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their money and their goods and industry are, in
short, at the mercy, not merely of "Government" and of recognized surtaxes and likins; but of local
soldiery, of Chambers of Commerce, and of self
constituted committees of all sorts for the levy
of tithes and subscriptions innumerable upon this
plea and that.
It may be said that the system of the
payment of Customs dues (and the surtax is,
of course, nothing else) is probably the most
convenient and the fairest form of general taxation
for a land in the state of development of China;
and almost any weight of Duty and of Surtax on
Imports or Exports that could be looked to to
remain stable would be welcome did it but free
the consumer or producer of Imports and Exports
respectively from these other endless applications
of leeches upon the trade of the country.
Unfortunately the trend of events of
late has been far otherwise, and the note of
uncertainty and distrust has now spread from the
region of purely native and internal taxation, a
ground where it could not be resisted or opposed
by foreigners, and has in the last few months been
allowed to reach that field where foreign trade had
been considered secure from at least sudden surprise.
Foreigners are now about to realize, as the Chinese
have always known, what uncertainty of this kind
means to trade. For that element has invaded a
ground