Extraterritoriality arose in China, out of incompatibility of laws, giving rise to an imperium in imperia. Europeans who first came to the Far East were subject to lex loci, though long before the signature of any treaty the British asserted and maintained their right to privilege to the full extent of their power. "But practically" (says Piggott his "Extraterritoriality") "the rightos to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness were only enjoyed in the small foreign settlements or fac~ tories,' and there are cases on record of English and Americans causing death and being executed by the Chinese after arrest and trial, even though the death was the result of accident. The principle was accepted in the earliest treaties of land powers made with China (Nerchinsk, 1689; Kiatchta, 1727), and even earlier, in the agreement [with Koxinga 1620, But the Eng-Yah, American and other maritime powers at Canton early in the 19th century had no such privilege. Tt was gradually obtained by treaties from 1842 onwards, ite full expression being found in the Chefoo Convention of 1876."
'At that time, as Mr. C. H. Wang (on behalf of the Chinese delegation), stated at the Washington Conference In November, 1921, there were only' five treaty ports; now there are 50, and an equal number of places open to foreign trade on China's initiative. This, of course, means an ever-increasing number of people over whom in her own territory China powerless. The Chinese have always claimed that the extraterritoriality stipulation is offensive and humiliating, leading the people, on the one hand, to despise their own government and offic fon the other, to envy and dislike the foreigner withdrawn from native control. Great Britain (in 1902), Japan and the United States (in 1903), and Sweden (in 1908) agreed, subject to certain conditions, relinquish their extraterritorial rights. The above named Chinese delegation at the Washington Conference, in defending China's attitude and endeavouring to stress, the reforms which have been carried out since those dates, told the world that the China "of to-day was not the China of 20 years ago, when Great Britain encouraged her to reform her judicial system, and fortiroi, she is not the China of 80 years ago, when extraterritorial rights were granted to the Treaty Powers." Mr. Wang asked the Powers represented at the Conference to agree to relinquish these extraterritorial rights in China at! the end of a definite period, and as result of a discuss very! definite plan was decided upon, contingent upon China doing what} she has lamentably failed to do, It must be emphasized that in treaties made with those countries, Great Britain, the United States, Japan and Sweden agreed to relinquish territorial rights when satisfied that the status of the Chinese lowy, the arrangement for their adi istration, and other considerate warranted them in 30 doing. This! gave the Washington Conference' Something to go upon, and in the resolution which called for the establishment of a Commission to investigate and report, it was sai "Being sympathetically disposed towards furthering in this regard the aspiration to which the Chinese Delegation gave expression on November 16, 1921, to the effect that! immediately, or as soon as stances will' permi 19 upon China's political, jarisdical, and administrative freedom, action are to be removed," ete, The Time is Not Yet Evidently it is now considered at Washington that the time has come: for conditional extraterritoriality to be agreed upon. It naturally de-ends upon the conditions, but what foreigner in China would care to feel, that he is to be subjected for what Passes as Chinese law? Take away extraterritorial rights from the former in China, and you literally take all that he has, for extraterritoriality, no matter what rapid construction the Chinese may put upon it, is the sole guarantee of the foreign merchant, missionary, official and travellers, To those familiar, with Chinese life in its many phases, particularly as touching the administration of justice, it is unthinkable that foreign Powers can even, begin to agree to relinquish " xtraterritorial rights. When Great Britai agreed in 1902, under cone forego extraterritoriality, China was ferent China from. what she is to-day. The Manchus were in power. China had begun to feel the benefits of the reform movement instituted in 1898, and the Government of China certainly. had enough international status for! foreign Powers to know who constituted the Government. Moreover, the Government had given some roof that its word could be relied upon, which is a very different state of affairs from to-day, when every-tone seeks in vain to' discover the, Government. There was much more for making concessions those days than there! are to-day; and yet, when China can. show the world that she can put her own house in order, and can in it, all the Powers should be boys tell them that it is patriotic ty do s0? The losses already sustained in the present strikes and anti-British boycott should have convinced them of the folly of such a ing. No, we have too much faith the intelligence of both the British and Chinese business man to believe that they will allow such 'a monstrous folly to be committed; assert ithout delay, the demands of the agitators not only in their own but in other countries well, may reach such a pitch as to stampede the respective governments concerned into giving way fo mob rule and the cry of the ignorant masses, eager to attend a conference for the Purpose of discussing the best and most equitable means by which extratertitoriality may be abolished.
For it must not be denied that there are, from the Chinese engl many serious objections to the extraterritoriality system. The following are the chief:
(1) It is in derogation of sovereign rights, regarded by the Chinese as a national humiliation.
(2) It entails a multiplicity of} Jcourts in one and the same locality, whose inter-relation is perplexing t9 legal and lay men, (8) Disadvantages arise from uncertainty of the I jin tae nearest Consular Court when foreigners are defendants.
(5) Disadvantage to the Chingse that foreigners claim immunity feom local taxes and excises which the] Chinese are themselves required to Until the system is abolished, the Chinese say, or at least substantial. ly modified, it is inexpedient for China to open her entire territory] to foreign trade and commerce. But, in a nutshell, the time is not yet for extraterritoriality to be relinquished, for which China has herself to blame. If she had, after the Revolution, made a success of republican government to the degree that the foreigner could move about, the country without the hazard of being held up or murdered, one would believe the time had come; bat I have to space to reiterate the many evidences of utter incapacity] to govern, even if this were necessary to prove that China be entrusted with the f foreigners who are by treaty within hee dominion.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.