COLLEGE

Good News for

LONDON, May 3rd, 1899.

The merry month of May has opened with a welcome piece of good news. Merry May-Day. On the eve of the meeting of the Peace Conference, the summoning of which Lord Salisbury rightly held as "a good omen for future peace and an augury upon which all those who value the influence of peace, civilisation, and Christianity may fitly dwell," we have the welcome announcement that the much talked-of agreement between Russia and England on the Chinese question has been finally arrived at and formally signed. This is good news indeed, nor is it less welcome because it is somewhat belated. There has been no reason why such an agreement should not have been arrived at eighteen months ago. If instead of allowing Sir Claude MacDonald to play tricks about Talienwan and

our

arouse the suspicions of the Russians as to designs on Port Arthur, Ministers had met the Russian Government frankly in the same spirit as that with which Mr. Balfour promised them an ice-free port three years ago, Port Arthur might not have been occupied to this day, and we should have been spared the nuisance of the occupation of Wei-Hai-Wei. It is, however, no use crying over spilt milk. We have at last concluded the bargain, and although its terms may not be as advantageous to us as they would have been had we concluded the arrangement sooner, they are quite good enough to be a cause of congratulation. dealing with the Russians, and not with the Russians only, John Bull always reminds us of the old Roman who made such a bad bargain in the purchase of the Sybilline books.

In

The Russo-English Agreement.

The nature of the agreement arrived at is very simple. Its details have not been published, but its main outlines are perfectly well-known. It proceeds upon the basis of a definition of spheres of interest, which must never be confounded (as Mr. Balfour will tell us) with spheres of influence. Those who doubt the difference between a sphere of interest and a sphere of influence will be told that a sphere of interest is to a sphere of influence as a sphere of influence is to a Protectorate, or as a Protectorate is to an annexation. There are four stages in the art or science of appropriation. A sphere of interest does not involve the recognition of any political authority, which is distinctly involved in the recognition of a sphere of influence. In order to make this perfectly clear the sphere of interest is defined in the new agreement as a sphere of concessions". a truly happy phrase. In practice it amounts only to this a certain department of Chinese territory is earmarked as taboo to any other Power save one, so far as financial or commercial concessions carrying political influence are concerned. That is to say, England and Russia have practically agreed to a mutual self-denying ordinance. England promises to abstain from any attempt to push for railway concessions, which are practically the only concessions under discussion, north of the Great Wall. No one but Russia is to have railway concessions in Manchuria. In return for this Russia promises not to push for railway concessions, and not to support any other Power which may attempt to obtain railway concessions in the basin of the Yangtse-kiang. But both the province of Manchuria and the basin of the Yangtse-kiang remain subject to

it is. For the sphere of interest, now defined as the sphere of concessions, only implies the exclusion of the political influence of other Powers. It does not It does not necessarily imply the exercise of direct political influence by ourselves. Everything turns upon the extent or the degree of political interference by the Foreign Powers in the Chinese Province. The object of both Russia and England being to minimise or even to avert the break-up of China, they have wisely agreed to base their agreement upon the maintenance of the status quo, merely providing for the elimination of causes of rivalry which might have precipitated the break-up which Lord Charles Beresford believes to be inevitable.

nonsense.

There has been no attempt to arrive at any such agreement, nor in the nature of things is it likely that such a comprehensive arrangement could be seriously discussed between the Foreign Offices of the two countries. There is nothing pressing excepting China, and if that question is settled, there are practically no points of friction in the relations between the two governments. M. Lessar's favourite scheme of connecting the Indian and Russian railways by a short line passing through Southern Afghanistan has not yet made sufficient progress to disturb anything excepting the equanimity of certain Russian newspapers which are in a fine frenzy lest the Afghan Junction Railway

should enable the British Indian merchants to flood the Central Asian market with English goods. Our real difficulty in China will now lie not with Russia but Germany. In order to allay German jealousy, Lord Salisbury practically made over to them the province of Shantung, and in return for his complaisance they immediately informed him that while they accepted the exclusive right of railway-making in Shantung, they had no intention whatever of recognising a similar exclusive right of the British Government in the valley of the Yangtse-kiang. Lord Salisbury contented himself at the time with repudiating this peculiarly German method of bargaining; but so far the Germans have shown no inclination to accept Lord Salisbury's point of view. Our sphere of interest in the Yangtse-kiang is therefore secured against Russia, but not against Germany.

A Cause

for

Important as the Anglo- Russian agreement concerning China is in Thanksgiving. itself, its chief value nevertheless lies in the evidence which it affords of the desire of our Government to cultivate good relations with Russia. Lord Salisbury, in making his statement concerning the agreement in the House of Lords, remarked that the agreement was a sign of good feeling between the Governments of the two countries, but added: "What is still more to be desired is that good feeling should grow up between the Russian and the English peoples." That, no doubt, is true, and hence we are justified in appealing to all supporters of Lord Salisbury to assist in combating, as the worst enemy of the interests of the British Empire, the persistent efforts of the malignant Russophobists who never lose an opportunity of exciting hatred, malice and all uncharitableness on the part of the English people against their Russian brethren. The Times, for instance, actually complains of "the frequency with which Russia has gone out of her way to obstruct English policy in matters with which she has no direct concern." This is the pot calling the kettle black with a vengeance, and no mistake. For the last fifty years one of the few principles discernible under the varying phases of British foreign policy has been a determination to play Russia a nasty trick whenever and wherever she makes any move in any part of the world. Such, at least, is the fixed belief of the Russians, based upon a painful recollection of the results of this policy. It would be interesting to have a specification of the cases in which Russia has interfered with us where her interests are not directly concerned. All these All these recriminations, however, are calculated to defeat the

object which Lord Salisbury, speaking in the name of the British Government, profoundly deplores.

with

Nothing is easier than to excite How to get on prejudice against a Government, your neighbour. even when that Government is our own. How much easier is it when the Government which is being run down is a foreign Government, dealing with the affairs of a country and the interests of an empire the exigencies of which it is impossible for us to understand. What we have to do in relation to Russia, or any other country, is to be sedulously on guard against prejudiced judgments, always to endeavour to put ourselves in their place, and to beware lest, in the guise of Pharisaic morality, we are really compounding for sins we are inclined to by damning those we have no mind to. If we look at all the faults of our neighbour through a microscope, we shall have no difficulty in persuading ourselves that he is a monster not fit to live; whereas, if we were to adopt in our dealings with the Russian or German Governments the principle of being to their faults a little blind and to their virtues very kind, we should get on a great deal better in the long run. What we have never recognised as a people is that we have got to put up with the peculiarities, the idiosyncrasies, and the defects. of our neighbours. We are, at least, quite as difficult to get along with as any foreign Government that could be named.

If we wished for a concrete illustraHow not to do it. tion of how not to do it, we should not easily find a more handy instance of the prevailing defects of our people in dealing with the affairs of their neighbours than the hue and cry which has been raised against the Russian Government on account of its proposal to bring the military law of Finland into accord with the military law of the rest of the empire. This may be a good thing or it may be a bad thing in itself. What is quite certain is, first, that it is none of our business; secondly, that if we were in the Russians' place we should have done what they are doing long ago; and, thirdly, that we stand as a people convicted of absolutely refusing, even at this moment, to concede to the Irish the same measure of local autonomy which the Finns are guaranteed, even in the very ukase against which all the uproar is being made. When you find such lamentable absence of consideration for the circumstances of our neighbour, even on the part of those who honestly wish for a rapprochement between the peoples, it must be admitted that Lord Salisbury and those with him will have their work cut out if they

are to lend us a hand in the task of promoting friendship and good understanding between the English people and the Russian Government. It is necessary to say "the Russian Government," because many of our people who profess most friendship for the Russian people are most malignant and persistent in their efforts to excite prejudice against the Russian Government. We have yet to learn that if we are to get on with the people we must be on civil terms with the Government, which, with all its faults, is nevertheless the only possible government which could, on a plebiscite, command the votes of ninetynine out of every hundred of the Russian people.

To Avoid the Breakage of China.

Another excellent thing about the agreement is that it begins with a preamble setting forth that it is the intention and desire of both empires to hold the integrity and independence of China. That is as it should be, and it is to be hoped that in the face of this definite statement there will be no more encouragement of Italian or Belgian or Austrian encroachments upon Chinese territory. Kiao-Chau, Port Arthur and Wei-Hai-Wei may be regarded as more or less sets-offs against each other. The time has surely come when we should call "halt" to any further aggression by lease or otherwise upon the fabric of the Chinese Empire. This reversion to the saner policy which prevailed both in St. Petersburg and London, before the fatal day when the German Emperor was allowed to seize Kiao-Chau, is an augury of good. Let us hope it will postpone what Lord Charles Beresford calls the "break-up of China" for many years to come. A good understanding between England and Russia will do more than anything else to reinforce the shaky, but by no means extinct, authority of the Government at Peking. In this task it is possible for the British public to take a hand. The Rev. Gilbert Reid, an American missionary, is now in Europe with a practical scheme, well deserving popular support, which, if carried out in the spirit in which it is conceived, will enable private enterprise to confer an immense benefit upon the Chinese people and, indirectly, upon all nations that do business in the Far East. Mr. Reid is getting up an International Institute in China, the design of which has been cordially approved by all the best authorities in Peking, both Chinese and European. He proposes to found an International Institute consisting of a Public Library, a Permanent Exhibition of the arts, manufactures, and sciences of the Western

How to Help the Chinese.

world, also class-rooms and social halls for the purpose of enabling the various classes of foreigners to come into friendly relations with the leading people

in

China. Another department of his scheme is directed towards the establishment of closer relations between Chinese women and their European sisters. It is no wild cat scheme. It is, on the contrary, an international project of the very highest importance. Its distinctive aim is to reach and influence the ruling classes of China. Mr. Reid has secured an 66 open door" in the shape of an emphatic certificate of approbation from the Tsung-li-Yamên He has the hearty support of Li Hung Chang, and those who are backing him at Peking are high in favour with the Empress. It is the first time in which an international co-operation of the peoples has been proposed for the purpose of benefiting the Chinese race on grounds quite independent of sectarian propagandism.

International Co-operation in

Good Works.

Mr. Reid is at present in Russia. whither he has gone to secure the co-operation of the Russians in an enterprise which ought of all others to commend itself to the English and Americans. Before Mr. Reid left China he had secured subscriptions to the amount of £3,000. In the United States ́he raised £8,000, in Holland £3,000, but in this country, although he has spent nearly eight months in going to and fro among the leading people, political, financial, and philanthropic, he did not succeed in securing any adequate financial support for his scheme. He has, however, secured the appointment of a very influential committee, with a prospect of still more adhesions when he returns from Russia. He is absolutely opposed to the break-up of China, and has great faith in what may be done if the Western nations will pull together for the benefit of China with anything like the same energy with which they have hitherto pulled against each other to the detriment of China.

The Need for Commercial Museums.

The idea of establishing a great industrial museum at Peking, a kind of International South Kensington, in which the Chinese can see with their own eyes all the best inventions and all the triumphs of our applied art and science, must commend itself to all those who are anxious to develop our trade with China. It would be well for our own

people to realise the advantage of having such a sample of exhibits. We have in this country nothing at all corresponding to the Commercial Museum which exists at Philadelphia, a report on which was recently published by our Board of Trade. In this respect as

in many others, we shall find ourselves hopelessly left behind in the race by our ingenious and enterprising cousins across the water. One of the unofficial ambassadors of the American trading community passed through London last month on his way to St. Petersburg. He will spend some time travelling over Russia and visiting Siberia for the purpose of reporting to his countrymen in the States, through the agency of the Philadelphia Museum, the most likely means by which the Americans can secure command of the Russian market. Everywhere the same thing is going on. The Americans and Germans are alert, vigorous, as pushful as "pushful Joe" himself, and when John Bull wakes up, unless he wakes up very soon, he will find he has got to take a back seat and keep it.

Mr. Rhodes's meeting of the shareThe Uncrowned holders of the South African ComKing of South Africa. pany at the Cannon Street Hotel on May 2nd proved once more the extraordinary hold which the uncrowned King of South Africa has upon the imagination of mankind, and upon the hearts of his shareholders. There is no spectacle like it in modern finance. Mr. Rhodes has never paid a dividend since the Chartered Company was started. At every fresh turn of affairs a savage claque in the Press and in Parliament has jubilantly proclaimed his coming downfall. There have been war, plague, famine, and the public pillory, and still this extraordinary man has only to summon his supporters to a rendezvous in the City, and the place is besieged by enthusiastic thousands; £5 is offered in vain for a seat in the place of assembly, and when the Great Wizard of Empire appears, and instead of distributing money asks for more, every demand is received with renewed acclamations. Against his armour of proof all the darts and arrows of his enemies fall blunted and broken. Explain it how we please, it is infinitely more marvellous on the hypothesis of his enemies than upon that of his friends. Wherein lies the secret of Mr. Rhodes's marvellous hold on the confidence of those who know him? I shall probably create much outcry when I say that after the thaumaturgic quality of earnest faith in what he believes, the chief secret of Mr. Rhodes's power is his courageous, almost audacious truthfulness. If only our politicians on the front bench had one tithe of Mr. Rhodes's pluck, and dared to speak as frankly to their supporters as Mr. Rhodes speaks to his shareholders, better days would dawn for England.

MR. GILBERT REID IN CHINESE DRESS.

Warning.

No one has ever been less given to A much-needed booming Chartereds than Mr. Rhodes. Over and over again he has deprecated the way in which their market price has been driven up by outside speculators, and even now, at the very heyday of his prosperity, he did not shrink from uttering weighty words of warning as to the futility of all his efforts, unless his countrymen at home awake to a sense of the perils threatening their industrial position. Mr. Rhodes has an abounding faith in John Bull, but then the old gentleman must take off his coat and put his back into his work. Otherwise he will be simply nowhere beside Uncle Sam. The following passage from Mr. Rhodes's speech might with advantage be written up in every place of business in the Empire :