There were strong commercial vested interests in China, and their policy can be crudely summed up in the dictum that the old "gunboat policy" was the best. They held the view that the Chinese could only be impressed by a display of power, and so long as we dealt with them drastically, at intervals, they accorded us their respect. It was the merchants in the various ports in China who had most weight with the Foreign Office, even if the Foreign Office to some extent deprecated the robust policy which they advocated. The diplomats in China desired to encourage and support the British merchant, but in their view the "gunboat policy" was likely at once both to weaken and alienate a potential ally', Whilst wishing to trade with Chinà, we were afraid of supporting her too far, and that is the reason why our policy of support to China was so imperfectly carried out during the years immediately preceding the Sino-Japanese War.
Hasty but Resolute In 1880 Great Britain had in China 15 Consuls and three Vice-Consuls, together with assistants and student interpreters, and as Mr. Kiernan says in his books, "So far as respectability went there was a good level, whereas the American Consulates (according to His Majesty's Consul Giles) were homes of unblushing corruption." The chief posts in the Legation were filled by Minisler, Sir Thomas Wade, Secretary of the Legation, Grosvenor, Chinese Secretary, E. C. Baber, and Assistant Chinese Secretary, W. C. Hillier. All these had considerable local experience.
Diplomats in China held varying viev's on the best policy to pursue. For example, Grosvenor was for a much stronger and more aggressive dealing with the Chinese than was "Wade, and on Wade's recall in 1882 the appointment of Grosvenor as his successor was not well received by the Tsungli Yamen (Chinese Foreign Office). Sir Harry Parkes, in spite Gf his unpleasant experience, was all for keeping on good terms with ihe Chimese when he went to Peking. He was a man of hasty as well as resolute temper, and his one ádea was to advance British interests amd to secure the prosperity and happiness of his fellow countrymen *in China. His work in China was great, and part of his reward must be the fine statue erected on the E í waterfront.
Shap he ime we are dealing with England was easily ahead of all her rivals in the China trade, and thus had more reason for supporting cohesion than partition. Om Parkes's Goeth Mart, head of the foreign-is post was offered to Sir Orient and Occident Les Premmas RAPPORIS Dr La CULTURE Bonovrsenne Avec LA CIVILISATION Japonaise By The Rev. Father Henri Bernard, SI. Librairie Paul Guethner, Paris, and Mitsukoshi, Tokyo.
This little volume, forming part of ihe Bulletin de la Maison Franco-Japonaise (Vol. 10. 1938) No. 1, contains a wealth of information regarding the earliest relations between Zuropean culture and the Japan of the 14th to 18th centuries and should some as a welcome publication to students of Japanese and the developments of occidental culture there. Consisting of only 74 pages, the book makes reference to a large number of works on the same subject and deals at some length with the trials and tribulations of the early Catholic missionaries and merchants who first set foot on Japanese soil to be received with a different welcome at different times. A number of illustrations are included in the volume, which is printed on excellent paper and should not be missing from ihe dook-shelves of those interested in he Far East and its relations to occidental culture—a.s.t New Fiction It is with a tinge of regret that it learned that the portly Superintendent Wadden and the genial Inspector Head have resigned from the Westingborough Police. At least Mr. E. Charles Vivian has had them resign in his "Touch and Go" (Ward Lock, London. Colonial Edition, 3/6) after they, or rather Head, has solved one of the most intricate puzzles he has had to tackle. With his customary genius, Mr. Vivian has presented a detective thriller that is certainly one of the best he has ever produced—and to those readers who know his work that is high praise. Murder, in which human passions and hopes are involved, is in Head's own inimitable style made to appear as simple of solution as an ordinary common or garden larceny. The plot is intrigue ing and fascinating, with many an unexpected twist, while the direct simplicity of style, clarity of express sion and up-to-the-minute dialogue and characterization show Mr. Vivian at his best. True, the Super and the Inspector, successful collaborators in many a case, have settled down to a deserved retirement, but it is not too much to hope that their talented creator will one day, the sooner the better, forcibly drag them from their tomato-growing activities—for that is how they now spend their time—and present them with another terribly difücult murder case that requires immediate action.—FA.P.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.