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THE HONGKON› WEEKLY PRESS AND
[September 17, 1906.
The matter has been admirably treated by Mr. Edward Dicey in an article which appeared in the Empire Review. He sums up the history of the various events which have culminated in our occupying a position in Egypt that is cer tainly anomalous, and which, thanks to the want of decision which so often characterises British diplomacy in such matters, is, he frankly admits, open to question by European nations, should any one of them think it worth while to raise difficulty at the present time. He points out that upon three several occasions it would have been possible for us
to have declared our pro- tectorate under circumstances which would have justified its declaration in the eyes of Europe as well as of Egypt;" but that we have kept up a pretence thit our military occupation was of a temporary character and would be terminated, in accordance with the assurances we had given of our own accord, as soon as Egypt was reorgan ised under British administration so as to bold her own as an independent state. Upon this point, he observes :-
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THE CASE OF SIR ROBERT HART. connection, been referred to contemptuously, difficulties of the situation are at an end. so we need not be too touchy. As a matter It will still require much careful man- of fact, though Sir ROBERT HART may be agement to enable Great Britain to obtain regarded as in some sort a trustee for the settled position or to secure such an foreign creditors, a sort of official receiver administration in Egypt ds is essential for he is none the less a servant of the Chinese' safeguarding her interests in a country What is more, he has been a good which must always be of the greatest servant, and the Chinese in many ways importance, being on her highway to have recoguised his services. There can be India and the Far East. no harm in plain speaking. Sir ROBERT HART is not humiliated; he knows that he has outlived his usefulness; and a bit of sentiment, a desire to complete his jubilee of service, alone restrains him from at once seeking the rest and renewal of home ties he longs for. The Chinese, like some other people, were merely anticipating his retirement. This is what the Times shows signs of overlooking. The Inspector- Generalship is a desirable job, to put it vulgarly, not only for the holder but for the Power he may represent. There is a good deal of heart-burning as to who shall succeed Sir ROBERT HART, and when the Times says that Sir ROBERT BREDON, his Deputy, has "manifested an exaggerated desire to ingratiate himself with the Chinese authorities", we suspect wheels within wheels. We care very little who does get it, so long as he is a Briton and an able man; but we fear that the Times may be innocently playing catspaw to more than one monkey. Why should Sir ROBERT BREDON not have attended the formal opening of the new offices at Peking, when the British Govern- ment had accepted China's assurance that nothing would be done to weaken the security for the loan? We, like the Times, often speak of "Chinese incompetency and corruption", but we do not get angry at the idea of a Chinese official specting contemptuously "of a white maussid a servant of the Chinese-especially when there is more thau a chance that the contemptuousness existed only in the imagination of the correspondent. The best auswer to all these excited animadver- sions is to be found in the fact that Sir ROBERT HART has not resigned in disgust, that he is not borne down under the load of contempt and humiliation that Dr. MORRISON has imagined. It is all pure
France, who was our chief opponent in sentimentalism again. If ever high-banded Egypt, has been quieted by the entente pressure were needed, it should have been which has been arrived at, which gives her applied to make China fulfil the terms of a free hand in Morocco, so far as we are the MACKAY commercial treaty; but in concerned, in exchange for our having a this important matter it seemed im-free hand in Egypt. But this, it is justly possible to arouse sufficient public pointed out, is only so far as France is interest. Now the spectacle of a concerned, and is of no force as regards any gray-haired old gentleman being apparently other Powers. The nation most likely "put upon
brings out the full strength seriously to object to the extension of of the "
Thunderer's" verbal explosives, British influence in Egypt is Germany; and the small arms of the general mob are but in connection with the Morocco con- brought to bear on the same target. It is ference, Germany has declared that she sees all rather amusing, but it has its depressing no reason to oppose British policy in Egypt, side.
so that at the present time the opportunity might be considered as again offered of establishing an effective Protectorate, the importance of which can hardly be over- estimated.
(Daily Prees 8th September.) Correspondence relating to the Decree issued by the Chinese Government on May 9th, 1906, respecting the Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs was presented to Par liament (Cd. 3089) last month. There is very little of it, and nothing at all that is new. Sir EDWARD GREY seems to have wasted some of the state funds in tele. graphing repetitions of what Mr. CARNEGIE at Peking had already telegraphed to him. Thus, the man on the spot telegraphed, "Venture to bring to your notice following points which His Majesty's Government may think worthy of consideration." One point W&S, "Interference in internal affairs of China is, of course, not desired by His Majesty's Government." Sir EDWARD GREY telegraphed back, "Reply on lines you sug- gest is approved", and then, as if he had just thought of it, all with his own head, so to speak, he added, "You should impress upon the Chinese Government that we do not wish to interfere in the internal affairs of the country." Even if that had been quite true, it was a waste of time and money; but it is not strictly true, or ought not to be. China is still in the position of a person incapable of managing his own affairs, and it is practically a duty to interfere, if we hold by the ideals of modern society. Dr. MORRISON, another man on the spot, makes it clear in the message we republished yesterday that he considers the Chinese uu- fit to manage any sort of public undertaking properly. The trouble all arises from the circumstance that the Chinese refuse to admit anything of the kind. Prince CHING for the Chinese Government gave assurance that the change in the administration of the Maritime Customs was a purely formal one, and the British representatives, after pointing out that it looked suspicious, more than a formality, and that they doubted China's good faith, accepted the assurauce. This has not satisfied the newspapers which would presumably prefer diplomacy more on the lines of a Sikh policeman's way with coolie. Dr. MORRISON in particular saya the British Foreign Office has been alto- gether too soft and too simple. He says the Chinese Government should be forced to give the same publicity and force to its assurance as it did to the Decree that started all the pother. That comes very near to interfering with China's internal affairs, in our opinion, for it would certainly make the Imperial Government lose face with its already grumbling constituents. practical way of making the foreign position absolutely safe it cannot be floated; it is the idea of a man who understands all the ins and outs of relations with China. But at the same time the foreign bondholders may feel secure under present conditions, without making China swallow such a bitter pill as that would be. The British Govern. ment for a long time has been very easy. going with China, but it is possible that it saw sufficient reason this time for not press. ing the point. Dr. MORRISON, disgusted with the Chinese failure to let well alone
As &
and with their typical conduct in appro- priating large salaries for the new Comp- trollers-General, allows his annoyance to colour the rest of what he sees. We do not believe that the Chinese have studied to humiliate Sir ROBERT HArt, and we can conceive how TANG SHAO-TI, when speaking to the foreign Ministers of the INSPECTOR- GENERAL 85 “the servant of the Chinese ".
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might have done so without meaning to be contemptuous". Anyway, there are few Chinese officials who have not, in this
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AN EGYPTIAN PROTECTORATE.
I am
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most anxions not to discuss the Egyptian question from a party point of view. I adhere now always to my original contention, that to retain our hold on Egypt. the nighway to our Indian possessions, is a matter of vital importance to the British Empire; and I should deeply regret to write a word which might impair the British tənurə of supreme authority in the valley of the Nile. But, in my judgment it is the interest of England to look at things as they are, not as one might wish them to be, and to admit that daring the quarter of a century which has elapsed since our troops first landed in Egypt, we have done nothing whatever to consolidate a defective title or to modify the rights which foreigners acquired in Egypt at dates long preceding our occupation.
(Daily Press, 10th September.) Amidst the many other subjects which
What this task is will be readily have called for immediate attention, the understood by residents out here who public at home appear to have passed over,
are familiar with the working of with very little notice, a matter which extra-territorial jurisdiction in China. must ere long call for serious consideration, The like principle applies in Egypt, and namely, the position which Great Britain other nations enjoy the same privileges as occupies in Egypt. The Morocco incidents to watters of jurisdiction as Great Britain; indirectly brought the subject into while the rights of exterritoriality extend. prominene some time ago, as the entente, "not only to genuine foreigners, but to which was at that time arrived at between aliens, who, in return for value received, France and Great Britain, involved the have been placed under the protection of withdrawal of the opposition which up to foreign Powers as naturalised subjects”.. that period France und in various ways manifested to the position which we had assumed in Egypt, and to the policy which was there being followed. It would, however, be too much to assume that the
It can be readily understood that an attempt on the part of any one nation to deprive others of their exterritorial rights is certain to evoke much opposition; and.... this would be the first thing that-would :
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