;
1
we
May 25, 1908.]--
In view of a suggestion much discussed at present in Hongkong we may add that would not expect the Commission to hold out in their report the allur- ing prospect of Macao again becoming the emporium of the opium trade in South China now that the British Government has decided to do for Hongkong what the Lisbon Government has been foolishly doing for Macao. When the opium trade shifts to Macao it will mean the extinction of the Colony, for it would incense the Chinese Government and provoke trouble, and Portugal in the circumstances cer- tainly would not be able to count on the material help nor the moral support of England, or any other Power pro- bably, if the Chinese decided on seizing Macao as a retributive act of justice in the circumstances. It would be a far too dangerous enterprise for Portugal to invite the opium trade to Macao after it has been expelled from Hongkong.
tr
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
825
Senado in no way discounts the vraisem- | France, and such seems to be the case at blances of our casual contributor's com- ments; it rather strengthens them. was and is no imputation against the in- There tegrity and good intent of the ex-Governor, who compares remarkably favourably with many of whom we have been reading lately. But at least he does not seem to have shown the strength or determination of a FRANCO.
FRANCE AND THE BALKANS.
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(Daily Press, 20th: May.) The French Government the other day declared with regard to the troubles in Bulgaria that its action was perfectly dis- interested; the first feeling on reading the announcement was, as is customary with all disinterested announcements, that sme deep laid and dangerous scheme was being harboured to upset the entire of Europe. Disinterested proposals have usually some- thing unpleasant about them, and no quarter in Europe has been so fruitful in them as the Balkan Peninsula. As it is the unexpected that always happens, on looking further into the matter it becomes apparent that no machiavellian scheme is really concealed under the French proposals, and that they are really, so far as any private interests of her own are concerned, as she says, perfectly disinterested. This Bulgarian affair has, as we have had too much reason Europe, and proposals, each one to know, for years been the bugbear of untenable than all that had gone before it, have been plentiful as blackberries in au- tumn. Each of the Powers considering itself interested has sought, not the settlement of the trouble, but to keep it open in the hope that something might eventually turn up to its own scheme of evoking rain from heaven, its own private advantage, and each has had but so that it should be of no service to its neighbour's crops. It is under these circumstances that France comes forward with no plan of her own, but to suggest a possible method of compromise. She likes all the schemes in turn, and will not use her influence to hamper any so far as they are intended to promote the harmony of Europe; but of all she rather prefers Russia's: Russia's is not after all so unlike that proposed by England, and so she thinks that it would not be a bad thing for Russia and England to put their heads together, and concoct something really feasible. may, of course, be alleged that such a It proposal is not as disinterested as France would make it appear; that France is deeply interested at the moment in the preservation of peace, and is prepared to momentarily sacrifice her traditional ambitions in order to gain the requisite time to make her future preparations. Now, of course, this is largely the case, but after all the true incentive to a peaceful policy is the feeling that a nation may be employed in much more profitable things in its own interest, than in seeking to make its neighbours uncomfortable.
(Daily Press, May 22nd.) Not at all unexpectedly, we have received au indignant letter from a Portuguese gentleman who resents the criticism of the ex-Governor of Macao that we published from the pen of an occasional contributor. We may mention that the said contributor has sources of information that entitle him to speak with a great deal more authority of Macao affairs than the gentleman who now desires to contradict him can claim. He pointed out, it may be remembered, that all Portuguese speak in the most respectful and admiring way of the ex- Governor, and we refrain from publishing the resentful letter referred to, not because we are disinclined to give all sides a fair hearing, but because its writer has so obviously misread and misinterpreted our occasional contributor's remarks. When, for instance, the failure of the Macao lottery scheme was attributed to the greed of somebody in authority," that somebody was clearly not His Excellency the departed Governor. The whole tenour of the con- tribution was against any such suggestion; only a hasty reader could have jumped at such a conclusion. Whit is certain is that there were many
"somebodies in authority" who failed to give to the late Governor the loyal support and service that was his due. With passively, if not actively, mutinous subordinates in Macao, and a corrupt officialdom in Lisbon, the position of His Excellency was bound to become untenable, for even a stronger type of man than he But our contributor's reference to the greedy ideas of "somebody in authority fits somebody at Lisbon just as readily as it fits anybody elsewhere. Our contributor's critic says it is "entirely false" to say that half the Chinese have left Macao. It may not be entirely accurate, but that a very large number have abandoned Maçao as the result of new legislation, in force or prospective, cannot be denied, and that it should have occurred during the régime of the ex-Governor certainly warranted in- clusion in any review of his reign. The precise degree of bis Excellency's responsi- bility for the conditions leading to it was not suggested; he was not wholly blamed for it, and he cannot be wholly exonerated. It seems no more to the purpose to point out that if business has gone from bad to worse at Macao, "so it has at Hongkong and all over the East." The suggestion is that business has become comparatively worse at Macao than at other Far Eastern places, and there appears to be ground for it; also for the hint that it is largely due to maladministration. The presentation of an address to his Excellency by the Leal
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the present with regard to the Balkan absorption of the Balkan lands by any of Peninsula. It is probable that, if the the great Powers became inevitable, France would prefer to see Russia there rather than Germany, but the mutual jalousies of the two have been so thoroughly aroused that neither event can at the moment be looked upon as within the limits of historical possibility. For the present Russia is a useful counterpoise to Germany in the Mediterranean; and France cannot forget tint Germany has recently shown every intention to interfere with French develop- ment in this region, which France in the past has always looked upon as her special sphere. Quite apart from mere sentiment, for harmonious working, France has every which after all is but an uncertain ground object in preserving the status quo in Europe. She and England having tried the effect of a working understanding have found it not only practicable but agreeable, good understanding with Italy, peace for so that it might be supposed that with a the present generation at least, night be looked upon as assured. Unfortunately we have
the future presents an unknowable
ex-
recently that we can scarcely count upon its seen from too many indications continuance from day to day. Tae little affair of the Mitrowitza Railway shows how baseless would be such an assurance. Of course the disturbing element on the Conti-
Monarchy. neut of Europe is the position of the Dual Without imputing ulterior motives to anyone, the combination in one political state of two peoples so diverse in their traditions and past history as Austria and Hungary has innate in it the seeds of instability; and here besides the ordinary union is merely personal, and the two grounds of common interest the boad of underlying stocks of Migyar and Teuton have so many centrifugal qualities that even their mutual respect for their common sovereign Francis Joseph has at times had difficulty in preserving their union. But the Emperor Francis Joseph is rapidly approach- ing the allotted span of human existence, aud blank, and Europe has to be on the qui vive for what may any day occur. A blow, or even atmosphere bring about a catastrophe, and a hasty word may in such an explosive, Europe, without having time to think, may suddenly find itself parted into two plosion must naturally severely affect the hostile camps. The shock of such an stability of the dangerously unbalanced Balkan states, and probably lead to the outbreak of a war of extermination in all the provinces under Turkish rule. most unbiassed state in Christendom could not afford to look with indifference on such a spectacle, and it is in the hope of fin ling the nations prepared for the eventuality that France seeks to engage beforehand the good offices of her two friends England and Russia. Whatever we may think of the Under these circumstances it is natural possibilities of the case we are at least too that France should be desirous of bring-bound to acknowledge France's disin. ing about a better understanding between terestedness in the affair, and receive her Russia and England; and the feeling is not suggestions in good part. altogether quixotic nor sentimental, that as she is herself friendly with both, she would like to see them friendly between themselves. France has in fact much to gain from such
(Daily Press 21st May.) an understanding: it entails no hardship nor responsibility on her, and it is almost human imagination to conceive any form or It is impossible for what we call the impossible to imagine such a combination shape that is not reminiscent of something of "circumstances as would make an under. in nature. No coucept of what-might-be is standing between the two in any way possible to the human mind except such menacing to her interests. On the other hand there are circumstances under which experience and observation, the intellect is as is based on what-has-been. Apart from
and Russia may be of infinite advantage toare simply picturing an improvement of the a good understanding with both England impotent. Those people who dream utopias
BAHAISM.
Tue