228
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
THE RESPONSIBILITY OF LOCAL OFFICIALS FOR ANTI-FOREIGN OUTRAGES.
[September 26, 1895.
Governor, was entitled to have the case was a breach of etiquette. Everything was done as easy for them to have taken steps to pre- tried by a higher official than the Colonel in strict conformity with the recognised cus- vent any outbreak as it has been found easy Commandant of the district; that no pre- toms of the Chinese. When the party arrived for them to arrest the criminals after the parations were made to receive Commander the mandarin was fully robed; there was no outrage has occurred; but they neglected to HASTINGS; that the visitors had to pass undue waiting; at the conclusion of the case do so, and they will continue to be guilty of through a side door; that no chair was he rose, invited the guests into his private similar neglect under similar circumstances specially set apart for Commander Hastings; room, and allowed them to precede him-an | to the end of the chapter unless they are that the whole proceedings displayed the honour which is always accorded persons taught that it is attended with danger to Lord SALISBURY'S first re- greatest contempt for the fan kwai. There of high rank. At the conclusion of the themselves. is no truth in any of these astounding hospitalities he shook hands with everyone, marks on the Kucheng massacre rather in- charges, which we will consider in the order allowed his guests to again precede him, and dicated that he was disposed to accept the Moreover excuses of the Peking Government, to in which they have been written. In regard accompanied them to the street. to the first our contemporary has altogether he called to one of his servants "Get chairs believe that the murders had excited the of his Celestial overlooked the fact that the mandarin in "for the whole of my guests," and this mes- horror and detestation question is of the third grade; he has power sage was interpreted by Inspector Quincey Majesty, and to be satisfied with the direct from the Viceroy to try any case into Commander HASTINGS, who returned punishment of the actual perpetrators. If his district; he does not hold a petty thanks for the kind offier, which he declined his Lordship has now arrived at the con- post" but a very important one, and if the because he preferred to walk. We have clusion that not only the actual perpetrators Governor himself had gone over to the trial refuted the charges made by our contem, but also the officials who permitted the there would have been no necessity, accord-porary on the authority of a man who perpetration must be punished we are likely ing to the rules of etiquette, for a man of a is exceptionally well versed in Chinese to see a considerable improvement in the We enter- higher grade to have conducted the trial. It etiquette, and it only remains to be said position of foreigners in China. is true he is only a military official, but, that Commander HASTINGS is of opinion tain some doubt, however, as to the correctness although it does not directly affect the that the Chinese official could not have been of the telegram, as regards the Viceroy of
more civil and considerate.
Fuhkien. It is most probable that it is the ex- argument, it may be stated that he
Viceroy of Szechuen that is meant. In either is the son of a very high civil official
case the announcement is satisfactory, but if and is an exceptionally learned man,
the Viceroy of Fulkien were held account- and the Chinese look upon him and treat.
able it would be carrying the doctrine of him with the respect due to his high grade.
official responsibility for anti-foreign out- We come now to the second charge-that of insufficient preparations. As a matter of The statement made by Reuter, that Lordrages a steps further than if it is only the fact every preparation was made to receive SALISBURY has insisted on the Viceroy of ex-Viceroy of Szechuen that is meant. the Chief of Police. On the previous day Fuhkien and the other high officials respon- Against the latter there is evidence of direct he and the Colonial Secretary, Hon. J. H. sible for the Kucheng massacre being held complicity in and incitation of the outrages, STEWART LOCKHART, went to Kowloon City accountable, is almost too good to be true, whilst against the Foochow Viceroy, so far as is known, only sins of omission can with three witnesses for the purpose of iden- It seems a waste of power, and to imply a tifying the prisoner. The mandarin sent want of dignity, for England to concern herself be charged; there is no evidence that hẹ two chairs to the wharf, but they were not with the chopping off of coolies' heads and the actively sympathised with the Vegetarians or suggested to them that they should attack taken advantage of because the officials pre-administration of the ordinary criminal law ferred to walk. Chairs would have been of the country. What we have to deal with the foreigners; he simply left them alone, not sent to meet the launch on the following day is the Chinese Government, either directly caring what they did. For that neglect, but for the fact that Commander HASTINGS or through its high officials in the provinces, which constitutes a grave dereliction, of desired to walk to the yamen. On the It is the duty of the Government to preserve duty, we hold that he should be severely arrival of the party the main gates were order, and when it fails to do so England, punished, but there is some reason to doubt thrown open, a guard of your had|| been
or whatever other power may have suffered whether the home Government has yet. formed, the mandarin, after practically no from the neglect, should say to the Govern- advanced to that position. delay, met the Chief of Police, and shook ment We hold you responsible and propose hands with him and the other guests, and a "to take satisfaction from you, leaving minute later the Court was opened. This "you to deal with the actual rioters as you explanation altogether disposes of the absurdniny think best." When the high officials
The Secretary of the British Legation at idea that the guests had to pass through a once understood that they were to be held side door. The main doors were opened impersonally responsible, and that the responsi- Peking, in his report on the trade of China mediately the party arrived, and shut again bility was not merely nominal but entailed for 1894, on the authority of a mercantile the improvement in until the Court was opened. The most very disagreeable consequences, they would informant ascribes
the inherent staunchness of offensive charge is that no chair was specially be very Pareful to keep their people in trade to set apart for Commander HASTINGS We order. The idea that they are unable to do the position." In other words, the pros- As Mr. PICKERING perity which has set in after a long period presume our contemporary will not quibble so is quite unfounded.
there is no
of depression is real and not fictitious. All about the difference between a chair and a says in his letter to the Times,
“doubt stool; it was not really a chair, but a stool.
that the Chinese Government, | the evidence goes to show that this verdict The war might have been That, however, makes no difference to the "weak as it is, can and will keep order is a correct one. question. There was only one chair in amongst its people towards foreigners, expected to interfere with trade, but it did the yamen-all the other seats). were
"if it
only be forced to do so by not do so, to any extent, except at Newch- stools and it is not likely that the man- "motives of fear or advantage to be wang. Everywhere else trade was pros- darin could be expected to give up his 'gained." There we have the whole case perous, at some points exceptionally so, and official seat. If the Prince of Wales came in a nutshell. The Chinese Government can the prosperity bids fair to continue. The to Hongkong and expressed a wish to visit preserve order if it so wills, and it must be depression which lasted from the middle of the Supreme Court during session, would forced to do so by motives of fear, since those 1889 almost to the end of 1893 was attri- the Chief Justice be required to set apart are the only motives that can be appealed butable almost entirely to financial strin- his sent for the royal visitor? Certainly to. The proceedings of the Kucheng trials gency. A good deal of the floating capital hot. Therefore as there were only stools are in themselves a proof of the power of of Hongkong and the coast ports had been in the yamen only stools could be sat upon. the Government. The Vegetarians were re- lost in a mania for share speculation. The A special stool was set apart for Commander presented as a dangerous and numerous sect effects of that, severe as the crisis was, would HASTINGS, and he occupied what is, accord- beyond the power of the local authorities to have been overcome in a comparatively ing to Chinese custom, the post of honour control. No sooner, however, is it made clear short time by fresh accumulations had trade —on the left side of the mandarin. The to the authorities that the perpetrators of the continued fairly good, but unfortunately the last charge is that the whole proceedings Hwasang massacre, the leaders and most Baring crisis, followed by the failure of displayed the greatest contempt for the fun lawless members of the sect, must be arrested the Australian banks, together with the un- kwai. This statement is in direct contradic- and punished, than the arrests are made certainty of exchange caused by the tion to the facts. Inspector QUINCEY was without a vestige of forcible opposition on appreciation of gold, compelled the local specially deputed to accompany Commander the part of the populace The power of the banks to restrict their usual HASTINGS with instructions to see that due Government in this instance has been commodation, even in regard to first class respect was paid by the Chinese official to pletely established, and, per contra, its cul business, and the wheels of commerce suf- the Captain Superintendent, and that if pable neglect has been made equally fered from want of the lubricating material there was the slightest breach of etiquette apparent. The officials knew all about the without which they cannot run smoothly. he was to call attention to it. Now there is Vegetarian Society and its disorderly char- But money has once more become plentiful absolutely no justification for saying that there acter long ago, and it would have been and cheap, exchange has become steadier,
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44
18
44
THE REVIVAL OF TRADE.
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