INDEX

[1]. Mr. Richard Davey is responsible for the translation of this work, but I have added a footnote here and there (signed by my initials), and I have revised the spelling of the proper names to bring them into accordance with English usage. To forestall the charge of inconsistency, I may say that I have acted on the principle generally adopted in the spelling of European proper names, that is, I have retained improper spellings consecrated by long custom—for instance, Chefoo, Suchow, Hankow, Kowloon, just as we write Florence, Munich, Naples, Moscow. But names not yet regularly Europeanized I have spelled according to a consistent and more reasonable system of transliteration-as Kiao-chau, Pe-chi-li, Kwei-chau. The French spelling of Chinese proper names looks very strange to an English eye, and would convey a wholly false impression to an English ear.

[2]. The Times, September 13th, 1900.

[3]. For example, the writer signing himself ‘Diplomaticus’ in the Fortnightly Review for September, 1900, airily dismisses as ‘illusions’ the belief that ‘China was gradually crumbling to ruin, that she was incapable of organized resistance to the foreigner, that her millions were unconscious of a national spirit and incapable of progress.’ Each one of these ‘illusions’ is an elementary fact about China, except so far as foreign help and guidance may alter it.

[4]. The Times special correspondent, September 11th, 1900.

[5]. Written especially for the American edition by the author.

[6]. The position of the Manchu Dynasty in China is somewhat analogous to that of the Shogunate in Japan, which was also caught some forty years ago between the national sentiment and the foreigner. But in Japan, when the Shogunate fell, there remained the divine Emperor, whose prestige covered all the reforms which enlightened statesmen carried out. In China, after the Manchu Dynasty, nothing remains but chaos.

[7]. ‘Yermak,’ the millstone, was the nickname given to Vassil, son of Timothy, a tracker of the Volga, because he ground the corn for his party. He was not a Cossack by birth, but joined the Don Cossack pirates.—H. N.

[8]. The import of Ceylon tea into Russia is already large, and is increasing rapidly.—H. N.

[9]. All that part of Siberia situated east of Baikalia forms a sort of neutral ground free of the Custom-house. Only spirits, tobacco, sugar, mineral oils, lucifer matches, and in general all articles of the same character which are subject to excise duty in Siberia proper, pay Custom-house duties when they are sent for sale to the Siberian ports on the Pacific. All other goods have only to pay ‘customs’ if they are forwarded to parts of the Empire west of Baikalia, and these are paid at Irkutsk, through which everything is obliged to pass. Tea going from Kiakhta pays duty at Irkutsk.

[10]. By means of an ice-breaking steamer vessels are now able to leave or enter Vladivostok harbour at any time.

[11]. The Tsar appointed a Commission to inquire into the whole question of transportation to Siberia, with a view to its cessation. The Commission is now understood to have reported in this sense.—H. N.

[12]. The author is misinformed here. The Baikal, the great ice-breaking, train-carrying steamer, and the Angara, a smaller passenger-boat, have both been designed, constructed, and set up on Lake Baikal by Sir W. G. Armstrong, Whitworth and Co., Ltd., of Newcastle-on-Tyne.—H. N.

[13]. The official estimate of the total cost of the railway is over £80,000,000, of which over £50,000,000 were spent by the end of 1899.—H. N.

[14]. This train has been running for a year as far as Irkutsk.—H. N.

[15]. A koku equals 4·95 bushels.

[16]. In 1899 (to December 25) 423,646,605 yen or £42,364,660.—H. N.

[17]. The Japanese took care to stipulate that the indemnity should be paid in gold at the exchange of the tael in 1895, which allowed them to know exactly on what amount of money they could count, which was of extreme importance to them, Japan having adopted the gold standard, and the greater part of the indemnity being destined to be spent in purchases in Europe and the United States.

[18]. Many of the daimios, whose personal property was very small, are now extremely poor. The largest fortunes in Japan are those of the merchants and bankers, who under the old regime used to hide their wealth to avoid taxation.

[19]. The Japanese Parliament is composed of two Chambers—the House of Lords, or Peers, to which belong (1) the Princes of the Blood (13); (2) all the Princes and Marquises (40); (3) such representatives as are elected for seven years by the Counts, Viscounts, and Barons (123); (4) members who are nominated for life by the Emperor (100); (5) members elected, one for each department, and selected from among the fifteen more important personages of the department over thirty years of age (45). The Chamber of Deputies is composed of 300 members, one for every 128,000 inhabitants, and is elected by all Japanese subjects over twenty-five years of age who have resided in an electoral district for a term of twelve months, and who pay 30s. direct taxes. To be elected, the candidate must be over thirty years of age and fulfil the same conditions as above. The heads of noble families can neither be electors nor elected to the Lower Chamber. In 1895 there were 467,887 voters (11 per 1,000 inhabitants), and in all 517,130 persons (12 per 1,000), paying more than 30s. direct taxes. Among the first class there were 21,070, and among the second class 25,405 shizoku, or ancient samurai, from which fact we may take it for granted that there are fewer rich men among the ancient samurai than among the rest of the population. As to the nobles, so-called kwazoku, at least a third of the heads of noble families pay less than 30s. The proportion of shizoku among those having the right of vote is less than 5 per cent.

[20]. In normal times, before the exceptional augmentation of the effective resulting from the events of 1898, England had in the Far East only twenty-six vessels, and even now her fleet is still inferior to that of Japan.

[21]. At the present time the Russian troops in Manchuria and the Lower Amur do not exceed 60,000 men.

[22]. ‘Politics and Peoples of the Far East.’ London: Fisher Unwin. 1895.

[23]. The population of China has been very variously estimated. There exist official statistics, but the question is, what faith can be placed in them? The ‘Statesman’s Year Book,’ which is generally well informed, returns 383,000,000 for China Proper, and 402,000,000 for the entire Empire. Some travellers, however, are of opinion that these figures should be greatly modified, and hold that the correct medium is between 200,000,000 and 250,000,000, because the mountainous regions are very thinly populated, and travellers erroneously form an opinion from the condition of the valleys through which they pass, which are generally densely populated.

[24]. Quoted by Mr. Henry Norman, ‘Peoples and Politics of the Far East.’

[25]. The admirable and even gallant conduct of the Chinese Regiment from Wei-hai-wei under its British officers in the recent severe fighting about Tien-tsin affords a striking confirmation of M. Leroy-Beaulieu’s words.—H.N.

[26]. The following is the list of the Treaty Ports: To the north of the Blue River, Niu-chwang, Tien-tsin, Chefoo, and near the mouth of the river Shanghai and its annex, Wusung. On the Yang-tsze-Kiang: Chin-Kiang, Nanking, Wuhu, Kiu-kiang, Sha-shi, Hankow, It-chang, Chung-king—in all eight river stations, of which Nanking is not really ‘open,’ although mentioned in the French treaty of Tien-tsin. Not far from Shanghai is Suchow, on the inland canals. On the coast south of the Blue River are Hangchow, Ning-po, Wenchow, Foochow, Amoy, Swatow. At the mouth of the West River is Canton, and higher up the river Samshui, Wuchow, and since the spring of 1899 Nanning-fu. On the Gulf of Tongking: Pakhui, and in the island of Hainan, Hoi-how. The open towns on the frontier of Indo-China are: Lung-chau, Mongtse, Ho Kau, Szemao, Tchoun-ning-fu, and a sixth, Tong-hing, is not as yet occupied. The open ports were in 1842, according to the Treaty of Nanking, only five in number, but were increased by the treaty of Tien-tsin to nineteen; others were opened by the treaty of Shimonosaki in 1895, and by the convention with England signed in 1897. A more recent treaty with this Power (1898) promises, but without fixed date, however, the opening of three new ports: Kin-chau in Manchuria, Fu-ning in Fo-kien, and Yo-chau in Hu-nan (opened in December, 1899).

[27]. The story of the improper salute was a newspaper fiction. No foundation for it has ever been adduced. The ‘threats’ after the sinking of the Kow-Shing were wholly unofficial, and the matter was referred to arbitration by the two Governments.—H. N.

[28]. It is to be regretted that the author does not give the name of the newspaper in which he read this ludicrous utterance; we should doubtless then see that it is far from representative of British opinion.—H. N.

[29]. M. Leroy-Beaulieu cannot seriously believe that the independence of China is threatened by Great Britain. British policy is, as it always has been, to maintain her independence by every means.—H. N.

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE

  1. Silently corrected typographical errors and variations in spelling.
  2. Anachronistic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings retained as printed.
  3. Footnotes have been re-indexed using numbers and collected together at the end of the last chapter.
  4. P. [125], changed “40 per cent.” to “4 per cent.”