Jat itea), Lo-mard Kerr (Secretary), J. ko, W. MacBean, N. Macleod, E. C. Pewe>, Bell Hay, F. E. Taylor, LIG. Dowler, A. M. A. Evans, Colin Buchanan, Cox, L: Moore, Jas. Osborne, J. Such, G. Jamieson, W. J. Gresson, A. J. Macray, E. Nelson, B. A. Clarke, H. el, A. Cushny, jr., Marcus Wolff, C. M. Young, ©. R.' Burkill, es, Robt. Macer yor, GD. Courts, Canis, Alex. Campbell, A. E. Moses, Craig, A. S. Bremner, C, H. Koss, R.B. Allen, E. A. Probst, W. G. Pirie, J. Cooper, W: Lamord, ©. Selby Moore, Drummond Hay, J. Lis Teestale, Shorrock, J. H. Craven, R. 8. Ivy, Gove. Mr. J. W. Jamieson, H.B.M.'s Com-ration of the Comn The notice convening the meeting having been read, The Crairman said—In the report which was presented to your two years ago, Your then Committee "commented upon the threatening aspect of Chinese polities, and expressed grave fears that the results of the coup d'état of September 1898, invelying the downfall of the Emperor, the reassumption of power by the E aptes Dowazer, and followed by the appointment of extreme reactionav ies to the highes! places at Court, the return to a policy both non-progressive and _anti-foreign the report which you are asked to accept tu: day consists in greater port of a general survey of calamitous events which hive been the outenme of that policy which has been realised to the full, events which have proved how well grounded those fears were, though even the most pessimistic among us could never have conceived such mal and terrible fulfiiment of their forebodings. The punish-madness her rulers has brought upon China has been swift 'y; but in looking to the future of this unhappy country the main question now is, has such panishment been effectual Is there anything to show that China has learnt any lesson from her punishment, or is in any way repentant for her misdeeds? Ilas there been any effort on the part of the rulers of China to punish those to whose evil adviethese calamitous events are due? Is there of change in the elvisers to the sign of the replacement of reactionaries by men "f enlightenment and progress, of whom there are many able, and growing in number every day Gentlemen, it is too much to be fewed each of these questi Pressed at the pois is compelled to 1 Powe: every stage of such sub-sullenly submit' to the demands of the
year the te evidences of chicane: consistently stamp all her policy. can be hoped from a Court which is still to all appearance dominated by the coun: of such men as Yung Lu, Lu Eh the foully notorious eunuch, Li men who are sizniticant!y des the Chinese themselves as of Tigers?" And is it guided by such advisers that is to be allowed to re-es plish itself in Peking?
Surely not, if so we may certain prepare ourselves for a recrudescence Of trouble-as sven as convenient opportunity may appear to offer; for believe me, the ignorant eonesit of such men passes all understanding, and is incapable of lexruing any lesson. Again, it is to be feared that the reducing of the foreign garrisons in the North may encourage a movement on the part of Prince Tuan, Duke Lan and Tung Fuchsiang which may set North China again ina blaze; already rumour is persistent that these meu the move, and though it may Lo unlikely that they will attempt much at this season of the year, or until the foreign troops are reduced or withdrawn, yet the inherent probability of the rumours makes them worthy of serious consideration, for it is hardly to be supposed that either Tuan, the father of the heir-apparent, Duke Lan, his brother, or Tung Pu-hsiang, ex-Generalissimo of China, will be content to accept their sentence of banishment, and settle down to the peaceful cultivation of cabbages in Mong These ave mtters, however, which though we may express our opinions regarding them, are largely beyond our power to influence, and in the further remarks Lhave to make, T will confine myself to matters dent with in the report which may be considered xs ying within our proper sphere.of influence. The negotiations connected with the earlier clauses of the Peace Protocol, which was ed in Janutry, concerned matters which though of high' importance, lay outside our sphere, and it was not until the end of March, when Cliuse VI came under Aiscussion—the clause dealing with the indemnity and its method of payment-—that commercial interests began ty be direct ly affected. The report informs you of the ction taken by the Committee when it propo: increase in the import -wwu that certain of the Powers were
tariff for th: purposes of the indemnity vigorous protest was at once mide any such summary treatment of so portant a question; to increas the tariff for such a purpose, leaving questions of inland taxation uuredeessod, would simply man an additional burden upon trade which would be its ruin our protest against such acti we pointed out that the Conference of Ministers in Peking, "the divided eleven," whose methods of playing cricket ure at lens open to criticism, was not suited to deal with con: mercial ques: tions in which many of them had little or ho interest, and whose chief object seemed to be to tax other poop'e's trade (larvely British) for their own immediate benefit. We were relieved on this point by the us rance that the British Goverament would consent Lo any such thing, an assurance given by Lord Lansdowne in the House Of Lords on the 28th' March, and repeated in still stronger terms on the 21st May; the position xt present is this, that while Great Britein has agreed to the restoration of the import tariff to the 9 per cent basis of the Tientsin Treaty, any inerense beyond such basis can only be granted in return for a suitable quid pro quo in the abolition of the present trade disabilities which result from the existing wholly corrupt, and largely nefarious system of inland taxation and more at any such increase, granted, shu be applied not to the service of the indemnity, but to recoup the provincial authorities fur the lo-s of revenue which the reform of present methods will necessarily entail.. Gentle-meu, T wish tu press this point ticularly upon you; our Minister, working one of the "divided eleven," occupies position of peculiar difficalty, se that in all fiscal questions it is the int which he represents that are more po affected; this decisi m, therefore, which we have reason to believe has been eategorielly declared in Peking, must be welcomed being not only wise and statesmanlike, but evidencing a determination on the part of one Government not to allow the interests of British trade to be swamped in the too evident desire of the untuned concert for a policy of patch and scuttle, Our Govern.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.