The Savannah morning news., 1900-07-30
AN EMPIRE OF KlNGLETS.
CHINA is SOMETHING LIKE A con-
FEEDER ALTON.
Each Viceroy Almost 4 King Pro-
Vincial officials Keep in Their
Own Hands Army, Navy. and Coin
age Subject 10 Tribute 10 Pekin.

From the London Telegraph.
What Lord stowel called THE usage
and practice of nations" gives no rule or
guidance for the vague and informal ar
rang ments which have en- made by the
great Powers of Europe for the breakup
Of the Chinese empire, all anxious to
maintain the balance of Eastern influence,
or in some cases, to upset it to their own
Profit The partition of China is in the
first stage of dangerous uncertainty. In
the Yang-tse Val ey. by the letters of
February, 1898 We have by the hand OF
the English minister laid claim to the
"Yang-tse region" and he provinces az
joining the Yang-tse as the English
spheres of interest" This is the new and
indehuite term of Europy an diplomacy,
supp sed to cOnnote something less than
tn equally indefinite sphere of in
fiuence." These provinces may be six or
eight in number, but in either case they
contain a majority Of the Chinese peo-
pie and the hest of its agricultural and
mineral lands. At present no move has
been made 10 change our status in this
part of the empire, the old heart of the
Middle Kir gdom. Things are as they were
me that the only fleet of the letter had
been TO make the Mandarius more stiff
necked and unpleasant than ever to deal
with, because they had begun 10 fear that
tn ir sph re Of power and profit might be
curtaled by further British interference.
Before long, however, occasions are bound
to arise when Great Britain srill have TO
show what she meant. if she meant any
thing, by the Yangtse declaration, aud II
is as well that the public at home should
get cut OF their mind the notion that the
Tsung -li-Yamen, or any other Yamen, can
make it's wrii run in all this vast terri
tory. Not long ago Lord Salisbury spoke
of the Chinese government as "a going
concern which must b. treated as such"
If he had talked of the dozen viceregal
governments as part going concerns he
would have been nearer the mark.
NicerOy Chang-Chi-TunE as an En-
ample.
To illustrate the general statement bv
an example, lei him take the leading case
of the provinces of Hupeh and HUI Nan,
and their Viceroy, Chang hitting. This
statesman is one of the oldest and most
powerful Chinese provincial officials, and
the seat of his government is az WI
chang opposite the great trading city Of
Hankow. He is said to be the one hon
est mandarin in the empire-a man who
has spent all his squeeze" on the prov
inces that he has governed, and has left
them as empty as he came. In che last
extremity and when the "gunboat argu-
ment" is in use, he is subordinate to Pc
kin, like any other of his class; short Of
that. he exercises most of the attributes
of an autonomous ruler, and he would
be clever man who could do much in
his provinces against the Viceroy' s
wishes. He has his own army, his own
navy, and his own mint, and. except in
regard to foreign trade the regula tons
of which are dependent on foreign gun
boats he is TO all intents and purposes
supreme The ships of his feet are now
lying on the broad bosom of the Great
river, and there they We're for the all
important duty of official salutes, in 1895,
but in that year the Chinese government
happened 10 he at war with Japan. and
an order came from Pekin that the Yang
tse fleet was 10 proceed north and join
forces with the Pe-chi-Li fleet, drawn up
at Port Arthur Did Chang hi Tung,
then Viceroy of Kiang-Tsu, obey? Not
a biz of It, He said that il was Ii Hung
Changes war, and he did not mean to
send his ships north TO be destroyed by
the japanese Probably they were safer
in the river than they would have been
in the gulf. but il the navy is in this
decentralized state, it does not tend to
strengthen the central power.
1t was much the same thing with the
army Some soldiers were, 1t is true,
sent down by boat to join the imperial
forces. but they were not real soldiers.
The Viceroy refused 10 let what dsci-
plined forces he had go, on the ground
that It was wanted for heTRe service All
he sent were the coolies. dressed up to
g. @O1f
whose lives were cheap and who in
fact. were even ready 10 sell their chance
of life for small consideration, poid
to their families principally, for the
propert transport alton and burial OF their
corpses. This was not a difficult or out
of-the-way proceeding, for every Chinese
commander employs coolie soldiers for the
purpose of inspection and drawing pay.
Out Of a given force of 800 men on the
nav sheets Of the provincial war bureau,
NOT more than half at the outside would
have any existence; the rest would be
made up of the lowest class OF coolie. en-
gagged for one day only. When the in
specting mandarin appears on the parade
ground they shout and rush about rs
hard as their regular brethren, bur they
are. in fact, merely playing what they
call here fool pidgin."
Checks Upon Independence.
Nothing in China must ever be pressed
10 a logical conclusion, or at least to the
conclusion of Western logic. 1t does not,
therefore follow that provincial king
dorns make provincial Kings. or that in
dependence leads to rebellion. Our ex-
emples of Chinese history are not encour-
aging TO the ambitious Viceroy. Two CEN
turtles ago the Prince who played the pat
OF Gen. Monk to the Manchu dynasty
was. after long struggle, hunted TO sui
eide. and his family rooted out of the
land Every Viceroy is. in theory, abso-
lutely the creature OF his Emperor. BY
edict he NAV be degraded to the rank
Of coolie. or brought before the Board
of Punishments. In practice every Vice
roy has his party al court; his friends,
who. like the undertakers Of the eighteenth
century take his pay to defend his inter
ests. In the palace, too, the imperial
policy has ever been to play off magnate
against magnate and never to allow any
one official TO become TOO strong The
advantages OF a balance Of power are well
understood in the Forbidden City.
Then. Viceroy can pay the palace
Squeeze" and everything in China has
its price. OF recent times only one or
two Viceroys have actually been degraded
and that was due solely TO the insstant
pressure of the great Powers. on the
other hand Viceroy and Governor have a
very real liability in person and family:
they have given outside their govern
ment. so many pledges OF good behavior.
No official is set over the place of his
birth. for by one OF the earliest Of the
fundamental lows he must not he ap-