1st Feb.
Tan January issue of The Imperial and Asiatic Quarterly Review and: Oriental and Colonial Record (to give it its full title) contains under the heading of "Asia" three articles of more or less special interest to us in China. One is: by Mr. E. H. Parker on "he Keng-hung Contention and the Upper Mekong "Yrade:;" one by Mr.A, Michie ow' Germapy in China and one by Mr. law Sein Ko on " Western Education in China." It is with the second of these that we are more particularly concerned this morning. Mr. Michie is known to be, and no doubt with justice, an admirer of German methods.in China. He tells us that. "German policy is never' fortuitous it. is,' like everything else of German origin, elaborated and directed towards definite objects and though we may: not go-as far as the. Spectator,.and believe that the seizure of Kiaochou Bay is the prelude to the annexation of the Chinese Empire by Germany, and the elevation of Prince: Henry to the Vice-[mperial Yhrone, we may well allow that an. isolated act like this affords a true indication of the trend of Germany's policy.
Mr. Michie says, that "experience warrants the assumption that Germany has not: taken so'important a departure without. counting the cost, that is to aay, without reckoning: with the dispositions of other - interested parties, Germany assuredly does: not covet. isolation, Her whole political energy has been engaged in the cultivation of alliances, for which indeed she was ready to pay, and has in fact paid, handsomely... And it would be inconsistent with her antecedents to give needless um-braga to any Power on whose benevolence she sets value. Therefore we may conclude that before hoisting the German flag on the forts commanding Kiaochou Bay and ' confiscating' the'.14' Krupp guns—found in position there, she made sure of at lerist the neutrality of those Powers which, in her estimation, exercise the dominant influence in the Far East." feel rather sceptical about the fourteen Krupp guns in position, and as to the acquiescence of the. dominant Powers in the Far East, we ima; that. Germany. merely notified England and Russia of the step she was about to take, without waiting for their ap-
Mr.: Michie believes that Germany has for a long time been aspiring. to play a prominent: part in the Far East. It was with this object that she joined Russia and France in-recovering the Linotung Peninsula for China from} Tupan in: 1895;:@ step for-which-apparently. she*igot' no thanks, while incurring the ill-will of Japan. But that step was taken with the object of making an advance towards a solid understanding with Russia, based on common interests, wholly irrespective of treaties. A year ago the German Minister for Foreign Affairs, Baron Marschall von Bieberstein, let the cat out of the bag, according to Mr. Michie. "The interests of the two Powers—Russia and Germany—he said were not confined to the European continent, and he pointedly stated that these extra-continental interests will in all probability furnish us an opportunity of acting la harniony with the Power with which we ce-operated last year,' that is to say in the re-balancing of the forces of the Far East. The occasion was one of those rare ones when a real, what may almost be called an ultimate truth had to be given out; and if prejudice had not blinded us, we might have found in these by no means obscure hints the key not only to Germany's obtrusive patronage of the transvaal during the autumn and winter of 1895, and her attitude -in extra-European questions generally, but also to the recrudescence of French and Austrian aggressiveness both of which rely on the support of the universal protector, Russia, At any rate the Foreign Minister's speech furnishes the key to the present situation in regard to the German occupation of Kiaochou." What Mr. Michie means by the recradescence of Austrian aggressiveness we do not at all understand. He goes on to show that Germany, having made up her mind to keep a powerful naval squadron in_ these waters, which her increasing commerce justifies, was obliged to have a coaling station, and surely this is reason enough for her action, and we may allow that the murder of the two missionaries was a convenient pretext.
Mr. Michie then puts the often-repeated question; " Where does England come in?" And, being in a pessimistic mood, he answers: "As far as appears sit the moment, nowhere. But the interests ut Great Britain in this present juncture are hardly worth discussing, seeing that whatever they may be, nothing practical will or perhaps can be done to safeguard them. Lord Salisbury has relapsed to the epoch of large maps, and is obliged to make believe that all is for the best in the best of al! possible worlds—in the Far East at all events." It is not quite so bad as that, for we may, we believe, trust the House of Commons in the coming session to keep the Government up to its declarations that there shall, if we can help it,.as we can, be no closing in our faces of open markets; and thus we may hope that Mr. Michie's nightmare of " trade subjected to Russian tariffs, French tariffs, and German tariffs, applied with the ous ingenuity of the douaniers, to say nothing of restrictions here and monopolies there" will be averted. At any rate Germany is setting a good example at Kiaoctiou.
There is a chuckle at Mr. George Jamieson and his "official colour" in Mr. Michie's paper, but he applauds Mr. Jamieson for drawing the public attention to the superiority of China as a field for commerce to the waste places of Africa over which so much heat is being evolved. Mr. Michie is much disturbed at the organised attempt that is being made in every part of the world to check our commercial progress. "There are now four Powers at least actively ce-operating to sap the founda dations of British prosperity, each it is true, playing for its own hand, but-as in round games at cards all against the common enemy. What has began in China is precisely what has been going on for many years in Persia, what is going on vigorously in Asia Minor and in Africa, Wherever Great Britain has an interest to be promoted or conserved there pitfalls, barbed wire, obstacles and snares of every kind are diligently set in her path, In every part of the world we are being pressed back, hemmed in, squeezed out; without apparently a chance of retaliation or defence." Mr, Michie's game of cards metaphor seems to us not a very happy one; the "common enemy" must be the man who holds the bank, and he generally comes out all right in the end.
The great fault of Mr. Michie's paper is that there is nothing constructive in it, Even his facts are not unquestionable, He tells us " of the four to one now pitted against us, Austria, the latest recruit, is not the least fervid of our assailants, Possessing no material interest whatever in China, she has nevertheless set legation in Peking for purely political objects, which are necessarily not friendly to this country." is news for which we should require some stronger evidence, that Austria is Great Britain's enemy in the Far East, It is useful, no doubt, to wake up the Foreign Office by telling it that it is not doing what it ought to do; it would be still wore useful for one so thoroughly versed in affairs in China as Mr. Michie to explain what direction its policy should take.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.