GERMANY'S STEALTHY COINOUEST

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7422, 7 June 1902, Page 2

GERMANY'S STEALTHY COINOUEST

THE KAISER'S AMBITIOUS PLOT. P&I2TCB HENRY'S VISIT TO AMERICA ONLT A BOLD DIPLOMATIO STROKE. Great nations, like large bodies, do .not disport themselves in a haphazard manner (writes Edwin Wildman, former Vice and Deputy Consul-General at Hongkong, in " Leslie's Weekly "j. When they or their representatives move it is with a- definite and matured object in view. It was not the whim of a transient impulse that bestirred the Emperor of Germany to send a personal representative to the United States. Prince Henry's visit is intended . to be a link in a chain of events by which William 11. aspires to restore the ancient prestige and power of Germany and associate his name in history with that of his illustrious ancestor^ the Great Frederick. .The' Emperor is aware that Germany has not afforded a profitable sphere of operations for- its overflowing population. He is aware that the German has been forced to seek a market for his wares and 'brains outside of the Fatherland. Angered and alarmed at the loss of his subjects, the isolated position x of his country, and the sudden prominence of America as a threatening factor in the Orient, his schemes of colonial expansion took definite form in his mind. When he sent his brother to Asia with a powerful squadron he is reported to have eaid at the leave-taking. "Go, and whatever you, find that the Chinaman wants, whether lamp-wicks, wheel-barrow?, Wtton-prints, or an Emperor, I cant supply the demand." But hardly had prince Henry tapped tha Chinese cocoanut with his "mailed fist" when IJewey plucked the ripest plum, in the Orient. Great Britain, wild with joy at America's! sudden "appearance in the southern seas; patted us on the back and laughed in the face of Germany, for Great Britain was the commercial pioneer of Asia, and did not view the aggressive attitude of Germany with pleasure. GERMANY IN CHINA. Defeated at any colonial ambitions he might have entertained in the Philippines, the German Emperor sent his fleet of warships up the Chinese coast and made a demonstration. Prince Henry conducted the pilgrimage with infinite grace and diplomacy, penetrating the heart the Chinese capital and making a record as the first foreign dignitary who received personal audience with, the throne, Germany found Great Britain everywhere^ jn the ascendant. Her ships, her money, and her " pressure " had! opened the hermit nation to the trade of the world. Her engineers and her brains had evei^ penetrated the riverine ports and established communication with. j the remote interior. Her guns protruded | from every strategic position along the coasts and h,er diplomacy had forced concessions and toleration from the debauched and vacillating government. Thus it was that when the Emperor " discovered " China jhe found the field' occupied. It was the work of years for the Teutonic trader to get a hold upon the Chinese mind, bub gradually he invaded the country, took advantage of British protection, and found a market for his wares. Unfortunately for British interests^ her merchants clung to antiquated methods that invited the contempt of the aggressive Germain trader! The German was not slow in following up his advantage, and soon rhralJled the Englishman ,in trade balances, in merchant marine, and began to dreamt of territorial \ '■ JPnijce Henry's" coup d'etat was the final blow. ; He curried favour with the Vicerpys, sat down at the table with the Chines© -compredows, and dazzled the Orient with his regal splendour and lavish entertaining. The result was a tremendous growth pf prestige for the German /trader. Where before he had! sought business in a " by-your-leave " fashion, Ihe now held his head higfy and pushed fearlessly jnto the English strongholds and secured concessions and privileges that threatened English ascendancy.^ CherFoo became almost a German port* England, alarmed, *opk over Wei-hai-wej and with feverish haste organised a Chinese regiment — for Germany had already senfc out military instructors and introduced! tftie Chinese to modern methods of warfare. THE BOXER OUTBREAK WAS PBOPEfrOUS FOR GRMANY. The murder «£ a couple of missionaries in Shantung gape her the opportunity of wrenching froett China the practical sovereignty of a. great sweep of territory that realised ithe Emperor's colonial dream. Kiachau was established — a new port' in the Celestial kingdom, exclusively German. It was a goal he bad sought for years. Kiachau, because o$ its rocky and dangerous harbour, its shadow waters and its barren soil, had been overlooked in the Oriental scramble. The Raiser pounced down Upon -ib like a (hungry- <dog on a bone, for his keen eye «aw beyond the barren' cliffs of the mainland a vtaet hinterland an enormous watershed and a limitless buffer territory that reached book into darkest China— the land of Thibet. A glance at the map will reveal the importanc* of Kiachau. It is the natural port'>f the Shantung province—one of the rioaest in all tae empire, and one of i the most inaccessible. Strategically it commands the Hoang-Ho, or Yellow River, which water? a vast fertile territory back a thtoeand jaiile8 4 rich with wheat, millet, iinaize, Indian com, and the repository of untold minerai wealth, gold, copper, kon, iand coal. I# was a prize that swelled the breast of the Kaiser with Oriental dissoxos. In October, 1889, Prijace Henry put his foot fed the spade that raised the first shovelful of dirt where. now .operates the Shantung railway, tapping the fertile valley lands and drawing a iftine of demarcation across the empire. Thousands of emigrants from the Fatherland pour^xl in, and at last a haven, beyond the drl^ams of avarice, was opened to the disaffeated German, subjects. While Russia v*as absorbed in Manchuria, England at Kiowloon and up 'the Yangtse, and America in the Philippines, the Kaiser quietly established a military and naval base a Tsin|?-tao, tlh© very mouth of the Yellow River,. The Reichstag voted 4,420,000 marks Ho bui3dl Tsiagtao—l,79s,ooo marks for fortifications and 3,800,000 marks for cables and postal conveniences to iinfr the new ciisy with CheFoo and the interior. This the Kaiser grew restless. Tb,e open-door policy was gratifying, thought an expediency. " ; But the trend of events offered new opportunities,. The Boxer war came at the psychological moment. Exoepting the lamentable provocation at Pekln it was the one opportune upheaval he. a/iight have wished for. The vast territor-y of the Yellow River strangely became t\e hotbed of Boxer activity. It offered a, field of "pacification" that gratified his fherished dreams. "Go to China," he said >,to Field Marshal von Waldersee and hisj sixteen thousand men, " and make the uni\tbnn of a German soldier feared in China for a thousand years.' Thus happened ' WHAT AROUSED THE IRE OF THE CIVILISED WORLD, , too soon, ailas forgotten in the rapid -.march of events. Von Waldersee and Ma fleet .of transports and convoying war-shipi? arrived off Tsing-tao and Taku after the legations were relieved and peace was practically restored in the immediate of insurrection. But Germany was nojO to be robbed, of\her triumj»Jfc in the eleiieatfi

hour. She Mart a punitive expeditionjw Paoting-Fu and ravaged the country. Shi sent another force toward Kalgan, in reality to make a demonstration in Russia's poach* ing ground and check her aggressions southward. A large force was dispatched in the meantime from Tsing-tao up tha Yellow River to join the Paoting-Fn expedition and occupy the great territory that contributes to Kiachau and Ch*«Foo. < The whole ambitious plot of the falser unfolded before the eyes of the dTiJisjsd; world, yet no voice was raised in effeetiva protest, unless the diplomatic phrase* of the Anglo-German compact, that mad.© jt» appearance at this time, may be called a protest. This agreement between spoilsmen effected, the Kaiser** definite fogey became apparent. "The Gorernmeht !«■ made the 'open doov' the cardiial point of its policy," said an inspired voice i» f » German newspaper, "and 1 we. entirely "ipprove of its actions. ' But' wo desire-iltat this policy shall not be a phrase, bot tfeat in the approaching negotiations the object in view should be nob merely to open the door, but to lift the 1 gates out of their sockets and born them, tt> a# to prevent them ever being set up again. We desire also, that an effective support should be given to the policy of penefcration, flsich would make, it easier for us than it, Jifft been heretofore to extend the feeler? (ffc^o* our commence throughput the w$0l« Chinese Empire.'^ ■ - :&s GERMAN CRUELTY. i: So the reign of terrtr . began. l In £h» war of the alUesagafinsV China the Riuhsian Cossack? were cruel, merciless j we expected littlei e]se of thrf&n. They ran after the helpless/ qoolie wiwtlhe; knout and lashed him into craven subjection to their commands. But the/uerv mans— that superb body # of armed inenyje- . presenting, perhaps, the best drilled and ■ organised soldiery in the wbrldr-rwer ■;'<s* pected something of. them. Count Tjjoa* 'Waldersee was. heralded as a unifying factor. Instead he proved a dls^arpitnti element. "" The Americans, English, Janißi-. ese, and French) went to Pekin on a njwswn of common humanity — Von WaMeiße©' cainej as an avenger. His soldiers kicked, abused* and shot helpless, natives.* -••s&&yi humiliated the Chinese, lashed thenv to-: gether by their hair and shot them withtati trial. They terrorised them through their . provisional government at Pekin andi iphob them at the rate of a dozen ad*y i^T^ffences'not proved by any court. "TAtey harnessed helpless coolies, "without s^aipji to age or condition, to their waggons, thftir-^ artillery, and their ambulances ,and cupelled them to load their junks and! CWttJ! their burdens at the point of the bayonet.' T>hey ruthlessly executed snore ChMeso than were 'killed by the allies in tftei? march to Pekin. In tihe Shaatung expsd4.-. tions they swooped 1 down upon helpless inhabitants; and wiped out waole towns aiid depopulated 1 entire district^. They c«*ted a panic among the people and made pacification of the Chinese fey the Chinese >v- . thoritjes impossible. In pursuing Iteir ■ g>houMsh poucy of destroying towns «ad wrecking local authority, murdering .tare* sppmsible people, and intimidating feetefai women and children, overaunnißj tecg« agricultural districts, laying Sow pities a«l villages, and delaying She resuniptdop of trade and c«mmeroe-^tSie <xamaam*t»n oJ t peace— fche German* brought upon Oiiiab % * famine tha* <r#vished the north of the "mm* pire. The province of ghenci wjw paofced with hundreds of thousands of sefuaeesi front Pephjli, who bailt ehacks and had<Ue<i • together 3ike frozen sheep> living, upon food that would mot keep alive a cage of monkeys. The -leaves of the trees neie stripped and the roots of young ea-plioga were .utilised for iood. In tbe mountain " districts even ''cannibalism was resorted to by the despondent inhabitants, who, despite an imperial edict throwing opefl the public granaries, were not aible to/getfcod 1 , so possessed were they "with terror of tbe iovaders. To add to their jro^ctfflßMit western Shantung w«s <vlsitedi with a grea* drought, -and crops, <wMcn are flbarely sufficient to feed tfhe- population in momai times, utterly failed. The motive Gmsiese papers kst year were full of the most (harrowing details of the plight of •tihe-jJeople, for suicides polluted the rivers «nd Hie victims of starvation followed 4Jhe traajl <of the refugees. . . '; ■•- Li Hung Chang and Prince Chang teU- . graphed *o the leading' officials of tibm Yang-tee valley and >oie souths of China for food supplies and money, bub THE PERNICIOUS POLICY OF VON WALQERSEE kept the country so disturbed t2»t at •#» impossible to move relief trains into/ tba affected districts. The Viceroy* «? c«»fa*l China appealed <to the consub art Shanghai, Hong Kong and Tientsin, to bake inihtary operations stopped. Along *&» l&te of the German railway p* Shantauig iM P»«* indiscriminate m«ssacrea took pjftoe. In Kaoini cities were 'bujpned *iitd looted «W four ihttndred prittmers were tabes on* «*d shot, irrespective of theio peflsoaal responsibiHty for *he |ai*l<a%oatd wjjt . r Not satisfied wi* their bngajifcy in S^cani^iHje German troops moved Bppn.sh# great city. of Weaken, up *he Yeaoy River. # Tto« literati and gentry se^t ox*| a, delegation io> meet them and a^sujP 1&«*8i **, 9**? officials were not opposed t* "tmeijr TaHrmc enterowses. "Weihsien is an Waportawt «ad flouris^bg city and lay absolutely »t the mercy of tflie invaders. Tb* pkmd old aristocrats were forced to <b>tr in utter sabmission %q I3ie armed lorce of Gcbomuw «r witness thewscHy in nilnsjajw! their people slaughtered on made fugitives. Wcihsten surrendered atod the GepiMua in»t»Ued themselves in palaces and: «ranuoation km* until the spirit moved them onwMd uj *"• Yellow River in their policy ofpene^ataon, pacifying Shantung. In <their <ponafcre >i ex* pedition toward Kalg*n, west :o| #*&*« thousands of peaceftfl f^asmm were driven, pn'tihe verge of .winter, froni> I W»ew homes, to stasve or t>eg aatU *he ; fpla weather released their «oil naad gjw 1 «)*»» could be raised. Tfee pmi» to J^LJ across a fertile plain andt up a w^^iwaMffea valley. Numerous little -yalages lsjr -along the way. It was a favourite toilffetjCT^ to the great wall, and thonsaaids oftarajse had inurrated 4iiither to dee a prew^wi* living oS lie generosity of *tite rforo^njvimtor. Oouni York laid low this wlole^oontry, stxipped it of its foodstuffs, and «fo*» the people in terror nfco (hills.: ;He ! sM* Ms lac in the oarapaiga, b*it got' fyatt * Chkjßse bullet, "pie <jtetman <»iua*fettt were sligftt, fca* thousands of <ateese w«» killed in that useless and cruel expedition, against an Absolutely (helpless f eagle, tfcftt ihe G^man uniform might fee feared, js. ohina for a thousand yeaw. ,-.■»—' Count- yon Bulow, addressing tl^.BH* after the departure of ifeashal ron-Wal-dexsee, declared that "Germany would not adopt any, move, military or <jfelpia)rtjrr» independent of the other Powersu?.: -In the light of subsequent events, it app»»r» that COUNT, VON BULOW WAS &OTJB* THE CONFIDENCE OF THE Anyone conversant with the conditions in China is fully, cognisantof the fact *hat it is impossible to treat witi her ajj; if jhe were a well-govexned and thoroogSly " fp* sponsible Power. Officially, she j«- aip^Mt everything that sh& ought not to -Ibe'j; v»r* rupt, loosely governed, degeneiate^ and barbaric. She has gone down the *«l 8 for three hundred years. H» litenutaJeaod her civilisation are ret3»active or reflective, and she has gotten so far away iwm her ideals that it is dif&co}t to 4?4 a semblance of her former greataes^ .» her present rottenness. Tkese lan»eai«JWe deficiencies, in the eyes of American dipjor macy, plead for indulgence. No^b «O; !W*h the Germans, .instructed to i»bae in the minds of the Chinese, terror # the sight of the German saiform. A _ policy pf ;hnmanitarianism on the one si£»j # policy of conquest on the other. -..'•' - ■ America- has "interfered** in Ghiaa, And our word is pledged for htr pteserratidn. ■ If we stand by our «ol«o« we shall oKow purposes, if not swords, with <3«maßy, for William 11. proposes to hold Shaa> tung. "We «an be peaceful a«4 w* eaa fight," are the significant words that dropped from Prince Henry's lips in one «f hii western speeches. It is the malted Itt the velvet glove. "Grasping th« fettd across the sea* we forget «ad fojrgitfe tM crime of 19Q0 j we &ap,^y «n mugtte* mi

quiescence in the ambitions of William 11. Frederick the Great sent a sword to Washington from " the oldest to the greatest of generals " ; William the Second .offers the ©live branch from the oldest to the youngest of Powers, for he aspires to snap his fingers at Europe and turn his shoulder to Great Britain. PRINCE HENRY'S^ MISSION TO AMERICA ■was one of the boldest diplomatic coups in modern statecraft. Henry' Cabot Lodge says, in his history of the war with Spain, that the. Germans . $t Manila manifested ** every possible dislike and hostility, without doing anything effective and breeding a strong and just enmity toward the United States. To the ruder and simpler American mind it seemed stupid and profitless, and,, in any , event, Ame- - xicans will not forget it." Can we expect that the heart, of a great nation has suddenly changed without reason? Such a supposition can only be entertained by the most superficial mind. Foreign nations have launched war-ships from our yards. It has never been thought necessary be- . cause of this to send a personal representative of a throne to participate , in the r«sfc ' • ' .■■•■.■-'■'■ But William the Second is ambitious— ■ ambitious 'beyond the confines of the German Empire. With his hand on the pulse «£ American enthusiasm over the presence of his sailor brother, he misinterprets the shouts of the spectacle-loving American public if he thinks that we can forget the affronts he offered /Admiral; Dewey at Manila. Hardly is the ink dry on the effusive editorials of the American Press, promptly «»bl«d to Berlin, before the same type- is found printing the warning notes of our Minister in Pekin, who is quickly made to realise the significance of Prince Henry's welcome. " Germany is pushing her claims lor exclusive concessions . in Shantung," cables Minister Conger to Washington. The Kaiser strikes while the, iron is hot. The talons of the ; black eagle hover menacingly over a helpless and inert nation ; it requires but the merest show of indulJenee on our part to precipitate their ownward flight on to a province whose •re* Is one-fourth aB large, and whose'population is equal to three-fourths of the German Empire; but if Prince Henry's faculties have not been blunted by the roar end hurrahs of his triumphal tour, he will take 'home to his imperial brother a> budget . of advice that' will moderate his methods if: not his ambitions in China. America will not accept German's belated friendship, if it is asked to do so at China's expense. That would not be M'Kinleyism, ■aft H weald not be business either.