We allude to-day to the letter lately addressed to the Times by its Shan Correspondent on the subject of Br representatives in the Enst—not because there is very much to add to what be has there suid, but rather because we do not think so sound and useful an utterance should pass without special notice from the press in China, Ib is, of course, useless to underrnto the fact that British interests very largely preponderate in this country, and that for this cause only, if for none other, it is imperative that the members of the Consular Service should be mon of firmness and decision of character, always en evidence as regards public affairs, and able and willing to take a prominent part in all that affects the well-being of British subjects; and that such characteristics on their part should be encouraged by the authorities at home. Nor is this all. As representing the large majority of residents at any given port, the British Consul has, a sense, certain responsibilities to members of other nationalities. He is not necessarily Senior of the Consular Body, but from the very number of his countrymen and the preponderance of their commercial interests he is invested with @ certain seniority' or prominence from which he cannot free himself, oven if he would; and if, whether from personal character or Foreign -Offive restraints, he sinks into a state of official insignificance, the result cannot but be disastrous to foreign interests ut large, We can fully enter into the disabilities to which Consuls have been subject in past times. No man who was in China twelve or fourteen years ago is likely to forget that one Consul, after having acted as every Englishman worthy of the name would have acted under the cireumstances, was deprived of his position by the Foreign Office, and died of a broken heart. No wonder if, after such an example, the members of the British Consular Service adopt, only too enger-ly, © policy of self-effucemont, and shrink from doing anything of a public nature which is not strictly and absolutely automatic, During (he past few months we have seen even the apathetic community of Shanghai rise in indignant protest against the actions of one Consular officer, a protest so marked that for some time it was currently and we believe correctly reported that the police had instructions from the Mu cipality not to bring any prisoners before the Court when that gentleman occnpied the bench. In cases where public interests are involved, and perhaps some great principle at stake, to whom do we look, as a community? Hitherto, at any rate, to the American and" Aus.
ian Consuls, whose names have become identified with n policy of firmness and resolution in dealing with the Chinese which, we sincerely believe, would be regarded with marked disfavour by the Homo authorities in a British Consul. Differences of opinion doubt may and do exist as to the Intive influences, on Consular officers i} in Chin the Foreign Office and the British Minister, At the same time it is impossible to doubt that very much depends upon the personal character and predilections of the Minister at Peking, who is, also, Consul-General, The fuct that he is the Agent of the Seoretary for Foreign Affairs in Downing Street does not deprive him of liberty of action in w multiplicity of matters in which his policy niay be of the utmost importance, for good or ill, to the interests of his countrymen in China, The Foreign Seoretary at home cannot but be guided by the despatches of the Minister abroad; the members of the Consular Service cannot but take their cue, to a greater or less degree, from the same source. We have no hesitation in recording our belief that the apathy and even sheepishness of demeanour which the Times Correspondent so deeply deplores as characteristic of Consular officers in Chita is due in a very largo measure to the example and repressive influence of Sir Thomas Wade. The Consul who, under Sir Thomns'e ndministration, should hae dared to di tinguish himself by prompt or energetic action, would probably have received a despatch from Peking of a singularly disconcerting nature,—a sort of official cold douche, well calculated to take away the breath of the recipient and effectually cool his ardour. He has made the huge mistake of supposing that hoe is placed where he is as the custodian of British interests, and the still huger mistake of acting upon the delusion. He must therefore be taught that ho-is simply the agent of a system which works by role and precedent, that he hag no right to originate a line of action of Iris own, and that, if foreigners are to be prow tected, the task muy safely be left to the representative of some less timid Government, who does not and need not shirk the responsibility of acting. Wo share the common belief that the policy of our present Minister will be found to differ widely from that of his predecessor, and that ho will not tamely-submit to seeing the safely and the interests of his countrymen the object of German, or American, or Austrian charity. Nor do we believe that, under his regime, "the kind of service to en~ sure promotion will be silence and sloth." We are not pleading to be over. governed, That is the bane of many continental nations, and from overgovernment and official interference we are happily free enough, But we do plead for a stronger, firmer, and more respect-compelling attitude on the part of our representatives in China, and we rejoice that this plea has been so ably put before the Heads of Govern. mont at home by the Shanghai Corres pondent of the Times, As he has well pointed out, the interests at stake are not only those of merchants stationed at the Treaty Ports. "The interests as represented by.the British Consul at a place like Shanghai are not those of the thousand Buglish re sidouta, who, if they were all drowned in one day in the Yung-tsze Kiang would only make an average nine-days? wonder, The Consul represents the wage-curning classes of Lancashire, Yorkshire, and the Clyde, who fabricate the materials of our exports to Chin, the shipbuilders of the United King. dom, and hosts of people in England whose well-being depends on the success of our foreign trade, with which th management of affairs in Shanghai is intimately connected." It is impos. sible, we should hope, that plain common-sense like this onn fail to produce its proper result. Our Consuls must be encouraged to shake off that over. bashfalness which, pretty enough in a maiden of fifteen, is just'a little out of place in an officer holding high respon sibilities under Government. Modesty and merit, itis true, both begin with M; but then so do mischief, muddle, and mistake, and all three Lave resulted from the unfortunate habit of self-effacement encouraged in the Consular Service ever since the rule of Lord Palmerston at the Foreign Office. There is not very much, perhaps, to hope for from Earl Granville, but we may have the satisfaction of feeling that, as far as Minister abroad can iffiaence the
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.