The San Francisco call., 1898-04-06

: O.. @ :: 9: YOKOHAMA, April 5.-Great e o; Britain's action in regard to @ . Q. : Wei -Hai-Wei has caused a sen @ @ satiop here, and a large section 0 :; O. of the press and public urge the @ :. @. .Government to adopt an active @ @ policy. Q .~ GO co 0 000ooo0c00000 ... LONDON, April 5.-The House of Commons was crowded to-day with :; people anxious to hear the statement of. MT. Balfour, acting Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, on the subject of .: the situation in the far East. NIT. Bal .fotir enumerated the concessions ob- :tatned by Great Britain-namely, that ~ the region of the Yang tse- Kiang should <: not be alienated by any foreign power; .. that the successor of Sir Robert Hart F. as director of the Chinese imperial ma ritime customs is to be an EngliShman and. that access to the inland waters Is to. be had by the ships of all nations.
 < A fourth concession, MT. Balfour con-
 tinued, was made only a day or two .agu-namely, the opening of three new treaty pOrts-Funing, YOchau and Chin s Wang: This, according to MT. Bal -four; was a considerable harvest for :. two rnonths' negotiations.
 **% :: Relative to the German acquisition of :':r;ailroads. MT. Balfour said that wher- : ever they were constructed they must :: be a benefit to British commerce. He :: :::helteyed neither Germany nor Russia ;. had. any intention of depriving Great Britain of any of her rights in China. <ctermany had given assurance that the :cHNntry occupied by her would be open :tt3 =the. commerce of the whole world. :: The. interests of Germany and Great : T5rftain in China were identical, and he ;. 1fellATed the two countries would be ~ahje to work hand in hand. Russia had also given assurances, but he was
 bOund to admit that the form of those assurances had changed.
 +: Touching upon Wei-Hai-Wei, MT.
 Baffour said that, Russia having se- 2. cured Port Arthur, on the maritime ap-
 pT0ach to Peking, Great Britain had occupied Wei-Hai- Wei. to balance mat tegs. The speaker added that had Rus
 sia confined herself to obtaining an ice
 free commercial port as a terminus for
 her railroad no complaint would have been made; but, unfortunately, Russia
 determined to obtain control of Port
 Arthur which was not and could not
 he made a commercial port. AS soon as Great Britain heard of the negotia- Iions she laid her views closely before ;. Russia and expressed her sense of the : evil they were bringing upon China. ; Continuing, MT. Balfour said:
 ..' We offered, if they would abstain from taking Port Arthur, to ourselves 7 give a corresponding pledge to take no
 pert. on the gulf of Pechili. But our ..QffeE was not accepted and so on March :23 we informed Russia that we "should hold ourselves free to *take the necessary steps to safe .gIsard our interests, and Great Britain
 has since obtained a lease of Wei-Hai-
 Wei on the same terms as those by Which Russia secured Port Arthur Wei -Hai-Wei is the only port on the
 Gulf of Pechili which might balance ~ the possession of Port Arthur. While .- Port Arthur is stronger, the accomme-
 dation at Wei -Hai-Wei is inestimably
 greater, and by taking Wei-Hai- Wei . under our protection we prevent the Gulf of Pechili from falling under the
 maritime control of one power, and
 thus defend our interests
 Relative to the security of the future
 NIT. Balfour said it could not b. denied that. the indications were that China might collapse and, with further de- cay, IEdSIIeHlS 4llSIll De SIldDDeu up DY : various powers, but it would be a mis- take to allow Great Britain's policy to be governed by remote contingencies. : He added:
 .%.a'We desire to maintain the integrity of China so far as possible, but it must be recollected that the future will prob
 ably have strange surprises In store. "
 Mir Balfour said the Government thought Russia had pursued an unfor- . i,, talyino Port ArthI1r which, as Russia herself said in 1895,
 when Japan proposed to occupy it, would, in the hands of any foreign power, constitute a menace to the cap ital of China. In conclusion he said:
 "The balance of power in the far East may be far different when the dis integratiOn of China has occurred. The time may come when the great powers will say that China shall not fall into thehandS of any one power and to embark now upon a difficult and costly enter prise in order to ward off a remote and doubtful danger would be political fol- ly. Her Majesty's Government asks the country to indorse this policy with more confidence before we know that Great Britain has the sympathy of the great commercial community through out the world. (Cheers.)
 -r"I believe the time may come when the great commercial powers will join In an alliance to prevent China falling a prey to any exclusive influence, and ] am convinced that Great Britain, by continuing her present unselfish policy of opening to all what she secures for
 herself, will build up in Europe, not less than in America, body of public International opinion which will be more powerful than any nasty action Great Britain might take at the pres eht moment"
 Sir William Vernon HarcOIrt smoke : satirically of the policy of the 'open
 door" and asked the reason for the 2: change of policy. He said the treaty . of Tien Tsin gave British ships the
 right. to use any port in China and he expressed the desire to know speci-