Evening star., 1899-03-27
A Subject in Which All Europe is
Vitally Interested.
CECIL RHODES AND THE KAISER
Their Agreement is a Sad Blow to
Dom Paul Kruger
MATTERS OF INTEREST
eclal Correspondence Of The Evening Star.

L
present. 1t is of more importance now
| than il was few years ago when after
| the Chino-Japanese war the partition of the
\ yellow kingdom began. Matters at that
| time moved slowly and diplomatically. Now
| the dogs are QuaTreling over the bone and
| no time is given for the owner to have his
| say. The partition of China is real and
large slices are being apportoned to each
| claimant. The eyes of Europe have been
| turned to America and great interest
! evinced to what part the United States
! would play in the game of division. There
is a certain relief felt in some quarters over
| the statements from Washington to the ef-
| feet that the United States has enough re-
I sponsibihty already in the far east In the
| shape of the Philippines and has no inten-
| tion of taking part in the Chinese scramble.
| In England perhaps there is something Of a
| feeling that something OF force would be
| gained if the United tates would join in
| the deal. but still it would mean less for
| others il she did So relief and anxiety are
| nicely balanced. England, Italy and Ger
| many seem 10 understand each other, and
| the game Is being played against Russia
| and China France does not count for
| much In the new scramble, though she
may be depended upon to support Russian
| claims. With the aid of Great Britain Italy
| has achieved what seemed almost impOssi-
| BILE, and has gone lower than any other
| power of Europe in her treatment OF China.
4
| coveted China's most convenient harbors
| and sites for coaling stations. bat they had
! not yet enunciated the doctrine that their
1 desire constituted in itself a valid title TO
| its objects. When they took what they
| wanted, they at least paid tribute to pub
| lie virtue so far as to say they took II
| only because Cinnamon had murdered mis-
| sionaries of theirs: or that they took IL
| not only TO build forts upon IL, but to build
| a cathedral, too; that they took it not
| simply because they wanted it, hut because
la.1 h
wanted, and the doctrine of compensation
| that is that II takes BIS purse c is,
| therefore. entitled to BIS watch-had ac-
| cordingly become applicable to the case. In
| this way many good souls with not very
| clear eyes were led to believe that the
| theft OF Kiao-Chow was undertaken for the
| spiritual advantage of the heather, its pro-
| prietors, and that there a kind of wild
| equity in the argument that as Germany
| had Kiao-Chow Russia should have Port
| Arthur, and as Russia had the anchorage
| of Port Arthur England should have, If not
| an anchorage at least the right to dredge
| in the face of all men at Wei-Hai-Wei. 1t
| was with the susterest air OF morality that
| everybody grabbed until the other day,
| when Italy. supported by England. began
| to grab with an air of insolent frank CD
| pidity.
| ItaIy's Exhibition.
| Had this piece of sef-revelation come
| from Russia or from Germany nobody
would by this time have been amazed. OF
! their governments a cynical disregard for
/ the rights Of other races and a faulty esti-
mate of the relative importance of the va
rious interests of their own subjects are ex-
| pected But Italy, to whom Mazzini and
| Garibaldi gave the watchword OF Italy.
| for the Italans''-Italy. fearfully burnt
! in Abyssinia that of all nations she should
! have most dreaded the jngo fire. OF the
| force of the wave OF reaction that Is max
| ing itself felt throughout Europe the grow
ing infidelity of united Italy to the ideals
| of her founders is one of the ugliest signs.
| The worst exhibition of this forgetulness
was given during the Cretan crisis and the
| Greco-Turk5sh war. One could not help re-
| hecting. while Admiral Canevaro was bonn
| harding the Cretans and. with the other ad-
mirals trying to intimidate Greece. that
modern Italy had sprung from just such
| labor of reunion as Greece was trying to
complete; that all the Greek-speaking ISL
ands were almost as naturally the members
| of one political party as Parma and Modena
| and Piedmont and Sicily and Venice. There
| can be little doubt what the outcome or
! such an unequal struggle will be. Italy
will be satisfied as others have been salts
| fed, and another large slice of China will
enrich foreign devils"
England and Russia
OF greater interest, because OF the fine
diplomatic fencing involved, is the quarrel
| between England and Russia which has
| just met with temporary settlement until
a new difficulty arises by the withdrawal Of
Russia's protest owing to the firm stand
taken by Great Britain 1t will be well
to reh6arse very briefly the immediate cir
cumstances of the dispute In July, 1898,
a concession was made to the Hong Kong
and Shanghai Bank, as representing Brit
ish syndicate, for the northerly extension
to New-Chwang of the railroad between
Tientsin and Shan-hai-hwan. The conces-
sion was resisted by Russia at the time,
but was finally signed on October 10, three
days after NJ. Pavloff's removal from Pc
kin, by the manager of the bank and 1u-
Yu-Fen, the director of railways. The
amount involved is a per cent loan OF
e. go 600 AS recent events have demon
strated, NJ. de Giers, successor TO Nj. Paw
loft has had little effect on the sltua-
ton. NJ. de Giers sent another note to
the Tsung-li- Yamen affirming more strong
ly than before his previous protest against
the concessions. This caused a spirited re-
joinder from Sir Claude Macdonald, the
British minister, and diplomatic deadlock
resulted until negotiations removed the
cause of quarrel by withdrawing the pro-
test. The Tsung-li-Yamen is the diplomatic
headquarters of all these various move
ments. Practically, however, ii takes
very secondary place. The new tendency
which one notices is toward the concen-
tration of power in the imperial court.
The Empress Regent.
This movement has a far greater signih-
eance now than it could ever have had be-
fore because in the court itself a similar
concentration is taking place. The court
and the imperial government, boards and
councils now mean one and the same indi-
vidual, namely the empress regent. "Letat
c'est moi'' is her motto. But she Is inv1si-
BILE and cannot be approached by the -ordi-
nary diplomatic avenue. What passes IN
the palace and in thu inner councils of the
empress is to foreigners generally an un-
known quantity-fo all. indeed, except to
these who have underground wire lutelt-
gence to guide them. The various lega-
items do not stand on an equal footing in
this matter, and undoubtedly the palm
must be given the Russian chancery for
having the completest system both of re-
ceiving and of imparting intelligence. This
is due not merely to the commanding polit-
ical position of Russia, which naturally
rresses all sorts and conditions of men into
her service but also to the supreme i'm
portance which the Russian government at
taches to the function of its legation in
Petin so many Chinese officials and un-
dArlings are stipendaries of Russia--the fu-
ture director of the Nsw-Chwang railway,
Hsu for example, having been heavily SUBJ
sidized for the last four years-that it
would probably be exceedingly difficult for
other legations to place themselves ahead
+t.of nf Go H.. e.