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- LORD SALISBURY AND THE SUP
PORT OF BRITISH ENTERPRISE IN CHINA.
(Daily Press, 5th August.)
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
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be accompanied by a certain amount of pressure. Either the country must be allowed to fall to pieces from its o vn in- herent corruption and weakness or it must have a substantial hacking, which means a certain amount of coercion. Dr. DUDGEON, an old resident and one who has had ex- ceptional opportunities of forming sound opinions as to the condition of China, said in a recent interview with Reuter's repre- sentative at Peking that the Chinese people would be satisfied with any good Government which gave them justice in their yamens and allowed them the peaceful pur- suit of their callings. It is, therefore," con- tinued the learned doctor, "absurd to talk of "China proving too big a morsel for us to manage. In fact, if the British and Chinese Governments could come to au "understanding the best thing that could happen for both countries would be for "Great Britain to take charge of the Chi- nese Administration under the Emperor "for a period of twenty years in a similar way to what is now being done in Egypt." Events seem to be tending in the direction of the policy advocated by Dr. DUDGEON. If Russia in her efforts to thwart legitimate British enterprise in China precipitates a war the establishment of an effective British protectorate would assuredly be one of the results of the conflict, and even without a war she may force that solution of the problem upon the slow moving British Go- vernment. We are not concerned to thwart Russia's legitimate aspirations. She has obtained her ice-free port and per- mission to construct her railway to it through Chinese territory, and to all that she is very welcome, so far as we are con. cerned, but any attempt by Russia or any other Power to bar British enterprise out of China must be resisted and overcome.
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The statement of Lord SALISBURY in the House of Lords, to the effect that Great Britain will support Chinese the Govern- ment against any Power committing an act of aggression on China for permitting British subjects to construct or support railways or any public works, is a natural corollary of the open door and equal opportunity policy. In January last Sir MICHAEL HICHS BEACH declared that trade with China must remain open to the world and that the Government was pre- pared to support that policy if necessary at the cost of war. The trade of China accord- ingly remains open, the German agreement with reference to Kiaochau and the Rus sian agreement with reference to Talienwan both containing clauses providing against« the preferential treatment of German or Russian trade. But the question of the construction of railways and other public works stands on a different footing. As Lord SALISBURY remarked the other day: "We have certain rights under "treaties which we are perfectly resolved "under all circumstances to maintain. We "have all the right of access to the treaty ports, but we are now contesting about a "matter which is not capable of such summary "settlement. We are dealing with a question "of who shall construct railways in various parts of China. The principle of our trea- "ties is that we shall all have identic rights, "and you cannot have identic rights in con- structing a railway, for two people connot "construct the same railway at the same "time. Therefore it is a matter no doubt of negotiation in which equal rights should "be given to all nations, but you cannot expect that two nations shall construct "the same railway." Here, then, our com- petitors thought they saw their opportunity. Two nations cannot construct the same railway, and therefore threats have been held out to China to secure that railway contracts, if given at all, must be given else where than to British tenderers. The Brit- ish Government has now, through the Premier and Foreign Secretary, declared its determination to have fair play in the matter. The declaration alone will proba bly be sufficient to secure the object aimed at, but if not the country is prepared to fight for it.
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This new
crisis in the China ques- tion, should lead the British Govern- ment to again take stock of its position and of the political outlook in that country. Lord SALISBURY in the speech already quoted from, after referring to India and Egypt, said:-"But what I earnestly ask you to consider is that we cannot possibly have over the in- ternal government and military ad- "ministration of China the same influence "which we have over India, that we con- quered by the sword, and over Egypt, of "which the government by the sword has "been placed at our command.
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And "if I am asked what our policy in China is my answer is very simple. It is to main- "tain the Chinese Empire, to prevent it falling into ruins, to invite it into the paths of reform, and to give it every "assistance which we are able to give it to perfect its defects and increase its com- "mercial prosperity. By so doing we shall "aid its cause and our own,' But if we are to exercise the influence in China which Lord. SALISBURY desires the invitation into. the paths of reform" will have to
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CHINA'S ASSURANCES.
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[August 6, 1988.
present conditions it could not without assistance be made effective against any one of the Great Powers, and if Great Britain wished to see the undertaking maintained in the face of hostile attack she would be compelled to assist to make it so. The value of the undertaking therefore is re- duced very considerably by the relative impotence of China and the implied neces sity, under certain eventualities, for Eng- land to bolster up this sick man of the Far East.
The assurance given to the British Min- ister by the Tsung-li Yamen in reference to the Peking-Hankow Railway is likewise of a conditional character. The statement was definite enough, but the Tsung-li Yamen are more notorious for concealing than for divulging the truth and it is perfectly con- ceivable that the statement was made on au- thority and yet not actually true in fact. Russians are not toubled with scruples; they have told us things before which were not- true in actual fact. It is to be hoped, how- ever, that now this line, which should by good rights have been made by British money, has been entrusted to a Belgian Syndicate the concession to make one from Kowloon to Wuchang will be promptly secured by British capitalists. In this way only can we obtain equal privileges with the Continental Powers, and maintain our prestige in the East. All the assurances in the world are worth nothing compared with having a decided policy, knowing just what we want, and having a good idea of how we intend to secure it.
A NEWSPAPER INTERVIEW WITH MR. WENYON.
(Daily Press, 4th August.)
The representative of Commerce has been interviewing Mr. W. F. WENYON, and the fruits of his rather self-complacent efforts are duly recorded in that journal's issue (Daily Press, 2nd August.)
of the 22nd June. "Hermes," as the We do not know how the House of Com- young man who does the interviewing styles mous received the assurances of Mr. CURZON, himself, might doubtless have got a great Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs, with deal more interesting material from such a regard to the undertaking given by the well of knowledge as Mr. WENYON, but he Chinese Government not to cede or other-seems to have been too eager to exhibit his wise alienate any of the provinces forming the Yaugtsze Valley. Mr. CURZON says that the British Government regard this as a definite and binding undertaking. He also informed the House that though the concession to construct the Peking-Hankow Railway had been granted to a Belgian Syndicate, China had assured Sir CLAUDE MACDONALD that Russia had no interest in the line. Whether or not the House were contented with this assurance we have yet to learn. So far as the integrity of Central China is concerned, we may be perfectly sure that the Chinese Government will not willingly cede an inch of territory in that portion of its dominions. To do so would be absolutely fatal to its continuance in power. It is one thing to part with pro- vinces of Manchuria-that is outside ter- ritory belonging to the Ta-tsing dynasty, and if they choose to sacrifice a portion of their inheritance China Proper cares comparatively little--but if a demand were made for territory in Central China there would be a clamour raised. Even the apathetic Celestial would be roused at last. Chinamen as a body attach more value to Nanking, Soochow, and other cities of the Yangtsze Valley than they do to Peking, and any attempt by a foreign Power to effect a permanent footing on the great river would be strenuously resisted. How far that resistance could be carried, how- ever, is quite another matter.
Under
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own acuteness and too auxious to keep the interview within certain limits to have thought much of the subjects he was dealing with. In short, he was seeking material to fill up a certain portion of the paper rather than to gain information of great commercial value. His introductory to indicate that he was sentence seems going to give a great deal of information about the two hundred miles of new ter ritory just leased to Great Britain round Hongkong. He says:-"Just in the nick “of time Mr. WENYON has returned from "China to tell the world, through myself, something about British prospects in South China and more particularly in the new territory round Hongkong." Yet it was only at the close of the interview this ques- tion was touched upon. Mr. WENYON, after expressing, in reply to a question as to what he thought of the extension of territory, his opinion that the acquisition was a most excellent thing, added that it should have been accomplished thirty years ago, and went on to say "If it had been "done then the concession could have been "obtained with much greater ease, and "without exciting the competing European "nations to seek some equivalent in China.
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Hongkong, you must know, has developed "itself to the utmost extent of its territorial "limits, and there is little room on the "island for the further building of mills or "other concerns which are necessary to the
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