CHAPTER XXVI

THE TA-TS'ING DYNASTY, 1644--

_The Manchus, Invited to Aid in Restoring Order, Seat their Own

Princes on the Throne--the Traitor, General Wu San-kwei--Reigns of

Shunchi and Kanghi--Spread of Christianity--A Papal Blunder--Yung-cheng

Succeeded by Kieñlung, who Abdicates Rather than Reign Longer than

his Grandfather--Era of Transformation_

The Manchus had been preparing for some generations for a descent

on China. They had never forgotten that half the Empire had once

been in the possession of their forefathers, the Kin Tartars; and

after one or two abortive attempts to recover their heritage they

settled themselves at Mukden and watched their opportunity. It

came with the fall of the Mings.

Wu San-kwei, a Chinese general whose duty it was to keep them in

bounds, threw open the gate of the Great Wall and invoked their

assistance to expel the successful rebel. His family had been

slaughtered in the fall of the capital; he thirsted for revenge,

and without doubt indulged the hope of founding a dynasty. The

Manchus agreed to his terms, and, combining their forces with his,

advanced on Peking. Feeling himself unable to hold the city, the

rebel chief burnt

[Page 141]

his palace and retreated, after enjoying the imperial dignity ten

days.

General Wu offered to pay off his mercenaries and asked them to

retire beyond the Wall. Smiling at his simplicity, they coolly

replied that it was for him to retire or to enter their service.

It was the old story of the ass and the stag. An ass easily drove

a stag from his pasture-ground by taking a man on his back; but the

man remained in the saddle. Forced to submit, the General employed

his forces to bring his people into subjection to their hereditary

enemy. Rewarded with princely rank, and shielded by the reigning

house, he has escaped the infamy which he deserved at the hands of

the historians. A traitor to his country, he was also a traitor to

his new masters. He died in a vain attempt at counter-revolution.

The new dynasty began with Shunchi, a child of six years, his uncle

the Prince Hwai acting as regent. Able and devoted, this great

man, whom the Manchus call Amawang, acquitted himself of his task

in a manner worthy of the model regent, the Duke of Chou. His task

was not an easy one. He had to suppress contending factions, to

conciliate a hostile populace, and to capture many cities which

refused to submit. In seven years he effected the subjugation of

the eighteen provinces, everywhere imposing the tonsure and the

"pigtail" as badges of subjection. Many a myriad of the Chinese

forfeited their heads by refusing to sacrifice their glossy locks;

but the conquest was speedy, and possession secure.

The success of the Manchus was largely due to the fact that they

found the empire exhausted by internal

[Page 142]

strife and came as deliverers. The odium of overturning the Ming

dynasty did not rest on them. While at Mukden they had cultivated

the language and letters of the "Inner land" and they had before

them, for guidance or warning, the history of former conquests.

They have improved on their predecessors, whether Kins or Mongols;

and with all their faults they have given to China a better government

than any of her native dynasties.

Shunchi (1644-1662) passed off the stage at the age of twenty-four

and left the throne to a son, Kanghi (1662-1723), who became the

greatest monarch in the history of the Empire. During his long reign

of sixty-one years, Kanghi maintained order in his wide domain,

corrected abuses in administration, and promoted education for both

nationalities. It is notable that the most complete dictionary

of the Chinese language bears the imprimatur of Kanghi, a Tartar

sovereign.

For his fame in the foreign world, Kanghi is largely indebted to

the learned missionaries who enjoyed his patronage, though he took

care to distinguish between them and their religion. The latter had

been proscribed by the regents, who exercised supreme power during

his minority. Their decree was never revoked; and persecution went on

in the provinces, without the least interference from the Emperor.

Still his patronage of missionaries was not without influence on

the status of Christianity in his dominions. It gained ground, and

before the close of his reign it had a following of over three hundred

thousand converts. Near the close of his reign he pointedly condemned

[Page 143]

the foreign faith, and commanded the expulsion of its propagators,

except a few, who were required in the Board of Astronomy.

The favourable impression made by Ricci had been deepened by Schaal

and Verbiest. The former under Shunchi reformed the calendar and

obtained the presidency of the Astronomical Board. He also cast

cannon to aid the Manchu conquest. The latter did both for Kanghi,

and filled the same high post. Schaal employed his influence to

procure the building of two churches in Peking. Verbiest made use of

his to spread the faith in the provinces. The Church might perhaps

have gained a complete victory, had not dissensions arisen within her

own ranks. Dominicans and Franciscans entering the field denounced

their forerunners for having tolerated heathen rites and accepted

heathen names for God. After prolonged discussions and contradictory

decrees the final verdict went against the Jesuits. In this decision

the Holy See seems not to have been guided by infallible wisdom.

Kanghi, whose opinion had been requested by the Jesuits, asserted

that by _Tien_ and _Shang-ti_ the Chinese mean the Ruler

of the Universe, and that the worship of Confucius and of ancestors

is not idolatry, but a state or family ceremony. By deciding against

his views, the Pope committed the blunder of alienating a great

monarch, who might have been won by a liberal policy. The prohibition

of the cult of ancestors--less objectionable in itself than the

worship of saints--had the effect of arming every household against

a faith that aimed to subvert their family altars. The dethronement

of _Shang-ti_ (a name accepted by

[Page 144]

most Protestant missionaries) and the substitution of _Tien Chu_,

could not fail to shock the best feelings of devout people. _Tien

Chu_, if not a new coinage, was given by papal fiat an artificial

value, equivalent to "Lord of all"--whereas it had previously headed

a list of divisional deities, such as Lord of Heaven, Lord of Earth,

Lord of the Sea, etc.

What wonder that for two centuries Christianity continued to be a

prohibited creed! The ground thus lost by a papal blunder it has

never regained. The acceptance of _Tien_ and _Shang-ti_

by Protestants might perhaps do something to retrieve the situation,

if backed by some form of respect for ancestors.

Kanghi was succeeded by his son Yungcheng (1722-1736), who was

followed by Kienlung (1736-1796), during whose reign the dynasty

reached the acme of splendour. Under Kienlung, Turkestan was added to

the empire. The Grand Lama of Tibet was also enrolled as a feudatory;

but he never accepted the laws of China, and no doubt considered

himself repaid by spiritual homage. No territory has since been

added, and none lost, if we except the cession of Formosa to Japan

and of Hong Kong to Great Britain. The cessions of seaports to

other powers are considered as temporary leases.

After a magnificent reign of sixty years, Kienlung abdicated in

favour of his fifth son, Kiak'ing, for the whimsical reason that

he did not wish to reign longer than his grandfather. In Chinese

eyes this was sublime. Why did they not enact a law that no man

should surpass the longevity of his father?

As to Kiak'ing, who occupied the throne for twenty-four

[Page 145]

years, weak and dissolute is a summary of his character.

The next four reigns came under the influence of new forces. They

belong to the era of transformation, and may properly be reserved

for Part III.

[Page 147]

PART III

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

[Page 149]

CHAPTER XXVII

THE OPENING OF CHINA, A DRAMA IN FIVE ACTS--GOD IN HISTORY

_Prologue--Act 1, the Opium War--(Note on the Taiping Rebellion)--Act

2, the "Arrow" War--Act 3, War with France--Act 4, War with Japan--Act

5, the Boxer War_

PROLOGUE

If one were asked to name the most important three events that took

place in Asia in the last century, he could have no hesitation in

pointing to the extension of the Indian Empire and the renovation

of Japan as two of them. But where would he look for the third?

Possibly to some upheaval in Turkey, Persia, or Asiatic Russia.

In my opinion, however, China is the only country whose history

supplies the solution of the problem. The opening of that colossal

empire to unrestricted intercourse with other countries was not

a gradual evolution from within--it was the result of a series

of collisions between the conservatism of the extreme Orient and

the progressive spirit of the Western world.

Each of those collisions culminated in a war, giving rise to a

cloud of ephemeral literature, in which a student might easily lose

his way, and which it would

[Page 150]

require the lifetime of an antediluvian to exhaust. I think, therefore,

that I shall do my readers a service if I set before them a concise

outline of each of those wars, together with an account of its causes

and consequences. Not only will this put them on their guard against

misleading statements; it will also furnish them with a syllabus of

the modern history of China in relation to her intercourse with

other nations.

During the past seven decades the Chinese Empire has been no less

than five times in conflict with foreign powers; and on each occasion

her policy has undergone a modification more or less extensive.

Taking these five conflicts seriatim--without touching on those

internal commotions whose rise and fall resembles the tides of

the ocean--I shall ask my readers to think of the Flowery Land as

a stage on which, within the memory of men now living, a tragedy

in five acts has been performed. Its subject was the Opening of

China; and its first act was the so-called Opium War (1839-42).

Prior to 1839 the Central Empire, as the Chinese proudly call their

country, with a population nearly equal to that of Europe and America

combined, was hermetically sealed against foreign intercourse,

except at one point, viz., the "Factories" at Canton.

This state of things is depicted with a few masterstrokes in a popular

work in Chinese entitled "Strange Stories of an Idle Student." The

first of these tales describes a traveller meeting in the mountains

an old man, in the costume of a former dynasty, whose family had

there sought a refuge from the anarchy that preceded the fall of

the imperial house. This

[Page 151]

old fellow had not even heard of the accession of the Manchu conquerors;

and though he was eager for information, he disappeared without

giving any clue to the Sleepy Hollow in which he was hiding. The

author no doubt intended a quiet satire on the seclusion of China,

that had nothing to ask of the outside world but to be let alone.

Another of the sketches, which is no satire, but a cautionary

hint--perhaps an unconscious prophecy--is entitled "The Magic Carpet

of the Red-haired," a vulgar designation for Europeans, in contrast

with the Chinese, who style themselves the "Black-haired race."

During the former dynasty, it says, a ship arrived from some unknown

country, and those aboard desired to engage in commerce. Their

request was refused; but when they asked permission to dry their

goods on shore, requiring for that purpose no more ground than

they could cover with a carpet, their petition was readily granted.

The carpet was spread, and the goods were exposed to the sun; then,

taking the carpet by its four corners, they stretched it so that

it covered several acres. A large body of armed men then planted

themselves on it, and striking out in every direction took possession

of the country. This elastic carpet reminds one of Dido's bull's

hide, which covered space enough for the foundation of Carthage.

ACT 1. THE OPIUM WAR, 1839-1842

The Tartars, who began their conquest in 1644, were naturally suspicious

of other foreigners who had secured a foothold in India, where the

Great Mogul, a scion

[Page 152]

of their own race, still held nominal sway. The trading-posts,

which the Chinese emperors had permitted foreigners to open as

far north as Ningpo, were closed, and only one point of tangency

was allowed to remain--the above-mentioned Factories at Canton, a

spot, as we shall see, large enough to admit of the spreading of

a "magic carpet." Foreign trade was at that time insignificant, in

comparison with the enormous expansion which it has now attained.

It was mainly in the hands of the British, as it still continues to

be; and no small part of it consisted in opium from the poppy-fields

of India. Though under the ban of prohibition, this drug was smuggled

into every bay and inlet, with scarcely a pretence of concealment.

With the introduction of the vicious opium habit the British had

nothing to do; but they contrived to turn it to good account.

The Emperor Tao Kwang, moved, it is said, by the unhappy fate of

one of his sons who had fallen a victim to the seductive poison,

resolved at all hazards to put a stop to a traffic so ruinous to

his people. Commissioner Lin, a native of Foochow, was transferred

from the viceroyalty of Wuchang to that of Canton and clothed with

plenary powers for the execution of this decree. To understand the

manner in which he undertook to execute the will of his master

it must be remembered that diplomatic intercourse had as yet no

existence in China, because she considered herself as sustaining

to foreign nations no other relation than that of a suzerain to

a vassal. Her mandarins scorned to hold direct communication with

any of the superintendents of foreign commerce--receiving

[Page 153]

petitions and sending mandates through the hong merchants, thirteen

native firms which had purchased a monopoly of foreign trade.

In 1834 Lord Napier was appointed to the humble position of

superintendent of British trade in China, He arrived at Macao on

July 15 of that year, and announced his appointment by a letter to

the prefect, which was handed for transmission to the commander of

the city gate of Canton--a barrier which no foreigner was permitted

to pass. The letter was returned through the brokers without any

answer other than a line on the cover informing the "barbarian

eye" (consul) that the document was "tossed back" because it was

not superscribed with the character _pin_ (or _ping_),

which signifies a "humble petition."

This was the beginning of sorrows for China as well as for poor

Napier, who, failing in his efforts to communicate with the mandarins

on equal terms, retired to the Portuguese settlement of Macao and

died of disappointment. The eminent American statesman, John Quincy

Adams, speaking in later years of the war that ensued, declared

that its cause was not opium but a _pin_, i. e., an insolent

assumption of superiority on the part of China.

The irrepressible conflict provoked by these indignities was

precipitated in 1839 by the action of the new viceroy, who undertook

to effect a summary suppression of the traffic in opium. One morning

shortly after his arrival, the foreigners at Canton, who were always

locked up at night for their own safety, awoke to find themselves

surrounded by a body of soldiers and threatened with indiscriminate

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slaughter unless they surrendered the obnoxious drug, stored on

their opium hulks, at an anchorage outside the harbour.

While they were debating as to what action to take, Captain Charles

Elliot, the new superintendent, came up from Macao and bravely insisted

on sharing the duress of his countrymen. Calling the merchants

together he requested them to surrender their opium to him, to be

used in the service of the Queen as a ransom for the lives of her

subjects, assuring them that Her Majesty's Government would take

care that they should be properly indemnified. Twenty thousand

chests of opium were handed over to the viceroy (who destroyed the

drug by mixing it with quicklime in huge vats); and the prisoners

were set at liberty.

The viceroy fondly imagined that the incident was closed, and flattered

himself that he had gained an easier victory than he could have done

by sending his junks against the armed ships of the smugglers.

Little did he suspect that he had lighted a slow-match, that would

blow up the walls of his own fortress and place the throne itself

at the mercy of the "barbarian."

A strong force was despatched to China to exact an indemnity, for

which the honour of the Crown had been pledged, and to punish the

Chinese for the cut-throat fashion in which they had sought to

suppress a prohibited trade. The proud city of Canton averted a

bombardment by paying a ransom of $6,000,000; islands and seaports

were occupied by British troops as far north as the River Yang-tse; and

Nanking, the ancient capital, was only saved from falling into their

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hands by the acceptance of such conditions of peace as Sir Henry

Pottinger saw fit to impose.

Those conditions were astonishingly moderate for a conqueror who,

unembarrassed by the interests of other powers, might have taken

the whole empire. They were, besides payment for the destroyed

drug, the opening of five ports to British trade, and the cession

to Great Britain of Hong Kong, a rocky islet which was then the

abode of fishermen and pirates, but which to-day claims to outrank

all the seaports of the world in the amount of its tonnage. Not

a word, be it noted, about opening up the vast interior, not a

syllable in favour of legalising the opium traffic, or tolerating

Christianity.

So much for the charge that this war, which bears a malodorous

name, was waged for the purpose of compelling China to submit to the

continuance of an immoral traffic. That a smuggling trade would go

on with impunity was no doubt foreseen and reckoned on by interested

parties; but it is morally certain that if the Chinese had understood

how to deal with it they might have rid themselves of the incubus

without provoking the discharge of another shot.

Here ends the first act, in 1842; and in it I may claim a personal

interest from the fact that my attention was first turned to China

as a mission field by the boom of British cannon in the Opium War.

China was not opened; but five gates were set ajar against her

will. For that she has to thank the pride and ignorance of emperor

and viceroy which betrayed them into the blunder of dealing with

British merchants as a policeman deals with pickpockets. For the first

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time in her history she was made aware of the existence of nations

with which she would have to communicate on a footing of equality.

The moderation and forbearance of Pottinger in refraining from

demanding larger concessions, and in leaving the full consequences

of this war to be unfolded by the progress of time, may fairly

challenge comparison with the politic procedure of Commodore Perry

in dealing with Japan in 1854. One may ask, too, would Japan have

come to terms so readily if she had not seen her huge neighbour

bowing to superior force?

* * * * *

An important consequence of the Opium War was the outbreak of rebellions

in different parts of the Empire. The prestige of the Tartars was

in the dust. Hitherto deemed invincible, they had been beaten by a

handful of foreigners. Was not this a sure sign that their divine

commission had been withdrawn by the Court of Heaven? If so, might

it not be possible to wrest the sceptre from their feeble grasp,

and emancipate the Chinese race?

Private ambition was kindled at the prospect, and patriotism was

invoked to induce the people to make common cause. Three parties

entered the field: the Tai-pings of the South, the "Red-haired" on

the seacoast, and the Nienfi in the north. Neither of the latter

two deserves notice; but the first-named made for themselves a

place in history which one is

[Page 157]

not at liberty to ignore, even if their story were less romantic

than it is. It will be convenient to introduce here the following

note on the Tai-ping rebellion.

THE TAI-PING REBELLION

In 1847 a young man of good education and pleasing manners, named

Hung Siu-tsuen, presented himself at the American Baptist mission in

Canton, saying he had seen their sacred book and desired instruction.

This he received from the Rev. Issachar Roberts; and he was duly

enrolled as a catechumen. Without receiving the sealing ordinance,

or taking his instructor into confidence, Siu-tsuen returned to his

home at Hwa-hien and began to propagate his new creed. His talents

and zeal won adherents, whom he organised into a society called

_Shang-ti-hwui_, "the Church of the supreme God." Persecution

transformed it into a political party, to which multitudes were

attracted by a variety of motives.

Following the early Church, in the absence of any modern model, his

converts expected and received spiritual gifts. Shall we describe

such manifestations as hysteria, hypnotism, or hypocrisy? Their

fanaticism was contagious, especially after their flight to the

mountains of Kwangsi. There Siu-tsuen boldly raised the flag of

rebellion and proclaimed that he had a divine call to restore the

throne to the Chinese race, and to deliver the people from the curse

of idolatry. In this twofold crusade he was ably seconded by one

Yang, who possessed all the qualities of a successful hierophant.

Shrewd and calculating, Yang was able

[Page 158]

at will to bring on cataleptic fits, during which his utterances

passed for the words of the Holy Ghost.

The new empire which they were trying to establish, they called

_Tai-ping Tien-kwoh_, "The Kingdom of Heaven and the reign

of peace." Hung was emperor, to be saluted with _Wansue!_

(Japanese, _Banzai!_) "10,000 years!" Yang as prince-premier

was saluted with "9,000 years," nine-tenths of a banzai. He was

the medium of communication with the Court of Heaven; and all their

greater movements were made by command of Shang-ti, the Supreme

Ruler.

On one occasion Yang went into a trance and declared that Shang-ti

was displeased by something done by his chief, and required the

latter to receive a castigation on his naked shoulders. The chief

submitted, whether from credulity or from policy it might not be

easy to say; but thereby the faith of his followers seems to have

been confirmed rather than shaken. Nor did Yang take advantage

of his chief's disgrace to usurp his place or to treat him as a

puppet.

Through Yang it was revealed that they were to leave their mountain

fortress and strike for Nanking, which had been made the capital on

the expulsion of the Mongols, and which was destined to enjoy the

same dignity on the overthrow of the Manchus. That programme, one of

unexampled daring, was promptly put into execution. Descending into

the plains of Hunan, like a mountain torrent they swept everything

before them and began their march towards the central stronghold

fifteen hundred miles distant. Striking the "Great River" at Hankow,

they pillaged

[Page 159]

the three rich cities Wuchang, Hanyang, and Hankow, and, seizing

all the junks, committed themselves to its current without a doubt

as to the issue of their voyage.

Nanking was carried by assault despite the alleged impregnability

of its ramparts, and despite also a garrison of 25,000 Manchus.

These last must have fought with the fury of despair; for they

well knew what fate awaited them. Not one was spared to tell the

tale--this was in 1853. There the Tai-pings held their ground for

ten years; and it is safe to affirm that without the aid of foreign

missionaries they never would have been dislodged.

The second part of their enterprise--the expulsion of the Manchus

from Peking--ended in defeat. A strong detachment was sent north

by way of the Grand Canal. At first they met with great success--no

town or city was able to check their progress, which resembled

Napoleon's invasion of Russia. At the beginning of winter they

were met by a strong force under the Mongol prince Sengkolinsin;

then came the more dreaded generals--January and February. Unable

to make headway, they went into winter quarters, and committed

the blunder of dividing themselves between two towns, where they

were besieged and cut off in detail.

In the meantime the eyes of the world were turned toward Nanking.

Ships of war were sent to reconnoitre and Consul T. T. Meadows,

who accompanied the _Hermes_, made a report full of sympathy;

but the failure of their expedition to the north deterred the nation

from any formal recognition of the Tai-ping government.

[Page 160]

Missionaries were attracted by their profession of Christianity.

Among others, I made an unsuccessful attempt to reach them. Unable

to induce my boatmen to run the blockade, I returned home and took

up the pen in their defence. My letters were well received, but they

did not prevent soldiers of fortune, like the American Frederick

G. Ward and Colonel Gordon of the British army, throwing their

swords into the scale.

Two Sabbatarians hearing that the rebels observed Saturday for

their day of rest, posted off to confirm them in that ancient usage.

Learning at an outpost that the seeming agreement with their own

practice grew out of a mistake in reckoning, they did not continue

their journey.

A missionary who actually penetrated to the rebel headquarters

was the Rev. Issachar Roberts, the first instructor of the rebel

chief. The latter had sent him a message inviting him to court.

His stay was not long. He found that his quondam disciple had

substituted a new mode of baptism, neither sprinkling nor immersion,

but washing the pit of the stomach with a towel dipped in warm

water! Who says the Chinese are not original? It is probable that

Roberts's dispute lay deeper than a mere ceremony. Professing a

New Testament creed, the rebel chief shaped his practice on Old

Testament examples--killing men as ruthlessly as David, and, like

Solomon, filling his harem with women. A remonstrance on either

head was certain to bring danger; it was said indeed that Roberts's

life was threatened.

Some queer titles were adopted by the Tai-pings.

[Page 161]

As stated above, the premier was styled "Father of 9,000 years";

other princes had to content themselves with 7,000, 6,000, etc.--or

seven-tenths and six-tenths of a "Live forever!" Christ was the

"Heavenly Elder Brother"; and the chief called himself "Younger

Brother of Jesus Christ." These designations might excite a smile;

but when he called Yang, his adviser, the "Holy Ghost," one felt

like stopping one's ears, as did the Hebrews of old. The loose morals

of the Tai-pings and their travesty of sacred things horrified the

Christian world; and Gordon no doubt felt that he was doing God

a service in breaking up a horde of blasphemers and blackguards.

Gordon's victory won an earldom for Li Hung Chang; but the Chinese

conferred no posthumous honours on Gordon as they did on Ward,

who has a temple and is reckoned among the gods of the empire.

The Tai-pings were commonly called Changmao, "long-haired" rebels,

because they rejected the tonsure and "pigtail" as marks of subjection.

They printed at Nanking, by what they called "Imperial authority,"

an edition of the Holy Scriptures. At one time Lord Elgin, disgusted

by the conduct of the Peking Government, proposed to make terms with

the court at Nanking. The French minister refused to coöperate, partly

because the rebels had not been careful to distinguish between the

images in Roman Catholic chapels and those in pagan temples, but

chiefly from an objection to the ascendency of Protestant influence,

coupled with a fear of losing the power that comes from a protectorate

of Roman Catholic missions. How different would have been

[Page 162]

the future of China had the allied powers backed up the Tai-pings

against the Manchus!

* * * * *

ACT 2. THE "ARROW" WAR, 1857-1860

Of the second act in this grand drama on the world's wide stage,

a vessel, named the _Arrow_, was, like opium in the former

conflict, the occasion, not the cause. The cause was, as before,

pride and ignorance on the part of the Chinese, though the British

are not to be altogether exonerated. Their flag was compromised;

and they sought to protect it. Fifteen years of profitable commerce

had passed, during which China had been a double gainer, receiving

light and experience in addition to less valuable commodities,

when Viceroy Yeh seized the lorcha _Arrow_, on a charge of

piracy. Though owned by Chinese, she was registered in Hong Kong,

and sailed under the British flag. Had the viceroy handed her over

to a British court for trial, justice would no doubt have been

done to the delinquents, and the two nations would not have been

embroiled; but, haughty as well as hasty, the viceroy declined to

admit that the British Government had any right to interfere with

his proceedings. Unfortunately (or fortunately) British interests

at Canton were in the hands of Consul Parkes, afterward Sir Harry

Parkes, the renowned plenipotentiary at Peking and Tokio.

Sir John Bowring was governor of Hong Kong, with the oversight of

British interests in the Empire. A gifted poet, and an enthusiastic

advocate of universal peace, he was a man who might be counted on, if in

[Page 163]

the power of man, to hold the dogs of war in leash. But he, too,

had been consul at Canton and he knew by experience the quagmire

in which the best intentions were liable to be swamped.

Parkes, whom I came to know as Her Britannic Majesty's minister in

Peking, was the soul of honour, as upright as any man who walked

the earth. But with all his rectitude, he, like the Viceroy Yeh,

was irascible and unyielding. When the viceroy refused his demand

for the rendition of the _Arrow_ and her crew, he menaced him

with the weight of the lion's paw. Alarmed, but not cowed, the

viceroy sent the prisoners in fetters to the consulate, instead of

replacing them on board their ship; nor did he vouchsafe a word of

courtesy or apology. Parkes, too fiery to overlook such contemptuous

informality, sent them back, much as a football is kicked from

one to another; and the viceroy, incensed beyond measure, ordered

their heads to be chopped off without a trial.

Here was a Gordian knot, which nothing but the sword could loose.

War was provoked as before by the rashness of a viceroy. The

peace-loving governor did not choose to swallow the affront to

his country, nor did the occupant of the Dragon Throne deign to

interfere; looking on the situation with the same sublime indifference

with which the King of Persia regarded the warlike preparations of

the younger Cyrus, when he supposed, as Xenophon tells us, that

he was only going to fight out a feud with a neighbouring satrap.

How could China be opened; how was a stable equilibrium possible

so long as foreign powers were kept at a distance from the capital

of the Empire?

[Page 164]

In three months the haughty viceroy was a prisoner in India, never

to return, and his provincial capital was held by a garrison of

British troops. On this occasion the old blunder of admitting the

city to ransom was not repeated, else Canton might have continued

to be a hotbed of seditious plots and anti-foreign hostilities.

Parkes knew the people, and he knew their rulers also. He was

accordingly allowed to have his own way in dealing with them. The

viceroy being out of the way, he proposed to Pehkwei, the Manchu

governor, to take his place and carry on the provincial government

as if the two nations were at peace. Strange to say, the governor

did not decline the task. That he did not was due to the fact that

he disapproved the policy of the viceroy, and that he put faith

in the assurance that Great Britain harboured no design against

the reigning house or its territorial domain.

To the surprise of the Chinese, who in their native histories find

that an Asiatic conqueror always takes possession of as much territory

as he is able to hold, it soon became evident that the Queen of

England did not make war in the spirit of conquest. Her premier,

Lord Palmerston, invited the coöperation of France, Russia, and

the United States, in a movement which was expected to issue

advantageously to all, especially to China. France, at that time

under an ambitious successor of the great Napoleon, seized the

opportunity to contribute a strong contingent, with the view of

checkmating England and of obtaining for herself a free hand in

Indo-China, possibly in China Proper also. For assuming a hostile

[Page 165]

attitude towards China, she found a pretext in the judicial murder of a

missionary in Kwangsi, just as Germany found two of her missionaries

similarly useful as an excuse for the occupation of Kiao-Chao in

1897. No wonder the Chinese have grown cautious how they molest a

missionary; but they needed practical teaching before they learned

the lesson.

Unable to take a morsel of China as long as his powerful ally abstained

from territorial aggrandisement, Louis Napoleon subsequently employed

his troops to enlarge the borders of a small state which the French

claimed in Annam, laying the foundation of a dominion which goes

far to console them for the loss of India. America and Russia,

having no wrongs to redress, declined to send troops, but consented

to give moral support to a movement for placing foreign relations

with China on a satisfactory basis.

In the spring of 1858, the representatives of the four powers met

at the mouth of the Peiho, coöperating in a loose sort of concert

which permitted each one to carryon negotiations on his own account.

As interpreter to the Hon. W. B. Reed, the American minister, I

enjoyed the best of opportunities for observing what went on behind

the scenes, besides being a spectator of more than one battle.

The neutrals, arriving in advance of the belligerents, opened

negotiations with the Viceroy of Chihli, which might have added

supplementary articles, but must have left the old treaties

substantially unchanged. The other envoys coming on the stage insisted

that the viceroy should wear the title and be clothed with the

powers of a plenipotentiary. When that was

[Page 166]

refused, as being "incompatible with the absolute sovereignty of

the Emperor," they stormed the forts and proceeded to Tientsin

where they were met by men whose credentials were made out in due

form, though it is doubtful if their powers exceeded those of the

crestfallen viceroy. A pitiful artifice to maintain their affectation

of superiority was the placing of the names of foreign countries

one space lower than that of China in the despatch announcing their

appointment. When this covert insult was pointed out they apologised

for a clerical error, and had the despatches rectified.

The allies were able to dictate their own terms; and they got all

they asked for, though, as will be seen, they did not ask enough.

The rest of us got the same, though we had struck no blow and shed

no blood. One article, known as "the most-favoured-nation clause"

(already in the treaty of 1844), was all that we required to enable

us to pick up the fruit when others shook the tree.

Four additional seaports were opened, but Tienstin, where the treaties

were drawn up, was not one of them. I remember hearing Lord Elgin,

whose will was absolute, say that he was not willing to have it

thrown open to commerce, because in that case it would be used

to overawe the capital--just as if _overaweing_ were not the

very thing needed to make a bigoted government enter on the path of

progress. Never did a man in repute for statesmanship show himself

more shortsighted. His blunder led to the renewal of the war, and

its continuance for two more years.

[Page 167]

The next year when the envoys came to the mouth of the river, on

their way to Peking to exchange ratified copies of their treaties,

they found the forts rebuilt, the river closed, and access to the

capital by way of Tientsin bluntly refused. In taking this action,

the Chinese were not chargeable with a breach of faith; but the

allies, feeling insulted at having the door shut in their faces,

decided to force it open. They had a strong squadron; but their

gunboats were no match for the forts. Some were sunk; others were

beached; and the day ended in disastrous defeat. Though taking no

part in the conflict the Americans were not indifferent spectators.

Hearing that the British admiral was wounded, their commodore, the

brave old Tatnall, went through a shower of bullets to express

his sympathy, getting his boat shattered and losing a man on the

way. When requested to lend a helping hand, he exclaimed "Blood

is thicker than water;" and, throwing neutrality to the winds,

he proceeded to tow up a flotilla of British barges. His words

have echoed around the world; and his act, though impolitic from

the viewpoint of diplomacy, had the effect of knitting closer the

ties of two kindred nations.

Seeing the repulse of the allies, the American minister, the Hon.

J. E. Ward, resolved to accept an offer which they had declined,

namely, to proceed to the capital by land under a Chinese escort.

His country was pledged in the treaty, of which he was the bearer,

to use her good offices on the occurrence of difficulties with

other powers. Without cavilling at the prescribed route or mode

of conveyance, he felt it his duty to present himself before the

Throne as speedily

[Page 168]

as possible in the hope of averting a threatened calamity. For

him, it was an opportunity to do something great and good; for

China, it was the last chance to ward off a crushing blow. But

so elated were the Chinese by their unexpected success that they

were in no mood to accept the services of a mediator. The Emperor

insisted that he should go on his knees like the tribute-bearer

from a vassal state. "Tell them," said Mr. Ward, "that I go on

my knees only to God and woman"--a speech brave and chivalrous,

but undignified for a minister and unintelligible to the Chinese.

With this he quitted the capital and left China to her fate. He

was not the first envoy to meet a rude rebuff at the Chinese court.

In 1816 Lord Amherst was not allowed to see the "Dragon's Face"

because he refused to kneel. At that date England was not in a

position to punish the insult; but it had something to do with the

war of 1839. In 1859 it was pitiful to see a power whose existence

was hanging in the scales alienate a friend by unseemly insolence.

The following year (1860) saw the combined forces of two empires

at the gates of Peking. The summer palace was laid in ashes to

punish the murder of a company of men and officers under a flag

of truce; and it continues to be an unsightly ruin. The Emperor

fled to Tartary to find a grave; and throne and capital were for

the first time at the mercy of an Occidental army. On the accession

of Hien-feng, in 1850, an old counsellor advised him to make it

his duty to "restore the restrictions all along the coast." His

attempt to do this was one source of his misfortunes. Supplementary

articles were signed within the walls,

[Page 169]

by which China relinquished her absurd pretensions, abandoned her

long seclusion, and, at the instance of France, threw open the

whole empire to the labours of Christian missions. They had been

admitted by rescript to the Five Ports, but no further.

Thus ends the second act of the drama; and a spectator must be

sadly deficient in spiritual insight if he does not perceive the

hand of God overruling the strife of nations and the blunders of

statesmen.

ACT 3. WAR WITH FRANCE

The curtain rises on the third act of the drama in 1885. Peking was

open to residence, and I had charge of a college for the training

of diplomatic agents.

I was at Pearl Grotto, my summer refuge near Peking, when I was

called to town by a messenger from the Board of Foreign Affairs.

The ministers informed me that the French had destroyed their fleet

and seized their arsenal at Foochow. "This," they said, "is war. We

desire to know how the non-combatants of the enemy are to be treated

according to the rules of international law." I wrote out a brief

statement culled from text-books, which I had myself translated

for the use of the Chinese Government; but before I had finished

writing a clerk came to say that the Grand Council wished to have

it as soon as possible, as they were going to draw up a decree on

the subject. The next day an imperial decree proclaimed a state

of war and assured French people in China that if they refrained

from taking part in any hostile act they might remain in their

places, and count on full protection. Nobly did the government of

the day redeem its pledge.

[Page 170]

Not a missionary was molested in the interior; and two French professors

belonging to my own faculty were permitted to go on with the instruction

of their classes.

There was not much fighting. The French seized Formosa; and both

parties were preparing for a trial of strength, when a seemingly

unimportant occurrence led them to come to an understanding. A small

steamer belonging to the customs service, employed in supplying the

wants of lighthouses, having been taken by the French, Sir Robert

Hart applied to the French premier, Jules Ferry, for its release.

This was readily granted; and an intimation was at the same time

given that the French would welcome overtures for a settlement

of the quarrel. Terms were easily agreed upon and the two parties

resumed the _status quo ante bellum_.

So far as the stipulations were concerned neither party had gained

or lost anything, yet as a matter of fact France had scored a

substantial victory. She was henceforward left in quiet possession

of Tongking, a principality which China had regarded as a vassal

and endeavoured to protect.

ACT 4. WAR WITH JAPAN

China had not thoroughly learned the lesson suggested by this

experience; for ten years later a fourth act in the drama grew out

of her unwise attempt to protect another vassal.

In 1894 the Japanese, provoked by China's interference with their

enterprises in Korea, boldly drew the sword and won for themselves

a place among the great powers. I was in Japan when the war broke

[Page 171]

out, and, being asked by a company of foreigners what I thought

of Japan's chances, answered, "The swordfish can kill the whale."

Not merely did the islanders expel the Chinese from the Korean

peninsula, but they took possession of those very districts in

Manchuria from which they have but yesterday ousted the Russians.

Peking itself was in danger when Li Hung Chang was sent to the

Mikado to sue for peace. Luckily for China a Japanese assassin

lodged a bullet in the head of her ambassador; and the Mikado,

ashamed of that cowardly act, granted peace on easy conditions.

China's greatest statesman carried that bullet in his _dura mater_

to the end of his days, proud to have made himself an offering for

his country, and rejoicing that one little ball had silenced the

batteries of two empires.

By the terms of the treaty, Japan was to be left in possession

of Port Arthur and Liao-tung. But this arrangement was in fatal

opposition to the policy of a great power which had already cast

covetous eyes on the rich provinces of Manchuria. Securing the

support of France and Germany, Russia compelled the Japanese to

withdraw; and in the course of three years she herself occupied

those very positions, kindling in the bosom of Japan the fires

of revenge, and sowing the seeds of another war.[*]

[Footnote *: The Russo-Japanese war lies outside of our present

programme because China was not a party to it, though it involved

her interests and even her existence. The subject will be treated

in another chapter.]

The effect of China's defeat at the hands of her despised neighbour,

was, if possible, more profound than that of her humiliation by

the English and

[Page 172]

French in 1860. She saw how the adoption of Western methods had

clothed a small Oriental people with irresistible might; and her

wisest statesmen set themselves to work a similar transformation

in their antiquated empire. The young Emperor showed himself an

apt pupil, issuing a series of reformatory edicts, which alarmed

the conservatives and provoked a reaction that constitutes the

last act in this tremendous drama.

ACT 5. THE BOXER WAR

The fifth act opens with the _coup d'état_ of the Empress

Dowager, and terminates with the capture of Peking by the combined

forces of the civilised world.

Instead of attempting, even in outline, a narrative of events, it

will be more useful to direct attention to the springs of action.

It should be borne in mind that the late Emperor was the adopted son

of the Dowager Empress. After the death of her own son, Tung-chi,

who occupied the throne for eleven years under a joint regency

of two empresses, his mother cast about for some one to adopt in

his stead. With motives not difficult to divine she chose among

her nephews an infant of three summers, and gave him the title

_Kwangsu_, "Illustrious Successor." When he was old enough

to be entrusted with the reins of government, she made a feint

of laying down her power, in deference to custom. Yet she exacted

of the imperial youth that he visit her at her country palace and

throw himself at her feet once in five days--proof enough that

she kept her hand on the helm, though she

[Page 173]

mitted her nephew to pose as steersman. She herself was noted for

progressive ideas; and it was not strange that the young man, under

the influence of Kang Yuwei, backed by enlightened viceroys, should

go beyond his adoptive mother. Within three years from the close

of the war he had proclaimed a succession of new measures which

amounted to a reversal of the old policy; nor is it likely that

she disapproved of any of them, until the six ministers of the

Board of Rites, the guardians of a sort of Levitical law, besought

her to save the empire from the horrors of a revolution.

For her to command was to be obeyed. The viceroys were her appointees;

and she knew they would stand by her to a man. The Emperor, though

nominally independent, was not emancipated from the obligations of

filial duty, which were the more binding as having been created

by her voluntary choice. There was no likelihood that he would

offer serious resistance; and it was certain that he would not

be supported if he did. Coming from behind the veil, she snatched

the sceptre from his inexperienced hand, as a mother takes a deadly

weapon from a half-grown boy. Submitting to the inevitable he made

a formal surrender of his autocratic powers and, confessing his

errors, implored her "to teach him how to govern." This was in

September, 1898.

Stripped of every vestige of authority, the unhappy prince was

confined, a prisoner of state, in a secluded palace where it was

thought he would soon receive the present of a silken scarf as a hint

to make way for a worthier successor. That his life was spared was no

[Page 174]

doubt due to a certain respect for the public sentiment of the

world, to which China is not altogether insensible. He having no

direct heir, the son of Prince Tuan was adopted by the Dowager

as heir-apparent, evidently in expectation of a vacancy soon to

be filled. Prince Tuan, hitherto unknown in the politics of the

state, became, from that moment, the leader of a reactionary party.

Believing that his son would soon be called to the throne by the

demise of the Emperor, he put on all the airs of a _Tai-shang

Hwang_, or "Father of an Emperor."

Here again the _patria potestas_ comes in as a factor; and

in the brief career of the father of the heir-apparent, it shows

itself in its most exaggerated form. Under the influence of the

reactionary clique, of which he was acknowledged chief, the Empress

Dowager in her new regency was induced to repeal almost everything

the Emperor had done in the way of reform. In her edict she said

cynically: "It does not follow that we are to stop eating, because

we have been choked!" Dislike to foreign methods engendered an

ill-concealed hatred of foreigners; and just at this epoch occurred

a series of aggressions by foreign powers, which had the effect

of fanning that hatred into a flame.

In the fall of 1897 Germany demanded the cession of Kiao-Chao,

calling it a lease for 99 years. The next spring Russia under the

form of a lease for 25 years obtained Port Arthur for the terminus

of her long railway. England and France followed suit: one taking

a _lease_ of Wei-hai-wei; the other, of Kwang-chou-wan. Though

in every case the word "lease"

[Page 175]

was employed, the Chinese knew the transfer meant permanent alienation.

A hue and cry was raised against what they described as the "slicing

of the melon," and in Shantung, where the first act of spoliation

had taken place, the Boxers, a turbulent society of long standing,

were encouraged to wage open war against native Christians, foreigners

and foreign products, including railways, telegraphs, and all sorts

of merchandise.

Not until those predatory bands had entered the metropolitan province,

with the avowed object of pushing their way to Peking[*] did the

legations take steps to strengthen their guards. A small reinforcement

of 207 men luckily reached Peking a few days before the railway

was wrecked.

[Footnote *: On March 30, 1900, the following Boxer manifesto in

jingling rhyme, was thrown into the London Mission, at Tientsin. It

is here given in a prose version, taken from "A Flight for Life,"

by the Rev. J. H. Roberts, Pilgrim Press, Boston.

"We Boxers have come to Tientsin to kill an foreign devils, and

protect the Manchu dynasty. Above, there is the Empress Dowager

on our side, and below there is Junglu. The soldiers of Yulu and

Yuhien [governors of Shantung and Chihli] are an our men. When

we have finished killing in Tientsin, we shall go to Peking. All

the officials high and low will welcome us. Whoever is afraid let

him quickly escape for his life."]

With a view to protect the foreign settlement at Tientsin, then

threatened by Boxers, the combined naval forces stormed the forts

at the mouth of the river, and advanced to that rich emporium. The

Court denounced this as an act of war, and ordered all foreigners

to leave the capital within twenty-four hours. That meant slaughter

at the hands of the Boxers. The foreign ministers protested, and

[Page 176]

endeavoured by prolonged negotiation to avoid compliance with the

cruel order.

On June 20, the German minister, Baron von Ketteler, was on his

way to the Foreign Office to obtain an extension of time, when he

was shot dead in the street by a man in the uniform of a soldier.

His secretary, though wounded, gave the alarm; and all the legations,

with all their respective countrymen, took refuge in the British

Legation, with the exception of Bishop Favier and his people who,

with the aid of forty marines, bravely defended themselves in the

new cathedral.

In the evening we were fired on by the Government troops, and from

that time we were closely besieged and exposed to murderous attacks

day and night for eight weeks, when a combined force under the

flags of eight nations carried the walls by storm, just in time

to prevent such a massacre as the world has never seen. Massacres

on a larger scale have not been a rare spectacle; but never before

in the history of the world had any government been seen attempting

to destroy an entire diplomatic body, every member of whom is made

sacred by the law of nations.[*]

[Footnote *: AN APPEAL FROM THE LION'S DEN

(Written four weeks before the end of the siege, this appeal failed

to reach the outside world. It is now printed for the first time.

Nothing that I could now write would show the situation with half

such vividness. It reveals the scene as with a lightning flash.)

"British Legation, July 16, 1900.

"TO THE CHRISTIAN WORLD

"On the 19th ult. the Chinese declared war on account of the attack

on the forts at Taku. Since then we have been shut up in the British

Legation and others adjacent, and bombarded day and night with shot

and shell. The defence has been magnificent. About 1,000 foreigners

(of both sexes) have held their ground against the forces of the

Empire. Some thousands of Chinese converts are dependent on us for

protection. The City Wall near the legations is held by our men,

but the Chinese are forcing them back and driving in our outposts.

The mortality in our ranks is very great; and unless relief comes

soon we must all perish. Our men have fought bravely, and our women

have shown sublime courage. May this terrible sacrifice prove not

to be in vain! We are the victims of pagan fanaticism. Let this

pagan empire be partitioned among Christian powers, and may a new

order of things open on China with a new century!

"The chief asylum for native Christians is the Roman Catholic Cathedral,

where Bishop Favier aided by forty marines gives protection to four

or five thousand. The perils of the siege have obliterated the lines

of creed and nation, making a unity, not merely of Christians, but

bringing the Japanese into brotherhood with us. To them the siege

is a step toward Christianity."

"(Signed) DR. W. A. P. MARTIN."]

[Page 177]

On August 14 Gen. Gaseles and his contingent entered the British

Legation. The Court, conscious of guilt, fled to the northwest,

leaving the city once more at the mercy of the hated foreigner;

and so the curtain falls on the closing scene.

What feats of heroism were performed in the course of those eventful

weeks; how delicate women rose to the height of the occasion in

patient endurance and helpful charity; how international jealousies

were merged in the one feeling of devotion to the common good--all

this and more I should like to relate for the honour of human nature.

How an unseen power appeared to hold our enemies in check and to

sustain the courage of the besieged, I would also like to place on

record, to the glory of the Most High; but space fails for dealing

with anything but general principles.[1]

[Footnote 1: See the author's "The Siege in Peking," New York: Fleming

H. Revell Company.]

On the day following our rescue, at a thanksgiving meeting, which

was largely attended, Dr. Arthur

[Page 178]

Smith pointed out ten instances--most of us agreed that he might

have made the number ten times ten--in which the providence of

God had intervened on our behalf.

It was a role of an ancient critic that a god should not be brought

on the stage unless the occasion were such as to require the presence

of a more than human power. _Nec deus intersit nisi dignus vindice

nodus._ How many such occasions we have had to notice in the

course of this narrative! What a theodicæa we have in the result

of all this tribulation! We see at last, a government convinced

of the folly of a policy which brought on such a succession of

disastrous wars. We see missionaries and native Christians fairly

well protected throughout the whole extent of the Empire. We see,

moreover, a national movement in the direction of educational reform,

which, along with the Gospel of Christ, promises to impart new

life to that ancient people.

The following incident may serve to show the state of uncertainty

in which we lived during the interregnum preceding the return of

the Court.

While waiting for an opportunity to get my "train (the university)

on the track," I spent the summer of 1901 at Pearl Grotto, my usual

retreat, on the top of a hill over a thousand feet high, overlooking

the capital. "The Boxers are coming!" cried my writer and servants

one evening about twilight. "Haste--hide in the rocks--they will

soon be on us!" "I shall not hide," I replied; and seizing my rifle

I rested it on a wall which commanded the approach. They soon became

visible at the distance of a hundred yards,

[Page 179]

waving flambeaux, and yelling like a troop of devils. Happily I

reserved my fire for closer range; for leaving the path at that

point they betook themselves to the top of another hill where they

waved their torches and shouted like madmen. We were safe for the

night; and in the morning I reported the occurrence to Mr. O'Conor,

the British chargé d'affaires, who was at a large temple at the

foot of the hills. "They were not Boxers," he remarked, "but a

party we sent out _to look for a lost student_."

POSTSCRIPT

It is the fashion to speak slightingly of the Boxer troubles, and

to blink the fact that the movement which led to the second capture

of Peking and the flight of the Court was a serious war. The southern

viceroys had undertaken to maintain order in the south. Operations were

therefore localised somewhat, as they were in the Russo-Japanese War.

It is even said that the combined forces were under the impression

that they were coming to the rescue of a helpless government which

was doing all in its power to protect foreigners. Whether this was

the effect of diplomatic dust thrown in their eyes or not, _it

was a fiction_.

How bitterly the Empress Dowager was bent on exterminating the

foreigner, may be inferred from her decree ordering the massacre of

foreigners and their adherents--a savage edict which the southern

satraps refused to obey. A similar inference may be drawn from the

summary execution of four ministers of state for remonstrating against

throwing in the fortunes of the empire with the Boxer party. China

[Page 180]

should be made to do penance on her knees for those shocking displays

of barbarism. At Taiyuan-fu, forty-five missionaries were murdered

by the governor, and sixteen at Paoting-fu. Such atrocities are

only possible among a _half-civilised people_.

[Page 181]

CHAPTER XXVIII

THE RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR

_Russia's Schemes for Conquest--Conflicting Interests in

Korea--Hostilities Begin--The First Battles--The Blockade--Dispersion

of the Russian Fleet--Battle of Liao-yang--Fall of Port Arthur--Battle

of Mukden--The Armada--Battle of Tsushima--The Peace of Portsmouth--The

Effect on China_

To the Chinese the retrospect of these five wars left little room

for those pompous pretensions which appeared to be their vital

breath.

Beaten by Western powers and by the new power of the East, their

capital taken a second time after forty years' opportunity to fortify

it, and their fugitive court recalled a second time to reign on

sufferance or during good behaviour, what had they left to boast

of except the antiquity of their country and the number of their

people? Dazed and paralysed, most of them gave way to a sullen

resignation that differed little from despair.

There were, indeed, a few who, before things came to the worst,

saw that China's misfortunes were due to folly, not fate. Ignorant

conservatism had made her weak; vigorous reform might make her

strong. But another war was required to turn the feeling of the

few into a conviction of the many. This change was

[Page 182]

accomplished by a war waged within their borders but to which they

were not a party--a war which was not an act in their national

drama, but a spectacle for which they furnished the stage. That

spectacle calls for notice in the present work on account of its

influence on the destinies of China.

For the springs of action it will be necessary to go back three

centuries, to the time when Yermak crossed the Ural Mountains and

made Russia an Asiatic power. The conquest of Siberia was not to

end in Siberia. Russia saw in it a chance to enrich herself at

the expense of weaker neighbours. What but that motive led her, in

1858, to demand the Manchurian seacoast as the price of neutrality?

What but that led her to construct the longest railway in the world?

What but that impelled her to seek for it a second terminus on

the Gulf of Pechili?

The occupation of Port Arthur and Liao-tung by the Japanese, in

1895, was a checkmate to Russia's little game; and, supported by

France and Germany, she gave her notice to quit. During the Boxer

War of 1900, Russia increased her forces in Manchuria to provide

for the eventualities of a probable break-up, and after the peace

her delay in fulfilling her promise of evacuation was tantamount

to a refusal.

Had the Russians confined their attention to Manchuria they might

have continued to remain in possession; but another feeble state

offered itself as a tempting prize. They set greedy eyes on Korea,

made interest with an impoverished court, and obtained the privilege

of navigating the Yalu and cutting

[Page 183]

timber on its banks. This proceeding, though explained by the

requirements of railway construction, aroused the suspicion and

jealousy of the Japanese. They knew it meant more than seeking

an outlet for a lumber industry. They knew it portended vassalage

for Korea and ejection for themselves. Had they not made war on

China ten years before because they could brook no rival in the

peninsula? How could they tolerate the intrusion of Russia? Not

merely were their interests in Korea at stake; every advance of

Russia in that quarter, with Korea for vassal or ally, was a menace

to the existence of Japan.

The Japanese lost no time in entering a protest. Russia resorted

to the Fabian policy of delay as before; but she was dealing with

a people whose pride and patriotism were not to be trifled with.

After protracted negotiations Japan sent an ultimatum in which she

proposed to recognise Manchuria as Russia's sphere of influence,

provided Russia would recognise Japanese influence as paramount

in Korea. For a fortnight or more the Czar vouchsafed no reply.

Accustomed to being waited on, he put the paper in his pocket and

kept it there while every train on the railway was pouring fresh

troops into Manchuria. Without waiting for a formal reply, or deigning

to discuss modifications intended to gain time, the Japanese heard

the hour strike and cleared for action.

They are reproached for opening hostilities without first formally

declaring war. In the age of chivalry a declaration of war was a

solemn ceremony. A herald standing on the border read or recited his

[Page 184]

master's complaint and then hurled a spear across the boundary

as an act of defiance. In later times nothing more than a formal

announcement is required, except for the information of neutrals

and the belligerents' own people. The rupture of relations leaves

both parties free to choose their line of action. Japan, the newest

of nations, naturally adopted the most modern method.

Recalling her ambassador on February 6, 1904, Japan was ready to

strike simultaneous blows at two points. On February 8, Admiral

Uriu challenged two Russian cruisers at Chemulpo to come out and

fight, otherwise he would attack them in the harbour. Steaming

out they fired the first shots of the war, and both were captured

or destroyed. A little later on the same day Admiral Togo opened

his broadsides on the Russian fleet at Port Arthur, and resumed

the attack the following morning. Without challenge or notification

of any kind, his attack had the effect of a genuine surprise. The

Russians, whether from confidence in their position or contempt

for their enemy, were unprepared and replied feebly. They had seven

battleships to Togo's six, but the big ships of Japan were supported

by a flotilla of torpedo-boats which outnumbered those of Russia.

These alert little craft did great execution. Creeping into the

harbour while the bombardment kept the enemy occupied they sank

two battleships and one armoured cruiser. Other Russian vessels

were badly damaged; but, according to Togo's report, on the side

of Japan not one vessel was incapacitated for actual service.

Land forces, fully equipped and waiting for this

[Page 185]

special service, commenced operations without delay and began to

cut off communication from the land side while Togo's squadron

corked up every inlet from the sea. Alexieff, whose title of viceroy

revealed the intentions of Russia in regard to Manchuria, taking

alarm at the prospect of a siege, escaped to Harbin near the Siberian

frontier--a safer place for headquarters. To screen his flight he made

unwarrantable use of an ambulance train of the Red Cross Society.

Disagreeing with General Kuropatkin as to the plan of campaign,

he resigned the command of the army in April, and Kuropatkin was

promoted to the vacant place. Beaten in several engagements on

the Liao-tung peninsula, the Russians began to fall back, followed

by the Japanese under Field-Marshal Oyama; and the siege of the

fortress was prosecuted with unremitting vigour.

By July the Japanese had secured possession of the outer line of

forts, and, planting heavy guns on the top of a high hill, they were

able to throw plunging shot into the bosom of the harbour. No longer

safe at their inner anchorage, the Russian naval officers resolved

to attempt to reach Vladivostok, where the combined squadrons might

assume the offensive or at least be secure from blockade. Scarcely

had they gained the open sea when (on August 10) the Japanese fell on

them like a whirlwind and scattered their ships in all directions.

A few reëntered the harbour to await their doom; two or three found

their way to Vladivostok; two sought refuge at the German port of

Tsing-tao; two put into Shanghai; and one continued its flight

as far south as Saigon.

[Page 186]

One gunboat sought shelter at Chefoo, where I was passing my summer

vacation. The Japanese, in hot pursuit, showed no more respect to

the neutrality of China than they had shown to Korea. Boarding

the fugitive vessel, they summoned the captain to surrender. He

replied by seizing the Japanese officer in his arms and throwing

himself into the sea. They were rescued; and the Japanese then

carried off the boat under the guns of a Chinese admiral. Of this

incident in its main features I was an eye-witness. I may add that

we were near enough to bear witness to the fact of the siege; for,

in the words of Helen Sterling:

"We heard the boom of guns by day

And saw their flash by night,

And almost thought, tho' miles away,

That we were in the fight.

The Chinese admiral, feeling the affront to the Dragon flag and

fearing that he would be called to account, promptly tendered his

resignation. He was told to keep his place; and, by way of consoling

him for his inaction, the Minister of Marine added, "You are not

to blame for not firing on the Japanese. They are fighting our

battles--we can't do anything against them." So much for Chinese

neutrality in theory and in practice.

Kuropatkin, like the Parthian, "most dreaded when in flight," renouncing

any further attempt to break through the cordon which the Japanese

had drawn around the doomed fortress, intrenched his forces in

and around Liaoyang. His position was strong by

[Page 187]

nature, and he strengthened it by every device known to a military

engineer; yet he was driven from it in a battle which lasted nine

days.

The Japanese, though not slow to close around his outposts, were

too cautious to deliver their main attack until they could be certain

of success. The combat thickened till, on August 24, cannon thundered

along a line of forty miles. Outflanked by his assailants, the

Russian general, perceiving that he must secure his communications

on the north or sustain a siege, abandoned his ground and fell

back on Mukden.

In this, the greatest battle of the campaign thus far, 400,000

men were engaged, the Japanese, as usual, having a considerable

majority. The loss of life was appalling. The Russian losses were

reported at 22,000; and those of Japan could not have been less.

Yet Liaoyang with all its horrors was only a prelude to a more

obstinate conflict on a more extended arena.

Without hope of succour by land, and without a fleet to bring relief

by sea, the Russians defended their fortress with the courage of

despair. Ten years before this date the Japanese under Field-marshal

Oyama had carried this same stronghold almost by assault. Taking

it in the rear, a move which the Chinese thought so contrary to

the rules of war that they had neglected their landward defences,

they were masters of the place on the morning of the third day.

How different their reception on the present occasion! How changed

the aspect! The hills, range after range, were now crowned with

forts. Fifty thousand of Russia's best soldiers were behind those

batteries, many of which were provided with casemates impenetrable

[Page 188]

to any ordinary projectile. General Stoessel, a man of science,

courage and experience, was in command; and he held General Nogi

with a force of sixty or seventy thousand at bay for eleven months.

Prodigies of valour were performed on both sides, some of the more

commanding positions being taken and retaken three or four times.

When, in September, the besiegers got possession of Wolf Hill, and

with plunging shot smashed the remnant of the fleet, they offered

generous terms to the defenders. General Stoessel declined the

offer, resolving to emulate Thermopylæ, or believing, perhaps, in

the possibility of rescue. When, however, he saw the "203 Metre

Hill" in their hands and knew his casemates would soon be riddled

by heavy shot, in sheer despair he was forced to capitulate. This

was on the first day of the new year (1905). His force had been

reduced to half its original numbers, and of these no fewer than

14,000 were in hospital.

General Stoessel has been censured for not holding out until the

arrival of the armada; but what could the armada have done had it

appeared in the offing? It certainly could not have penetrated the

harbour, for in addition to fixed or floating mines it would have

had to run the gauntlet of Togo's fleet and its doom would have

been precipitated. One critic of distinction denounced Stoessel's

surrender as "shameful"; but is it not a complete vindication that

his enemies applaud his gallant defence, and that his own government

was satisfied that he had done his duty.[*]

[Footnote *: Since writing this I have read the finding of the

court-martial. It has the air of an attempt to diminish the national

disgrace by throwing blame on a brave commander.]

[Page 189]

The Russian commander had marked out a new camp at Mukden, the

chief city of the province and the cradle of the Manchu dynasty.

There he was allowed once more to intrench himself. Was this because

the Japanese were confident of their ability to compel him again

to retire, or were they occupied with the task of filling up their

depleted ranks? If the latter was the cause, the Russians were

doing the same; but near to their base and with full command of

the sea, the Japanese were able to do it more expeditiously than

their enemy. Yet with all their facilities they were not ready to

move on his works until winter imposed a suspension of hostilities.

On October 2 Kuropatkin published a boastful manifesto expressing

confidence in the issue of the coming conflict--trusting no doubt

to the help of the three generals, December, January, and February.

Five months later, on March 8, 1905, he sent two telegrams to the

Czar: the first said "I am surrounded;" the second, a few hours

later, conveyed the comforting intelligence "the army has escaped."

The Japanese, not choosing to encounter the rigours of a Manchurian

winter, waited till the advent of spring. The air was mild and the

streams spanned by bridges of ice. The manoeuvres need not be

described here in detail. After more than ten days of continuous

fighting on a line of battle nearly two hundred miles long, with

scarcely less than a million of men engaged (Japanese in majority

as before), the great Russian strategist broke camp and retired

in good order. His army had escaped, but it had lost in killed

and wounded 150,000. The losses of Japan amounted to 50,000.

[Page 190]

The greatest battle of this latest war, the Battle of Mukden was

in some respects the greatest in modern history. In length of line,

in numbers engaged, and in the resulting casualties its figures

are double those of Waterloo. Once more by masterly strategy a

rout was converted into a retreat; and the Russian army withdrew

to the northwest.

Weary of crawfish tactics the Czar appointed General Lineivitch

to the chief command; and the ablest of the Russian generals was

relieved of the duty of contriving ways of "escape." To cover the

rear of a defeated force is always reckoned a post of honour; but

it is not the sort of distinction that satisfies the ambition of

a great commander.

By dint of efforts and sacrifices an enormous fleet was assembled

for the relief of Port Arthur. It sailed from Cronstadt on August 11,

1905, leaving the Baltic seaports unprotected save by the benevolent

neutrality of the German Kaiser, who granted passage through his

ship canal, although he knew the fleet was going to wage war on

one of his friends.

Part of the fleet proceeded via Suez, and part went round the Cape

of Good Hope--to them a name of mockery. The ships moved leisurely,

their commanders not doubting that Stoessel would be able to hold

his ground; but scarcely had they reached a rendezvous which, by

the favour of France, they had fixed in the waters adjacent to

Madagascar, when they heard of the fall of Port Arthur. Of the

annihilation of the fleet attached to the fortress, and of the

destruction of a squadron coming to the rescue from the north they

had previously learned. With what dismay did they

[Page 191]

now hear that the key of the ocean was lost. Almost at the same

moment the last of Job's messengers arrived with the heavier tidings

that Mukden, the key of the province, had been abandoned by a defeated

army--stunning intelligence for a forlorn hope! Should they turn

back or push ahead? Anxious question this for Admiral Rozhesvenski

and his officers. Too late for Port Arthur, might they not reënforce

Vladivostok and save it from a like fate? The signal to "steam

ahead" was displayed on the flagship.

Slowly and painfully, its propellers clogged by seaweed, its keels

overgrown with barnacles, the grand armada crossed the Indian Ocean

and headed northward for the China Sea. On May 27, steering for

the Korean channel, it fell into a snare which a blind man ought

to have been able to foresee. Togo's fleet had the freedom of the

seas. Where could it be, if not in that very channel? Yet on the

Russians went:

"Unmindful of the whirlwind's sway

That hushed in grim repose

Expects his evening prey."

The struggle was short and decisive--finished, it is said, in less

than one hour. While Togo's battleships, fresh and in good condition,

poured shot and shell into the wayworn strangers, his torpedo-boats,

greatly increased in number, glided almost unobservedly among the

enemy and launched their thunderbolts with fatal effect. Battleships

and cruisers went down with all on board. The Russian flagship was

disabled, and the admiral, severely wounded, was transferred

[Page 192]

to the hold of a destroyer. Without signals from their commander

the vessels of the whole fleet fought or fled or perished separately;

of 18,000 men, 1,000 escaped and 3,000 were made prisoners. What

of the other 14,000?

"Ask of the winds that far around

With fragments strewed the sea."

The much vaunted armada was a thing of the past; and Tsushima or,

as Togo officially named it, the Battle of the Sea of Japan, has

taken its place along with Trafalgar and Salamis.

Tired of a spectacle that had grown somewhat monotonous, the world

was clamorous for peace. The belligerents, hitherto deaf to every

suggestion of the kind, now accepted an invitation from President

Roosevelt and appointed commissioners to arrange the terms of a

treaty. They met in August, 1905, at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and

after a good deal of diplomatic fencing the sword was sheathed. In

the treaty, since ratified, Russia acknowledges Japan's exceptional

position in Korea, transfers to Japan her rights in Port Arthur

and Liao-tung, and hands over to Japan her railways in Manchuria.

Both parties agree to evacuate Manchuria within eighteen months.

Japan was obliged to waive her claim to a war indemnity and to

allow Russia to retain half the island of Saghalien. Neither nation

was satisfied with the terms, but both perceived that peace was

preferable to the renewal of the struggle with all its horrors

and uncertainties. For tendering the olive branch

[Page 193]

and smoothing the way for its acceptance, President Roosevelt merits

the thanks of mankind.[*] Besides other advantages Japan has assured

her position as the leading power of the Orient; but the greatest

gainer will be Russia, if her defeat in the field should lead her

to the adoption of a liberal government at home.

[Footnote *: Since this was written a Nobel Peace Prize has justly

been awarded to the President.]

"Peace hath her victories,

No less renowned than war."

The Czar signified his satisfaction by making Witte the head of

a reconstruction ministry and by conferring upon him the title

of Count; and the Mikado showed his entire confidence in Baron

Komura, notwithstanding some expressions of disappointment among

the people, by assigning him the delicate task of negotiating a

treaty with China.

Though the attitude of China had been as unheroic as would have

been Menelaus' had the latter declared neutrality in the Trojan

war, the issue has done much to rouse the spirit of the Chinese

people. Other wars made them feel their weakness: this one begot

a belief in their latent strength. When they witnessed a series

of victories on land and sea gained by the Japanese over one of

the most formidable powers of the West, they exclaimed, "If our

neighbour can do this, why may we not do the same? We certainly

can if, like them, we break with the effete systems of the past.

Let us take these island heroes for our schoolmasters."

[Page 194]

That war was one of the most momentous in the annals of history.

It unsettled the balance of power, and opened a vista of untold

possibilities for the yellow race.

Not slow to act on their new convictions, the Chinese have sent a

small army of ten thousand students to Japan--of whom over eight

thousand are there now, while they have imported from the island

a host of instructors whose numbers can only be conjectured. The

earliest to come were in the military sphere, to rehabilitate army

and navy. Then came professors of every sort, engaged by public

or private institutions to help on educational reform. Even in

agriculture, on which they have hitherto prided themselves, the

Chinese have put themselves under the teaching of the Japanese,

while with good reason they have taken them as teachers in forestry

also. Crowds of Japanese artificers in every handicraft find ready

employment in China. Nor will it be long before pupils and apprentices

in these home schools will assume the rôle of teacher, while Chinese

graduates returning from Japan will be welcomed as professors of a

higher grade. This Japanning process, as it is derisively styled, may

be somewhat superficial; but it has the recommendation of cheapness

and rapidity in comparison with depending on teachers from the

West. It has, moreover, the immense advantage of racial kinship and

example. Of course the few students who go to the fountain-heads

of science--in the West--must when they return home take rank as

China's leading teachers.

All this inclines one to conclude that a rapid transformation in

this ancient empire is to be counted on.

[Page 195]

The Chinese will soon do for themselves what they are now getting

the Japanese to do for them. Japanese ideas will be permanent; but

the direct agency of the Japanese people will certainly become

less conspicuous than it now is.

To the honour of the Japanese Government, the world is bound to

acknowledge that the island nation has not abused its victories to

wring concessions from China. In fact to the eye of an unprejudiced

observer it appears that in unreservedly restoring Manchuria Japan

has allowed an interested neutral to reap a disproportionate share

of the profits.

[Page 196]

CHAPTER XXIX

REFORM IN CHINA

_Reforms under the Empress Dowager--The Eclectic Commission--Recent

Reforms--Naval Abortion--Merchant Marine--Army Reform--Mining

Enterprises--Railways--The Telegraph--The Post Office--The Customs--Sir

Robert Hart--Educational Reform--The Tung-Wen College--The Imperial

University--Diplomatic Intercourse--Progressive Viceroys--New Tests

for Honours--Legal Reform--Newspapers--Social Reforms--Reading

Rooms--Reform in Writing--Anti-foot-binding Society--The Streets._

"When I returned from England," said Marquis Ito, "my chief, the

Prince of Chosin, asked me if I thought anything needed to be changed

in Japan. I answered, 'Everything.'" These words were addressed in my

hearing, as I have elsewhere recorded, to three Chinese statesmen,

of whom Li Hung Chang was one. The object of the speaker was to

emphasise the importance of reform in China. He was unfortunate in

the time of his visit--it was just after the _coup d'état_,

in 1898. His hearers were men of light and leading, in sympathy

with his views; but reform was on the ebb; a ruinous recoil was

to follow; and nothing came of his suggestions.

[Page 197]

The Emperor had indeed shown himself inclined to "change everything,"

but at that moment his power was paralyzed. What vicissitudes he

has passed through since that date! Should he come again to power,

as now seems probable, may he not, sobered by years and prudent

from experience, still carry into effect his grand scheme for the

renovation of China. To him a golden dream, will it ever be a reality

to his people?

Taught by the failure of a reaction on which she had staked her

life and her throne, the Dowager became a convert to the policy

of progress. She had, in fact, outstripped her nephew. "Long may

she live!" "Late may he rule us!" During her lifetime she could be

counted on to carry forward the cause she had so ardently espoused.

She grasped the reins with a firm hand; and her courage was such

that she did not hesitate to drive the chariot of state over many

a new and untried road. She knew she could rely on the support

of her viceroys--men of her own appointment. She knew too that

the spirit of reform was abroad in the land, and that the heart

of the people was with her.

The best embodiment of this new spirit was the High Commission

sent out in 1905 to study the institutions of civilized countries

east and west, and to report on the adoption of such as they deemed

advisable. The mere sending forth of such an embassy was enough

to make her reign illustrious. The only analogous mission in the

history of China, is that which was despatched to India, in 66 A.

D., in quest of a better faith, by Ming-ti, "The Luminous." The

earlier embassy

[Page 198]

borrowed a few sparks to rekindle the altars of their country;

the present embassy propose to introduce new elements in the way

of political reform. Their first recommendation, if not their first

report, reaches me while I write, and in itself is amply sufficient

to prove that this High Commission is not a sham designed to dazzle

or deceive. The Court _Gazette_, according to the _China

Times_, gives the following on the subject:

"The five commissioners have sent in a joint memorial dealing with

what they have seen in foreign countries during the last three

months. They report that the wealthiest and strongest nations in

the world to-day are governed by constitutional government. They

mention the proclamation of constitutional government in Russia, and

remark that China is the only great country that has not adopted that

principle. As they have carefully studied the systems of England,

the United States, Japan, etc., they earnestly request the Throne

to issue a decree fixing on five years as the limit within which

'China will adopt a constitutional form of government.'

"A rescript submits this recommendation to a council of state to

advise on the action to be taken."

If that venerable body, consisting of old men who hold office for

life, does not take umbrage at the prospect of another tribunal

infringing on their domain, we shall have at least the promise of

a parliament. And five years hence, if the _congé d'elire_

goes forth, it will rend the veil of ages. It implies the conferment

on the people of power hitherto unknown in their history. What a

commotion will the ballot-box excite! How suddenly will it arouse

the dormant

[Page 199]

intellect of a brainy race! But it is premature to speculate.

In 1868 the Mikado granted his subjects a charter of rights, the

first article of which guarantees freedom of discussion, and engages

that he will be guided by the will of the people. In China does

not the coming of a parliament involve the previous issue of a

Magna Charta?

It is little more than eight years since the restoration, as the

return of the Court in January, 1902, may be termed. In this period,

it is safe te assert that more sweeping reforms have been decreed

in China than were ever enacted in a half-century by any other

country, if one except Japan, whose example the Chinese profess to

follow, and France, in the Revolution, of which Macaulay remarks

that "they changed everything--from the rites of religion to the

fashion of a shoe-buckle."

Reference will here be made to a few of the more important innovations

or ameliorations which, taken together, made the reign of the Empress

Dowager the most brilliant in the history of the Empire. The last

eight years have been uncommonly prolific of reforms; but the tide

began to turn after the peace of Peking in 1860. Since that date

every step in the adoption of modern methods was taken during the

reign or regency of that remarkable woman, which dated from 1861

to 1908.

As late as 1863 the Chinese Government did not possess a single

fighting ship propelled by steam. Steamers belonging to Chinese

merchants were sometimes employed to chase pirates; but they were not

[Page 200]

the property of the state. The first state-owned steamers, at least

the first owned by the Central Government, was a flotilla of gunboats

purchased that year in England by Mr. Lay, Inspector-General of

Maritime Customs. Dissatisfied with the terms he had made with the

commander, whom he had bound not to act on any orders but such as

the Inspector should approve, the Government dismissed the Inspector

and sold the ships.

In the next thirty years a sufficient naval force was raised to

justify the appointment of an admiral; but in 1895 the whole fleet

was destroyed by the Japanese, and Admiral Ting committed suicide.

At present there is a squadron under each viceroy; but all combined

would hardly form the nucleus of a navy. That the Government intend

to create a navy may be inferred from the establishment of a Naval

Board. In view of the naval exploits of Japan, and under the guidance

of Japanese, they are certain to develop this feeble plant and to

make it formidable to somebody--perhaps to themselves.

Their merchant marine is more respectable. With a fleet of fifty

or more good ships the China Merchants' Steam Navigation Company

are able by the aid of subsidies and special privileges to compete

for a share in the coasting trade; but as yet they have no line

trading to foreign ports.

In 1860 a wild horde with matchlocks, bows, and spears, the land

army is now supplied in large part with repeating rifles, trained

in Western drill, and dressed in uniform of the Western type. The

manoeuvres that took place near Peking in 1905 made

[Page 201]

a gala day for the Imperial Court, which expressed itself as more

than satisfied with the splendour of the spectacle. The contingent

belonging to this province is 40,000, and the total thus drilled

and armed is not less than five times that number. In 1907 the

troops of five provinces met in Honan. Thanks to railways, something

like concentration is coming within the range of possibility. Not

deficient in courage, what these raw battalions require to make

them effective is confidence in themselves and in their commanders.

Lacking in the lively patriotism that makes heroes of the Japanese,

these fine big fellows are not machines, but animals. To the mistaken

efforts recently made to instil that sentiment at the expense of the

foreigner, I shall refer in another chapter. A less objectionable

phase of the sentiment is provincialism, which makes it easy for an

invader to employ the troops of one province to conquer another.

In history these provinces appear as kingdoms, and their mutual

wars form the staple subject. What feeling of unity can exist so

long as the people are divided by a babel of dialects? More than

once have Tartars employed Chinese to conquer China; and in 1900 a

fine regiment from Wei-hai-wei helped the British to storm Peking.

It may be added they repaid themselves by treating the inhabitants

as conquered foes. Everywhere they were conspicuous for acts of

lawless violence.

Three great arsenals, not to speak of minor establishments, are

kept busy turning out artillery and small arms for the national

army, and the Board of Army Reform has the supervision of those

forces, with

[Page 202]

the duty of making them not provincial, but national. Efforts of

this kind, however, are no proof of a reform spirit. Are not the

same to be seen all the way from Afghanistan to Dahomey? "To be weak

is to be miserable"; and the Chinese are right in making military

reorganisation the starting-point of a new policy. Yet the mere

proposal of a parliament is a better indication of the spirit of

reform than all these armaments.

In the mind of China, wealth is the correlative of strength. The

two ideas are combined in the word _Fuchiang_, which expresses

national prosperity. Hence the treasures hidden in the earth could

not be neglected, when they had given up the follies of geomancy

and saw foreigners prospecting and applying for concessions to work

mines. At first such applications were met by a puerile quibble

as to the effect of boring on the "pulse of the Dragon"--in their

eyes not the guardian of a precious deposit, but the personification

of "good luck." To find lucky locations, and to decide what might

help or harm, were the functions of a learned body of professors of

_Fungshui_, a false science which held the people in bondage

and kept the mines sealed up until our own day. Gradually the Chinese

are shaking off the incubus and, reckless of the Dragon, are forming

companies for the exploitation of all sorts of minerals. The Government

has framed elaborate regulations limiting the shares of foreigners,

and encouraging their own people to engage in mining enterprises.

"Give up your _Fungshui_;

It keeps your wealth locked up,"

says a verse of Viceroy Chang.

[Page 203]

A similar change has taken place in sentiment as regards railways.

At first dreaded as an instrument of foreign aggression, they are

now understood to be the best of auxiliaries for national defence.

It has further dawned on the mind of a grasping mandarinate that

they may be utilised as a source of revenue. If stocks pay well,

why should not the Government hold them? "Your railways pay 10

per cent.--that's the sort of railway we want in China," said one

of the commissioners at a banquet in England.

It would not be strange if the nationalisation of railways decided

on this spring in Japan should lead to a similar movement in China.

In a country like America, with 300,000 miles of track, the purchase

would be _ultra vires_ in more senses than one, but with only

1 per cent. of that mileage, the purchase would not be difficult,

though it might not be so easy to secure an honest administration.

Trains from Peking now reach Hankow (600 miles) in thirty-six hours.

When the grand trunk is completed, through trains from the capital

will reach Canton in three days. Set this over against the three

months' sea voyage of former times (a voyage made only once a year),

or against the ten days now required for the trip by steamer! What

a potent factor is the railroad in the progress of a great country!

The new enterprises in this field would be burdensome to enumerate.

Shanghai is to be connected by rail with Tientsin (which means

Peking), and with Nanking and Suchow. Lines to penetrate the western

provinces are already mapped out; and even in Mongolia it is proposed

to supersede the camel by the iron

[Page 204]

horse on the caravan route to Russia. "Alas! the age of golden

leisure is gone--the iron age of hurry-skurry is upon us!" This

is the lament of old slow-going China.

When China purchased the Shanghai-Woosung railway in 1876, she

was thought to be going ahead. What did we think when she tore up

the track and dumped it in the river? An æon seems to have passed

since that day of darkness.

The advent of railways has been slow in comparison with the telegraph.

The provinces are covered with wires. Governors and captains consult

with each other by wire, in preference to a tardy exchange of written

correspondence. The people, too, appreciate the advantage of

communicating by a flash with distant members of their families,

and of settling questions of business at remote places without

stirring from their own doors. To have their thunder god bottled

up and brought down to be their courier was to them the wonder of

wonders; yet they have now become so accustomed to this startling

innovation, that they cease to marvel.

The wireless telegraph is also at work--a little manual, translated

by a native Christian, tells people how to use it.

Over forty years ago, when I exhibited the Morse system to the

astonished dignitaries of Peking, those old men, though heads of

departments, chuckled like children when, touching a button, they

heard a bell ring; or when wrapping a wire round their bodies,

they saw the lightning leap from point to point. "It's wonderful,"

they exclaimed, "but we can't use it in

[Page 205]

our country. The people would steal the wires." Electric bells

are now common appliances in the houses of Chinese who live in

foreign settlements. Electric trolleys are soon to be running at

Shanghai and Tientsin. Telephones, both private and public, are

a convenience much appreciated. Accustomed as the Chinese are to

the instantaneous transmission of thought and speech, they have

yet to see the _telodyne_--electricity as a transmitter of

force. But will they not see it when the trolleys run? The advent

of electric power will mark an epoch.

China's weakness is not due wholly to backwardness in the arts

and sciences. It is to be equally ascribed to defective connection

of parts and to a lack of communication between places. Hence a

sense of solidarity is wanting, and instead there is a predominance

of local over national interests. For this disease the remedy is

forthcoming--rail and wire are rapidly welding the disjointed members

of the Empire into a solid unity. The post office contributes to

the same result.

A postal system China has long possessed: mounted couriers for

official despatches, and foot messengers for private parties, the

Government providing the former, and merchant companies the latter.

The modernised post office, now operating in every province, provides

for both. To most of the large towns the mails are carried by steamboat

or railroad--a marvellous gain in time, compared with horse or

foot. The old method was slow and uncertain; the new is safe and

expeditious.

That the people appreciate the change is shown by

[Page 206]

the following figures: In 1904 stamps to the amount of $400,000

(Mexican) were sold; in 1905 the sale rose to $600,000--an advance

of 50 per cent. in one year. What may we not expect when the women

learn to read, and when education becomes more general among men?

Sir Robert Hart, from whom I had this statement, is the father

of China's postal system. Overcoming opposition with patience and

prudence, he has given the post office a thorough organisation and

has secured for it the confidence of princes and people. Already

does the Government look to it as a prospective source of revenue.

To the maritime customs service, Sir Robert has been a foster-father.

Provided for by treaty, it was in operation before he took charge,

in 1863; but to him belongs the honour of having nursed the infant

up to vigorous maturity by the unwearied exertions of nearly half

a century. While the post office is a new development, the maritime

customs have long been looked upon as the most reliable branch of

the revenue service. China's debts to foreign countries, whether

for loans or indemnities, are invariably paid from the customs

revenue. The Government, though disinclined to have such large

concerns administered by foreign agents, is reconciled to the

arrangement in the case of the customs by finding it a source of

growing income. The receipts for 1905 amounted to 35,111,000 taels

= £5,281,000. In volume of trade this shows a gain of 11-1/2 per

cent. on 1904; but, owing to a favouring gale from the happy isles

of high finance, in sterling value the gain is actually 17 per

cent.

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To a thoughtful mind, native or foreign, the maritime customs are

not to be estimated by a money standard. They rank high among the

agencies working for the renovation of China. They furnish an

object-lesson in official integrity, showing how men brought up

under the influence of Christian morals can collect large sums and

pay them over without a particle sticking to their fingers. While

the local commissioners have carried liberal ideas into mandarin

circles all along the seacoast and up the great rivers into the

interior, the Inspector-General (the "I. G." as Sir Robert is usually

called) has been the zealous advocate of every step in the way of

reform at headquarters.

Another man in his position might have been contented to be a mere

fiscal agent, but Sir Robert Hart's fertile brain has been unceasingly

active for nearly half a century in devising schemes for the good of

China. All the honours and wealth that China has heaped on her trusted

adviser are far from being sufficient to cancel her obligations.

It was he who prompted a timid, groping government to take the

first steps in the way of diplomatic intercourse. It was he who

led them to raise their school of interpreters to the rank of a

diplomatic college. He it was who made peace in the war with France;

and in 1900, after the flight of the Court, he it was who acted

as intermediary between the foreign powers and Prince Ching. To

some of these notable services I shall refer elsewhere. I speak

of them here for the purpose of emphasising my disapproval of an

intrigue designed to oust Sir Robert and to overturn

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the lofty structure which he has made into a light-house for China.

In May, 1906, two ministers were appointed by the Throne to take

charge of the entire customs service, with plenary powers to reform

or modify _ad libitum_. Sir Robert was not consulted, nor was

he mentioned in the decree. He was not dismissed, but was virtually

superseded. Britain, America, and other powers took alarm for the

safety of interests involved, and united in a protest. The Government

explained that it was merely substituting one tribunal for another,

creating a dual headship for the customs service instead of leaving

it under the Board of Foreign Affairs, a body already overburdened

with responsibilities. They gave a solemn promise that while Sir

Robert Hart remained there should be no change in his status or

powers; and so the matter stands. The protest saved the situation

for the present. Explanation and promise were accepted; but the

Government (or rather the two men who got themselves appointed

to a fat office) remain under the reproach of discourtesy and

ingratitude. The two men are Tieliang, a Manchu, and Tang Shao-yi,

a Chinese. The latter, I am told on good authority, is to have

£30,000 per annum. The other will not have less. This enormous salary

is paid to secure honesty.

In China every official has his salary paid in two parts: one called

the "regular stipend," the other, a "solatium to encourage honesty."

The former is counted by hundreds of taels; the latter, by thousands,

especially where there is a temptation to peculate. What a rottenness

at the core is here betrayed!

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A new development worthy of all praise is the opening, by imperial

command, of a school for the training of officials for the customs

service. It is a measure which Sir Robert Hart with all his public

spirit, never ventured to recommend, because it implies the speedy

replacement of the foreign staff by trained natives.

Filling the sky with a glow of hope not unlike the approach of

sunshine after an arctic winter, the reform in the field of education

throws all others into the shade. By all parties is recognised

its supremacy. Its beginning was feeble and unwelcome, implying

on the part of China nothing but a few drops of oil to relieve

the friction at a few points of contact with the outside world.