December 22, 1897.|
THE PROTECTION OF CHINESE
BRITISH SUBJECTS.
The case of the Straits Chinaman in prisoned at Amoy seems likely to raise important issues. In 1868 a notification was issued by the then British Minister to China (the late Sir RUTHERFORD ALCOCK) in which it was laid down that inasmuch as trouble had arisen from the fact that British subjects of Chinese descent travelling in Chipa could not easily be differentiated from Chinamen, therefore no protection would be given to any Chinese British sub- ject travelling in China unless while in China he discarded his Chinese dress. This notification was published in the Hongkong
Government Gazette of the 7th November,
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CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
to his being squeezed, the British Govern- ment could not stand by and see the outrage carried out, whatever laws ns to the man's dress might be in force. The objection of the Chinese to change their dress is, more over, so strong that any law requiring them to do so must in practice remain a dead let ter. Nor can failure to register at the Con- sulate always be held a sufficient reason for refusing to officially recognise Chinese the circumstances of each case, and as British subjects. Regard must be had to the Straits times suggests, a distinction may be drawn between naturalized and born British subjects. One thing is clear, however, and that is that strong pressure should be brought to bear on Chi- nese British subjects to make them register, and, although failure to register might in the case of a born subject not be deemed teniler mercies of the mandarins, it would be sufficient reason for abandoning him to the reasonable to impose on him some very sub- stantial penalty for such failure.
the
1868, together with a covering circular issued by the Minister to the Consuls, the effective portion of which is as follows:- "You will observe that it is left entirely optional to such persons to claim the status of British subjects within the "Chinese territories or not as they may It is curious, however, to note
see fit; but in the event of their elect- difference in the attitudes taken up ou ing to sink their British nationality this question by Great Britain and other "and reside or travel as Chinese among Powers. In Siam France endeavours to "Chinese they cannot claim any exemption increase her influence by according her "from the jurisdiction and laws of the coup protection to almost any Asiatie who
try they adopt of their own free will and likes to ask for "after due-notice of the consequences." This effective whenever any question arises it and making it regulation, though we believe it has never with the untive authorities, and she would been formally repealed, has fallen into
no doubt pursue the same course in China desuetude and can no longer be considered
were the circumstances equally favourable. in force, recognition having been accorded If KHUN YONG had been a Saigon Chinaman in many instances since its issue to Chinese and had appealed to the French Consul at subjects of Her Majesty who have not dis-Amoy his appeal, we imagine, would have carded their usual dress. The latest instance been received in a very different manner was at Shanghai only a few months ago. It than it has been by the British Consul and seems to have been assumed at Singapore at Minister. Going further from home we one time that the Minister's action in the
may note, too, how prompt Germany has Amoy case was based
upon the re-
been to assert her influence in Hayti gulation in question, but this can
on the strength of a case in which hardly have been so. According to the the son of a Haytian mother, who latest telegram from Singapore the
was claimed by the Haytian Government Minister's reply to the Governor is that
to be a native of the country, but KHUN YIONG holds land at Amoy, has a
who was inscribed at the German Lega- wife there, and passes as a Chinese subject. tion as a German subject, was dealt with The reply does not seen to be very conclu- criminally by the local authorities. Germany sive The fact of the man's holding land demanded prompt reparation and maile such and having a wife cannot be held to
a demonstration that her demanits have been deprive him of his British nationality, and it
complied with. In that case the man was is not stated explicitly in what way he has the son of a German father and the position passed as a Chinese subject. According to taken up by Germany in the matter was no his petition to the Governor of the Straits doubt correct. If England wished to em- Settlements he only visited Amoy occasion-barrass China she would be equally correct ally and for short periols, his domicile being at Singapore.
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The preamble to Sir RUTHERFORD ALCOCK'S notification runs: Whereas many persons of Chinese descent, "who are or claim to be British "subjects, go to reside or travel in the "dominions of the Emperor of China, and "whereas serious difficulty exists
in
distinguishing such British subjects from "natives amenable to Chinese laws only, "and accordingly great practical inconven- ience frequently results to the parties themselves and to the authorities of both "countries." The Amoy case affords a forcible illustration of this practical incon- venience, and any useful suggestion for a remedy would be welcome. The require ment formulated by Sir RUTHERFORD ALCOCK, that Chinese British subjects should change their dress, does not afford a remedy. It would be intolerable that the question of whether a man should be tor: tured and robbed in a Chinese prison should be made to depend entirely on the cut of his clothes. If a Hongkong Chinaman went | up to Canton on business, wearing the clothes he is accustomed to, and were ar- rested by the native authorities with a view
in demanding reparation in the case of KHUN YIONG, who, according to his Straits pass- port, is a British subject by birth and the son of British subjects. Whether there is any real justification for refusing to recognise him is a question on which judgment must be suspended until more is known of the facts of the case.
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being accustomed to the use of a good and pure article. But a race is rising that, never having known the taste of the Indian drug, will be quite contented with the less anothing and more nerid opium produced in Yunnan, Szechuen, and Kweichow. Little by little the Chinese drug will supersede the Indian opium, until the import of the latter will become trifling as compared with the con- sumption. But let not the Opuim Society killed, or that the habit is less prevalent than flatter themselves that the trade has been
it was. Such indeed is far from the fact The amount of opium imported into China from India and Persia is smaller than it was.
only 48,994 piculs in 1896 as compared with 51,306 piculs in 1895-but the consumption of the drug has largely increased. Fully two- thirds of the opium used is now raised in various provinces of China and in Man- has this year made its appearance on the churin, and the Yunnan and Szechuen drug Hongkong market. The net result of the misguided efforts of the Society for the Suppression of the Opium Trade is that, while the Indian Opium trade has been considerably curtailed, the habit of opium smoking has been greatly increased by the facility with which the luxury can now be obtained, thanks to the fostering care of the
tax on Chinese Government, in discriminating the the home raised product. This was a result foreseen and predicted years ago, when the Society was agitating for per- mission to be accorded to the Peking Authorities to increase the duties. That the evil would become so serious in so short a time as has proved to be the case we did not anticipate, but it required no prophet to foretell that if the poppy were to be substituted for rice and other grain crops it would not be long before disaster would follow.
This result has been achieved in only too many districts. Land on which formerly the village rice or millet crops flourished now bears the scarlet poppy flaunting on its breast, and opium divans abound in every town and village of the provinces men- tioned. A correspondent of our Shanghai morning contemporay paints a most dismal picture of the effects of the opium habit in Szechuen. That province, the most ex- tensive and perhaps the fairest in all China, containing the largest population, possessing the richest natural resources in the Empire, is becoming simply demoralised through this vice, to which young and old are now alike addicted. He says that a recent missionary tour to the districts of Nanchuan and Fuchou has revealed the fact that the poppy is now being cultivated almost universally in those regions. Within his memory the production of the drug must have doubled, and he is not surprised to find that the price of food is high in consequence. The western provinces of China have produced opium for a long period of years, but it was not until the relaxation of the Imperial Decrees-which of late years We do not hear much, in this fin de siécle, have been allowed to become a dead letter of the doings of the Society for the Suppres--against the cultivation of the poppy that sion of the Opuim Trade. Not that we
the industry received the stimulus that bas want to hear either of or from that ewin-caused the conversion of the rice grounds in- ently mischievous body; Exeter Hall and to poppy fields. The Chinese officials share the the factions which there find a home or profits with the cultivators, and they con- headquarters are still far too much in evid-nive at the smuggling of the drug into ence or the welfare of the Empire or other provinces. Under the former con- for the cause of 'rational progress. Now | dition of affairs, when the Chinese in the that China has, by legalising the cultiva- maritime provinces drew almost the whole of tion of opium and subjecting the native their opium supply from foreign countries drug to A comparatively light duty, practically subsidised the home grown article, the import of Indian opium is on the decline. There is still a very considerable demand for good Malwa and Bengal drug owing to a large proportion of the smokers
THE ANTI-OP(UM SOCIETY AND IS WORK.
the habit was limited on account of its cost; it is now, owing to the low price of native drug, within the reach of the poorest classes. The crusade of the anti-opium fanatics has therefore had the effect of slowly killing trade in the Indian opium, but, pari passu,
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