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In an article in a Shanghai paper, the author contended that China was not a civilised nation in the European sense of the term. He explained the difference: "She has a high civilisation of her own, but she has methods of governing her people which are barbarous to us, and which would give a Chinese Consul in Hong-kong a power over his fellow countrymen which is repugnant to our ideas."
On the other hand, the author was not satisfied with his own country's policy. He charged it with absolutism. He objected, as did Hongkong, to the arbitrary way the Foreign Office imposed its will on Hongkong without prior consultation.
It was his view that, “absolutism is getting shabby and worn out, at any rate in English-speaking communities, and any minister with a spark of appreciation of modern sentiment, not to mention common courtesy, would have communicated his intentions beforehand to those principally affected and allowed them to state their objections, even if he subsequently overruled them.”
The Hongkong protesters did state their objections in resolutions which were to be discussed and approved at a public meeting. The resolutions embodied the arguments that had been advanced over the years.
A Chinese consul would make it more difficult to govern the Chinese. One resolution stated that, “the appointment will have a bad effect on the resident Chinese population, weakening their sense of the power and authority of the English Government, setting up in their midst a rival authority to which they will be encouraged to appeal to on all possible occasions.
The consul would become a rallying point for anti-foreign feeling. The foreign community in China was uneasy and one resolution read thus: "That in the face of the recent recrudescence of strong anti-foreign feeling... throughout the Empire, it is most unfortunate that a centre should be set up around which any feeling of that sort existing among the heterogeneous mass of Chinese collected in the Colony must necessarily gather.”
179
In an article in a Shanghai paper, the author contended that China was not a civilised nation in the European sense of the term. He explained the difference: "She has a high civilisation of her own, but she has methods of governing her people which are bar- barous to us, and which would give a Chinese Consul in Hong- kong a power over his fellow countrymen which is repugnant to our ideas."
On the other hand, the author was not satisfied with his own country's policy. He charged it with absolutism. He objected, as did Hongkong, to the arbitrary way the Foreign Office imposed its will on Hongkong without prior consultation.
It was his view that, “absolutism is getting shabby and worn out, at any rate in English-speaking communities, and any minis- ter with a spark of appreciation of modern sentiment, not to men- tion common courtesy, would have communicated his intentions beforehand to those principally affected and allowed them to state their objections, even if he subsequently overruled them.”
The Hongkong protesters did state their objections in resolu- tions which were to be discussed and approved at a public meet- ing. The resolutions embodied the arguments that had been ad- vanced over the years.
A Chinese consul would make it more difficult to govern the Chinese. One resolution stated that, “the appointment will have a bad effect on the resident Chinese population, weakening their sense of the power and authority of the English Government, set- ting up in their midst a rival authority to which they will be en- couraged to appeal to on all possible occasions
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The consul would become a rallying point for anti-foreign feel- ing. The foreign community in China was uneasy and one resolu- tion read thus: "That in the face of the recent recrudescence of strong anti-foreign feeling... throughout the Empire, it is most unfortunate that a centre should be set up around which any feel- ing of that sort existing among the heterogeneous mass of Chinese collected in the Colony must necessarily gather.”
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