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Government by the Chinese Ministers abroad, attributing to the European Powers insidious designs on China's territory and rights. The servile condition of the Chinese vis-à-vis foreigners is a constant theme in leading articles, and the fate of India, Egypt, Poland, and Corea is continually held up as a warning to China. Ceaseless warfare is waged against the extra-territorial rights of foreigners, the failure to recover which is represented as a visible sign of China's degradation; and only a few days ago the "
Shen Pao" warned its readers that Turkey was now making progress towards the abolition of the Capitulations, and that before long China would be the only country in the world to which foreigners denied the right to rule the stranger within its gates.
Officials anti-Foreign.-Mr. Little's remarks on this subject are, unfortunately, true of the vast majority of officials, and the few who are well-disposed towards foreigners are, for the time being, forced to conceal their sentiments. The Chinese authorities have so frequently disregarded, with impunity, the rights and privileges accorded to foreigners both by treaty and agreement, that the idea has become firmly implanted in their minds that foreign forbearance in this respect is unlimited.
In Nanking and Wuhu it is impossible for any foreign merchant to purchase land outside the settlement, and even missionaries are experiencing considerable difficulty in doing so. Anyone purchasing land in Nanking has to obtain a certain form of deed from a Government office, and that office will not issue a deed-form where the purchaser is a foreiguer. The Belgian Treaty of 1865 distinctly provides for the opening to trade of the "ports and cities" of Nanking and other places; and when I brought this to the notice of the Viceroy, he merely remarked that at that period Chinese had very little acquaintance with foreign languages, and that he could not be bound by it.
Hitherto, the opposition to foreigners residing and bolding land outside the settlements has not taken an active form, such as it has doue recently in Chechiang; but if the authorities succeed in ousting the Japanese from the city of Hangchow, similar measures are sure to be instituted in this and other provinces.
Any request for facilities preferred by foreign merchants is incontinently refused, without any consideration of the. merits of the case or even knowledge of the circumstances. The fact that any proposition emanates from a foreigner is sufficient to ensure its veto, generally on the vague ground of "infringement of sovereign rights." Voluntary Subscriptions.-Boxes to receive subscriptions towards paying off the National Debt have been placed in all the schools and some of the streets, but I do not know with what success. In any case, it is a barnless phase of the anti-foreign movement. The opinion is held by many Chinese, and has more than once found expression in the press, that while Chinese capital can easily earn from 10 to 12 per cent. in China, it would be unwise to denude the country to pay off a foreign loan bearing only 5 per cent, interest.
Chinese Finance.--The impoverished condition of the provincial treasuries is a matter of daily comment in the native press, and this in spite of the undoubtedly heavy taxation to which the Chinese are subjected. Wasteful methods of collection and official peculation are largely responsible for such a small percentage of the taxes levied finding its way into the hands of the authorities; but the whole system of internal taxation is one eminently calculated to prohibit any development of the trade such as might enable the province to bear the financial burdens which are constantly being laid upon it. Every projected work of public utility has to be shelved owing to the lack of funds; the provincial Governments cannot impose fresh taxes, and they have no credit to raise a loan.
From time to time the extortionate methods employed by the authorities in collecting the taxes are shown up in the native press. Recently a Shanghai paper reported that in Anhui the land tax and the tax to pay off the foreign indemnities were assessed in cash, but payment was exacted in silver dollars; and although the market rate of exchange was 1,500 or 1,600 cash, the officials only reckoned 900 cash to the dollar. The gentry, the provincial assembly, and the Anhui officials in Peking had protested against this injustice, but so far their representations had not met with any success.
The Governor of Anhui recently obtained permission from the Throne to raise an internal loan of 1,200,000 taels for six years, at an average rate of interest of 10 per cent., but I now learn that he is anxious to arrange a foreign loan.
The Loyalty of the Troops.-The 9th division at Nanking is notorious for its state of indiscipline, and recent occurrences at Soochow, Ch'ing Chiang P'u, Canton, and Changsha show that the Nanking troops are not unique in this respect.
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A matter of serious concern is the weakness of the Central as well as of the Provincial Governments, and the reluctance of any official, great or small, to accept responsibility in any matter. In the face of popular clamour, instigated and led by the gentry, the officials are powerless to pursue any definite policy, and they merely allow things to drift, each attending to his own personal interests, and trusting that the crash will not come during his tenure of office.
From every point of view the situation is disquieting, and even serious, and calls for careful watching and firm treatment on the part of the Powers. The officials and the bulk of the gentry are actively engaged in reducing to a minimum the rights and privileges accorded to foreigners by treaty and agreement, and the populace, inflamed by an anti-foreign propaganda, are ready, as at Changsha, to vent on foreigners any grievance they may have against the authorities.
The one hopeful feature is, I think, the provincial assemblies, and Mr. Little's judgment of these bodies appears to be somewhat harsh, and, at least, promature. There is undoubtedly a very strong public opinion growing up in China in favour of real and effective reform, and I do not think it is too much to say that many of the men constituting these bodies are actuated by other motives than a desire to obtain "their share of the official plunder." The Chiangsu deputies during their autumn. session last year talked sensibly and moderately, and pointed with no uncertain finger to the more glaring evils of the present system; amongst other things, they warmly advocated the absolute and entire suppression of lotteries throughout the Empire, and declared strongly in favour of a national currency and the abolition of li-kin. Reform in China will only be brought about by the instrumentality of these or similar bodies, and to dismiss them with the remark that "they are anti-foreign in all their acts" is to ignore the actualities of the present situation.
The anti-foreign feeling now finding expression amongst the Chinese appears to be a curious admixture of mistrust of their own powers vis-à-vis foreigners and confidence in their ability to follow in the footsteps of Japan, and under existing circumstances the dividing line between anti-foreign feeling and patriotism is a very fine one. Reform in China must aim at the removal of these conditions which have made it possible for foreigners to occupy the position they do, and so far it is essentially and inevitably anti-foreign in its nature; and, with the example of Japan before our eyes, we must recognise that this anti-foreign feeling will be ever present in a more or less acute form until China feels herself strong enough to resist aggression and treat with foreign Powers on terms of equality.
I have, &c.
Enclosure 4 in No. 1.
HERBERT GOFFE.
Consul-General Jamieson to Mr. Max Müller.
(No. 11.) Sir,
Canton, April 20, 1910. IN accordance with the instructions contained in your despatch No. 7 of the 6th instant, I have the honour to transmit herewith a short commentary on the views with regard to the existing political situation in China, to which Mr. E. S. Little has given expression in a memorandum addressed to Messrs. Brunner, Mond, and Co.
I have, &c.
J. W. JAMIESON.
Enclosure 5 in No. 1.
Notes on the Political Situation in South China, with Special Reference to certain Points raised by Mr. Edward S. Little, in a Memorandum addressed to Messrs. Brunner, Mond, and Co., dated January 15, 1910.
IN common with the rest of the Chinese Empire, the southern section thereof is passing through an evolutionary process of political development, the cutcome of which it would be hazardous to forecast. In so far as this process affects the foreigner, however, there are up to the present few, if any, indications of a disposition to cut his throat. What would appear to be chiefly aimed at is a complete encom- passment of his supposed rights, and to the attainment of this object no little pains
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