Ay article entitled "The March of the Mongol" appears in the January number of the Asiatic Quarterly Review. The author is a Mr. William B. Dunlop who was in China in the year 1885 and possibly before and after that time. He writes as if possessed of a perfect knowledge of a new and regenerated China, the intentions of its rulers and of the more intelligent portion of its inhabitants. He has also a great dread of what the new China may do, of its power and the way in which it may be used, to the detriment of other nations. It is zo chaps needless to say, therefore, that Mr. Dunlop falls into many mistakes and predicts a future for this country which is more prophetical than based on anything which can be seen by ordinary observers. In his allusions to what is ast in the dealings of China with great Britain and other nations he is also somewhat weak historically. For instance, it was not in 1854 that "the luge and. elaborate Customs Service of China became utterly paralysed by that strangest of all risings, the great Tai ping Rebellion." The only" paraly: which fell on the Customs service at that time was at this port, and it was not brought about by the Taiping rebellion, but_by the capture of the city by the Triads, aided by other miscellaneous disaffected people and rascals. Then, again, it is said that "consequent on the confusion which ensued aft outbreak of the rebellion" it was hinted to the Central Government at Peki that it would be a good thing for it to dismiss the native collectors of Customs and appoint trustworthy. f i their room. Now the Taiping rebellion began to be really formidable in 1851, and it is quite certain that for many years after that no one could hint such a proposal at Peking. In fact there was no foreigner in the Capital to do so. Coming down toa note recent time Mr. Dunlop writes of the result of the disagreement with France as if all the ultimate advantage lay with China, forgetting, as easily as a mandarin would do, that the French have obtained possession of Tongking. It may or may not be worth the having, but it was taken from China by force of arms and retained by diplomacy. Its unhealthiness for troops is at present a lamentable fact, but the climate is not so bad, not " deadly fur them as was that of Hongkong in the first years of, the British possession of that island. The French are encountering considerable difficulties from bands of robbers and "Black Flags," but are not we in exactly the same, if not in a worse case, in Upper Burma? An imperfect acquaintance with facts, and a very imaginative view of China and the Chinese characterise a considerable part of Mr. Dunlop's article.
He alludes to the growing influence of native newspapers and he is no doubt right in what he says, but the circula~ tion of every well conducted Chinese newspaper should be a hundred times greater than it is. Unfortunately for the proprietors of these prints very few Chinese can read with ease. or comfort. to themselves, and still fewer will pay the three-eighths of a penny, which is about the cost of a native morning paper in Shanghai. A well to-do-Chinese merchant will go a considerable distance to get a reading of a friend's Hupao or Shenpao, and the friend will sell the paper in the afternoon of the day of its publication to newsmen who send it into the country. How penurious must these people be who do these things in order to save a farthing and a haifa day. As a rule we may say that the Chinese newspapers are well conducted, and that they are amenable to criticism was shown the other day, when, after we had drawn attention to some articles and illustrations in which foreigners were defamed, the conductor of the periodical in which they had appeared published an apology for them in our columns. Mr. Dunlop is quite right in everything he says in praise of the Chinese Government for introducing what is very nearly a general system of telegraphs throughout the Empire. This has vastly strengthened the Central Government, and a few main lines of railway would sive it the command of the great provinces and render rebellion if not impossible at all events far more difficult to begin and continue than it has ever been before. At present and perhaps for about. the first. time in her history everything is quiet in China; but secret societies still exist and and opposition to the Mongol dynasty still lingers among the gentry and literati. No doubt railways on a pretty general scale will be laid down before many years are over. They will be strategical and indeed form as necessary a part of the defences of Empire as the fleet, forts, arms and efficiency of the soldiers of which Mr. Dunlop writes so warmly, The expenditure of China abroad at the present time is almost. solely for defence, here and there machinery for mining and some other unimportant purposes is imported, but if the country is to maintain that expenditure some means of replenishing the exchequer, other than those now at the command of Peking will require to be found. The readiest way to do this would be to throw open the mining resources of the laud, and this would at once bring railways in its train, but we confess we seo little hope of foreigners being allowed to mine, and the utter want of confidence, which all Chinese have of the official d stands in the way, and will do so for many a year, of mines being successfully carried on by Chinese. Either officials would work the mines, or if they were conducted by private capitalists or companies, the exactions of the mandarins would render them profitless. The failure to obtain capital for the construction of the railway in the North two years ago, and for the silver mines the other day, are proofs of the want of confidence in their officials which is felt by Chinese bankers and traders. 'I'he higher officials of the empire are not likely to sanction again such large advances as were made to the China Merchants' Ca. when it was started; and we may as well correct Mr. Dunlop's statement that the origin of that concern was an endeavour on the part of a number of wealthy native merchants and officials to prove that the Chinese are as capable of managing such enterprises as foreigners are. It was simply an attempt of some Chinese here to oust foreigners from the carrying trade, and was supported by Li Hung-chang with that object, and to be a school where native seamen could be trained for the navy—which it has never been. Nor was its transfer during the troubles in 1884, due to Chinese astuteness; that quality lay in another quarter. There are some other points in the article to which we shall refer again, because it can only do harm that an incorrect version of Chinese affairs should be offered to people at home, and also because there are puts of it worthy of commendation,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.