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LORD SALISBURY'S POLICY IN CHINA.
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
The great results anticipated by Mr. BRODRICK from the opening of Nanning-fu (Daily Press, 14th February.)
will, we sincerely hope, be fully realised. The speeches made at the opening of Par- The trade of the West River is yet in its liament reveal pretty plainly what the policy infancy, but it is in course of development, of the British Government is to be in China, and if vigorously guarded and watched over Lord SALISBURY is all for bolstering up the will assuredly become of great value, both Sick Man of the Far East. Great Britain, to this colony and foreign industry gen- says his lordship, must deal with the erally. But this development cau only be Chinese Government as a going concern, realised subject to certain conditions. The securing the execution of treaties and West River must be opened along its entire 'safeguarding the interests " of British length free from the restrictions which at subjects. Lord SALISBURY added that present fetter it and which prevent foreign Great Britain did not contemplate shipping from participating in it except un- any acquisition of territory or the dis- der such disadvantages as must end in ex- memberinent of Eastern Empires. The de- clusion. There must be equality of treat- claration of the Government's policy was ment in the carriage of native goods by cordially welcomed in the House of Com-foreign and Chinese steamers from place to mons by Sir EDWARD GREY, on behalf of place on the inland waterways; the Inland the Radical party. Mr. Sr. JOHN BROD- Water Regulations must be made applicable RICK, Parlimentary Secretary to the to all inland waters, to all steamers using Foreign Office, in the course of the debate, them whether going between Treaty Ports said he anticipated great results from the
or not. The North and East Rivers should opening of Nanning-fu, and deprecated also be opened along their entire navigable hostility and jealousy towards other Powers. courses, being part of the great inland sys- Sir EDWARD GREY echoed this sentiment, tem of waterways in South China, and, and went a step further by advocating a
lastly, a determined crusade against piracy candid understanding with Russia. No must be undertaken on the West River. Englishman will, we imagine, object to a
At present there is no security for trade, fair and proper understanding with Russia, and very little for life. A system for if it can be arrived at and put on a stable efficiently policing the river and of res- basis. Great Britain has no desire to check toring order in the villages and towns Russia's legitimate and natural aspirations. in the delta must be devised, and if She must fully sympathise with the desire necessary placed in the hands of foreig- shown by Russia to establish rail-ners.
The Chinese officials are so hope- way communication from Russia to the lessly corrupt and so grossly incompetent Pacific. The trans-Siberian Railway is a
that it seems absolutely useless to expect truly great and noble work, and will do any effective system to be evolved by them more for the march of civilisation than unassisted. The Viceroy of the Two Kwang half a dozen wars, or than any commercial might, however, be induced to appoint a or educational propaganda could accomplish European with Chinese and European assis- in a quarter of a century. It is not surprising
tant officers to raise a sort of marine police that Russia should desire for the Pacific to patrol the waterways and protect honest terminus of this important line an ice-free traders. port and one that can be defended from attack and at the same time be developed into a great commercial emporium. That she should take advantage of China's weakness to secure the realization of this project cannot be wondered at. It is certain as fate that the Peking Government would never have yielded an inch of oil or a single advantage to Russia if she could have ven- tured to refuse them.. The insistence shown by the Chinese Government in demanding the retrocession of the Kuldja in 1881 is sufficient proof of the spirit that animated the Mandarins when they thought that China was strong enough to press for the restoration of her ancient rights. The Russian Government have waited and watched for their opportunity; they took exceedingly good care that Japan should not secure a footing on the Linotung penin- sula; and when the time seemed ripe they put in their claim for the reversion of that territory with a success that ten years ago could neither have been foreseen nor ex- pected. Had they failed to strike at the golden moment they would certainly not have been true to their traditions. But while this step was natural on their part, it was only right that Great Britain should, on her part, see to the protection of her own goods. No understanding had been rived at with Russia, who in her diplomacy combines some of the Oriental subtlety with the keenness of Western statecraft, and there was a danger at one time of a collision, which would have been uufortunate probably for all parties. Sir EDWARD GREY's proposal, therefore, that a caudid understanding with Russia should be sought and obtained is worthy of careful consideration, and we trust will yet be carried into effect by the British Foreign Office.
ar-
A “TIMES" BLUNDER.
open
(Daily Press 13th February) The danger of using imperfectly under- stood catch-phrases such
46 as the 'door" and spheres of influence is illus trated in an article in the Times of the 9th January on the French claims at Shanghai. Our trade with Shanghai, says the writer, is enormous, and the amount of British capital invested there in permanent improvements is very large. "True to the policy of the open door,' "the article continues, “ we have claimed for "ourselves no exclusive privileges, in spite "of the long and decisive predominance "of our material stake in the town. In common with the Americans, the Germans, "and the members of almost all other European nationalities, our merchants "and traders live and thrive in the general European settlement, the prosperity of "which is so largely their handiwork. The French, on the other hand, who cleared "115,000 tons of shipping at Shanghai in "1896 as against two millions-and-a-quarter
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tons cleared under our flag, have set up "there an exclusive settlement of their
[2
(4
own, though some of their 'merchants, "it is true, preter the self-government of "the general European quarter to the paternal officialdom of the Republic. "The distinctive feature of the French "settlement, we need hardly say, is that it keeps the door very tightly shut." The latter statement, if the
'door" reters to trade is absolutely untrue. The untruth is of course due to ignorance, not to evil intent, but it is none the less mischievous. It is unfortunate when a good case is spoiled by bad arguments, and it is still worse when the case is ruined by misstate-
CE
[February 18, 1839.
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ments of fact. In the French concession at Shanghai French trade enjoys no preference, and if it be true that some French mer- chants "prefer the self-government of the general European quarter to the paternal "officialdom of the Republic"
"it is none the less true that some British merchants have found it to their interest to locate themselves on the French concession and that one of the leading British shipping firms has its wharves there. The Customs duties are of course the same in both con cessions, that being a matter with which neither municipality has anything to do, and the local taxation in the French con cession is if anything rather lighter than in the general concession. On the French Municipl Council also, there are members of other nationalities than French. The French concession, however, is necessarily a sphere of French influence, and therefore, according to the times theory, the door must neces sarily be closed, although as a matter of fact it stands wide open. The objections to the French claims at Shanghai are well founded, but they do not rest on any allegation that French protectionism has been introduced in the French_conces sion, for such is not the case. Mr. FRANCIS proposes to tell us all about spheres of in- fluence 25 and the " open door." in an ad- dress to the Odd Volumes Society this afternoon, and we would commend to the learned Queen's Counsel the Times blunder as an example of the necessity of narrowly defining the meaning of the phrases instead - of giving them a vague and indefinite soope and reading into them a contradiction that does not necessarily exist. It would be better, indeed, if the use of the terme could be dropped altogether, for it only leads to confusion of thought. We are continually told, and we all believe, that there is little or no hope of reform in China unless under pressure from without and pressure from without necessarily means the exercise of foreign influence. In the nature of things it seems almost inevitable that in different spheres this influence · should be exercised more directly by some Powers than by others. The posi tion and importance of Hongkong should make British influence preponderant in the neighbouring province. France having in her possession of Tonkin a conterminous boundary with Yunnan must of necessity thereby exercise some influence upon that province, and, to her credit be it said, she has enforced strict observance of the transit pass privilege in spirit as well as in letter, which is more than we have done in Kwang- tung; Russia also must necessarily make her influence felt in Manchuria; and Ger- many cannot fail to do the same in Shan- tung. We may inveigh against spheres of influence as much as we like, but their growth is inevitable. There is no reason, however, why there should not be absolute equality of tradal privileges in each in- dividual sphere.
MR. FRANCIS'S LECTURE ON SPHERES OF INFLUENCE AND THE OPEN DOOR.
(Daily Press, 15th February.) We regret that circumstances prevented our giving such a full report of Mr. FRANCIS's lecture on "Spheres of Influence “and the 'pen Door" as the importance of the subject and the instructive and interest- ing manner in which it was treated would ordinarily have demanded. At the outset Mr. FRANCIS took exception to our criticismi of an article in the Times, the writer of which we suggested had been led into a misstatement of fact by the assumption that
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