Few questions of policy in Ci have come up in recent years about Which the foreign-communities differed so radically within themselves as that-of the new tax recently imposed at the port of 'Canton, One gathers that one half of each community cannot see any good reason why the Cantonese should not impose the tax and foreign traders should not pay it, nor understand how any harm can come of it; while the other half of each' community sees in it an open vio-Intion of the commercial treaties, establishing a dangerous precedent that would prompt, ina very short time, tha open repudiation by the various Chinese administrations of] all the foreigner's rights in this country, Strangely enough it is the commercial man with trade interests or hopes of trade in South China, the man who will have to pay the tax in other words, who is the most ardent apologist for what the diplomatists in Peking consider a grave infringement of the trader's rights and would like to resent in his interest, ously immoral and do become at oned the business of the whole eommunity, In the Canton tax case the dispute does not have to do with the advantage or disadvantage to Hongkong, of submitting to a Cantonese imposition and resuming trade, as so many seem to think, It cannot be reduced to a local. problem which " few interested communities cam solve and therefore cannot be Stated as the simple alternative: 'Should Hongkong accept Canton's relatively favourable terms and resume' business or should Hongkong in her own interest, hold off and continue to wait for fuller support from the Home Government?" The real problem to be considered by the Powers and their representatives in China is whether the prospective advantage to Hongkong and other foreign communities in the South would be commensurate with the possible disadvantages to foreigners at large in China if Canton were permitted, in imposing this new tax, late the treaties on her own initiative and with complete impuity.
Tt is upon this question that Danger of Half Measures This is a peculiar situation, but not altogether a novel one, Diplomatic efforts in defence of foreign rights in China have 80 often prov-ineffectual and therefore provocative of fresh encroachments upon the treaties that both merchants and missionaries have_frequently expressed a preferenc®, in Yecent years, for no measures " as opposed to half measures. There] has, also been a growing' tendency on the part of big corporations and missionary bodies to. make their own terms with local officialdom, sometimes forfeiting treaty rights in closing their bargains, for the simple reason that their' Legations ould not get them better terms] while ineffectual Legation action' might not only have interrupted their business or work altogether, but might also have advertised—the weakness of their position and invited new and greater impositions.
Such independent bargains, efforts local conciliation and compromise are always weak and shortsighted movements, almost inevit ably leading to greater trouble in the future, but they do bring temporary advantages while diplomacy 80 often brings none. If the Legations, strongly backed by their Home Governments, were in a po: sition to promise full protection their nationals in China, to insist upon Chinese respect for the letter of the treaties, there would be no fendoneys in the commercial com.
wunities at any rate, towards bartering essential rights for immediate advantages. Lacking the kind of Legation support that' makes an equally profound impression "upon the respectable magistrate, the arm-coolie in authority, the bandit thief and the Russian inspired nophobist in power, the only way that business and missionary. work' can go on at all in some Chinese communities is through local pri vote treaty, almost invariably involving a trading of rights for favour—a form of bribery in short, Isolated Bargains While to resort "to such tactics is a confession of weakness and is therefore dangerous, especially with China in chaos and' with so many unscrupulous officials in authority who have risen from the lowest stratum of the population, they can conceivably be justified by circumstances if the negotiator is risking nothing but his own safety, om-fort or material wealth. The man in serious difficulties who cannot elicit or cannot wait for diplomatic support must naturally bargain his own way out of his troubles with the Chinese and, if the terms he makes are disastrous to himself alone, it is no one else's business. If, however, he saves himself by making' terms with the Chinese which promise to. bring trouble upon: the whole community, his private negotiations are obvi-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.