March 11, 1905.]
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
163
repetition. The immediate point is that All this, however, scarcely needs Colonel YOUNGHUSBAND discovered beyond a doubt that the only thing they really feared was the presence of foreigners in Lhasa. He had orders to go there to con- clude a treaty, but he saw enough to satisfy him that the moment he and his men turned their backs on Lhasa, the new treaty would be of no more value than the old. Having got what they wanted, the de- parture of the invaders, the Tibetans would not anticipate a speedy return, knowing the natural difficulties attending a trip to
general post" are thus played under the his succession at St. Petersburg by Mr. | became apparent during the negotia American system, which has been on occa- G. V. L. MEYER, attracts most attention. tions. When the Tibetans discovered that sion responsible for the act known as Mr. McCORMICK, who has been Ambassador their braves were by no means so invin- swopping horses while crossing the to Russia since 1902, was Legation Sec- cible as they had superstitiously imagined, stream." The change that may be regarded retary in London in 1889-92, and Minister and that the white men, whose overtures with a more general interest on this side to Austria-Hungary prior to his Russian they had continuously treated with marked of the Pacific is the transfer of Minister appointment. President RoosEVELT's digni- contempt, kept coming on, they awoke to CONGER from Peking to Mexico. Dr.fied and firm stand in connection with the the fact that the situation was serious. EDWIN H. CONGER has been American enforced return of the paroled Russian They did not yet know how serious, and Minister to China since 1898. Like 80 officers of the Lena, who decamped from San continued their opposition in another form, many American diplomats, he is a combina Francisco, to say nothing of his previous that of promising and pleading, and repent- tion of soldier and lawyer, having attained¦ representations over the Kishineff massacres, ing.controverted arguments over and over the rank of Brevet Major during the Civil while unlikely to make Mr. McCORMICK again. War, and afterwards been admitted to the persona gruta at the TSAR'S Court, put him Bar. This did not hinder him from trying in the position of a person of some import. farming, stock-raising, and even banking in ance; and he had to walk warily. His Iowa, so versatile is the prominent Ameri- successor, Mr. GEORGE VON LENGERKE can usually. He was, in addition, State MEYER, who has been Ambassador to Treasurer and Congressman before he went Italy since 1900, and was supposed to to Brazil as Minister in 1891. Be was the be getting rather first man to receive a message from the life, has an ambitious wife, who may tired of diplomatic outside world after the trying experiences possibly cause him to cut a figure at of the Legations at Peking in 1900, a code St. Petersburg. She was a most influen. inquiry added to the famous despatch tial member of foreign society in Rome. from: Wu T'ING FANG. How well Mrs. Mr. MEYER is a Bustonian, who was at one CONGER Supported him then is also time Speaker of the Massachussetts House matter of history. To those who may of Legislators. He is succeeded in Rome their fastnesses. With a shrewdness that be unaware of the ever increasing Ameri- by Mr. HENRY WHITE, who has been Lega- should redound to can interests in Mexico, it
his credit, Colonel may seein tion Secretary in London. The appointment YouNGĦUSBAND saw a readier and a cheaper like sending a valuable man away from a of the Hon. WHITELAW REID to the Hon. means of holding the treaty makers to the storin-centre to a sort of no-man's-land. JOSEPH H. CHOATE's vacated place at the agreements they now seemed suspiciously This appointment to Mexico, however, is a London Embassy has already been reported. cager to make and be done with. He got diplomatic "plum " in American estima- There is also to be a change at tion. It carries with it a substantial rise in Consulate General there, the new
the them to agree that the Trade Agent at man Gyaugtse should have the right of access to salary-something over $5,000 more per being Mr. WYNNE, Mr. WYNNE was made Lhasa, it being understood, doubtless, that annum -and implies a very responsible Post-master-General on the death of Mr. his obnoxious presence would not be thrust position in a pleasant situation, with the PAYNE; and was prominent in the investi- upon them unless it became necessary added advantage of being only four days gation of the alleged frauds in the P.M.G.'s to remind them of breaches of agreement. from home. The man who succeeds him at department, which created such a sensation The SECRETARY OF STATE for India, Peking, WILLIAM WOODVILLE ROCKHILL, in the earlier days of the RooSEVELT regime. annoyed that a strong man should do some- is a very notable citizen of the United The new P.M.G., Mr. CORTEL.You, has had thing sensible without red-tape preliminaries, States, and his present appointment was a remarkably successful career at New and claiming that this matter had been quite anticipated. He has had extensive York and Washington, having climbed "carefully considered" beforehand, wrote experience of the Far East, having been the from the ignoble level of a mere newspaper a censorious despatch for which he deserves second secretary at the Peking Legation in reporter to such dizzy heights a 1884-5, and first secretary during the three sident's Private Secretary, and chief of the consideration
be pillgried What is the "careful of a stay-at-home mob years following. He made two long jour- Commerce and Labour Department.
of yawning officials worth, as compared neys of exploration in China, Mongolia, and
with the deliberate action of a competent Tibet afterwards, which provided material for several well known books and many
man on the spot ? Our contemporary the Times remarks:-"That achievement, as short articles. He is also a gold-medalist
Lord Ampthill emphatically states, in the of the Royal Geographical Society.
last despatch addressed by the Government addition to high appointments in his own
Daily Press, 10th March.
of India to the Secretary of State, is '
'main. country, he gained much diplomatic expe High politics have no concern in the pre-ly due to the conspicuous tact, ability, and rience in Greece, Roumania, and Servia. He sent comments on the third Blue Book constancy' displayed by Colonel YouNG. visited China not long ago on a special containing Further papers relating to HUSBAND'during the whole course of his mission connected with the International Tibet." It contains much more than there arduous negotiations.' 'If,' continued Bureau of the American Republics. His has been time to digest in the brief period Lord Ampthill, in one particular the present appointment as Minister to China elapsed since its arrival in the Colony; but Commissioner has failed to earn the approval is considered a most suitable one, and he is a superficial reading of its more important of His Majesty's Government, we feel con- confidently expected to cement the ties parts does not suggest much modification of fident that when the importance of what he which his Government has been at such what we have said about the Anglo-Tibet has achieved, taken as a whole, has been pains to establish with "stand-offish '
war on previous occasions. Reading the more fully realised, His Majesty's Govern- China The consular appointment to reports and explanations from Colonel ment will not withhold from him a generous Shanghai, where a Mr. RODGER is announced YOUNGHUSBAND, we are inclined to the view measure of approval.' We cannot improve to succeed Mr. JOHN GOODNOW, comes that the Mission accomplished more than upon the dignified language in which Lord somewhat as a surprise. Those who did we bad given it credit for. The admittedly Ampthill thus indirectly rebuked in antici- not believe that Mr. GOODNow would be stupid character of the Tibetans made us pation the course which the SECRETARY OF re-instated, fully expected the appointment fear the necessity would arise to do much of STATE for India has chosen to adopt. It will of Mr. ARCHIBALD CARY COOLIDGE, a Boston the costly and hard work over again. The be an evil day for the Empire when Minis- and Harvard man who was for a short Chinese resident at Lhasa, Yo Tar, calls ters at home shall set about to discourage time acting secretary to the Legation at St. them "cunning and insincere to a degree." Petersburg, private secretary to his uncle, They are also mulish and absolutely the American Ambassador to France, in the ignorant of outside affairs and the position spring of 1892; and secretary to the Ameri- is further complicated by Russian intrigue can Legation at Vienna in 1893. The new The BRITISH COMMISSIONER heard that appointee to Shanghai is suspected to be "the DALAI LAMA would never have opposed "General" EARL M. ROGER, a soldier- us if DORJIEFF had not led him to believe politician who has been interesting himself that Russian support would be given him." in recent elections, and whose career has Colonel YOUNGRUSBAND himself reported come under the observation of President how "excessively unbusiness like and ita ROOSEVELT. He was, by the way, A.D.C. practicable were the Tibetan delegates. to General BRAGG, now the popular American Yet in spite of all this, and after almost Consul-general at Hongkong, during the incredible patience and much diplomacy of War. His real rank in the army is that of the highest type, our Commissioner got not Captain. Of the other appointments, that only all he Was asked to get, but of Mr. ROBERT MCCORMICK to France, and
a little more, the necessity of which
In
Pre-
COLONEL YOUNGHUSBAND AND
MR. ST. JOHN BRODRICK.
4
to
by churlish strictures the readiness of pub- lic servants abroad to assume responsibility in cases of extreme difficulty and urgency. It is this highest form of courage which has helped more than any other quality of our race to build up and preserve the British Empire."
We do hope that an over-anxious dignity will not prevent other influential papers at Home from calling a spare a spade, and so, perhaps, putting a stop to the harmful in fluence of such official (or officious) med- diers, whose handiwork, we may add, was almost equally apparent in connection with the earliest efforts of our pioneers on the frontier.
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