Tue Viceroy of Chibli has apparently by this time experienced the trath of the adage "that all that glitters is not gold." He has certainly not discovered a mine of gold in the purchase of the S.S.N. Company, and, if apparently well founded reports be trae, he would like to wipe his hands of the affair. The purchase of the S.S.N. Company was, however, one of those false steps which it is difficalt to retrieve, as they entail consequences and engagements which are apt to interfere with perfect freedom of action and 80, though we believe that no one is more conscious then Li himself that he has burnt his fingers badly in trying to introduce them into everybody's pie, ho may probably in the end find himself compelled by circumstances to hold on to ® policy the rottenness of which must now be beginning to dawn on him. It was a great idea, doubtless, to get up a mock trade, and to support alive of steamers able to put down competition, by advances of public money. Unfortunately that money has had to be wrung out of the very trade it has pretended to foster, and the consequence, as we long ago pointed out, is the strangling of the bird that was laying the golden eggs. It may seem a good thing for trade that such facilities as are offered for its development on the Yangtsze should be continued. Never did so many steamers ply, and seldom have freights been so seriously low. The result is not what might be expected. The cheapness of transport does not seem to increase trade, nor do mandarin blandishments induce the native merchant to "plunge" on the native line. The boon is, like many other gifts offered by interested parties, but a delusion after all; for cheap freights are more than made up in squeezes, and trade is taxed whether it will or not, to reduce the expenses of carringo and interfere with legitimate profits. It might have been apparent to ordinarily reasonable mon that a line which, under the economical mangement which the necessity of a private com-pavy demanded, was only just straggling through difficulties that were seriously threatening its existence, evuld searcely fail to prove a serious loss when handed over to officials and men unskilled in the working of steamers. The pride of the Viceroy of Chibli could not, however, brook the suggestion that he and his advisers might be found wanting in some of the qualifications which long experience alone can give. He was quite prepared to do anything, from defending the Taka forts to running a Polytechnic institution; nothing undertaken by him or his subordinates was to be permitted to be a failure. If he needed a navy, it was to spring up ready formed, with officers acquainted with all the seas of the world and all the requirements of naval tactics. If he needed an army, his officers knew the Prassian drill, and the Prussians had defeated the French. If he' wanted coal, he had only to send mining on gineers. to his own properties in Anhwei, and they were sure.to find supplies of coal and iron on the family estates. If he wanted railway, he, had only to purchase one ready-made, ta, hia hand; and if his people needed. ity struction, English manufacturers would afford it all, free of expense, in, the far-famed Polytechnic Institution Shanghai, That every one.of these schemes is rapidly becoming. "the lnnghing-stock not only: of foreigners, but of his own people, was' probably unknown to the Viceroy when, ho completed the tower of folly by the purchase of the S.S.N. Company. Wa should be glad for the' sake of his country that this act of Li's should ba, his last, and that the lesson. afforded should be well learnt; but we fear thy the course he has adopted is too sli pery to ronder retreat safe, _Moan-. while, the breach between the Viceroy. and the better portion of hia countrys, men seems to be widening. -If no one, as yet has had the courage, to place, himself in the foreground, small oh., stacles are magnified, and potty oh.. structions placed in his way. These, measures are doubtless undignified, but, we can scarcely look for: dignity of character in China. It is hopeless, to, expect any display of publio spirit nation whose main rule is to repre da, any such exhibition. Still, it is to.a, certain extent satisfactory to. be able, to note some symptoms that the system. which as been sapping the, Empire, la, at Inst beginning to entail. unpleasant, consequences of its ori
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.