Feb, 26.
The implication of recent articles, as readers will readily have seen, is that the Municipal Council must assert itself and take a determined line where its duty calls and its rights are at stake, In some quarters th seems to have been taken te mean that the Council generally should defy the Powers, suggesting that Shanghai intends to manage its own business and would be glad to see them manage theirs, This is surely an irrational, exaggerated interpretation of a quite reasonable principle, the easy refuge of those who only seek the line of Least resistance. Because the Powers have declared their readiness to meet China's wishes as and when it may be feasible to do 80, it does not follow that they are merely competing with each other to see who can throw everything away first, and it is a bad mistake to assume that this is their resolve, and consequently that there is nothing for us in Shanghai to do but to sit with folded hands and'await our doom.
Three Important facts should be borne in mind in this connection, First, let us again quote from the British aide-mémoire handed to the Nanking Government at the close of last Dece: ber. The concluding sentence reads as follows:
His Majesty's Government are ready to enter into detailed ne-satiation, as soon as pollical ditions in China vender it pos-file to do. 40, "with a view to rrecing on a method and a programme for carrying abolition of extraterritoriality into effect by gradual and progressive stages to the mutual: satisfaction of both governments, It may safely be assumed that other Powers would, on the whole, endorse this ' attitude certainly they would not pro ceed more quickly; probably they would be even more cautious. But the passages we have italicized show conclusively that the Foreign Office does not lose sight of certain clear safeguards and stipulations which must. fulfilled before it can meet Chi-shai with a stroke of the pen." There is no doubt they could do: so. There is equally: no doubt that they would never: dream of doing so. It is an old saying that "'circumstances alt vases." What the Powers migitt possibly have felt justified doing as regards Shanghai even fifty years ago would be at once recognized as quite inadmissible to-day, when Shanghai has become one of the largest and most important cities in the world. If the Council could show reasonable cause for any Tine of action they felt bound to take, the Powers would never repudiate them, and we may further be confident that they would not disregard the Council's wishes if these were firmly enough expressed, If the Council's representations on certain matters have, in the past, been rejected in London or Washington, that was not because the were unreasonable or inequitable, but simply because the di mand was not pressed with suf ficient resolution.
And the third fact to be remembered is the appointment of Judge Feetham. He has been brought here to study the hi tory and problems of Shanghai and to advise on its future constitution conformably with the satisfaction of Chinese wishes and the protection of Chinese and foreign business interests. It has been made known unofficially that the principal Powers welcomed Judge Feetham's appointment and will be pleased to consider the scheme he may suggest for the solution of a problem which no one yet has attempted to solve. The obvious corollary of this attitude that the Powers shall wait, before making any changes. Viable to affect Shanghai, until Sudge Feetham has finished his work. By calling him to do that. work at its own expense, the foreign community of Shanghai has given unequivocal proof that it accepts the principle that changes are in store, and is doing its. utmost to assist ther execution. This fact gives it the right to ask that the scope of Judge Feetham's ry shall not be capriciously stricted or the ground cut from under his feet. By the fact alone of having called in such an advisor, the Council are put in an unassailably strong position t that, while they still remain the government of Shanghai, they shall not be hampered in the execution of their clu It may further be emphasized that the Council is one, a con-nero wishes in full. From!
Shanghai's point of view this statement is of the greatest importance, Shanghai itself is the very core of the whole question of extraterritoriality. Any measures tending towards the moval of consular jurisdic must strike at the independence of Shanghai. If, then, a Minis-for is found exceeding ihe pace set by his own government, or interfering in negotiations which affect Shanghai as x whole without the knowledge and consent of his colleagues li Peking, the Council have every right to take exception to his conduct and to shape their own course, regard-Jess of any"attempt at dictation tinuous, unchanged government, based on many decades of tradi ion, custom, precedent, and wide experience. The Diplomatic Body, for practical purposes, is too often only an expression actually, it is composed of i teen or seventeen men liable to I in as many different directions, always subject. to orders: from' political parties thousands: of miles away whose views are perpetually influenced by the wish to catch and retain votes at home; and these men, sent out here for a few years to represent their respective governments, would be more than hu-if their principal preoccupation were not to avoid doing any-by him.
The second fact which may justly be stressed is that the Council are the only government of Shanghai, responsible for the maintenance of Jaw and order thing which might endanger their chances of 2 better post when they are moved on from China. In all complicated questions the man who makes up-his mind to a given line of action and the protection of. its terests, both Chinese and foreign, until the situation under which it has always functioned is reversed.. Wild and gloomy statements have-been repeated to us that "the Powers cetiid wipe out and follows it without fear or favour is the one most sure of success. "It is a, maxim which the Counci!' may be urged Keep clearly before their eyes. The fear that the' Powers would throw us down or repudiate us
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.