June 18, 1896.]
cessions for their subjects or citizens. If the British Government will not take any step to force railways.on China it must at least insist that in the making of such railways as may actually be decided upon British enterprise shall have a fair field.
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CMMERCIAL MISSIONS AND THE
TRADE OF THE FAR EAST.
In his report on the trade of Japan for last year Mr. LONGFORD deprecates as unneces- sary the sending of any commercial mission to investigate the conditions and prospects of business in that country. There are, he says, sixteen English importing firms mem- bers of the Yokohama Chamber of Com- merce and fifteen of the Hyogo Chamber, and it is difficult to see what information in regard to general trade can be obtained by mercantile experts entirely new to the country
which cannot be and is no doubt already obtained and commu- "nicated in full to England by experts equally qualified in general experience "and with the additional qualification of 'long and intimate knowledge of the
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CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
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shoulders to the wheel of commercial ex- | quoted, though we have not the reference ; ploration is regarded by Mr. MICHIE with but it is not a view that has many satisfaction; and notwithstanding Mr. if any adherents at the LONGFORD's remarks, we are not sure that time.
present A good deal has happened within even in Japan the field has been entirely the last ten years; Japan has gained ad- covered. If such a commission as has been mission to the comity of nations on equal proposed did not in the case of Japan terms without paying the price of conver- add much to our stock of information it sion to Christianity, and although we must might at least bring that information more all hope that the rising nation of the East directly home to the manufacturer and re- will in time become christianised she will lieve the rigidity which characterises him. not now adopt that faith for any political Mr. LONGFORD himself recommends motives analagous to those above set forth. British manufacturers to keep on the On the contrary, as a matter of policy she spot experts in the principal classes may recognise that sometimes it pays to of machinery, and if that be necessary be unconventional and act accordingly, perhaps a flying visit of representative nominally preserving her national faith even experts might not be altogether fruitless; after it has lost its hold on the hearts and if it led to nothing more than the adaption | minds of her people. As a Christian nation of Mr. LONGPORD's recommendations, on she would be one among many, whereas she this and other points, it would have done possesses, as the sole non-Christian nation some good. We are not aware, however, admitted to full fellowship in the comity of that it has been contemplated that the com- nations, a claim to distinction which she mission promoted by the Blackburn Cham- might be reluctant to forego. The chris- ber of Commerce should extend its re- tianisation of Japan, if ever accomplished, searches to Japan, nor is it likely that the is more likely to be effected by the inherent funds at its disposal will enable it to do so. superiority of Christianity to Buddhism and Shintoism rather than by any degradingly corrupt political motives.
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country." He points out, too, that the
JAPAN AND RUSSIA, opportunities that are now available for acquiring information on trade and commerce There have of late been many reports of a in Japanare very complete, making mention of rapprochement between Russia and Japan, the economical journals published in Tokyo, but it has been left to Mr. STEAD, in his the attention devoted to financial and Review of Reviews, to serve these up in commercial matters by the daily papers, their most piquant and sensational form. He the public addresses of statesmen and gives them as a rumour, but in one important leaders of opinion, and the reports of respect the rumour bears an entirely new the Japanese Chambers of Commerce and of face, new at least to us. Marshal YAMA- the guilds of particular trades. Mr. LONG-GATA, it is said, has carte blanche to conclude FORD may possibly be right, for Japan is now almost as open a book, so far as tradal conditions are concerned, as any European country. But if the existence of the faci- lities for acquiring information in Japan mentioned by Mr. LONGFORD, be a reason for not sending a commission of investiga- tion to that country, the absence of similar facilities in China may be taken as a very good reason for sending such a commission there. That, of course, is a matter entirely foreign to Mr. LONGFORD's report and on which he does not offer any opinion, but the one question naturally suggests the other. And in connection with the proposed commercial mission to China we may recall some pregnant remarks made in the Asiatic Quarterly Review some months ago by Mr. A. MICHIE, a man of exceptionally ripe experience in commercial affairs. "The "merchant in China," Mr. MICHIE says, "needs in fact to be a missionary as well,
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THE MAHOMMEDAN REBELLION.
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The occurrence of rebellions in China no longer excites any keen interest. The insurgents are invariably so handicapped by want of supplies, both of arms and am- munition, that the Imperialists, however. badly led, however wretchedly disciplined, soon gain the advantage, more especially as they are always able to maintain com- munication with the coast, which, since the acquisition of a maritime trade, has become their base. Thus the announcement made the other day by our Shanghai morning contemporary, to the effect that there had been another Mahommedan outbreak in Lan- chow prefecture, Kansuh, hardly sufficed to make a ripple on the political waters. In- this case, nevertheless, it would seem the rebels have scored some successes in having surrounded the Imperialist forces and almost decimated them, although, the latter were better provided with firearnis than their assailants. The report adds that from 4,000 to 6,000 of the Imperialist troops are either killed or missing. Possibly the Mahomme- dans were led by some of YAKOOB BEG's old captains, who know a little of the art of war in a rude way and who at any rate are not deficient in courage, a quality unknown to most Chinese officers, who hang in the rear. and flourish fans instead of leading the tharge. The reverse. appears to have sufficiently alarmed the Kansuh authori ties to induce them to send urgent tele grams to Nanking and Wuchang, asking for reinforcements to help to suppress the rebellion. The Viceroys LIU KUN-YU and CHANG CHIH-TUNG will, it is reported, send
a treaty of alliance with Russia based on the partition of Turkey and the recognising of Japan as the dominant sea-power of the Pacific. So far the rumour is common place enough, though the introduction of Turkey into it is rather a novelty. The following is the striking part:-"As a bait, and by way of sealing the alliance, it is re- ported that the Marshal is prepared to offer a no less sensational bribe than "the formal acceptance of the Greek "orthodox religion as the national creed "of the Japanese." If there be any bribe in the case it is more likely to be. of fered by. Russia to Japan than by Japan to Russia. A bribe failing, some species of coercion might be applied, but it is only by cajolery or force that Japan could be induced to take a step leading up to her incorpora- tion in the dominions of the Czar. She will never voluntarily seek her fate in that di- rection, and if circumstances force on her special agreements in relation to Korea they will, so far as the decision rests with Japan be strictly limited to that particular matter. With reference to the suggested chauge of religion Mr. STEAN quotes some remarks The persons who are really interested in said to have been made by Count Iro ten "the extension of trade are not the few years ago. The Count is said to have de- hundreds who are engaged in handling theclared that it would be well for Japan " merchandise but, on the one side, the to adopt Christianity, not because Chris-about eight thousand men to assist the "British artizan, the British manufact tianity was the only true faith, but turer, and the British nation; on because it was one of the conventions of the "the other, the Chinese people." After comity of modern nations that a great referring to the listlessness of the Chi- | power should be Christian. It is," Count nese, which
"has
been fairly well Iro is reported to have said with an engaging "matched by the rigidity of the British frankness, "just the same thing as wearing "manufacturers," Mr. MICHIE goes on to a dress suit at a dinner party. When you say that "what has been done in the way of go to dine you always wear black trousers; investigation has been done by Gov- "it is not that the black trousers are better ernment officials and private explorers "than blue or any other colour, but it is an at their own expense and risk, and "established conventionality that, in even- as neither of these classes possess the "ing dress, trousers should be black. So "educated eye they have brought back among modern nations it is a convention "little that was of any immediate service "that the great powers should be Christian." to the British manufacturer." That Cham- This view was held in some quarters in Japan bers of Commerce should at last be con- at one time, and possibly it may have been sidering the propriety of putting their own expressed by Count Iro in the terms above
discover what the people need "and persuade them to buy it. But this is hardly merchants' business; they have "neither the time nor the aptitude for it, "and necessarily do it indifferently.
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Kansuh Government, and other provincial administrations are also expected to furnish contingents. In the end, no doubt, a sufficient force will be collected to crush the rising -in a short period. unless some leader with a spark of military genius arises among the insur- gents, and, taking the Imperialist levies in detail, cuts them off and marches south- ward, eating up the country, in wonted style, as he goes, Such a leader, however, is not developed every day, and if he could now be found he would find it difficult to evolve order out of disorder, or make soldiers out of untrained coolies. The Mahommedans of Yunnan, when much more wealthy and powerful than their co-religionists in Kan-
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