118
· RUSSIA'S POLICY IN THE NORTH.
(Daily Press, 1th August)
14
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
Į fortunately most wrong logra are liable from time to time, mule one evening the British Ambassador at St. Petersburg his confidant, so far as to estrust to him his
46
14
the same-
[Angust 15, 1903. of Sinops, ant wiped them out of existence. Rusia has changed her mien but not her methods, and as in 1858 the diguified moderation of the Turkish Sultan warded
off from Europe for nearly a year the outbreak of a war she had never
pro rokel, s exactly half a century later it has fallen to the lot of Japan to uphold similarly the peace of the world in a case of equilly brutal and unprovoked aggression. Tha danger is none the less real that by studied moderation Japan has hitherto averted it, but the outer world little knows how near it has been to a war which for good or evil must affect the future not only of Eastern For the Asia, but of the whole world. present, perhaps fortunately for our peaca of mind and happiness, these things are hidden away in the mysterious drawers of the various Foreign Offices, but the danger is none the less real that it has not been shouted out on the housetops. It is trus that England, so far as the world knows, has not at hand the services of a STRATFORD CANNING, but then on the other han Russia is at ru'ed by the autocrat NicOLAS I. We can only hope for the best.
JAPAN'S TRADE IN 1902.
(Daily Pr 88, 14th August.) Mr. H. G. PARLETT, Acting Japane se Secretary to the British Legation at Tokyo,
responsible for a very long report on the trade of Japan in 1902, issued from the Forsign Office at the end of June. 1902, he states in his introductory remarks, cannot be culle! a prosperous year for Japan, although the sum total of the country's foreign trade any
Of how, whilst being absolutely truthful, pretty scheme for the division of the a telegram may be made to suggest absolute heritage of Turkey. Turkey," he said, falsehood, we have had one or two recent "is a sick man- irretrievably sick, in "fact on his death-bed, and his heritage examples in German telegrams. We have
"must be shortly divided. Now I would no need here to nimadvert oh the
not like to do anything without the traditional policy of Germany with regard participation of Eng and. There's Cou- to Russia, which is, as all the world knows stantinople-well, I won't let you take that, but there are other places, and I uue of extreme caution, at times almost
“don't much mind what you take, only verging on timidity. That is her own
you must leave me Constantinople." affair; and she is doubtless herself con-
"But, Sir, the patient is not yet dead, nud¦ vinced that all is right and square as
it is not customary to divide the estate till We know the result; between Russia and Japan, and that the the breath is out."
but the Tsar has not yet been able to move encroachments of the former on Manchuria, his winter palace to the mild waters of and more recently on Corek, do not in any
the Bosporus, and the Turkish Empire still way compromise the position of Japan. It exists. The parallel is none the less striking is quite true that the continuous telegrams that in the present case the autocrat issued from Latin's Bureau, s'ating that NICOLAS I. has given place to the com- war between Russia and Japin was immi-paratively insignificant NICOLAS II.; the nent, have turned out so far to be untrue; methods are
as well as the but. the conclusion attempt d to be inferred objects. Peking and the fertile lands of that hey were "all nonsense i, by no
Manchuria un Coren are as tempting as meaus born? out by the circumstances of the wide lands of th Balkan Peninsula, the case. Russia, indeed, though her and the empire of the Pacific is as met the methods are not as those of the more a subject of Russian ambition as civilised utions, and partake largely of cominand of the Levant. But there is a what we are accustomed to designate us differe ice; with all his faults, and they Asiatic duplicity, is by no means novel in were many, ABDUL NEDJID never listened her ways, and indeed has a trick of un- to Russian threats, nor did he in return Consciously repeating herself, which is for Russian gold consent to reader to the inconsistent with the highest diplomacy. stranger the heritage of his fathers. Russia The situation bas, in fact, been straine to too has learnt a lesson, and this tim: she the point of endurance, and it has only been has not made England the repository of the tact and calmness of Japan, doubtless her disgraceful secrat.
Whether, like the influenced from England, which has wife of MIDAS, she has found a sympathetic preventel up to this an open breach. Iu marsh to hear that her chief has ass's many respects, and in one more so than in ears, does not yet appear, nor have the action of Russia in occupying in tine swaying reds as yet whispered to the of peace territories that do not belong to world what she would fain conceal hut dare her, the situation exactly reproduces the not contain. The recipient of the secret this course of events preceding the Crimean time is certainly not England. Nay, she has On that occasion the Tsar himself plucked up heart of grace, and in the person had got into a childish contest with Turkey of the Times Correspondent has indicated to wherein was concerned nothing of greater SirCHABLE SOTT that she wants no English importance to the Worli at large, nor counsel. But though the soughing winds inded to the Latin and Greek Churches, have not yet carried her story, her aims are which were supposed by the Tsar to be none the less clear than were those of the particularly interested, than the possessiou great Autocrat, whose ways she so awkwardly of a duplicate key and the fixing of a silver essays to follow. NicOLAS I., in the moment star in an ancient church. After keeping of his vexation, when Turkey finally refused Europe for months in a ferment, Lord to extingui-h herself, it is recorded, in the STRATFORD DE REDCLIFFE, who had sullenness of his despair summoned the opportunely returned to his post at Con-chief of his staff, and ordered his troops at stantinople, by the exercise of a small amount of cominonsense settle the weighty question in a couple of weeks, and to the satisfaction of both of the would-be belligerents. But though the sore was healed the pain remained, and was aggravated by the fact that it was an Englishman who had rescued the Tsar from the consequences of his own childishness, so the next s'e, of the Tsir, who at the moment, unlike his great grandson, was de facto the Russian Governmet, was in time of peace to make a demand of the Sultan to let him the Tsar manage the other's household. This not being agreed to, the same silly talk of private and secret treaties, and of the great loss the Sultan was undergoing through not shutting his eyes and trusting in the assurances of his benevolent friend and neighbour, was forced on the Government of the Sultan, and the good intentions of Russia towards Turkey were as assiduously pressel as in the present case her amiable wishes for the stability of China are bring paraded before all the Courts of Europe. Unfor- tunately for, his project, the Tsar, in a moment of temporary aberration, to which
war.
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once to cross the Pruth, the last at which in time of peace was equivalent to throwing down the gag in the face of Europe; and Europe, possibly more regardful of its rights and interests than the Europe of to-day, a 'cepted it as such. But in those days, as in these, there were those who sincerely desired peace, and who to their honour left not a stone unturned to prevent, even a considerable sacrifice, the horror of war from breiking forth. So far the Geraan telegrams tell what is but simple truth. The French and even the English Press are trying to trauquillise publiq opinion. The United States Government "[ries to miks itself] fully satisfiel as to "the course events have taken, and is now "waiting the official statement of the "Russian Government as to the future of
S the Europea state waited in 1853 for soms declaration of Russia of which they could avail themselves to empel, if necessary, the acquiescence of Turkey. Toe declaration, however, came not, but in its stead the barbarous slaughter of Sinope, when the Russian feet with out declaration of war bore down upon the unprepared ships of Turkey in the harbour
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· Manchuria'
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was in excess of that of 1901. It seems that the main favourable circumstances were the conclusion of the Anglo-Japiness Alliance, which gave a temporary fillip to trade; and a very gɔɔl silkworm-crop, with a record export of raw silk in the second half of the year. Th sale of fifty million yea worth of Govern. ment bonds in London last October would have fostered a further revival of commer. cial activity but for the anticipations, only too well founded, of a bad rice-crop. Th latter misfortune, caused by the autuma flods and storms, and the fall in exchɩnge, which impeded Japan's trade with Chin, appear to have counteracted the favourable circumstances mentioned above.
Ch na is
a very important customer for Japan's eɔtton yarns, coal, and marine products in particular, and the depreciation of silver most seriously affected this trade. Exports to Chin in 1902 showed a decreuse of over £400,000 in valu3, while imports into Japan from Chint decreased by about £1,400,000. The fall in silver, however, is not the sole cause of the decline in trade. According to Japanese Government experts, other an weighty reasons have contributed to lessen Japan's trade with China. In the first place it is asserte I that the cureless methods of the Japanese merchants do not command them elves to the Chinese. The former
seein
correct
to think that quality is of no importance in articles which are infe idad for Chint, and that chepness only sa,uld
A This is not be aimel at. view to take. Th: Chinese do not wan bad chep things. The Japanese manufac turer is, in reover, at no pains to const still less to hour Chinese tastes, prejudices. The litter is rather interesting to read, in view of the abuse heaped on British manufacturers for the same mistake, The distribution of Japanese trade in
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