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were possible, appear to have been taken for the protection of foreigners, and I am told that a regiment was sent from Hankow to Changsha the previous day.
I have, &c.
Enclosure 1 in No. 1.
W. G. MAX MÜLLER.
The "Carved Melon" Warning Placard. (Posted in Szechuan and forwarded by
Mr. E. S. Little in his letter of February 6, 1910.)
(Translation.)
I SUBMIT, for your consideration, students of every school, of whatever kind and creed, in China, or members of young men's associations (literally of the Chung Kuo Kung Hsueh, Nang Yang Kung Hsieb, Ching Nien Hui, Fu Tan Kung Hsieh, and Yun Tan Hsueh Yuan), the following letters received from the various provinces, which show that the danger of the present day and the danger of "the Carved Melon " is already an accomplished fact.
A letter received from the provincial assembly of Chihli states that the Japanese already have three divisions of troops and 50,000 police, who have arrived at Yang-tsun, near Tien-tsin, where they are devising plans for a war campaign. The people of Tien-tsin are one and all in a state of panic.
From Manchuria I learn by letter that a secret treaty has been drawn up between Russia and Japan, under which all territory south of the Liao River, ie., the province of Fêng Tien, shall belong to Japan, and all territory north of that river (ie., the two provinces of Kirin and Heilungchiang) shall pass to Russia. The letter proceeds to say that neither Russia nor Japan recognised China's machinery of government in Manchuria, and that the inhabitants of the three provinces are filled with terror.
A letter from Mongolia says that Russia has already concentrated a large body of troops (over 100,000 men) at Péi-chia-êrh-hu, with the object of wresting Mongolia, Kirin, and Heilungchiang from China (and to protect herself also against Japan).
From Kuangsi comes a letter, saying that France has 200,000 troops at Lanchou, intended to invade and seize the provinces of Kuangsi and Kuangtung,
From Kuangtung there comes news that Great Britain already has between 4,000 and 5,000 troops at Hong Kong. As she now sees France invading Kuangsi, she will move Indian troops into Kuangtung, so as to preserve the balance of power.
From Yunnan I have received a letter, stating that all along the 400 or 500 li of the Annanı-Yunnan Railway, French troops are stationed, stores are collected, and ammunition-munitions of war-are being carried. Also, that 40,000 workmen are being employed daily to push forward the construction of this railway (to be completed within the year), with the intention of seizing Yunnan province next year). Also, that numerous persons are sent daily to survey the important places in Yunnan, to spy out their military resources, to sketch maps, and generally to report fully on these places.
In troublous times reliance must be placed on military strength. The regular army of China consists of nine complete divisions, which, with the mixed brigades throughout the provinces, make a total of over 200,000 men. The majority of the Government troops are ignorant of strategy and tactics (for instance, among the officers of the Pei Yang army, only 20 per cent. have any knowledge of these subjects); military arms, accoutrements, &c., are necessarily not uniform throughout China; the morale of the troops is bad, with the result that they would be unable to withstand even 40,000 or 50,000 powerful troops.
The question of the day is how to ensure the safety of our lives and our homes, and it is certain that, unless we provide volunteer troops also, this result will not be secured. The object of a navy is to make raids on other nations, and to protect our settlers abroad; it is an arm of offence, not defence, and the condition of China at the present day is such as to permit of its postponement. The most pressing considera- tions of the hour are the provision of funds for the regular army and an increased recruitment of its numbers.
Again, in time of war implicit reliance has to be placed in war material (arms, accoutrements, &c.). The daily output of the Shanghae arsenal of rifles, artillery and ammunition is very small, and is normally not sufficient for the needs of the one
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province of Kiangsu. Even, therefore, if means were found to increase the daily output of war material from this arsenal ten-fold, it would not suffice for the needs of its own province as well as the other provinces of China. The purchase of warlike material in time of war is forbidden by international law. I would wish, therefore, that you, students of China, should go to every place, and there by public speech urge the collection of more funds for the purchase of large supplies of war material to be ready for use in time of war. At the present time all schools throughout Kuangtung and Kuangsi have become military training establishments. They have rejected an universal course of learning, and have engaged trained instructors of the regular army to teach them all branches of military subjects, with the object of protecting their country and their homes.
The devotion of you, student of China, to your country and your homes is well- known throughout all China, I beg you to give due attention to this matter, and I trust and pray you will recognise the importance of widely circulating your propaganda among others.
When war broke out between Russia and Japan, the students of every civil school in Japan took employment as clerk, as servants or as rickshaw coolies, in order to earn money to devote to the expenses of the army. I trust that you, students of China, will in the same way spend less on your food so as to buy war material, and eut down your luxuries so as to help towards military expenditure, that the provinces may thus lead the way towards the prosperity of China.
Enclosure 2 in No. 1.
Memorandum by Dr. Richards and Mr. Cornabe respecting the Attitude of the Native Press (December 1909).
ON the subject of China's unpreparedness for parliamentary government, the "Eastern Times," the most vigorous of the Shanghae native dailies, has recently printed a series of six connected pieces, in all about 4,500 words, as second leading articles, translated from the Japanese, enumerating the difficulties, which, in the writer's mind, are insuperable. But these are finally dimissed with the following remarks of the translator (who is probably the editor himself)
"With regard to the Japanese being afraid that we are unable to establish parliamentary government in China, are they really scheming for China or for their own land? The wise reader will guess which it is: Yet in their enumeration of our national maladies, where they go beyond due limits, their remarks may still serve to scratch the itching places' (or, to point out where the shoe pinches, as we might say), so that, where there are evident faults we may amend them, and where there are no such faults (as alleged) we may put forth the more effort."
Meanwhile, this paper, as all the native papers, urges on the immediate opening of
a Parliament for the whole Empire, as a panacea for all the ills of China.
2. The suggestion of employing foreign loans for the construction of railways is characterised as "the poisonous scheme which foreigners are pressing upon us," in a leading article in the Universal Gazette" of the 28th December, which bears the signatures of an ex-provincial judge and of two leading scholars connected with the commercial press.
In November and December there have appeared in the "Eastern Times " a series of "faithful announcements" from the provincial assembly of Chinese in Japan, to the províncial assemblies throughout the Empire, among them one on foreign loans for railways, which contains the following statements :----
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Egypt became a ruined realm by accepting foreign loans, and that weak and petty government should be our warning. That in our land every province should urgently construct railroads is well known, and that we are crippled for want of capital is also amply demonstrated. But as foreigners want to deposit their capital, we must strenuously oppose them, regarding foreign capital as virulent poison, entering the mouth and causing death, as snakes and scorpions striking at the hand and wounding it, for the foreigners are all of them plotting to possess us, and for us to be led to approach them (in the matter) is opening the door and bowing-in the burglar, to further increase their already abounding wealth, swallowing down their baited hook."
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