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of Chinese every station seems the centre of a movement aiming at the infringement of their privileges and the destruction of some of their most cherished beliefs. We know what, in similar circumstances, would happen in even the enlightened countries of the West. The antagonism of the leading section of the nation would be aroused. It is simply a result of the ordinary laws of human nature; and, cruel and treacherous as he may be, the Chinaman, as we have already said, is a human being.

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Neither the Mandarins nor the native trading classes relish the frequency with which concessions for railways, &c., have been granted. They know quite well that they have been extorted virtually by force, and they fear that more concessions will be extorted in the same way. The Chinese think that, at the present rate of giving, there will soon be no concessions for them to work themselves, and the reform party, not less than the most bigoted conservative, desires to keep in Chinese pockets as much as possible of the money that can be made in China. As Mr. Brodrick said, amidst cheers, in the House of Commons, the Chinese might well retort that The Governments of Europe were 'competing against each other in their desire to make them loans on their present security, and that the speculators of all the countries of Europe were tumbling over each other in the scramble for concessions.'* The deliberate support, or indeed vigorous pushing, by foreign Governments of the financial and commercial schemes of certain associations of their fellow-countrymen, eager to make money in Oriental countries of relatively low commercial developement, is a novelty in international procedure which we owe to the initiative of Germany. It is incurably vicious, first, because directly one Government does so others are sure to intervene in the same way, and there arises great risk of misunderstanding and even of hostility between Powers which ought to work together in the face of the Orientals; and, secondly, because, as Professor Reinsch acutely remarks, such intervention leads large syndicates into political intrigues.'

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That which humiliated and incensed large classes of the Chinese people more than anything else was the seizure of territory that followed the Japanese War. Mgr. Anzer, Roman Catholic Bishop of Shantung, recently stated in

* Debate of August 2, 1900.

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Austria,* that the whole " Boxer" movement arose a short 'time after the seizure of Kiao-chow, Port Arthur, Wei'Hai-Wei, &c.' In the Russian Press, which, notwithstanding the constraint generally put upon it, is sometimes allowed to remind Germany that her great neighbour has an eye upon her, the Chinese name of the Boxers was translated as The Great Fist;' and the 'Novoe Vremya attributed the origin of this appellation to the 'mailed fist' of Germany, which was shaken in the face of China when Prince Henry started for Kiao-chow.' It is likely enough that the Boxer movement was at first intended to coerce the Imperial Chinese authorities into preventing the country from being further dishonoured. The Government probably began by sympathising with the movement. The intrigues and internal conflicts which spring up in every Oriental palace gave the movement a new form and a new direction. We really know very little of what goes on within the walls of the Prohibited City. Half the grotesque and absurd 'accounts of Palace life,' says Mrs. Scidmore, 'are manifestly ' untrue. Where there is so much mystery, imagination at ' once supplies material; and almost everything one hears in Peking about the most exalted Pekingese circle is 'immediately contradicted and disproved.' The EmpressDowager may be a strong-minded, imperious tyrant without any scruples; and Prince Tuan may be a ruthless savage. On the other hand, they may be quite different. We can, however, be certain-if only because we find that such characters are attributed to them by gossip from the Palace -that the members of the present dynasty are split into factions. It is reasonable to infer that the faction which managed to control the Boxer movement would soon get the better of its rivals, and that consequently each would strive to control it. This is only another instance of the frequently observed historical fact that a weak dynasty, in the hope of avoiding destruction, is apt to throw itself into the arms of the most violent party.

Every Power concerned has disclaimed all intention of making territorial acquisitions in China. The proceedings of Russia in Manchuria and some apparently significant remarks in the well-disciplined Russian Press may make the sincerity of this disclaimer doubtful in her case; and a bad example has great attractions for some people. Nevertheless, the very fact that the desire to annex territory has

* In a communication to 'Das Vaterland,' a Vienna newspaper.

been generally repudiated goes far to prove that even a modified partition of China is almost everywhere considered inadvisable.* What would best serve the interests of the majority of the powers would be a China preserving her territorial integrity, possessing a strong Government and a pure administrative system, with order maintained in every province, and as open to legitimate foreign trade as most countries now are.

The first can be secured by the simple process of refraining from annexation. The second will be made impossible if we destroy or unduly humiliate the present dynasty. If there were a better one to put in its place the case would be different; but where is the better one to be found? Consequently we ought, whilst exacting proper reparation for recent offences against civilised nations, to avoid carefully all vindictive action. Wanton destruction of institutions and even of material monuments would be unworthy of the mission which civilised Powers boast they are called upon to fulfil; and, besides, would enormously increase the difficulty of giving to the empire a stable government. No purity or efficiency can be looked for in the administrative body unless its members receive adequate remuneration. Consequently a reform of the fiscal system of China is imperative. We have a pattern by which to work ready to our hands in the Imperial Maritime Customs. If an organisation of the kind could take over the financial administration of the empire, an immense advance would have been made. The internal police of the country would rapidly improve, and the maintenance of order would be ensured; trade would extend, and prosperity hardly fail to increase. The difficulties in the way of establishing more numerous foreign commercial stations and carrying out great works like railway construction or canal construction would be diminished, or would disappear. It is permissible to hope that the missionaries of different sects have learned a lesson; or at any rate, that those who have not can be induced by their Governments to amend their methods so as to make them less mortifying to the more intellectual class of the Chinese population.

It is certain that, should the policy of partition be realised, terrible conflicts between the Far East and the West must be the result. The broadest interests of civilisation, therefore, demand that the Western Powers should exert all their influence in maintaining intact and open to Western thought and life the greatest empire of the East.-Reinsch, World Politics,' p. 241.

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The proposals of the Russian Government, as modified by that of the United States * to which it was communicated on August 28, still form the subject of negotiations between the different Powers. The proposals, to which was added a ' reiterated statement that Russia has no designs of terri'torial acquisition in China,' provide for early, though not necessarily immediate, evacuation of Peking by the allies; re-establishment of the native authorities, in other words the Court, in the capital; reference of the just demands of the Powers to the processes of peaceful negotiations as soon as the Chinese Government shall have been re-established, and shall give evidence of sufficient stability to permit of treaties being made with it. The United States Government had already avowed its belief that,

'All the Powers having disclaimed any purpose to acquire any part of China, and now that the adherence thereto has been renewed since relief reached Peking, it ought not to be difficult by concurrent action through negotiations to reach an amicable settlement with China, whereby the treaty-rights of all the Powers shall be secured for the future, the open door assured, the interests and property of foreign citizens conserved, and full reparation made for wrongs and injuries suffered by them'

The real difficulty begins when an attempt is made to reconcile the aims of different Powers and their presumed interests. We say 'presumed' because, though often believed to be in conflict, those of the majority are in truth identical. Rather more than a year ago t we dwelt upon the magnitude of the issues involved in the China question. What has occurred since in that country goes far to prove that we in no way exaggerated the gravity of those issues. Professor Reinsch has some remarks on the subject which deserve serious attention. He says:

'Vast interests are there under contention-even the very composition of the world-civilisation of the future is at stake upon the issue.

The whole situation is fraught with fateful possibilities for mankind. . . . If a careful consideration of the Powers engaged in the Chinese struggle, their politics and tendencies, is of the greatest necessity, it is not less a study of most absorbing interest; for a drama is about to be enacted, the like of which the world has never seen. It dwarfs the conquests of Alexander; compared with this Titanic contest, the exploits of Napoleon seem a passing diversion;

* See the 'Times' of September 1, 1900.

+ Edinburgh Review, July 1899, The Problem in China,' pp. 244-5.

and previous meetings between Orient and Occident seem the merest frontier skirmishes.'

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Here, again, no solution of the problem is possible unless facts are acknowledged. Several of the Powers are disinclined to territorial acquisition in China, simply because each cannot carry out the annexing process alone. In all probability the United States, Austria-Hungary, Japan, and now Italy, as well as Great Britain, are perfectly sincere in their disclaimer of a desire to annex territory. Russia's interests in China are, as the late Count Mouravieff frankly avowed, political, i.e. interests which can be best furthered by overt or veiled annexation. France's commercial interests in China are relatively insignificant, and in some parts, as shown by the decrease in the number of resident French citizens, tend to diminish. Annexation, in the opinion of many Frenchmen, would develope French commerce-of course, at the expense of another country's.t In the German Emperor's speeches may be detected signs of a belief that few things would prove more agreeable to him than the conversion of China or one of its provinces into a German copy of the British Indian Empire. The presumed advantages of annexation, in the case of these three Powers, would be quite neutralised if someone else were to annex also. There is no great inducement to acquire an estate of which some other purchaser has obtained choice parcels. He may give much trouble, and it would probably be difficult to expropriate him. Russia is the predominant Power in northern China: a fact which it is well to recognise. Nature and geography have done more to bring this about than any conscious action or inaction on the part of any Power. We shall find it wiser to make use of a fact than to ignore or try to disprove it.

The appointment of Count von Waldersee as generalissimo of the allied land forces was not settled in a moment of impulse. All the other Powers who had troops in China had to be consulted. The Emperor William's public statement that the appointment was due to the suggestion of the Tsar has been contradicted by the Russian Government. The excuse for putting a German officer in the position in question was that Germany had been more seriously offended by China than any other country, because her representative was

* World Politics, p. 85.

+ See speech of M. Doumer, Governor-General of French IndoChina, quoted by Professor Reinsch, pp. 167-8.

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