475
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undoubtedly their continuance will have a serious effect on his prestige both with foreign Governments and his own countrymen. Most people were disposed to overlook the unconstitutional means by which he manages to concentrate in his own hands the whole authority of the State, but it was en condition of his using the power for the peace, order, and good government of the country. If he fails in that be fails in everything. It may be, and very probably is, the fact that Yuan is being badly served by the Provincial Commanders and Governors of the Provinces concerned, but that will not exonerate him from blame. It is his business to see that efficient men are put in command, and to dismiss and punish those whose incapacity or cowardice have enabled the brigands to carry on their depredations. It is said that the root origin of the trouble is want of money, and that no doubt is true in the main, but even with the provincial revenues at his disposal much might have already been done by the President to reform the Army by reducing numbers and improving the quality, What is now needed is a small and well-equipped gendarmerie for each province-a mobile force well officered and well paid. It is matter for regret that the Wei-hai-wei Regiment, which did such good service in the Boxer trouble at Tientsin is not now in existence, if only as a model of what a Chinese Army should be. A single regiment so equipped and officered would have put an end to White Wolf and his band long ago. Unless a speedly reorganisation of the Chinese forces can be brought about on these lines only two alternatives present themselves—either an indefinite period of brigandage hardly distinguishable from civil war, or else intervention by one or more of the Foreign Powers.
A SECOND MEXICO.
The solution which we have ventured to put forward in the report is that the Powers should agree to a moratorium of the indemnity payments in whole or part for a period of, say, five years, on the condition that the money should be employed under foreign supervision for the pay and equipment of a compact body of troops sufficient to put down brigandage and keep the peace in the several provinces. If an agreement of the Powers for this object cannot be brought about and anarchy continues to prevail, I would go further, and say that a duty and responsibility will rest on this country, as having by far the greater interest in the trade and prosperity of China, to take such steps as may be necessary to put a stop to disorder, and secure to the country the blessings of peace. On humanitarian grounds alone, leaving aside our financial and commercial interests, we cannot stand by and see China become a second Mexico.
Another weak feature of Yuan Shib-kai's government so far as can be discerned at present is the absence of any fixed policy for the future, particularly in regard to the financial situation. Knowing, as they must, that a further loan is necessary, if bank- ruptcy is to be avoided, one would think that the Government would be straining every nerve to make it easy for the Quintuple Group to finance the loan, by such means aa clearing the way for Sir Richard Dane's reforms in the collection of the salt tax, &c., and
5
by earning the confidence of the Audit Department in the honest administration of loan funds. Little, if anything, of that sort is being done, and the only policy seems one of drift a catching of straws to meet immediate requirements and a fatalistic confidence that the future will somehow provide for itself. Such policy, if persisted in, can only lead to a smash of some kind at no distant date.
Perhaps the most important event of the year, though so far it has attracted little attention, is the announcement made to the Chinese Government that Great Britain claimed a privileged position in regard to railway and industrial development in the Yangtze Valley region. Reference is made in the report to a letter which we addressed to the Foreign Office on the subject It was not considered expedient to print the letter in the appendix to our report, but it may be said that we pointed out that British subjects were in point of fact debarred from in-lustrial undertakings in several provinces by reason of special rights claimed by other Powers, and that the time had come to make an election between the one policy or the other. If it was to be the policy of the open- door, then it must be open all round, and if that could not be secured, the only alternative was to assert formally our preferential rights in the region which has long been popularly regarded as the British sphere. The announcement made by Mr. Acland in the House of Commons, as quoted in our report, settles the point. One of the first results of this was the concession to the British and Chinese Corporation for a line connecting Nanking with the capital of Hunan Province.
For the first time there are two matters which have not found any room in the report. One is the opium question; the huge stocks are now a great deal diminished in bulk, and the time is not distant when we shall be able to estimate what the price of the very last chest will be. The other question is that of the Huangpu Conservancy, as to which we have had no communications during the year. On the assumption that no newa is good news, we presume that things are going on all right. We have been in the habit of publishing in the London and China Telegraph and London and China Express a short summary of the proceedings of our monthly meetings, and some of the gentlemen who read this may have thought that the accounts are rather meagre and do not contain much information. I may say in explanation that a great deal of the informe- tion which we get is confidential. We shall, I think, continue to give these reports, for the information of outside members,
Sir Charles Dudgeon seconded the adoption of the report and accounts, and the motion was carried.
ELECTION OF OFFICERS.
The next item on the agenda was the election of the President, for which office the General Committee had nominated Mr. Jamieson. He said that he had filled the position of Chairman for three years, and, he thought, had done bis full share of work, (Hear, hear). He thanked the members for the support they accorded him during that time.
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