Eveninng post.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIII, Issue 59, 10 March 1902, Page 4

Eveninng post.

MONDAY, MARCH 10, 1902. THE SITUATION IN CHINA. «• Time does not possess among Orientals the value placed upon it by the restless energetic nations of Europe. Rapidity of movement and promptness of decision are regarded with indulgent contempt by a well-bred Chinaman, who pities rather than wonders at the European's barbarous craving for speed and that doubtful good he calls progress. This studied deliberation probably accounts for the slowness with iwhich the affairs of China are being settled. It is now some six months since the Treaty or Protocol of Peace was finally agreed upon by the Chinese Commissioners and the representatives of the Powers; but several important questions are still awaiting decision. Two of these, the restoration of the native civil government in Tientsjn, and the definition of Busso-Chinese relations in Manchuria, were mentioned in Saturday's cable -messages. Other problems awaiting solution are the future control of the northern railways, the incidence and amount of fiscal dutieß, the proper recognition to be given to the Emperor and the Empress-Dowager, and the selection of the next heir to the Imperial Throne.' To complicate matters further there would appear to be two rebellions proceeding, one 'in the south about Kwei-lin and Nan-ning, and the other on the Mongolian borders, headed, we learn to-day, by the notorious Prince Tuan. Of the rebels' movements we have received but the scantiest information. There was an anti-missionary outbreak in the Canton province aboutamofcth ago, and later messages have reported anti-dynastic insurrections in the neighbouring province of Kwang-si. One thousand troops joined the rebels, but of the extent of the movement we know no more than that at last advices it was rapidly spreading. The whole of the region mentioned in, our cablegrams is seriously disaffected. It has always been the centre of antiManchu intrigues. The great Taiping rebellion, which would not improbably have overthrown the present dynasty had not foreigners come to the aid of the Manchus, originated in Kwang-si some fifty years ago, and the Triad and other secret societies have carried on an active propaganda there for generations. These Chinese malcontents only require a leader to give the Pekin Court a great deal of trouble. Of Prince * Tuan's movements we have received still less news. He appears to be somewhere in the northwest on the Mpngol borders at the head of hordes of nomad cavalry. His son Pu Chun, who was at one time officially recognised as Heir-Apparent, has been deposed from his exalted rank and sent to join his father. With the downfall of his son's expectations, Prince Tuan has lost all hopes of ultimately regaining in what may be termed a constitutional way the personal power he enjoyed for a short time during the late troubles. The Court v has abandoned him,- the foreigners demanded his life, and he must now rest content with the role of an obscure exile, unless he is prepared to take up arms and fight for his position. He is a Manchu of the Manchus, and Would find support from the ultra-Conservative northern population. The two rebellions would thus represent the two extremes. While the southern insurgents are shouting "China for the Chinese," and "Down with the Manchus," Prince Tuan and his followers are endeavouring to force upon the Court a reactionary Manchu policy such as led to the coup d'etat of 1898, and the crisis of 1900. Both movements afford evidence of the instability of the status quo if it be left to the support of native forces alone. These rebellions, even if they prove abortive, must inevitably disturb the country, especially at a time when offioials and people are alike beginning to feel the financial burden of the indemnity. "Pace," or, as we should say, "mana," is of supreme importance to the Government and to all its agents in China. Loss of "face" is a direct incentive to rebellion, and consequently the great officers of State are most anxious to avoid any arrangement calculated to lower the authorities in the eyes of ,the people. This feeling is the cause of Yuan Shihkai's persistent efforts to end the present provisional Government in Tientsin. So long as a Foreign Board of Officers controls the chief port in his viceroyalty, he naturally finds it difficult to enforce the customary respect for his office. His position is understood by the British Legation, and the only serious objection to the restoration of native government in Tientsin comes, we are told, from Germany, which wishes to make evacuation depend upon the concession of her demands in Shantung. The foreign administration- of Tientsin is also urged by the Russians as an excuse for their continued occupation of Niuchwang and their refusal to restore the railway beyond the Wall to the Chinese. These foreign aggressions, coupled with the Russian claims on Manchuria, make the pacificatory work of the native officials no light task, in spite of the strong moral support they derive from the terms of the Anglo-Japanese Treaty. The succession to the throne is also a disturbing factor, for as we have pointed out on previous occasions the present Emperor's title is defective from tho Chinese standpoint, and until an heir with a • valid title is found the Empress Dowager must wield an authority which is more dangerous than it would be if she were the legal regent during a minority. The question most closely affecting the foreign community at the moment, however, is the tariff. An attempt is being made to abolish inland duties on imports, and to substitute 'for these local exactions a. regular additional maritime import duty. Unfortunately this would deprive the provincial officers of their main source of revenue, and consequently they are strongly opposed to it. The inland duties are. undoubtedly the chief check upon foreign trade, which would, expand rapidly upon their abolition. .The Commission now sitting in Shanghai may possibly be able to bring about the desired result, but its work is necessarily delayed by rebellions and the aggrandising Views of some of the Powers.