BY
C. E. HOWARD VINCENT, C.B., M.P.
BRITISH AND AMERICAN TRADE IN CANADA.
MEMORANDUM
Addressed to the Chamber of Commerce and Manufacture of Sheffield upon British and American Trade in the Dominion of Canada and the McKinley Tariff in the United States.
September, 1891.
Internal Trade.
1.—It is necessary in the first place to state that the internal trade of Canada has made vast progress during the past decade. Not only is this evident from the numerous factories at the principal centres, but it is corroborated by the rapid extension and development of Toronto, Hamilton, Winnipeg and other towns. Manufacture has taken such rapid strides that not only is a very large proportion of the articles in daily use of home make, but the whole of the iron bridges and much of the plant upon the gigantic railway system, and the greater part of the agricultural machinery are of Canadian construction, but there is a surplusage for export of certain manufactured goods, amounting in the fiscal year ending June, 1890, to 5¾ million dollars—upwards of two-fifths of which were purchased by the British flag.
Increase of External Trade.
2.—The external trade (imports and exports) has also increased from 153 million dollars in 1879, when the "National Policy" was inaugurated by the late Right Honourable Sir John Macdonald, to 218 million dollars in the last statistical year.
Imports from the United Kingdom and the Empire.
3.—The imports from the United Kingdom of British and Irish produce have increased from 5,040,524l. in 1879, to 7,702,798l. in 1889.
In the twelve months, July 1st, 1889, to June 30th, 1890, the purchases by Canada from the British Empire amounted to 45¾ million dollars, or only 6½ million dollars less than from the United States with their 60,000,000 of people and conterminous frontier of over 3000 miles, running especially close to the more settled and affluent portions of the Dominion.
This is the more satisfactory when it is considered that less than one-fourth of the British imports were admitted free of a duty averaging 25 per cent. ad valorem, while two-fifths of the American imports were from their nature untaxed.
Competition Between British and American Flags.
4.—The Union Jack upon the one hand, and the Stars and Stripes upon the other, are practically the only two competitors for the custom of Canada, and they absorb between them 98 million dollars worth of the import trade out of a total of 112 million dollars.
Superiority of England.
5.—In most of the great lines of manufactured goods, such as in the manufactures of iron and steel: of cutlery; of cotton and silk; of wool and linen; of lead, paper and fur; of hemp, twine and earthenware, as also in hats, gloves, combs, umbrellas, embroideries, ribbons, crapes, oilcloth, iron furniture, fancy articles, and in bottled ale, beer and porter, England more than holds her own against the American Republic.
Foreign Intermixture.
6.—At the same time it is right to observe that a considerable and increasing proportion of the imports officially attributed to British production were in reality of German, French, or other foreign origin, and this to an amount exceeding last year six million dollars.
They were obtained, however, through English distributing houses instead of direct, partly by reason of transit facilities, but mostly on account of the long credit readily accorded.
Lead of the United States.
7.—The United States on the other hand take the lead with manufactures of brass and copper; of gutta-percha and India-rubber; of slate, stone, and wood; of cork and glass; of leather and tin ware, as also in edge tools, Britannia metal, bells, brushes, buttons, carriages, clocks and watches, jewellery, musical and surgical instruments, and in agricultural implements.
Sheffield Trade in Canada.
8.—In the staple trades of Sheffield, with the exception of edge-tools, the ascendency of England is fairly well maintained.
Cutlery.
9.—Especially is this the case with regard to cutlery. Out of 311,897 dollars (say 62,500l.) worth of table knives, jack knives, pocket knives, and other cutlery imported into the Dominion during the past year, about two-thirds came from the United Kingdom.
Of the remainder the United States supplied 27,900 dollars worth, and Germany 43,500 dollars worth.
Not a few importers of Sheffield cutlery speak anxiously, however, of the growing competition of Newark (New Jersey) and of Germany—especially in the production of attractively got up and elegantly carded knives at low prices.
In Canada itself only one attempt has, I believe, been made to establish a cutlery factory, and this recently at Halifax by a young Sheffield man, assisted by six or eight Sheffield trained artisans. They speak hopefully of their prospects and are meeting with much local encouragement.
Plated Cutlery.
It is right to add that although throughout the Dominion the table cutlery bears the names of the leading Sheffield houses, the more easily cleaned plated cutlery is coming into some use. During the past year 919 dozen were imported, to which the United States contributed 774 dozen and Great Britain only 140.
Files.
10.—In files and rasps the import from England amounted to 34,358 dollars (say 6800l.), and from the United States to 45,724 dollars.
Saws.
11.—In saws the United States made even greater headway with a total consignment amounting to 14,000l., while Great Britain sent scarcely 600l. worth.
Edge Tools.
12.—A like disproportion occurs with regard to edge tools, of which the United States supplied 15,000 dollars worth out of a total external purchase by the Dominion of 18,279 dollars.
This has been explained by the untiring efforts constantly made by American manufacturers and their employÉs to make all tools more and more adapted for the purpose in view, lighter and more facile to the hand, without the slightest regard to former use, old ideas or customs.
Axes.
13.—It is frequently alleged that Sheffield lost the Canadian axe trade by adherence to the opinion that it was a better judge of the shape of the handle or the chopper than the backwoodsmen whose livelihood depended upon the skilful use of the axe.
This must, however, be legendary, for I am told we never had the Dominion axe trade.
In any case, at the present time nearly all the axes used in the vast lumber industry are of Canadian make, and out of a total import of 6751 dollars worth last year, the whole came from the United States, with the exception of a single axe contributed by France.
Spades and Shovels.
14.—Of spades and shovels 4000 dollars worth were imported from Great Britain against 6259 dollars worth from the United States.
Scythes.
In scythes the two countries each supplied one half of a total import of 6731 dollars worth.
Agricultural Implements.
15.—But in other agricultural implements—ploughs, drills, harrows, forks, rakes, mowing machines, harvesters, etc., America supplied no less than 117,000 dollars worth, against only 4000 dollars worth, from Great Britain.
The explanation given is similar to that I have often heard in Australasia, that the high-priced, solid made, somewhat heavy and durable machines and implements which find favour in England, are unsuitable for Colonists with small capital, who want a cheap, handy and light implement which can be replaced as soon as a year or two brings easier means, and sees improvements perfected.
It is indeed stated in proof of the adoption of like ideas in the mother country that more Ontario-made self-binding reapers have been sold this year in Great Britain than any of English manufacture.
Bar Iron, Pigs, Rails, etc.
16.—It is, however, in bar iron; in boiler or other plate iron; in hoop, band, or scroll iron; in iron, in slabs, blooms, etc.; in iron pigs; in railway bars, rails and fish plates; in rolled iron or steel angles, beams, girders, etc.; in sheet iron, and in wrought iron or steel tubing that the United Kingdom asserts the greatest predominance with an importation last year into Canada amounting to 2,356,523 dollars against 642,129 dollars worth from the United States—that is, nearly fourfold.
At Londonderry in Nova Scotia important rolling mills have been established, and at Toronto and elsewhere in Ontario there are prosperous foundries.
Machinery.
17.—England though falls back again seriously in machinery, composed wholly or in part of iron, in locomotive, fire, or other engines, and in cast iron vessels, plates, etc., as also in builders', cabinet makers', carriage and harness makers' hardware, and in house furnishing hardware.
In these lines Great Britain supplied Canada with only about 100,000l. worth, compared to 500,000l. from the United States.
In connection with machinery it may not be amiss to mention the almost invariable practice, throughout the American continent, for all machinery under the control either of the State or public bodies being kept spotlessly clean and as attractive as possible, and, in the case of all stationary engines, allowing the public to see them in operation, from a gallery or other suitable place, so that humble mechanical genius may feast its eyes, and think out problems or improvements, which may advance their authors to wealth, and place further names upon the roll of the world's inventors.
Electro-Plate and Britannia Metal.
18.—In electro-plated ware and gilt ware of all kinds the import from Great Britain amounted last year to 51,041 dollars, and to 98,669 dollars from the United States, while in manufactures of Britannia metal (not plated) the importation from America amounted to 40,000 dollars, or eight times that from Great Britain.
Predominance of British Manufactures of Cotton and Wool.
19.—It is not necessary to examine in like detail the relative trade in the Dominion of Great Britain and the United States in the manufactures which are not located in Sheffield. But it may be mentioned that the purchases by Canada of British cotton goods exceeded three million dollars last year against one-fifth that amount from the United States, in velveteens exceeded 82,000 dollars from Britain against only 356 dollars from America: while the sale to Canadians of British manufactures of wool were over ten million dollars, or too times that of the States.
The Empire, Canada's best Customer.
20.—While, as has been shown, Canada bought last year of Great Britain and Ireland, and British possessions, to an amount exceeding forty-five millions of dollars, the Empire was in return the best customer of the Dominion, purchasing no less than 44,479,992 dollars worth of Canadian products, or 11,156,785 dollars worth more than the United States, and admitting nearly the whole free of all duty.
Preferential Trade within the Empire.
21.—It is hardly to be expected that Canada, with her scanty and hard-working population could, with the example of every nation or colony (save one) before her, attempt to raise by direct taxation the twenty-four million dollars of public revenue she now derives from customs duties.
But there can be little doubt that if a preference was obtained for British over foreign goods in the tariff, it would give just that pecuniary advantage calculated to stimulate the undoubted partiality of most British colonists for British made goods, if they themselves are unable to produce them in adequate quantity.
Such preferential trade, large public meetings I have recently addressed in all the principal commercial centres, on behalf of the United Empire Trade League, have declared with practical unanimity and much support from both political parties, that Canada is willing to exchange with the mother country and the Empire, so soon as foreign treaty hindrances (treaties with Belgium and Germany of 1862 and 1865) are removed—it being calculated that no policy would more certainly advance the prosperity, peopling and capitalization of the whole country and the consequent augmentation of customers.
Means of Commercial Negotiation.
22.—No more effective means either could probably be found to bring about that reduction of the United States tariff wall, so much desired both by the Dominion of Canada and the mother country, for it would furnish her Majesty's representatives with a weapon of commercial persuasion they now wholly lack in negotiating with foreign countries.
Effect of the McKinley Tariff.
23.—It may be too early perhaps to judge definitely as to the effect of the McKinley tariff upon British trade in the United States, There can, however, be no doubt that in many industries, and especially among the receivers of wages in the United Kingdom, it will be very serious, and tend still further to extend the disproportion between the sales of America to Great Britain and the purchases by America of British goods, which have stood for some time in the adverse ratio of three to one.
Much Change not to be expected.
24.—It is necessary, therefore, to say that while the organs of the democratic party in the United States and the sanguine views of American importers who are in personal or correspondence relations with England, encourage a hope that the McKinley tariff will be repealed or considerably modified in the near future, I am convinced that, as matters stand, such belief is to a great extent delusive.
In the first place the democratic majority in the House of Representatives, as at present constituted, is practically powerless in the face of a strong and hostile Senate, with an equal mandate from the people, and in the face too of an antagonistic President, to a great extent independent of either, with all his Ministers and machinery of government.
In the second place democratic leaders and advocates in every locality are eager to protest that they do not now desire free trade, do not dream of admitting duty free the productions of competing foreign workmen, and that they aim only at a reduction of the tariff.
Again, it is now well understood that the alleged rise in prices at the time of the election last year for Congress was artificial and impressed upon voters by skilful wire-pulling—such as the hiring of itinerant pedlars to perambulate the agricultural districts with household wares marked up at double cost; by urging democratic retail dealers to serve their party (and their tills) by demanding greatly increased sums for all goods during the campaign "in consequence of the new tariff."
Industrial Prosperity in the United States.
25.—There appears to be little doubt that the Federal Commission now sitting will find that, although in some districts there may have been speculating failures, employment was never upon the whole more plentiful or better remunerated than at the present time. As in Canada so in the United States, it is work which is everywhere seeking hands—and not, as with us, men searching, too often vainly, for employment.
On both sides of the border between Canada and the United States the necessaries of life—wheat, flour, bread, meat, are extraordinarily cheap and excellent, while artisan clothing, so often reputed dear and pressing upon the family purse, is readily obtainable, so old Sheffield men have assured me, in very fair quality at from 8 dollars 50 cents. to 12 or 14 dollars per suit, that is 1l. 14s. to 2l. 16s. Indeed, before me is the advertisement of a New York house offering "Jersey Cloth (silk finish, new), blue, black or brown, per suit 14 dollars, quality XXX."
Beyond question the whole standard of industrial life is higher than in Europe—higher too, I am sorry to have to admit, than in Great Britain. Neither poverty nor distress are visible, while drunkenness, so far as it may exist, is kept carefully out of sight.
American Reciprocity Treaties.
26.—It will be probably less, however, on the industrial prosperity of American workers, on the success of the high tariff in compelling competitors for the custom of the American people, to employ their capital within the United States, to pay wages to Americans, and use American materials, that the Republican party will appeal next year for a new Presidential lease of power (with what chance of success I do not pretend to prophecy), than upon the unexpected triumph that has attended Section III., or the Reciprocity clause of the McKinley Tariff Act in the hands of Mr. Secretary Blaine.
Already under its provisions free entry for American productions and manufactures has been secured into Brazil—a market taking in 1889 6,232,316l. worth of British goods—in exchange for the free entry of the raw materials and other commodities of that Republic so rich in natural wealth.
The same result has been achieved, and will shortly come into force with regard to Spanish possessions, taking together 8,000,000l. worth of British products every year.
To break up British Trade.
27.—This latter treaty is viewed with especial concern in Canada, and the notice of terminating the Anglo-Spanish treaty of commerce which has been given, gives rise to a fear that the Americans will secure the trade with the Spanish Indies heretofore enjoyed by the Dominion.
Both treaties will also very injuriously affect the interests of the fishermen of Newfoundland, who among the Catholic population of Brazil and the territories of Spain seek the principal market for that dried fish, the sale of which, until improved fish trade and other mercantile relations are established with England, as they might easily be, constitutes their principal means of existence.
A like treaty has been concluded with San Domingo, and others are in active negotiation.
The vaunted object is "the breaking up piece-meal of British foreign trade," and whether or no it obtains that aim, the untoward influence these treaties, placing American trade upon a preferential basis, are calculated to exert in that direction, is not, I fear, a circumstance well calculated to induce the masses of the American people, in their present frame of mind, very speedily to destroy the instrument.
Effect of British Inaction.
28.—It is a paramount duty to direct the attention of the Sheffield Chamber of Manufacture, as a body representative of the commercial and industrial community of Great Britain and Ireland, to this practical aspect of the present situation, lest buoyed up by a vain hope that the markets of the United States will be thrown open, England allows all opportunity to pass of following the example of America and Central Europe in establishing preferential trading relations on mutually advantageous terms. A commercial union richer in its prospects than any attainable by whatever phalanx of foreign nations, lies now, but not for much longer, ready to her hand—that of the British Empire, of a fifth of the entire world, peopled or fostered by her own people, capitalized by her own capital.
Inaction much longer maintained on the part of the mother country will be ascribed by the energetic minds of Greater Britain to callous indifference to Imperial responsibilities, and can have no other effect than to expose Canada, Newfoundland, the West Indies, British Guiana and British Honduras, aggregating not much short of half the area of the Empire, and not impossibly other Colonies, to the temptation of entering instead into commercial alliance with the United States, involving discrimination in favour of foreigners against the British flag, which even the loyalty of the most loyal Colonial subjects of her Majesty the Queen may not, with due regard to their material interests, be able to resist.
American Pioneers of Commerce.
29.—But in any event I must note the amazing energy and push shown by American business houses. On every journey in nearly every quarter of the globe you meet their representatives, who lose no opportunity of skilfully advancing American trade; and while Germany, backed by a vigilant Government, is following closely in the same direction with astonishing results, the reports of her Majesty's Consular officers agree in declaring that the appearance of an English commercial traveller becomes more and more rare.
Boards of Trade.
30.—American Boards of Trade, corresponding to our Chambers of Commerce, are also very active organizations, sparing neither expense nor trouble.
They occupy a like position in Canada, and in Toronto the Board of Trade—an enthusiastic meeting whereof I had the honour of addressing—has erected a palatial building, where business men meet daily for the mutual exchange of information and views. The turn of the market is recorded from hour to hour from the centres of commerce, and among the members there exists an admirable system of mutual life insurance.
Canada as a Field for British Capital and Immigration.
31.—In conclusion, it is hardly possible to speak of Canada in exaggerated terms as a source from which Great Britain may most readily obtain the larger portion of the supply of corn, meat, and dairy produce, her increased population and diminished agriculture oblige her to purchase from over the sea.
The extremely fertile and virgin soil of the vast region occupied by Manitoba, the North-West Territories, and British Columbia—half the size of Europe, and lying between Lake Superior and the Pacific Ocean—has now been provided by British Canadian enterprise with a complete network of railways, bringing it, so soon as Atlantic communication by Nova Scotia and Newfoundland has been improved, to within fourteen days' steam of Liverpool.
Capital and immigration are alone needed for their development.
A better field for the former could not be found if British Commercial Union made the market secure of foreign caprice, while for steady industry under the old flag, under like institutions, under the same law, no wider scope exists in the universe.
BRITISH TRADE WITH JAPAN.
MEMORANDUM
ADDRESSED TO THE CUTLERS' COMPANY OF HALLAMSHIRE, UPON
British Trade with Japan.
Progress of Japan.
1.—Little idea can be formed of the progress and development of Japan without a personal visit. That the Japanese Empire should have been brought in less than a quarter of a century from barbaric darkness and isolation to a leading place in the civilized world, is not the least remarkable event of the present generation. The fact that this great revolution has been accomplished without the pressure of external war, and practically without internal riot or bloodshed, renders it the more extraordinary.
Some may affect to prefer the old order of things, may think that the transition has been dangerously rapid, may sneer at the wonderful adaptive faculty displayed. This is, however, certain, that in good order and sobriety, in cleanliness and politeness, in industry and contentment, the Japanese are already in the van of nations.
The police, postal, telegraphic, and educational systems are tributes to their capacity, while over 1400 miles of railway are being efficiently worked by native employÉs.
Care and caution will be undoubtedly very necessary for many years to come. But if reliance upon indigenous talent, and the new law that Japanese industrial undertakings must be represented by Japanese, are not carried to an extravagant point, the next decade or two may see the vast reforms not only matured, but carried onwards to a summit undreamt of, when, in 1868, the country was released from the chains of ages; or even when a score of years later his present Imperial Majesty, the 121st Mikado and Emperor of his race, voluntarily gave the nation one of the clearest constitutions in existence "in consideration of the progressive tendency of the course of human affairs and in parallel with the advance of civilization."
Concurrent Growth of British Interests.
2.—There is nothing more striking in this transformation than the constant growth of British interests in the Empire, with which it has been attended.
Illustrated by large numbers of British Residents and Mercantile Firms and proportion of Trade and Shipping.
This is clearly illustrated by the following notable facts:—
(a) That British residents, numbering 1500 souls, of which two-thirds are males, equal numerically the representatives in Japan of the whole of the rest of the world, excluding the adjacent Chinese.
(b) That a like state of affairs exists with regard not only to the number of foreign mercantile firms, located in Japan, but also in the proportion borne by the British flag of the external trade.
(c) That since 1868, the first year of the new Japanese era, British shipping in the waters of Japan has, according to the calculation of her Majesty's Consul at KobÉ, increased threefold in number and fifteenfold in tonnage. It carried last year two-thirds of the (extra Chinese) foreign trade, and 71 per cent. of the whole, in over 1000 ships inwards and outwards, giving employment to more than 25,000 persons, and this notwithstanding the harassing exclusion of foreign vessels from any share in the large coasting trade between other than the six open ports.
Volume of Japanese External Trade.
3.—The external trade (imports and exports) of Japan has more than doubled in the past ten years. It amounted in 1890 to 138¼ millions of silver yen or dollars[2] (say 21,000,000l. sterling) against 62¼ million yens in 1881. The exports, of which the British Empire took nearly a third, amounted to 54¾ million dollars; the imports to 81¾ millions.
The Foreign Element as a Source of Wealth to Japan.
4.—The financial value to the Empire of the foreign commercial houses is shown by the passage, through their agency, of 110 million dollars worth of the total external trade.
There is in addition the expenditure of many thousands of foreign visitors to the natural beauties of the country—of which 70 per cent. are calculated by Mr. Gubbins, secretary for Japanese to Her Majesty's Legation, to be British,—a sum estimated at an extreme minimum of three million dollars a year, or about 500,000l.
The Passport System and Disability of Foreigners.
There is hope that these important considerations may lead ere long to a modification of the stringent passport regulations, and of the disability attaching to the alien tenure of real estate, hindering as it must do the permanent investment of capital.
Proportion of External Trade with several Foreign Countries.
5.—Foreign countries shared or divided in 1890 the external trade of Japan in the following proportions:—
Purchases by Japan of British Goods.
6.—The purchases by Japan from the British Empire exceeded 41 million dollars (say 6,750,000l.), of which 26½ millions worth were obtained from the United Kingdom.
Unfortunately, however, a not inconsiderable proportion of the imports credited to Great Britain, are stated to have been of German, Belgian, or other foreign make, and although obtained through English houses, the advantage to the artisan community at home was thereby materially reduced.
False Marking.
The observations on this head of Consul Longford, in his report for 1886, are still deserving of attention:—
"While fully recognizing that it is only reasonable and right that English merchants in Japan should go to those producing centres which show the greatest readiness to meet and satisfy their demands, it is at the same time unfortunate that they should import the goods which they obtained from Germany with English marks and chops on them, even though the latter are only intended to acquaint native dealers with the name of the firm supplying them and not in any sense to designate the country of origin or production... for means are thus placed in the hands of the Japanese middlemen or the ultimate retailer, which may aid him considerably in selling (inferior goods) as English."
Merchandise Marks Acts.
The enactment in the United Kingdom of the Merchandise Marks Act of 1887, so largely due to the Cutlers' Company, has no doubt modified this evil at its base. It has not, however, stamped it out, partly because foreign goods can still be imported into England, plain and devoid of any indication of origin, and the detection of subsequent false marking by the few dishonest, prior to home sale or foreign exportation, is practically impossible; and partly because few foreign nations have adopted a corresponding law, or if they have, it is rarely enforced.
The Japanese Trade Mark Regulations of October, 1884, do not touch the question, and moreover have been judicially held, so Mr. Consul Hall informs me, not to apply to foreigners or foreign goods.
Purchases by Japan of Sheffield Goods.
7.—The purchases by Japan from Great Britain of those productions of iron, steel, and hardware, in which Sheffield is mainly interested, compare favourably with those from other foreign nations.
Iron Pig, Bars, Rods, Rails, etc.
8.—In pig iron, iron bars, rods, plates, sheets, and rails, Japan bought last year from England 1,424,000 dollars worth (say 235,000l.) against one-fourth that amount from Germany, and only 20,000 dollars worth from France. Even this large figure shows some shrinkage on the British import in 1888-89, while the German, although so far behind, has increased.
Pipes and Tubes.
9.—In iron pipes and tubes Great Britain supplied Japan in 1890 with 159,000 yen worth, out of a total purchase of 166,000 dollars—an increase of 98,000 dollars worth in two years.
Nails.
10.—In nails, however, Great Britain has fallen behind and given place to Germany. Indeed, her Majesty's Consul at Yokohama says in his report for last year:—
"The consumption of wire nails is steadily increasing. The demand for nail rod is now almost extinct—manufactured nails being taken instead. These nails are now mostly of German, and a few of Belgian origin."
This is corroborated by the purchase from England of nails having fallen from 342,000 dollars worth in 1888 to 134,000 dollars worth in 1890.
Screws.
This is the more remarkable as in iron screws, Great Britain holds the market with a supply of 70,000 dollars worth in 1890, against only 2000 dollars worth by Germany, and a like amount by France.
Steel.
11.—In steel 162,000 dollars worth was obtained from England out of a gross importation amounting to 194,000, France supplying 23,300 dollars worth, and Germany, subject to the observations in paragraph 6, only 3900 dollars.
Mr. Consul Troup has observed "that the steel imported by the Government for the making of barrels at the small-arms factory at Tokio, and for the Osaka arsenal is mostly French, German, or Italian, and at the Yokosuka dockyard there is a certain preference for Creuzot steel."
With the approval of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, whose great courtesy I take leave to acknowledge, and by permission of the Minister of War, I visited the Osaka arsenal to ascertain the cause.
Osaka Arsenal.
12.—It is an admirably organized institution with canal service direct to the sea, provided with the best English, German, French, Italian, and Austrian machinery, employing 1400 hands at an average wage of ten pence for a ten hours' day, and turning out 24-ton guns, besides all other material for a standing army, 80,000 strong, formed on the French model with German improvements, and reserves 240,000 in number, but deficient in officers.
Advantage of the Metric Scale.
The Director, Lieutenant-Colonel T. Ota of the Imperial Artillery and European trained, was so good as to give me for the Cutlers' Company, on hearing that it included the members of the great iron and steel firms, a complete set of photographs, illustrating the workshops, the guns, and the target experiments. He expressed himself as fully sensible of the excellence of the metal manufactures of Sheffield, and their superiority, both in cost, quality, and workmanship, for original productions. Upon the other hand, though, he frankly said that there was so much risk of error in the measurement by "feet" and by "inches," that it saved much anxiety and trouble, when specific and exact size was required to order from Creuzot, or from Krupp, in the metric scale, adopted by Japan of "mÈtres and millimÈtres." One well-known English firm has in consequence, I understand, determined to follow the German example, and to render specifications to foreign governments or individuals in their own lineal and currency calculations.
Partiality of Students for Country Of Education.
13.—In this connection the Consul at Yokohama calls attention to another important matter. He says "the Government official prefers the material of the country where he has received his training."
The Japanese authorities have in the last fifteen years sent large numbers of students to Europe. Many have given since their return solid proof of their industry, perseverance, and natural aptitude. More than one Continental Cabinet has taken an active interest in these students. But not so, I understand, her Majesty's Government. Several have consequently gone to France, Germany, Austria, and Italy, who might with advantage have come to England, as well as those studying ship-building and engineering. It is a matter not to be lost sight of in the future, for there are other backward lands likely to be stimulated by the bright example of Japan, and to endeavour to follow it.
Cutlery, Table Knives.
14.—The imports of cutlery have averaged 21,000 dollars (say 3000l.) during each of the past three years, and practically the whole came from Sheffield. It is a trade capable, I believe, of great development. At the present time, the use of table cutlery is confined to the foreign population and visitors, and to a small proportion of the Japanese, perhaps 100,000 out of the forty millions.
But this number is likely to increase every year, and, indeed, every day, as European ideas, habits, and costume, encouraged, by the imperial Court, the nobility, and the leaders of commerce and thought, gain a firmer foothold. It is illustrated inter alia by the wide adoption of English head gear on the Lop of the native costume, and the consequent importation of a million dollars worth of English hats and caps in the last triennial period.
Encouragement of Table Cutlery.
At a recent industrial conference with some of my constituents, an artisan asked if nothing could be done to encourage Eastern races to abandon "chop sticks" in favour of knives and forks. The question created some amusement, but it showed much intelligence and acumen. It has since occurred to me that possibly advantage might be taken of the Japanese and Oriental generous custom of present-giving to stimulate a taste for our cutlery, by enabling donors to obtain at a small cost a gift knife and fork, attractively got up either upon a card or in a case. In any case an experiment would not be ruinous.
Razors, Scissors, and Pocket Knives.
15.—I have obtained for the information of the Sheffield trade, specimens of the razors, scissors, and pocket knives now in use among the Japanese, and shall on my return forward them to the Cutlers' Hall. As will be seen, they are of a very rough and primitive description.
Skill of Japanese as Cutlers.
Time was when, according to Professor Rein, the German scientist sent by the Prussian Government to report upon "The Industries of Japan," "among the nations of Eastern Asia the Japanese were known as skilful workers in iron, which their celebrated armourers transformed into famous weapons of excellent steel. The forging and polishing of swords was a wearisome work demanding much skill and practice. The tempering of the edge was carefully done in the charcoal furnace, the softer backs and sides being surrounded up to a certain point by fire clay, so that only the edge remained outside. The cooling was in cold water. Skilful sword cutlers gained for themselves high social position, and won great glory and fame with their swords."
It now survives only in collections of old weapons. An Imperial edict forbade the carrying of swords, and in a few weeks the most costly arms were a glut in the market.
Demand for Razors.
It is noteworthy that the Japanese very rarely allow any hair to grow upon the face, and the humblest peasant is regularly shaved by the barber, "dry," and with a rude handleless razor.
There is scope here. Indeed, a contract has just been concluded with an English house in Japan, for the supply of a considerable quantity of soft "German" steel, for the blocking out of razors, and I noticed one considerable shop-keeper announcing himself as "manufacturer of all kinds of European hardware."
Locomotive and other Engines.
16.—In locomotive engines Great Britain supplied Japan in 1890 with 474,000 dollars worth out of a total of 659,000 dollars, Germany following with 81,000 dollars worth, and the United States with rather more than half that sum. In other engines and boilers 253,000 dollars worth came from England out of a total import of 345,000 dollars, while of railway carriages the United Kingdom supplied 10,000l. worth, or the whole save 600l.
Zinc.
17.—In zinc, however, Germany took the lead with consignments amounting to 141,000 dollars against 89,000 from Great Britain. As the prosperity of the country advances the use of zinc, especially for roofing purposes, is likely to increase.
Woollens and Flannels.
18. While in woollen cloths England holds her own in Japan with the supply of three-fifths of a gross import exceeding last year a million dollars, she falls far behind in woollen yarns and flannels. In the former Germany led in the proportion of 3½ to 1, and in the latter by a sale of 715,000 dollars worth out of 927,000 dollars, and I understand that the representative of a well-known English house recently found the trade much overrun and business exceedingly difficult.
Apprehended Decline of English Cotton Trade.
19.—It is, however, the cotton trade of Lancashire which is likely to feel a serious change ere long in its relations with Japan. Her Majesty's commercial representatives have given warning of it for some time, and shown not only the danger to be apprehended by English operatives from the competition and cheap labour of India, but also from the establishment of cotton spinning factories in Japan, and the growing preference for the home made article.
In 1885 there were only 62,000 Japanese spindles at work. Now there are over 313,000 in 35 mills. Some have not done well owing to defective management. But others are working day and night. The importation of raw cotton has quadrupled in the last three years, while that of cotton on the seeds has doubled. A million dollars worth of the most improved British spinning machinery was laid down last year, and much attention is being given to the cultivation of the cotton plant, although, owing to the typhoons, with indifferent success.
While British cotton velvets, satins, and handkerchiefs have not lost ground, and grey shirtings, T cloths, and Italian cloths came almost entirely from England, as also turkey reds and victoria lawns, the work of the Japanese mills is evidenced by a decline in the importation of cotton yarns by over three million dollars since 1888, of which two million fell on Great Britain, and a diminution in the purchase of foreign cotton drills by two-thirds. In shawls also there has been a shrinkage.
A Fresh Market for Lancashire.
It is clear, therefore, that Manchester will have before long to a great extent to replace her Japanese market, of which she had, until lately, a monopoly. This may probably be done most advantageously and effectively in the direction of United Empire trade.
Proposed Increase of Japanese Tariff.
20.—Closely allied with this question is the almost certain increase in a year or two of the Japanese tariff. The amount collected at the present time by the Customs Bureau (whose returns are compiled with much care and despatch) comes to about 5 per cent. ad valorem (60 cents per 100 catties or 133?lbs. of steel, and 30 cents per 100 catties of manufactured iron in rods, bars, etc., and 15 cents per 100 catties of pig), and yielded last year 4,488,384 dollars, or nearly double the customs revenue of 1881.
It is highly probable that this rate will be doubled, or even increased to 11 or 12 per cent. in accordance with the demand of national manufacturers and operatives.
Powerlessness of Her Majesty's Government. Partiality of the Japanese for the English.
21.—Under present fiscal conditions in the United Kingdom Her Majesty's Government is powerless to negotiate for a special arrangement as regards England. Were we differently situated it is not impossible that the Emperor's Government might be willing to treat preferentially with Great Britain, not only by reason of the preponderance of British interests in Japan and Japanese waters, but also on account of the popular partiality throughout the empire for our countrymen and their productions. This is evidenced in a thousand ways in the national life of this most attractive people, and not least of all by the adoption of English as the secondary official and commercial language, to an extent so great as to render it ample for travel in all but the remote districts.
A Close Alliance with Japan most Desirable.
22.—It is much to be desired that this feeling may receive all possible encouragement. No question is likely to disturb the harmony of Anglo-Japanese relations, and no alliance is calculated to be of greater mutual advantage to both nations.
"BRITISH INTERESTS IN CHINA."
REPORT TO CENTRAL SHEFFIELD.
Having regard to the apprehension caused by the danger in which foreigners in China have been lately placed, many of my constituents desire to know the result of recent inquiries at Peking and elsewhere, into the condition of affairs as affecting British Trade and Industrial Employment. I have the honour, therefore, to submit the following report.
The details have been collected partly from official sources and partly from the views of authorities in various spheres who have favoured me with opinions founded for the most part upon long personal experience.
Extent of Chinese Empire.
1.—It may be desirable, in the first place, to call to mind the area and population of the Chinese Dominions, and the system of government.
The Empire of China proper is about 1,500,000 square miles in extent, or twelve and a half times the size of the United Kingdom; sevenfold the area of France or of Germany; yet less than one-sixth the British Empire. To this must be added the dependencies of Mongolia, Manchuria, Thibet, &c., say 2,000,000 square miles.
Population.
2.—This vast and productive Empire, bordered upon the West and South-West by the possessions of the British in India and Burmah, and by Thibet; upon the North by Asiatic Russia, and upon the South-East by French Indo-China, is estimated to contain about four hundred millions of what an English authority has described as "the most cheerfully industrious, orderly, and wealthy nation in Asia."
The Emperor of China.
3.—Over them despotically reigns, from the absolute seclusion enforced by tradition of The Forbidden City at Peking, the youthful descendant of The Conqueror who, two centuries and a half ago, placed for the second time the Tartar sceptre over the Chinese, and assumed the style of "The Son of Heaven."
The Crown does not devolve by primogeniture, but by the posthumously declared selection of the reigning Emperor among the male members of a younger line of the Imperial House.
The Imperial Government.
4.—The Central Government is regulated by an Inner Chamber, a Grand Council, and the following six Ministries or Boards: (a) Civil Office, (b) Revenue, (c) War, (d) Works, (e) Ceremonies, (f) Punishments. Each Board is composed of Manchus (Tartars) and Chinese in equal numbers, with two Presidents—a system excluding individual power or responsibility.
The executive orders go from the Throne, and are obtained, according to ancient custom, on petitions presented by the Presidents of Boards or Members of the Grand Council, upon their knees, at or before sunrise,—the course of the Vermilion Pencil of the sovereign being, it is said, much influenced by the Empress Dowager, who, during the Imperial minority of seventeen years, skilfully administered the Regency.
Foreign Affairs.
5.—The relations of China with Foreign Powers are conducted through a special Board or office—the "Tsung-Li-Yamen,"—consisting of eleven members of the Grand Council and six Chief Secretaries, a considerable number of whom, with a large retinue of servants, receive, round a sweetmeat-covered table, the official visits of diplomatic representatives. This collective conduct of state business, added to the difficulties of a language which, although monosyllabic, contains over 20,000 characters, and the necessity of all communications passing through interpreters (except in the case of the French Minister, who speaks Chinese), much restrains and practically prohibits the confidential and personal negotiations which, in other countries, so much facilitate the satisfactory conclusion of public affairs.
Provincial Administration.
6.—For purposes of provincial administration, China is divided into several Viceroyalties, each invested with a large amount of sovereign power, including taxation, internal order and defence. It is subject, however, to many ingenious checks. In the first place, a Tartar General is attached to each Viceroy, in a semi-independent position, and his assent to many administrative matters is essential. Secondly, there is a rule against the appointment of a Chinese Viceroy over any province or provinces whereof he is a native. There is also the vigilance of a Board of Censors, established 160 years B.C., and theoretically consisting "of the most enlightened, righteous, and firm persons," whose duty it is to warn the Emperor direct of anything done to the public detriment, not excepting even Imperial laches; for the Chinese maxim runs—"To violate the law is the same crime in the Emperor as in a subject."
There are, within the Viceroyalties, 18 provinces, over each of which is an Imperially-appointed Governor, a Treasurer, a Judge and Comptrollers of the Salt Monopoly and the Grain Tribute. Every province is again subdivided into prefectures, departments, districts, and townships under small Mandarins, and into village communes under Headmen.
The territories of Mongolia and Manchuria are administered martially; in Thibet and Corea there are "Residents" representing the Chinese Suzerain.
The Mandarinate.
7.—The Mandarinate is not hereditary, save in the case of a few princely families, largely debarred from public life, and the still surviving house of Confucius, which was elevated to a Dukedom, 1500 years after the death of its founder, in 479 B.C.
Public Offices.
Public Offices are filled by nominated Mandarins of various grades. They obtain their posts partly by proficiency in successive urban, provincial, metropolitan, and palace open competitive examinations in Chinese classical lore, and partly by purchase or judicious bribery.
The former literary tests were established twelve centuries ago, and at least 1100 years before merit or study had much place in European patronage.
The brilliant graduate of humble origin rarely lacks, moreover, the pecuniary support necessary for the prosecution of his studies, or for official recognition of his examination laurels. Localities, banks, and capitalists are usually ready to stand behind a man of promise, as an investment, to be liberally recouped by ulterior "squeeze,"—on his attaining place,—smally paid in itself, however exalted, but prolific in indirect sources of enrichment.
Influence of the Literati.
8.—Nothing is declared to press so heavily upon the social, political, and national progress of China, as the adverse influence of the "educated" classes. So it was even in the time of the great monarch who, 200 years before Christ, consolidated the Chinese Empire, and built the still-enduring Great Wall, in hopes of thereby defeating Tartar incursions. To overcome the opposition of the Literati, he ordered all their books to be destroyed. But the fact remains that the vigorous heads among the people, who, in other lands, have had to carve their forward path, by agitation and revolution, through the barriers of social rank, caste, and the privileges of wealth, have had for ages in China an open avenue to advancement.
Thus it is that the student tendency, instead of being, as in every other part of the world, in the direction of reform, is applied to the most absolute maintenance of the present system, and to the rejection alike of the methods and appliances of the Western world.
Students sent to Europe.
9.—It is true that a few youths have, from time to time, been sent to Europe and America, but their studies have been either cut short, or the palace circle has succeeded in relegating them, on return, to distant posts. Some also have gone back, not imbued, like the Japanese, with ardent enthusiasm for reforms, but apparently more embittered than ever against the foreigner.[3] How little influence they have had, and how little is really known of the West, may be illustrated by the belief said to have been expressed by a provincial functionary in high office, that foreigners came to China, from the barren rock of Europe, to obtain "rice" as a means of subsistence; and to the opinion of another, that we owed scientific progress, not to our own discoveries, but to having obtained a copy of the ancient Chinese classics, saved from the above-mentioned Imperial destruction.
National Result.
10.—The national result is that, although recent events have hastened forward the completion of a telegraph system, there is throughout the Chinese Empire but one short railway, no proper road communication, and defective attention to the unrivalled waterways, no uniform system of taxation, no reliable administration of justice, no Chinese currency (other than brass cash), no postal system, and little regard for the public health and welfare; yet, wherewithal, there is great respect for private property and the due transmission of the small holdings into which the land is divided.
Prospect of Reform.
11.—That a people sometimes accounted "the active race of mankind"; as keen and reliable in business as any in the universe; the reputed first inventors of the mariner's compass, of gunpowder, of ink, printing, and paper (which have contributed so much to England's greatness), should be content with such a condition of things may well pass belief. Ambassadors have of late been sent to Europe, Diplomatists, consuls, traders, and missionaries have endeavoured to show the light. The example of Japan is at hand. Yet no man can say, upon any foundation of actual fact, that a change is probable or imminent.
It is true that fully two millions of industrious Chinese emigrants can testify to their speedy acquirement of comparative wealth under happier conditions, despite laws of exclusion in America. The majority are said, however, to return quietly home and settle down (awaiting interment in one of the family burial places which cover the surface of the country and much prevent the sale of land) to that worship of ancestors, filial obedience, and veneration for authority, which are quoted with pride as contrasting favourably "with a society where each generation despises the one which immediately preceded it, and strains after the future without respect to the past."
Want of Leaders.
12.—There is also an undoubted want of men willing to champion, or capable of leading, a party of reform.
The two most conspicuous statesmen in the Empire—and, indeed, the only ones—are the Viceroy of the Metropolitan Province of Chilhi, and the Viceroy of Hupeh.
The former is His Excellency Li Hung Chang, who, for 40 years, has possessed a great and beneficial influence. To the viceregal functions are united those of Grand Secretary of the Empire and Commissioner for Northern Trade, in which capacity His Excellency is consulted on all foreign and naval matters. He has the forts on the Peiho in good order, the troops well trained and armed—not with matchlocks or bows and arrows, as in other viceroyalties, but with modern weapons, replenished from arsenals at Tientsin, under foreign direction. A railway[4] runs, moreover, under English management, to the Gulf of Pechilhi, and its extension to within 14 miles of Peking was once authorized, but subsequently disallowed.
Unfortunately, Li Hung Chang, who has given not a few proofs of his good-will and preference for England, is over 70 years of age, and his brother, the Viceroy of Canton, who also vainly seeks to build a railway to Kowloon, opposite Hong Kong, is still older.
His Excellency Chang Chili Tung, Viceroy of Hupeh and Houan, is a different stamp of man, in the prime of life, and energetic. But the regeneration of the Chinese must be, he contends, by the Chinese, and not by foreigners. To carry out his project of a railway from Hankow to Peking, he was transferred from a superior viceroyalty, and to this end an iron foundry has been established at Hanvang. The rails and the plant are all, however, to be of Chinese make, so that the commencement, not to say the opening of the line, is still in the Greek Kalends.
Secret Societies.
13.—The influence of secret societies is also prejudicial to reform. They exist in every province, but their objects are often merely local and devoid of revolutionary aims. Their existence has, however, been put forward upon more than one occasion in extenuation of popular excesses.
Some, moreover, like the "Kolao Hui," or Association of Elder Brethren, mainly formed of disbanded soldiers eager for employment, have spread widely, and could bring about serious trouble. Others, like the "Broken Coffin Society," so well repressed by the British among the vast Chinese population of the Straits Settlements, have predatory aims.
It is not, however, thought that the overthrow of the system of government, or of a dynasty, which has exterminated its rival, is held in serious contemplation, except by extremists, who may, however, get the upper hand. Very summary proceedings and execution tend to damp the enthusiasm of active agitation. Moreover, the difficulty the Southern Provinces, speaking Cantonese, or the Centre and Western Districts, speaking other dialects, have in making themselves understood by Northerners, speaking Mandarin, or the official language,[5] coupled with the practical absence of a press (besides the Official Gazette), restrains revolutionary propaganda by means more effectual than police edicts.
Intercourse with Foreign Nations.
14.—At the same time the intercourse of China with the outer world has undergone frequent change, and especially during the present generation. The leading incentor to French activity in the Far East, says—"Yesterday Chinese trade did not exist for Europe, but to-day it puts thousands of arms in motion in England, and amounts to millions."
This is literally true. The Dutch and the Portuguese were before us. Even as early as A.D. 971, a superintendent was appointed at Ningpo to overlook foreign trade, and before that, there was such a functionary stationed at Canton. Until the latter part of the last century the British flag had hardly appeared. But now we have outstripped the competition of the whole of the world.
Fifty years ago England sent to China barely half a million worth of goods. The first war Her Majesty was obliged to wage in the interests of British trade, brought about the opening of new ports, and in 1844 the English exports to the China Sea exceeded £2,300,000. Then were forced upon us the operations of 1857-58, and the war of 1860, resulting in the Treaty of Peking. Within the next decade British commerce rose to £9,000,000 a year. Now it is half as much again. Apart, then, from the indemnity, and the anterior cession of Hong Kong, become one of the greatest, as well as most beautiful, ports in the world, the cost of the operations has been defrayed many times over in increased wages to British artisans.
Benefit to China.
15.—Nor has the advantage been one-sided. The gain to China has been even greater. The value of the Chinese foreign trade for 1890 is given by Sir Robert Hart, the Inspector-General of the imperial Maritime Customs (an Englishman whose eminent services to China receive universal recognition), at 214 million Haikwan taels (the average value of which, for last year, was 5s. 2-1/4d.), say, in round numbers, £53,000,000, or double the total of a few years age, while in the last decennial period the imports have increased by 48 million taels, and the exports by 9 millions.
Treaty Ports.
16.—Under various treaties, mainly negotiated by England, twenty-one ports and places have been opened for foreign trade and residence, of which five are on the River Yangtze, penetrating over a thousand miles into the heart of the interior. Two other places were added in 1889, under agreement with France.
At most treaty ports a portion of the urban area has been assigned to the foreign community, who are left free to provide for its regulations—a duty which is usually discharged by the help of tolls on shipping and house rates, as to roads, lighting, public conveyances, and buildings, in a manner which sets the most successful example of municipal work to the neighbouring native administration.
Duty upon Foreign Goods.
17.—An import and an export duty, each averaging 5 per cent. ad valorem, is levied upon goods conveyed in foreign vessels, which are, upon the other hand, exempted from the "Likin" or war tax, and freely granted transit passes, clearing them from the prefectural tolls, which do not a little to embarrass the native trader in the interior.
The duty upon foreign goods is collected by the Imperial Maritime Customs—a splendid service, employing 700 Europeans and 4000 Chinese. It yielded, in 1890, a revenue of 22 million taels (say £5,500,000) to the Chinese Government, or a third more than ten years ago, and further supervises the lighting and buoying of the coast.
Duty upon Native Goods.
18.—The import and the export duty upon goods conveyed in Chinese junks is levied by the Chinese Customs Service; and it is said that many shipments are so made to escape the vigilance and the higher taxation of the European Administration, and are subsequently transferred to foreign bottoms at Hong Kong or elsewhere.
British Share of Foreign Trade.
19.—Three-fourths of the entire foreign trade of China fell, last year, to the share of the British Empire, or more, by three million taels, than that done by the entire Continent of Europe and the United States of America. The trade with the United Kingdom, including that passing through Hong Kong, exceeded £15,000,000.
The Commissioners of Customs at Tientsin, Newchwang, Ningpo, and other treaty ports, all speak of "the increased demand for British goods," in spite of much distress last year, owing to floods in many places; and while Shanghai reports that "German figures fall off decidedly," the Commissioner at Kinkiang states that "the British and Chinese had all the trade to themselves."
British Shipping in Chinese Waters.
20.—This fortunate state of affairs is strikingly illustrated by the British shipping in Chinese waters. The red ensign of England, which appeared on the first steamer in the Yellow Sea, in 1830, floated in 1890 upon 16,897 of the 20,530 foreign vessels which entered and cleared at Chinese ports, while the British tonnage amounted to 8/9ths of the whole.
Our next competitors were the Germans, with whom we have so much in common, and who are sparing no effort to develop their China trade. They entered and cleared 2140 vessels last year, or 622 fewer than in 1888, with a diminution of 227,000 tons burthen.
A good proportion of the coast-carrying trade was also done by British-built steamers, carrying the dragon flag, and wholly owned by Chinese merchants. But, with very few exceptions, insurance companies and underwriters insist upon such vessels being commanded and officered by British or Americans. Besides this, the majority of the pilots on the Peiho and other rivers are British, a state of affairs pointing to the necessity of nothing being omitted by the Board of Trade to afford every possible facility to the merchant marine to acquire the technical knowledge necessary to maintain this world-wide reputation of the English for superior nautical skill.
Preponderance of British Interests.
21.—These facts show the enormous preponderance of British interests in China,—a condition of things existing also in Japan,—not only over those of the whole world, but especially as regards those of France, Germany, Russia, or any other European power.
They are corroborated by the establishment in China of 327 British firms, or double the number of the mercantile houses of every other nation, and by the residence at the treaty ports of over 3300 British subjects, out of a total foreign population of about 8000.
Germany comes next with 80 firms and 640 residents; following her, America, with 32 firms; and then France, with 19 firms and 590 persons.
Representation of the British People.
22.—Under such circumstances the British public cannot be otherwise than glad that Her Majesty the Queen is fitly represented at Peking by what is not unfrequently described in the vernacular as "The Great English Legation."
The consular service of Britain in China is also manned by some three-score officers, each one of whom is an accomplished Chinese scholar, a large majority having passed through the arduous Student Interpreter Course, which is ready to fill junior vacancies, as they occur, with young men evidently as well selected as they are carefully trained.
Diplomatic and Consular Assistance to British Trades.
23.—At the same time it would be idle to deny that, in spite of recent improvements, British traders generally complain in China, as elsewhere, of the lack of diplomatic and consular assistance in the advancement of English trade, and the apparently little official interest shown therein.
The French have a like grievance, and the work of German representatives for their nationals is often cited with envy. It is said, though probably with exaggerated truth, that German Ministers and Consuls are unflagging in their efforts to advance German commercial interests, to show that German traders have government recognition and approval, and that the employment of Germans, instead of English or French, is much appreciated by the Emperor William.
It is possible that the out-of-date view that diplomatic and consular officers are purely political agents may be excessively retained in some instances, and that the assistance rendered by Her Majesty's Consuls to British trade might advantageously receive more encouragement and departmental recognition.
There can be no doubt, however, of the difficulty which would ensue by consular espousal of the interests of a particular firm to the inevitable prejudice of a rival house.
Nor is the prestige small or unimportant which Her Majesty's service derives from the fact that any expressions of opinion, or any advice tendered, are known to be wholly free from any interested motives.
Iron and Steel Trade in China.
24.—In examining the position in China of particular industries, attention must first be directed to the iron, steel, and hardware trade.
The standard work (Williams' "Middle Kingdom") says:—"Handicraftsmen of every name are content with coarse-looking tools compared with those turned out at Sheffield; but the work produced by some of them is far from contemptible. The bench of the carpenter is a low, narrow, inclined frame, on which he sits to plane, groove, and work his boards, using his feet and toes to steady them. His augers, bits, and gimlets are worked with a bow; but most of the edge-tools employed by him and the blacksmith are similar in shape, but less convenient than our own. They are sharpened with bows, on grindstones, and also with a cold steel like a spokeshave, with which the edge is scraped thin.
"Steel is everywhere manufactured in a rude way, but the foreign importation is gradually supplying a better article."
Importation of Metals.
25.—This is illustrated by the importation, in 1890, of 242,000 taels (60,500l.) worth of steel, besides 800,000 taels worth of iron sheets, plates, bars, hoops, nail rod, pig and old iron, and 500,000 taels worth of copper bars, nails, wire, &c.,—a purchase exceeding 400,000l.,—the greater part of which was from the United Kingdom.
The Statistical Secretary of the Imperial Maritime Customs states that "iron of all kinds maintained, in 1890, a steady consumption of 1,100,000 piculs (each picul equals 133-1/2 lbs.), and steel rose from 39,000 to 56,000 piculs,—an increase of 43 per cent.,—although it is noticeable that the import is very variable from year to year."
The Commissioner at Newchwang states that "importations of metals advanced to the enormous extent of 113 per cent. over 1889—the most conspicuous being nail rod;" while his colleague at Tientsin speaks of "the increasing demand for manufactured iron nails, which are cheaper and better than those made by native blacksmiths;" and Chin-kiang states, from the Central Provinces—"For iron of all kinds, 1890 totals have not been equalled."
Sheffield Enterprise.
26.—The enterprise of Sheffield has not been behindhand. In 1843, after the Northern ports had been opened, a Times correspondent reported "that an eminent Sheffield firm sent out a large consignment of knives and forks, and declared themselves prepared to supply all China with cutlery. The Chinamen, who knew not the use of knives and forks (or, as they say, abandoned the use of them when they became civilized), but toss the rice into their mouths with chopsticks, would not look at these best balanced knives. They were sold at prices which scarcely realized their freight, and shops were for years afterwards adorned with them, formed into devices, like guns in an armoury."
A somewhat similar fate has attended the efforts of another prominent, but younger firm, whose dust-covered sample cards were shown me in Shanghai.
Although in 1885 Germany sent a considerable quantity of cutlery to Tientsin, Chefoo, and elsewhere, Sheffield evidently meets the demand of foreign residents as regards table articles, for some of our leading names are present at every meal.
Demand for Razors.
27.—The demand for razors is, however, enormous. It is stated that, having regard to the artificially caused excess of the male population, some 180 or 200 millions of men have their heads and faces "painfully" shaved once a week by a razor of the rude specimen I am sending, with others, to the Cutlers' Hall, and which cost about 5 cents, or 2½d. Three-quarters of a Chinaman's head is always kept closely shaved, and custom prohibits either whiskers or beards, and even moustaches, unless before then a grandfather!
At Canton, a well-known Hallamshire trade-mark is reported as selling freely on razors at 20 cents. But in other places, more removed from British example, I was assured that it is quite hopeless to induce Chinese barbers to adopt the Sheffield shapes, unless they wish to empty their crowded shops. For the Sheffield-made Chinese pattern, however, a vast demand might possibly be brought about by careful agents, if only it can be done at the low price the Chinese are willing to pay.
Demand for Large Forgings.
28.—There is already a considerable request for large forgings, and the arsenals under the control of Englishmen are steadfast believers in the undoubted superiority of English manufacture. But all agree that it is nothing compared to what will come when China really begins to go ahead, and to open up for her people the vast wealth of the Empire. The representatives of Messrs. Krupp and of M. Creuzot are very vigilant, active, and skilful.
Adoption of Metrical Measurement.
29.—In connection with this matter, it is important to mention that a recommendation is about to go forward from a high authority, to whom attention is paid, that China should adopt, as Japan has already done, the metrical system of measurement of France and Germany. Unless this is fully realized, there may be a loss of valuable business, for although there are measures which render feet and inches in mÈtres and millimÈtres with the utmost nicety, foreigners contend that there is sometimes an inevitable plus or minus, which upsets calculations.
Want of Uniform Monetary Standard.
30.—In the same direction, too, it may not be amiss to give expression to the general mercantile complaint of the absence of a uniform and international decimal monetary system. Not only are many firms ruined by unexpected and often unaccountable fluctuations of exchange between the 29 principal currencies of the world, but the clerical labour involved, not to speak of constant misunderstandings, is stated to be most prejudicial.
This can be appreciated when it is considered that trade in the East is conducted in rupees, piastres, Mexican and American dollars, Japanese yen, silver shoes, shapes, and bars; Haikwan, Shanghai, and Tientsin taels—the latter unrepresented by coins or notes, and all varying in value from day to day. The Shanghai tael, for instance, which was worth 4s. 3?d., on February 28th, 1890, rose to 5s. 3?d., by September 5th,—a difference of 23 per cent.,—and fell back again 13 per cent. in the next two months. The rupee, too, worth 2s. at par, was at a discount of eightpence in 1889, but early in 1890 all but touched 1s. 9d., until, in November, it fell to 1s. 5½d.—each penny of fall occasioning not only great loss to individuals, but it is calculated many thousand lacs of rupees to the Indian Government.
It is difficult to say which decimal system has the most advocates,—probably dollars and cents,—but all agree that pounds, shillings and pence, and English coins on which the value is not stated, entail more trouble than any standard.
Cotton Goods.
31.—The vast present and the enormous future interest Lancashire has in China, as also the British capitalist in India, is shown by the Imperial customs report for 1890. It runs thus:—"Cotton goods bounded upwards in value from 36 million taels in 1889, to 45 millions (say 11,000,000l.) in 1890—an increase of 25 per cent. Cotton goods of nearly every texture were infected with the general contagion of increase, and expanding in quantity and value, while cotton yarn, and more particularly that from India, poured into China in a higher ratio of increase than ever heretofore, having risen from 108,000 piculs in 1878, to over a million piculs in 1890, representing 19? millions of taels (say nearly 5,000,000l.), or 50 per cent. more than in the previous year."
It is not necessary to add anything to this authoritative statement, unless it be that the French efforts to force their "cotonnade" upon the Annamites, by prohibitory duties upon all foreign goods in Indo-China, are unavailing, and that the prospect before Manchester is unlimited so soon as the South-West of China is opened from Burmah. It is tempered only by the establishment of mills to turn Chinese-grown cotton into yarn.
Wollens.
32.—In woollen goods there was, in 1890, an importation of 3½ million taels worth—a slight falling off compared with the previous year, mainly in English camlets and lastings.
Export of Silk.
33.—Nothing, perhaps, more eloquently exhibits the importance of China as a commercial factor in the world, and the necessity of foreign trade to her people, than the silk industry, which employs many tens of thousands of persons. Fifty years ago not a bale was exported, at least to England; but last year over 30¼ million taels' worth were sent abroad. Even that large quantity showed a falling away, owing to transient circumstances, of 16 per cent. over the previous year.
The Tea Trade.
34.—The staple export of China, and the one with which the Celestial Empire is most closely identified in the popular mind, is, of course, her tea.
In 1670, eighty pounds of China tea were exported into England, and, despite export duties, varying in China and in the United Kingdom from 400 per cent. on the productive cost to 100 per cent. at the present time, the trade increased to 108 million pounds in 1880.
India Tea.
35.—Since then there has, however, been a serious decline, increasing so much, from year to year, as to jeopardize the entire industry. This is declared to be mainly owing to the fortuitous development of tea-planting in India and Ceylon, and to the preference shown by the English consumer for tea of British growth.
Twelve months after the Queen's accession, 400 lbs. of Indian tea were sent to England as an experiment. In 1890 the consignment was over 100,000,000 lbs., and Ceylon sent nearly half as much. The effect has been that, while, in 1865, out of every 100 lbs. of tea sold in England 97 lbs. were Chinese and only 3 lbs. Indian, in 1890 the Chinese proportion had fallen by about 50 per cent., and the cost to the British tea drinker was also in like degree reduced.
One reason put forward by the experts, consulted by the Maritime Customs, is that "a good stout tea, that will stand several waterings, is what suits the mass of English consumers, and this India provides much better than China." The English merchants at Shanghai and Foochow affirm, however, that this greater strength is purchased by the retention of deleterious properties.
Apathy of the Chinese.
36.—It is in vain that the attention of Chinese cultivators has been called to the condition of the tea industry by all concerned. Moreover, four years ago, the Inspector-General of Customs thus addressed the Imperial authorities:—
"To a government, its people's industries must be of higher importance than revenue. I would, therefore, advise that taxes be remitted, in order that industries may be preserved. Think for the people, and forego revenue. Export duties ought to be light, in order that the surplus production of a people may go for sale elsewhere. Import duties, on the contrary, are the duties which ought to be retained; but the use to be made of each commodity ought to be well weighed. If it is something people cannot do without, it ought to be exempt from duty; but if it is a luxury, it ought to be heavily taxed. On the right application of these principles depend the nation's wealth, and the people's too."
Nothing whatever has been done. From Foochow the export has declined by one-half in ten years, and deprived the revenue of a million taels a year, and the people of five million taels in wages. The opinion is indeed general "that the gradual extinction of the China tea trade is practically assured, unless something retards Indian and Ceylon production, or drastic measures are adopted."
The "Shanli," or hill tax; the "Likin," or war tax, and the export duty, are all maintained intact, and the unfortunate Chinese growers have to compete with the untaxed tea of India and Ceylon. What distress is likely soon to ensue may be gathered from the fact that the production of one-half only of the output of the Assam Company, with its few hundred employÉs, affords the main sustenance of 4500 Chinese families, or, say, about 20,000 persons. They are themselves, moreover, so apprehensive that the introduction of the machinery in vogue in India and Ceylon will diminish employment that the Government has not felt itself strong enough to protect its use.
Foreign Opium Traffic.
37.—The opium question excites much interest in England. Some philanthropists have feared that the revenue of over 5,000,000l. a year, derived by the Indian Government from the licensed and carefully-restricted cultivation of the raw material of the valuable drug, is in major degree responsible for the reported influence upon the Chinese of opium smoking. They may be somewhat reassured by the result of a careful European inquiry, officially instituted throughout the Empire. It shows that imported opium is only smoked by the affluent, the luxurious, and well-to-do, or, at most, by one-third of one per cent. of the population; that is, by about three per thousand.
The annual importation used to amount to an average of 100,000 chests, yielding, for smoking, about 4000 tons of boiled opium. They cost the consumers upwards of 17,000,000l., of which 3,000,000l. went to the Chinese revenue. But it is a rapidly declining element in Chinese finances, and the deficit may, before long, have to be made up by increasing the duties upon other imports.
Native Opium.
38.—Native opium was known, produced, and used in China long before any Europeans began the sale of the foreign drug. The records of the 10th century prove this; and opium figures as an item in the tariff of 1589, and again in a customs list of the 17th century. Hundreds of square miles are devoted to the cultivation of the poppy, which, according to the late Dr. Williams, "is now grown in every province, without any real restraint being anywhere put on it." Native opium sells for half the price of the foreign article, and its smokers are consequently more numerous among the people and younger practitioners (i.e., those from 25 to 35 years of age). It is, in short, say the latest reports, "forcing foreign opium out of consumption with triple energy."
Number of Opium Smokers.
39.—The best authorities concur that the whole of the smokers, of either foreign or native opium, do not exceed two-thirds of one per cent. of the population, or adding a margin, say, seven per thousand (Replies to Circular No. 64, Second Series, Inspectorate General of Customs)—a state of affairs which is corroborated from the great town of Tientsin, with its million of inhabitants. The Commissioner of Customs reports "that but little opium is consumed, owing to the growing influence of Abstention Societies, the 40,000 members of which neither smoke the drug or tobacco, nor drink liquors of any kind."
Effect of Opium-smoking.
40.—The effect of opium-smoking, injurious and wasting of vital power though it may be, is certainly not apparent to the ordinary traveller; and the American clergyman, whose work on China, founded on the experience of a life-time, aided by keenest judgment, has been adopted by every foreign legation as the Text Book for aspiring Consuls, thus records his opinion:—
"A dose of opium does not produce the intoxication of ardent spirits, and, so far as the peace of the community and his family are concerned, the smoker is less troublesome than the drunkard. The former never throws the chairs and tables about the room, or drives his wife out of doors in his furious rage; he never goes reeling through the streets or takes lodgings in the gutter, but, contrariwise, he is quiet and pleasant, and fretful only when the effects of the pipe are gone."
Missionary Work in China.
41.—The missionary work of endeavouring to reclaim China from the faith which was first introduced 65 years before Christ, and whereof the leading principles are stated as the worship of ancestors and of sky and earth, has become, during the last 30 years, of political as well as of religious importance, for it constantly gives rise, and has done so very lately, to serious international difficulties.
Although there are many who regard the missionaries as doing valuable secular service in accustoming the native population in remote districts to the sight of European faces, and in prompting inquiry as to the source of their evenly balanced and steady lives, constituting them thus as pioneers of trade, it is undoubted that the great majority of foreign residents are openly sceptical as to the fertility of the missionary field. They are especially apprehensive of the effect when the ground is tilled by fragile mothers and young ladies in the teeth of deep and apparently ineradicable prejudice against the public work of women, and particularly in conjunction with the opposite sex, for as an incendiary proclamation, calling on Wuhu "to chase out all the barbarian thieves," ran, "This breach of morality and custom is in itself a violation of the fixed laws of the State."
Roman Catholic Missionaries.
42.—The first missionary labourers were the Italian Jesuits. They came to China three centuries ago, and by toleration some of the least objectionable tenets of Buddhism, and a malicious employment of their European learning, obtained such imperial favour as to be put at the head of the Astronomical Board, and to be employed to build the celebrated summer palace. There seemed, indeed, every possibility, at one time, of the wholesale conversion of the Chinese to the Roman Catholic Church, termed by the Emperor, K'anghi, "the Sect of the Lord of the Sky." But then came Christian dissension, and following it soon, as in Japan, their persecution, slaughter, and expulsion.
Now the Church of Rome is stated to have, in China, 60 Bishops or Vicars Apostolic, some 600 European Priests (of whom 65 per cent. are French), and about 400 Chinese clergy. It claims, also, close upon 700,000 adherents (in Japan the proportion is one in every 905 persons)—a calculation which should, however, be read probably in conjunction with the officially published fact, that of 13,684 baptisms in the metropolitan diocese between August 15th, 1891, and August 14th, 1891, 11,583 were "baptismi puerorum infidelium in articulo mortis."
At the same time recognition should be given to the general respect entertained by foreigners of opposing Christian creeds for the life-long devotion to their task, on the slenderest stipend, of the Roman priesthood. Their success as to numbers is also said to be much aided by their care of the mundane interests of the converted, who, loath to continue subscribing to family memorial halls for communication with ancestors, and to extravagant funeral rites, if not also to that support of aged parents which is obligatory on Chinese Buddhists, are shunned by their kindred, and often find private employment, even in foreign families, as impossible to obtain as a public office.
Protestant Missions.
43.—Nor have the Protestant Churches, although later in the field, been backward in sending out representatives. A considerable proportion of the thirteen hundred thousand pounds, which is on an average annually subscribed in the United Kingdom for the support of Foreign Missions, goes from "Darkest England" to China. The United States are even more liberal, and school buildings have been erected by Americans, on an extensive scale, in many places.
Forty-one Protestant Societies were represented in 1890, by 589 men, 391 wives, and 316 single ladies,—a total of 1296 persons, of whom 724 were British, 513 American, and 59 Continental,—assisted by 1660 natives. These numbers may now be slightly larger.
As regards persuasions, 7 per cent. of the Protestant Missions belong to the Church of England, 20 per cent. are Presbyterian, 14 per cent. Methodist, 12 per cent. Congregational, 9 per cent. Baptist, and the larger number, or 38 per cent., unclassified.
There are upwards of 550 Protestant Churches, distributing, in 1889, 700,000 Bibles and 1,200,000 tracts, and over 60 hospitals and 50 dispensaries.
The result of the work since 1842, reported to the Protestant Conference, held in 1890, was, in round numbers, 37,300 communicants (of whom over two-thirds are stated to be Nonconformists), or about one in ten thousand of the population; 19,800 pupils; while 348,000 persons were returned as having received medical aid, or at least to have visited a missionary dispensary—a work which is acknowledged by all to be of the utmost value, to be of real national benefit, and to be appreciated by the people. It is much encouraged by the Rev. Hudson Taylor, himself a surgeon and native of Barnsley, who from Shanghai directs, with great tact, the undenominational China Inland Mission, the members of which adopt, like the Roman Catholics, the Chinese costume, and, like them, are smally remunerated, the expenses of the Mission, exceeding £38,000 a year, being met by unsolicited contributions.
The Recent Disturbances.
44.—The disturbances on the Yangtze in 1891, like those at Tientsin in 1870, had for ostensible cause the fixed popular suspicion that the succour of foundlings by the Roman Catholic sisterhoods is for nefarious medicinal purposes. Many of the female children, purposely exposed to die, are necessarily, as indeed in Europe, in a moribund condition when brought in, and the mortality is very high. This is confirmed by the baptismal figures above quoted. The freedom of access, anywhere and to anybody, which is inseparable from Chinese life, and is tolerated, however disagreeable, by the most experienced missionaries, has also sometimes been attended, it is alleged, with difficulty, especially from native converts, and irritation has resulted.
The facts disclosed in the British Parliamentary Paper (C. 6431) appear to be that, on May 9th, 1891, two Chinese nuns were visiting a sick family at Wuhsueh, on the river Yangtze. As the disease of the parents was infectious, they removed the children. On the way to the Mission they met a relation, who demanded their restoration. This being refused, the nuns were taken before a magistrate, who, however, on the requisition of the fathers, immediately released them.
This excited much popular agitation, and three days afterwards, a woman came to the Mission to claim a child alleged to have died therein. As she was accompanied by a small crowd, which assembles in the narrow teeming streets of China on the slightest pretext, admission was apparently refused. Then commenced the work of destruction, costing two Englishmen, who gallantly went from some distance to render help, their lives, and imperilling many others, not only in the locality itself, but, later on, elsewhere on the river. Much foreign property was destroyed, and a very serious state of affairs seemed likely to supervene, for, as The Times recently wrote, and experience has often shown, "Native feelings of hostility, once roused against the white man and whetted by the intoxication of success, cannot be expected to take account of an imaginary dividing line between two spheres."
Anti-Foreign Feeling.
45.—In attributing the outbreak to Chinese hatred of the foreigner, two observations appear in this instance to claim consideration. The first is by Mr. Consul Gardner, in his despatch of June 9:—
"The mob was composed of many hostile from mere ignorance, many from the force of contagion, some from fear of others, a few really friendly, who, like the soldiers, led a lady to a place of safety under pretence of robbing her of a ring, and others who sheltered them from blows, while very few deliberately meant mischief."
The other is by the Rev. David Hill, a Wesleyan missionary of much experience, who was officially employed to inquire into the facts. Under date June 12th. 1891, he writes:—
"One thing which the sight of the house impressed on me was the evidence which it gave of the hold on the people's mind which the rumours as to the destruction of infant life have gained. On the upper story, the ceiling had been inspected by means of a ladder, which evidently had been brought up for the purpose. On the ground floor the boards of one of the rooms had been fired, and a large aperture made. Below the ground floor the ventilators outside had been torn open, as though search had been made for missing infants, and, of course, the lath and plaster walls in all the rooms where they might be found were pierced."
This latter view is confirmed by the Rev. Father de Quellec, who, writing in the Missions Catholiques, describes how, at another place, on the night of May 23rd, a dead child, from whom the eyes had been removed, was placed on vacant land near the Mission. A crowd assembling next morning, cried out, "It is the European devil who has torn out the eyes and heart of this child!" The house was stormed, but fortunately a magistrate arrived with troops more under command than is usual in China, and the mob was dispersed. "But," adds the Father, "eight out of ten believe that we take out the eyes and store them in the cellars of the Mission."
It is contended that, under such antagonistic circumstances, rescue work should be guided by the greatest care, for otherwise its use, to the prejudice of both missionary efforts and European trade, by reactionaries, is inevitable. Their sinister influence, once asserted, may at any moment call into fatally destructive play, as indeed recently, the anti-foreign feeling entertained by a large proportion of the Chinese.
That this anti-foreign feeling exists all agree. It is urged that it must never be forgotten—for what renders it especially serious in China, is the frequent evidence of its being fanned from above—and that the authorities have no efficient machinery of civil order on which reliance can be placed. Nor is the Central Government always able to enforce its will on distant provincial authorities, or even to prevent their varying the orders of the Throne.
At the same time, say others, the hostility may be exaggerated. The employment of over 100,000 Chinese by foreign residents, many in highly confidential capacities, both in the office and the household, and as many more on board foreign ships, tends to confirm the general verdict that the people, in an individual sense, are civil, obliging, and even hospitable towards the foreigner, and well-disposed especially towards the English trader, who treats them fairly good-humouredly, and without offending their national prejudices. This is supported, even from Wuhu itself, for the last Trade Report says: "The trade in goods classed under Foreign Sundries has increased rapidly during the past two years, and shows a gain of 70 per cent."
Summary of British Position in China.
46.—It remains but to summarize the position of affairs as regards British interests in China, so far as I have been able to grasp it.
(a) That three-fourths of the foreign trade is in British hands, and a still larger proportion of the shipping in Chinese waters.
(b) That British commercial firms and residents are in a large majority among the foreign population.
(c) That the contiguity to China of British India, Burmah, and Hong Kong, and the large numbers of Chinese residents in British territories, give England an especial interest in the welfare of the Empire, and in the gradual opening of the vast markets in the West, South-West, and Centre.
(d) That while British interests outweigh, in their magnitude, variety, and extent, not only those of every other Great Power, but those also of the whole world, Russia upon the North and North-West, and from her adjacent port of Vladivostock; France, her ally, upon the South from Tonquin; and Germany upon the coast, are anxious and watchful competitors.
Policy of Britain.
47.—The course of policy best calculated, under such a condition of things, to maintain and extend British commerce is a matter for the Electorate to decide. Those who share the feeling of the majority in Sheffield, that the undeviating conduct of the foreign affairs of the Empire is essential to the expansion of foreign trade and its wealth of home employment, will probably consider—
(a) That the British Industrial interests at stake in China, and also in Japan, are too great to be necessarily linked to the comparatively trivial concerns of any other nation.
(b) That as they are mainly dependent upon the safety of the resident standard bearers of British trade, Her Majesty's ships in Eastern waters[6] should always be sufficiently numerous and ready at any moment to protect them, unaided, in their persons and property.
(c) That the trade route from Europe to Asia, and its line of defence—Gibraltar, Malta, Cyprus, Egypt, Aden, Ceylon, Singapore, and Hong Kong—should always be kept in British hands, and secure against any possible attack.
(d) That at the same time, no accession of friendly territory being desired, and only mutuality of commerce on equitable terms, the Emperor of China and the Imperial Government should be enabled, by the Queen's representatives, to feel that the support of England will always be forthcoming in any step for the advancement of the Chinese nation, the development of amicable relations, and the security of the Empire against any unwarranted maritime aggression.
MEMORANDUM UPON THE BRITISH TRADE ROAD TO THE FAR EAST.
1.—The nearest trade road from Europe to the Far East lies through the Suez Canal, down the Red Sea, past Perim, to Aden; thence to Ceylon; from there to Singapore, and to Hong Kong in the China Sea.
2.—As three-quarters of the external trade of both China and Japan is in British hands; as the British residents are nearly equal, numerically, to those of all foreign nations combined; and as British ocean steamers are more numerous than those of the whole world, and eightfold those of Germany, the second on the list, it is only fitting, independently of the possession of India, that this trade route should always be retained, as at the present time, in the hands of England, whose position is greatly strengthened by the possession of Gibraltar, Malta, and Cyprus in the Mediterranean.
3.—So long as this sea road is held intact and properly defended, Great Britain remains the dominant commercial and naval power in the China Sea.
4.—To pass Perim or Aden in the Red Sea, and so gain access to the Indian Ocean, would be almost impossible for any European power at war with England.
5.—Singapore likewise commands, to a great extent, the entrance to, and exit from, the China Sea.
6.—Apart, though, altogether from the active power of fortifications and artillery, torpedoes and submarine mines, there is the equally effective one of want of coal.
7.—Even supposing that Germany, Russia, Austria, or Italy were able to coal at Port Said,—a state of affairs which, while we occupy Egypt, would not be possible in a state of belligerency,—their steamers could not traverse the 7000 miles to the coast of China without fresh fuel; and, against the will of England, this would not be attainable.
8.—France alone, by coaling at Brock, opposite Aden, and Pondicherry, might take the outer channel of Singapore, and so reach Saigon, a distance of 2300 miles; or even Haiphong, in Tonquin, an additional 600 miles; but the vessels could only steam very slowly.
9.—The defensive value to the Empire of the Colonies guarding this great trade road is therefore clear.
10.—But these prosperous Colonies are also commercially valuable to the Empire in themselves, and particularly Ceylon, the Straits Settlements, and Hong Kong.
11.—Ceylon does a trade of 6,000,000l. a year with the Empire, whereof half is with the United Kingdom, which she is now supplying with 50,000,000 lbs. of tea annually.
12.—The Straits Settlements have a population of 507,000; and of the external trade of 178 million dollars, 78 millions are with the Empire. There is no public debt, and the Colony contributes (as also Ceylon and Hong Kong) 100,000l. a year for its defence, which is now, for the first time, upon a proper footing.
13.—Hong Kong, ceded to the British 50 years ago, has become a port of first-class importance. Although, not barring the approach to the Upper China Sea, the Yellow Sea, and the waters of Japan, it does so to a large extent, in a practical sense owing to the coaling difficulty.
14.—The shipping trade of Hong Kong has doubled in the past 20 years. Of 130 million tons of shipping, passing in and out of the harbour in 1890, 7 million tons were British, 4 million Chinese, and 2½ million foreign. British ships numbered 5500 (an increase of 136, and 400,000 tons in three years); foreign ships numbered 2600 (an increase of 307, and 225,000 tons), and Chinese junks 55,600—a total of 64,000 vessels.
15.—The population of Hong Kong is about 200,000, of which 10,000 are European, and the remainder Chinese. Emigrants from China, to the number of 42,000, passed through the port, and of these, 36,000 were bound for places under the British flag, while 850,000 Chinese visited the island in the course of the year.
16.—The general impression of Hong Kong, in a commercial, maritime, defensive, and picturesque sense, has been fittingly summed up by the late Governor: "It may be doubted whether the evidence of material and moral achievement make, anywhere, a more forcible appeal to eye and imagination, and whether any other spot on the earth is thus more likely to excite, or more fully justifies, pride in the name of Englishman."
17.—Provided, therefore, the British hold firmly by this trade route, and, in friendly alliance with China, do all that is possible to develop mutual trade between Burmah and the Yunnan district, there is nothing to fear from the rivalry of any other power, for so long as South Africa remains loyal to the Empire, the long sea road by the Cape is absolutely impossible to any other nation. If, however, the short route be cut off at its base, by the British abandonment of the magnificent mercantile position established in Egypt, not only will the labour of ten years be thrown away, but the whole of the gigantic trade with the East be imperilled.
18.—The only foreign powers capable of injuring us, in a naval sense, in Chinese waters are Russia and the United States. The former has a formidable fleet, based upon the splendid fortified harbour of Vladivostock, and could move land forces upon Corea. The reinforcement of the squadron from Europe should, however, be impracticable. As regards the United States, hostility is happily not a likely contingency; but, in any case, the 4500 miles across the stormy Pacific Ocean, devoid of any coaling station, unless it be Honolulu, is a formidable barrier.
C. E. HOWARD VINCENT.
21, 12, 1891.
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