Aug. 23.
Another pay-day has come and gone and outward appearances afford little indication of any pressing need of money on the part of the Peking Government. Tt. would be interesting, however, to gain an insight into the methods by which the disbandment of the troops in various parts of the country is being) carried out; to know whether the men still remaining with the! colours are suffering any deprivation of salary in order that the retiring warriors may be fivtii ed with gratuities and passage! money. One thing alone 1s certain, that the paying power of the dollar has its limits, and that with the exhaustion of the recent foreign advances the old difficu'sy must recur in an aggravated form. For the moment an obvious ex. planation is to be found of the suspension of negotiations. Men polities and of the pun. from Paris to Peitaiho, ale making holiday. But the feeling avy mental misapprehension of their fattitide towards China to-day. When it suits her purpose, as for example in the matter of international recognition, China is to be regarded as the new and reorganized China, which has justified her claim to admission to the circle of great Powers; when it does not, she is content to remain the old China, of unlimited, if unknown, resources, for whose favour in accepting their money the Powers were always ready to compete. If that belief is still current, Sir Edward Grey's statement should come as a very salutary correct tion. He points out, in plain terms, that henceforth business is to be business; that the financial group is demanding from China precisely the same security as would be required from any other would-be borrower; and that in supporting the group in that attitude the Powers are acting in complete agreement. These plain statements should, in themselves, be sufficient to dispose of the accusation, so frequently brought forward by a section of the Chinese, that the Powers are seeking to force money upon China. _If it be asked, at this stage, why the representatives of the group have not long since given up the attempt to come to an arrangement, the answer is equally simple. So much money has been lavished upon China in to be general that, with the close] the past, practically "upon note of the holiday sores time of hand alone,'' that the finan-next month, urge cis Will be civrs ere new compelled, in the resumed, and this tins h fair crest of their cwn_ protection) prxp ris of a practical issue. and that of the bond-holders in This optimistic spirit desceves en-Europe, to do their utmost to only because all place her in a position to wipe off Possible op! ism is required to iller old indebtedness. With the face—ceria establishment of the new Go-facts of the pre. ut silustion. The, vernment a great opportunity has appeal to the British Government] flurn the Chinese' Chamber of Udoubtedly occurred; and the peop *t of industrial, and com-Commerce in Shanghai, which by the courtesy of his Majesty's new Consul-General, we were enabled' ules of ata ative integrity to publish yesterday morning, indicates the point at which. the! i8 the cole justiBeation of " policy which might otherwise be con-negotiations are at a standstill. sidered a mere process of throw-Proper supervision over expenditure and adequate guarantees ing good money after bad. for the repayment of—principal Translations of the telegrams. and interest are the " more {mentioned above have appeared stringent terms'' which the: in the native Press, and it is sin-Chinese would like to see cerely to be hoped that the con-modified. And to that request! clusions to be drawn from them Sir Edward Grey's brief, but ill be very widely disseminated. lucid, statement of the position Chinese patriotism, very notice-provides a definite and uncomable of late in the mouth, has not promising reply. yet generally descended to the The whole attitude of the Pepocket, and the "'patriotic'' king Government with regard to! loans are, for practical purposes, the Powers suggests a funda-la failure. The sum which China requires she can get only from the foreigner, and the time has come for her to realize that she can get it only on the foreigner''s own terms. If those terms are more severe than might be desired, China has only herself to blame. Long experience has taught the folly of providing the wherewithal for unsupervised expenditure, and China has yet to prove the efficacy of her new methods of administration. In the retirement of Tang Shao-yi, the appointment of foreign advisors, and the apparent inclination of the President to take matters into his own hands, rather than to wait upon the deliberations of the National Council, are to be found indications of the gradual appreciation in Peking of that necessity. In the provinces, it is to be feared, a different attitude is assumed. Where open hostility or indifference to the Peking Go-yernment is not the popular sentiment, the impression appears to prevail that the old game of bluff is not yet played out. If the provinces can exist independently of Peking, that is one way out of the difficulty. But it is the beginning of the end for all theories of a united China. Inasmuch as the way to individual provincial loans is now being definitely closed, the only course for the provinces to adopt, in their own interests no Less than in those of 3 a whole, is to withdraw their opposition and support the Peking the new spi of reasonable ne-s which it is thought will sharily prevail. The terms linsistod upon by the bankers are dietaled by experience and by the present condition of the country, and upon those terms alone will the necessary money be forthcoming. That is the message to all parties China which is conveyed by Sir Edward Grey's plain warning.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.