We have before us a communi from Americans residing in China which relates to one of the most important things comected with our relations wi the Orient. It relates fact to what aay he regarded as a condition precedent to the development of those relations in the way Americans desire it.
The communication is from the Ameri-cam Association of China, with headquarters in Shanghai, an' organisation which incudes not only business men, those connected with the educational and missionary interests of Americans in Chins, Tt has been addressed to the President, to the members of his Cabinet, to the Chairmen of the Committees on Foreign Relations in the Senate and the House of Representatives, and to all members of the two houses of Congress. Tt gives, in a calm and concise way, the reasons "why the American Association of China urges the passage of the " Bill Remodel the Consular Service," usually known Phe Chambers of Commerce Bill." "This bill originated with the Chamber of Commerce of Clevs id, Ohio, and was drawn mainly by Mr. Garfield of that city. It has been heartily approved by the present Secretary of State and is warmly supported in the Senate by Senator Lodge, who has long taken an especial interest in is work, It has been indorsed, after careful consideration, by the Chamber of Commerce in this city, and by all the principal bodies of like character and influence throughout the country.
Lhe question really raised by this communication is a much broader one than that of mere expansion of trad It isa question of the good name of the United States in a quarter of the globe where we have recently assumed great respons The points on which the American Association in China places particular emphasis are the following First, the extraordinary powers that our Conve possers in evneequence of the principle of extra-territoriality established by treaty. By this principle all cases involving the. rights) of Americans China are tried before American Consuls, in accordance with their interpretation of the law of our own country. Clearly it is of the last importance that the Consuls shill have an adequate knowledge of the principles of the laws they are to interpret, and. that they should be men of the intelligence and character we require for judicial posts in our own land, It is needless to say that this is at present far from being true. A. second point on which the association insists is that there should be a class of student interpreters, required to attain a thorough knowledge of the Chinese language, and that to the application wf young men of ability for this service there should be not only a steady tenure, but the assurance of promotion according to proved merit. "Tu the British service," says the Association, *'all the Consular officers have entered as student interpreters, and risen thence, through the various grades, to the highest posts, and in sume eases they have been transferred to the diplomatic service." we require any evidence of the feasibility and advantiye of this system, we can find it not only in the British service, but in the history of the Americans in the Chinese Foreign Customs Service. Here a thorough study of the la nade a condition of promotion, with the result that the young men sent out from here have become jamung the most proficient of the staff.
Tt would seem that the principles vocated by out countrymen in China should need no special argument. They are those of common scuse. They are adopted all the time in the prosecution of cessful Iusiness ab home, It would appear the height of folly to men of alfsirs in this country to employ regard to their particular knowledge of the work they had to do. We should not send drummers to Germany to sell goods buyers to purchase them who evuld not understand and sjaak the German lan though the chances of success would be times greater than for ignon agents of the sensible and well-informed Government in China, where they ar entirely dependent on interpreters for communication with the body of the natives.
The knowledge of the language, however, is but one instance of the knowles required, which can only be study. This includes the of the native character and he hest way to deal with the people. Why, in the name of all that is practical, should we intrust the most difficult and deliexte duties to men the least prepared to discharge them well?
The obvious answer ix that we should not dose, If we are asked why we have done so for so long a time, the equally obvious answer is that the consequences of such blundering have not fallen on the heads of those guilty of it, The office hunters and the ofice peddling Congressmen who have Leen responsible for this thing have not suffered by it. The time ix now come when the business men who have suffered, with the new opportunities for expanded trade before their eyes, and the knowledge yamed by ful experience to guide them, are moving to secure a reform. They ought to have it. It is their plain n is nothing that can be done trade with the Orient remodelling of the Consular And there ix nothing that will tend more directly and powerfully to raise the reputation and prestige of our Nati all through th we hare lately entered. The American Association in Chins, i own interests, speaks equally terest and for the honour of the whole American people.—"* New York Times,"
May.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.