THE BREAK-UP OF CHINA

Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 160, 8 July 1899, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE BREAK-UP OF CHINA

LORD CHARLES BERESFORD'S VIEWS ON HER FUTURE.

Lord Charles Beresford's long-pro-mised, anxiously-expected report (Harper and Co.) is pre-eminently a business document. Briefly put, Lord Charles's recommendations are two —

that the policy of "the open door" should be maintained in the Far East, and that China should be regenerated by British or by European assistance.

Wherever Lord Charles went he heard from distinguished Chinamen the melancholy comment that England was afraid of Russia. It is the result of the withdrawal of our ships from Port Arthur last spring. It is Russia's policy to keep the weak Powers upon her frontier weak; to prevent them from lopping the mouldering branch away; to swallow them slowly, deliberately, piecemeal; but to defend their fragments from other would-be swallowers. Russia is as averse to a strong China as England is eager for it. That is what Russia will say.

So the Viceroy of Nankin tells the j*. admiral that now in China the name j ; of Russia is most feared, and that j Russia will never allow China to go j; to England for assistance in drilling |, her troops. "British prestige," adds • Lord Charles, "was at a low ebb all , through China at the places I visited; ; not one but every Chinese authority ■ I spoke to continually referred to the • fear with which Britain regarded Russia." Manchuria he considers is practically lost. It has been virtually an- ; nexed by Russia, and there is absolutely nothing to prevent the Russian , troops from marching yet further in- ; to Pe-chi-li when the fateful hour comes. We have only Russian pro- , mises as to the future of British trade , there, and what their value is the in- , stance of Finland makes plain to all ( but the wilfully blind. "The merch- : ants throughout China were most de- ( termined in their opinion that, ; though Russia might keep the door , open in Manchuria until the completion of thq Siberian railway .. . . _ when' Russia has her hold on Man- , ehuria strength-tied, preferential ] rate:, will be imposed in favour of Russian trade. The British merchants , begged of me to impress as forcibly ] as 1 could .... that assurances with - regard to the future liberty of trade ] and commerce in Manchuria were of • no value whatever under present cir- ; cumstances." In the south Lord Charles utters a ; note of warning against the designs of France. She claims Kwang Si aud Hwang Tung—including the hinterland of Hong Kong, though Britain has SO per cent, of the trade of these provinces. If she obtains rights there she will stifle our competition, as she has done in Madagascar and IndoChina. Her agents have declared that she will further demand Sze-chu-n, in the Yangste Valley, while her ministers have already asserted ccrtan rights iv Yunnan, which also lies ill the Yangtse basin. She pre-, tends that by the Yangtse is meant only the lower course of the river for the distance of about 1000 miles from sea. "This," says Lord Charles, "is a very important point; it adds one more to file international complications likely to lead to war if the. 'sphere of influence' policy is ever adopted in China." The chapters on Chinese military organisation are most instructive.. There ?3 evidently no chance of maintaining au effective army unless THE PECULATION OF GENERALS can be stopped. A general at Pekin told Lord Charles— "That he commanded 10,000 men. T .sceiln'neo that all he actually commanded was 800. His method is common to China. He receives the money to pay Ulic feed'and clothe 10,000 men. If his army was to be inspected he hires coolies at 200 cash (sid) a day to apper.-- on parade. This is well known to the inspecting officer, but he receives a douceur to report that he has inspected the army and found it in pel feet order." Soldiers were seen engaged in targetpractice with bows and arrows. They do not even trouble to hit the target. "The real merits consists in the position or attitude of the bowman when ! discharging his shaft!" Fourteen diff eren patterns of guns are carried by the Chinese 'troops,' among them the ohl sn.ooth-bore Tower musket used by England at Waterloo, and the old muzzle-loading Enfield. At Wuehow, however, more novel weapons were ; employed by the Chinese soldiers, as , Mr Hosie's consular report records. Birdcages, fans, 'horns, gongs* and ; lanterns were the offensive arms of ; this redoubtable, force. In. the arsenals there was'hopeless ' mismanagement. Lord Charles found • that breech-loading gingals were being manufactured with the most , modern machinery, and that i2in and ; 9.2 in guns were being turned out ga--1 lore, though there was nowhere to * mount them and.no powder with . which to load them. A 12in Krupp . charged with Chinese powder blew ! off the breech and

KILLED THIRTY MEN

but no one seems to have cared. The ■whole picture is terrible, and proves how hopeless it is to expect that China, if left to herself, will be able to organise a decent army. In trade we have the old.old story—

the advance of the all-conquering American and the defeat of English industry. At Newchwang the import of American sheetings rose from'2s2,----000 pieces in 1893 to 566,000 pieces in 1897- the British import fell from 71,000 in 1893 to 10,000 in 1897. The import of American plain cotton goods j into China rose by 121 per. cent, in quantity between 1887 and 1897, while that of British cottons declined 13 per cent. For the Pekin-Shanhaik-wan railway American engines have replaced English. The former cost £ISSO, and are delivered in fourteen, and a half months; the latter- £2500,. and are delivered in twenty-four months. __".■'■'.'-'._ In view of the Hankow affair, it, would perhaps be best for British merchants who wish to trade on the Upper Yangtse to obtain Russian: naturalisation. Security is the first, necessity of the trader, and facts show that security cannot be obtained with British nationality at such places as Hankow. All with whom Lord Charles Beresford talked, viewed the political situation with extreme uneasiness. There is no sign that the disruption of China has been arrested, and the horizon is covered with clouds.—"Daily Mail."