September 18, 1895.]
Hanlins amongst them, but unfortunately for them the law provides that no civil official above the fourth rank (Taotai and Prefect) can
Obe a Mahommedan, and the follower of Islam
تامیه
is bound to renounce his religion and conform to practices which Mahommedanism forbids on gaining the rank of Taotai or Prefect. A military officer who is a Mahommedan can only attain the rank of captain, and if promoted to that of major or higher rank must renounce his religion. In the case of both civilian and mili- tary appointments the official would be com- pelled to burn incense at Buddhist temples on the 1st and 15th day of the moon. The late Viceroy of Nanking, Ma, was a Mahommedan until he reached the rank of Taotai, and the late General Tao Pao-kuei, who was killed at Ping- yang during the war with Japan, was at one time a Mahommedan, and despite their recantation both these men were to the last looked upon as Mahommedans by the followers of Islam.-N. C. Daily News.
THE IMPORTATION OF COOLIE LABOUR IN BRITISH NORTH
BORNEO.
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT AND THE SECRET SOCIETY PLEA.
The atrocious wholesale murder at Kutien has a deeper political significance than any of the numerous similar attacks made upon foreigners since the beginning of our relations with China, It has far surpassed all such events since the Tientsin massacre in deliberate and cold-blooded horror, and in one very important respect it Those who are acquainted with the details of is even worse than the Tientsin massacre. the great northern tragedy will recollect that it was attended and in large measure occasioned by a genuine popular mistrust and indignation, and that the population of the whole city was roused to mistaken but earnest rage. In the case of Kutien nothing of the kind has taken place. This deed of bloody savagery, by whomsoever instigated, was plotted and executed by a band of eighty men, apparently not supported by public feel- ing at all. It took place not at a time of excite- ment, but, so far as the district was concerned, of quiet and order. There was nothing about it at all resembling the wild and passionate out. brust of a reckless mob. Again, as in the case of the Szechuen outrages, yet more markedly so, it is prima facie in no sense a popular riot, having a spontaneous origin, but a calculated act, behind which will be found a few malicious fiendish spirits, who contrived the horrible murder and so far as it was needed, paved the way for it by misleading and terrorizing the people.
com-
It is much to be regretted that the efforts of the Government to obtain immigrant labour upon cheaper terms than have hitherto prevailed have not been more cordially backed by the planting community of the Territory. The planters base their lukewarmness chiefly on the allegation that it is impossible to obtain a class the programme in the present instance. The But a new feature has been added to diversify of labourer as good as those brought down at existing rates for the reduced figure offered by we first heard that the butchery was
"Vegetarians" have been trotted out. When the Government. No coolies, with one exception, mitted by members of the Vegetarian society have come forward under the arrangement pro- we were lost in amaze. posed and this objection strikes us as somewhat of such a sect and its existence appeared We had never heard "too previous. Meanwhile it may be interest to us ing to state that the agent in Hongkong for For, roundly speaking, the whole Chinese in the highest degree improbable. some of the estates rejected over a hundred men, nation are theoretically Vegetarian. Not only, brought forward by the Government officer as is well known, are Buddhist and Taoist teach sent there at $34 per head, and a few days after-ings heavily saturated with maxims and teach- wards sent the same men down to an estate at ings prohibiting the ultimate principle, which a cost of over $60 per head. No complaint is a household word" to love all living things," was made that these men were of inferior and through the doctrine of metempsy- physique or otherwise unsuitable. It is ob- chosis the most terrible punishments are vious that nothing short of direct Govern- held
over the head ment importation, involving responsibilities so that having eaten a fowl in the next genera of the offender; which those in power perhaps reasonably tion he may expect himself to be the unhappy hesitate to undertake, would successfully pullet untimely brought to the table; or, having work against opposition of this nature. In the killed a snake, in a future incarnation he exceptional case above referred to seventeen men were sent down under protest from the Protector fear for the heel of the wayfarer; but may look to crawl supine in the dust and of Chinese, who did not think them sufficiently these ideals have permeated Confucianism it- up to the mark. He allowed himself to be over- ruled on the ground that it would break the ice slaughter of animals is allowed by law, and self to such an extent that a very limited towards working the now scheme, and it is no doubt to be regretted that he thus played into flesh
those who do not practice abstinence from the hands of those whose "vested interests
themselves spontaneously admit-to would have been seriously damaged by the adop--that "
borrow religious phraseology from the Occident tion of a reduced tariff.
they are on the down grade," and revere the superior sanctity of abstainers, look- The planters therefore still continue to drawing up to them as the sanctified ones who have their labour supplies from Hongkong and Singa-
obtained the second blessing." There seems pore under the old system, the only aid afforded therefore no raison d'être for the formation by the Government being the issue of licences of a special Vegetarian society, and if such to recruiters so as to have some means of check. were formed murder and violence should be its ing any improper action on the part of the last objects. licensees, Whether the planters have been wise in refusing to support. a scheme which if suc- cessful would have saved from $20 to $25 per head, i.e., $25,000 per 1,000 coolies, is a matter which they will doubtless argue out with their shareholders at home. The great majority are not of British nationality and have large discre- tionary powers in the matter of the labour sup- ply. But even supposing that they have a justi- fication, not quite apparent at the moment, it seems a pity that a longer trial was given to the Government proposals. The recent fall in the tobacco prices accentuates the necessity of sav-actionary movement. ing as much as possible in the way of labour wages. Messrs. Shaw and van Buren, who con- sistently supported the attempts made to intro- duce a more economical system, are unfortu- nately absent from the territory. Had each estate consented to try say twenty-five men, the result even if unsuccessful would not have been ruinous, while it might have been quite successful. Whether competition between the licensees will effect a partial saving remains to be seen- North Borneo Herald
"
But the evidence now to hand renders
does exist. it quite certain that this dangerous society In an article in the N. C. Daily News dated the 12th August, its objects are said to be twofold--to overthrow the present Govern- ment and to drive foreigners out of the country. It is said to be augmenting with great rapidity and to have its headquarters at Chinkiang. It is characterized by the high-handedness of its proceedings and the unhesitating obedience with which the orders of its leaders are carried out. It is represented as a violent revolutionary, re- But why Vegetarian ? It is the name which puzzles us by its sublime incongruousness. It reminds one of "Stony Stratford," of which, videlicet Sydney Smith, the traveller, remarked, It was no wonder they called it Stony Stratford, for he had been troubled all night with fleas."
It may be expected that great use will be made of this Vegetarian society in shielding the officials from blame and exculpating the Chi- nese Government. It will be made the stalking horse for all offences. These tactics are familiar
219
to us. In 1891-92 it was the Ko-lao-hui. Now it is the Vegetarian society. The poor mandarins are but the victims of circumstance, and how acts of societies which are plotting against the unreasonable to hold them responsible for the Government and are the common enemy of the officials and of foreigners! And with the old complaisance our foreign ministers, who live to adorn the history of our relations with this country by their incompetence, will fall in with the explanation, and the innocent blood of gill, or rather in this case by the gallon, at so martyrs will again be compounded for by the many pieces of silver. The affair will blow over ful country will be unprejudiced. and their promotion, pension, &c., from a grate-
over
Now the whole of this secret society plea is a bogus affair from beginning to end. All this pretence at fear of a revolution is hollow and hypocritical. The Chinese mandarins know well enough that this is utterly beyond the range of possibility. As one, the greatest among them, remarked the other day of a rebellion which had broken out-" These things are put down with very little trouble." There does not exist
any society in China to-day which seriously contemplates the Hui, or Vegetarian, or Pai Lien Hui, or throw of the dynasty. Neither Ko Lao Mi Mi so much as dreams of it. purpose these societies were originated it is dif- For what ficult to say, but, if revolution was their object, they have long since lost sight of it. They subserve a difficult purpose altogether. China is incapable of a revolution. She is too rotten for it. There is not good faith enough in any We believe that most of these societies are single heart in China to render one possible. strongly reactionary and therefore anti-foreign; dynasty. They are military and official clubs but their ambitions are much lower than a new
their having as their chief object to strengthen members in the everlasting whirl of Chinese society. of intrigue which makes up the life anti-official they have their source amongst the So far from being official classes. This is the all-important thing to remember. In dealing with the secret societies we are dealing with the officials over again. There is the official classes of China.
an ambiguity when we speak of As is well known the country, teems with countless thousands, far exceeding the men, at any but, who given time, who are actually in office, casional service, are attached to the yamens and
as expectant officials or for oc wield much of the influence of officialdom and sinister schemes. They occupy a position of perhaps are the chief instigators of these very
greater freedom and less responsibility" than life is one of machination and treachery-must that of the man actually in office. Their whole
be, in order to "raise the wind" and make ends meet. These men give the secret societies their strength. Hence, when a rising of a secret society has to be suppressed, an official is despatched with a troop of soldiers, but | that is only "look,
See!" The serious business is to effect a compromise with men of his own set, with whom the official despatched is probably in full sympathy and this explains the endless temporizing and dilly-dallying in all this business. In “Vide- licet's' letter to the N. C. Daily News, of the 12th, he makes a significant observation in re- ference to a previous trouble in Chinking, the Vegetarian headquarters. "The matter was never reported to the Consul, as the Tabtai was a member of the society and settled without it. Our acting Taotai of this circuit and three district magistrates of this district have been (sic) members of this society."
When someone. in the south asked who was the head of the Ko Lao Hui, the reply was, Chang Chih-tung.
All attempt on the part of the mandarins to shelter themselves behind the secret societies must be stubbornly resisted. They must be held responsible for the acts of these disreputable cliques-for that is all they are--which for their own treacherous purposes they have created. The key of the whole question lies in a nut- shell; its solution is easy. Official responsibility saddled on to them and the girths pulled tight and reprisals every time it is violated. The whole anti-foreign conspiracy will break immediately we apply this weapon. There is much dreadful nonsense talked about requiring
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