The Trouble at Wei-hai-wei.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 9820, 20 July 1900, Page 2

The Trouble at Wei-hai-wei.

Describing the causa of the trouble at Wei-hai-wei, the North Lhinn Uei\.id of May 9th, says :—

" Whilst the British claim to have leased a certain strip of tenitory, whilst their ships are never absent from the harbor, and whilst they have undertaken many works on the island, and not a few on the mainland, on the other hand this claim has never been acknowledged by the Chinese Government—nor, as will be shown shortly, denied. And let it be understood here that the writer should not hesitate to state that the Chinese officials directly in contact with the people have implicitly denied the claim of the British Government, were it not that the evidence on the point is not easy to adduce, though peihaps, no lets conclusive, than is the evidence upon which other statements are made.

True, a proclamation setting forth the fact was issued by the the high official auihorities at the instance of the Teung-li-Yamen, moved thereto by the British Minis'er, toward the end of the summer of 1898. Two copies were put up locally, one was heard of elsewhere, in the neighborhood of a mission station, and it may well be questioned whether any copies other than these three were issued at all. The proclamations mide no reference to taxation or to the administration of justice. Moreover, whilst the name of China in the proclamation was honored in the usual formal, the name of Great Britain first appeared at the foot of a column—not an insignificant fact to the readers for whom it was supposed to be intended.

Tnis result was obtained by a simple expedient. The British official who sanctioned the proclamation had his copy written in golumn of ten characters or so. The proclamation as it appeared was printed in columns of twenty or so, thus causing characters at the column of the fair copy to appear at the bottom in the form in which it was published. Again, notlongafter this proclamation appeared, or was supposed to have appeared, another of a very different character was put in every village in the British territory, as well an in the neutral zone. It called upon the people to re-form the militia, and to exercise the trained hands. The language used was unusually vigorous, auu the people were explicitly urgsd to act promptly and earnestly. Ostensibly the ami was to suppress highway robbery and so forth ; really, said the people, to oppose the Biitish." p ity is not the only feeling proper toward these people. We cannot withhold our respect. In their own ignorant, futile, pitiable way they ar*e prepared to fight for what they conceive to be liberty, and after all liberty is only what a people conceive it to be. ■ That the British authotities have no intention either of increasing the taxes or of imposing new ones is neither here nor there. They have never stated simply and implicitly i hat there was no ground for apprehension.

Had a few words to this effect been inserted incidentally in one of the proclamations issued ansnt taxation, much of the present trouble might have been avoided. Had the British represeutative in Pekin stipulated for, and insisted upon having, a copy of the official registers concerned, thus securing recognition of the British by the Chinese authorities, and facilitating thtir assumption of the lesponsibilities ot government, it is hardly conceivable that the present deplorable condition of affairs could have come about. Again and again the villagers have stated that if their own Government but give the word, they will cheerfully recognise the British, but not otherwise.