(China Overland Trade Report.) ascendant at pit a attempt % insert The reaction: are clearly in the
the thin end of the wedge of progress proves successful, no scheme for developing the material resources of the country finds favour in the capital of China. The introduction of railways is tabooed; telegraphs high officials and maintained at their coet——except small lines for the convenience of
are not to be thought of; the establishment of mint is a project that has been emphatically condemned; and lately an attempt by the Viceroy of Chibli to have the mineral wealth of his province explored and investigated has been quietly but de-ively defeated. It will be remembered that about a twelvemonth since a well-known American mining expert, Mr. Arnold Hague, was engaged by His Excellency Li Hung-chang to prospect the mines of Chihli and report upon them, in order, of course, that mining operations on a large and organised scale, with the aid of foreign machinery, might be commenced. The great Viceroy was not oblivious to the sad fact that repeated droughts, followed by disastrous famines, had grievously impoverished the province, and he doubtless had come to the common-sense conclusion that it ought no longer to depend solely upon agriculture when there was so much wealth beneath the soil and the crops had become so precarious. It is also probable that His Excellency desired to replenish his treasury in order to prosecute his numerous schemes for the augmentation of Chinese defensive power. The means wherewith to pay for the new gunboats on their way out from England, funds for the maintenance of the various costly arsenals established in different parts of the Empire, to say nothing of the little bills for Krupp guns, ete., all have to be provided for, and a productive silver mine would be a valueable auxiliary to the present sources of revenue. But potent as is the voice of Li Hung-chang in the Imperial Council, he has had to give way on this point, and leave untouched the mineral treasures that are believed to lie locked up in the soil of Chihli. Mr. Hague was not permitted to do more than make a single survey, and that resulted in showing that one reported silver deposit had no real scientific existence. Since that time he has been compelled to while away the time as best he could at Tientsin until the expiration, a week or two ago, of the term of his engagement. It is not likely that want of success on the first trial daunted the Viceroy, because the mineral wealth of the province is undeniable. The Government of Peking must have refused to sanction the opening of the mines, The: traditional: policy. of the Chinese Government in, connection with mining has for centuries been its utter discouragement, on. the ground that by opening mines of the precious metals the population will be drawn from the more useful and reliable pursuit of agriculture, As in the case of every proposed innovation, the Chinese mandarins: look upon. the opening of mines as a dangerous experiment, and they prefer to forego the expected profits to making so bold a departure from their ancient policy. The failure of Mr. Hague's mission to Chilli, through the obstructiveness of the Government, is a striking proof that at present the Viceroy of Chihli is not so all-powerful as has been generally supposed. If the official who has not inaptly been called "the first man in the Empire," on account of his groat influence and military power, has thus to give way to the Council at Peking, it is pretty certain that the day when Fail-ways, roads, telegraphs, mines, &e., will be adopted inthe Central Kingdom is still far distant. The question arises, indeed, whether any real social or political advancoment can be effected while the existing administration blocks the way.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.