It is amazing to find how little interest in Far Eastern affairs was taken by the Foreign Office in England in the eighties, and the diplomats -accredited to China were left very much to their own devices as to the policy which should be pursued. It would seem that the general feeling amongst Britain's representatives was that China was a coming country, that she was bound to progress, and that she would prove a very profitable industrial field for foreign traders, and that her cohen sion rather than her partition was the goal to be aimed at. But all sorts Of questions presented themselves—Should we try for an alliance with China or not?—did we really want fo see a strong, armed, modernized China or not—would it suit our book to educate China up on Western ideas, and possibly have her compete with us? Our diplomats in China were doubtful In theory most of the above seemed advisable, but as soon as things began to take shape in that direction we always appeared to draw back. In 1927 Austen Chamberlain, then Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, said, "Our only wish is for a strong, united independent, orderly and prosperous China." It is a little doubtful if that wish was really more genuine and determined than the wish of the diplomats in 1880-1885.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.