Ir the present famine in the North of China will open the eyes of the Chinese Government to the y and grave defects of its present system, it will not have come in Foremost amongst these are the enforced isolation of ita people and the suppression of all private enterprise. The first abuse, becoming graver and graver by lapse of time, has resulted in the utter destruction of the roads of approach to the affected districts; and the second has made an entire population depondent on the caprice or goodwill of the Government for the time being, which, deprived of the spur always accompanying the private undertaker, naturally falls into perfunctory manner of discharging duties not properly or usually devolving upon official shoulders. We have before this had occasion to point out how injuriously the interests of the North of China were affected by the system of the grain tribute, and how the present method of conveying grain to a country in ordinary times capable of itself producing a superfluity did in reality seriously interfere with home production, Although in one year the amount of grain carried in this manner to North-China might not seriously affect the local production, we have in our calculations to remember that the present system has been going on for a Tong series of years, during each of which the purchasing power of North-China has been reduced by just so much as the value of the grain sent was in excess of the actual require-monte of the country. The bill against the present system would thus, were we to cast tup, represent an enormous sum; and to this extent we must con-dade that it has impoverished the whole of the Northern portions of China, which directly or indirectly are brought into contact with the present system. We are the more hopeful in again drawing attention to this fact, that the experiment of the so-called China Merchants' Steam Navigation Ca. has not turned out so successfully as its eanguiae originators hoped. It has in fact had to contend with all the obstacles which affect enterprises of the sort—accidonts of storm and flood, depression of markets, competition from outside, and the inevitable wear and tear of ships and machinery. Iv addition, it has had the more certain though more insidious causes of decay to which organizations of the kind, when directly controlled by Government officials, are especially liable. This is no new discovery of ours, engendered by opposition to the development of Chinese trade, but has been found to prevail wherever Governments, forget tivg their proper sphere of action, ha entered into competition with their own people. We are justified, according to ite own showing, in holding that the China Merchants' Company has not fulfilled the objects or hopes of its pro-lectors, and we are farther justified in saying that during ita short existence its effect on native trade and native prosperity has been injurious. Now the same reasons would not apply to ships ran by Chinese as simple merchants, and it is in the hope that the present state of affairs may lead to a development of native enterprise, that we write at present.
Every one acquainted with the course of business in China knows 40 what a large extent native merchants avail themselves of the name and position of foreign firms. The reason is not that this is done from any real affection towards those in whose hands they place their concerns, but that the general course of business as conducted by foreigners is superior in many respects to the native. Foremost amongst the reasons which produce such effects is the fact that foreign Governments, as a matter of practice, do not interfere with the private arrange-monte of their nationals. An Englisbman or an American may own a ship, and ron her whenever and however he Tikes, so long as he does not transgress the rules for such matters which are written down in plain and straightforward Innguage. His Consuls or other authorities may have their own ideas, but what these are does not affect the merchant, who has simply to refer to the laws in the case made and provided, and who is independent of official interference Jong as he abides within their limits. Now, if we turn to China, we see at once that this condition of affairs does not exist. In all matters relating to trade or commerce, China is literally without any law whatever, and the exigencies of each case are decided by the particular bias of the individual magistrate who may be affected, or who may suppose his interests are touched. We have the experience of other countries to prove that Chinese merchants are not by any means devoid of enterprise, and are quite capable of appearing as principals in all such matters. It is, therefore, a matter of astonishment to most people on arriving in China for the first time, to discover that in his own country the Chinese merchant is really in a worse position than he finds himself abroad. Those who have bad experience of Chinese merchants give them a high character, both for mercantile astute. ness and also for the practice of the mercantile virtues. A Chinese mer-that is, to sum up in a few words, good man of business." That is to say, he is prompt in making up his mind, and he is strict in fulfilling his mercantile obligations. Exceptions of course there are, but this is the general character borne by the race. Yet, notwithstanding these qualifications, we find that a Chinese merchant is prevented from running steamboats on his own account. He cannot trade in a vessel of his own between the ports of his own country, unless he is content to adopt customs two thousand years old and go back to a style of ship grown antiquated centuries ago. He finds the trade of the Northern ports monopolised by & gigantic association kept up by measures injurious not only to himself but to his countrymen at large; and in the most minute matters he finds interference with his own private arrangements, nor docs he know where to turn to any tangible rales to guide him in cases of difficulty.
Again, it is evident to the most superficial observer that there are industries for which China is peculiarly fitted yet we find the same difficulties standing in the way. It is not many years since China bad the monopoly of the tea trade of the world; at the present moment the relative importance of the Chinese tea trade is year by year diminishing. If we ask the reason, we find it to be that, while other countries are free to adopt improvements, in China the manufacturer has to work in the old grooves and simply copy his predecessors of it may be centuries ago. A still more glaring case in the case of silk. China is pre. eminently adapted for the growth and manufacture of this article, yot herein she is as backward as in the case of the other industries. We may ask why is this, and the reason is not far to seek. It is because Chine: merchants fear to strike out in any new path, because they fear the interference of their own Government, Now there is absolutely no reason why there should not be in China, as there are in the West, Joint Stock Com. panies got up for the purpose of manufacturing certain goods or performing certain operations. The only difference is that the Chinese Government will not supply an intelligible code to which it and the merchants could both refer whenever their interests seem to clash. No more powerful in-* atrament has been discovered of benefiting a nation than the system of Joint Stock Companies; every country pretending to civilisation, with the exception of China, has introduced laws and regulations to permit of their being carried on by the concert of private merchants. The present system in China has not been productive of benefit. It has not made the people more content; it has not made the Government rich or powerfal, and it certainly has not prevented the country being devastated by the horrors of famine. All these facts are undeniable, and are acknowledged by the Chinese Government itself. They, have been forced on its notice more prominently by the present famine. Is it: too much to hope that its prevent distress 77 may be productive of better counsels thab in the past have prevailed, to raise the population from its ever recurring seasons of distress
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.