Valentine Chirol - The Far Eastern Question

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CHARLES WILLIAM WASON

COLLECTION
CHINA AND THE CHINESE
THE GIFT OF
CHARLES WILLIAM WASON

CLASS OF 1876
1918
DS 515.C54""
""'""""" '"'"^
The Far Eastern question
1924 023 034 436
LIBRARY ANNEX
DATE DUE
THE FAR EASTERN QUESTION
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http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924023034436
THE
FAR EASTERN QUESTION
VALENTINE CHIROL
]Z5l
Honljon
MACMILLAN AND
CO.,
NEW YORK MACMILLAN

:
Ltd.
& CO.
1896
T/ie Rig-Jit
of Translation and Reproduction
is
Reserved
Richard Clay and Sons, Limited,

london and bungay.
PREFACE
Dear Mr. Walter,
I
am
indebted to you both for the opportunity of
studying the Far Eastern question on the spot at a
moment
to
make
of exceptional interest, and for permission
the fullest use of the letters which
on the subject
lately written
Times.
for the
have
It is
therefore only a debt of sincere gratitude which
am
attempting very inadequately to discharge
asking you to accept the dedication of

volume.
mend
it
than an earnest desire
must eventually
Empire
a new drama
first
this small
affect the
most
commercial,
draw
to
good or
industrial,
has
in the world's history, of
act has so far
public
for evil,
vital interests of the
The war between China and Japan
the
in
can put forward no other plea to recom-
attention to a question which, for
British
been played.
and
political.
inaugurated
which only
The
scene
is
^^
PREFACE
laid at present
on the other side of the globe, but
the action in
its
consequences
may
working man
further development and ultimate
reach into the
home
of every
in this country.
Yours
sincerely,
Valentine Chirol,
To
Arthur Walter,
Esq.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
PAGE
ENGLAND'S POSITION BEFORE AND AFTER THE WAR
CHAPTER
CHINA AFTER THE WAR
II
...
CHAPTER
THE MORAL BANKRUPTCY OF CHINA
CHAPTER
THE CHINESE CAPITAL
III
.
IV
-34
CHAPTER V
EUROPEAN DIPLOMACY AND THE TSUNGLI-YAMI:N
CHAPTER
45.
VI
THE FOREIGN POWERS AT PEKING ...
CHAPTER
...
...
.62"
VII
THE GENESIS OF MISSIONARY OUTRAGES
IN CHINA
-7^
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
VIII
PAGE
THE FINANCIAL POSITION OF CHINA
94
CHAPTER
IX
FROM CHINA TO JAPAN
Io8
CHAPTER X
ANGLO-JAPANESE RELATIONS
I24
CHAPTER
INDUSTRIAL JAPAN
CHAPTER
XI
.
I38
XII
THE COMMERCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL INTERESTS OF GREAT

BRITAIN
...
CHAPTER
154
XIII
THE INDUSTRIAL FUTURE OF CHINA ...
67
79
CHAPTER XIV
WANTED
AN IMPERIAL POLICY
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS
A CITY GATE, PEKING
INSIDE PEKING,
TO FACE PAGE
...
...
Frontispiece.
FROM THE WALLS
37
PRISONERS IN CANGUES, PEKING
THE FRONT OF A FASHIONABLE SWEETMEAT SHOP

BRITISH MARINES DETACHED TO
GUARD
IN
PEKING
38
40
LEGATION AT
H.M.
PEKING DRILLING INSIDE THE COMPOUND
43
44
...
90
CHINESE GUARDS OUTSIDE H.M. LEGATION AT PEKING
A CHINESE COURT OF JUSTICE
ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT

I'AGE
ON THE
PEI-HO, GOING
UP TO PEKING
....
A STATION MASTER ON CHINA'S ONLY RAILWAY
A CHINESE BRAVE
36
loi
.Ill
MAPS
MAP OF CHINA
MAP OF JAPAN
End of Volume

CHAPTER
England's position before and after the war
One
of the last public speeches delivered on a
by the late Prime Minister

Government over which he presided
non-political occasion
before
the
resigned, office contained the following
passage
memorable
We have hitherto been favoured with one Eastern question,

which we have always endeavoured to lull as something too
portentous for our imagination, but of late a Far Eastern question
has been superadded, which, I confess, to

in
the
dim
vistas
question of which
The
of futurity,
we have
my
infinitely graver
apprehension
known.
hitherto
only point open to criticism in Lord Rose-
bery's otherwise statesmanlike utterance,
seemed
is,
than even that
is
that
it
to relegate to a remote future the necessity
of grappling with a
alreadv at that
crisis in
moment
the Far East which was
bip^
with momentous con-
Minister naturally
felt at
chap.
the termination of actual
between China and Japan can, however,
hostilities
have only temporarily obscured
his vision of the
ominous circumstances which attended the ultimate

Even before he surre-establishment of peace.
events had occurred at Peking which
must have convinced him that the final ratification of
rendered
office
the Treaty of Shimonoseki merely set forth
the terms of a
which,
if it is
new and vastly more
to
difficult
some of
problem,
be solved without detriment to the
legitimate influence of Great Britain, calls for the
immediate
exertion
of the best efforts of British
statesmanship and diplomacy.
more than a twelvemonth ago Great

i.e.,
Britain had enjoyed for upwards of fifty years
ever since she first broke down by force of arms the
Until
little
great barrier of Chinese exclusiveness
undisputed
prestige
ascendency
as a great
strategical positions
in
Asiatic
the
Far
an
almost
East.
Her
Empire, the splendid
which she holds
Singapore
at
and Hong-kong, the steady maintenance of a com-
manding naval force in the China seas, the overwhelming preponderancy of her trading flag, the
magnitude of her commercial
interests, of
which an
import and export trade of some forty millions sterling per
annum conveys only a
partial idea, the un-
rivalled prosperity of her settlements in
the treaty
ports of China and Japan, the widespread diffusion
of her language as the lingua franca of the East

all
combined
to secure for her a
paramount influence
ENGLAND'S POSITION
in
those regions, which was almost openly recog-
nised by the two leading Powers of the extreme
and
Orient
admitted even
tacitly
by the
great
Powers of Europe.
Within the following twelve months the situation
was completely changed.
China and Japan had
been allowed
embark,
to
in
urgent
of the
spite
counsels of Great Britain, upon a sanguinary and

needless conflict, and the theory of China's latent
resources
as
a fighting Power, upon which our
Asiatic policy for
some time past had been
was violently shattered.
built up,
largely
Japan, on the
other hand, whose national evolution had been only
very imperfectly realised

her
asserted
claim
in
England, triumphantly
to take
respectable
rank
amongst the naval and military Powers of the world.

The overtures made by England with a view to
arrest the progress of hostilities during the earlier
stages
of the war were rejected by the European
Powers whose co-operation she
invited, whilst the
naval forces which they gradually collected in the
Yellow Sea displaced
for the first time, to our detri-
ment, the balance of sea power in waters where
had hitherto held undisputed sway
two belligerents
which,
if
we
and when the
at last settled conditions of peace
they did not actually injure, at least very
closely affected both the commercial
and
political
interests of
England, she stood aside apparently un-
concerned
whilst
Russia,
France, and
Germany
stepped into the place which she had vacated as

B 2
China, perhaps
arbiter gentium in the Far East.

for the
chap.
very reason that she had done but
deserve
it,
had
when
and
support,
learnt to rely implicitly

failed
it
her,
at
to
little
upon
British
the crucial
moment, she resented with intensified bitterness

what she was pleased to call England's desertion of
her in her hour of need, and hastened to display,
chiefly at our expense, an unwonted measure of
gratitude
the
for
assistance
which she
had
In open
expectedly received from other quarters.
twelve
of
violation
months
England barely
surrendered to French
convention
old,
she
pressure territories which
un-
with
we had ceded
to her
on the
express condition that they should not be transferred

to
any other Power without our consent
and
to
Russia she, at least temporarily, signed away her

financial
independence upon terms of which the
full
import can at present only be measured by the

dictatorial tone in
forced.
It is
which their acceptance was en-
doubtful whether even the heavy price
already exacted by France and Russia, at least for

the good offices of the Asiatic Triple Alliance, will
avail to teach
China the value of the
less
grasping
upon which she has turned her back.

For the time being, at any rate, such advantages
friendship
as
can be derived from a dominant position
in
Peking, are lost to us and transferred to political
and commercial
a taste of the
their
rivals
spirit in
who have
already given us
which they intend to exercise
ascendency over the decrepit Government of
ENGLAND'S POSITION
China.
For,
if the Japanese victories have failed

China out of her lethargy, they have
exposed the full measure of her weakness, and left
to
rouse
her lying in the
might
still,
last extremity.
resolute
perhaps, galvanize her into fresh
Otherwise her inheritance
lies
hand
vitality.
open, and the inex-
haustible resources in the shape of
raw material and
labour with which nature has equipped her to be-
come the great
industrial country of the Orient,
if
not of the whole world, are at the mercy of the

strongest and the boldest.
useless
It is
have been
if
formed by
its
now
technical
value of China's
had exerted
which
it
Peking
to waste
words upon what might
the British Government, better in-
naval
advisers
at that time
still
to
the
real
and military armaments,
to the utmost the
in order to
as
commanding
influence
undoubtedly possessed
at
save China, in spite of herself,
from the hazard of an unequal struggle.
now
It is
generally admitted that Japan was by no means so
anxious to precipitate a conflict as was at the time
assumed, and an emphatic admonition at Peking

that China, instead of being aJlowed to build
our benevolent neutrality, would, as

concerned, be
left
far as
upon
we were
severely alone to bear the
consequences of her
own
rashness would not im-
probably have induced her to

sions in the sense of a
full
make some
condominium
in
conces-
Korea which
Japan might have accepted as an adequate satisfaction.

Even at a later date England might have
at little risk
chap.
taken upon herself, for the re-establish-
ment of peace, the
responsibility of isolated action,
instead of vainly seeking to induce other Powers to
There is good reason to believe

that in neither case would the rest of Europe at
any rate have seriously disputed her right to exer-
share
cise,
it
with her.
common
the
in
interests of
an
all,
initiative
which had hitherto, by general consent, belonged

to her,
only in virtue of her transcendent com-
if
mercial interests.
more open question is whether her Majesty's

Government was ill-advised in refusing to join
hands with Russia, France, and Germany when
they announced their determination to wrest from
On
Japan a portion of the spoils of victory.
Government
certainly
seems
at least entitled to the benefit of the doubt.
The
this
point
the
advantages
late
of
from
intervention
the
Russian
point of view were obvious, and, in view of the

peculiar
relations
France,
the
between
existing
on
could
latter
and
Russia
general
grounds
hardly withhold her co-operation, apart from

special uses to
which she has
situation for her

is
more
assumption
the
and three
has
account.
to
explain,
she
that
at
illustrate,
entente,
own
difficult
is
the
was
skilfully
the
turned the
Germany's action
upon
except
mainly
the
anxious
to
expense of the Franco-Russian
old
adage
none.
hardly turned
two
that
But,
out as
if
so,
she
is
the
company
illustration
anticipated
for
ENGLAND'S POSITION
she
had but
has
and
thanks
cold
scant
con-
from her two associates, and she has
sideration
harmony nor shared the

fruits of their partnership.
England would probably not have fared better in this respect had
she followed in the wake of the three Powers,
and she would have gratuitously alienated the
friendship of Japan at the very moment when its
value was for the first time beginning to receive
neither
disturbed
the
Though
adequate recognition.
we had
give
to
palatable, since
bility
of
three
made
only
to
particularly
could not assume the responsi-
it
Powers,
easier
inevitable without
also
not
encouraging her to reject the demands
of
the
we
was
Japan
the advice which
our
for
loss
friendly
her to
not
attitude
submit
of dignity, but
the
to
helped
it
remove a great deal of the widespread
irritation to
which the spitefulness of certain organs
of the local English Press, and the peculiar construction alleged to have been placed
Admiral on the duties of a neutral

early
part
of
the
war,
by the
fleet
had given
British
during the
rise
amongst
so sensitive and excitable a people as the Japanese.
Moreover, our
abortive
attempts
to
the
arrest
progress of hostilities had been construed

as indicating a desire to deprive her of the
in
Japan
fruits
of
her military successes, and our subsequent refusal to

interfere with the conditions of peace agreed
upon
by the two belligerents afforded a signal proof of

the
sincerity of
our professions that the re-esta-
blishment of
peace on
chap,
and equitable terms
fair
had been the sole object of our perhaps ill-timed,

and certainly ill-fated, endeavours. Thus the path
already tentatively opened up before the war by our
generous
treatment
of
question
the
of
Treaty
revision in Japan has been finally cleared for the
community
better appreciation on both sides of the
of interests which exist between the island empires

of the
West and
of the East.
point upon which one
may
If this is the
only
cordially congratulate
Lord Rosebery's Government, it is certainly one of

no mean importance. Nor would it be fair to hold
the late Government responsible for
which have to be made

balance sheet.
in
the entries
all
the debit side of this
For whatever mistakes
it
may have
committed, they were largely the result of the miscalculations inherited
from previous administrations
for a long time back.
But the consideration of past opportunities, neglected
or
not,
is
apt to raise party controversies,
which mainly serve to obscure the paramount issue
namely
how, under the conditions actually
exist-
ing in the Far East, British interests can best be
safeguarded in the future.
CHAPTER
II
CHINA AFTER THE WAR
When
my way
I
upon Li Hung Chang at Tientsin on

back from Peking his first question was why
called
had remained so much longer than
intended in the Chinese capital.
been looking
"
China.
grim smile,
for
rejoined
replied that
the
had
Viceroy with a
assured his Excellency,
time had not been wasted, for
satisfied
your time has not been wasted."
In one sense certainly, as
my
originally
some sign of the awakening of
hope,"
" that
had
had
at least
myself that the search upon which
been engaged was a
futile one.
Nowhere
in
had
Peking
could the faintest indication be detected of a desire

to apply, or
even of a capacity to understand, the
lessons of the recent war.
more hopeless spectacle of fatuous imbecility,

made up in equal parts of arrogance and helplessness,
than the central Government of the Chinese Empire
presented after the actual pressure of war had been re-
moved
it is
almost impossible to conceive.
was indeed an unenviable one.
The
Its position
conflict of
Euro-
lo
pean
interests
gates.
was waxing
The new
friends
chap.
and furious within its

whose intervention had
fast
unexpectedly mitigated at the eleventh hour the

penalty exacted by the conquerors were clamouring
for
payment of
their
good
offices.
The remaining
provisions of the Treaty of Shimonoseki had
still
to
be carried out and Formosa formally handed over
hope could not be relinquished that something might still be made out
to Japan, whilst the secret
by inciting them
Futile attempts had to be made to
against Japan.
postpone for a few months or weeks or days so
humiliating an ordeal for the Son of Heaven as that
of welcoming back to Peking the official representaThe armed rabble,
tive of the victorious Mikado.
ill-paid and half-starved, which had been gradually
driven together from distant parts of the Empire to
of the forces of local resistance
be a
terror, not, indeed, to the
Japanese, but to the
peaceful population of the frontier provinces, had to
be disbanded and bribed with some small pittance of
go home in a good humour. The

powerful satraps on whose fluctuating loyalty depends
their arrears to
the slender authority of the central
Government
over the provinces had to be alternately coaxed and

squeezed, whilst the loans which they had raised and
the
bills
which they had drawn during the war under
the splendid pretext of national defence had to be
met, renewed,
or
whittled
which had been exercised

the war
to discourage
for
down.
The
pressure
obvious reasons durinsr
any serious outbreak of
anti-
CHINA AFTER THE WAR
II
ii
foreign feeling had to be relaxed in order to refute
the damaging imputation of too great subserviency

to
European
and
influence,
at the
same time these
manifestations of national independence had
be kept within bounds,
still
to
lest the long-suffering patience
Europe should be put to too great a strain. In

and above all things the central Government had to
"save its face" ?.^., to maintain those immutable
forms and appearances which, in the private as well
of
as in the public
do with
"
life
realities,
Make
of the Chinese, have nothing to
but entirely overshadow them.
see," as in his pidgin-English
jargon the
Chinaman designates the art of making what is not

seem as if it were, is the beginning and the tnd of
Chinese statecraft.
It stares at one from the mock
battlements of the Peking walls, where wooden
boards painted to look like the muzzles of heavy
ordnance
fill
the frowning embrasures, and with the
Vermilion Pencil
is
it
written quite as legibly on
by the Emperor.
Europe,
it
must be admitted, had contributed certain features
to
every edict
initialled
the situation which
Government
able
least,
game
if
to
materially
helped the central
go on playing successfully
of "
m^ke
see."
not in Peking,
its
vener-
In the provinces at
a construction
could be
placed upon the intervention of the three Powers
which was eminently soothing to Chinese vanity.

The Japanese dwarfs had indeed been troublesomely
aggressive, but the
raise his finger
Son of Heaven had only had
and beckon
to
to the western vassals of
12
chap.
Kingdom and they had at once obeyed

his summons and swept the pigmies out of the
forbidden territories.
And who was likely to contradict such a story ?
Were not the Hunan troops,
who arrived at the seat of war after the conclusion
of the armistice, returning home convinced that the
the Middle
mere rumour of
their
Japanese to seek safety in
approach had driven the

flight before their invincible
Could not every coolie who had saved his

skin during the war by stampeding at the first
legions
sound of a Japanese
his
own
" face " at
bullet
be trusted to save also
home by impressing
his village
audience with a splendid story of imaginary victories
quorum pars magna fuit ?

tell
no
and
tales,
in
As
for the
dead they
a country where floods and
famines causing often greater loss of
life
than the
whole war against Japan are looked upon as a

Providential dispensation to keep down the numbers
of an all-too-prolific race, the " butcher's
small account.
It
may be argued
bill " is
of
any
that, failing
other evidence of the reality of their defeats, the
Chinese must
at
least
credit
the
confessions
of
disaster contained in public proclamations from the
Throne.
But
it is
tions ever filter
doubtful whether these proclama-
down amongst
the masses, and the
terms of exaggerated self-depreciation which even

the highest of the land are bound according to the
rules of propriety to use with reference to themselves
and
to
their
own
acts are
seldom taken by
their
cautious inferiors in any other than a Pickwickian
CHINA AFTER THE WAR
Moreover, owing to what one
sense.
students
ot the ablest
Chinese character has
of
designated as
man
13
appropriately
" intellectual turbidity," a China-
its
has no difficulty in entertaining at the same
two
time
and
opposite
entirely
irreconcilable
opinions.
Another circumstance which

tributed
of
officials
the
restore
to
has
largely
con-
self-complacency
even
with
best acquainted
the
true
state
eagerness shown by
Governments
to press
European capitalists and
As one of them
their financial favours upon China.
remarked to me, " You tell us that we are at
death's door, and that nothing can save us but
yet, reforms or no reforms, you
drastic reforms
of
been
has
affairs
the
are willing, nay anxious, to
That a loan
millions."
given
to a
or
matters
the soundness,
that
which
the Chinese mind.
her
money
face "
to
did
If
he has to
not
Europe
China,
point
in
lucrative
such
in
not of the borrower's
health, but of the security
consideration
man may,
specially
main
the
operation,
is
be
circumstances,
dying
your
with
us
trust
offer,
commend
is
was a
itself
so eager to lend
China cannot have
even with Europe, much
to
less
with her
"lost
own
Chinaman allows that the

Chinese army and navy were hopelessly beaten,
people.
Even
what of that
if
Have
not
other nations suffered
and survived them

why were the Chinese beaten ? The Im-
terrible reverses in
And
the
the
field
.''
14
perial
stroyed
the
treatise
to
learned general
prove
all
has written
were
reverses
China's
that
de-
of the Chinese
fortified positions
along the coast.

a
sea-wave
because a great
says
edict
chap.
due to her desertion of the sound principles and
methods of war handed down by the ancients,

and to her ill-advised adoption of European
armaments.
Accordingly, the hammer and anvil
were busy
supply
endless
matchlock,
could
the
all
be
Empire turning out an
over the
seen
the
militant
youth
Peking
of
every afternoon
practising
bow and arrow under
mediaeval sort of
of jinghals,
and
the city, walls
with
an
art,
by the way, of which the supreme object according

to Chinese notions
is
not so
the target as to preserve
much apparently
a
correct
and incompetency of certain high

indeed,
corruption
officials
have,
been openly admitted and censured, and
some
in
and elegant
The
posture whilst bending the bow.
to hit
cases even
a single Chinese
But there
is
not
who will openly admit
that
punished.
official
the corruption and incompetency, and the disasters
which they have involved, are the

inevitable
result,
of
system
result,
of
and the
government
rotten to the core.
Nor can such an admission be expected from

the
official
classes, for
their existence
is
bound up
upon which they thrive,

and no scheme of reforms capable of regenerating
with that of the system
China can be devised which
will
not cut at the
CHINA AFTER THE WAR
15
very roots of that system, and therefore threaten

But,
their existence.
if
the
classes are
official
not
any practical recognition of

the principle that rights imply also duties, the
likely to acquiesce in
seem,
classes
non-official
it
must
be
confessed,
just as incapable of realising that they have rights

as
well
as
Docile
duties.
even
paralleled
other
in
a degree seldom
to
Oriental
they
countries,
accept the misgovernment of China as the natural
order
of
The masses
things.
of
are,
course,
profoundly ignorant of the existence of other conditions
elsewhere
but the only difference to be
traced amongst those

is
of their
none the
A
in
who have had
a wider
ex-
upon the misgovernment

country as a special and unfortunate, but
perience
that they look
less
immutable, dispensation of Providence.
Chinese merchant who had lived

India admitted to
me
for
that China
many
was
years
in
this
respect an ill-favoured country, " Plenty mandarins,
plenty
lice
"
he
but
evidently
species of vermin as part of the

to
non-official
rulers, so
and tangibly
it
affect
does not
his
most cherished customs,

the Western mind.
knows how
The
and aloofness with which the
Chinaman contemplates the
long as
both
scheme of creation
which a Chinaman must patiently submit.
singular indifference
to
regarded
directly,
action of his
immediately,
pecuniary interests or his

is
almost incomprehensible
Within certain
to take care of himself
and
to
limits
he
check by
combination abuses which exceed the normal amount.
i6
But the conduct of public
their broader
in
affairs
chap.
aspects he regards as something with which he can-
not possibly have any concern.
the business
It is
of the mandarins, and if they mismanage it that is

They may have mistheir look-out, not his.
managed the war with Japan, and they probably
have, for he has a shrewd idea of the worthless-
ness
of
his
If
rulers.
at
any rate
to
be punished
him
will
that
all
;
those
who
found out, ought
are
he, the merchant, the artisan, the farmer,

to bear the cost
he simply does not
of that wrong-
He
see.
according to his lights,
honest,
be
wrong-doers,
all
but that their wrong-doing affects
have ultimately
doing,
ought to
they
so,
punished for their wrong-doing, as
himself
industrious,
is
per-
severing, and, within certain limits, intelligent and
and upon
enterprising,
his
own
pursuits he brings
those qualities to bear with signal success.

that his
same
affairs,
or that
to
bring the
upon the conduct of public

he has a right to demand it of them
public
the
affairs
an idea which never
manages
manages
himself.
is
should be expected
qualities to bear
because
is
rulers
But
his
his
It
shop
or
are
also
enters
his
farm,
Yam^n, each one
his
his
head.
the
affairs,
He
mandarin
as best he can for
has always been so in China, and that
with the Chinaman a sufficient explanation and
justification for anything.
His intense conservatism
and pride rebel against the notion of any change,

even
for the better.
CHINA AFTER THE WAR
II
17
That a community of interests and reciprocity

of duties must exist between the different classes
of a well-ordered society
to the
Chinese mind.
is
In
an idea entirely alien

the language
fact,
is
incapable of conveying a conception of the State

as
representing the
When
res publica.
became a republic the Chinese
France
were un-
literati
able to translate the word, and they had to adopt
As
a mere phonetic transliteration.

relations the duty of
filial
piety
is
in
the family
impressed by the
parents upon the children without any corresponding

recognition of what parents
owe
to their children,
so in the social relations ample stress
the
duty
thought
is
laid
upon
but
rulers,
no
taken of what rulers owe to those com-
is
mitted to their
teristic
towards
submission
of
Nothing could be more charac-
rule.
in this respect
than the terms of the Im-
announcing the conclusion of peace.

The Son of Heaven declares, indeed, that he has
spent sleepless nights shedding tears over the
perial edict
which have befallen his armies and his

fleets, over the incompetency and corruption of
their leaders, and over the great sea-wave which
disasters
has swept away the coast defences.
abandon
decided
to
fortunes
of
war,
it
attempt
all
is
not,
shrinks from exposing his
But,
to
restore
apparently,
defenceless
he has
if
that
the
he
country to
the horrors of invasion, or from sending forth his
wretched subjects to be butchered

struggle.
in
an unequal
No, the paramount consideration upon

c
i8
which the Imperial decision
hostilities
is
his duty to
" the venerable lady who,
Dowager Empress,
the
based
is
chap-
if
were renewed and Peking threatened by
the Japanese, would have to seek refuge in flight'
and be exposed once more to the hardships of a

long and arduous journey."
And, as
far as public
opinion
may be
of
piety produces doubtless the desired effect
filial
said to exist, this touching exhibition
and saves the Emperor's

the
bullet
of
In the same
way
a Japanese desperado went far to
Hung
save Li
" face."
Chang's " face
"
and
to invest with
the redeeming touch of dramatic effect a part which,
however
a Western point of
from
patriotic
view,
must have otherwise involved, from the Chinese

point of view, an irreparable loss of credit.
Life, according to the
and on
this
stage
Chinese
the
traditional
rules
of
a stage,
Chinaman must above
the
contrive to perform his
with
classics, is
part
histrionic
in strict
art,
all
accordance
i.e.
with
the
To
ask
canon of Chinese proprieties.
that he should win battles because he happens to
have been cast
for the part of a general, or that
he
should be an upright judge because he discourses

eloquently on the abstract beauty of justice, would
be an offence against that same canon of proprieties
which
his audience, the
dream of committing.
mitting this offence,
Chinese public, would never

Foreigners are always com-
and
it
explains
in
a great
measure the hatred entertained, especially amongst

the upper classes, towards them, and most of all
CHINA AFTER THE WAR
II
towards
the
19
Not only
missionaries.
do
these
barbarians refuse to accept the Chinese canon of

proprieties,
but they actually set
the
example of men and women trying
scandalous
to live
up
to
the standards which they profess
Thus, insincerity practised as a
fine art
and
self-
on the one hand, apathy and fatalism on

the other, ignorance and pride on both, combine to
interest
uphold the traditional order of things against the

sternest lessons of experience,
and the prospect of
any spontaneous awakening of China

after the
war
as
it
was
of the Japanese guns
moment
before.
The
may have
is
as remote
distant thunder
disturbed
for a
the heavy slumber of the worn-out giant,
but the nightmare has passed away, and after the

vain attempt to stretch his inert limbs, he has sunk
off into a
wittily
deeper sleep than ever.
put
it,
sur une oreille

oreilles."
"Avant
;
la
guerre
As
la
a Frenchman
Chine dormait
aujourd'hui elle ronfle sur les deux
CHAPTER
III
There
can hardly be a stronger proof of the
moral bankruptcy of China than her inability to
produce
man
single
such
at
crisis
her
in
fortunes.
Of
the powers that hold sway within the pink
walls of the Forbidden City
The Emperor Kwang-Hsu

youth,
with
appears to be a sickly
melancholy
countenance, given to violent
he
can be known.
little
but
fits
not
a relatively harmless
gratifies in
ing his furniture.
unattractive
of passion, which
way by smash-
In the self-imposed seclusion of
whose precincts only women and

eunuchs are allowed to dwell, he holds no comhis palace, within
munication with the outside world except through

the high State
the
morning,
officials,
who,
in
approach him on
the small hours of
bended knee
it
may
truth
are
present reports upon public affairs in which,

safely
be assumed,
the
necessities
of
to
largely subordinated to the considerations of courtly
expediency.
When
he goes forth from time to
CH.
Ill
21
time to sacrifice in one of the Imperial temples
ot
the capital, the streets through which he passes are
and guarded, the houses on either

side are shut off with heavy hangings, the ground
is strewn with yellow sand, and everything removed
carefully cleared
which might offend the sensitiveness of Imperial

eyes or
Through the deserted thoroughSon of Heaven flits, generally in the
nostrils.
the
fares
borne
of night, like a ghost,
stillness
palanquin by a troop of bearers

trained
carefully
beforehand
shoulders an enormous
bowl
to
in a lofty
who have been

on
carry
their
with water to
filled
the brim without allowing a drop to overflow.
In
Eastern countries generally the real power of the
Sovereign decreases
the
in
the same ratio as grows
bondage under which he
lives
the
to
tyranny of a soul-killing Court etiquette.

century
freely
in
ago the
amongst
manly
all
Emperor Kieng Lung moved
his people,
and took an active part
Even
the
passionate
Emperor Hsien Feng,
just before
pursuits.
rescripts of the
daily
Only a
in
the Anglo-French expedition, there were still traces

of a virility which seems to have since withered
away, under the influence, perhaps, of long female

regencies.
Until
last
year,
notwithstanding
her
nominal
retirement after the present Emperor's marriage in
Empress undoubtedly conThat

tinued to exercise a paramount authority.
she possesses energy and ability of a high order
1889,
the
Dowager
22
is
proved by the
skill
chap.
with which she grasped the
reins of power, in concert first with the
the
Emperor Hsien Feng
widow
after his death in
of
1861,
and the tenacity with which she has held them

more or less continuously ever since, boldly breasting or cunningly circumventing every obstacle that
successively arose in her path.
compared
She has
often been
Catherine the Great, and in every-
to
thing but the broader aspects of statesmanship the
analogy
in
is
not infelicitous
most
of
however,
all,
regard to the greed of power, extravagance, and
common
sensuousness
The
to both.
anniversary
of her sixtieth birthday was to have been celebrated
autumn on a scale of unusual magnificence.

Large sums were sent up from every province,
and still larger sums were levied by the provincial
last
officials
as the free gift of a grateful people.
splendid road, which at least gives
what Chinese roads were
like
in
some idea of
the days of the
Empire's prosperity, was built from Peking to the

residence of the
Empress Dowager near the Sum-
mer Palace
the
over.
for
The
restored in
city
all
and painted
Imperial
gate
giving
procession
access
to
to
it
pass
was
the pristine glory of quaintly carved
architecture,
and every house and shop
along the road blossomed out into a galaxy of

newly-gilded signboards and many-coloured wood-
But the disasters of the war shed a gloom

over the outward celebration, and, it is believed,
work.
for
a time at
least,
disturbed the
filial
piety of
in
23
was intended to be the crowning illusHow far the Empress Dowager's influence
has been permanently shaken it is impossible to
say, but there were undoubtedly stormy scenes
which
it
tration.
within the palace of which an unmistakable echo
reached the outside world
memorial
the
of
The very
author
of
the publication of a
the
baneful
the
government.
upon
one
from
denouncing
in
Censors
efifects
of
vigorously
" petticoat
mild punishment
this
philippic
inflicted
showed
the
have been viewed,
sentiments expressed
in
to say the least, with
considerable leniency in the
it
to
highest quarters.
Of
ment
come
the high
at
ofificials
Peking
shall
to deal with the
Foreign
Affairs,
and
who form
have more
questionably are,
it
to say
when
Tsung-li-Yam^n, or Board of
its
relations with the
Influential as
representatives.
the central Govern-
is
European
some of them un-
not in their ranks that the
two most conspicuous personages on the public

The one is
stage are at present to be found.
Tung, now acting as Viceroy at

Nanking, and the other Li Hung Chang, the septu-
Chang Chih
agenarian Viceroy of the
home province
of Chi-li.
Enemies to the knife, and representing two opposite

and conflicting tendencies, each of them possesses
qualities
which
at least
lift
him out of the herd of
sordid and crassly ignorant mandarins
bulk of the ruling
who form
the
class.
Chang Chih Tung has
the unique reputation of
24
chap.
having spent rather than acquired his fortune in

Profoundly versed in Chinese
the public service.
classical
brilliant
an unrivalled mastery of language

and incisive has given him a reputation
lore,
and influence which could only be acquired

country where in the most
it
may be
is
an
Le
said that "
literal
Chinaman and
appreciate
to
He
I'homme."
credited
But he
with a fierce hatred of Europeans.

sufficiently intelligent
sense of the word
style, c'est
ultra-conservative
in
some of
is
the
Western science and industry, and he

would like to see China equipped with the weapons
of modern civilisation in order to wage war success-
results of
fully against
He
it.
to overtrump one of
memorialised
it
was who, perhaps, mainly

Li
the throne
Hung
in
Chang's
1889
in
cards,
favour
of
constructing a great trunkline to connect Han-kau
with Peking, but he insisted with no less vehemence

that China must build her railways for herself and
with her
own
materials.
His memorial was approved,
Wuchang, opposite Han-kau, whither he

had been transferred to carry out his scheme as
Governor- General of Hukwang, he set to work
with indomitable energy to erect immense factories
and
at
for the production of steel rails
of
all sorts.
Of
and railway material
the economic conditions necessary
to the success of
any
industrial enterprise he was
profoundly ignorant, nor would he
European technical advisers whose

been compelled to
enlist.
It
listen to the
few
services he had
has been a ruinous
Ill
undertaking,
the
all
but,
he must
he has squandered upon
if
moneys he could
public
25
it
lay hands upon,
be given the credit of having with
at least
own
equal alacrity thrown his
private fortune into
He was an ardent advocate of

war a outrance, and when peace was concluded
the melting-pot.
with Japan he stormed in his
The
beast at bay."
Republic
is
Yam^n
" like a wild
proclamation of the Formosan
believed to have been partly instigated
by him, and he certainly had a considerable share
in
organising and supplying the forces of local resist-
ance in the
He
island.
is
quarters of having had a
also suspected in
hand
he
undoubtedly an honest
is
able
he
as
character
that as
it
may,
fanatic, and, impractic-
the sincerity of his crack-brained
is,
and
enthusiasm
fomenting the
in
Be
anti-foreign riots in Szu-chuan.
some
entitle
the
of
cleanliness
him,
perhaps,
to
his
more
personal
respect
than can properly be given to his better-known

rival.
Li
Hung Chang
Gifted with no
is
mean
man
of a very different type.
intelligence
dose of Chinese cunning, he
is
and with a double
too
to allow prejudices or principles of

in
his
his
way.
much
of a sceptic
any kind
to stand
Brought more often than most of
fellow-countrymen into contact with Europeans,
especially
during his five-and-twenty years'
dence at Tien-tsin as Viceroy of
Chi-li,
resi-
he has
rubbed up acquaintance with Western modes of

thought, and
he has learned with some success.
26
the
turning
of
art
chap.
European
every
towards
whom
he meets that facet of his character which
most
likely
to
occasions he
impress
will
his
On
visitor.
is
proper
shed crocodile's tears over the
nowhere does the

cultivation of the native poppy receive more encouragement than in the province which he rules,
nowhere does the noxious plant thrive more
He will
luxuriantly than on his own vast estates.
pen with the same unction a memorial to the throne
opium
iniquity of the
trade, yet
on the sacredness of Chinese

preface to
traditions
book published
for
the lamentable periodicity
of
famines
is
only remedy
which
vey
to
to build railways
China,
in
told
a
the
deplore
will
and nod eager assent when he

is
by
China
He
Society of Christian Literature.
and
that
the
shall con-
the stricken districts the surplus of other
provinces
yet
he
the
famine which
own
province.
failed
broke
utterly
out
last
to
cope
winter
with
in
his
Within sixty miles of Tien-tsin, on
the only railway line in China, famine fever carried
away
in
1,200 victims in one village, while a "corner"
the
grain
Viceroy's
trade
was being engineered
in
the
Yamen, and train-loads of rice were

down the line, under the very
starving population, to fill not so much
constantly passing
eyes of a
the stomachs of the soldiers as the pockets of the
generals encamped at
With the
best spirit of modern civilisation Li Hung Chang
has probably less sympathy even than Chang Chih
Shan-hai-kwan.
in
What he wants
Tung.
of
is
it
appearances and appliances.
27
only the outward
Plenty of coolies with
uniforms and weapons and a few European

structors picked
up haphazard are enough
make
make
to
an army, ironclad ships and heavy guns to
Of
a navy.
in-
the complex administrative machinery
required to set
modern armies and navies
in motion,
of the honesty and ability which keep that machinery
working order, of the internal
in constant
which maintains
its
cohesion, he certainly appears
have had no conception,
to
for
discipline
at least until the war,
no one was more amazed than himself
total collapse of his
picked troops and costly ships.
It
maybe doubted whether he
it,
when
to those
who urge
leaf out of Japan's
petulantly
at the
book
now realised
has even
China must take a
that
his only reply
is
to inquire
whether the Chinese are expected to
wear European hats and clothes
like the Japanese.
That corruption on the hugest and most unblushing

amongst the friends and relatives who
scale prevails
form his social entourage and
even
his admirers
to believe that his
do not deny
own hands
political
;
and
it
are clean
supporters,
is
difficult
when he
known
to
official
career a colossal fortune reputed by
have amassed
in
is
the course of a long
many
to
be the largest possessed by any single individual
in
the whole world, and certainly in China.
with
all his
influence
is
shortcomings he
is still
the
Yet
man whose
believed to represent" the best that can
be looked for
in
China under existing conditions.
28
His knowledge of public

foreign,
is
unrivalled
throughout
held
in the
the
both domestic and
affairs,
amongst
his
He
countrymen.
high
regency a
last
chap.
place
He
confidence of the Empress- Dowager.

or less directly associated with
has been more
all
the negotiations which have taken place with foreign
Powers during the
twenty-five years, and
last
was not unnaturally reluctant
to
with dignity.
the
more
the
least
If the
mainspring of his
for in his
own
perhaps on that account,
all
at
material
himself the
countrymen.
resources of the
in
leading
He
spirit
that
for
country and
purpose the
has already shown

the
in
few
He
has
industrial
his fellow-
founded educational and
even charitable establishments of which
the
be said that they are unique
built the only railway in the

first
personal
expediency of developing
and commercial enterprises started by
has
actions
realises,
assistance of foreigners.
least
it
clearly, the
he
necessity of calling
the
the
he unquestionably discharged
must generally be looked

interests,
undertake
Japan as a humble
painful mission of proceeding to

suitor for peace,
he
if
it
can
in China.
Empire.
to realise the utility of telegraphs,
He
at
He
was
Above
what he does he does with a will. When the

first telegraph line between Tien-tsin and Peking
was being repeatedly cut and the poles pulled down
all,
he was gravely told that these
acts
by the Fungshui, the mysterious

and water disturbed
in
were committed
spirits
of earth
their favourite haunts
by
Ill
a hateful European innovation.

replied that
if
29
Hung Chang
Li
he caught one of these Fungshui

telegraph
interfering with the
The
was
hint
would go badly
it
Neither
with
him.
man
nor Fungshui ever again tampered with the
sufficient.
line.
Hung Chang
That Li
can
possibly be
prophet of a great moral revival

to
believe
that
or
"
of
figs
it
is
equally difficult to
is
official classes.
thorns
of
it
any such prophet can
the ranks of the
grapes
But
believe.
difficult
China
in
the
arise
Do men
thistles
"
out of
gather
Their
bound up with that of the system

which has produced them and upon which they
thrive, and the system itself is a tissue of imexistence
postures.
is
is
From
his
youth the
future
taught that imposture rules the world
mandarin
and
not
only this world, but the shadowy world beyond.
He
learns that his
gods can be over-reached by
the merest trickery, for are
not the lips of the
household god smeared over with treacle on the
day when he has to make
his
superior deities, so
prevent any unpleasant
tales
as to
annual report to the
being told out of school, and that even the
duties of
filial
piety
the most
sacred of
all
in his
can
be just as laudably discharged at his

neighbour's expense as at his own, for what other
moral can he deduce from the story of the young
eyes
nobleman who has been held up
to the admiration of
successive generations for having during a visit to
30
some
sooth he
He
some oranges, instead of honestly
friends stolen
buying them
because
at the nearest fruit stall,
knew
chap.
mother would
that his
for-
them
relish
an encyclopaedia of excellent
moral sentiments, a knowledge of which is the
learns
by
rote
"Open, Sesame" of
public
'^
life,
but once inside
the gates, and probably long before entering them,
he knows that
is
to put such sentiments into practice
the last thing which
is
expected of him.
Famili-
arity with the Analects of Confucius will qualify
to hold a public appointment, but
it
him
will not suffice
to secure him one. It is often assumed that, because

China has adopted from the most remote period the
principle of open competition for Government appointments, a sound democratic element must be
infused
into
its
public
public examinations
is
services.
a condition precedent to any
but
it is
how
polised
official
appointment,
One
by no means the only condition.
only to look
see
Success in the
certainly, with rare exceptions,
down
the
list
of the higher
large a share of the
by
number of
influential
clans
officials to
is
mono-
families.
The
good things
and
has
successful candidates always far exceeds
that of the vacancies
to
be
filled.
Unless some
happy accident serves them, those who have neither
money nor
influence
have are provided
must needs wait
for.
The humbler
till
those
literati
who
must
look for a patron to help them on in their turn, and,

whilst they are
dirty
work of
gaining his favour by doing the
his
Yamen, whatever
illusions they
Ill
may have brought
31
with them from the healthier
surroundings of their youth rapidly crumble away.
As soon
as a Chinaman enters official life he belongs

an oligarchy which stands entirely apart from the
to
wrapped up
pride and bound together by the
rest of the nation,
in
its
hereditary
closest ties of self-
interest.
Of
equally
little
value will the young mandarin
find the Analects of the
Master
in
helping him to
hold with advantage to himself an appointment,
nominally worth a few hundred taels a year, which
may have
he
ultimately succeeded in purchasing by
the
payment of thousands of
His
first
duty
is
taels
in
hard cash.
to repay the honest bankers
who
have advanced him the purchase-money on the

mere security of his prospects, with proportionate
This
interest.
is
a recognised form of business, or
rather of speculation in China, and by no
The bankers
profitable.
the
first
darin
or syndicate have a lien on
year's profit of the promising
whom
means un-
young man-
they have undertaken to finance, and on
the other hand they take the chances of the borrower's
death or removal from
office
His second duty
repaid.
is
before the loan has been

to put aside the
amount
necessary to purchase a renewal of his appointment,
which
is
generally held on a three years' tenure.
third duty
is
His
to save something on his own account.
Only when these
duties have been adequately dis-
charged can he be expected to consider what duties

he
may owe
to the public interests
committed
to his
32
Of the
charge.
an
as
Customs
500,000
on which these various
conceived the following instance may-
duties are
serve
relative scale
chap.
Hoppo, or native
the province of Canton paid
illustration.
collector, for
appointment, nominally worth
taels for his
His own
a few thousand taels a year.
profits dur-
ing three years' tenure of office amounted to over

three million taels
gigantic
be impossible were
would
scale
From
universal.
Successful robbery on such a
not
it
Peking, through
Palace at
the
the provincial seats of government into the
Yamens
remote country
districts,
of the smallest
officials in
from the heart of the Empire through
and veins into
all
its
arteries
extremities, there flows a
its
stream of unutterable corruption.
constant
That
public corruption should breed also the worst forms
of private corruption
in both respects
It is
but the advertisements publicly displayed
the streets of the capital
be as foul as the
to
Peking enjoys
get even a glimpse of Chinese private
difficult to
life,
inevitable.
is
an undisputed pre-eminence.
show
effluvia
Over the gate of
nostrils.
its
his
in
moral atmosphere
which
Yam^n
assail
one's
or over the
door of his private residence the mandarin displays

his
name and
able text
title,
but on
cards which
in
accompanied by an unimpeachits
blank walls he tolerates pla-
any European country would
fall
within the reach of the criminal law.
There
is
no rule without exceptions, and even
amongst the
official
classes
of
China there are
Ill
doubtless
and
who,
individuals
their public
which surround them.
influences
But they can do so only
as
they are themselves personally concerned.
far as
They cannot
whole
both their private
in
rise superior to the
life,
33
afford to challenge a conflict with the
class to
which they belong.
own hands
They may try

woe betide them
to
keep
if
they try to impose suc^ an inconvenient practice
upon
their
others.
With
all
clean, but
the prestige of a great
name
and a great position, Chang Chih Tung made the

attempt and failed.
Li Hung Chang never even
made
critics,
the attempt
because
according to his more charitable
he was
energies on such
too
hopeless
others because he never
Son of
felt
task
waste his
according to
any personal
disposi-
may be doubted whether

Heaven himself could break down the
tion to undertake
the
clever to
it.
It
formidable resistance which the vested interests of

the
official classes
would
offer to
any comprehensive
scheme of reform.
CHAPTER
IV
THE CHINESE CAPITAL
Peking may not perhaps be

representative Chinese
is
city,
in
every respect a
but such as
it is,
Peking
the capital of the Empire, the abode of the Son
of Heaven, the seat of the central Government, the

residence of the foreign representatives, the focus of
domestic and external.
all political interests,
not be
it
fair to
would be well-nigh impossible
China
is
approach
to
realise
may
from the coast
is
an instructive
duction to a knowledge of China,
for,
what
Even
without having seen Peking.

it
It
judge of China entirely by Peking, but
if
intro-
to reach
Peking by the most direct and frequented route
nowadays
difficulty
matter
of
except in winter
no
serious
when
it
to
is
hardship or
involves a long
and arduous land journey from some ice-free port,

one cannot fail to be impressed with the evidence
may be
their own
that whatever of hardship or difficulty there
the Chinese are determined no effort of

shall reduce.
When, from
the
north or from the south, his
THE CHINESE CAPITAL
CHAP. IV
Steamer has crossed the Gulf of
may
consider himself lucky
if
35
Chi-li, the traveller
he
not detained for
is
a day or two in unsuccessful attempts to get over

the bar at the
mouth of the Pei-ho
" the heaven-
sent barrier" as the Chinese gratefully
call
it
or
in
winding up the shifting bed of the river past the
Taku
forts
to
Tien-tsin, the
seaport
of Peking.
There, unless he cares for a long and tiring

has to choose between
thfe
ride,
he
exquisite torture of a
ninety miles drive in a springless Chinese cart over

the scattered boulders and pitfalls of the Imperial
road, or the weariness of a native boat subject to
all
the delays of adverse winds and unforeseen sand-
banks on the most tortuous of streams.

for the latter as the lesser of
two
If
evils,
he decides
the Pei-ho
only takes him to within fifteen miles of Peking, and
from Tungchow he must

destination,
ride, drive,
and he must, above
all,
or walk to his
time his arrival
For
there is one thing at least which money will not do
in China.
Nothing will open the gates of Peking
between sunset and sunrise.
He must indeed be a man of little imagination
so as to reach the city walls before nightfall.
who
is
not powerfully
moved by
the
first
sight of
that long line of stately battlements standing out for
miles and miles in bold relief against the sky.
broken save by the curving roofs of the

lofty
still
Unmore
towers which at equal intervals surmount the
sixteen gates or
mark the
four salient angles of the
great quadrilateral, they conceal every trace of the
36
CHAP.
Strange world of barbaric splendour and immeasurable
squalor which
they are obsolete for
lies
all
behind them.
It
true
is
purposes of practical defence,
they are crumbling away in places, their armaments

are a
sham
one-third
is
of the area which they enclose barely

built over,
ON THE
the rest consists of waste
PEI-HO, GOING DP
TO PEKING.
stretches of sand or of cultivated fields, but even
then the walls of Peking remain, or perhaps
it is
this
very blending of real and counterfeit grandeur which

constitutes them, a
monument more
impressive and
characteristic than
any other of the
colossal impos-
ture
whose
massive
inertia
has
so
long
been
interpreted to indicate an overwhelming reserve of
unexerted strength.
THE CHINESE CAPITAL
IV
The whole
Hfe of the city
concentrated in a few
is
The
densely populous quarters.
formerly estimated at millions
population
is
population
total
now put down
at
But what a
a million.
of
barely three quarters
37
that crowds the narrow lanes of the
it is
bazaars in the Chinese
city,
that surges in and out of
the gateways which lead from the Tartar city into the
Imperial
city, that
flows in a ceaseless tide under the
pink walls of the Forbidden city
Mandarins of the
Peacock Feather, bloated eunuchs from the Palace
and ladies of fashion, borne
swiftly along in curtained
chairs with the semi-transparent blinds

fully
down, or conveyed
hooded
in
drawn
care-
carts slung
on
heavy brass-nailed wheels of which the precise build

and position
indicate, like the crest or coronet of a
London barouche,
the owner
the exact rank and precedence of
of less high degree, well-to-do
officials
merchants and
women
of the middle classes squatting
inside the clumsier carts
of Peking
humbler
knife edge of
which are the hackney cabs

perched sideways on the
folk
omnibus wheelbarrows
on gaily caparisoned mules

horseback;
files
Yamen messengers on
nimble, surefooted donkeys from
the neighbouring villages
motley
young bloods
of heavily-loaded, long-haired camels
from Manchuria
'
uniforms
with
swaggering soldiers
heavy jinghals
on
in
their
shoulders yellow-robed Buddhist priests with closeshaven pates shining like billiard balls in the sun
;
bird-fanciers with
dainty pets
in
cages,
the one
innocent passion of almost every Chinaman
big
38
brawny
tails
chap.
coolies stripped to the waist with their pig-
wound round
the crown of the head
of sweetmeats, and vendors of rotten fish
vendors
itinerant
auctioneers and pedlars of every description

fessional
pro-
beggars flaunting their hideous sores and
mutilated stumps, the stock-in-trade of a powerful
and wealthy guild over which a Prince of the Blood

presides
astrologers and soothsayers, jugglers and
conjurers,
gaping
each surrounded by a small crowd of
admirers
criminals
stumbling
along
in
cangues, their heads protruding from a hole in the
heavy wooden board dependent from

on which
sentence
week's or
are
inscribed
women and
last
girls
offence
and
their
with the enamel of
last
month's paint and powder streaked
with dirt and perspiration

children, the boys in
in
their
their shoulders,
many
swarms of
stolid, joyless
cases dressed out as girls
order to deceive the jealous deities whose wrath
disdains
equally
to wreak itself on the soulless sex; all

unwashed and malodorous, mandarins and
mendicants,
rags, but
princes
and peasants,
in
silks
or in
making up withal a picture of which the
kaleidoscopic fascination never palls.
Nor
is
the frame within which the picture
less strange or striking
is
set
here a spacious thorough-
encumbered with tumbledown shanties and

matted hovels of bamboo, but lined on either side
fare
with the daintily carved and gilded woodwork of
monumental shop fronts and bright with a profusion

of gaudy signboards and flags and streamers and
Prisoners in Cangues, Peking,
{To Jacc
p.
38.
THE CHINESE CAPITAL
^^
many-coloured
hangings
39
there a
corner of the
mysterious pink walls behind which rise in the very
heart of the city as in an inmost sanctuary, the
;
yellow-tiled roofs of the Imperial palaces, the gilded

prison, self-imposed, of "the Solitary Man," "the
August Lofty One,"

Years
"
;
" the
Lord of Ten Thousand

there the deep archway of the Chun-man
gate leading out of the Tartar into the Chinese city

across the Beggars' Bridge, the squalid Rialto
of Peking;
there at the junction of
some of the
busiest streets an elaborate triumphal arch, erected

to the
memory
of a virtuous maiden who, like one of
the classical exemplars of
filial
piety,
used to
strip
her clothes at night in order to attract the

mosquitoes away from the couch on which her
off
venerable parents were reposing

of
narrow
tenanted by
some
of the Chinese
there a labyrinth
more or
each
lanes,
city,
where everything
sold from the priceless
spacious
bought and
is
gems of Chinese
products of Chinese depravity
foulest
exclusively
less
particular trade, the great bazaar
enclosure of a
Buddhist
art to the
there
the
temple where,
enthroned amidst a strange assemblage of
fierce
and
Buddha the Commore than its usual
sordid gods, the serene figure of
passionate seems invested with
pathos
or again in a stately grove of silver cedars
a severe and noble hall sacred to the
memory
of
Confucius, whose lofty aphorisms, carved in letters
of gold on the massive timber columns and panelled

ceiling read
like
the bitterest satire on the whole
40
system which
social
masquerades under the
still
cloak of his high-sounding philosophy

official
quarter of the
one
city,
there, in the
the government Yamens,
commonplace enough in themselves, but

which dark and painful memories
buildings
to
chap.
at least of
was behind the dull brick

walls of the Board of Punishments that the deed of
foul treachery, which in i860 delivered into the
hands of the Chinese a small band of gallant
will
always attach, for
"it
Englishmen, was followed up by fouler deeds
under which
torture
some,
but never
their
anon
and ever and
the
in
physical
stout
hearts,
strength
ot
of
succumbed
the background,
behind
palaces and hovels, above the painted roofs of the
temples and above the frequent verdure of

trees
looms the long-drawn
line of the
the
battlemented
girdle of walls gray and grim with the mystery of

ages.
But unique as are the scenes which, attractive or

repulsive,
on
European
traveller
streets,
it is
at
sides fascinate
all
when he
and bewilder the
sallies forth
no small cost that he
into the
gratifies
time, his nostrils

effluvia, his
by the most pungent and loathsome
eyes by revolting sights, his ears by the
discordant din of a strangely uncouth tongue.
the dry season he has to plough his

in dust,
his
All his senses are assailed at the same
curiosity.
and
in the
In
way ankle deep
wet season through pools of
liquid
mud, dust and mud equally compounded of the unutterable
filth
of an undrained
city
where every
Thf Front of a Kashionadi-K Swfktmeat
Shoi' in Pekinc;.
[To
fact-
40.
THE CHINESE CAPITAL
IV
41
thoroughfare does duty for a sewer, where the doorstep of every house is used as a cesspool.
Whereever he goes he moves in an atmosphere of hatred
and contempt. One by one every monument of
public interest
is
being closed against him, and
contrives to buy his
way
if
he
one of them, he not
into
infrequently has almost to fight his
way
out again.
In the beautiful park which surrounds the

of
Heaven
its
cricket field for
but
now
Temple
Enghsh colony of Peking had
some years after the war of 1 860,
the small
it is
only from the nearest point of the city
walls that one can steal a glimpse of the azure
dome
and white marble platform, where, on the night of

the winter solstice, alone and face to face with the
Son of Heaven offers up

filial
worship as the supreme mediator between
Heaven and earth. Most of the other temples are
equally forbidden ground, though in some cases, and
parental firmament, the
curiously enough, mainly through the friendly relations of our missionaries with the Chinese priests,
may obtain permission

Even to the city walls access
one
albeit the
them sub rosa.

nowadays prohibited,
to visit
is
guardians of the gates are seldom proof
against the offer of a small gratuity.
except in the
European
guised
immediate
neighbourhood
legations, curiosity,
hostility,
dogs
the
Everywhere
of
the
mingled with undisforeigner's
footsteps.
Actual outrages are rare, though outside the Anting-
man, the very gate which was surrendered to the

British forces in i860, a party of Englishmen riding
42
back to the
city
by Chinese
soldiers whilst
CHAP.
were greeted with a volley of stones

I
was
in
But
Peking.
sulting remarks and foul-mouthed curses
in-
arecommon
and even when riding with the British

Minister and his usual escort of Chinese outriders, it
enough,
was occasionally advisable
to put
on pace
in order
to avoid the unpleasant attentions of a noisy mob.
In
its
tempt
least
boisterous
To
" outer
the
for
temper,
offensive
humour
sovereign con-
barbarian
underlies
"
the
of a Peking crowd.
pass out of the turmoil of the Peking streets
into the trim
compounds of one of the European
legations or of the few foreign residences in Peking,

is
to enter all at
Of
repose.
handsomest
is
once into an oasis of sweetness and
these the
most
and
spacious
the
unquestionably the British Legation,
once the palace of a Chinese prince, and
still
pre-
serving with the added comfort and orderliness of
European
taste, the
architecture.
picturesque originality of Chinese
The
familiar
redcoats
of
British
marines drilling on the lawn lent perhaps an extra

touch of homeliness to the well-kept grounds.
in
For
view of possible troubles, most of the foreign
legations were provided last winter with a special
guard drawn from the
They have since been

but,
it
fleets in
for the greater part withdrawn,
need scarcely be
Gazette with
its
the Gulf of Tchih-li.
said,
not,
as
the Peking
usual candour announced, because
the Chinese Government, which had tolerated
their
presence during the war, had, upon the re-establish-
THE CHINESE CAPITAL
TV
ment of peace, ordered

I
Nor can
their withdrawal.
forego the opportunity of placing
of
43
on record that
it
the foreign detachments sent up to Peking
all
none gave a better example of European discipline

and trustworthiness than our own marines, and none
left more friends and hearty well-wishers behind
them when they departed.
As
to
heighten the
had
also assigned
if
contrast, the Chinese authorities
own braves
to each legation a special guard of their
who were encamped along Legation Street decrepit

old men and half-grown youths, the refuse apparently
;
of the coolies of the town, in ragged uniforms and
armed with every description of
who
eccentric weapons,
lay for the greater part of the
day sweltering
in
the foetid atmosphere of their tents or lounged about
the footpath lazily scowling at the " foreign devils
whom
"
they were supposed to protect, their evil
faces suggesting a
new rendering
of
"
Quis custodiet
ipsos custodes."
At night the
gates, not only of the outer walls, but
of those which divide off the different quarters of the

city,
are shut, and though
much money
as
is
it
is
estimated that as
spent on the lighting of London
goes into the pockets of the Peking Mandarins, a few

flickering oil-lamps only serve to make the darkness
visible.
It is
thoroughly typical of China that the
only telegraph
in
station in
Peking
Government
dences of the principal
officials
situated,
not
Palace, the foreign
the Tartar city, where the
Legations, the chief
is
offices,
and the
resi-
are to be found, but
THE FAR EASTERN QUESTION'
44
the outer Chinese city
in
and, as the gates between
the two cities are closed at night, Peking

cally cut off
from
all
CHAP, iv
is
communication with the
practi-
rest of
the world between sunset and sunrise.

I
have attempted a
slight sketch
of- the
more
superficial features which in the eyes even of a casual
observer must differentiate the capital of the Chinese
Empire from
that of
off
still
State,
Western or
however imperfectly,
more profound differences which divide
Eastern, because they

the
any other
China from
all
reflect,
other nations of the earth.
knowledge of the surroundings amidst which European diplomacy has

Peking,
may
to carry
on
its
daily
work
at
afford a partial clue to the difficulties,
unparalleled elsewhere, with which
it
has to con-
unknown world of
even more foreign to the
tend as the interpreter of an
thought and of ideas
Chinese mind than any of the outward manifestations

of
modern
civilisation.
CHAPTER V
THE TSUNGLI-YAMEN
The
representatives
of the foreign Powers in

Peking have no sort of personal intercourse with
the Palace.
they have,
it
After a long and stubborn struggle

is
true, established
their formal right
of audience on terms which are not yet perhaps alto-
gether satisfactory,
but which are on the whole
compatible with their proper sense of dignity.
The
heads of missions, accompanied by their
pro-
staffs,
ceed in state to one of the halls which form part of

the Imperial Palace, and, either singly or collectively,
as the case
may
be, they are ceremoniously ushered
by appointed dignitaries into the presence of the

Emperor, who sits almost impassive on a raised dais,
and barely acknowledges
their profound obeisances
with a slight inclination of the head.
having read his speech

tions are read first in
the
in his
own
is laid
on a low table
Minister
tongue, translain
Manchu,
dynasty,
and the
Chinese and then
language of the reigning
original
The
in front of the
Emper-
or by the Secretary of State on duty, who, having
46
received
it
chap.
from the Minister's hands, carries
it
after
repeated prostrations up the steps of the Throne.

Until quite lately the Chinese
official
in question
always ascended for the purpose the side steps to the

right or left of the Throne, but
M. Hayashi,
the
Japanese Minister sent to Peking on the re-establish-
ment of diplomatic
relations after the war, insisted
successfully that his credentials should be carried
the steps actually facing the
Son
of
Heaven
up
de-
parture from former precedents to which the peculiar
circumstances of the case lent a special significance.
The Emperor
usually whispers a few words in the
ear of the Secretary of State kneeling beside him,
who
conveys their purport, which
is
a merely
commonplace expression of courtesy and
satisfac-
in turn
tion, to
The
the foreign Minister.
over, for the public audience
audience
is
then
not followed, as
is
in
other countries, and even in Eastern courts, by a

private audience in which
may
nications
foreign
more
confidential
commu-
pass between the sovereign and the
representative
accredited
to
him.
The
audiences at Peking are therefore mere formal ceremonies, and their chief value
at, present
is
that they
convey a public recognition by the Son of Heaven

of the right of European Powers to treat with China
on a footing of complete equality.

occasions
no foreigner ever
Except on these
sets foot within
the
precincts of the Forbidden City.
The
regular channel for communication between
the foreign Legations in Peking and the Chinese
THE TSUNGLI-YAMfeN
world
official
the Tsungli-Yamfen, or Board of
is
Foreign Relations, which was

1
47
constituted
first
in
86 1 after the Anglo-French expedition had wrung
out of the Chinese a reluctant assent to the estab-
lishment of foreign legations within
the
walls of
Prince Kung, a younger brother of
the capital.
Hsien Feng, the then reigning Emperor,

Liang, a Senior
Grand
Secretary, and
Kwei
Wen-Hsiang,
a departmental Vice-President, were appointed to be
the
members
of the
new Board, and
the selection of
was regarded at the

time as implying a final abandonment of the policy
of mere haughty contempt which the Middle Kingdom had vainly striven to maintain towards the
" outer barbarians."
If this expectation was never
three such influential personages
really
fulfilled,
Yamen
the
composition of the Tsung-li-
has at any rate
always
indicated
some
recognition of the importance which foreign relations
were henceforth
By
Empire.
to
assume
in the affairs of the
successive additions the
number
of
its
members was gradually raised to ten, which has now

come to be regarded as the normal strength of the
Board, and
it
has been always closely identified with
the Chun-Chi-Ch'u or Privy Council (sometimes also
Grand
called the
Council); the highest department
of State, which transacts
its
business daily, or rather
between the hours of 3 and
5 a.m. in the
presence of the
Emperor
Most of the
members
Privy Council whose number,
nightly,
merly
of the
five,
was increased
himself.
to
seven
during
for-
the
48
chap.
Japanese war, are also members of the
Yamen, which derives most of
its
Tsungli-
influence and
Chung-
prestige from this close connection with the
Half-a-dozen members or more attend
Chi-Ch'u.
every day to transact business, and when an
inter-
view takes place with a foreign Minister scarcely

ever less than three are present, not to speak of
secretaries,
and servants who hand
pipe-bearers,
round sweetmeats and cups of
tea.
The
of dealing with such an unwieldy body
The
chief anxiety of every
responsibility, and,
none
though
will, if possible,
Wen
all
member
difficulty
obvious.
is
shirk
to
is
ready enough to
talk,
take action.
Hsiang, probably the ablest
man who
ever
held a seat in the Tsungli-Yam^n, died in 1876,
and Prince
Kung was
left
as the only original
mem-
ber of the Board, of which he continued president

until
he was disgraced
in
1884
^^ connection with
the Franco-Chinese conflict.
Superseded by Prince
member
of the Imperial family,
Ching, a collateral
he lived
for the following ten
retirement,
years
devoting his enforced
secluded
in
leisure
to
the
building and repairing of Buddhist temples, and
apparently taking no part or

affairs.
When
interest
public
in
the war with Japan broke out
last
year he was suddenly recalled and restored to his
former posts of president both of the Tsungli-YamSn
and of the Privy Council.
But he was then
three years of age, and old for his years.
sixty-
He
was
no longer the man of mental vigour and bold resolve
THE TSUNGLI-YAMiN
who had conducted
49
the peace negotiations with Lord
Elgin and had overthrown the Board of Regency
on the death of
instituted
Hsien Feng.
His health
had grown
Emperor
feeble,
and
rare.
Prince Kung's return to
has to content himself with the second place,
office
is
also
Yamen are
Ching, who since
his visits to the
Prince
his brother, the
a courtly
Manchu gentleman
slightly over fifty
years of age, but even judged by the Chinese stand-
must
which
ard,
statesmen, he
alone
be
applied
to
Chinese
has never shown any conspicuous
qualifications other than those of birth for the high
positions
which he has held.
In consequence,
believed, of considerable friction
Prince
Kung he
it is
between him and
has once or twice during the
last
year applied to be relieved of his responsibilities, but

has always met with a decided refusal from the
Em-
His duties have, however, evidently ceased

be palatable, and he has largely dropped his
peror.
to
interest in
them.
Of the other members composing

Yamen whilst I was at Peking only
the Tsunglithree call for
and of two out of these three the

telegraph has recently announced the retirement.
any special
Sun
Yii
notice,
Wen
had been
for ten years in the
Yamen
and was generally regarded as perhaps the strongest

He has
and most businesslike of all its members.
in
a large degree
that
instinctive
intelligence of
China supply the place

of educated knowledge, and he is one of the few
foreign affairs which
must
in
so
Chinese
who have any understanding
officials
questions of commercial policy.

gotiations
office in
Few
for
important ne-
have taken place during his tenure of
which he has not played a leading
and generally
in a spirit of
moderation.
It is
that he
is
part,
prudence and conciliatory
by no means the
least
among
his
the eyes of his fellow country-
titles to distinction in
men
chap.
the father-in-law of the present
Duke
Confucius, his daughter having married the eldest

lineal
has
descendant of the Master.
now accompanied him
of a very
different
type.
Chinaman, he seemed
the reactionary side.
his attitude
into retirement,
An
is
man
ultra-Conservative
permanent brief on
Narrow-minded and intolerant,
to hold a
was that of a pettifogging attorney,
ways on the look-out

argument,
sary's
Hsu-Yung-I, who
al-
for a formal flaw in his adver-
and,
rather
than renounce
the
satisfaction of a
temporary and personal success, he
would recklessly
sacrifice the larger interest at stake.
Having constant
access in the twofold capacity of
Privy Councillor and Imperial Tutor to the person

of the Emperor, he had acquired in an exceptional
degree the confidence of the Son of Heaven.

master
of all the intricacies
official style,
and formalism of Chinese
he has probably drafted more Imperial
decrees than any other living Chinaman, and to his
ready pen quite as much as to his restless energy he
owed
the formidable influence which he until recently
exercised over the Emperor's mind.

ation
To
his inspir-
was generally ascribed the young Sovereign's
THE TSUNGLI-YAMn
51
incipient revolt against the imperious tutelage of the
Empress- Regent.
He was the soul of the war
and he would have wrecked
demands.
yield to the Japanese
party,
his country rather than
Although
in his
more than fifty,

muscular, plebeian frame, no less than a
seventieth year, he looks scarcely
and
his
certain uncouth ruggedness of manner, distinguishes
him from his more courtly and weakly colleagues.

Another and greater distinction he also possesses.
Like Chang Chih Tung, whom he resembles, however, morally rather than intellectually,
to
be above
he
believed
In fact he
pecuniary temptation.
all
is
represents the only type of patriotism to which a
a patriotism
Chinaman seems capable of
attaining
which unfortunately manifests
itself
only
an un-
in
reasoning devotion to forms and formulae.
Change
of any kind comes to be looked upon as in itself
wrong, and the past

of
it
the
is
present
the past.
is
and
To
worshipped
the
this
future,
at the
expense
merely because
form of patriotism one
cannot at least deny the merit of sincerity, since
even Chinamen whose lives show no trace of any

higher ideal than those of their fellows are prepared
occasionally to die for
peror,
who was
it.
When
the present
Em-
placed on the throne as an infant by
a Palace coup de main, attained his majority a few

years ago and went for the
first
time to perform
before the ancestral tablets sacrificial rites for the
proper discharge of which he lacks, according to the
most rigid orthodoxy, the indispensable
qualification
S2
chap.
of direct lineal descent, a high Mandarin emphasised
by
his protest against this unlawful act of usurpation
committing suicide before the eyes of the Sovereign

after
having duly handed to him on bended knees
an elaborate treatise on the subject.
Another and
entirely different school of politicians,
Hung Chang
approximating rather to the Li

is
represented in the Tsungli-Yam^n by
type,
Chang Yin
Huan, a Cantonese and a proUgi of the Viceroy of

who has risen like him from the lowest rung
Chi-li,
of the
official ladder.
As Chinese
Minister to the
United States, Spain, and Peru, he has, however,

enjoyed wider opportunities than his patron of familiarising himself with
Western
ideas, for
most
least in private, professes the

ation.
But the position
generally ascribed not so
to
which
liberal admir-
which he has
much
he, at
risen
is
to the experience he
has acquired abroad as to his intimate acquaintance

with native methods of smoothing the path to
promotion.
Of an
temperament, he
is
official
easy-going and self-indulgent

not likely
to
jeopardise his
chances in a vain attempt to undertake a task which

the late Marquis Tseng, on his return from Europe,
soon found
it
hopeless to persevere
Pleasant
in.
manners, an intelligent enjoyment of European

cial life,
undoubted natural
abilities,
and an
so-
article
of which he assumed the authorship in Blackwood
on " The Awakening of China," secured

former Chinese Minister
in
London
to
the
the reputation
of an earnest and enlightened reformer.
With
the
THE TSUNGLI-YAM;N
53
dramatic instinct of his nation, the Marquis Tseng
played to the European gallery with conspicuous

success, and, consciously or unconsciously, threw a
prodigious amount of dust in
its
China and given a seat
recalled to
When
eyes.
in the
he was
Tsungli
Yamen, our optimism knew no bounds. But the

Marquis Tseng of the Chinese Legation in London,
and the Marquis Tseng of the Tsungh-Yam^n in
Peking, were soon shown to be two very different
people.
It would be hard to say how far personal
inclination
and how
far superior
towards the change, but
it
pressure operated
certainly presented
all
the outward features of as pretty a case of sociological " reversion " as could well
It is,
be conceived*
indeed, folly to expect that in such an atmo-
sphere as that of the Tsungli- Yam^n European experience can form a
Of
suspicion.
the
title to
ten
anything but hatred and
members
of
that
Board
Chang- Yin- Hsian has alone ever been outside of

China.
Yung-Lu, the Governor of the city of Peking,
who
Hsian-Fu,
during his
king.
officials
some time as Tartar General at

the only other member who has served
acted for
is
official
That
is
career outside of the walls of Pe-
to say that the vast majority of the
entrusted with the foreign relations of China
have spent
their lives in a city
and amidst surround-
ings for which no sort of parallel could be found in
Europe outside, perhaps, of the darkest period of

the Middle Ages, and even then the analogy would
be in many respects lame and inadequate.
54
my
was granted during
stay
chap.
Peking the
at
favour of an interview with the Tsungli-Yam^n
a favour,
believe,
foreigner enjoying no
a couple of hours
granted to a
never
before
official
position
and
during
had the honour of discussing
with their Excellencies some of the burning ques-
The
tions of the day.
strongest impression which
away with me was that the whole world

of thought in which the Western mind is trained
I
carried
and
seems
lives
be as
to
alien
Chinese
the
to
mind as the language which we speak.

The
wisdom of their sages, which is the Alpha and
Omega
of
vaunted
their
education,
influence on
commonplaces which
we have
had
geography,
the
in
days of our youth
copied out to improve our caligraphy
all
moulding
in
as the excellent
actions
their
of
which have about as
unexceptionable aphorisms,
much
consists
our
own
History,
characters.
achievements of modern science,
the
economy,
the lessons of political
conditions
the
which govern the policy of Western States, the

influence of public opinion, of the press, of parlia-
mentary
real
institutions,
meaning
to
appeal
to
feelings
which,
if
they
different
and
equally vain
history,
perience
for
it
their
ears.
It
is
useless
of
honour
or
of
patriotism,
at
take
exist
to us
outside
is
all,
inexplicable
quote
to
words which convey no
are
of
the
their
sealed
an
shape,
to
entirely
and
it
is
teachings of political
own immediate
book
to
them.
ex-
Their
THE TSUNGLI-YAMfeN
V
Excellencies
in
Europe,
talk
55
glibly of the balance of
but Austria
still
seems
to
power
be hope-
mixed
up in their minds with Holland,

and of the two the latter apparently still occupies
lessly
Power by
as a colonial
far the
higher position.
An
incidental reference to Tunis elicited the fact that
they had never realised the existence of such a

State, or of
an African Empire of France, though
they had acquired some information with regard

to the position of
Nor
sources.
of
material
whom
is
Egypt, presumably from French

it
easy to treat questions even
development with ministers, one of
deliberately
maintained
that
China's
im-
munity from railways had been the salvation of

Peking during the recent war.
Outside of
official
its
relations with the foreign
knows nothing,
know nothing, of the Western world.
The members of the Tsungli-Yam^n themselves
have scarcely any intercourse with the foreign
representatives at Peking beyond making a few
formal calls on stated occasions and offering them
an annual banquet at their official residence. One
or two may sometimes accept invitations to a
representatives, the Chinese world
and wants
foreign
to
legation,
but no
mandarin can
a foreigner's house without

suspicion
literati,
writers
and
who
in
compromise
obloquy.
exposing himself to
Even
the
are driven to accept
the
European
themselves
by
frequent
unsuccessful
employment
Legations,
showing
will
any
as
not
open
56
recognition
them
of
when they meet

The whole atmo-
employers
their
a public thoroughfare.
in
sphere of
Peking
hatred and
with
saturated
is
chap.
contempt of the foreigner, and the street urchins,
who shout opprobrious
epithets or
mud and
fling
stones from a safe distance at him as he passes,
merely have the youthful courage of opinions which

their
elders
scowl
only venture to betray by a sullen
or
muttered
the upper classes, and as

of the
my
to
Yamen,
told their Excellencies
back, but
with
come
closed
officials
in a chair or
Peking
neighbours,
his
and
mutual
and
opportunity
disguise
rulers
from
of
us,
their cue
of
"
know
for
but
and those
to
you give us
know
hold
whom you
from your behaviour.
that
we
you because we
knowing you, and

country,
other,
each other's
You complain
you,
your reluctance
the
never be
can
knowledge of each
consideration
interests.
really
public
between foreigners
misunderstand and misrepresent
do not
on horse-
friendliness of intercourse out of
natives, with a better
a greater
afraid
without
lest
cart,
there
in other countries arises
feelings
are
be aroused, and his host " lose
should
that freedom
which
in
curiosity
face "
experience of
a foreigner inside their house
cautioning him not to
and
in allusion to a recent
own, so long as powerful

invite
lower
merely follow the example set by
again,
classes,
The
imprecation.
you do
us.
no
not
You, the
ostentatiously
aloof
rule naturally take
Every
nation, like
THE TSUNGLI-YAMiN
every individual,
must have
from
57
something to learn
its neighbours
but China is like a man who
should imagine that he could learn what all his
;
fellow creatures were like
by the continuous con-
templation and adoration of his

mirror."
own face
bowed polite
Their Excellencies
but Hsu-Yung-I looked as
if
my
in the
assent,
face at least
was
one of which he had seen quite enough.

It is not,
indeed, only the
insist
on keeping
much more
own employ.
ought to
the ruling classes
They
at arm's length.
Europeans
accessible to the
If there
are not
in
their
one man whose services
is
him to the complete confidence of

Government it is certainly Sir Robert
entitle
the Chinese
Hart,
representatives
official
whom
of the European Powers
the
Inspector
General
He
Maritime Customs.
sound administration
in
has
Imperial
the
of
the only
created
China and given her the
only revenue upon which any credit can be opened

to her.
Take away
the foreign Customs revenue
and where could China hope
to raise to-day
ransom exacted by her conqueror
Yet
in
the
spite
of this signal claim upon her gratitude, in spite of
the innumerable proofs of

interests
to
which he has given
warm
devotion to her
to her,
it is
pretend that he has ever been
position to which he,
if
any one,
is
impossible
granted
the
entitled as a
And what
is
unfortunately true of Sir Robert Hart was or
is
proved friend and trusted adviser.

equally true of Captain
Lang and
of every other
58
foreigner in
only on
the Chinese
own
his
service
disinterested
who
chap.
has relied
loyalty
for
the
exercise of a healthy influence.
Li
Hung Chang
is,
according to recent reports,
stay for the present as Grand Secretary at

Peking, and conduct in concert with the Tsungli-
to
Yam^n
the
looked
upon
negotiations for the new commercial

convention with Japan under Article VI. of the
Treaty of Shimonoseki.
Whether this must be
an
as
of
indication
his
ultimate
restoration to favour, or whether his final disgrace
has been postponed until he has exhausted the
odium of the treaty

Chinese
remains
notions,
the event must be

leader of the
for
left
personally responsible,
The
to show.
reactionary
party,
fact that the
Hsii-Yung-I,
described as having been dismissed from
whereas Sun Yii

at
his
own
Wen
full
which he, according to
is
office,
has been allowed to resign
would
repeated request,
look more
favourable for the opportunist school represented
by the Viceroy of
of the
Yam^n
Tso,
two new members
appointed to replace them,
Tsung Ho, Tutor
Hung
Chi-li if the
to the present
Tutor to the
late
Weng
Emperor, and Li
Emperor, did not
belong to the most reactionary clique of Palace

wire-pullers.
Hung
Still
Chang's
exercised,
and,
more doubtful
influence,
if
if
it
is
it
whether Li
prevails,
exercised, will be
will
sufficient
be
to
introduce into the official circles of the capital the
more
liberal
spirit
towards foreigners which
he
THE TSUNGLI-YAMI:N
has
at
least affected to
59
display in his
own Yamen
For the present his authority appears

by the privileged advisers of
the Emperor, and the chief object of the Court in
summoning him to Peking, seems to have been to
subject him at greater leisure and less risk to the
at Tient-sin.
to be openly flouted
familiar process of " squeezing,"
Mandarin has
which every great

to undergo after he has sufficiently
enriched himself in the provinces

the
in
case
of
Li
Hung
a process which,
Chang, cannot
fail,
if
exhaustive, to be unusually lucrative.
Cramped and
of
confined within such narrow limits
intercourse as
official
have just described, the
foreign representatives in Peking are almost entirely

cut off from those opportunities of social intercourse,
which
other countries help to extend their
in
and widen
fluence
Nor
their information.
any organised expression of public opinion
Not a
they can look for guidance.
paper
is
Gazette,
is
to
in-
there
which
single news-
published in the capital except the Peking
an
official
record
of
Imperial
decrees
and Government enactments, supplemented by a
more or
its
may
lines
hidden
life
suggested,
that
life
doubtless be read the secrets of the
of China.
is
there not
by the time the
But, as has been pregnantly
some cause for apprehension

Western student of Chinese
has assimilated himself to
ciently to penetrate its secrets,
measure
Between
less fabulous chronicle of events.
lost the
its
he
conditions
will
power of conveying
some
knowledge
have
his
suffi-
in
6o
a form
in
more
intelligible
chap.
the Western world
to
than the original logogriphs of the Peking Gazette ?
Nothing
more strange
is
lectual fascination
China than the
in
which so peculiar an environment
often seems to exercise over the
When
intel-
European mind.
during the course of a protracted residence,
the European has thoroughly familiarised himself
with
and customs and
language
the
thought of the people, he appears in
habits
many
of
cases
have undergone a certain brain transformation
to
which leads him uficonsciously

value to
used
statements
Central Asia
sense.
brick wall which China built up
great
the Middle
lend a Chinese
and expressions, apparently
European
in their
The
to
Ages
is
in
against the invading hordes of
gradually crumbling away, and has
long since failed to serve
its
purpose, but the solid
wall of intellectual petrifaction
and
social isolation
within which Chinese statesmanship
still
seeks to
defy the pressure of mere diplomacy remains as

yet
unbroken.
have dwelt at some length on
this point because, in the absolute
of the Chinese
mind
to
imperviousness
Western modes of thought
must be sought the causes of the failure of a

policy based, as ours has been for the last twenty
years,
on a vain attempt
and sympathy of China

peaceful progress.
to gain
in
So long
the
common
as
confidence
interest
no serious
of
effort
was required of her she was astute enough to

humour our illusions and to listen with apparent
THE TSUNGLI-YAMn
6i
deference
to our
indulgent homilies.
But the
language of friendly persuasion could have no real
or permanent hold upon her.
It is no reflection
upon the
our diplomacy that French and
ability of
Russian diplomacy was able

success at Peking,
for,
to achieve a
temporary
though never actually over-
stepping the limits of diplomatic procedure, France
and Russia gave

their action
it
clearly to
be understood that
would not necessarily be circumscribed
within those limits.
In the execution of the bold
and resolute policy agreed upon by the Cabinets
M. Gdrard and Count
of Paris and St. Petersburg,
Cassini were in a position to clinch every other

argument with that of physical force, and until
Chinamen have ceased to be Chinese, that is the

only argument of which they will fully understand
The Chinese mind
the value from European lips.
and the Western mind revolve in different spheres
which have only one point of
physical force.
From
real
that vantage
can China be dominated.
This
had been too long discarded
in
contact,
viz.,
ground only
principle,
which
England, and not
Lord Rosebery's Administration, has

been once more, to some extent, applied to our
relations with China since Lord Salisbury's return
alone under
to
power, and thus, at least to the extent within
which
it
has been applied. Sir Nicholas O'Conor
has already, before leaving Peking, had the
satis-
faction of regaining the ground which he had never
ceased to contest even against overwhelming odds.
CHAPTER
VI
THE FOREIGN POWERS AT PEKING
GREAT war not unfrequently affects the interests and relations of neutral onlookers quite
as
profoundly as those of the belligerents them-
selves
sudden and dramatic
but seldom has so
an
illustration
the
changes
of the
fact
immediately
been witnessed as
wrought
between China and Japan on the

tion of the foreign Powers at Peking.
that the
tous in
mere
itself,
by
war
the
posi-
relative
It is
in
obvious
however momencannot be looked upon as the sole

collapse of China,
cause of so rapid a displacement of political power

as that
which has recently taken place there to our
detriment.
It has,
of a hitherto
far inferior
however, disclosed the real value
unknown
quantity,
grounds, chosen to assign to

the
and shown
to that which we had, on
power put
forth
by Great
it.
it
to
be
insufficient
Before the war
Britain in
the
Far
East plus the unknown quantity representing the

latent resources of a friendly China was supposed to
be superior, or
at least equal, to the
power put
forth
CHAP. VI
bj;-
63
our rivals minus the same unknown quantity.
Now
the value oi x
is
discovered, and
the one hand, far inferior to what
we
find
Nor
the other side of the equation.

rise of
on
we had assumed,
and, on the other hand, transferred, such as
The
it,
it
is,
this
is
to
all.
Japan as a considerable military and
naval Power introduces a
new
one at
factor, or
least
which we had been disposed until recently to ignore,

and one cannot yet feel quite sure on which side to
place
it.
To
extent the war has really dis-
this
turbed the old equation
main
factors
still
but in other respects the
remain the same, only the war
has placed them more conspicuously before our eyes,
and
The
in a truer, if less flattering, light.
competing
interests, political
to-day as they were yesterday
those
of England,
Germany
France, Russia, and, in a lesser degree,

but to-day
we
are compelled to realise
more
how fierce the competition has grown.

The interests of Russia are mainly and
political.
For
great
and commercial, remain
forcibly
professedly
the last two centuries her eyes have
been turned towards the East, though
Crimean war, and perhaps even
until
until the last
the
Russo-
beyond the
adjoining regions of South-Eastern Europe and
Turkish war, they never swept
Western Asia. In that

tude of England and
Congress curtailed the
far
direction the resolute atti-
the
facilities
sion which she
had hoped
San Stefano.
The
the
Berlin
for further
expan-
issue
to create
of
by the treaty of
subsequent revolt of Bulgaria,
64
chap.
the shiftiness of Servia, and the estrangement of
Roumania, together with the alHance of Austria and

Germany, opposed fresh barriers to any advance
upon Constantinople.
But,
made
these events
if
the immediate realisation of her traditional policy
shape originally contemplated impracticable,
in the
new
they only incited her to find some
In the same
the eastern trend of her energies.
measure
in
which Russian
outlet for
activity in
the Balkan
Peninsula and Asia Minor diminished during the

eighties,
it
Here
increased in Central Asia.
again,
however, in spite of such successes as the annexaof
tion
Merv and
Khanates,
the
of
the
chief
central
Asian
Russia found
expansion of
itself
checked by the close alliance which had sprung up
between the Ameer of Afghanistan and the Indian
Government, and
our
new
line of
frontier of
still
more by the completion of
defence along the North-Western
India.
Headed
expected forces, Russia's
nach Osten was
new
at last in the nineties to
Far East the
once more by un-
Drang
again merely deflected into
seems
off
have found
line of least resistance,
so long been looking
for.
She
channels.
in the
which she had
Marching with the south-
eastern frontier of her vast Asiatic
dominions
lies
an empire teeming with undeveloped wealth, yet

crumbling away with internal dry-rot, a prey
in
every way ready to her hand.
How
far Russia's plans
had been formed
pectation of a speedy collapse of China
it is
in ex-
difficult
VI
to say, but
65
though perhaps she alone shared with
Japan a thorough knowledge of China's militaryweakness, she would probably have preferred to
see
exposure postponed for a few years.
its
Of
the magnitude of her plans she had been careful
beyond such as could

be gathered from the energy with which the conto
furnish
little
indication,
version of Vladivostok into a place of arms of the

first
rank had been completed and the construction
of the Trans-Siberian Railway of late prosecuted.
Her diplomacy had never
asserted itself with any
ostentation at Peking, and, though less yielding and
had always displayed a

moderation.
During the
indulgent than our own,
of
spirit
earlier
signature
kept her
now
conciliatory
stages
of
of the
own
war,
and even up
to
the
Treaty of Shimonoseki, Russia
counsel, though there
before
that
the
it
Li
is
Hung Chang
little
left
doubt
for
the
Japanese headquarters to negotiate the terms of

peace
fidence,
of the
he
had already been taken into her con-
and that when he agreed
to
the cession
Leao-tong peninsula he was aware of her
determination to forbid the fulfilment of the contract.
So great was the reserve which she main-
tained
that
the
constant
of
flow
reinforcements
going out to strengthen her naval and military

forces in the
noticed.
At
Far East passed comparatively unlast
the opinion of
with a
fleet
more powerful,
many competent
in
judges, than any
ever before concentrated in those waters and with
66
chap.
an army of 80,000 men ready for action on land,

she was in a position to speak, and in no uncertain
The
accents.
been
proved
inherent weakness
and
demonstration,
to
of
China had
her
senile
decay could no longer be allowed to jeopardise
By
the reversionary interests of Russia.
her inter-
vention Russia openly proclaimed her determination
assume
to
henceforth
the
guardianship
of
the
Chinese Empire until such time as by the laws

of nature, assisted or unassisted, the sick
the Far East should pass
away and
ance be formally appropriated.
his
Russia's
man of
inherit-
oppor-
had come, and not those alone upon whose

assistance she might have naturally counted came
tunity
forth to
The
in
improve
it
for her benefit.
co-operation of France must be looked upon
present circumstances as available for Russia
whenever and wherever the latter chooses to invoke

it.
But in the Far East it is secured to her not
only by considerations of general policy but by a
community of interests. France has graduannexed considerable territories in the south-
special
ally
eastern extremity of the Asiatic continent, which
she
has already
name
of "
have
christened with
Empire d'Indo-Chine."
hardly yet
attained
to
the
significant
If her possessions
the
dignity of an
empire, they hold the germs and the promise of

empire.
of
Bordering on the three Chinese provinces
Yun-nan,
within
Kwang-si,
and
Kwang-tung,
and
easy reach of Szu-chuan, they possess in
VI
67
the two important waterways of the Songka and
Mekong
the
unrivalled facilities for penetrating into
the heart of China.
Her
prestige,
dimmed
for a
while by the blunders which marred the substantial

success of the Tongking campaign, had been largely
by the
retrieved
boldness
with
handled the Siamese question
was
which
Peking
but at
had
she
it
To
under the shadow of Lang Son.
still
by a sensational coup de thddtre and

sweep away the barriers which still hampered her
restore
it
advance
from
friendship
the
by
Russia
with
achievement bound
whilst
south,
to
joint
commend
cementing her
was an
action,
itself
not only
the judgment of French statesmen, but to the
to
sentiment of the French nation.
That Germany should have joined hands with

France and Russia is more difficult to explain.
Whether or not she secretly hankers after territorial acquisitions
there
have been
be
she
Far East, her
the
hitherto
How
commercial.
alienating
in
these
to
is
prospective
the
growing
like
and avowedly
served
be
even
Japan,
by
if
without apparently
rival,
not easy to conceive.
arrest
could
good customer
securing any countervailing

it
mainly
interests
advantage
If
in
China
Germany expected
intimacy of
France and
Russia she must have been promptly undeceived.
At Tokio, where Germany had everything
to lose
by the course upon which she had embarked, all

the outward appearances at least of complete
F 2
68
harmony between these strange
allies
tained for a
if
considerable
time,
chap.
were main-
not up
to the
But at Peking, where Germany, it

must be presumed, looked for her reward, scarcely
present date.
month
had
passed
was
she
before
politely
elbowed out and ignored by her two partners, and

the officials of the Tsungli-Yamen were not slow
cue thus given to them.
to take the
No
sooner
had the intervention of the three Powers established

the necessary claim
upon the gratitude of China
than France and Russia proceeded to monopolise

for
themselves not only
its
substantial but
The French and Russian
manifestations.
suddenly discovered that they had

holes
delivery to the Emperor.
On
and,
II.,
the one hand, there
of
election
Emperor
on the other, one announcing
M. Faure
French Republic. With a
the
in their pigeon-
letter notifying the accession of the
Nicholas
formal
Ministers
of which the war had delayed
official letters
was a
its
as
President of
the
curious affectation of
impossible secrecy an audience was arranged, to
which the Russian and French Ministers proceeded
There they
in great state.
their
own
cordiality,
account,
the
solemn
Heaven himself
to him by their
was the
many
first
or desired.
for
terms
thanks
the great
respective
public
that her
in
received, according to
of
of
unprecedented
intimation conveyed
of
rendered
This
Governments.
company was no longer
The
Son
the
services
to
Ger-
required
negotiations with regard to the
VI
69
Franco- Russian loan were soon to furnish further

evidence
stantial
same sense of a
in the
The
nature.
association,
complete fusion, of French and

to the exclusion of all others
more sub-
still
or,
rather,
the
Russian interests
was
reflected in the
ostentatiously intimate relations of the French and
M. Gerard and Count
Russian Ministers.
Cassini
were the Siamese twins of Peking diplomacy. It

would be invidious to inquire whose was the ruling
mind of the two.
The
qualities of the
one seemed
what the other appeared
exactly to supply
and the two together formed a whole
to lack,
whose
to
conspicuous ability one could not as a spectator

refuse
a tribute of admiration.
either
right
or
Germany were
just
to
infer
It
would not be
that
England and
a whit less adequately represented,
but, unfortunately, the political situation precluded
that close co-operation
between them which might
have secured the success

to their separate
But,
if
at least temporarily denied
and individual
Germany might
cavalier treatment
efforts.
well feel aggrieved at the
which she has received
at
the
hands of France and Russia, she has suffered only

negatively.
Whether
gated
Ours
or not
the
positive
loss.
might temporarily have miti-
Franco -Russian
part for which

to
we
been
has
hostility
Germany
by accepting the
volunteered,
we have now
reckon with that hostility as a stubborn
fact.
Franco- Russian
under-
standing were the convention, signed at
Peking
The
first-fruits
of
the
70
on June
the
between France and China, by which
20,
by us
to her
gave away a
not only
latter
chap.
territory
ceded
more than a year ago on the
little
express condition that she should not transfer
without
our
consent
any
to
Power,
other
it
but
French claims over a province
actually recognised
which forms an integral part of the British Empire.
The
made over
districts
to the French, as
Holt Hallet has recently pointed

far larger
than was at
territory
For besides Muang

which
lie
whole
of
upper basin of the
in the
the
Nam Him
surrendered to the
half of the
gross
U, the
Hung
Nam La
in
are
Burmese Shan State of Kiang Hung
Nor
is
violation
that
of
scarcely
settled
months ago upon China

selves, has been coolly
France.
and
U-tai,
In fact more than
French.
we generously
which
Nam
of ^Kiang
principalities
the basins of the
understood.
first
and Muang
U-neua
Mr.
comprise a
out,
eighteen
to hold in trust for our-
handed over by her
Over and above
all.
Treaty
our
rights,
she
to
this
has
entered into a series of engagements granting a

privileged position to
the
richest provinces of her
French
Empire.
in
one of the
There
are few
regions in China containing greater mineral wealth
than Yunnan.
Under
the Convention of June 20,
Szumao, the most important trade centre

south-west of Yunnan,
is
to
in
be thrown open
the
to
same way as the Treaty Ports

of China are now open to foreign trade generally.
French trade
in the
VI
71
French Consul is to be allowed to reside there,

and telegraphic communication is to be established
with the nearest
be given
for the
French
station
the waterways and government
access to
I
-pang
to
be granted
;
tea
is
territory the
and
of
districts
in
Puerh and
regard to both customs and inland
to
be given
for carrying into
French railways already
present only projected
king
roads which give
permission on terms to be subsequently-
negotiated
at
are to
reductions in favour of French goods are
taxation
great
the
facilities
development of French trade on
last,
but not
from
least,
none of the above privileges
it
Chinese
existing, or
Annam and Tonis
shall
stipulated that
be extended by
But even
China to any other foreign country.
wrung out
of the feebleness of China was the way in which
England's preponderancy,
they were wrung out.
however much it might be ridiculed as a thing
of the past, was too fresh in the memory of the
Tsungli-Yamen for the distracted members of that
more
significant
board
setting
to
by the
colleague
with
face
her
at
French
at
than the
his
concessions
equanimity the
prospect of
The
pressure
exerted
representative,
with his
Russian
defiance.
back,
in
order
to
enforce the
immediate signature of the convention in the teeth

of England's
protest
gives
the
measure
of
importance which he at any rate attached to
begged
the
it.
time to
In vain the Chinese
officials
at least consider the
British Minister's objections.
for
72
chap.
Their appeals only provoked M. Gerard
use
to
language of a more distinctly minatory character,
and the convention was signed by the President of

the Tsungli-Yam^n practically under moral duress.
This convention has not yet, it is true, -been ratified

by the Emperor of China, and, unless in the meantime some solution can be found compatible with
our rights and
one must hope that the
interests,
Chinese Government
may
still
be deterred from
ir-
revocably consummating such an act of international
bad
But whatever may be
faith.
sion,
it
its
cannot altogether undo the
weakness
in
handedness
expense
"gratitude"
imposing,
others,
effects of its
M. Gerard's
conceding, or of
in
of
ultimate deci-
the
discharge,
of whatever
high-
at
obligations
the
of
China may have contracted towards
The same methods moreover were
France.
own
shortly
to be called into requisition to elicit a further ex-
pression of Chinese "gratitude."
To meet
the
war indemnity due
required financial assistance

scale.
pass
China
on an unprecedented
France and Russia realised with masterly
promptitude
their
to Japan,
own
that, if
they gave that assistance on
terms, the financial control of China would
into their hands.
China had
to offer
The
only security which
was the revenues, derived
chiefly
from British trade, of an administration created and

maintained chiefly
by
British
energy and
Although that administration owed

continuance
its
ability.
existence and
mainly to British influence, we had
VI
never claimed to derive from

tage.
was
It
officially
under
administration,
Maritime Customs,
its
it
73
any exclusive advan-
recognised as a Chinese
the
of
title
European
staff
Imperial
the
was recruited
amongst foreigners of almost every nationality, and

every flag trading with China benefited on an equal
footing by
its
services.
If the
number
of British
exceeded that of other foreigners
officials
employ, and
if
in
its
management had been
the supreme
entrusted to an Englishman in the person of the

Inspector- General, Sir Robert Hart, this
was but
a natural recognition of the proportion which British

trade in the treaty ports of China bears to that of
other countries.
tration
The revenues
were eminently
financial operation in
fitted to
which
in
form the basis of a
the Powers desirous

means of putting her
all
of furnishing China with the
house
of such an adminis-
order might have combined.
and Russia been
really anxious to
Had France
prove the sincerity
of their professed disinterestedness, they would have
welcomed the opportunity of placing the independence

of China under the guarantee of international finance.
But nothing was further from
their thoughts.
British
and German financiers were prepared to join hands

with French and Russian, and to provide jointly
with them in one comprehensive operation the whole
amount which China requires
for the fulfilment of
her obligations towards Japan.
France and Russia
would not even allow the Chinese Government

take any such proposals into consideration.
to
They
74
had not only
settled to their
own
CHAP.
satisfaction the
terms upon which an exclusively Franco- Russian

loan
was
to
be made to China, but, even before
having secured the formal assent of the Chinese
Government, they had actually published the conand announced the issue.
The Tsungli-
ditions
Yamen
vainly protested that
it
had only accepted
principle the proffered assistance of Russia,
never intended to bind
in
and had
itself unconditionally.
Even
Chinese statesmen could not help feeling that there
was something ominously unprecedented

forced
it
down
in a loan
the borrower's throat at the point, as
But they had awakened
were, of the bayonet.
too late to the gravity of the situation.
concession which the
only
Chinese struggled hard
extract from their masterful protectors

stitution of the
The
guarantee of the French bankers
that of the Russian
to
was the sub-
Government on the
for
face of the
That the guarantee of the Russian Government would still stand behind that of the French
bankers was, of course, a secret to no one, but the
Son of Heaven's dignity would at least not be
loan.
wounded by the
own
Tsar's signature running across his
seal of State.
But even to that extent China
was not allowed to save her " face." The French

and Russian Ministers conveyed a significant hint
that the Leao-tong peninsula had not yet been
restored by the Japanese.
sharp turn of the
thumbscrew and the thing was done.
Whether
or not
the
Franco- Russian loan was
VI
75
accompanied, like the Franco-Chinese convention,
by secret provisions granting exclusive privileges
to
the contracting parties, the financial leverage which
France and Russia thereby acquire was in itself an

adequate reward of the energy they put forth to
secure
bank
it.
at
The reported
creation of a Franco- Russian
Shanghai would seem, however,
to confirm
the belief prevalent at the time in Peking, that the
unpublished provisions of
this financial
arrangement
would prove quite as edifying as those already given
What
to publicity.
this
will
be the ultimate success of
strange attempt to assume a financial tutelage
over China must depend chiefly upon the ability of
France and Russia to follow up the advantage which

they have gained at the outset.
with which the
Paris there
first
seemed
need be guided
From the enthusiasm
loan appeared to be taken up in

little
reason to doubt that they
in future dealings of the
same nature
by considerations of political expediency.

Holding henceforth the power of the purse at Peking
with the power of the sword behind it, FrancoRussian diplomacy would have found itself armed
with a double-edged weapon against which all the
only
resources of diplomacy would have availed but
little.
That such were the hopes at one time entertained

may be inferred from the stipulations by which China
not only debarred herself from raising any fresh loan
for a period
of six months, but promised to give
Russia an option whenever the time

came for her to negotiate another loan. In the
France and
76
chap.
meantime, however, events which governments cannot always control, have disturbed these calculations.
Near East and a senseless

gold mines have once more produced
Political clouds in the
speculation in
one of those chronic
money market
will in the
is
which the Parisian
crises to
With the
so often subject.
best
world the French financiers cannot appar-
ently for the present
come forward again to the assist-
ance of their Russian friends, and Russia is equally un-
come forward again at

unwonted character of a lender. In
these circumstances the field must necessarily be left
open to the English and German capitalists whose
able without their assistance to
Peking
in the
overtures the Tsungli-Yamen was only a few months
ago so peremptorily compelled
to reject.
If
they are
now to offer anything like the same terms

which they would have accepted in the summer
not disposed
before two such formidable powers as France and
Russia had taken rank before them as creditors of

China, the Chinese Government will only have to
thank
itself for
the inevitable result of such hybrid
politico-financial
engagements as those into which
allowed
be coerced
itself to
Were
warnings.
statesmanship,
have to pay
financial
it
for
it
would not grudge the price

an even
partial
independence which
it
would not
independence
of
it
friendly
possessed of the real instincts of
compromised, but of course

instincts
in spite
all
if it
it
may
recovery of the
had so seriously
possessed any such
originally
away with
it
such
have signed
its
lightheartedness.
VI
77
For our own part we may congratulate our good

fortune
than our merits
rather
unforeseen
and France
if
in
this
circumstances have compelled

to
moment when
throw up the game
at
matter
Russia
the
very-
they had succeeded in dealing most
of the trumps into their
own
hands.
CHAPTER
VII
THE GENESIS OF MISSIONARY OUTRAGES
What
in
to
is
commonly
China adds,
IN CHINA
called the missionary question
must be admitted, no slight burden

the responsibilities and difficulties of foreign and
especially
question
of
is
British
diplomacy at Peking.
No
perhaps enveloped in such a cloud of
On
prejudice.
both at
it
the one hand there are
home and
in
many
people
China who, having no sympathy
with missionary work or being thoroughly convinced

of
uselessness
its
in
upon the missionaries
existing circumstances/" look
and
intruders,
when
their mis-
as busy-bodies
who have
only themselves to thank
placed zeal brings them to grief;
On the other
hand
the missionaries themselves and their friends at
home
are so profoundly impressed with the sacred-
ness of their task that in
its
performance they are
absolutely deaf to any considerations of
dence or
ghastly
human
political caution until in the throes of
life
and
appeal to their fellow citizens
But
some
death struggle, the natural instinct
of self-preservation extorts from
protection.
pru-
them a passionate
for assistance and
to discuss the value or expediency
CHAP.
MISSIONARY OUTRAGES IN CHINA
VII
of missionary labour in China
On
nor useful.
is
approached by
is
from such opposite points of view,
the conclusions arrived at cannot
Those who look
Gospel to
neither practicable
a question which
different people
ing.
79
at
the
fail
to
be
conflict-
preaching of the^
nations of the earth as a Divine com-
all
mand which must be obeyed
cannot be
at all costs
expected to acquiesce in the judgment of those
would measure the value of

material results.
in
First of
mind.
we may
Two
all,
spiritual
who
by
labours
points alone need be borne
foreign missionaries, whatever
think of them, are just as
much
entitled to
protection in the lawful pursuit of their calling under
the treaties to which China has subscribed as the

foreign merchant or the foreign
even
if,
Secondly,
official.
judged by a mundane standard,
its
material
results have not been proportionate to the amount
work in
a human-
of blood and treasure expended, missionary
China
is
not only a proselytizing but also
ising agency,
and every missionary establishment
is
a centre from which civilising influences radiate over

the whole area of
Herein
lies
operations.
its
to a great extent the secret of the
hostility displayed, especially
classes in
China, towards the missionaries.
influence of
it
manifests
Western
itself, is
the rulers of China,
were
it
amongst the
civilisation, in
an abomination
official
The
whatever shape
in
the eyes of
whose days would be counted
ever to permeate the masses.
directed against the missionaries
is
The
hatred
only a peculiarly
8o
chap.
virulent form of the hatred directed against Euro-
peans generally, and
it is
easy to understand
should be a peculiarly virulent one.
^/work
is
practically the only
Western
the influence of
reach
the
why
Missionary
agency through which
civilisation
can at present
The European merchant
masses./
it
is
scarcely brought into contact with any other than
the trading classes, and his influence

localised within the
is
any
at
rate
immediate vicinity of the treaty
That of foreign officials is

within a similar area and confined
ports where he resides.
mainly restricted
to the Chinese officials with
The missionary
whom
he has to
deal.
alone goes out into the byways as well
as the highways, and, whether he resides in a treaty
port or in
some remote
and among and

lives,
whether
province, strives to live with
The
for the people^
it
be the ascftic
life
Catholic missionary, or the family
life
led
life
which he
of the
Roman
of a Protestant
missionary with wife and children,

standing reproach to the
life
is
in
itself
of gross self-indulgence
by the average Mandarin. But in the eyes of the

it becomes a public scandal when, in glaring
latter
contrast to every vice of native rule, the foreign
missionary in his daily dealings with the people of

his district
justice
and
It is this
the
official
conveys a continuous object-lesson of

kindliness, of unselfishness
and
integrity.
aspect of missionary work which goads
Chinaman
into fury,
and
incites
him
to
traduce the character of the missionaries by those

foul calumnies
which invariably precede every out-
VII
That the feeling

anti-missionary riots and out-
break of so-called popular
which
finds vent in
rages
feeling.
not really popular in
is
from the
its
origin
influence of the official classes

it is
is
ever seen.
patent
is
where the
fact that in the rural districts,
scarcely a trace of
8i
relatively small,
It is
mainly con-
town and cities, where the mob is under

the immediate control of the Mandarins.
There
they have " the stupid people," as with almost naive
fined to the
arrogance they openly
they
sickening than monotonous
is
the uniformity of the
methods employed by them
The
break.
on
acquired
whom
No less
the lower classes
hollow of their hands.
in the
rule,
call
to engineer
hold which the missionaries

the
of
respect
an out-
may have
even the dregs
of
an urban population by the blamelessness of their

lives
must
first
be weakened by spreading
vile
rumours of unspeakable vices veiled under the

appearances of virtue.
vent
and
the
family
The Roman
hearth
of
Catholic con-
the
Protestant
missionary are converted by the foul imagination of

.neir traducers into
dens of abominable vice, and un-
fortunately, in the
congenial atmosphere through
which they
circulate,
credence.
Where imposture and
such tales find only too ready

hypocrisy reign
supreme amongst the highest of the

improbability
inherent
average Chinaman
can
in stories
there
land,
be
for
what
the
which merely represent
the foreigner as an impostor and a hypocrite like
the rest
When
once
the personal
confidence
82
chap.
which the foreigner may have succeeded in inspiring

has been sapped, it is an easy task to inflame
him the passions of the mob by a
against
series of calumnies purporting to disclose
fresh
the real
objects of his mysterious presence in a foreign land.
That he should have
his far-off country only
left
to bear into a strange land a
goodwill amongst
Chinese mind that

is
men
it
is
message of peace and
an idea so alien to the
can never wholly grasp
naturally prone to suspicion,
more
natural than that, behind
it.
It
and what suspicion

all
the appearances
of a harmless craze, there should lurk a sinister
design
The
medical services which
so
many
missionaries render impartially to the highest and
the humblest, in a country where no serious effort

is
made
to
to establish
cope with disease, might be expected
some claim on public confidence and
gratitude, but, as a matter of fact, there
of missionary activity
lent
misconstruction.
largely looked
and,
which
is
Medicine
upon as a black
when one remembers
is
no branch
so liable to malevoin
China
is
still
art akin to sorcery,
of what loathsome in-
gredients the healing drugs of the Chinese medicine
man
are often
made
up,
one need not wonder at
the readiness with which the ignorant masses are
made
to
believe
that
remedies so efficacious
those administered by the
as
"foreign devil" must
be compounded of unutterably fiendish substances.

That cans of preserved milk are the boiled down
brains of Chinese children, that the eyes and other
VII
parts of the
human body
83
are the most potent sub-
stances employed in the European pharmacopoeia,
presents nothing incredible or even improbable to
the ordinary Chinaman
for crimes of this nature are
common amongst
sufficiently
men
be duly mentioned
to
his
own
fellow country-
code which
in the penal
provides special forms of punishment for " murder
committed
in order to obtain
drugs from the human
body^'
When
explicit
or implicit sanction of the local
therefore placards, issued with the
Yam^n,
declare that a foreigner has actually been caught
red-handed
in
his
barbarous laboratory
when, as
was the case the other day in Szu-chuan, an official

message is sent by the provincial authority over the
Government telegraph announcing
that living proofs
of these horrible practices have been produced in
open Court, can one be surprised
the results
at
Whilst a maddened populace wreaks a brutal ven-
geance
in
Mandarin
atonement of
its
imaginary wrongs, the
either personally supervises,
veniently blind
to,
or
con-
is
the scenes of arson, pillage, and
bloodshed which he or his superiors have prompted.

It
is
only in
few exceptional
amongst subordinate
common humanity
effort is
made
officials,
cases,
chiefly
that the instincts of
assert themselves
and a tardy
to provide the hunted victims with
a temporary refuge in the Yamen, or to secure their

retreat
to
some neighbouring
city
where the
sponsibility for their ultimate fate willl
more robust
rest
shoulders.
re-
upon
84
Calumnies of
and
produced
this particular
kind have preceded
every serious
outbreak from the
Tien-tsin
massacre
outrages.
They
1870
in
most recent
the
to
clearly appeal,
who spread them,
those
chap.
in
the opinion of
more responsive
chord than any other charge which can possibly
be
brought
fanaticism
against
the
only
plays
to
sory part in them.
The Mandarin
much
the
of a sceptic,
eclectic in
his
ordinary
religious
People
the
to
indeed,
ally,
"
who combine
or
mere
the
for
violent
too
explo-
the
practice
of worship,
of both
that
himself too
a platonic adhesion
forms
Taoist
with
often
-acces-
Chinaman
of Confucius with
teachings
Buddhist
of
and
is
practices,
question of creed to produce such

sions.
Religious
missionary.
a subordinate
forms
and,
imparti-
cannot be charged with religious exclusivism.
Worship the gods
as
if
they were present
"
is
an inscription constantly recurring over the gates

of Chinese temples, and in amplification of this
author of " Chinese Characteristics
text
the
quotes two sayings current amongst the masses

" Worship the gods as
And
if
you don't
Under
if
recognition
if
the same."
they were there,
you worship not the gods don't
one
Christianity
they came,
it's all
" Worship the gods as
But
if
of
the
greatest
obtained
open
China.
Two
in
and
care."
her
rulers
almost
ofificial
of
centuries
ago Jesuit
VII
missionaries were
advisers of the
85
favourite
and most trusted
Emperor Kiang
Hsi, and, had the
the
Vatican not been induced by their rivals to condemn

the conciliatory spirit in which they sought to temper
the abruptness of a great religious transition, China
might have been gradually and peacefully opened up

to the influences of Christian
most
the
sights
interesting
One
civilisation.
Peking-
in
of
the
is
where these early pioneers of

Christianity elected to be laid to rest in tombs
ancient graveyard
of an orthodox Chinese
emblems
sacrificial
of Chinese
rites
surrounded by the
type,
connected
that
viz.,
with
empire
the
it
to
their
at
altar
of their great
pilgrims
still
remote provinces of the
burn incense and
funereal
loftiest
of ancestral worship.
So wide and deep was the prestige

names that up to the present day
occasionally travel from
the
up
offer
sacrifices
Even now
graves.
cannot be said that Christianity as a creed
Native Christians are
persecuted in China.
in fact,
excluded qiM Christians from
pointments, and,
posts,
it
is
if
because
partly
posts
which,
involve
because
the
disqualify
most
participation
they
the
of
in
are
not,
ap-
and
themselves
for
ones
do,
higher
religious
recruited
classes,
influential
less
they
as
official
is
they hold none of the higher
partly
mainly amongst
on
ceremonies
in-
compatible with the creed they profess.
Alleged
insults
and more often
to
still
some
the
popular
local
deity,
imputation of abomin-
86
chap.
own
able practices in connection with their
undoubtedly form part of the systematic
by which
tion
popular
against the missionaries
not
sufficiently
real
feeling
moments they
to
be
be
but fanaticism alone
powerful
or
the
that
be
to
merchant
How
victims
invariably
left
is
traveller can
the
drive
to
whom
is
their
in
themselves acknowledge
will
their best friends.
asked,
seem
manufactured
is
masses into revolt against those

cooler
rites,
vilifica-
is
then,
it,
outbreaks
these
of
missionaries,
unmolested and
may
it
the
whilst
European
the
penetrate as a rule unmolested
into
Empire ? The
These outbreaks
the most distant provinces of the
answer
is,
think,
obvious.
are, in the first place, specially directed
against the
missionaries for the reasons above set forth
second place, the
more
remote
and
in
the
in
which many of the missionaries reside afford
exceptional
facilities
for
attracting the notice of
foreign
running
preparing them without
any inconveniently vigilant
and of carrying them out without
official,
too
districts
great
risk
of
direct
mediate reprisals from any foreign
and
Power.
im-
The
Margary in Yun-nan, however,

showed that, where the presence of an official
foreigner was considered undesirable, similar and
even simpler means could be as readily and as
successfully adopted to remove him as if he were
murder
Mr.
of
only a mere missionary.
Nor can
it
be denied that the singular forbear-
va
87
ance
shown by foreign Powers, and especially,

perhaps, by England, in connection with these
periodical
their
has in
outrages,
For
recurrence.
the
have
Riots
year.
to
five-and-twenty
last
years their history has repeated
by
contributed
itself
itself
taken
almost year
valuable
place,
property has been destroyed, and, even where no

lives
have been actually
sacrificed,
violence
and
outrage have been done to innocent and unoffend-
The
ing people.
same.
made
sequel has been invariably the
Representations
of
have,
been
course,
Government, commissions of
to the central
inquiry have
been instituted, and, after months

and years of equivocation and evasion, in sheer
weariness of
the execution of a few coolies
spirit,
modicum of pecuniary com-
or underlings and a
pensation
have
atonement
for
been
accepted
conspiracies
an
as
which
adequate
strike,
and are
intended to strike, not only at the actual victims,

but at the influence and prestige of every one of
their
fellow-countrymen,
For
European.
men
foreigners
idle to
discriminate
really
the
or
nationalities
is
it
and
who
live
indeed
imagine that China-
between
either
professions
amongst them.
of
the
The
blow struck with relative impunity

of European
life
of the French
of
French
29, 1870.
the
different
first
at the
great
safety
and property was the destruction

mission and the massacre, chiefly
priests
At
every
of
and nuns,
at Tien-tsin
on June
that time no direct telegraphic com-
88
chap.
munication existed between Tien-tsin and Europe.

If
had
it
existed,
or
even
the facihties then
if
had been used with ordinary promptitude,
existing
the course of European history itself might have
been changed.
For, had the news of the massacre
been received
in Paris before the
Prussia had
reached
might
eagerly seized
have
its
war fever against
height,
the
Napoleon
III.
opportunity
deflecting into a less dangerous channel the
of
French
craving for military adventure and of restoring his
own waning prestige by a crusade against China.

As it was, the despatches of the French Legation
were delayed
graph
July
station,
7,
in
transmission to the nearest tele-
and the news arrived
in
Paris
on
the day after the fatal declaration of war
had been launched against Prussia.
France, with
other and more urgent difficulties and disasters to

face,
was
compelled
satisfaction
which
from that time

cared or
to
China
to this
known how
accept
the
inadequate
agreed to tender, and
no European Government has

to insist
upon that measure
of punishment which can alone prevent the periodical

repetition of similar outrages.
Yet a remedy must be found. The missionaries

have a right to go to China, and to China they will
continue to go, however undesirable their presence
there
may be
difficult to
considered.
Possibly,
though
see how, the authority of our
it
is
officials at
the Chinese Treaty Ports might be exerted to dis-
countenance the peripatetic zeal of missionary
free-
VII
lances
whose
erratic
propaganda
is
89
not controlled by
more responsible missionary
the experience of the
Possibly also the influence of the
organisations.
latter
might be more
upon
their
own
effectually
subordinates
to
brought to bear
prevent them
in
future from exposing their families, and especially
young
girls
and children of a tender age,
to the
dangers which must always threaten isolated groups

of Europeans in remote provinces of the Empire.
But any such measures must necessarily be mere

palliatives.
Even
if,
per absurdum, we could enact
any absolute prohibition of missionary enterprise
in
China, such a step would only be construed by the
Chinese
official
world as a surrender of our
and therefore as an
rights,
act of weakness which would
certainly stimulate rather than diminish the aggressive character of

all
classes.
its hostility
The
towards Europeans of
missionaries,
therefore,
must
re-
main, and so long as they remain, whatever amount
of tact they
may
may
display,
however studiously they
confine themselves to the task of doing
according to their
own
lights,
good
they will always be a
stone of offence to the Chinese Mandarin, who, so
long as he can do so with impunity for himself, will

continue to wreak
his
vengeance upon them by
hounding on to them from time
and
irresponsible
mob.
enough, and though
be easy,
apply
it
it is
its
to time
an ignorant
The remedy
application may
is
simple
not always
the energy rather than the ability to
which has hitherto too often
failed us.
The
90
chap.
Government must no longer be allowed
central
shelter itself behind the difficulty which
pleads of exerting
its
to
constantly
it
authority over the provincial
Governors, nor the provincial Governors to discharge the burden of guilt on to their subordinates.
What
wanted
is
is, after all, only the application of

a principle which no people recognise in theory
more
fully
than the Chinese
In cases of
bility.
treason,
families are cut off for
viz.,
that of responsi-
for
one man's
whole
instance,
and according
sin,
to the penal code quoted

his
interesting
male
by Professor Douglas in
work on Chinese Society, " all the
relatives of the first degree, at or
age of sixteen, of persons convicted
above the
namely, the
father, grandfather, sons, grandsons, paternal uncles
and
their sons respectively, shall, without
any
re-
gard to the place of residence, or to the natural or

acquired infirmities of particular individuals, be
discriminately beheaded."
Every male
Nor, as he adds,
who may be
under the roof of the offender, is doomed
an exception being alone made in the case
all.
to death,
of
boys on condition that they become eunuchs

highest
official
of
In the same
every province
is
this
dwelling
relative
vice in the Imperial Palace.
is
in-
young
for ser-
way the
responsible
for the acts of every
one of
when
ignorance of their transgres-
sions.
all,
his only fault
is
his subordinates,
Let him be held responsible
in the case of outrages
his fault
is
also,
even
and above
upon missionaries, where
connivance rather than ignorance, and
VII
91
when, as was the case the other day after the ghastly
massacre in Fo-kien, he inquires with unblushing
effrontery from the representatives of our outraged
civilisation
"
How many
the answer should be:
The
interests of the
heads do
"Your own
Mandarin
you want
"
?
to beg-in with."
class are so closely
bound up together, they recognise so fully even
in their
wrong-doings the solidarity which exists between

them, that the condign punishment of a single leading
Mandarin
will strike terror into the breasts of all his
The
colleagues.
common
execution of a dozen
malefactors can only increase the Chinaman's con-
tempt for European

the
which
even
Governments of Europe must hold very cheap
life
in his estimation
when they are seen to accept such paltry reparation.

Under the pressure of an ultimatum backed
up by a powerful fleet, the central Government
has pronounced upon Liu- Ping-Chang, the real
author of the Szu-chuan outrages, what appears
to
be an unprecedentedly severe sentence of dis-
grace.
But
it
must be remembered that he had
already been suspended from his duties at
more than a year before, and a high
Cheng-tu
official
had
been dispatched from Peking to take over from
him the
seals
of
enacted there
vice-regal
June he was
the beginning of
of the province,
the
and
at
in
that
all
still
Peking
will
in
Yet
at
the virtual ruler
the scenes of violence
time his hand was clearly
traced and seen to be

sentative
still
Yamen.
all-powerful.
Our
doubtless see to
repreit
that
92
the
recent
have been
In
chap.
Imperial decree shall not turn out to
former measures, mere stage thunder.
like
any
case, however, the downfall of Liu- PingChang, whose crimes at any rate stopped short of
bloodguiltiness,
cannot produce any lasting effect
unless such fiendish atrocities as those perpetrated
Fo-Kien are
in
also
more amply avenged than
No
they so far appear to have been.

of inquiry conducted by Chinese
the presence or in
in
Consuls,
ever
will
commission
officials,
whether
the absence of European
reveal
connection which
the
between the immediate culprits and their

aiders and abettors in high places, nor is any
exists
commission
of inquiry
necessary
connection which Chinese law

the
of hierarchical
principle
Powers have only
to
itself
establish
deduces from
The
responsibility.
to insist that
the law shall be
enforced with the utmost rigour where missionaries

in the same way as it is enforced
Chinamen have suffered, i.e., Chinamen
who possess sufficient influence and money to set
the law in motion.
If the central Government
have suffered
where
cannot or will not enforce

then
We
we must
its
laws in such cases,
take the task into our
own
used at one time occasionally to do
people in
hands.
soj
and
Canton have not yet entirely forgotten
that a very
high
official
there was once placed
on board of a British man-of-war and deported

to
where he was allowed the

Punishment
for repentance.
Calcutta,
a lifetime
leisure of
in
China
VII
should be retributive
all
be deterrent.
if
possible, but
There
is
it
93
must above
an underground con-
nection between every viceregal
Yamen
and an example made of one of them

felt at
China,
in
will
every provincial seat of government.
be
CHAPTER
VIII
shown greater imperviousness than

any Other Eastern State to the influences of Western
If China has
civiHsation, there
one point
is
least
at
on which
her obstinacy has until recently stood her in good
While other Eastern Powers, scarcely more

to the wholesome influences
of the West, have eagerly welcomed the facilities
for reckless extravagance opened up by contact
with the modern money market, China has hitherto
shown in this direction a very laudable self-restraint.
stead.
amenable than China
The few
small loans which she had from time to
time contracted abroad before the Japanese war
were always punctually discharged, and the

outstanding amount
for the
been paid
off before
internal debt.
war she was

a silver
now.
hostilities
would have
Nor had she
Under the pressure
driven to raise
loan
total
barely half a million sterling,
outbreak of
which but
any
is
until
then
of a disastrous
two loans abroad, one,
of ;î, 635,000
at
per
cent.,
in
CH. VIII
95
December, 1894, and one, a gold loan of ^3,000,000,

February of this year. Besides these two loans,
in
contracted
by the
Government on
central
Customs under
security of the Imperial Maritime
Robert
Sir
authorities
the
Hart's
administration,
obtained
considerable
the
provincial
advances from
banks and from smaller foreign syndicates on
local
The
the same security.
total
indebtedness repre-
sented by these advances has not yet been definitely ascertained,
but
it
may be
between two and three millions

thereto, and, at least in part,
internal loans
have been
safely put
sterling.
security,
which can only be
roughly estimated, but which probably do not

short of _;^5,ooo,ooo.
fall
be
estimated
By
undertook
pay
to
at the close of the war,
approximately at
^13,000,000.
far
Altogether, including the small
outstanding balance of former foreign loans, the
debtedness of China
at
In addition
on the same
floated,
down
in-
might
;^ 12,000,000
to
the Treaty of Shimonoseki she
200,000,000 Kuping
war
Japan
taels,
and
indemnity
of
for the retrocession
of the Leao-tong Peninsula the compensation which
she has to pay, has been fixed at another 30,000,000

taels,
The
or in sterling altogether about ;^40,ooo,ooo.

total liabilities arising
and penalties of war

;^50,ooo,ooo.
How
out of the expenditure
amount
to
over
China be able
to
meet
therefore
will
them ?
For a country of three or
four hundred million
96
inhabitants
and almost inexhaustible
chap.
natural
re-
sources such a burden ought not to be excessive.
But
in
this,
as in every other respect,
the
same
standard cannot be applied to China as to other
No
countries.
trustworthy returns of revenue are
published, and such information as

foreigners
with
reference to the
Imperial Treasury in Peking
and of doubtful
intrinsic
is
the
but
value,
however^
the different results
present rate
represents a
between
shown by conversion
years ago.
exchange
much lower
So long as
not
materially
sight
affected
these
for
silver
figure than
at varying
and
at the
naturally
it
it
did a few
the Chinese revenue had
no heavy gold payments to meet abroad,
silver,
and
a great measure due to
rates of Chinese currency into sterling,
of
been
;^ 15,000,000
discrepancy
in
reaches
recent years
between
at
The
;^2 5,000,000.
further
the provincial
The normal revenue which
variously estimated
is,
is
it
the collection and expenditure
Peking Treasury has of
estimates
of the
not only fragmentary
is
complicated by the latitude which

treasuries enjoy in
of revenue.
accessible to
receipts
by
the
it
was
depreciation
of
but with a gold debt of ;^5o,ooo,ooo in
its
situation in this respect
is
entirely changed.
Herr von Brandt, formerly German Minister
in
Peking, and one of the best of living authorities,

adopts the figure of 100,000,000 taels
;!î
5,000,000
as representing the annual revenue of the central
vm
Government, and he subdivides

items
97
into the following
it
Taels.
Land
tax
35,000,000
Maritime Customs, including inland duty on foreign
opium
23,000,000
Inland transit dues

Native Customs and native grown opium duty...
Salt
monoply
Sale of
10,000,000
and brevet ranks
titles
2,000,000
10,000,000
5,000,000
Rice tribute
3,000,000
Licenses, &c.
2,000,000
Total
...
...
This would appear

low
exceedingly
population,
of
rate
even
scale
accurate
if
of the amounts
idea
from the taxpayer.
levied
the colossal
figures,
convey no
themselves,
actually
head of
per
taxation
with the single exception of the
but,
Maritime Customs, these

in
sight to represent an
first
at,
Taels 100,000,000
...
...
view of
In
upon which the
official
conduct their operations of public plunder,
assumed that
safely be
Treasury
into the
in
every
for
Peking
more are extorted from the

in
at
classes
it
may
tael actually paid
least four or five
and melt away
public,
the course of transmission through the nimble

a predatory hierarchy.
fingers of
of
characteristic
with
revenue,
Peking
Chinese
exception
the
the
revenue
Treasury
alternations
of
of
the
and
seems
bad
paid
to
always
that,
Maritime
annually
never
good
It is strikingly
methods
Customs
into
vary.
years,
to
the
The
which
China with her periodical famines and inundations

II
98
is
CHAP.
more subject than perhaps any other
country-j
are never reflected in the returns of public revenue.
In theory, no doubt, the explanation sounds plausible
enough, that the various provinces and
districts
are assessed at a fixed annual sum, in accordance
But the same custom
with immemorial custom.
also prescribes, at least in theory, that remissions
of taxation shall
nection
with
be allowed,
especially
in
con-
whenever unforeseen
the land-tax,
As there
upon the tax-payer.
few countries where such visitations are of
visitations
fall
are
so
frequent occurrence as in China, remissions of taxation,
they really took place, ought to produce
if
corresponding fluctuations in the aggregate receipts

of the Imperial
inferring
that
fluctuations,
"
make
there
as
the
One
Treasury.
no trace of any such
is
themselves
remissions
see," like so
many
only
while an immutable tradition has fixed
that,
the
amount with which the
has to be
are
other things in China,
and
satisfied,
bargain
private
can hardly help
the rest
between
Peking Mandarins.
In
serves to prove that this
is
the
fact,
is
Government
central
merely a matter of
provincial
and the
one notable exception

the rule.
After the
wholesale impoverishment of the country by the
ravages
fearful
of
assessment of the
and the
in the
the
Taeping
land-tax
had
effect of this reduction
rebellion,
to
was
at
the
be reduced,
once
visible
diminished returns of public revenue which
have never since been brought up to
their earlier
VIII
level.
In the present condition of things, and so
long as there
its
no prospect of any
Is
administration,
represents
all
as well as
all
the
that
be expected to yield,
can
country can be expected
the
that
real reform In
revenue probably
existing
it
Perhaps, for a few years at
to pay.
local
In
for
the
whilst
authorities not
some
least,
shrinkage rather than any Increase ought
expected
99
to
be
war was going on the
Infrequently levied the taxes
advance, or lavished profuse promises of future
relief
In
return
Immediate contributions, and
for
some of these promises might have

partially
which China can

it
be at
least
redeemed.
Fortunately for her, there
ship,
to
Is
rely,
one revenue upon
Is
because, except as to owner-
Chinese only
in
name
to
the
wit,
Maritime Customs revenue, levied by foreigners

In
her employ upon her foreign trade.
venue
about
represents
sterling at the present
This
three-and-a-half
rate
of
re-
millions
exchange, and
it
should therefore be sufficient to meet the Interest

of the debt of
nection with
security
raised,
for
^50,000,000
contracted
the recent war.
which
the loans
Including
the
It
conditions
has formed the
Franco-Russian
she
can
con-
China has already
forms, Indeed, the only security

existing
in
loan,
and
upon which under
possibly
expect
to
Whether she has improved its value in the eyes of European financiers
by granting practlcallj' a first lien upon It to two
H 2
borrow
In foreign markets.
loo
chap.
such masterful creditors as France and Russia,
perhaps be doubted.; but

that,
may be
it
safely conceded
France and Russia are not
if
to reserve
to themselves
a position
in
the exclusive
future
in
may
right of financing China, she will obtain assistance
from other quarters, and on more or less onerous

terms be able to meet out of the Maritime Customs
revenue the
liabilities
which
with
the
war has
saddled her.
But does that dispose of the

of her position
place
them
or does
financial difficulties
not rather simply
it
dis-
This revenue, which she has hence-
forth to surrender for the service of a foreign debt,
represents not only

total
revenue
general
close
hitherto
expenditure,
upon a quarter
available
but
little
gone
to
portion
purpose
She has spent
the
Part of
past.
the Palace in Peking, a
feed
descended
Even
the
has
larger
which proved a mere snare and
fleets
but,
stage
if
to
it
it
still
one way or another,
has gone to
it
keep up the appearances of Empire, and

such
and
has been squandered on the creation of
armies and
delusion
in
purposes of
for
most certain
the
tangible of her revenues.
very
of the
properties
to
no
as
she
borrow from
real
required for
it.
has hitherto con-
Western
civilisation.
reforms are to be looked
same game of " make see
the future as
to supply
in
the
The
past,
"
is
to
money
for,
be played
will
still
if
in
be
reorganisation of the army
and navy occupies a foremost place
in the public
VIII
programme, and
prospectively
no
doubt
in
the
private pecuniary calculations of every Mandarin,
"conservative,"
it
or
"progressive";
and,
even
if
once more produces only sham armies and sham
A STATION MASTER ON CHINAS ONLY RAILWAY.
fleets,
they will have to be paid
other public works,
if
for.
Railways and
they are to be built at
are to be built, according to
the views
still
all,
pre-
valent in Peking, by the Chinese themselves, either
out of
revenue or with
the
proceeds of further
I02
loans, the service of
of revenue
mum
which
will
have
CHAP.
be met out
to
they are to be built with a maxi-
i.e.,
of extravagance, roguery, and incompetence.
If
it
system
were conceivable that under the present

of government even a relatively higher
standard of honesty could be introduced into the

public administration, the Treasury receipts might
at
once show an increase which would
new demands
the
increasing
it
without
But, as has
think, sufficiently indicated, such
contingency
Emperor
be made upon
burden of taxation.
the
been already,
a
to,
meet
easily
is
as
inconceivable
as
that
the
Hung Chang
or his great satraps like Li
should sacrifice to the necessities of the State any

portion of the vast hoards of wealth which they are
known
to
have accumulated by the sweat of
toiling millions
whom
ative which they
they
The
rule.
might be compelled
the
only altern-
to contemplate
would be the surrender of some other branch of the

public revenue into the hands of a foreign administration
similar to that of the
Maritime Customs.
must be remembered that the administration

of the Maritime Customs, as we know it to-day,
But
it
has grown up in spite of the Chinese Government

rather than with
Mr. Lay was
first
its
active
co-operation.
When
appointed more than thirty-five
years ago, to direct and assist the local authorities
Shanghai
in the collection of the
at
Maritime Customs
of that port, the Chinese authorities never dreamt

of the importance which an institution so modest in
vin
its
origin
was destined ultimately
103
The
to acquire.
dominant influence of England in Peking after the

war of i860 induced them to acquiesce in the
gradual
brought into their

tial
of a
extension
coffers a
But
revenue.
service
which annually-
more and more substan-
even
the
success
brilliant
achieved by Sir Robert Hart and the undoubted
and of his
loyalty both of the Inspector-General
able staff to the best interests of China have never
overcome the jealousy and aversion of the ruling

classes for
an organisation which they
feel
them-
selves powerless either to criticise or to upset.
the
present
because
day,
although
or
they know that every
perhaps
penny
the Maritime Customs administration
rather
collected
is
To
by
faithfully
paid into the Chinese Treasury, they leave no stone
unturned to drive the import trade under native
away from the ports where there is a European Customs administration to those under native
control
administration, with the result, for instance, that in
the
Canton province the four ports
where
the
customs are collected by Sir Robert Hart's employes

yield a revenue of three million taels, while the forty
by native
ports where they are collected
produce, or at least pay

taels.
in,
less
officials
than half a million
While every other branch of the public
revenue remains absolutely stationary, that of the
Maritime Customs has doubled
yet, with
such an
object lesson in the value of integrity and order
constantly before
its
eyes, the Chinese
Government
104
chap.
remains obstinately blind to the substantial advantages
which
would
necessarily
accrue
from
an
extension of the same principles of administration

to other departments.
Time and
interests,
to
again
it
has been urged in
and as a mere
intrust
Sir
its
own
measure of financial policy,
Robert Hart's administration with
the collection of the whole customs revenue, native

as well as foreign,
European
officials
monopoly, which
revenue
and
to place
the
management
in
the hands of
of
the
salt
would be a source of immense
honestly and wisely administered, but
if
is
to-day mainly an instrument of petty tyranny and

gross peculation.
than in
It is still
in this direction rather
a more ambitious attempt to promote a
sweeping scheme of general reforms that foreign

pressure might at present be most usefully applied.
Even
if
the Em.peror and the central Government
had any desire
to introduce wholesale reforms into
the existing system of administration, they could
not supply the machinery for carrying their purpose

into effect, nor
command
the material force neces-
sary to overcome the resistance which they would
meet with
of
at
every point from the vested
powerful bureaucracy
defence of
time-honoured
leagued
abuses.
interests
together
Any
in
foreign
Power prepared to enforce such an undertaking

upon the rulers of China would have to furnish
both the machinery and the motive power to drive
it.
It would practically have to take into its hands,
VIII
to a far greater extent, for instance, than
done
105
we have
government of the country,

and, apart from the danger of international jealousy,
in
Egypt, the
real
such a responsibility
one to
not
is
be
lightly
incurred.
No
country probably could be more easily ruled
by foreigners than China, for there is no people

more docile to its rulers than the Chinese. It is
little
more than 200 years since the wearing of the

was imposed upon them as a badge of their
pigtail
servitude to a new* dynasty of alien conquerors, and
to-day there
origin
of,
is
or does not glory
His
dress.
not a Chinaman
conservatism
in,
who
recollects the
his distinctive head-
the
in
lies
spirit
unquestioning obedience which he yields to

rulers rather than in the
from him.
form
in
which
of
his
exacted
it is
But more powerful than the accidents
of foreign conquest has hitherto been the unchangeable
influence
whom
of
the governing
classes
through
the conquerors have ruled, and to
whom
they have in turn succumbed.

In Egypt our veiled protectorate has been on the
whole
fairly
successful,
because
we have found
amongst the governing classes at least a certain

number of statesmen and officials willing to accept
the guidance of a handful of English administrators
and
to recogJiise the
ascendancy of England with-
out any direct assertion on her part

sovereignty.
In
China
European
of political
influence,
and
the influence of the present governing classes, are
io6
The
absolutely and hopelessly incompatible.
might sweep the

assumption
of
chap.
former
away immediately upon the

sovereignty, and probably
latter
direct
none would regret the old order of things or refuse

same obedience to the new. But the
to yield the
Without the constant
two could never be blended.

application of physical force
it is
impossible to con-
European or English officials working with

or through Chinese Mandarins to any effectual or
ceive
permanent purpose.
that
of the
Imperial
foreign administration like
Maritime Customs can be
created and maintained, but only on condition that

it
remains what
imperium
financial
in the
in
Other
branches
of the
administration will have to be dealt with
same way
served, not for
European peace
trol
has been from the beginning, an
it
imperio.
the Chinese
if
its
;
own
is
be pre-
to
sake, but for the sake of
and, for the
under which they
Empire
will
same
have
to
reason, the con-
be placed must
be such as not to operate to the exclusive
political
advantage of any single Power or group of Powers.
The
central
will
develop them
Government must be induced to place

the collection and management of other portions of
its revenue in the hands of European officials, impartially selected from different nationalities, who
in
the same loyal and single-
.minded way in which they have already developed

that of the Maritime Customs,
it
to
meet out of
its
own
and
will thus
intrinsically
enable
ample
re-
sources the growing expenditure of the future. This
vin
much
the collective pressure of
107
Europe ought
to
achieve, and the authority of Peking over the pro-
weakened though it has doubtless been by

recent events, would still prove adequate for such a
limited purpose, if properly exerted under close and
constant supervision. Had France and Russia been
vinces,
in a position to carry out in all its logical
consequences
the policy of exclusivism upon which they originally

entered,
by shutting out
all
other countries from
participation in further Chinese loans as they did in
the
first,
they would probably not have been
posed to co-operate
indirectly,
in
to restrict the financial tutelage
they aimed at establishing over China
which
but as
cumstances have compelled them to leave the
open
dis-
any measure calculated, even
cir-
field
for the capitalists of other countries, they can
hardly refuse to join with those Powers
wish to insure,
who merely
for the benefit of all the creditors of
China, the stability of her financial position.
CHAPTER
IX
FROM CHINA TO JAPAN
There
can be few stronger contrasts than that
which presents
the
who
crosses
few hundred miles of sea separating
China
from Japan.
itself to
It
is
the traveller
like
passing from night into
day, from an atmosphere laden with the oppressive
odour of decay into one charged with the ozone
On
of exuberant vitality.
Yellow Sea he has

agglomeration of
left
the western shores of the
behind him a countless
human beings which no homo-
geneity of race, language, or religion has availed

to
weld together into a nation, a cumbersome and
corrupt bureaucracy which barely contrives to keep

the ponderous machinery of government
moving
in
the well-worn ruts of time-honoured abuses, and a

central authority, loose
now
and
shiftless at the best,
distracted to the verge of utter
and
helplessness
and imbecility. On its eastern

amongst a people whose national vigour has been
strung to the highest point of tension by a strenshores he lands
uously centralised administration, which
itself re-
FROM CHINA TO JAPAN
CHAP IX
sponds
to
complete sympathy of
in
and heart
intellect
touch of enlightened and resolute
the
Alone amongst
have realised
West.
among
Asiatic nations, Japan seems to
in
its
fullest
sense
the
modern
we understand
it
In China the eyes of even the best
the living generation are
by
hypnotised
constant contemplation of the dead past.

all
rulers.
all
conception of patriotism, such as

in the
109
In Japan
eyes are straining towards the future.
On
the
one hand, the chaos of misrule, corruption, and

ignorance
on the
other, a rigid discipline
based on
an individual sense of duty and an innate love of

In China an almost universal trend down-
order.
wards
the
into
common
Japan a combined
slough
effort to level
despond
of
upwards.
in
In both
countries the lower classes are patient and industrious
but whilst in China what remains to them of
the fruits of their industry
squeezed by their rulers
opium smoking and

gambling,
is
is
the
have been
too often squandered in
an insensate
rule
in
Japan.
mania
for
In both
they are easily governed, but in China
countries
there
thrift
in
is
after they
the
dull,
unreasoning resignation of the
overworked beast of burden, in Japan, the ready

acquiescence of a bright and light-hearted people
instinct with the
No
joyousness of
life.
ordeal tries the mettle of a nation like war.
In China,
assaults
save for here and there a few brutal
upon some unoffending Japanese during the
exodus which followed the outbreak of
hostilities,
the
no
dull indifference of the
chap.
masses was rivalled only by
the callousness of their rulers.
The army, with a

splendid physique, great powers of endurance, and a
strange indifference to death, except apparendy on
the field of battle, showed
be a mere herd of
itself to
helpless coolies, and

if
its officers proved themselves

anything more worthless even than the rafik and
The
file.
military
have no pride
in
and
men
same
treat their
tempt which
is
with the
meted out
their profession,
heartless con-
to themselves.
they are never with their men, and least of
any fighting has
to
by the
Mandarins, despised
civilian literati,
be done.
In fact
all
when
European en-
gineer on the Tientsin
Shan-Hai-Kwang Railway,
over which thousands
of
troops
were conveyed
during the war, assured
me
that he
had never once
'seen in charge of
a captain
and
them an
officer
a Chinese captain
an
officer
is
only a coolie
The canon
promoted from the ranks.

ties forbids
of higher rank than
going near his
of proprie-
men except
in order to gamble with them and reduce their
pay-sheet by his winnings.
must
be
preserved
on
The
parade
distance which
and
in
battle
order between the troops and the officers in com-
mand
of them
laid
is
down
in
the Chinese text-
books with edifying precision. It varies, according

to the rank of the military Mandarins, from 1,200 to
3,000 paces.
It
may be imagined what
sort
of
control an officer sitting at such a safe distance in

his palanquin, or, if
by chance riding on horseback,
FROM CHINA TO JAPAN
IX
supported
etiquette
in
his
saddle according to the rules of
by a posse of servants on
have over
men.
his
Chinese indeed.
should be
left
To
undone
foot
is
Chinese camp
likely to
is
very
begin with, everything that

is
done
to
make
spicuous as possible to the enemy.
it
as con-
Just as every
A CHINESE BRAVE.
Chinese soldier wears on his dark-coloured coat,

both back and front, a large white circular patch
embroidered with the name of his company and

regiment which stands out
at a
thousand yards
the bull's eye of a target, so every Chinese
marked out against the skyline by
like
camp
is
gaudy array
112
chap.
and pennants with the standard of the

commander flaunting above the rest on a lofty-
of flags
The camp
scaffolding right in the centre.
itself
consists of a collection of quadrangular pens enclosed
by mud.
walls,
in
which
the
men
are
huddled
together in batches of five hundred or a thousand,

whilst the regimental or headquarter staffs live in
comparative luxury
and
neighbouring villages,
in
devote their chief energy to defrauding the troops of

the largest possible proportion of their rations and
What wonder
pay.
that under such conditions the
Chinese army has been a terror not to the enemies
whom
it
was sent
peasantry of the
to
fight,
district
the
but to
unhappy
Of
though now
where it was quartered
discipline there could not be a vestige,
and again a Mandarin might attempt

savage lawlessness of his
to repress the
men by some condign
of severity equally savage and
lawless.
On
act
one
occasion, for instance, a vendor of bread and cakes
whose
shop had been
ransacked
by marauders
wearied the General by his lamentations into
him
that, if
justice
telling
he could produce one of the offenders,

be
should
done
him.
He
forthwith
denounced one of the soldiers present, and
the
General gave orders for the delinquent to be then
and there ripped open.
If the result
showed
that
he had deserved punishment, well and good.

not, the
plaintiff"
would be subjected
penalty for having traduced him.
was performed
to the
The
If
same
operation
from the bleeding entrails of the
FROM CHINA TO JAPAN
IX
poor wretch material evidence of his
guilt
Chinese justice had been done
produced.
Japan
113
is
a nation of
was
hero worshippers, undis-
criminating, perhaps, at times in the objects of
its
worship, but always accessible to the highest forms

of emotion.
first
The enthusiasm
army for the

service was equalled
of the
time called out for active
only by the enthusiasm of the people for the army.
To
the impression
made by
the Japanese
army
in
the field upon a trained observer, Surgeon-Colonel
W.
Taylor,
who
acted as British military attache
during the war, has recently rendered an impartial
testimony in the course of a lecture delivered to his

brother officers at Aldershot.
no sense an exaggeration
made by Japan
" It
was," he said, " in
to say that the progress
in recent years,
and more especially
in
army and navy, was unknown

to western nations up to the date when the late war
with China broke out. That she possessed a military
service of a certain strength and made up of different
branches considered necessary parts of a modern
army was doubtless known to the Intelligence
Departments of the European nations, but not one
of these had the slightest idea of the high state of
the organisation of her
efficiency to
which the military organisation had
been brought or of the splendid
discipline, hardihood,
and bravery of the soldiers of which the Japanese

army was composed. Nor was it appreciated that
Japan had physicians and surgeons of the highest
standing,
many
of
whom
had
taken
first-class
I
114
honours
in
American and European
some of whom were pioneers
chap.
schools,
and
in bacteriological
and
Recognising
other branches of scientific research.
that trained soldiers were worth looking after and
caring
health,
for,
that
it
was necessary
to
keep them
and that humanity demanded the
any
rate, the alleviation
her
Army
in
relief or, at
of all suffering, she organised
The
Medical Department.
effect of that
organisation was such that there was no nation in

the world not even Germany to whom Japan
could not teach many lessons, so perfect and com-
plete
was her system of medical
service."
In the eyes of the Japanese themselves the warlike
achievements of a national campaign conducted on

the
most approved principles of modern science
represented but the natural evolution of those feudal

virtues which fired the imagination of their ancestors,
and had ever formed the favourite themes of their

poets. There was not a hamlet in the most secluded
country side which did not
the war and deck
itself
every episode of
thrill to
out in
the bravery of
all
bunting and triumphal arches to welcome back
its
own small contingent of battle-stained warriors.

Even the bearers and coolies, the humblest of noncombatant camp-followers, had their share
joyful
home-coming.
wretched
In
China
had seen
soldiers, dismissed with a
mere
from the colours, begging and bullying
home
to their distant provinces.
in the
pittance
their
In Japan,
the whole population of a small village
the
way
saw
in the hills
FROM CHINA TO JAPAN
X
of
Hakona
turn out to struggle for the gratuitous
honour of taking
who had been

to recruit their
the
in
up from the hospitals of Tokyo

strength in the more bracing air of
The one
revenge provoked
explosion
savage
of
Port Arthur by the atrocities
had
committed
upon
should be remembered mainly
prisoners
solitary
at
Chinese
the
a batch of invalided soldiers,
sent
mountains.
which
115
their
the
as
exception to the rule of rigid discipline
maintained throughout the rest of the campaign,
and against
it
may
well be set off the friendly rela-
tions universally established
between the conquerors
and the peasantry of the Chinese
which
districts
they occupied, and the security enjoyed throughout
Japan by the Chinamen who elected
The
there during the war.
appeals
to
remain on
made by
so
many Chinamen in the neighbourhood of Wei-HaiWei and in other districts which the Japanese have
to evacuate,
begging
be naturalised as Japanese
to
subjects, are an eloquent tribute to the justice
generosity of Japanese
and
administration even in
conquered country.
Of
the statesmanship which presides over the
destinies of the
clearly
and
respective
two countries, the
relative value
is
indelibly set forth in the pages of their
history
during
Personal acquaintance with
the
its
last
thirty
years.
chief exponents on
either side merely brings out the contrast in sharper

relief.
had met Li
and a few weeks
later
Hung Chang in Tien-tsin,

it was my privilege to meet
I
ii6
chap.
the Japanese Prime Minister, Count Ito, in Tokyo.
Comparisons are proverbially odious, and in this

case it might scarcely be a compliment to Count
Ito
even
to institute a comparison.
need merely
me
say that Count Ito not only talked with
my
in
own language, slowly and somewhat laboriously,

yet with correctness and lucidity, but displayed, in
the
acquaintance
with
the
and
ideas
profound
a long conversation,
course of
methods
of
European civilisation, together with an independent

and sometimes critical but always friendly and
thoughtful judgment concerning the limits within
which their assimilation was desirable or possible
from
point of
the
view of
own
his
country's
material needs and ethical idiosyncrasies.
But even
in those features
which must appeal
the casual traveller, the contrast

startling.
Of
the Chinese capital
attempted to draw what can

very imperfect
picture.
at best
But the
the last stage of decomposition.
less
have already
be a
faint
and
stately isolation
and antiquity of Peking spread a

over the remnants of a once mighty
in
no whit
is
to
certain glamour
civilisation
To
even
realise fully
the abomination of a Chinese town, one must pass

straight out of the cleanliness
and symmetry of the

filth
and
They
are
foreign settlements in Shanghai, into the
stench and chaos of the native
city.
divided only by a broad thoroughfare and a deep
archway under the ruinous walls of the Chinese

city.
On
the
one
side,
under
peculiar
but
FROM CHINA TO JAPAN
IX
117
eminently practical form of municipal self-government, has risen within the
decades a busy,
last four
thriving, well-drained, well-ordered, well-lighted city,
with an excellent supply of water, with spacious
promenades, with handsome well-kept
streets, with
commodious houses and fine public buildings, with

immense warehouses and business premises, and
along the whole-river
cent
with
it
to
a succession of magnifi-
side,
quays and commodious docks,

the
all
modern
emporium of trade
palsied
away
old
inhabitants
in the
are
is
slow-
decrepitude and sloth of
The more
age.
in
the other side, under the blight
of Mandarin misrule, the ancient native city

ly rotting
fact
greatest shipping centres of
the world, and the greatest
On
in
appliances, which have enabled
become one of the
the Far East,
fitted
gradually
enterprising
migrating
of
into
its
its
the
European settlements where as law-abiding citizens

they enjoy in peace and security the abundant
fruits
of
their
But upon the

classes,
natural
rest,
intelligence
and industry.
and especially upon the ruling
the object-lesson which
lies
at their very
doors, in even the material advantages of

civilisation,
is
The European
absolutely
Western
and hopelessly wasted.
municipalities, anxious to mitigate
the dangers which must
always
arise
from
the
proximity of such a hot-bed of infection, tried to

induce the authorities of the native city to have
at least a
supply of wholesome water laid on from
the European waterworks.
Very easy terms were
ii8
The
but in vain.
were not
in
to
pressure was applied,
precincts
of the Chinese city
be contaminated by clean water
European
filtered
cisterns.
Outside the
tricts
official
and strenuous
offered,
chap.
and generally
cities,
in
the rural
dis-
of China, one breathes a healthier and freer
atmosphere.
The
peasantry are friendly, and the
they are removed from the demoralising
further
influence of the big Mandarins, the
tentment of undisturbed industry

peaceful homesteads, the
whatever there
is
left
survived in spite of
more
more the
con-
reflected in their
is
one
also
realises that
of prosperity in China has
its rulers.
Roads, canals, public
works of every
kind, except
under the pressure of
some alarming
cataclysm, are
selves,
left
to shift for them-
and what remains of them simply serves
to
emphasise the contrast between the past and the

present.
waste of
It
is
a cruel sight to see the miserable
human
and animal suffering
toil
entailed
by the neglect of the most ordinary duties of the
Long files of camels and of mules can

way with relative ease, even under heavy
State.
pick
their
bur-
dens, over the well-worn tracks which, except at

certain seasons, afford
are by an excessive
much
better going than what
euphemism
termed the Im-
still
perial roads.
But with the conservatism peculiar
China, wheel
traffic,
when
which dates back to the time
there were real roads,
after the roads
to
is still
have ceased to
maintained long
exist.
Four,
six,
and
even eight horses or mules are harnessed to the
FROM CHINA TO JAPAN
IX
119
cumbersome overloaded waggons, and by

blows and curses from
how
some-
drag them along over boulders and through
to
which
ruts,
dint of
their drivers, contrive
in
any other country would be looked
upon as simply insurmountable.

Presently there
comes a steep declivity, and to supply the place of a
brake, one or two of the unfortunate animals are
detached from the team, and secured by long ropes
from their collar-piece to the rear of the waggon.
Then, as the ponderous vehicle stumbles down the

hill-side,
a couple of drivers, facing the wretched
beasts, belabour
them on the head with the heavy
thongs and
heavier handles of their whips until
still
forced back
down
upon
their hind-quarters they slither
the incline, panting and quivering in every
nerve,
but
counteracting
downward momentum
only
fair to
add
by
their
of the cart.
that the
the
struggles
Perhaps
men who have
at the
it
is
same
time to act as drags upon the wheels do not fare
very much better than the four-footed brakes in the

rear,
and do not require

is
know what they
except that they
however only
to
are about,
be mercilessly beaten.
one
of
many
illustrate the brutalising effect
incidents
This
which
upon the people of
a callous and pitiless ruling class.
Not only the
moral, but the physical sensitiveness to pain be-
comes blunted, and the most exquisite refinements

of torture merely arouse among the spectators feelings of curiosity and of amusement, rather than of
disgusti
The same kind
of atrophy seems to have
I20
impaired even the
artistic sensibility
chap.
of the people,
and with few exceptions the best work that is produced in China to-day is only a feeble imitation,
when it is
not a mere caricature, of the masterpieces of
Many
earlier times.
of the most beautiful processes
workmanship have been altogether lost, and

the spirit which informed them in the days of Kien
Lung or of Kiang Hshi is extinct. There is a general
of
impression that China has merely stood

other nations
reality
have progressed.
still
whilst
But she has
in
proved no exception to the rule that nations
must move either forwards or backwards.
She was
to invent most things, from
undoubtedly the
first
gunpowder
to the
Wagnerian
principle
clearly discernible amidst the distressing
is
cacophony
lyrical
to
leit
motiv, of which the
Western ears of her interminable
dramas, and she had reached a relatively
high standard of civilisation at a time when our

ancestors
Northern Europe were
in
than savages.
nothing
date
little
But she has been able
and though
when she reached
it
is
difficult to
better
to perfect
specify the
the zenith of her prosperity,
there are ample indications that within the last one

or two centuries she has been from every point of
What we
view steadily and even rapidly declining.

see to-day
is
not merely stagnation, but decay.
In Japan, on the other hand, the past
is
only the
picturesque background which throws into relief the
achievements of the present and the promise of the

future.
It is
needless for
me
to expatiate
upon the
FROM CHINA TO JAPAN
IX
121
Empire of the
Far East, or upon the quaintly fascinating manners
of its people.
For they are nowadays familiar to
every one, either from personal knowledge and from
the many excellent works produced by more comnatural beauties of the fair
petent authorities than
Island
can claim to be.
But
in
order thoroughly to appreciate either the country

or the town
of Japan, there can be no better
life
preparation than a
Tokyo may
capital.
of
capital
but
China and
to the Chinese
not rival Kyoto, the former
Mikados,
the
natural beauty
ingly,
visit to
it
in
historical
interest
or
combines, even more strik-
most of the graceful features of Japanese
national
life
with
In
civilisation.
all
its
the appliances
of
broad and well-kept
modern
streets,
over which stretches an intricate network of
phone and telegraph
wire, the native jinriksha
telestill
own with the electric tramway and the

The tall chimneys of gigantic factories,
omnibus.
holds
its
where the nascent industry of the Far East is

already competing successfully with the old manuovershadow but do
facturing centres of the West,
not crush the
tiny
workshops where the
skilled
artisan puts into his patient labour the individuality
of an artist's soul.
The merry
twinkle of thousands
of Japanese lanterns has not been subdued by the
more searching
brilliancy of
the great arc lights
which constellate the sky above.
The
fierce spirit
of olden times has departed from the Japanese forms

of worship
but the stately shrines of Shiba and
132
Asakusa have not
lost their
chap.
hold upon the romantic
imagination of a poetic people, and the beautiful
parks and gardens which surround them, thrown
open
comers, are
to all
the favourite
resorts
Not
holiday-makers as well as of devotees.

interesting
least
of
the
many
curious
of
the
and novel
which Japan presents is the rapid assimiby a people upon whom dogmatic Christianity
features
lation,
at least
which
appears to take no hold, of a
historical
civilisation
experience has hitherto led us to
consider well-nigh incompatible with any other form

of religion than Christias.ity.
The
kindly welcome everywhere extended to the
foreigner by the highest and the lowest

sibly spring rather
may
pos-
from the inborn courtesy of the
Japanese than from any special friendliness towards
But the charm of polished and kindly
Europeans.
manners, no
cleanliness
less
the
than
exquisite
Dutch-like
which seems to form part and parcel
of the Japanese nature,
materially enhances
the
pleasure of travel in a singularly beautiful country,
which combines, perhaps more than any

interest of strange
the
and unfamiliar surroundings with
requirements of physical comfort.
running
in
its
north
other, the
and
south
from
Railways
Tokyo
entire length the great central island.
bisect
The
Biwa Canal, which, tunnelled for a couple of miles

through the heart of a mountain chain, has brought
the rich agricultural district watered by the Biwa
Lake
into direct water
communication with Kyoto,
FROM CHINA TO JAPAN
IX
is
123
a feat of native engineering, conceived and exe-
cuted solely by Japanese, that
comparison with
India, a
scale,
somewhat
may
Periyar Canal
the
well deserve
in
Southern
work on a yet
similar
larger
which ranks as one of the proudest achieve-
ments of Anglo-Indian engineering

bours and lighthouses,
the
Har-
science.
regulation
of
rivers,
the construction of roads and bridges, the growth
of thriving industrial
cities
shipping centres such as
such as Osaka, of busy
Yokohama and Hiogo,
the
rapid development of a large mercantile marine,
all
bear witness wherever one turns to the ardour and

intelligence with
to take her part
peaceful
more
to hold her
competitions
struggles of the
is
which Japan has equipped herself

and
well
as
modern
world.
own
as
in
in the
the
more
armed
Nothing perhaps
significant in this respect than the marvel-
lous exhibition of native industries held this year at
Kyoto.
In spite of the tremendous strain to which
the whole
life
of the nation was subjected, not only
by the war with China, but by apprehensions of

still
graver struggles, the Japanese could yet spare
out of the superabundance of their energy enough
time and thought and enterprise to achieve a no

less signal if
industry.
more
pacific
triumph in the
field
of
CHAPTER X
THE JAPANESE INDUSTRIES AT THE KYOTO EXHIBITION
On
the principle that a Jack-of-all-trades can be
master of none,
it is
assumed
often
that so versatile
a people as the Japanese must necessarily be superficial.
As
a matter of fact thoroughness rather than
the superficiality generally imputed to them, seems

to
The
be one of their chief characteristics.
must have
of the recent campaign
history
satisfied
even
the most sceptical critics on this point, as far

least as their
military
organisation
at
and adminis-
may be
contended
that the fighting mettle of their troops
was never
tration are concerned,
though
subjected to any very severe

exhibition held this year at
it
test.
The
industrial
Kyoto must have
con-
vinced any impartial visitor that they can equally

excel in the arts of peace.
Everything
the
that
Japanese
do
bears
the
impress of careful thought, and one cannot help

believing that in selecting for the site of the most
important
industrial
Japan the ancient
exhibition
capital
hitherto
held
in
where the Mikados were
CHAP.
JAPANESE INDUSTRIES
125
enthroned before the days of the great national
awakening
an
in
atmosphere
of
exclusiveness
scarcely less forbidding than that which
still
sur-
rounds the Son of Heaven in Peking, they aimed at
one of those subtle contrasts
in
which
their artistic
nature delights.
Like the ancient Greeks and the
Italians of the
Renaissance, they have an innate
sense of the beautiful, and, owing to the absence of

all
apparent
effort,
lectual discipline
one
is
apt to overlook the intel-
under which their
sesthetic instinct
No
one, for instance,
has been trained and matured.
who
can
has visited the marvellous temples of Nikko

fail
to
have been struck with the impressiveness
of the frame in which they have been
set.
On
the
terraced slopes of a mountain valley the royal tombs
of Yemitsu and Yeyasu stand out in the opalescent

glory of
their
delicate
workmanship against
an
austere and majestic grove of lofty cryptomerias,
giant kings of the forest that lived for centuries
before and will for centuries outlive the monarchs
who
lie
those
buried at their
who have
feet.
We
studied the art literature of Japan
that this contrast, both natural
deliberately planned
The Japanese
in height
and
know now from
and symbolical, was
and purposed
in all its
details.
cedars rival even those of California

girth,
and their imperishable grandeur
were marked out not only to serve

as a foil to the exquisite daintiness and many-coloured
and sombre
foliage
brilliancy of these dainty shrines,
tracery
and carvings and
whose
lacquered
lace-like
panels
and
126
chap.
burnished columns and incrustations of solid gold
seem amidst such surroundings to be almost as

diaphanous and evanescent in their beauty as the
wings of a butterfly or the hues of a rainbow, but
also to
remind the worshipper that man's
ever bright,
is
up but once
how-
life,
only a transient sunbeam which lights
for
every one one single
little
spot on
the mysteriously revolving sphere of countless ages.
Equally suggestive, though of another order of

ideas,
day
is
the contrast between the Japan of yester-
which
lingers
untouched
still
quarters of Kyoto, the City of
in
the older
many Temples,
and
the Japan of to-day and of to-morrow which does
the honours of a thoroughly

in celebration of the eleven
of the foundation of the
modern
exhibition held
hundredth anniversary
city.
Within sound
the big bell of Chion-in, which has

to so
many
boomed
forth
generations of Buddhist worshippers
deep-mouthed
call
to
of
its
prayer, within sight of the
mediaeval castle where even after the Shogunate had

capitulated to
Western
than thirty years ago
keep the
gods,"
pressure, the
still
" barbarians "
Mikados
schemed and
out of the
less
plotted to
" land of the
Japan has given living testimony to the

new spirit henceforward associated in
reality of the
her history
with the year-name of Meiji.
The
gates of Japan remained closed for more than a
quarter of a century longer than those of China

against every
form of European intercourse, but
when they were
at last
thrown open, although
as in
JAPANESE INDUSTRIES
China at
first
127
onlyunder compulsion, they were thrown
almost at once wide open without any of the mental

reservations which have helped China to maintain in
spite of treaties the inflexible rigidity of her moral
Only twenty-seven years have elapsed

since the one hundred and twenty-third sovereign
isolation.
of a dynasty which has reigned for nearly twenty-
seven centuries
Island
in
unbroken succession over the
Empire of the Far East
realised that the
time had arrived to apply to his country the moral
when men
of the ancient Japanese proverb that "
become too old, they must be led by the young."

The Kyoto Exhibition contains an epitome of all
that Japan has learned during these twenty-seven
years from the ripe experience
of the West,
not
learned merely by rote and slavishly copied,
but
own needs
inwardly digested and moulded to her
and informed with her own
The
to
buildings in themselves
exhibition
claim any
more
be found
in
spirit.
originality or beauty than
is
cannot
usually
such temporary structures, but from
the outside they are not unsightly and inside they

are
well-lighted,
well-ventilated,
of
course
kept
scrupulously clean, and conveniently arranged and

distributed.
The
Japanese industry
contents
;
show the whole range of
and within the short space of a
quarter of a century, the range of Japanese industry
has so swiftly and steadily broadened out in every

direction that
now
it
may be
said to
fall
very
little
short
of the whole range of the world's industry,
128
whilst in
the
all
those branches which are indigenous to
of Japan,
soil
A very brief
many
has lost
it
originality
its artistic
and
little,
if
anything, of
traditional pre-eminence.
inspection suffices to dispel one of the
myths
abroad
prevalent
modern Japan,
viz.,
that
with
wholesale business
manufactures."
to
advantages of a
second-rate
in
Undoubtedly
regard
has sacrificed her
she
aesthetic idealism to the practical
thriving
chap.
" art
in the seaports chiefly
frequented by the omnivorous globe-trotter as well

as
many European
in
rubbish, not to speak of
shops,
still
plenty of Japanese
baser imitations manu-
Europe, can be found to-day which
factured in
twenty years ago no Japanese workshop would have
produced or existed
far too
which
to
to produce.
good traders
The
to refuse to supply
arises in the foreign market,
be blamed
if
Japanese are
demand
the
"cheap and vulgar."

phenomenon peculiar
and they are not
includes
But that
is
any demand
much which
not, after
to Japan, nor has
it
all,
is
impaired
the ability of the Japanese to supply the demand
which
still
exists
and grows both
at
home and
abroad for the highest and most perfect forms
of
Only an expert could

the exquisite exhibits at Kyoto
their national art industries.

fittingly describe all
which
art.
testify to the
The
splendid vitality of Japanese
crackled ware of Satsuma, which not long
ago seemed doomed to extinction, has once more
resumed
ceramic
its
art,
place in the front rank of Japanese
while the egg-shell porcelains of Mino,
JAPANESE INDUSTRIES
Kutani ware, and the
of the
the rich colouring
129
Kyoto itself, show

conception and for brilliancy as
that for variety of
potteries of
well as softness ot
tone the best specimens of the present day can well

stand
comparison with those of
have
the
the
Nor
past.
modern metal-workers and carvers
ivory lost their cunning,
more than
to
though perhaps
any other branch of Japanese
in
to
this
art
may
be applied nowadays the somewhat severe judgment

that "
is
it
great in small things and small in great
The
bronze Buddha
things."
genius which
inspired
Kamakura,
ment of " the peace which
of
the
great
that immortal
monu-
passeth
all
standing," belongs to far off centuries, and
had been
contact
lost
with
its
undersecret
long before there was any question of
On
Europe.
the
other
hand
the
Japanese lacquerers who so soon outstripped their
Chinese teachers have scarcely ever turned out

finer specimens,
the matchless gold
especially of
lacquer, than at the present day,
may be
cloisonnd enamelling
now brought
the
said to
to perfection, the
Kyoto and the Tokyo
and so beautiful of
its
and the
art of
have been only
modern work of both
schools, each so distinct
kind, combining with the
accuracy and sobriety of design of the older models

a
hitherto
perfection
unknown
of
finish.
paintings of the
The
oil
colouring
and
and water-colour
Europeanised school are merely
the creditable productions of
who have
of
delicacy
studied
chiefly
young Japanese
in
Paris,
artists
but there
is
I30
plenty of good
show
work
in
CHAP.
the old Japanese style to
that the influence of the great artisan-artists
did not disappear altogether with Kyosai, although
apparently the fashion to look upon his death
it
is
in
1889 as the end of Japanese painting.
Still less
can one deny to the modern Japanese embroideries,
and
to the hand-paintings
on
silk
and on
velvet,
wealth of imagination and a tastefulness of execution
work of the past. In fact,

if
I
may be allowed as a layman to express a
personal opinion, which however is also that of not
a few more competent judges, it would seem that,
generally speaking, the native industries more especially influenced by the aesthetic temperament of
the people have altogether gained far more by the
adoption of improved modern processes than they
have lost by the relative vulgarisation which must
in some measure accompany a largely increased
at least equal to the best
production.
But even
if
one were prepared to acquiesce
in
the verdict of the most despondent laudator tem-
poris
of
acti,
all
and to regard as inevitable the
those forms of art which
of associating with Old
we
extinction
are in the habit
Japan, neither the actual
nor the prospective achievements of Modern Japan

in the
wider
fields of the world's industries
be thereby materially
all
affected.
would
These form
after
perhaps the most important, though not the
most attractive side of the Kyoto Exhibition,

in
them we have the material evidence of the
for
extra-
JAPANESE INDUSTRIES
131
ordinary energy and quickness of apprehension and

adaptability of a singularly gifted race.
definition of genius as
Eliot's
for taking pains cannot

satisfactory, there
an
George
If
infinite capacity
be altogether accepted as
no people to whose genius
is
would seem so applicable as the Japanese.
At
it
first
they no doubt applied themselves merely to copy the

products of European industry,
beginners, their
and imperfect,
first
but
and,
unswerving tenacity of
purpose they kept on plodding away

in
most cases remedied their
five years
all
attempts were often clumsy

with
improved even upon
as with
until
defects,
they had
and
some
in
Within twenty-
their models.
they have learned to produce thousands
European boots and hats
of articles, from
grand
to
pianos and steam-boilers, of the very existence of
which they scarcely dreamed a quarter of a century

ago
and not only do they produce them now
ever-increasing
quality,
some
but,
quantities
owing
accidental
actually produce
industrial centres
fidence,
was
and
to a variety
of
an
in
excellent
of circumstances,
but others permanent, they can
them cheaper than

of the West.
told,
indications of prices
older
in the
Too much
con-
should not be placed in the

attached to the exhibits, as
some of the Japanese manufacturers were
apt to
appraise their wares below the real current rates
with
a view to
influence
the jury
for
the
tribution of awards, whilst taking care at the
time to label them as " Sold
"
in order
dis-
same
to avoid
2
132
with them at a
the risk of having to part
But
only
is
it
where
had no
say
to
fair
was able
chap.
that
loss.
the few cases
in
to put this statement to the test,
difficulty in obtaining the
same
articles at
the prices affixed to the exhibition samples.
One
of the sections which naturally claims the
textiles,
ducts
fully
for
already
visitor
that of
manufactured pro-
compete
only too success-
Lancashire
with those of
is
those
includes
it
which
English
of an
chief attention
and
India,
viz.,
cotton yarns of every grade, and piece goods of
Here,
every variety.
its
too,
can perhaps be seen
in
simplest and most striking form the ability of
the Japanese not only to turn out the cheapest
work possible where

order,
but
invest
to
is
it
it
of a purely mechanical
whenever
there
is
the
slightest scope for their artistic feeling, as in the
commonest cotton fabrics, with a

charm of grace and originality peculiarly their own.
The silk manufactures, and especially the finer
patterns of the
classes of
flowered silks and brocades, of course
display
these
degree.
The
artistic
qualities
in
woollen industries are
infancy in Japan, but there is

rapidly the supply
is
still
still
higher
in
their
to show how
demand which
The
recent years.
enough
following on a
has only sprung up of quite
Australians have already their eye on Japan as a

great future market for their wools, and considering
the relative proximity of the two countries, our

Australasian colonies
may
well look forward to sup-
JAPANESE INDUSTRIES
133
plying a raw material which Japan herself can hardly
be said to produce.
To
give a
of the
list
exhibits
the galleries
in
devoted to the miscellaneous industries of Euro-
pean
now
origin, but
would be merely
already acclimatised in Japan,
give a
to
which can be purchased
article
list
of almost every
in
Oxford Street or
Cheapside at the hosiers' and haberdashers',
and
trunk-makers'
makers' and
watch-makers',
and goldsmiths',
at the grocers'
and
the stationers' and saddlers',
the ironmongers', at
umbrella-makers' and the toy shops, and so
at the
on
shoe-
and perfumers',
hatters', at the cutlers'
at the jewellers'
at the
the
at
ad
If
infinitum.
for
and
quality
intrinsic
fashionable finish they cannot yet be said to stand
comparison with
the
best
the same
of
articles
London shops,
it
would be
just as great a mistake to imagine that
they are
category in
first-class
mere "shoddy"
imitations.
inferiority of quality
in
is
In fact the
most cases
relative
trifling
Where
pared with the relative inferiority of price.

the
essential,
the
workmanship
of
delicacy
greatest
Japanese
is
precision of eye produce almost perfect

as
in
the
manufacture
of scientific
most
and
touch
of
lightness
com-
results,
instruments,
mathematical, optical, photographic, and specially

those
for
purposes
meet
chanced to
devoted to
in
of surgery and dentistry.

front
of one
this class of exhibits a
surgeon, the
of
the
cases
young German
assistant of a well-known specialist.
134
who was
admiration over the finish of the
lost in
work, and in astonishment over

pointed
for
more
particularly
weighing
chap.
its
some minute
to
quantities,
infinitesimal
He
cheapness.
scales
which, he
assured me, could scarcely be matched in Europe^
and certainly not
Not
less
for
conspicuous
less
than twice the
the
is
ability
price.
displayed
in
adapting agricultural and other mechanical imple-
ments to the special needs of the Japanese
and
cultivator
artisan.
Strangest of
of industrial
all,
perhaps, in this strange revelation
but yesterday
life,
already ripening into the
full
still
unborn, and now
vigour of maturity,
is
the roar of steam engines and electro-motors in the
spacious gallery set apart for machinery,
machinery
not of foreign importation but of Japanese make,
derived indeed from foreign models, but applied

the
purposes of
Japanese
manufacture,
to
weaving
looms and printing presses, spinning frames and

driving gear,
represents
This part of the Exhibition
&c.
no doubt rather a suggestion of the
future than the actual achievements of the present,

for
Japan
will
probably for
many
years to come
have to draw from abroad the greater part of her

supply of machinery which figures in the import
lists
of 1894 for no less than half a million sterling.
But considering the enormously rapid

she
is
making, there
be looked upon
in
is
really
strides which
no future which can
respect of the development of
her industries as indefinitely remote.
JAPANESE INDUSTRIES
By no means
the
135
the least instructive spectacle which
Kyoto Exhibition presents
native visitors of
classes
all
has attracted from
is
the attitude of the
whom
and conditions
The
parts of the country.
all
Japanese are undoubtedly a pleasure-loving

but only on the principle that "
makes Jack
race,
work and no play
all
when on
a dull boy," and even
pleasure
bent they have essentially a frugal mind, and
anyhow
circumstances
The
business.
permit,
passenger
still
rates
Government contrives to work its

work them at a large profit, are
notions at
all
it
an
eye
for
which
at
railways,
if
the
and
to
Western
to our
times ridiculously low, scarcely one
farthing a mile third class, and for visitors to the
Exhibition return tickets have been issued at the

price of a single fare
instance, can travel to
some 650
Tokyo
so that the
Kyoto and back,
artisan, for
a distance of
miles, for less than eight shiUings
and as
another shilling a day amply covers his expenses for

food and lodging, the excursion
is
well within the
As an
reach of even his slender purse.
illustration
of what Japanese prices are, a dish of hot, fresh, and

fragrant tea, including a teapot and a cup of coarse
but tasteful faience, can be purchased at any railway

station in
Japan
for the
sum
of three farthings
these circumstances the Japanese
an outing and enjoys travelling

is
who
In
dearly loves
for travelling's sake,
not likely to grudge himself such a satisfactory
combination of the useful and the pleasurable.

it
is
quite evident that he has not
come
to
For
Kyoto
136
solely out
of curiosity or in
amusement, but to
the search of mere
He may
learn.
chap.
stroll
uncon-
cernedly through the galleries with which he has no
and
concern,
special
neighbours
European
section
in
manner
at
over
new-fangled
but
which he
with
his
exhibits
of
when he has reached
the
the
fashion,
and joke
laugh
personally interested, his
is
once changes, he studies everything with
close attention, he
makes copious
inquiries,
and
in
nine cases out of ten he pulls out a note-book and

jots
down
the results of his observations, slowly
perhaps and laboriously, but with visibly conscien-
He
tious thoroughness.
seems
upon
to look
this
great temple of modern industry in which he finds

a special shrine set apart for
much
handicraft,
in the
same
his
own
particular
he looks upon
light as
the temples of his gods which, with their shaded
groves
and
tea-gardens
and
popular
the
fairs
regularly held in their vicinity, offer the threefold

attraction of religious devotions easily performed,
an enjoyable
pic-nic,
and useful purchases on
the
way home.
Certainly, as one leaves behind
bition
grounds and
groups of
him the Exhi-
their picturesque
men and women and
upon merry-making,
and animated
children,
now
as half an hour ago inside the
building they were intent upon learning, and,
ing away over the silent pine-clad
hills
city
which
stroll-
of Maruyama,
one looks down on the one hand over the

panse of the great
intent
exotic ex-
for eleven centuries
JAPANESE INDUSTRIES
X
lived
its
own
our Western
life
there untouched by the breath of
civilisation,
and on the other over the
corrugated iron and glass

up-to-date
137
buildings
in
roofs of the intensely
which
are
stored
the
marvellous results of a brief five and twenty years'
modern world of thought and

action, there must come over the least impressionable mind an overwhelming yearning to know what
contact
with
the
the future has in store for a nation so old and at the
same time so young, which has entered as it were

upon its majority in a new phase of life by displaying
in the same year equally signal proofs of its aptitude
for the arts of peace as for those of war, and which
seems alone
at the present
in conjunction
day capable of preserving,
with the newly acquired proficiency of
an essentially mechanical age,
its
ancient inheritance
of artistic originality and refinement.
CHAPTER
XI
JAPAN AND ENGLAND
While
China the war has
laid
bare
immeasurable rottenness hitherto
half
concealed
in
under the venerable cloak of an ancient

in
Japan
of a
which a
civilisation
social evolution of
attitude of the
mainly one
reality
against the scepticism with
unprecedented rapidity
had been generally regarded.
Until last year the
Western world towards Japan was
either of thinly-veiled derision or of
We
called her " une
we were
impartial enough
good-natured condescension.
traduction malfaite," or,
to
civilisation,
has triumphantly vindicated the
it
new
the
if
admit that the translation was not altogether
ill-
we would seldom allow that it was anything

more than a translation. It was a favourite commonplace that the Japanese were plagiarists, shallow,
superficial
that they had sacrificed the picturesque
done,
individuality of their national
the manners and customs of
masqueraded
institutions
in the
life
in order to ape
their betters
borrowed feathers of
that they
political
which became them no better than
the
JAPAN AND ENGLAND
CHAP. XI
European clothes they had adopted
139
in
preference to
the graceful kimono of their ancestors
and that
commercial greed had even degraded their sense of

artistic
beauty in the vulgar attempt to compete with
European
as
They were
industries.
losing their
charm
a delicate objet de verhi, to be toyed with by
and they had yet
show the
aesthetic
dilettanti,
qualities
which would stand the rough usage of a
work-a-day world.
to
Another view was that they
were meddlesome upstarts whose restlessness would

some day make mischief abroad unless internal
troubles kept them busy at home
a contingency
which might properly be expected from so rash an

experiment as that into which their new-fangled
constitution
had launched them.
naturally favoured
third
view,
by those who, trading with or
the Far East, were the
first
in
to feel the daily pinch of
Japanese competition, was that they were engaged

in
a criminal conspiracy against the commercial
supremacy of the Western world, and that

a mistake to underrate and deride them,
it
was
if it
was
folly
not to recognise in their concurrence dUoyale a grave

public danger.
There were, of course, many shrewd
observers able to discount the exaggerations of
such views,
who
realised
more
fully
all
the meaning
and bearings of a great national transformation, with

which,
different
reckon.
however
desirable
standpoints,
the
or
world
undesirable
would
But on the whole, there was
ledge of the real facts
from
have
to
knowconcerning Japan, and where

little
140
there was knowledge there was
England
little
chap.
sympathy.
In
especially the doctrine that the Japanese
were
superficial, aggressive,
able
was as
and generally objection-
firmly rooted in
belief in the "latent
many
quarters as the
power of China, our
natural
ally."
It is
easy to be wise after the event, and to-day
when one
passes across from China to Japan,
it is
impossible to entertain any other feeling but one of
profound amazement that so much doubt should have

existed
amongst well-informed people, and even
amongst those who were
acquainted
countries, as to the issue of a struggle
and
more
still
with both
between them
that the sympathies of Europeans,
and especially of Englishmen, should have been,
if
not universally, at least at the outset very largely,

enlisted
on the Chinese
The
side.
explanation of
phenomenon can only to a slight extent

be found in some of the incidents which preceded
and accompanied the outbreak of hostilities. The
this strange
sinking of the Kowshing,2. British ship saihng under
by the Japanese fleet at a time when

no state of war was officially known to exist, seemed
at the moment to be a war^ton outrage upon the
the British
flag,
flag of a friendly
nation.
It
is
now known
that
Chinese men-of-war had already worthily opened

hostilities
by
firing a
few runaway shots
at
the
Japanese ships, and that though the Kowshing still

flew the British ensign when she was sunk, she had
ceased to be a British vessel within any reasonable
JAPAN AND ENGLAND
XI
141
meaning of the word, since the Chinese Mandarins

on board had taken complete charge of her, and her
own
officers,
overpowered by numbers, could
only under duress.
Nor can
act
there be any doubt
that the Chinese authorities in chartering a British
ship for the transport of their troops instead of using
one of their own had from the
first
reckoned upon
immunity of a neutral flag in the event of her

being overtaken by the outbreak of hostilities before
the
the completion of her errand.
Law
opinion given by the
no case
that
finally
lies
against the
At any
rate
the
Crown
Japanese Government
Officers of the
disposes of the question.
But the version
current at the time undoubtedly went far to confirm

the prejudice raised against Japan by the apologists
of China who, for her benefit, propounded afresh

the old fable of the wolf and the lamb.
It
would be a work of supererogation now
to set
forth the case for Japanese intervention in Korea,

it is
with the results rather than with the causes of the
war that
to
and
am
concerned.
Nor need one attempt
Japan had been steadily

a struggle with China, and
dispute the fact that
preparing herself for
regarding
indefinitely
it
as
was not disposed to

But whatever the precise
inevitable
postpone
it.
circumstances which precipitate
hostilities,
a nation
cannot properly be charged with provoking a war of
wanton aggression when the enemy against whom

it is waged has himself been for years past compassing schemes of unmistakable hostility.
The
142
Japanese were
going on
as
China not
in
informed of
far too well
CHAP.
that was
all
be aware that as
to
far back
1882 the Celestial Empire had determined to
seize the earliest opportunity of arresting the pro-
gress of Japan and of definitely restoring, by force
of
the supremacy which in theory
arms,
always claimed over her.
it
had
In a memorial presented
by Li Hung Chang, to
which, unfortunately, publicity was not given so
opportunely as by Prince Bismarck to Count
in that year to the throne
Benedetti's proposals,
must
be
"Your
me
the
expressly stated that such
it is
ca.rdinal
object
of
China's policy.
Majesty," he says, "has graciously ordered
to undertake the responsibility of preparing the
plan for the invasion of Japan," and
if
the Viceroy
deprecated the immediate recourse to arms then
contemplated
at
Peking,
it
was only because he had
formed a more correct appreciation than
his
col-
leagues of the relative fighting strength of the two

"
countries.
My
humble opinion
is,
let
us not lose
sight of our plan of invading Japan, but let us not
commit the mistake of doing

manner,
'
Nothing
before
is
it is
this
a hurried
in
In one of the ancient maxims
it is
said,
so dangerous as to expose one's scheme
ripe.'
On
this
account
have
in
a former
memorial recommended to your Majesty that we

should be extremely cautious and take care to conceal our object, whilst neglecting nothing to raise
our strength in the meantime."

cussing
Finally, after dis-
what might furnish "the best case
for
JAPAN AND ENGLAND
XI
143
bringing about a rupture with Japan and coming to

extremities,"
he repeats
''
that
it is
above
all
neces-
sary to strengthen our country's defences and
to
organise a powerful navy, and the aggressive steps

against Japan should not be undertaken too hastily."
It
be
may be argued
laid
common
much weight should
that too
upon Memorials
to the
not
Throne, which are as
as blackberries in China, and that in this
particular case Li
Hung Chang
really veiled
under
the polite form of a plea for caution
disapproval
the schemes
of
hotspurs of Peking.
this
cile
which
indulgent
China
and delay his

entertained by the
But
theory
persisted
in
difficult to
is
it
with
recon-
the
attitude
maintaining
towards
Japan, and more especially with the policy consistently pursued
by her Resident
in
Korea.
Indeed
Hung Chang's armaments

him some day to chastise the Japanese " upstarts," for whom, with the incorrigible pride
the whole purpose of Li
was
to enable
of his race, he even
tempt.
That
trifle less
his
own
now cannot
conceal his con-
preparations for war were a
successful than those of the Japanese does
not alter the spirit or the intention in which they
were conceived.
No
one
in
invincibility of his ironclads
China questioned the
and armies, and
can be charitably said on his behalf

self
probably never realised
tagion
how
is
all
that
that he him-
entirely the con-
of greed and ignorance, starting from his
own Yamen, had
unfitted
them
for
anything but the
spectacular displays over which he was so fond of
144
presiding.
In these circumstances Japanese states-
men can no more be blamed

1894, under
in
chap.
conditions
for
having taken up
which
they
beHeved
favourable to their country, the challenge thrown
down
them
Korea by the high-handed proceedings of the Chinese, than was Bismarck in 1870
for seizing the opportunity furnished to Germany
to
in
by the overbearing action of the French
in
con-
nection with the Hohenzollern candidature to the
Had
Spanish throne.
the influence of England at
Peking been exercised to
its fullest
extent either by
tions
Government when the Korean complicaassumed a more immediately threatening
shape
last year,
the late
or by
its
predecessors during the
long incubation of China's hostile designs against
might
have been saved the

by force of arms her right
work out her national development free from
Japan,
the
latter
necessity of vindicating
to
Chinese obstruction,
for that
was
really the question
fought out on the battlefields of Korea and Manchuria.
Up
to the very outbreak of
might have been
satisfied
war Japan
with some substantial
concession implying a practical confirmation of the

equality of Japan already formally recognised
China, especially
made under
tion,
if
by
such a concession had been
the pressure and therefore, by implica-
under the guarantee of England.
But the
delusion that China was not only our natural
fatal
ally,
but an ally whose alliance was worth cultivating,
had led us
for years
past to remain conveniently
JAPAN AND ENGLAND
XI
blind
the
to
trend
general
145
Chinese
of
policy
towards Japan, and Lord- Rosebery's Government

in
this
moment
respect
merely followed
the
at
crucial
in the footsteps of its predecessors.
What, however, weighed perhaps most strongly

against
Japan with European, and especially
British, public opinion was the bitterness entertained towards her amongst the foreign communities of the Far East.
It would not be fair to ascribe
this bitterness solely to the jealousy
engendered by
trade competition, or to a lurking belief that a shiftless
country like China affords a more promising
field
undisturbed enterprise of Europeans than an
for the
active and go-ahead country like Japan.
admitted that there
is
It
must be
one very important point
in
which Japan does not bear favourable comparison

with China. In both countries the native commercial
classes are strenuous
China
and
intelligent,
their relative probity, ability,
but whereas
in
and trustworthi-
ness stand out conspicuous against the vices of the

ruling classes, they comprise in Japan
least estimable
new
some of the
elements in the country.
Until the
era of Japanese history they were looked
down
upon by the old feudal aristocracy with a contempt

far more aggressive than that displayed by the
Chinese
Mandarins
classes in the Celestial
ditions the
towards
Empire.
the
corresponding
Under
these con-
Japanese merchant or trader, being a
kind of social pariah, was not restrained by the same

sense of self-respect which governs
other classes
146
of
the
community, and
justly, the
reputation
he
acquired,
chap.
too
often
of being a thoroughly un-
When
Japan was thrown open

to foreign intercourse, the European merchants
scrupulous rogue.
naturally sought to guard themselves against the
bad
faith of the native traders
however necessary
at
by measures which,
the time, could not
fail
to
prove more and more galling to a hyper-sensitive

people
proportion as the attitude of Japanese
in
society itself towards the mercantile classes under-
went a more complete transformation.
Trade and
be tabooed,
commerce have long since ceased to

and many of the highest and ablest and most
honourable
men
in
Japan are to-day
directly or
indirectly associated with important banking, industrial,
and trading
enterprises.
There are now
not
a few Japanese firms which, for absolute integrity
and
can bear comparison with any of
rectitude,
the European firms established in Japan.

theless,
though
the
it
Never-
standard of mercantile morality,
has been undeniably raised,
as satisfactory as
it
should be.
for instance, a guild of
is
Only
al-
by no means
this summer,,
Japanese merchants com-
bined to defeat the ends of Japanese justice by

compelling an
English firm,
under threats of a
general boycott, to partially waive recovery of a
judgment pronounced
Court of law
of contract.
in
in its favour
by a Japanese
a really outrageous case of breach
Nor
did
single
Japanese paper
venture to point out that the action of
this guild
JAPAN AND ENGLAND
XI
was
not
an
morality
but
bunals.
Such
and
feeling
not
lie
an
only
distrust, and,
allow
late
their
Government
Japanese
tri-
breed
ill-
naturally
though the remedy does

not
is
it
European communities in Japan

judgment to be overborne by
more
It is all the
prejudice.
the
commercial
and recriminations,
reprisals
in
against
to
affront
incidents
surprising that the

often
offence
147
to
the credit of the
that, in the face
of violent local
and of ignorance and indifference
opposition
home, they were the
first
to recognise
at
by a generous
revision of our treaties the right of Japan, in spite
of
many shortcomings,
as a child or as
to
be treated no longer either
an outcast amongst the
tions of the world'.
civilised na-
Freely granted before the warlike
achievements of Japan had strengthened her claim,

this concession
the satisfactory
was a statesmanlike act, of which

effects upon the relations of the two
countries were only temporarily
unpleasant
incidents
weakened by
connected
with
certain
the
earlier
stages of the war, and by the unabated virulence of

the anti-Japanese feeling in a large section of the
English Press of the Far East.
They were
sub-
sequently confirmed and reinforced by our refusal

to join with France, Russia, and Germany in their
imperious intervention on behalf of China.

Industrial
and
doubt destined to
commercial
affect
antagonism
more and more
in the future the policy of nations, but so

it
is
restricted
within
is
the
limits
closely
long as
of lawful
no
com-
148
petition
it
can hardly prove an insuperable obstacle
to the maintenance of friendly

relations
CHAP.
upon
based
Now,
interests,
and even intimate
community
of
political
the existence of such a community
of political interests between the Island Empires of
the
West and
of the East
fuller recognition in
obtaining every day
is
Japan as well as
in
England.
Im-
pressionable and passionate as the Japanese from time
show themselves to be, a remarkable shrewdness and solidity of judgment underlies their excitato time
If the
bility.
enthusiasm with which an unbroken
record of military triumphs during the recent war

fired the patriotism of an imaginative people did credit
to their hearts, the sober
wore
moderation with which they
their laurels did at least equal credit to their
heads.
Many
another nation, better accustomed
to the intoxicating effects of victory,

its
head turned by the sincere
would have had
flattery of profound
astonishment with which Japan's successful d6but on

the stage of
received.
modern warfare was almost everywhere
Except
for a
few ebullitions of youthful
vanity in a yet immature press, Japan preserved

a coolness and sobriety of judgment which,
if it
not entirely preserve her from committing
political
mistakes, enabled her to rectify

irreparable
loss
of dignity.
would probably now be the

would have acted
them without any
Japanese
first
more wisely
in
did
statesmen
to admit that they
not insisting on a
cession of continental territory from China, and with
greater experience they might well have foreseen
JAPAN AND ENGLAND
XI
149
demand would provoke

They
in other quarters, especially from Russia.
might, perhaps, even have realised more fully the
the resistance which such a
constant strain to which the retention of an outlying
and distant position on the mainland would have

subjected Japan.
this
matter, one
But admitting that they erred

is
no
less
bound
to
in
admire the
suppleness and fortitude with which they accepted
Confronted by the
the consequences of their error.
ultimatum of the three Powers, the Japanese Govern-
ment
referred the issue to
advisers,
and when
the
its
and naval
military
without allowing
latter,
themselves to be dazzled by their recent achievements, declined to undertake the responsibility of

forcibly resisting such a combination as
arrayed against them,
it
bowed
was now
to the inevitable
and, without the slightest sign of unseemly vexation,

relinquished, in obedience to force majeure, one of
the chief prizes for which the blood and treasure of

the country had been freely poured forth.
same
of
spirit
In the
the nation resigned itself to the decision
Government, and, high as party feeling runs,
its
even the most hot-headed politicians have hitherto
shown
little
disposition to
misadventure which was
felt
make
capital out of
to involve
no disgrace.
Seldom has a youthful people given surer proof of

the self-restraint founded upon an unerring consciousness both of
of
its
its
strength and of the limitations
strength.
With
the
same
objectivity
of
judgment
the
150
who had
Japanese,
not
chap.
unnaturally resented our
action during the earlier stages of the war, especially in
warning their
fleets off the treaty ports of
China, promptly and fully recognised and appreciated

the friendly attitude of
and,
unpalatable no
England
doubt
in
in the final crisis,
as
itself
was the
advice she tendered them, they were not slow to

realise
that
the
conciliatory
counselled acceptance
spirit
of the
by the three Powers materially

withdrawal
from
untenable.
But
in
which she
conditions imposed
facilitated
a position which
a dignified
had become
was not only the contrast beattitude of England and that of
it
tween the actual
the three Powers at this particular juncture which
brought
home
to the Japanese the existence of a
community of' political interests between

England and Japan. It was still more the light
thrown by their intervention in favour of China
upon the future policy of the three Powers in the
Far East, and especially of Russia. Their action
was practically a notice served upon Japan that
real
even though the Sick
Man
lying on his death-bed she

his future inheritance.
to accept, and,
for
of the
was
to
Far East were
have no share
in
This notice she was obliged
under present conditions, she must
some time to come acquiesce in its consequences.

the moment, therefore, that she finds herself
From
excluded from
all
further participation in the spoils
of the Sick Man, her interests are transferred from

the side of those
who aim more
or less openly at
JAPAN AND ENGLAND
XI
the
that
quo.
151
dismemberment of the Chinese Empire to

which makes for the maintenance of the status
Instead of ranking amongst the disruptive
she
forces,
is
driven to co-operate with the forces
of conservation
which
No
is
in
the
Far East, chief amongst
England.
nation can be expected absolutely to renounce
dreams of future aggrandisement, and the day

may come when the ways of England and Japan
all
in the
Far East
have to
will
part.
of remote contingencies must
overshadow the
But the dread
not be allowed to
possibilities of present usefulness.
For some time to come it looks at least probable

that England and Japan may have to travel along
parallel
paths.
The
experience of the
has taught us the value of Japan, and
it
last
year
has taught
Japan the value of moderation and prudence, without which she cannot hope to retain the permanent
goodwill of England.
This lesson has been con-
veyed
by the
to her, not only
final
outcome of the
war, but also by the difficulties, rhany of
them of
own creation, which now confront her in Korea.

Her excessive optimism, and, it must be added, her
own tactlessness in attempting to ride roughshod
her
over the rights and interests of others, have led her

into
to
an impasse from which she
withdraw unscathed.
deavours of Count
may
yet find
In spite of
all
it
hard
the
en-
Inouye, one of the ablest of
her statesmen, she has to confess to-day that
all
her efforts to introduce order, tranquillity, and good
152
chap.
Korea have been defeated, partly by

the incorrigible inertia and ill-will of the Koreans
government
in
no doubt, by outside
themselves, and partly
Count Inouye has
fluences.
publicly
in-
explained
the peculiar difficulties with which he has had to
contend, nor in doing so has he
countrymen
in
He
Korea.
does
spared his
own
not admit that
these difficulties are altogether insurmountable, but
on
his
Japan
own
is
statement
it
a position to
in
may be doubted whether

surmount them. Even if
she were ripe to undertake a more arduous task
own powers
Russians, who
than that which has severely taxed our

in
Egypt, she has to reckon with the
make no
Korea
to
One can
secret of their determination not to allow
be converted into a Japanese Egypt.

readily understand
that in these circum-
stances Japan would gladly welcome an opportunity
of retiring honourably from such a dangerous and

thankless
field,
if
she could do so without merely
whose presence
there would be a permanent menace to her own
security and independence.
It should not be be-
surrendering
it
to another Power,
yond the powers of Japanese statesmanship to produce some scheme which would at least temporarily
relieve her from responsibilities to which she is not
equal and from apprehensions which she cannot
If, as seems probable, none of
afford to disregard.
the Powers are anxious to push matters to extremities, an international arrangement placing under a
collective guarantee the neutrality of
Korea and the
JAPAN AND ENGLAND
XI
153
independence formally secured to her by the Treaty

of Shimonoseki would
remove the Korean question
out of the forefront of dangerous controversy in the
Far East.
In working towards this consummation,
Japan would be entitled to rely upon the strenuous

At any rate, in
co-operation of British diplomacy.
this as in
other questions, the interests of England
and of Japan should be arrayed on the same side,

and it is upon such an association of interests rather
than upon written engagements that must be found-
ed the pacific and,
in
conservative alliances
the true sense of the word,
which can alone
with British public opinion.
find favour
CHAPTER
XII
OUR COMMERCIAL INTERESTS
Great
as are the political changes of which the
Treaty of Shimonoseki must be deemed rather the

forerunner than the
must be
final consecration,
and
vital as
upon the future development
their bearing
of our trade relations with the Far East, there has
been hitherto generally a tendency to measure the

importance of that instrument, in relation to the
commercial interests of the British Empire,
by the clauses which extend the

foreign trade in China.
The
chiefly
open
to
benefits secured
by
area
have certainly fallen

short of the expectations raised by the demands
first formulated on behalf oT the Japanese Governthe Treaty
in
respect
this
ment, and there has been some disposition even

to
suspect Japan
those
demands
of
as
especially for British,
having merely put forward

a bait for European, and
sympathy and support, with-
out any serious intention of enforcing them when
once
China
sacrifices
should
of territory
have
accepted
the
heavier
and treasure imposed upon
CHAP. XII
To
her by her conquerors.
iS5
those acquainted with
Oriental methods of bargaining
must seem quite
it
unnecessary to seek for any such
Machiavellian
explanation
which
concessions
of the
consented.
ultimately
to
Chinaman
Japan
especially,
even when prepared from the very outset to accept

terms offered to him,
practically the
expect some
trifling
which
"save
shall
always
will
point to be conceded to
his
face."
It
is,
of
him
course,
to
be regretted that those stipulations to which
we
attached most value were precisely those which
The
were ultimately expunged from the Treaty.
Woosung
removal of the
bar at the mouth of the
Yang-tsze-kiang would have been an immense boon

for
the trade and shipping of Shanghai, in which
we
are so pre-eminently interested.
of the
West
river,
Kwang-tung, had long been
in
urged as a matter of
vital
importance for our colony
The opening
of Hong-kong,
The opening
of Siang-tan and
of the Siang river and Tung-ting lake would have
been beneficial
politically,
as
it
commercially,
only
not
but also
would have given access
to the
province of Hu-nan, hitherto a close preserve of
Chinese
moral
fanaticism
effect
Celestial
foreign
and
the
in
compelling
of
Empire
trade
to
would
throw
have
same
the
open
way
capital
its
the
of the
gates
to
been of the greatest
Japan could not

carry every point of her original programme, she
possible value.
But, after
all,
if
can hardly be blamed for having insisted only on
iS6
chap.
those from which she anticipated the most direct

benefit
for
achieved
is
what she has
and
herself,
actually
by no means inconsiderable or value-
less to others
than herself.
the Yang-tsze
is
The
free navigation of
extended from I-chang to Chung-
and with the opening of Chung-king
king,
foreign
trade
mercial and otherwise,
to
make
are already
largely
so
in
the
in
itself felt
upper portion of the great valley

in<;erests
com-
our influence,
enable
will
it
itself to
which British
The
concerned.
opening of Su-chau and Hang-chau, and the free

navigation of the
Woosung
necting these two
cities,
to
interests
British
some
the
in
not
disposition
of
provisions
mitigated
are of no less importance
At Shanghai
Yang-tsze.
boon.
It
that
the
importance
China, which, as
show, must
to
is
lower basin of the
itself
look
Japanese
the
and canal con-
river
Treaty
clearly
industrial
shall
there
upon
as
far
presently
as
an
un-
utmost
the
development of
now be looked upon
should be centred,
last
as
of
indeed
is
these
endeavour
as
possible,
to
imminent,
in
places
where British trade has already taken firm and

deep root, and therefore, as far as the lower valley
of the Yang-tsze
greatest British
It is
is
concerned, at Shanghai, the
emporium
in
the whole country.
argued that the opening of Su-chau ahd Hang-
chau, though
it
may
not immediately threaten the
supremacy of Shanghai, can hardly

it
unfavourably.
fail
to affect
Although these two great
cities,
XII
i57
whose beauty, wealth, and splendour were formerly

a favourite theme of Chinese poets, have not yet
recovered from the ruinous effects of the Taiping
rebellion,
they
now
are
more
once
busy
and
populous centres of native industry, and, situated

as they are
of
districts
China, they
will,
is
it
and
cotton
the heart of the
in
feared,
silk
attract
away from Shanghai no small share of the native

and foreign capital which
invested
be
Though
waiting impatiently to
mills
and
silk
filatures.
apprehensions
may
not
be
cotton
in
these
is
they
gether groundless,
alto-
be considerably
should
lessened by the perusal of an interesting passage
which Mr. Beauclerk has specially devoted to this

question in the
last
annual report of the British
Legation at Peking on the foreign trade of China.
He
is
clearly of opinion
serious cause
to
that
Shanghai has no
dread the industrial competition
of Su-chau and Hang-chau, while the exceptional
banking
facilities
to attract native
bound
offered at Shanghai will continue
merchants to that
city,
which
is
to remain, as in the past, the chief terminus
of the import trade as far as the foreign importer

is
concerned.
The whole volume
of
its
trade can,
moreover, only increase with the growing prosperity

of Su-chau
and Hang-chau, and, as regards the
free navigation of
the waterways connecting them
with Shanghai, one
may
reasonably hope that the
universal preponderance of our shipping will secure

for us a
proportionate share of the local carrying
158
trade
it
now opened up
will doubtless
chap.
to foreign enterprise.
be found in
this case,
In' fact,
as
in
all
other cases hitherto, that every extension of the

area of foreign trade, and everything which stimu-
commercial and industrial progress, tends to
lates
the benefit of British trade generally.
But there are other clauses
monoseki calculated
to
in
the Treaty of Shi-
have much wider and
further-
reaching consequences for British trade and industry.
Under
Article
VI.
it
stipulated that Japanese
is
subjects shall be free to engage in

facturing
industries
in
and ports of China, and

into
China
all
all
all
kinds of manu-
the open
shall
be
cities,
towns,
at liberty to import
kinds of machinery, paying only the
stipulated import duties thereon.
Further,
manufactured by Japanese subjects
in
all articles
China
shall, in
respect of inland transit and internal taxes, duties,
charges, and exactions of
all
kinds, and also in re-
spect of warehousing and storage facilities in the

interior of China, stand
upon the same footing and
enjoy the same privileges and exemptions as merchandise imported by Japanese subjects into China.
Finally, Japanese subjects purchasing
duce
goods or pro-
in the interior of China, or transporting
merchandise into the interior of China,
shall
imported
have the
right temporarily to rent or hire warehouses for the
storage of the articles so purchased or transported
without the payment of any taxes or exactions whatever.
The
benefit of these provisions accrues to
ourselves under Article LIV. of the Treaty of Tien-
XII
June
tsin of
26,
1858, subsequently confirmed
the convention signed at

i860, and to
all
Peking on October
other Powers
who
by
24,
similarly enjoy
The
most-favoured-nation treatment.
the
159
rights
secured to foreigners under the Japanese treaty are

not
in
respects novel
all
that
of importing ma-
chinery, for instance, having already
by us
in principle
but they have
been asserted
now
acquired a
which they have hitherto lacked, even
practical value
For the Japanthem with their wonted energy, and it

behove other Powers, and especially Great Britain,
where they already existed on paper.

ese will enforce
will
to
do the same, under penalty of being
The Treaty
in the race.
left
behind
of Shimonoseki opens up
a vast field for industrial enterprise, under foreign
impulse and direction, of which

sible to
only measure
happened
The
it
is
almost impos-
exaggerate the future importance.
in
it,
to
some
extent,
We
can
by what has already
Japan.
point upon which, in this connection, most
Europe is the damage done

branches of European industry by the
stress is usually laid in

to certain
extraordinarily rapid
growth of Japanese industry,
and the results already achieved by the
latter are
undoubtedly calculated to strike the imagination at

first
sight with astonishment
conspicuous of these
and alarm.
The most
results are those connected
In 1885 Japan imported

cotton.
of
raw
In 1894 she
worth
only $800,000
with the cotton industry.
imported $19,500,000 worth, or more than four-and-
i6o
chap.
twenty times as much. At the beginning of 1 885 there
were 19 spinning
mills,
with about 50,000 spindles, in
Japan, and at the end of 1893 there were 46, with
The
about 600,000 spindles.
The
inevitable.
result was, of course,
lower-grade yarns formerly im-
ported from abroad have practically disappeared
from the Japanese market, the importation of middle

grades
is
rapidly declining,
and only the higher
grades, which Japan has not yet set herself to pro-
duce,
still
maintain their footing.
of cotton yarns reached
when
its
The
importation
high-water mark in 1888,
the growing supply from the native mills had
not yet overtaken the growing
demand
arising out
of a general increase of national prosperity and ac-
In that year cotton yarns were imported
tivity.
from Great Britain and India,

portions, to the total
years
later, in
countries
about equal pro-
amounted only
Six
to 21,241,000 lbs., or barely
more severely
felt in
If the
pinch has not
England,
the fact that the loss has so far fallen
heavily on
lbs.
1894, the importation from the same
one-third of the former figure.

yet been
in
amount of 62,860,000
Bombay
it is
due
to
much more
than upon Lancashire,
for,
while
the imports from the latter have been reduced 40
per cent., those from the former have suffered to the
Nor
is
this
the present rate of progress
is
the time within sight
extent of 90 per cent.
when Japan
of this
will
all.
Not only
at
cease altogether to import goods
category, but last year for the
first
time
she actually appeared as an exporter, and for the
XII
respectable figure of 4,500,000
How
China.
cotton goods
lbs.,
i6i
sent chiefly to
entirely the diminution of imports of
is
due
to the successful competition of
native industry appears from the fact that, wherever

that competition has not yet
assumed such consider-
able proportions, the imports, as for instance of cotton
have continued during the same period

viz., from $5,500,000 in 1888
increase
piece goods,
steadily to
upon $7,000,000
to close
The
in 1894.
depreciation of silver, to which
shall
have
to refer later on, has, of course, contributed very
largely to foster the
but
it
less
growth of Japanese industry,
does not alone suffice to account for it
can
be ascribed to the
it
Still
influence of
artificial
excessive State protection benefiting the producers at

the expense of the consumers.
Everything that the
State could do to encourage legitimately the growth
been done, but though Europ-
of native industry has
ean firms occasionally complain that the Customs

authorities favour the native as against the foreign
importer,
the
existing
treaty
have
tariffs
at
any
rate hitherto been an insuperable obstacle to any
Under
prohibitive form of protection.

treaties
to
Japan undoubtedly hopes to be
favour nascent industries at
the revised
in
home by
a position
raising the
import duties on certain classes of foreign goods, but

as she has
done so well with the moderate
hitherto in force,
abuse
the
one
liberty
may hope
which
she
tariffs
that she will not

is
recovering
indulge in exaggerated protectionism.
For
if
to
the
i62
chap.
Japanese as a
nation
have every reason
proud
rapid
strides
of
the
those
industries,
to
be
made by native
who are personally
investors
them have every reason to be equally

with the handsome returns they yield.
interested in
satisfied
While 93 spinning companies

working
at a
in Lancashire
were
the cotton mills of Japan were
loss,
1894 dividends of 16 to 20 per cent.,

and even more. These are results which may well
paying
in
provoke jealousy and apprehension among European

manufacturers and importers of cotton goods, and,
same degree,
though not
in the
already be
noted in connexion with
quality,
other
Ready-made
clothing, boots
paper of every
matches,
beer,
many
may
caps, umbrellas,
branches of industry.
and shoes, hats and
similar results
are
represented
all
by
annually diminishing figures in the import column

of Japanese trade returns, while the corresponding
column are
figures in the export
Silk manufactures
rising every year.
exported from Japan have
in-
creased in value from $54,547 in 1885 to $8,400,000

in
1894.
The
annexation of Formosa
maybe
ex-
pected to give an immense impetus to the sugar

industry by securing to Japan
unlimited
sugar.
capacity
Japanese
have risen
in
for
the
coal,
the
value
from
1885 to over $6,500,000

ing
English
coal,
except
in
of almost
field
production
exports
under
1894,
for
of
of
which
$2,000,000
is
raw
in
rapidly driv-
special
purposes,
out of every market east of Singapore, and has
XII
already penetrated
as
west as
far
163
Colombo and
Calcutta.
That
one side of the
is
upon which people

But there
dwell.
and the one
picture,
Europe generally
in
another side to
is
prefer to
which de-
it
The opening up
serves at least equal attention.
of Japan, the growth of her native industries, the
development of her commercial activity have
intro-
duced to us a competitor whose energy and enterprise
seriously
own
trade
threaten
and
branches of
certain
what
but
industry,
our
have
effect
they had upon our trade and industry taken as

a whole
to
This
is
which that of the
branches must
the
surely
material
of individual
profit or loss
remain
question
Ten
subordinate.
years
ago the entire foreign trade of Japan amounted

to
barely
$230,000,000
i.e.,
and-a-half- fold
of
this
in
increase
it
the
by
has increased
space
$28,000,000
a-half- fold
period
of
the
far
accrues to foreign imports.

to
1894
in
$65,500,000,
nearly
ten
British shipping entered
and
proportion
They have
one decade.
three-
years,
largest
risen from
nearly four-and-
$117,000,000, or
within
exceeded
it
During the same

and cleared from
the ports of
Japan has increased from under
million
to
tons
close
upon
the whole foreign trade of
takes to-day
is
million
tons.
Of
Japan the British Empire
more than 40 per
words, the trade
Empire alone
ig-
cent.,
or,
in
between Japan and the

to-day nearly half as
much
M 2
other
British
again
i64
was the
as
entire
between Japan and
trade
foreign countries ten
chap.
years ago.
trade, moreover, continues to
The
all
balance of
be entirely
in favour
of the British Empire, and especially of the United
The
Kingdom.
and
from
total value of
the
to
imports and exports
Empire
British
in
1894
was
^9,846,134, whereof the imports into Japan represented .1^6,779,864, and the exports from Japan
only ;^3,o66,57o, while of these amounts the United
Kingdom
itself
imported
only
Nor must
exported ;^4, 614,517.

that
calculations
made
in
;^626,oi9,
it
sterling,
but
be forgotten
though
they
alone can properly represent the value of the trade
from the point of view of the British producer, do

not give an adequate idea of the increasing
for British
demand
produce from the point of view of the
Japanese consumer, who, owing to the depreciation

of silver, has to pay to-day nearly nine dollars of
own
his
goods
five
for
currency for every /î worth of British
which ten years ago he had to pay only
dollars.
Thus
comparison the
who croak over
year
we
take for purposes of
1888,
which the pessimists
if
the impending
doom
trade in the Far East generally have

the
last
of British
in
mind
year during which foreign trade already
deriving immense benefit from the general development of the country was still relatively free from
the pressure of Japanese industrial competition
find
of
that
goods
Japan took
less
imported from
we
than $20,000,000 worth

the
United
Kingdom,
XII
whereas
in
165
1894 the amount required to meet her
demands had
risen
her
in
own currency
to
over
$40,000,000.
To
appreciate thoroughly the meaning of these
figures,
it
may
not be inexpedient to compare them

China, which
with those of the foreign trade of
has
not
by any such remarkable
been affected
development
of
native
witnessed in Japan.
enterprise
The
has
as
been
total value of the foreign
trade of China has only increased from $230,000,000

to
$435,000,000 within the same decade during
which that of Japan has increased from $64,000,000

to
$230,000,000
in
i.e.,
China
doubled, whereas in Japan
it
Japan,
with just over
stands already to-day
forty
not quite
has been increased
The
nearly three-and-a-half-fold.
has
it
foreign trade of
million
inhabitants,
where the foreign trade of
China, with nearly ten times the population, stood

in
1885, and, at the present rate of progress in
both
countries,
another
almost on a level.
may
decade
Even more
bearing upon European industries
is
and
in
1894 to
80 per cent.
them
in
its
the relative
growth of imports into China and Japan.

the imports into
see
significant
In 1885
China amounted to $132,000,000,

$243,000,000, an increase of about
In
1885
the
amounted to $2 8,000,000 and
in
imports into
1894
Japan
to $11 7,000,000,
an increase of over 300 per cent. Surely if statistics

can teach any lesson, we may learn from what we
have already witnessed
in
Japan not to look forward
i66
chap, xii
with dismay, but rather with confidence and

faction,
and
both to the further development of Japan
to the
impending development of China under
conditions even
only
we show
British
satis-
more favourable
to
ourselves,
if
ourselves determined to secure for
enterprise
the
requires in order to reap
fair
its
play which
alone
it
legitimate share of the
harvest wherever fresh fields are thrown open to
human
activity.
CHAPTER
XIII
THE INDUSTRIAL FUTURE OF CHINA

It has been rightly said that no question can be
of vital importance to the
British
Empire
that
is
not of vital importance to the British working man.

In
fact, in
a certain sense, this
Truism, or
a truism.
a question
vital
Eastern Question.
not only true, but
however, there
not,
which, judged
pronounced of more
is
by that
is
test,
scarcely
can be
importance than the Far
showed
in
the preceding
chapter that, though the growth of Japanese industry
had pressed heavily upon certain classes of British

manufactures,
general
the
development
of
the
country had within ten years more than trebled the
whole volume of foreign trade with Japan and more

than quadrupled
the
other hand, in China,

activity
foreign
imports.
On
has hitherto been lacking, the volume of
foreign trade has not quite doubled within the

period,
the
where the stimulus of national
and
it is
same
the exports rather than the imports
which show the larger proportion of increase.

the present day the
demand
At
of Japan's 40 million
i68
inhabitants for foreign goods

half the consumption of
million
inhabitants,
is
chap.
equal to very nearly
China with her 300 to 400

regard
with
and,
to
goods
imported direct from the United Kingdom, Japan
is
already very nearly as good a customer as China.
Should China ever be opened up only to the extent
which Japan
to
is
already opened up, the foreign
trade of China, on the basis of the present trade

of Japan and of the relative population of the two
might
countries,
be
estimated
;^2oo,ooo,ooo
at
per annum.
And why
should not that estimate be realised
endowed
beyond Japan with the natural

resources which favour the growth of national
wealth and the development of native industries.
She grows her own cotton whilst Japan has to
import it she grows silk of a better quality and
China
is
far
might increase
the
to export
production to almost any extent
its
same may be
wool
said of her teas
she
of
sugar
beginning
in spite of the well-nigh prohibitive
roads from the
cost of transport over impossible
Mongolia
frontiers of
is
and
to the coast
tobacco
is
the cultivation
of enormous
capable
development and improvement
in
fact,
there
is
hardly any valuable crop which cannot be successfully
grown
one or other region of her vast and
in
nor
fertile soil,
is
there apparently a single mineral
or precious metal which does not

its
surface,
coalfields
of
gold,
silver,
and
lie
iron,
buried under
and immense
a quality unrivalled perhaps out of
XIII
Great
Britain.
The
trading
169
China
of
classes
compare by no means unfavourably, both for

within certain
and,
tegrity
The
with those of Japan.
hard-working and
in
enterprise,
people of China are as
industrious
and make
Japan,
for
limits,
in-
people
the
as
of
almost every respect equally
good workmen, given equally favourable conditions.
The manager
of one of the largest cotton mills at
Shanghai told
me
the native hands,
can stand
that in regard to mechanical skill
whether men, women, or children,
comparison with the English hands
any Lancashire mill
and
more
far
easily
more quickly
they are
managed
in
trained
they have not so
much muscular strength, and cannot perhaps do so

much work in the same time, but they make up for
it
As
filature.
it
by their readiness to work longer hours.
similar statement
may be
was made
for the actual
to
a Chinese
human
labour,
looked upon in China as practically
inexhaustible.
No
sight can
be more instructive
respect than one which
in this
me
supply of
in
may be
witnessed
every day, not in a remote city where labour
is
drug in the market, but in the busiest centre of

activity in
Some
the whole country
of the local traffic on
its
viz.,
at
waterways
Shanghai.
is
carried
on by stern-wheelers, where the motive power
is
supplied
by human labour, steam pressure being
replaced
by the measured tramp of
coolies,
who
tread the wheel in relays of thirty- six at a time.
Labour
is,
of course, as cheap as
it
is
plentiful,
and
I70
is
in
likely to
remain cheap
China than
of living
there
much longer
for a
period
where the general standard

already beginning to rise, and where
is
are
chap.
in Japan,
already
those
labour
Western countries have long
troubles with which
been disastrously
of
indications
In China, as in Japan,
familiar.
the normal cheapness of labour has of late been
European labour
further accentuated in relation to
by the depreciation of
One does
silver.
not require to believe in bimetallism in
order to recognise the enormous advantages which

the
manufacturers
in
country enjoy in
a silver
The
competing with gold countries.

necessaries of
life,
cost of the
as far as the masses are con-
cerned, has remained absolutely unaffected

fall
in
the
value of
he did formerly,
far as
he
is
the wages
and the workman is

receive the same wages
silver,
therefore quite content to

as
for their
concerned,
is still
purchasing power, as
the same.
has remained actually the same,
figure to
But while
of the employer in China or Japan
bill
to that of his
by the
it
stands, in relation
Western competitor,
which
it
at only half the
formerly amounted,
now
that the
value of the silver dollar has fallen from one-fifth to

nearly one-tenth of the
more than
2s.
gold.
i.e.,
from
4^'.
to little
Thus, where, for example, for
the production of similar goods to the value
of,
;îoo, the cost of labour was, and
;^20 in
still
is,
say,
England and $50 in China or Japan, the real cost in

China or Japan is no longer, as it was formerly,
XIII
171
;îo in Sterling currency as against ;^2oin England,
both the gold and the silver country
which
equally produce.
The
notwithstanding the
silver price of Cardiff coal,
of
fall
silver per ton, while,
down
with the excellent plant laid

the native mines
gold price, has in-
its
$15-16
creased from $10 to
to
purposes of manufac-
for the
raw material required

ture
the same applies to any
And
but only about ;C5-
Japan to work
in
and the construction of railways
convey their output to the chief industrial centres,
the price of Japanese coal has fallen to
$3 silver
the purposes of competition with gold
per ton, or for

countries to
little
depreciation
more than
6s.
of silver might,
The
gold per ton.

in
fact,
be said to
operate as a system of protection in favour of the

industries of silver countries as
against those of
gold countries.
China possesses
If
and
in
in as
some respects even
high a degree as Japan,

higher degree, the
in a
combination of natural resources, favourable opportunities,
and working qualities required
development
of
powerful
commercial activity,
lagged so far
how
behind
one answer to
ment has
in
spirit
is it
in
think, but
industries
the
for
and
sound
that she has hitherto
the
race
this question.
There
is,
Misgovern-
almost every direction hampered the
of individual initiative in China where
been stimulated
in
arrogance of the
official
Japan.
The
classes
assistance of foreign capital
it
ignorance
has
and
have scouted the
and foreign brains
for
172
chap.
the guidance and education of native enterprise, and

their rigid exclusiveness has closed against foreign
enterprise every door which they were not compelled
open under the specific provisions of
to leave
wrung out of them by sheer physical
force.
treaties
Their
greed has multiplied the exactions under which the

inland trade has been
They have
or allow
left to
struggle at their mercy.
obstinately refused to equip the country,
it
to
be equipped, with even the most
elementary appliances required by the conditions of
modern
trade.
Superstition has served as a con-
venient pretext for forbidding the construction of

railways and for keeping locked up in the bowels
of the earth the mineral treasures with which the
country abounds,
lest
the navvy's or miner's pick-
axe should disturb the mysterious
spirits of earth
and water which lurk beneath the
soil.
industrial
or
commercial undertakings
The few
in
which
some of the shrewder or hungrier mandarins have

embarked are conducted in the narrowest spirit of
selfish
monopoly.
In
fact, official
China has looked
upon foreign trade as nothing but a vehicle

foreign
influence,
and,
true
her
to
traditions
for
of
hatred and contempt for the outside barbarians, she
has steadily opposed the force of inert resistance to
everything which might conduce to
and Europe, taking her
at her
own
its
expansion,
valuation, has
allowed her "latent resources" to sleep

undisturbed in the custody of her " latent power."
hitherto
Events, however, have
moved
rapidly within the
xiii
last
eighteen
shattered
I73
The Japanese war
months.
has
the venerable imposture which so long
overawed the
civilised world,
article of
and the sixth
Shimonoseki contains practically a

new charter for foreign industrial and commercial
Not only does it assert and
enterprise in China.
the Treaty of
the right of foreigners
confirm
engage
to
kinds of manufacturing industries in the
of China, but
towns, and ports
it
in
open
all
cities,
secures for
all
goods thus manufactured the same privileged treat-
ment
in respect to
inland transit as for goods im-
Of
ported from abroad.

is
the provision
goods
in
into the
scarcely less importance
under which foreigners purchasing
the interior or transporting merchandise
temporarily
rent
or
future
in
interior will
hire
have the right
warehouses
for
storage
without liability to any taxes or impositions.

dustrial
to
In-
undertakings would probably in any case
have remained, for the present,

open ports
and
towns to
confined
to the
which the Treaty of
Shimonoseki limits them, but the whole of China
now thrown open
is
exchange and transport of
for the
commodities under conditions which the Japanese,

at
any
rate,
may be
trusted not .to allow Chinese
Nor is it to Japan
war has rendered China
have seen how France and
officialdom to defeat or evade.
alone that the pressure of
more
yielding.
We
Russia have already worked, for their
upon her helplessness.
own
purposes,
Great Britain has perhaps
been more slow to realise the opportunities of the
174
situation,
but in one respect, at
chap.
she promptly
least,
recognised the necessity of not letting herself be
For various reasons we had
distanced by others.
from
refrained
our
enforcing
machinery into China.
As
import
to
right
however, as the
soon,
Treaty of Shimonoseki had conferred that right
upon the Japanese, who would

render
to
the
operative,
it
certainly not
be slow
Legation at
British
Peking demanded the immediate issue of instruc-
Customs authorities for the

the obstacles which they had hitherto
to the Chinese
tions
removal of
all
way
placed in the
importation
of the
of
machinery, and three months ago, for the
machinery was
British
hindrance at Shanghai.
admitted
British
first
without
time,
or
let
Already on the banks
ot
the river large native-owned cotton-mills and silk

filatures
working
are
the
despite
successfully,
cramping influence of their mandarin proprietors,
and
chimneys seem already to indicate the
their tall
future
site
of
the
great
metropolis
industrial
oi
the Far East, which, combining the advantages of
Manchester and Liverpool with the production

very gates of
its
manufactures, .can hardly
and perhaps
all
outstrip, its
some day
to rival,
All that
Nor
is
wanted to
Chinese labour are foreign capital
foreign organisation, and,
Chinese
fail
Western prototypes.
can that day be far distant.

energise
official
down, foreign
now
obstructionism
capital
at
the raw materials required for
its
and
that the barrier of

is
being
broken
and foreign organisation
will
XIII
pour
Of
in.
our
and to
these,
traditions,
local
is
already
the
first
enterprise,
and
assured
beyond
be
its
expected to usher in
China
activity
by
paralysed
of the pressure
success,
of
course
in
British
of
fruits
which
seems
of
doubt,
possibility
an unprecedented era
a
in
contagious,
is
official
all
Even
activity.
industrial
our
contribute
shall
mill
represents
erection
to
cotton
large
are true to ourselves
and reap a proportionate harvest.
legitimate share
One
we
we
if
I7S
obstruction.
which the Powers
country
ot
like
directly
unless
But, in presence
will
probably no
longer shrink from applying both at the seat of the
Government and at the provincial centres,

obstruction must gradually relax, as indeed the
central
that
whole forces of Chinese resistance have already in

the
few months shown signs of weakening.
last
Rumours
are afloat that the Chinese
has actually decided to

of a regular
commence
Government
the construction
system of railways, and, whether those
rumours in their present shape are founded or un-
China
founded,
will
undoubtedly have either to
build railways herself or to see others build
them
for
With the growth of native

with adequate means of communication,
her and in spite of her.

industries,
and with treaty protection against the exactions of

inland transport, foreign trade
with the
same
prospects
has
must expand,
rapidity as in Japan, with
of continuity and intensity.
made Japan
rich,
if
not
even greater
If
nature
she has created China even
176
richer
and,
chap.
the average value of foreign im-
if
consumed to-day by every Japanese amounts
ports
to nearly $3 a head,
an average consumption of
less
than $0.60 per head in China can only represent a

fractional part of the potential purchasing
power of
a country endowed with almost inexhaustible natural

wealth. China
to-day with regard to the possibilities
is
of foreign trade and industry
we have only
and surface. Even so
of which
still
almost a virgin
soil
scratched the outlying fringe

it
yields us an annual trade
harvest of a gross value of close upon ^30,000,000.
What
and
may
it
facility
yield
when we have obtained
security
of access to the whole area and have
modern methods of improvement and

development, it goes " beyond the dreams of
applied to
avarice
It
if
is,
we
"
it
at
to conceive.
any
rate,
field
worth struggling
for,
and,
are not only to maintain, but to consolidate
and extend, the position which we already hold, we

shall not
past
do
it
without a struggle.
when our
industrial
The days
supremacy
went
are
un-
commerce of
towards us as by
challenged and the whole trade and
the world seemed to gravitate

some immutable law of nature.
We have keen
competitors in our own European neighbours.
Another and no
up
in
less
the Far East.
keen competitor has sprung
But out of
this
tion arises a compensating increase
volume of
very competiin
the whole
trade, and, so long as our individual spirit
of enterprise does not slacken nor the national vigour
XIII
relax which
no cause
profusion
the
of
share
up,
nation
is
better
fair
advantages
material
of
we have
conquering
for
ourselves
than
it
No
despondency.
for
equipped
back
to
required
is
I77
which must accrue to the trade of the world from

the industrial and commercial development of the
Chinese Empire
an Empire whose population con-
stitutes nearly one-fifth of the
estimated total of the
Our language
human race.
only medium
is
of intercourse between the peoples of
We
the Far East and of the West.

to
paramount as the
were the
first
break down the barriers of Chinese intolerance.
We
have
our hands more than 60 per cent, of the
in
carrying trade
There
by water.
is
not a single
commercial centre where our commerce has not

struck older
and deeper and firmer roots than that
of any other country.
out by
fully
we
to
do
is
people
not only to
are neither forcibly ejected nor squeezed
more
our
are, in fact, the
What we have
in possession.
see that
We
subtle means, but also to guard care-
prospective
interests
in
an
estate
growing and perhaps immeasurable value. Those

terests are collectively those of the
in
of
in-
whole community
an Empire built up as ours has been on industry
and commerce, and individually those of every working
man
for the
produce of whose labour our foreign
markets must be maintained and extended.

part of the world
conditioned
upon
is
In no
commercial power so directly
political
power as
in the
Far East,
N
178
and nowhere,
therefore, should
Empire be
chap, xiii
the rulers of the
more implicitly upon

the support of the British democracy for the maintenance of our political power and with it of our
British
commercial power.
able to rely
CHAPTER XIV
WANTED, AN IMPERIAL POLICY
the critical phase upon which
in
If,
test
now
has
Far Eastern Question must put
entered, the
the
it
all
statesmanship,
the
highest
no
British
of
qualities
to
British
Administration
could
fortunately be placed in a better position to deal
with
it
which
vigorously and successfully than that to
an
overwhelming
Parliamentary
seems
fresh from the polls
to assure a relatively
long and undisturbed tenure of

life
the
of the present
majority
During the
office.
Parliament
it
power of Lord Salisbury and
be within
will
his colleagues to
determine whether the course of events
in the
Far
East shall be so shaped as effectually to safeguard

our
Imperial
interests,
and
actual
prospective,
political as well as commercial, or whether those
interests shall
been the case
be allowed to
in the
expected accidents.
past,
Our
must be sustained, as
it
drift,
at
as has too often
the mercy of un-
Far East
has largely been created,
position in the
by individual enterprise, but nothing would tend
i8o
to restore
which
some
more
the
fully
individual
confidence upon
public
enterprise
chap.
than
conditioned
is
definite proof that her Majesty's
Government
are acting in pursuance of a clear, comprehensive,
and well-considered
policy which they are prepared
to carry through with unflinching determination.
What
should be the lines of that policy
be presumptuous to indicate, as
it
it
would
must largely
and be largely affected by our relations
affect
in
other parts of the world with those Powers whose
more or less friendly rivalry we have to face in the

Far East. But it may not be inexpedient to draw
attention to a few points which impress themselves
most strongly on the mind of an impartial observer
on the
spot.
The
idea that the alliance of China
in her present condition is
can
be
worth having, or that
by conciliatory methods of
secured
dulgence and forbearance has

hoped,
finally
been,
itself
British
question to which China must be
answer by her own
her
for
may
acts.
in
at
If
last
interest
left to
is
furnish the
her helplessness
is
any moment lapse into a
the hands of
purposes
interests, if she takes
Powers who
detrimental
to
our
will
own
no steps to arrest the process
of internal decay which

total
may be
continues to be in the future,
as in the past, a matter of
use
in-
Whether the maintenance of the
Chinese Empire
mere puppet
it
exploded by the events of the
twelvemonth.
such that she
it
must ultimately produce
and immediate collapse on the
first
pressure
XIV
i8i
from outside, we can hardly be expected to show
much concern
and
for the
merely nominal independence
an
empire which has survived
of
integrity
But a Power so
itself.
essentially
conservative
and so profoundly interested in the preservation

of peace as England cannot wish to hasten a
international
remnant of
forego a
with so
fraught
dissolution
conflict.
among
more or
China,
we
any
is
should not
crude
less
her
of
Not
life.
more
a few of the
the Peking officials recognise in
organisation of her
solidation
in
there
of
opportunity of helping her to extend
last
her precarious lease of

influential
possibilities
therefore,
If,
energy
vital
many
fashion
that for
army and navy,

financial
re-
for the con-
and
credit,
the
for
the
development of some of her resources, China must

have
recourse
realise
that,
services
to
had
European
she
retained
assistance.
They
Captain
Lang's
and extended their sphere
as
he sug-
gested, her ironclads might not have been reduced

to vainly seeking refuge in
fleet inferior in
discipline.
harbour from a Japanese
everything but
skill,
If the experience of the
taught her that much,
is
it
that the task of creating a
courage, and
war has
really
obviously inexpedient
new navy
for her should
be allowed to devolve upon any other Power than

ourselves,
and not
less so that
any English
officer
without
arriple
should be allowed to undertake
guarantees
for
the
full
it
and unrestricted exercise
of executive and administrative
authority without
i82
chap.
which the most elementary conditions of
efficiency
The
and discipHne cannot possibly be secured.

arrangement
under
Chinese
to
are
which
be trained
Russian
in
quite prepared to under-
is
take the task of reorganising the
China as
far as
it
may
unless the Peking
military
Army seems
schools and attached to the Russian

to indicate that Russia
number of
certain
her
suit
forces of
land
own
But
purposes.
Government has both the
will
and the power
to centralise the administration
the army, the
arrangements which
presumably only
into will
home
provinces
it
may
of
enter
affect the troops of the
adjoining
the
capital,
and the
viceroys of the outlying provinces will continue, as

in the past, to carry
like
out their
Chang Chih Tung
own
particular views,
Nanking, who has enlisted
Germany on
from
instructors
military
at
his
own
account, and in the vast majority of cases they will
most probably do nothing

the finances of China,
to
insure
the
at
In dealing with
all.
have already shown that
of revenue
elasticity
meet the charges of the war China
required
will
to
probably
be compelled to transfer the collection of some

other of her revenues to a reliable European administration,
such
as
under Sir Robert Hart
for the
on that model, or
Robert
interests
already
Hart's
of
in
trade
new adminis-
any extension of Sir
administration,
British
exists
Imperial Maritime
In the formation of any
Customs.
tration
which
that
the preponderating
and
shipping,
which
XIV
actually contribute
183
per cent, of the total revenue
of China, entitle us
the
to
participation.
fullest
Franco-Russian loans, past or
cannot be
future,
allowed to serve as an excuse for excluding British
from
influence
created, sustained,
and developed mainly by
British
Indeed, should the next Chinese loan
enterprise.
be
revenue
of
administration
the
now seems
raised, as
probable, in
London and
upon the security of the Imperial Maritime
Berlin
Customs,
to increase than
behove us rather
will
it
revenues in view of
to relax our control over those
the prior lien already granted upon them to Russia
and France. Second mortgagees are

things
in
more
first
nature of
mortgagees
maintaining and developing to the utmost the
security
successively
No
creditors.
to
closely interested than
in the
the
important
less
construction
is
calculated to develop the
attempt
England
defeat
to
it
immense
shall
the
all
classes
opening of
other measures
natural resources
strenuously
treaty
resist
provisions
which she enjoys the most-favoured-nation

ment.
Apart
of
that in regard
the
of railways,
mines, industrial enterprises, and
of China,
both
pledged to
from the legitimate
profits
any
under
treat-
which
and British industry may properly
British capital
expect to derive from participation in such undertakings, the exclusive control
the
railways
fraught
in
and
the
coalfields
future
with
by other Powers of
China would be
of
very serious conse-
quences, military as well as commercial.
i84
chap.
That we are fully justified in henceforth treating

China without fear or favour she has herself been at
pains to prove.
Whether she ultimately ratifies it
or not, in attempting to sign away to France by the
Tongking Convention of June last territories which
she had solemnly covenanted a little more than a
year ago never to transfer to a third Power without
our consent, she deliberately turned her back upon

the policy of very one-sided friendship which
had hitherto pursued towards

French diplomacy
in
If the action of
her.
matter was unfriendly,
this
Government
that of the Chinese
constituted a flag-
rant violation of our treaty rights for which

entitled to exact the
The
British
we
we
are
most substantial compensation.
Government
intends,
is
it
resume immediate possession of some
stated, to
at least of the
Burmese dependencies which were given in trust to

China by the Anglo-Chinese Convention of 1894,
and it would be clearly justified in declaring that
Convention to be altogether annulled by the Chinese
violation of
this,
fundamental conditions.
its
there are
many
But, besides
questions connected with the
regulation of our boundaries in the upper valley of
the Irawadi, with the adequate defence of our positions
on the mainland opposite Hong-kong, with the
opening of the West river
in
Kwang-tung and of
other districts important to British trade, which are
awaiting
settlement
Chinese, and
we
between
ourselves
and
the
shall neither abate their hostility
nor reconquer the wholesome respect which they
XIV
had apparently ceased to entertain
185
by
for us
toler-
ating the passive resistance which
is
Omega
China hates
her
of
statesmanship.
the Alpha and

all
some whom she fears

she despises.
It is not by permanently taking rank amongst the latter in her
foreign Powers, but there are
whom
and others
we
estimation that
can hope either to guard our
own
own
upon China for her

good the material pressure which can alone induce
her to deploy whatever recuperative powers she
interests or to exercise
may
still
faction that
in
some
shows
during the
China,
One can
possess.
this
respect
improvement
last
only note with satisthe situation

in
months of
his
official
Nicholas O'Conor has found several
Sir
England
not yet to be treated as a quantiU ndgligeable.
Nor should China be allowed

have
others
their
of
that
sojourn in
opportunities of teaching the Chinese that

is
already
and
Peking,
the
war,
in
that,
upon her "gratitude"
claim
intervention
forget
to
her favour
we have an
upon her "gratitude"
for
after
equally
the
good
if
for
close
claim
the intervention which
localised hostilities during the progress of the war.
Canton and the other central

and southern ports of China remained unmolested
If
Shanghai
and
by the Japanese
friendly but
at
firm
fleet,
it
was due
solely to
representations which
the
we made
Tokio.
But
with.
it
is
not China alone that
we have
France and Russia bulk large
in
to deal
the back-
i86
The
ground.
Britain, except
deliberate
not be in-
animosity toward Great
inasmuch as our influence
is
exer-
her opinion, to shut her off from that access
cised, in
to
may
policy of the latter
by any
spired
chap.
open sea which she has hitherto vainly
the
sought, from the shores of the Mediterranean to
those
the Pacific.
of
have, so
indirectly,
in India, and,
headed
off in both direc-
she has thrown herself with her
tions,
we
blocked the road against her in the
far,
Levant and
Directly, or
upon the Far East.
With regard
weight
full
precise
to the
nature of the secret agreement which accompanied

the Franco-Russian loan
we
are
still
in the dark, but
every reason to believe that such an agree-
there
is
ment
exists,
dementis,
it
and
in spite
that,
of skilfully-worded
contains provisions under which Russia
have the right to use Port Arthur as a naval
will
and coaling station
for her fleets,
and not only
to
run her Trans-Siberian railway through Manchuria,

but also to connect
ultimately with an ice-free
it
port to be subsequently determined, and which
may
may or
not turn out to be Port Arthur, either on the
Gulf of
Chi-li or
on that of Leao-tong.
moment, and possibly
For the
as a pledge for the ulterior
some such engagements, Russia seems

be making herself at home in the Bay of
fulfilment of
to
San-Kau,
an
strategical
position to
Chi-li
at
peninsula.
the
As
equally
extreme
far
as
convenient
the south
point
China
of
is
and important
of the
Gulf of
Shan-Tung
concerned, Manthe
UV
of
:huria,
course,
entirely
lies
when
:he
Russians, and
tias
been restored to
the
at
187
mercy of
the Leao-tong peninsula
she will
her,
be
nothing
more than a tenant holding on sufferance from

the Power which has been chiefly instrumental in
Whether
Dusting the Japanese.
room might not be found
to satisfy Russia's natural
ambition to possess a port open

to
in so vast a field
all
the year round
her fleets without either precipitating the dis-
memberment
of the Chinese
Empire and the general
scramble which must ensue, or entirely displacing

the balance of
power
to the detriment of others,
is
question which cannot be answered until Russia has

frankly disclosed the limit of her demands.
must depend
in this respect,
upon the extent
to
identify her policy
Much
from our point of view,
which she has determined to

in
the Far East with that of
For it is, unfortunately, difficult to believe

the main object of French policy there, as else-
France.
that
where,
On no
is
not [one of settled hostility to England.
other hypothesis
is it
possible to explain the
abrupt refusal of the French Minister in China to

grant the
Tsungli-Yamen time even
British protest against the
of the
ing
Kiang-hung province
the
to consider the
proposed cession of part

to
Convention of June
France before sign20.
Nor have
the
organs of French colonial expansion and others of a
more responsible character hesitated
to describe the
Tongking Convention with China as only an instalment of the policy which is designed to carry the
i88
French
tricolour
chap.
up the valley of the Mekong into
Yun-nan and Szu-chuan, and ultimately drive in a

French wedge between British Burma and the
valley of the Yang-tsze-kiang, the natural strong-
The French
hold of British influence in China.
advance
from
south
the
would
thus
meet the
Russian advance from the north, and between the
two England would be

Such a policy is one
finally
in
squeezed
out.
which Great Britain could
never acquiesce without abdicating her position in

the Far East.
For
if
there
is
one region
in
China
with which the trade and commerce of our Empire
more
bound up than with any other, it is

the basin watered by the great river which, descending from the borders of our Burmese dominion,
is
closely
flows into the Yellow
Sea
close to Shanghai, the
emporium of British commerce in the Far

Nothing probably would be better calculated
greatest
East.
to arrest
any plans which may
exist elsewhere for
hastening on the dismemberment of China, or even

to restore a
for us to
little
make
it
backbone
to
China
herself,
clearly understood that
we
than
could
no circumstances allow the valley of the
under
Yang-tsze to pass under the control of another

Power.
It
is
much
to
be regretted
that,
while Russia
has neglected no opportunity of consolidating her

relations with the
Mongolian and Manchurian pro-
vinces which march with her Siberian frontier,
have hitherto done
little
to
bring the
we
Chinese
XIV
189
provinces of Yun-nan and Szu-chuan into closer

contact with our
within the
been
last
system
at
between
established
finally
telegraph
station
Burmese possessions. It is only

few months that a junction has
Burmese
our
Bhamo and
at
Chinese
the
Russia on the other hand,
Tal-i-fu.
by a convention concluded
in
August, 1892, has
secured a twofold junction between the
already
Chinese lines from Tien-tsin and her stations in
Amur
the
Ninguta
between
one
the
province,
and Vladivostok, and the other between Tsitsihar

and Blagovestchensk, besides the construction of
a line from Peking to Kiakhta, via Kalgan, Urga,
Another junction
and Maimatchin.
west
imminent,
is
reaches
Su-chau
carried
across
as
Chinese
in
That the Russians
will
insist,
already
line
Kan-su, whence
Dzungaria towards
further
still
it
is
be
to
Semipalatinsk.
with
or
without
upon carrying their TransSiberian railway along the most convenient line
of country for themselves, and establishing a
the consent of China,
open
from
terminus
on
strictions
which nature imposes upon Vladivostok,
is
the
sea
free
the
re-
obvious, and there are already indications that
as soon
is
the
as the great
completed they
extension
northern Trans-Asiatic line
will
turn
eastwards
their
of their
which might easily be prolonged

sent terminus at
across
Tashkent
attention
to
southern
line,
from
pre-
to Kuldja,
its
and thence
the heart of Mongolia to Peking, or from
igo
chap.
Kuldja northwards towards the upper valley of

the Yenisei.
Meanwhile, what has England done

wasted years
in
discussing
different routes for
from
Burma,
and
She has
the relative merits of
approaching South- West China

after
finally
recognising
the
insuperable difficulties of the line originally favoured
by the Indian Government from Bhamo to Tal-i-fu,

she has adopted, not the line which every consideration, technical as well as political,
to
recommend
for a great
appeared
Indo-Chinese trunk line
from Moulmein up the Salween valley across Kiang-
kheng to Szumao, but a small branch line from

Mandalay through Theebaw to the Kunlon ferry
on the Salween, and thence on to the Chinese
frontier at Mungting, and another running also
from Mandalay up the valley of the Irawadi to
Mogaung, whence connection by road would have
to be established with Tal-i-fu and Yun-nan-fu.
Both these lines will doubtless prove useful, but
they must be looked upon rather as makeshifts
than as the adequate solution of a question which
has for
years
past been
repeatedly
urged upon
the attention of successive Governments.
doubt, for instance, that
if
Can one
the construction of the
Moulmein-Kiang-kheng-Szumao railway had been

taken in hand ten years ago, there would never
have been room
for
the
difficulties
which have
recently arisen between ourselves and the French
with regard to the
Upper Mekong Valley?
To-day
XIV
French
the
contest
our
rights
to
191
part
the
of
through which that Hne would have passed
they have wrested another part from the Chinese
territory
they are establishing a consulate at Szumao, where
we
are
still
unrepresented
they have acquired for
the development of the mineral resources
and for the construction of railways

cannot
fail
to
pave
absorption of those
way
the
regions
Yun-nan
which
facilities
for
the
and two
political
influential
French missions are already on their way out to

study on the ôt the new line of country marked
out for French expansion.
The same
fatal
procrastination has been displayed
with regard to another question which has been
even more constantly and urgently impressed upon

the
British
Government
viz.,
the appointment of
commercial Attaches in the Far East.

public
While every
and private report has drawn attention
for
years past to the dangers which threaten British

trade
and industry from the increasing
European competition
fierceness of
as well as from the
native industries, the British
growth of
Government has taken
no steps to procure even an adequate investigation

of the question.
The
ordinary agencies at
mand are admittedly

may take the keenest and most
insufficient.
in all
its
Consular
com-
officers
intelligent interest
matters which affect British trade and industry
in their
own
districts,
but their knowledge and ex-
perience are in the nature of things limited

the diplomatic
staff"
and
of the Legations, which both in
192
chap.
China and Japan are undermanned, has neither the

time nor the special qualifications required to deal
in
an exhaustive and comprehensive fashion with
the materials at
its
disposal,
still
independent inquiries, which in
less to
many
undertake
cases could
only be satisfactorily conducted on the spot.

surely not too
much
to ask that in countries
It is
where
our present'trade amounts to some 40 millions

ling per
annum
some
there should be
ster-
special ofificer
appointed to watch over interests of such magnitude.
Our
Far East are primarily and
relations with the
essentially commercial,
ance
is
and
their political import-
merely the result of their commercial im-
portance.
It is
nothing less than a public scandal
that our political officers should
ance of
officials
be denied the
assist-
properly qualified to give them
responsible advice on the very matters which ought

to inform
and govern
their policy,
when every other Government

ical
is
and
this at
straining
its
a time
polit-
influence to the utmost for the furtherance of
commercial
interests.
It is
its
not necessary or desir-
able that diplomatists should act as touts and agents

for
every commercial traveller clamouring for orders
and
contracts, but
have
it is
indispensable that they should
at their disposal for the legitimate protection
and promotion of trade and commerce technical

advice of the highest order.
Scarcely less unfortunate has been the absence of
such technical advice in military and naval matters.
Had
the British Legations in China
and Japan been
XIV
193.
kept regularly informed by experts of the real condition of the
armaments of both
we might
countries,
have been spared the surprise and embarrassment

produced by the unexpected collapse of China's re-
With the establishments which we possess

Hong-kong and Singapore it should not be dififi-
sistance.
at
cult to organise
on the
spot,
an
even
efficient intelligence
department
considerations preclude
if financial
the appointment of military and naval Attaches from
home.
It
may be hoped
British fleet in
also that
Chinese waters
will
such a standard of strength that
any
over
other
shall
fleet
not
was the case during the most
future the
in
be kept up to
its
superiority
turn
mainly, as
critical
period of
upon the somewhat speculative question of

the qualitative superiority of one particular English
1895,
battleship over the quantitative superiority of the
Russian battleships.
own in the Far East it is

upon ourselves alone that we must rely. There are,
indeed, Powers for whose co-operation we might
If
we
are to hold our
legitimately
hope against any violent attempt
in
other quarters to monopolise an excessive share of
the vast field which

prise.
The United
and more
where
is
opening up
for
human
States, for instance,
direct interests in the
else outside of the
have larger
Far East than any-
American
continent,
one can hardly imagine any circumstances

those interests would
if
conflict with
anywhere, might be
laid the
enters
in
our own.
and
which
There,
foundations of that
194
chap.
between the two great branches

of the Anglo-Saxon race which it must be the object
close understanding
of every far-seeing statesman on both sides of the
Nor
in the
long
run should the interests of Germany, in spite of
fierce
Atlantic to promote and extend.
commercial
What
prove antagonistic to our own.
rivalry,
she chiefly wants
is
what
British influence has
everywhere and always been exerted to secure viz.,

open markets and free play for commercial and industrial
activity.
Even
Germany contemplates
if
the acquisition of a coaling station off the Chinese

coast which would serve
in the
it
in
3iS
a.
point d' appuiior her
fleet
event of a sudden declaration of war overtaking
Far Eastern waters,
can be denounced as on the face of

so long as in
its
a desire which
this is not
fulfilment she
it
unreasonable,
shows a proper regard
for British interests
and treaty
the slightest reason
why we
Nor
rights.
is
there
should bear her a per-
manent grudge for having elected to join hands with

Russia and France in their intervention in favour of
China whilst we preferred
to hold aloof.
There can
be no doubt as to the sincerity of the desire which

she so earnestly expressed at the time to see England adopt the
same
hostility to her in
course.
There was nothing of
our refusal to do
to us in her abiding
by her own
so,
nor of hostility
decision.
In
fact,
inasmuch as Germany undoubtedly exercised a moderating influence on her

ners,
we
at least
determination.
somewhat
reluctant part-
can have no cause to regret her
XIV
195
There are many circumstances which, as I have

already explained, should draw England and Japan
much
closer together than in the past
the interests of both countries would

scribe a
common
who
but,
seem
though
to pre-
course of action, they cannot be
looked upon as wholly identical.

indeed,
think that Japan
against the temptation of
coming
There are some,
may
not be proof
to a direct under-
standing with Russia for a division of the spoils of

China.
It is certainly
months
after
presence
able
remarkable that within a few
Japan had been warned that her

Leao-tong peninsula was an intoler-
in the
menace
to the safety of the Chinese
Empire,
and before she has actually evacuated it, the most

responsible organ on foreign affairs in France should
openly invite Japan
" to
"
as a natural co-heiress of the
come
to terms with Russia "as
to the division of the Sick
Man's inheritance, which
Chinese Empire
may be
already looked upon as well-nigh open."
Whether Japanese statesmen will listen to such

cynical proposals must ultimately depend in a great
measure upon the reliance which they may feel able
to place upon the friendship of England.
Meanwhile, the policy which France and Russia
have been lately carrying through with a high hand
at
Peking
is
calculated to create legitimate ! appre-
hension in this country, for
it
has so
far indicated
only too clearly a disposition to ignore our traditional

But in so extensive a field it
rights and position.
should not be impossible for every Power to find
196
.adequate scope for
undue
its
own
activity without placing
Unmood of French politicians,
on that of
restrictions
fortunately, in the present
its
neighbours.
the governing principle of French policy
world seems to be rather to deal a
blow
at
British
interests than
There
is,
however, no
present to believe that Russia

to
any such
policy.
all
over the
imaginary
real or
merely to promote
those of France, and such a temper

with.
CHAP. xi\r
hard to deal
is
sufficient reason
is
definitely
England and Russia
at
pledged
are, after
all,
the two great Asiatic empires of the world, and
if
they have been able to amicably settle their
differences in Central Asia they should be equally
by
able to settle their differences in Eastern Asia
the exercise of similar frankness and forbearance.
"Live and
let
live"
which the scramble
been
conducted
is
only principle upon
for Africa could possibly
have
Europe
into
without
sanguinary struggles
the
plunging
and whether the scramble
for
may
yet
the Far East be near at hand or whether
it
be averted, the same principle can alone secure a

pacific solution of the
Britain must, at
She cannot
any
Far Eastern question.
rate,
trust for the
be prepared
Great
for all events.
defence of rights so well
defined and of interests so vital as hers to the
mere
contingency of doubtful alliances and understandings.

Still less
its
can she surrender them without shaking to
very foundations the whole structure of
political
power and commercial enterprise upon which her

world Empire has been built up.
/
"^
sketcli Toajj to illustrate
LIFE
SIR
OF
PARKLE
Scale of E-n^liBli Miles
05 Long E.
TheFarBast.
of Gi'eenwich
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QJarneU Iniocratta Slibtarg

CHARLES WILLIAM WASON

CHARLES WILLIAM WASON

The Far Eastern question

1924 023 034 436

THE FAR EASTERN QUESTION

Cornell University Library.

There are no known copyright

the United States on the use of the

FAR EASTERN QUESTION

NEW YORK MACMILLAN

of Translation and Reproduction

Richard Clay and Sons, Limited,

indebted to you both for the opportunity of

studying the Far Eastern question on the spot at a

of exceptional interest, and for permission

the fullest use of the letters which

therefore only a debt of sincere gratitude which

attempting very inadequately to discharge

asking you to accept the dedication of

than an earnest desire

in the world's history, of

act has so far

vital interests of the

The war between China and Japan

can put forward no other plea to recom-

attention to a question which, for

on the other side of the globe, but

further development and ultimate

reach into the

ENGLAND'S POSITION BEFORE AND AFTER THE WAR

THE MORAL BANKRUPTCY OF CHINA

THE FOREIGN POWERS AT PEKING ...

THE GENESIS OF MISSIONARY OUTRAGES

THE FINANCIAL POSITION OF CHINA

FROM CHINA TO JAPAN

THE COMMERCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL INTERESTS OF GREAT

THE INDUSTRIAL FUTURE OF CHINA ...

FROM THE WALLS

PRISONERS IN CANGUES, PEKING

THE FRONT OF A FASHIONABLE SWEETMEAT SHOP

PEKING DRILLING INSIDE THE COMPOUND

CHINESE GUARDS OUTSIDE H.M. LEGATION AT PEKING

A CHINESE COURT OF JUSTICE

ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT

A STATION MASTER ON CHINA'S ONLY RAILWAY

THE FAR EASTERN QUESTION

THE FAR EASTERN QUESTION

England's position before and after the war

of the last public speeches delivered on a

by the late Prime Minister

resigned, office contained the following

We have hitherto been favoured with one Eastern question,

has been superadded, which, I confess, to

only point open to criticism in Lord Rose-

bery's otherwise statesmanlike utterance,

than even that

to relegate to a remote future the necessity

the Far East which was

with momentous con-

THE FAR EASTERN QUESTION

the termination of actual

between China and Japan can, however,

have only temporarily obscured