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BRITISH POLICY IN CHINA.
(5th April.)
In the House of Commons the other day Mr. CURZON stated that Count Muravieff, on the 16th March, had assured Great Britain that Port Arthur and Talienwan would be opened to trade like other Chinese ports and that Russia had not since with- drawn the assurance. This statement seems to imply that Great Britain had acquiesced in, or at all events does not intend actively to oppose, the Russian occupation of the porte named, and the supposition that the concentration of the British fleet in the North was with a view to possible complications with Russia may now be finally dismissed. In his speech in the House of Commons on the 1st March, the full report of which was received by the last mail, Mr. Curzon said : "I am not "one of those who have any great belief in "the inherent stability of the Chinese "Government. Pressed as China is from evey side, and incapacitated from success- "ful resistance, as she always hitherto has been, by defects in her Government and
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likely to be secured by throwing open "China to the interests and intercourse of "the whole world and not, so to speak, by "closing her into separate watertight com- |...
partments, each bearing a separate label or appellation of its own. The more Powers, the more civilized Powers, you in- "terest in China, the more likely you are to be able to sustain her integrity and "welfare." China, we believe, is now about to be opened to the commerce of the whole world. It was promised some time ago that the inland waterways were to be opened to foreign trade and navigation in June, but to residents in the Far East, familiar with the delays and tergiversation of the Chinese Go- vernment and the absence of any effective machinery for the protection and regulation of foreign trade with the interior, the pro- mise seemed little more than a mere form of words. But the British Government appears to be in earnest in requiring the fulfilment of the promise, and will no doubt be found ready to supply all that is neces- sary in the way of administrative machinery. "We were the first people," says Mr. CURZON, "to unlock the door of China to foreign trade. We were the first Power to survey her coasts. We were the first to drive away pirates from her seas. We, "indeed, were the first people to stud "the whole line of her coasts with ports open to not only ourselves, but to the SE commerce of the whole world. We were "the first people to send steamers up her waterways, to build railways for her, to exploit her mines, to carry into the "interior of the country over thousands of "miles the advantages of European com- merce and European comforts. Let it "not be forgotten, too, that we were the "first Power to give to China the nucleus "of a pure administration at the same "time that we added a great annual revenue to her treasury by instituting an Imperial Customs service in that country. "It may truly be said that, in so far as "China at the present moment is not in the "East an anachronism but has within it a vital, living force, it is in the main "due to the action and initiative of this « country." The work that Great Britain has commenced she is prepared to carry ou, and the mission of the fleet in the North at the present time is, if we are not much mistaken, to enforce the opening up of the country to foreign trade and the substitution of an honest administration of the internal Customs for the ancient squeeze system.
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institutions, I can well foresee she is con- "fronted in the future by even greater dan-
gers then she has had to meet in the past." "But our policy is and must be to prevent her disruption so far as we can, and to secure for her the fresh lease of life to "which her immense and magnificent re- t sources entitle her. We are therefore opposed to the alienation of any Chinese territory or the sacrifice of any part of "Chinese independence. That is a policy from which the Government have "abstained and which they have no "desire to initiate. I can conceive of cir- "cumstances arising in the future, circum- "stances gravely affecting and perhaps seriously imperilling our interests in China, "which might tempt us and even compel us "to depart from that attitude of reserve. "But the seizure of Chinese territory, the " alienation of Chinese territory, the usurp- "ation of Chinese sovereignty, is not primarily any part of British policy ; and it is not likely that that which we re- pudiate for ourselves we should regard "with a welcome eye if attempted by "others." Russia's movements have, to use Mr. CURZON's phrase, not been regarded with a welcome eye, but it is evident that it is not for the coercion of Russia that the present movements of the fleet are directed. Has the time then already arrived, foreseen by the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, when circumstances might tempt and even compel Great Britain to depart from her attitude of reserve with regard to territorial acquisitions and the usurpation of Chinese sovereignty? The rectification of Hongkong's boundaries will naturally be included in the settlement following upon the present negotiations, and possibly also the reoccupation of Chusan, but these, we imagine, will be comparatively minor items in the demands presented to China, which will be found to be commercial and administra- tive rather than territorial. The time has come for the opening up of China and Great Britain is going to do the opening. If the Chinese Government has to be coerced into acquiescence, the necessary coercion will be applied. Great Britain has had her oppor- tunities before, but has forborne to take ad- vantage of them, hoping that after a little patient waiting and under the influence of friendly advice China would open spontane ously. That hope has not been realised and it is recognised that the time for waiting is now over. In the speech from which we have already quoted Mr. CURZON said
:-" Our "belief is that the integrity of China is most
THE CHINESE CONCESSIONS TO GREAT BRITAIN.
(7th April.) At last the object of the British negotiations with China and the recent movements of the fleet has been made known. The ac- quisition of Weihaiwei is a statesmanlike measure and an excellent offset to the Russian acquisition of Port Arthur. It places Great Britain in a strong position in the North and will effectually conserve our interests in that region. Weihaiwei faces Port Arthur at the mouth of the Gulf of Pechibli and is capable of being made an impregnable fortress. Even when it was defended only by Chinese the Japanese had considerable difficulty in subduing it. From a military point of view it is an infinitely more desir- able station than Chusan, and if it is to Sir CLAUDE MACDONALD that we owe its ac- quisition that able Minister has served his country well. The move will not be wel- come to Russia, and was probably quite unexpected by her, but she can have no right to protest, and would be power less to make her protest effective should
| April 9, 1898, she wish to do so. Great Britain has once more asserted herself and has given convincing proof that she is not to be crowded out. It was Great Britain's true policy not actively to oppose Russia's acquisition of Port Arthur and the exten- sion of her influence in Manchuria, unwel- come as that acquisition and extension might be, but to seek an equivalent advantage for herself.
In addition to leasing Weihaiwei to Great Britain China opens to trade the three ports of Funing, Yochau, and Chinwang. "Fun- ing is in Fokien, close by Samsah, which Germany had some thought of taking before she finally decided in favour of Kiaochau. It has been made an open port probably to prevent its being seized by any other Power, rather than with the idea that it will become an important centre of trade, for as a com- mercial port it will probably rank no higher than Ningpo. Yochau is the port at the mouth of the Tungting Lake, the opening of which had been already promised. Chinwang is a port near Shanhaikwan, at the north-east- ern extremity of the province of Chihli, and will prove a barrier to the setting up of any commercial monopoly in that region, whether by Russia or any other Power. Its establishment as a treaty port is a literal application of the doctrine of the open door. It will not only be an open door for foreign trade the closing of which by any one Power would be opposed by the general in- terest of the remainder, but it will also be an open door for Peking and the metropoli- tan province during the winter months when Tientsin is closed by ice, being within an easy day's railway journey of Peking.
Substantial as are the advantages enu- merated in Reuter's telegram we hope they do not complete the tale.
It can hardly be supposed the opportunity has not been availed of to secure the rectification of Hongkong's boundaries. Some further statement as to the recently promised open- ing of the internal waterways to steam navigation would also be welcome. The opening of Yochau at the junction of the Tungting Lake with the Yangtze is speci fically mentioned, but what about Nanning and Posé on the West River? Are not these also to be opened? If, as Mr. CURZON said in his speech in the House of Commons on the 1st March, "the opening of internal navigation on all rivers in China to "British steamers from the middle of the ensuing summer means that we shall be "able to take British merchandise in "British ships, not merely to the ports
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recognised by treaty, but to every river- "side town and station in the whole of the - "interior of China," it follows that British ships can go to Yochau without any specific mention of that place in the treaty, and also to such places as Nanning and Posé, always supposing that there are surmountable physical obstacles. On the West River transhipment might be required at some of the rapids, but if the river is really to be opened in its full doubted that steamers will soon be plying. extent to steam navigation it cannot be
lower reaches. It would be satisfactory, on its upper reaches as they now ply on its however, to have some specific assurance, that that is really what is intended.
The editor of El Diario, the oldest paper in the Philippines, has just been expelled the country, and is a passenger to Spain, his native country, by the Espana, arriving at Singapore on the 30th March. The offence of which M. Romero Salas has been guilty is publishing articles which have not been passed by the Censor, which may be taken to mean, that he spoke too plainly-Singapore Free Press,
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