494
CHINA'S NEW NAVY.
· THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
ineffective as the Chinese fleet was against the Japanese, it was really a formidable weapon against junks, and littoral towns. Under fairly loyal officers it has been for the last twenty years the trump card in the Peking band for the suppression of rebellion, especially in that hot-bed of treason the Yangtsze valley. With such a fleet as the late Peiyang squadron, à repetition of the Taiping rebellion is all but an impossibility. Almost every town from Woosung to Ichang could be shelled with impunity, and troops could be conveyed from base to base with a speed which would utterly disconcert oppo- sition. We may fairly take it that a fleet is, a proved necessity to China, and a fleet sooner or later she is bound to have, and this notwithstanding the fact that her wisest officials clearly see that its ultimate fate may be to fall into the hands of some foreign aggressor.
[June 18, 1896.
whenever desirable. Here we have brought out in striking contrast the different poli- cies adopted respectively by Great Britain and France in relation to railway enterprise in China. On the one hand we have France exerting the most intense pressure to secure the construction of railways in China with French material and by French skill; on the other hand Great Britain stands benevolently on one side and will use no pressure whatever. Reuter's telegram necessarily gives but a brief summary of the reply of the Prime Minister; and when the detailed report is received it will probably be found that Lord SALISBURY gave some assurance that while Her Majesty's Government would not force rail- ways upon China they would see that when railways were constructed British enterprise should not be placed at any disadvantage with that of other countries as regards the
The reconstruction of a navy is now attract ing the attention of the Peking officials and is rapidly becoming a practical question. The chief present difficulties are of course fiscal, but China will prove no exception to the rule that armament is not to be post- poned for want of money. Lack of meaus may defer and defeat many kinds of national beneficence, such as education, postal re- form, railways, afforesting, jurisprudence, &c., but it has never yet hindered military and naval expense. The sinews of war are always forthcoming even to nations on the brink of bankruptcy, and China is far from this, though otherwise in a parlous state. A fleet and the re-fortification of Port Arthur were the chief items in the scheme of coast defence recently submitted by WANG WEN-SHE of Chihli. His memorial on this subjeet, embodying an application Moreover, China's future-policy will pro-supply of material and technical skill. This
for Tls. 30,000,000, was of course put on one side in Peking; but since then China has learned how readily Western capital can be made to flow into her coffers, and doubtless the officials now see a possible solution of the financial difficulty.
Negotiations have been going on for a long time to re-secure the services of Captain W. M. LANG, R.N. This able and zealous officer has been asked to assume an office more or less resembling that he formerly held in the Chinese navy. Captain LANG has steadily refused such office, but has re- cently intimated to Lord SALISBURY and Mr. GoSCHEN his willingness to place his services at the disposal of the Chinese pro- vided the latter will give him such power and position as will make these services real and not a sham; he will not com- promise his professional dignity and self respect by taking service in China to be the object of low intrigue and to see a fine service ruined by peculation and provincial and family favouritism. The curious thing is that though Captain LANG has at last consented to come, the Chinese are now hanging back. Peking is at present the theatre of so much occult manoeuvring and diplomatic juggling, both native and foreign, that it is not difficult to guess where the hitch lies. Still, we are disposed to think that the British officer's conditions will be accepted, that he will come out, and that he will again slowly succumb to the inevitable influences and environment which obtain in Chinese official life. If the fleet were given into his autocratic control, fiscal and administrative, things might go otherwise, but this is extremely unlikely. As the Chinese fleet was in the beginning so it will be in the end inefficient, unsatisfactory, and all but useless as a means of offence or defence. Little or no kudos will be obtained
is a subject that calls for watchfulness on the part of Great Britain, for there is a dis- tinct danger that China may yield to the pressure brought to bear upon her by other powers and give them a practical if not formal and acknowledged monopoly of rail- way construction in the Empire.
bably be to cover her own weakness" by alliances, and although we should be sorry to see her our ally in land operations, it is obvious that a well built and well found squadron of hers might be of decisive im- portance in naval operations or in a general sea engagement. Almost to a certainty the crews and commands of such vessels would This subject of railway construction in be stiffened by placing on board a number China was discussed in connection with the of the officers and gunners of the Western proposed revision of the treaties when Sir ally, and this would make all the difference RUTHERFORD ALCOCK was our Minister at in the world. This brings us to the core Peking and the policy of the British Gov- of our remarks. If China is to have a ernment to-day seems to be a continuation fleet 'twere well that England should of the policy enunciated at that time. The help to make that fleet, on the plain ground Hongkong Chamber of Commerce in its that, while participation may do little good, memorial referred to the advantages to be abstention may do considerable harm. We derived from the construction of railways, may be quite sure that if we hold aloof our expressed the hope that the country that rivals will come in. We therefore hope gave railways to Europe would be instru that the British Admiralty will no longer mental in conferring the same benefits upon sulk in its tents, but will come forward in China, and trusted that “Her Majesty's its old spirit of amity towards China. Great "Government will use every argument cal- as was its provocation over the LANG inci"culated to induce the Chinese. Government dent, no good is to be gained by rubbing "to grant permission to construct railways that old wound instead of bringing the "in all parts of the Empire and obtain an plaister. The old facilities for naval educa- " Act giving any Company formed to carry, tion and technical advice might be pnce "but such undertakings all needful privi- more extended to the Chinese; an educa- "leges." Sir RUTHERFORD ALCOCK in his tional mission might be received at Green-report upon the memorial dwelt upon the wich, H.M.S. Excellent and Vernon might | Chinese fear that the introduction of rail- receive a few junior officers, and limited ways by foreign agencies might lead to permission might be given as before to a foreign intervention.
"It would be a mis few officers to serve a commission in our take," he said, "to suppose that the ex- Mediterranean or Channel Squadron. All 'perience of the Pasha of Egypt and the these privileges were ruthlessly shut down "questions to which the privilege of making upon after the LANG incident five years ago,
the Suez Canal has given rise have been and deservedly so, but things have changed lost upon the Chinese Government. They since then, and we must change with them. are as much alive as the Pasha himself Our text is that if the Chinese navy is to can be to the danger and inconvenience be re-created under foreign auspices, it had attaching to such enterprises with foreign better be under those of England, both for capital and Government protection as a China's sake and our own,
contingency." In a subsequent despatch Sir RUTHERFORD ALCOCK dealt more in
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from assosciation with it; and we think that THE ASSOCIATED CHAMBERS OF detail with the subject, and expressed the
no foreign officer will either confer on or derive from it any benefit beyond the ignoble one of drawing fairly good pay. Were these our only grounds we should prefer to see British officers entirely dis- sociated from its reconstruction and main tenance; but there are other ways of regard- ing the question.
COMMERCE AND
RAILWAY
CONSTRUCTION IN CHINA,
A recent Havas telegram stated that owing to the diplomatic skill of M. GERARD the construction of railways in China by French engineers had been authorised. To-day we publish a Reuter's telegram informing us A navy has other duties besides that of that a deputation of the Associated Chambers offence and defence, those of police, and of Commerce has asked the support of the nowhere in the world may these duties be British Government in making trade routes more imperatively needed than in China. in China either by building or guaranteeing Piracy by the happy collusion of England railways, and that Lord SALISBURY replied has been largely suppressed in these waters, that the Government was unable to assist but should the complications of Western any railway enterprise outside British terri- politics call away the foreign squadrons for tory, but that the Government would do its a time we should certainly, in the absence utmost to assist in carrying railways to the of a Chinese fleet, see a recrudescence of this edge of British territory, and that done, crime. China must have a fleet, and a large there was no doubt that the lines would be fleet, to patrol her own coasts. Then, again, I able to penetrate into foreign territory
the issue would be best left opinion that "to the operation of time." Such seems to have been the view adopted by Her Majesty's Government at that time and It is by held up to the present day. no means certain, however, that the exercise of judicious pressure by Great Britain thirty years ago to induce China to construct railways might not have been attended with good results and led to the more rapid opening up of the country, without bringing with it any of the dangers or difficulties that weighed so heavily with the then Minister. But whatever may be said as to the advantage, as an abstract question, of leaving the issue to the operation of time, the practical question assumes quite a different aspect when we find other nations are not content to rely on the operation of time but are demanding immediate con-
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