Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1895-10-10
England and China.

In view of England's readiness to en-
force her ultimatum by fleet of war
ships in the Yang-tse kiang, China has
Welded to the demand for the degrada-
tion of the Viceroy of Szechuen, who
is held responsible for the outrages
committed last May at the mission
stations in Cheng Flu. The hesitation
of the Pekin Government was due to
its reluctance to offend the litearry or
officeholding class, of which the iu-
criminated Viceroy is representative,
and the same motive will prompt it to
resist the additional demand said to be
urged by the British and American
Ministers, that all examinations for
appointment to Office and for promo
tion shall cease in the province of
Szechuen for three years. The danger
is that such a disciplinary measure
may provoke the whole literary class,
already disaffected, to insurrection,
and that the revolt of MOhamm adans
of the western provinces may be fol-
lowed by more serious uprisings in
central and southern China against the
dynasty.
So signal is the change which has of
late come over the international rela-
tions of the Middle Kingdom that it
has ceased to be the interest of Eng
land to sustain the Manchu dynasty.
whereas the upholding of it, for a
time at all events, deeply concerns
both Russia and Japan. The Toxic
Government has not yet received a
dollar of the original indemnity prom
ised by the treaty of Shimonoseki. or
of the extra compensation due for the
evacuation of Port Arthur and the Liau-
tung peninsula. Their chance of OBJ
tanning the money depends on the abil-
ity of the Manchu ruler to retain con-
troll of China's fiscal resources. 1t is
equally important to Russia that moth
ing should impair the authority of a
sovereign who through the acceptance
of weighty obligations is fast lapsing
into the position of a protege of the
Gear. Should the Mahchu dynasty
succumb to a revolt of its Chinese SUBJ
jects, the loan of S37. .5OO.OOO guaran-
teed by Russia and now lodged at Pc
kin, would disappear, and the Japan
ese would retain Port Arthur on the
ground that the price of that fortress
had not been paid. They would also
keep Wei-hai-wei for similar reasons.
but the two fortresses, coupled with
the likelihood of being embroiled with
Russia, would be poor equivalents for
an indemnity urgently needed to re-
plenish the japanese exchequer. In
a word, the interests of the Car and
the Mikado, although originally OPP
posed, are now conjoined as regards
the maintenance of the Chinese En-
pcfOT LII d pOSltlOu W lulul lis COh-
tracts.
England on the other hand, is threat
ened with a complete loss of influence
at Pekin, so long as the Manchu dynas-
ty is able to sustain itself. If the
whole of the original and extra indem-
mites due from China to Japan are OBJ
tanned through Russian guarantees, as
now seems likely to be the case, the
control of the Chinese customs will
naturally pass from the present Eng
lish Administrator to Russian hands.
Moreover, recent advices from Pekin
confirm the prediction that, should
Russia become influential there,
Frenchmen and Americans might be
welcomed, but Englishmen would not
be suffered to share in the develop
ment of China's great capabilities by
public works. Under all the circum-
stances the British Foreign Office can
not be expected to treat the Manchu
Government at Pekin with an excess
of Difference, or to go out of its way to
check the rebelIious tendencies of the
Chinese population.-N. 7. sam.