"Harmony between Chinese and Foreign' Merchants," delivered to a Chinese audienc*' in their own language at the International Institute on Saturday last, described 97 very Incidly and tersely the position of the Anglo-American Settlement here, which has recently become so obnoxious to some of the students, ")the officials here, and come of th local so-called gentry. He said that "to the Chinese side he would point out that this was a Foreign Settlement, and not the same as other places, China's sovereign rights were for the time given up within this area, China was like a property owner renting a house to another. He was still the owner, but within that. house during the time of the lease the other man was master, and could arrange the rooms as he pleased. So China lensed outside the city of Shanghai a few acres to England and the United States. 'The land was still the Emperor's, but during the lease these foreign countries were master, and could' rule at pleasure their own household, and, properly, th2 Chinese who became. their guests. China would get back the sovereign 791 rights of the Settlements when she secured sovereign rights in the whole country, and sovereign rights in the country would be won when her laws were modified, her administration of justice reformed, and her judges were trained men of legal mind and legal knowledge, and when, moreover, Foreign Powers would regard all this as so sufficient as to warrant a treaty which would remove foreign jurisdiction and foreign Settlements."
Young China, or the section it which calls itself the Patriots Party, but which has shown itself in reality a very unpatriotic party, has apparently two aims in view, the removal of the Manchu dynasty, and of the burden of extraterritorial lity, and it thus, in the most lighthearted and ill-considered manner, declares war against the Government and against all Foreign Powers at the same time, instead of dividing its intended enemies and engaging them separately. As faras regards the Manchu dynasty, there seems to foreigners generally' no' real patriotism in endeavouring forcibly to replace it by a purely Chinese dispensation. As a matter-of-fact, 'ithe actual Government of China is more Chinese' than it is Manchu, and statesmen are so lamentably scarce in China, that no one ever heard of an official - of promise being rejected because he was nob a Manchu, At the present time, the Empress-Dowager is zo far from Leing narrow-minded in this.direction that she is appointing Chinese to posts hitherto reserved for Manchus, while there are some Manchu high officials who are us enlightened and capable in every way as their Chinese colleagues. Whether the Chinese as a people would gain anything by the removal from power of all Manchu officials from the Empress Dowager down is more than doubtful; the gain would certainly nob be worth the loss to the. country that another rebellion would cause. The ideal of the Patriotic Party appears to be a Republic, and they are certainly the only people, in China who think the nation is ready for it, but'to them it seems the only chance of getting power into their own hands. The extraordinary thing to foreigners ie, that the officials everywhere, at the capital and in the provinces, seem to be very much in awe of the Patriotic Party, and afraid'to provoke it to action. Ib must, apparently, be very much stronger than we believe it' is or the Government very much. weaker than even careful observers have imagined it to be.
That Chinese Patriots should wish to get tid of extraterritoriality, as Japan has done, is perfectly legitimate, but there is a right way and a wrong Wiy of going about it. European Powers are not to be moved by blatant agitation, boycotting, and rioting; by encouraging these,- the Patriotic Pariy defeats its own ends. The Japanese statesmen realised very soon. after the Restoration, that there is no short cut to the achievement of a freedom of this kind. They had to educate their men, to prepare acceptable" codes, to establish a trustworthy judiciary, snd to show by their success: in governing their own people that they could be trusted to govern the strangers within their gates, and' it took them years of patient-toil before they could convince Foreign Powers that it was safe to conclude" new treaties with them abolishing extraterritoriality, The
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.