The-Hong-Kong-Weekly-Press-1904-05-30 — Page 4

་།

396

THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND

£1

animated by patriotic-if mistaken- sums up the case, it seems to us, very just- motives," about to m ke residence in China ly. We have only one question to ask, and impossible for foreigners, to take back from that is: Will this Yellow Peril, after all, foreigners everything foreigners hal taken be a Peril? In other words, will the from China, to pay off old grudges with arresting of the expansion of Englishmen, interest, and to " curry the Chinese flag and Russians, etc., be harmful, or will not the Chinese arms into many a place that even necessary consolidation rather be bless. fancy will not suggest to-dy"-well, if heing and lead to real progress as opposed to foresaw this, argued the West, still feeling mere increase in bulk? We could not the effects of the sieges of Peking and Tien- attempt to argue this question here. It is tsin, then the Yellow Peril must be very too vast, and perhaps its auswer can only be real. But the West did not allow for the furnished by Time. But it certainly merits fact that Sir ROBERT HART's nerves had consideration.

! been shaken like those of the rest of his race. Time brought reason, and the panic sub- sided until this year. Now there has arisen the phenomenon of Japau daring to face. Russia, the most dreaded Power of Con- tinental Europ, and not merely facing her. but winning victoris both by sea and by land. It was very natural, again, that the old feelings should recur, and that the flame, skilfully if obviously fanned from S. Petersburg, should be burning bright It is very natural, we say, but

once more.

that is not to say that it is reasonable.

The militant Yellow Danger, which, in Sir ROBERT HART's words in 1900, is to imperil the world's future, is the bogey of over-wrought imagination, and this must be recognised by sober judges at their sober moments-for even habitual sobriety may be dissipated at times, which is why we get prophecies about ten millions of Boxers even from 80 eminent an authority as Sir ROBERT HART. The question remains, however, whether there is a Yellow Peril at all. And here we think the writer in the

mere

Times of India strikes the right note. He says—what must be obvious on a little reflection-that, whatever the issue of the present war, whether Japan wins or loses, the result will be a coalition, open or veiled, between the two great Asiatic nations of the Far East. Japan victorious will naturally take the lead in China, and for her own sake she will encourage an armed China in the way of a fresh Russian ad- vance. If Japan, on the other band, were beaten, Manchuria would become a appanage of Rússia, and China, in constant dread of a Russian horde pouring through the Great Wall on Peking, would still more be thrown in the arms of Japan, desperate but unbroken in spirit. either event, therefore, we must look for closer union between China and Japan. That union will be defensive and not offen sive, but it will lead to the organisation of China as a military and naval Power. For this, as Sir ROBERT HART showed recently, she can raise the money without great difficulty. Our Bombay contemporary pro- ceeds: "We hear less talk nowadays of "the partition of China'; ten years hence "it will be a forgotten phrase, if we read "the situation aright.

But we shall be hearing much of a still only half-recognised aspect of the position. With China able "to protect herself, ready to resist aggres "sion, and confident in her newly-gained strength under the aegis of Japan, her "internal development will proceed apace, "She will not only supply her own markets, "but the phenomenal industry of her frugal "millions will enable her to claim and ob- "tain a footing in the markets of the world. When that day arrives, there is a genuine danger that, in the words of the late Mr. "CHARLES PEARSON, the expansion of Englishmen and Russians and other like "nations will be arrested, and the character "of the peoples profoundly modified, as "they have to adapt themselves to

stationary condition of society." In that very significant possibility lies, we believe, "the real and the only Yellow Peril." This

66

(<

a

AN OFFICIAL ARMY JOURNAL.

(Daily Press, 25th May.)

+

[May 30, 1904.

HONGKONG JOTTINGS.

44

(Daily Press 23rd May.) The smallness of the birth-rate among the Chinese in the Colony certainly calls for remark, but there is something more to be said on the subject than what one is accustomed to find in the Registrar-General's annual report. The number of the Chinese births registered." the Registrar-General says, does not give an accurate record of the total number of births of Chinese that have occurred in the Colony, for many of the infants that die during the first month or so of life remain unregistered." But as it has been customary to add to the registered births the number of infants of one month old and under that die in the Colony, and as I sup- pose those children which survive the first We published in our issue of Monday a

month do eventually come on to the register. the corrected birth-rate which the Registrar- letter received by us from Lieutenant-General gives us may be taken as approximately General the Hon. NEVILLE LYTTELTON, correct. The rate here must certainly be far Chief of the General Staff, with reference to below that of any town on the mainland, and the institution of an official Army Journal, the explanation must surely be found in the The Army Order enclosed by General great preponderance of males among our Chin- ese population, for it seems to be quite the LYTTELTON gave a certain indication of the nature of the new journal, which is

thing for the wife to live at Canton and the to be a shilling monthly review dealing been brought about by the increasing cost of husband in Hongkong. This.state of things has with subjects of A professional and living in Hongkong owing to the growing scientific nature the science referred to density of the population, and the necessity for being, of course, the science of war. It sanitary measures which have resulted in mak- is intended to circulate. information ing living more costly for the Chinese, parti- on military matters and to promote, as far cularly in regard to rents, than their limited as possible, a knowledge of the principles of resources will stand. Our population shows Imperial defence amongst all ranks and all astonishing growth, but it is growth by

immigration. arms of the military forces of the Crown." Soldiers of all services are invited to con- tribute, and we are told also that "special "articles by eminent civilians will also be "published from time to time." But there is to be no payment for contributio is, though prizes will be granted from time to time for essays and articles ou special subjects, the eminent civilian writers, we hope, being rewarded by some of these prizes. This non-payment, as a regular inatter, strikes us as the weakest pout in the scheme, and it appears from the few criticisms which we have seen in home pipers that this is the impression there also. The Saturday Re- vice, for instance, considers that "the Army Journal will be the refuge of military nouentities, whose contributions paying editors do not think good enough for "insertion "; and Truth has doubts about the possibility of running a journal on the lines suggested, and sees ason to Cerberus ia the shape of the British taxpayer." Per- soually, we should think a moderate remuneration for original articles would secure a better class of work. Without

"

$4

F

ช

payment it is to be feard that

the

Saturday's forecast will not be far wrong. However, the Army Journal may prove an exception to the general rule, and may attract valuable contributions with- out reward except very occasiona ly. The scheme as a whole seems to us

an in- teresting one, and we should like see

46

success attend the War Office's latest effort: Truth, in its remarks on the proposal, says that, "if there is one evil from which the Army has suffered more conspicuously than another, it is being too much discussed in priat." But we do not think that sensible discussion can hurt the Army. Much will, of course, depend on the editorial discri- mination, and who it is who will exercise this we are not told. Perhaps General LYTTELTON himself will wield the blue pencil. The experiment will at any rate be interesting.

The German Minister at Peking, Baron Mumm von Schwarzenstein, has been consulting with the Chinese Government with a view to the Shantung railway. Is this another step in the placing of guard troops on both sides of the "Manchurianising" of Shantung?

gether, it is not altogether surprising that the Now that one is able to put two and two to- Opium Farmer should be willing to pay the enhanced price of over two million dollars for the Opium Farm. When the contract was fixed people began to cast about for a cause for the increased tender. The cause now appears. It Syndicate want, not 50,000 coolies as originally is an open secret that the Transvaal Mining stated, but 300.000; and the opium required to supply that army of Chinese equal to the population of Hongkong-should bring in suffi cient profits to justify the Opium Farmer in putting in his tremendous offer for the traffic.

Mr.

The most stirring incident of the week has been the passage at arms between Mr. May the Council on the occasion of the Opium Bill Governor and Mr. Pollock in the Legislative

brusquely if he were a paid agent in his ad. debate. Mr. May asked the hon. member very

vocacy of the opposition to the Bill. Pollock very warmly replied, repelling the charge and referring to his years of public life in Hongkong as a sufficient answer to the alle- gation. Sir Henry Berkeley, however, struck a true note when he said that the hon. member could not be expected to be an unbiassed ob- server of the situation considering that he had

been professionally employed in drawing up the two petitions by the Chinese against the Bill.

A correspondent recently wrote pointing out that the method of taking up European offend- ers to the Police Station as practised by the police was not calculated to impress the Chinese In the views they hold about foreigners. Cer- tainly it is not a pleasant spectacle to see a white man haled along the street by, say, an Indian and a Chinese lukong. But if an European goes to the length of making a fool making an exhibition of himself little can be of himself in public by getting intoxicated and said against the methods the police employ in dealing with him. There is a question whether it is better to allow an European to make an exhibition of himself on the street to the delec- tation of the Chinese or for the police to "run him to the station, whatever the nationality of the police may be. As for providing gharries for drunken Europeans, as suggested by your correspondent, that, in my opinion, would simply be placing a premium on drunkenness. When the Chinese see that an. European cannot commit a breach of the peace with impunity it must impress them with the idea that there is no such thing in Hongkong as one law for the whites and another for the natives.

19