A MINISTER'S LIFE IN PEKIN.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXI, Issue 197, 20 August 1900, Page 2

A MINISTER'S LIFE IN PEKIN.

DEALINGS WITH THE TSUNGLI-

YAMEN.

A SPECIMEN INTERVIEW

The position of a foreign Minister at Pekin is at no time one to be envied. He has to deal with a governing system that has not varied for ages, and is still wrapped in the mantle of a superb and paralysing conceit. "At no capital in the world," says Lord Curzon, of Kedleston (now Viceroy of India), in his "Problems o£ the Far East," "are the relations between the Government of the country and the representatives of foreign Powers conducted under circumstances so profoundly dissatisfactory as at Pekin. There is absolutely no intercourse between native officials and foreigners. Few of the latter have ever been, except for a public ceremonial visit, inside a Chinese Minister's house. No official of any standing would spontaneously assQciate with a European. Even the Chinese employees of the various Legations would lose 'face' if observed speaking" with their masters in the streets. Superior force has installed the alien in the Celestial capital; but he Is made to feel very clearly that he is a stranger and a sojourner in the land; that admission does not signify intercourse; and that no approaches, however friendly, will ever be rewarded with intimately, and his attitude is more particularly reflected in the official relations that subsist between the diplomatic corps and the foreign office at Pekin." The Minister has to deal first of all with the Tsungli-Yamen (the board of general superintendence), and occasionally he may have an audience with the Emperor. The Tsungli-Yamen, or Foreign Office, was \ established after the war of 1860. So soon! as the allied English and French troops! left Pekin for the south, the Grand Coun-j ell. of State took into consideration thej question of the future management of! foreign affairs. Up to that time the Gov-! ernment, with that contemptuous disregard of everything relating to the "outer barbarians" which belongs to it, had relegated the management of foreign concerns to the Lifau Yuam, or Colonial Office. That is to "say, European affairs were classed with the trivial matters of the Mongolian and Central Asian nomads. The members of the Tsungli-Yamen do not constitute a separate department, being selected from the other Ministries, without any special aptitudes for, or knowledge of, foreign affairs. For many years past it has been identified closely with the Grand Council of State, a majority of the members of the latter board being also members of the Tsungli-Yamen. "It is much as though the Board of Admiralty at Whitehall were composed of the Home, Indian, and Colonial secretaries, with perhaps the President of the Board of Trade and the Chancellor t>f the Duchy of Lancaster thrown in," says Lord Curzon. Prince Chlng, who, according to late information, had been endeavouring to befriend the inmates of the foreign Legations, had been president of the TsungliYamen since 1&84, though it is expected that he haa now been removed by the Empress Dowager. The Prince, though unknown in Europe, is described as being a typical specimen of the Manchu gentleman, and a statesman of great ability, with a wide grasp of foreign questions*. Soon after the Yamcn was established it became evident that it was a mere blind. To demands for compensation for murdered missionaries, the Ministers • replied by pleasant remark? about the weather or the Htate of the crops, and when a Minister threatened an ultimatum, they blandly handed him a dish of sweetmeats, or pressed upon his notice a particularly objectionable native bonne bouche. Sir Harry Parkes likened a visit lo the Tsung-li-Yamen to a man attempting to draw water out of a well with a bottomless bucket. An amusing account of a specimen interview between an English diplomatist and the members of the Tsungli-Yamen appeared some time ago In the "Times." After describing the preliminary, fuss and ceremony, of handing round tlio usual

refreshments, designed for the special purpose of wasting time, the correspondent continues: "At last, when the melon seeds and sugar plums have been distributed in saucers all over the only table upon which the foreigner would have liked to have spread his papers, business is supposed to commence. 'And now,' observes the visitor, 'what is your answer about the robbery of merchandise belonging to Mr Smith, at Xam-Kwei, and the beating of his servants for refusing to pay the illegal extortions of tbe officials?' One of their rules is that no one shall speak first. So they take sidelong glances at each other, and keep silence until one, bolder than the rest, opens his mouth, as much to the surprise as the relief of his comrades, who watch the reckles-5 man in the hope that he will drop something which may serve hereafter to put a feting into some surreptitious charge against him. What he does say is, 'Take some of these walnuts; they come from the prefecture of Long-way, which is celebrated for the excellence of its fruit!' Then follows a discussion on the merits of walnuts, which is, however, not nearly such excellent fooling as Lord Granvilie's discourse on tea-roses to the gentleman who sought an interview with him on some important Chinese question, but it fulfils the same purpose. When they do speak, they speak ail at once, and, like Mr Puff's friends, their " unanimity is something wonderful, and their courage rises to heroism. What they do say can, of course, be neither understood nor answered; so much the better, since time has been killed, with the arrow of controversy still ;n the quiver. The foreign Minister's lips begin to grow pale, and other sign 3 of exhaustion warn the courageous ones that it is time to shout louder, if hapiy they may stun their auditor with their noise." After the Franco-Cheese war in Tonquin in ISSS had been p¥p:eeding for some time, both sides were heartily tired of the war and the Tsungli-Yamen was relieved to hear from Sir Robert Hart that the negotiations they had authorised him to carry on in Paris had been successful. The anouncement of this welcome conclusion of peace was made by Sir Robert Hart in'an enigmatic fashion, which is so much affected by the Chinese. Sir Robert called one day at the Tsungli-Yamen, and, addressing the Ministers, said, "Nine months ago, you authorised me to open negotiations for peace, and now " "The baby is born," said the Ministers, before he could proceed further. "Yes," said Sir Robert, "the preliminaries of peace are arranged." Occasionally the Ambassador secures an audience with the Emperor, but it is a pure formality. The "Kotow" (i.e., kneeling on both knees three times, and knocking the ground nine times, which British Ambassadors, since the first mission 01 Lord Macartney in 1733, have always refused to perform) has now disappeared, but the Emperor yet declines to receive the representatives of the "Outer Barbarians" in one of the great audience halls of the main palace. They are received in an outer building in the Imperial park. As they approach the Emperor's presence they bow exactly as they would before their own sovereign, and tho "Son of Heaven" mumbles a few words to an intermediary, who remarks that the Emperor is graciously pleased to greet them. The envoys place their creGentials, or rather, papers, upon a little table, and this ceremony, as well as the fact that the reception is held in an outer hall, is made much of by the mandarins, who convert it into an admission by the foreigners that they are inferior beings. Lord Curzon remarks, by the way, that the Emperor Kwangsu is known to have taken a deep interest in everything English, and received daily English lessons, at a very early hour of the morning (from 3 a.m. to 4 am.) before giving audience to his Ministers, from two Chinese students of the Foreign College at Pekin, who, unlike the Ministers, are allowed to sit in the Imperial presence. It is mentioned as an Instance of the Emperor's keen concern in his English studies that when he received a copy of the "Life of the Prince Consort," a present from Queen Victoria, he at once sent it down to the Foreign College, and was impatient until he received it back. ■ Probably not more than a score of Europeans have seen "The Solitary Man," as the Chinese Emperor is not unfitly called. The following description of his personal appearance was given by an eye-witness of an audience a few years ago: "His air is one of exceeding intelligence and gentleness somewhat frightened, and melancholy looking. His face is pale, and though it is distinguished by refinement and quiet dignity, it has none of the force of his martial ancestors, nothing commanding or imperious, but is altogether mild, delicate, sad and kind."