, and Japan's concera in Corean affairs hardly be denied even by the warmest friends of Russia, who cannot but admit that Tapun has a right to ask what
Can
Russia intends and that she is deeply effected by the continual march of the other toward her frontiers: As long as Japan is an independent country, she cannot afford to see anything approaching to Russian suz rinty in Corea. In our alliance with
Japan we may see the best guarantee against extension of the Russian frontier further castward than it now lies--which We are now compelled to admit is on the Coseau border.
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The Rus ia c uiser Admiral Nachimof arrivel»t Sing spora on th· 6th ius', and was expecial to stay three wee is or so, as she is awaiting the arrival of a new comm nder, her revious commander having diel at Saigon. bonud, had the Grand Duke Cyril on board. The Aluiral Na himoff, which is homeward
It is ram ured, says the Jap in Mail, that the only bigh perango, posel to Viceroy
Yun's projet fr the discrediting
of
THE WORSHIP OF CONFUCIUS.
(Daily Press, 14th January.)
Daily News an article dealing with the We find in a recent issue of the N.-C. treatment by missionaries in Chins of the
co
this article is Dr. W. A. P. MARTIN, whose worship" of CONFUCIUS. The author of
who have the slightest acquaintance with name must compel respect from all those missionary and educational work in China. The subject is one which has given rise to some little discussion of late, not only in missionary circles, and the views of so experienced a man as DR. MARTIN must therefore be all the more welcomed. It could be predicted that there would be nothing narrow or bigoted in these views; the reader need not expect to be told that the honour paid to the greatest of China's sages is idolatry," that catch-word of preachers of Christianity
many well-meaning but ill-instructed nations.
to foreign It is true that Dr. MARTIN prefaces his remarks in the North-China Daily News with the question, "Is it idolatry?" but the answer he gives dis- tinctly is that it is not. The article on suggested by a point brought up in the CONFUCIUS-worship seems to have been annual report of the Diffusion Society, namely the question as to what is the best the Chinese Government for the rights of way to secure proper regard on the part of
regards she must lag behind other nations. conscience, which as long as China dis- But Dr. MARTIN is far from looking on the matter in any oue-sided way. This is proved by one paragraph in his brief article, which we take the liberty of reproducing here. He says:- The expulsion of a student "from the university of Sbantung for refusing to bow the knee to CONFUCIUS is a disgrace to the country. But while I thus express myself in regard to the narrow view of the Chinese, 1 cannot refrain from saying that there is room for a change of view on our side of the question. For myself, I hold strongly that there is nothing idolatrous in the worship of CONFUCIUS. He is not des- cribed as a God; nor is he invoked as "such. The inscription on his tablet makes ·
him the most holy of the ancient sages.' Honour to his memory as China's greatest "Leacher is all that the rite signifies- notwithstanding the grovelling and abject admirably enlightened standpoint, which "form of the ceremony." This is an
does the greatest credit to the man who bolds by it. The writer goes on to compare another Chin se rite which is purely civil, the "
worship" of the tablet of the
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living Emperor, of which he says:-" How- ever little we may admire this sort of man-worship, it is man-worship and
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not the worship of God. It is not "forbi iden to Christiau official; hor "is the worship of the sage · forbid.
den." The worship of CONFUCIUS was forbidden by the Papacy to the Roman Catholic converts, and other Christian proselytisers have followed the Romanist policy. Dr. MARTIN calls on "Protestant " missionaries to take an independent stand and to teach their converts to look on the worship of CONFUCIUS as a merely civil rite. The conscience of our Christians,” he
says,
“would at once be set free and one of the greatest barriers to the spread of Christianity would be taken out of the way." The immensity of the barrier will, we fancy,
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unmore l, these are all of a piece with Russia's 8t that he be includ d in Sheng's fall from be questioned by none who have any
steady policy of encroachment and advance is Central Asin. It is obviously the intention, of the Russian extremists to lead up to au
heng is Panco Ching. After Prines Ching's double dealing in the t'er of the Yangtz Vley, Cina's interests would seem to ug- power. Foreign op uion has always been favour- able to him, and we hesitate to express any definite views about the overtaking him.
knowledge of the labour of introducing misfortunes now | Christianity among Chinese,
For more
than two thousand years have the Emperors
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