Newfoundland to Cochin China

That this anti-foreign feeling exists all agree. It is urged that it must never be forgotten—for what renders it especially serious in China, is the frequent evidence of its being fanned from above—and that the authorities have no efficient machinery of civil order on which reliance can be placed. Nor is the Central Government always able to enforce its will on distant provincial authorities, or even to prevent their varying the orders of the Throne.

At the same time, say others, the hostility may be exaggerated. The employment of over 100,000 Chinese by foreign residents, many in highly confidential capacities, both in the office and the household, and as many more on board foreign ships, tends to confirm the general verdict that the people, in an individual sense, are civil, obliging, and even hospitable towards the foreigner, and well-disposed especially towards the English trader, who treats them fairly good-humouredly, and without offending their national prejudices. This is supported, even from Wuhu itself, for the last Trade Report says: "The trade in goods classed under Foreign Sundries has increased rapidly during the past two years, and shows a gain of 70 per cent."

Summary of British Position in China

46.—It remains but to summarize the position of affairs as regards British interests in China, so far as I have been able to grasp it.

(a) That three-fourths of the foreign trade is in British hands, and a still larger proportion of the shipping in Chinese waters.

(b) That British commercial firms and residents are in a large majority among the foreign population.

(c) That the contiguity to China of British India, Burmah, and Hong Kong, and the large numbers of Chinese residents in British territories, give England an especial interest in the welfare of the Empire, and in the gradual opening of the vast markets in the West, South-West, and Centre.

(d) That while British interests outweigh, in their magnitude, variety, and extent, not only those of every other Great Power, but those also of the whole world, Russia upon the North and North-West, and from her adjacent port of Vladivostock; France, her ally, upon the South from Tonquin; and Germany upon the coast, are anxious and watchful competitors.

Policy of Britain

47.—The course of policy best calculated, under such a condition of things, to maintain and extend British commerce is a matter for the Electorate to decide. Those who share the feeling of the majority in Sheffield, that the undeviating conduct of the foreign affairs of the Empire is essential to the expansion of foreign trade and its wealth of home employment, will probably consider—

(a) That the British Industrial interests at stake in China, and also in Japan, are too great to be necessarily linked to the comparatively trivial concerns of any other nation.

(b) That as they are mainly dependent upon the safety of the resident standard bearers of British trade, Her Majesty's ships in Eastern waters6 should always be sufficiently numerous and ready at any moment to protect them, unaided, in their persons and property.

(c) That the trade route from Europe to Asia, and its line of defence—Gibraltar, Malta, Cyprus, Egypt, Aden, Ceylon, Singapore, and Hong Kong—should always be kept in British hands, and secure against any possible attack.

(d) That at the same time, no accession of friendly territory being desired, and only mutuality of commerce on equitable terms, the Emperor of China and the Imperial Government should be enabled, by the Queen's representatives, to feel that the support of England will always be forthcoming in any step for the advancement of the Chinese nation, the development of amicable relations, and the security of the Empire against any unwarranted maritime aggression.

MEMORANDUM UPON THE BRITISH TRADE ROAD TO THE FAR EAST

1.—The nearest trade road from Europe to the Far East lies through the Suez Canal, down the Red Sea, past Perim, to Aden; thence to Ceylon; from there to Singapore, and to Hong Kong in the China Sea.

2.—As three-quarters of the external trade of both China and Japan is in British hands; as the British residents are nearly equal, numerically, to those of all foreign nations combined; and as British ocean steamers are more numerous than those of the whole world, and eightfold those of Germany, the second on the list, it is only fitting, independently of the possession of India, that this trade route should always be retained, as at the present time, in the hands of England, whose position is greatly strengthened by the possession of Gibraltar, Malta, and Cyprus in the Mediterranean.

3.—So long as this sea road is held intact and properly defended, Great Britain remains the dominant commercial and naval power in the China Sea.

4.—To pass Perim or Aden in the Red Sea, and so gain access to the Indian Ocean, would be almost impossible for any European power at war with England.

5.—Singapore likewise commands, to a great extent, the entrance to, and exit from, the China Sea.

6.—Apart, though, altogether from the active power of fortifications and artillery, torpedoes and submarine mines, there is the equally effective one of want of coal.

7.—Even supposing that Germany, Russia, Austria, or Italy were able to coal at Port Said,—a state of affairs which, while we occupy Egypt, would not be possible in a state of belligerency,—their steamers could not traverse the 7000 miles to the coast of China without fresh fuel; and, against the will of England, this would not be attainable.

8.—France alone, by coaling at Brock, opposite Aden, and Pondicherry, might take the outer channel of Singapore, and so reach Saigon, a distance of 2300 miles; or even Haiphong, in Tonquin, an additional 600 miles; but the vessels could only steam very slowly.

9.—The defensive value to the Empire of the Colonies guarding this great trade road is therefore clear.

10.—But these prosperous Colonies are also commercially valuable to the Empire in themselves, and particularly Ceylon, the Straits Settlements, and Hong Kong.

11.—Ceylon does a trade of 6,000,000l. a year with the Empire, whereof half is with the United Kingdom, which she is now supplying with 50,000,000 lbs. of tea annually.

12.—The Straits Settlements have a population of 507,000; and of the external trade of 178 million dollars, 78 millions are with the Empire. There is no public debt, and the Colony contributes (as also Ceylon and Hong Kong) 100,000l. a year for its defence, which is now, for the first time, upon a proper footing.

13.—Hong Kong, ceded to the British 50 years ago, has become a port of first-class importance. Although, not barring the approach to the Upper China Sea, the Yellow Sea, and the waters of Japan, it does so to a large extent, in a practical sense owing to the coaling difficulty.

14.—The shipping trade of Hong Kong has doubled in the past 20 years. Of 130 million tons of shipping, passing in and out of the harbour in 1890, 7 million tons were British, 4 million Chinese, and 2½ million foreign. British ships numbered 5500 (an increase of 136, and 400,000 tons in three years); foreign ships numbered 2600 (an increase of 307, and 225,000 tons), and Chinese junks 55,600—a total of 64,000 vessels.

15.—The population of Hong Kong is about 200,000, of which 10,000 are European, and the remainder Chinese. Emigrants from China, to the number of 42,000, passed through the port, and of these, 36,000 were bound for places under the British flag, while 850,000 Chinese visited the island in the course of the year.

16.—The general impression of Hong Kong, in a commercial, maritime, defensive, and picturesque sense, has been fittingly summed up by the late Governor: "It may be doubted whether the evidence of material and moral achievement make, anywhere, a more forcible appeal to eye and imagination, and whether any other spot on the earth is thus more likely to excite, or more fully justifies, pride in the name of Englishman."

17.—Provided, therefore, the British hold firmly by this trade route, and, in friendly alliance with China, do all that is possible to develop mutual trade between Burmah and the Yunnan district, there is nothing to fear from the rivalry of any other power, for so long as South Africa remains loyal to the Empire, the long sea road by the Cape is absolutely impossible to any other nation. If, however, the short route be cut off at its base, by the British abandonment of the magnificent mercantile position established in Egypt, not only will the labour of ten years be thrown away, but the whole of the gigantic trade with the East be imperilled.

18.—The only foreign powers capable of injuring us, in a naval sense, in Chinese waters are Russia and the United States. The former has a formidable fleet, based upon the splendid fortified harbour of Vladivostock, and could move land forces upon Corea. The reinforcement of the squadron from Europe should, however, be impracticable. As regards the United States, hostility is happily not a likely contingency; but, in any case, the 4500 miles across the stormy Pacific Ocean, devoid of any coaling station, unless it be Honolulu, is a formidable barrier.

C. E. HOWARD VINCENT.

21, 12, 1891.

1

Licence has been taken somewhat to alter the route actually travelled in the Maritime Provinces, so as to fit it in better as a continuation of my previous book, "Forty Thousand Miles over Land and Water."

2

The figures are expressed in yen as being more accurate than the taking of an arbitrary rate of exchange, when it is constantly varying to the great inconvenience of commerce. A Japanese yen or dollar fluctuates in value between 3s. 2d. to 3s. 4d. An average of 6 dollars 20 cents. is usually obtained for the sovereign.

3

A Chinese literate, who had been to Paris for study, expressed his opinions of Europe in the following terms. He freely acknowledged the superiority of our intellectual enterprise, without being at all persuaded that it was a thing for which we were to be envied:—"The eyes of your intelligence," he used to say, "are more piercing than ours, but you look so far that you do not see about you. You have a bold spirit which must make you successful in many things; but you have not enough respect for what deserves to be respected. This perpetual agitation in which you live, this constant want of diversion, clearly indicates that you are not happy. With you, a man is always as if he were on a journey, whereas we like to be at rest. As to your governments, I am willing to believe they have some good in them; but if they suited you as well as ours suits us, you would not change them so often as you do. I am quite sure to find, when I go back to my country, the same institutions as when I left it; and I see that not one of you would guarantee me, for even a couple of years, the solidarity of your government as it is to-day."

4

Owing to the multitudes of men who find employment in China by tracking or towing junks and boats up and down the rivers, canals, and other waterways, once in a splendid condition, but now much neglected, as also in carrying tea, salt, and other produce on their backs, over paths inaccessible to horse or cart, there is as much, or more, popular prejudice against railways as prevailed in England 60 years ago. One writer says:—"Whenever the effects of our scientific machinery in abridging labour are explained to a Chinaman, the first idea that strikes him is the disastrous effect that such a system would work upon his over-peopled country, if suddenly introduced into it, and he never fails to deprecate such an innovation as the most calamitous of visitations."

5

It is very common to find that Chinese, meeting on board ship, or elsewhere, with distant countrymen, are obliged to resort to "Pidgeon" or English business jargon as their only means of linguistic communication.

6

Her Majesty's fleet round China and Japan consists, exclusive of torpedo boats, of 22 ships, aggregating 45,100 tons, with 137 large guns. The next naval power is Russia, with 8 ships and 18,100 tons, and 61 guns. The Japanese have 29 vessels; the Chinese 20, but all with native officers.