Iris still by no means clear what was the real origin of the late dead-lock at Tientsin;—whether the Taotai really intended to levy likin duty on foreign goods on their arrival, and retired before the storm of opposition; or whether the Chinese merchants misunderstood or misrepresented his action, in order to enlist the aid of foreigners in fighting the Native produce battle. The Taotai repudiates the intention attributed to him, but the Chinese appear to be hardly yet satisfied. Shipments of foreign goods from Shanghai are still suspended and an apprehension is said to prevail that, although the attempted levy on the spot is abandoned, the purpose is entertained of collecting a 2} per cent. é-kin duty at the first barrier outside Tientsin. There is, however, no distinct evidence on either side, unless we take the Taotai's proclamation to be such. There certainly is not, in the version which has reached ws, any mention of foreign goods, and he has since emphasized the distinction. But it is quite possible, on the other hand, that the Chinese have known how to read between the lines; and it does seem strange that so much excitement should have arisen on a simple misconception. Perhaps the very fact of this excitement may be taken as better evidence than the Taotai's language. The question is, however, as we have suid before, purely one of inference; and opposite conclusions will very probably be drawn, by different readers, from such facts as we have before us.
What is clear, is the action taken in regard to native goods; and a third proclamation, which we publish on another page, states the Taotai's purpose in their regard, even more explicitly than the two former ones. When Chunghow was Superintendent of trade at Tientsin, he ordered that, after Chinese merchants had paid duty at the Foreign Custom House on Native goods imported by foreign vessels, they should go (on the someday) tothe Native Custom House and pay certain other taxes; and the mode of procedure was to be this. On payment of the duty at the Foreign Customs, certificates in triplicate are prepared. One of these is retained on file for reference, one is filed in the Taotai's yamen, and the third is handed to the merchant, who is to repair with it to the Native Customs and pay duty upon the goods it represents. The Taotai has however discovered that, since he came into office, there have been issued about 1,000 certificates, of which no entry has been made at the Revenue Office. Obviously, he concludes, the duties have been evaded to this extent. What he purposes doing now, is to send round to ench merchant's office a messenger, with a file of these certificates, who will require, in each case, proof that the requisite duty has been paid; and, on the 27th March, all goods upon which taxes have not been paid are to be reported for payment of arrears. If evasion is still persisted in after this notice, the delinquent will be made to feel the full rigor of the law.
We have suggested, above, that the Chinese are well able to rend between the lines of official documents, and it may be that their apprehension of having to account for foreign imports as well as native, was well founded. It is possible, on the other hand, that they have imagined a vain thing—What however they have very certainly understood, is that the Taotai is doing his utmost to scrape in all the money he can, before his term of office expires. He took over i charge only in June, and he is to vacate n office in favour of a new incumbent, about the end of March. Hence this every As much hay as possible must be made while the stu is yet shining. What appears equally clear' is, that the duties levied at the Foreign Custom House are not at all regarded as a substitute for the Native Customs dues.
They are simply an additional squeeze, for the benefit of the Imperial exchequer. The Chinese Custom House has to be satisfied all the same, and claims, under the name of li-tin, the duties it used to levy under a simpler name. Take the following paragraph in the Taotai's first proclamation, for example "Since the opening of Foreign Commerce, native goods, coming formerly by internal routes, now arrive by sea, and the Hu-kwan (Native Customs) at present depends entirely on likin duties to make up the deficiency in its proper duty receipts." In other words, the revenue levied at the Foreign Custom House does not go into the provincial exchequer, and provincial Mandarins resort to li-kin to satisfy the void caused in their income by the transference of duties from the Inland to the Foreign Custom House. Have we not, here, one explanation of the pertinacious adherence to li-kin, in spite of the restoration of peace? Of the disastrous effect which these excessive exactions are having Gri the trade of China, we have complained often enough.; But we cannot help inferring that the' fragmentary attempt (made in the case of the Customs) to centralize revenue without centralizing expenditure, may have something to do with the difficulty. It is quite likely that the /i-tin taxes have been evaded at Tientsin, as the Taotai says; but the oppressive total of the duties levied on trade must be considered responsible for such evasions.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.