The Awakening of China Part 22

So far from being new, an anti-foreign spirit is the normal state of the Chinese mind. Yet during the year past it has taken on new forms, directed itself against new objects, and employed new methods.

It deserves therefore a conspicuous place among the new developments in the China of the twentieth century.

Where everything is changing, the temper of the people has undergone a change. They have become restless as the sea and fickle as a weather-vane, The friends of yesterday are the enemies of to-day; and a slight or petty annoyance is enough to make them transfer man or country from one to the other category. Murderous outbreaks, rare in the past, have now become alarmingly frequent, so much so that the last year might be described as a year of anti-foreign riots. The past nine months have witnessed four such outbreaks, In four widely separated provinces, venting their fury pretty impartially on people of four nationalities and of all professions, they were actuated by a [Page 245]

common hate and indicated a common purpose. That purpose--if they had a purpose--was to compel a readjustment of treaty relations.

America has the distinction of being the target for the first a.s.saults.

In treating the subject I accordingly begin with America and the boycott, as set forth in a long extract from an address before the Publishers' League of New York, November 8, 1905, on

AMERICAN INFLUENCE IN THE FAR EAST

"Mr. President and Gentlemen:

"If I were asked to find a _pou sto_, a fulcrum, on which to erect a machine to move the world, I should choose this league of publishers; and the machine would be no other than the power press! I have accepted your invitation not merely from pleasant recollections of your former hospitality, but because new occurrences have taken place which appeal to the patriotism of every good citizen.

They are issues that rise above party; they involve our national character and the well-being of another people whom we owe the sacred duties of justice and humanity.

"When I agreed to speak to you of American influence in the Far East, I was not aware that we should have with us a representative of j.a.pan, and I expected to spread myself thinly over two empires.

Happy I am to resign one of these empires to Mr. Stevens.

"I shall accordingly say no more about j.a.pan than to advert to the fact that the wise forbearance of Commodore Perry, which, in 1854, induced the Shogun to open his ports without firing a gun, has won the grat.i.tude of the j.a.panese people; so that in many ways they testify a preference for us and our country. For instance, they call the English language 'Americano,' etc. They were disappointed that their claims against Russia were not backed up by the United States. That, however, caused only a momentary cloud. Beyond this, nothing has ever occurred to mar the harmony of the two peoples who [Page 246]

face each other on the sh.o.r.es of the Pacific. Perry's wise initiative was followed by the equal wisdom of Townsend Harris, who, before any other consul or minister had arrived, was invited to Yedda to give advice to the government of the Shogun.

"American influence thus inaugurated has been fostered by a n.o.ble army of ministers, consuls, and missionaries. The total absence of ma.s.sacres and murders[*] makes the history of our intercourse with j.a.pan tame in contrast with the tragic story from China. It speaks the reign of law.

[Footnote *: The only missionary killed in the last fifty years was stabbed while grappling with a burglar.]

"My acquaintance with j.a.pan dates back forty-six years; and in the meantime I have had pleasant relations with most of the ministers she has sent to China. One of her officials recently gave me a beautiful scarf-pin that speaks volumes for American influence, showing as it does the two flags in friendly union on one flagstaff.

I gave him in return the following lines:

"'To sun and stars divided sway!

Remote but kindred suns are they, In friendly concord here they twine To form a new celestial sign.

"'Thou, Orient sun, still higher rise To fill with light the Eastern skies!

And you, ye stars and stripes, unfurled Shed glory on the Western world!

"'Our starry flag first woke the dawn In the empire of the Rising Sun.

May no ill chance e'er break the tie, And so we shout our loud _banzai!_'

"I now turn to the less cheering theme of American influence in China. It reminds me of the naturalist who took for the [Page 247]

heading of a chapter 'Snakes in Iceland,' and whose entire chapter consisted of the words 'There are no snakes in Iceland.' Though formerly blazing like a constellation in the Milky Way, American influence has vanished so completely that you can hardly see it with a microscope. What influence can we presume on when our commodities are shut out, not by legislative action but as a result of popular resentment?

THE BOYCOTT

"True, the latest advices are to the effect that the boycott has broken down. I foresaw and foretold more than two months ago that it could not in the nature of the case be of long duration, that it was a mere _ballon d'essai_--an encouraging proof that Orientals are learning to apply our methods. But is there not a deplorable difference between the conditions under which it is used in the two countries? In one the people all read, and the newspaper is in everybody's hand. The moment a strike or boycott is declared off all hands fall into their places and things go on as usual. In the other the readers are less than one in twenty.

Newspapers, away from the open ports, are scarcely known, or if they exist they are subject to the tyranny of the mandarins or the terrorism of the mob. Hence a war may be waged in one province and people in another may scarcely hear of it. Chevaux-de-frise may bar out goods from one port, while they are more or less openly admitted in other ports. Not only so, the hostile feeling engendered by such conflict of interest is not dissipated by sunshine, but rankles and spreads like an epidemic over vast regions unenlightened by newspapers or by contact with foreign commerce.

"Witness the ma.s.sacre of American missionaries at Lienchow in the Canton province. I am not going to enter into the details of that shocking atrocity, nor to dwell on it further than to point out that although the boycott was ended on September 14, the people in that district were in such a state of exasperation that the missionaries felt themselves in danger fourteen days after that date. In the New York _Sun_ of November 5 I find part of a letter from one of the victims, the Reverend Mr.

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Peale, written exactly one month before the tragedy. Allow me to read it along with an introductory paragraph.

"'PRINCETON, N. J., Nov. 4.--A. Lee Wilson, a student in the Princeton Theological Seminary, received a letter a few days ago from John R.

Peale, the missionary who, with his wife, was killed in Lienchow, China, on October 28. The letter was dated September 28, and reached America at the time that Peale and his wife were murdered. It gives a clue to the troubles which led to the death of Peale. The letter says in part:

"'"The interest in the boycott is vital to the missionaries. Heretofore the Americans always enjoyed special favour, and to fly the American flag meant protection; but it is different now. No personal violence has been attempted, but the people are less cordial and more suspicious.

People in China are not asking that their coolies be allowed entrance into the States, but they only ask that the Americans cease treating the Chinese with contempt and allow their merchants and students the same privileges that other foreigners receive."

"'Peale graduated from the Princeton Theological Seminary last May.

"Is it not evident that whatever spark caused the explosion, the nitro-glycerin that made it possible came from the boycott?

"Not only do they boycott ponderables such as figure at the custom-house, but they extend the taboo to things of the head and heart. The leader of the whole movement was formerly an active supporter of the International Inst.i.tute, an inst.i.tution which proposes to open gratuitous courses of lectures and to place Chinese men of intelligence on common ground with scholars of the West, He now opposes the International Inst.i.tute because, forsooth, it is originated and conducted by Dr. Reid, a large-minded American.

"After this, will you be surprised to hear that your own publications, the best text-books for the schools of the Far East, have been put on the _index expurgatorius?_ A number of such books were lately returned with the excuse that they were forbidden because they bore the stamp of an American press.

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"If I should go on to say that government officials, high and low, look with satisfaction on this a.s.sertion of something like national feeling, you might reply, 'National feeling! Yes, it is a duty to cultivate that.' But do we not know how it has been fostered in China? Has not hatred of the foreigner been mistaken for patriotism, and been secretly instigated as a safeguard against foreign aggression?

In this instance, however, there is no room to suspect such a motive.

The movement is purely a result of provocation on our part; and it is fostered with a view to coercing our government into modifying or repealing our offensive exclusion laws. The Viceroy of Central China, with whom I have spent the last three years, is known as a pioneer of reform--a man who has done more than any other to instruct his people in their duties as well as their rights. When, on the expiration of my engagement, I was about to leave for home, the prefect of Wuchang, a Canton man, addressed me a letter begging me to plead the cause of his people with the President of the United States. That letter was referred to in an interview by the viceroy, and the request which it contained reiterated by him. He gave me a parting banquet, attended by many of his mandarins, and on that occasion the subject came up again and the same request was renewed and pressed on me from all sides. While I promised to exert myself on their behalf, let me give you a specimen of the kind of oil which I poured on their wounded feelings.

"Said I, 'Under the exasperating effect of these petty grievances your people forget what they owe to the United States. They lose sight of the danger of alienating their best friend. In the Boxer War, when Peking was captured by a combined force of eight foreign powers, who but America was the first to introduce a self-denying ordinance forbidding any power to take any portion of the Chinese territory? In this she was backed up by Great Britain; the other powers fell into line and the integrity of the Empire was a.s.sured.

Again, when China was in danger of being drawn into the vortex of the Russo-j.a.panese war, who but America secured for her the privileges of neutrality--thus a second time protecting her national life? And now you turn [Page 250]

against us! Is not such conduct condemned by your ancient poet who says:

"_'Ki wo siao yuen, w.a.n.g wo ta teh', etc._

(How many acts of kindness done One small offence wipes out, As motes obscure the shining sun And shut his l.u.s.tre out.')

"If the cause of offence be taken away there is reason to hope that the beneficent action of our country, on those two occasions so big with destiny, will be remembered, and will lead China to look to our flag as an aegis under which she may find protection in time of need. Not till then will our influence, now reduced to the vanishing-point, be integrated to its full value.

PROVOCATIONS TO A BOYCOTT

"The injuries inflicted, though trifling in comparison with the benefits conferred, are such as no self-respecting people should either perpetrate or endure. Take one example, where I could give you twenty. Two young men, both Christians, one rich, the other poor, came to the United States for education. They were detained in a prison-shed for three months, One of them, falling sick, was removed to a hospital; the other obtaining permission to visit him, they made their escape to Canada and thence back to China.

"What wonder no more students come to us and that over 8,000 are now pursuing their studies in j.a.pan![*]

[Footnote *: The conciliatory policy of President Roosevelt is bearing fruit Forty students are about to start to the United States (May, 1906).]

"The present irritation is, we are a.s.sured by the agitators, provoked by the outrageous treatment of the _privileged cla.s.ses_ (merchants, travellers, and students) and not by the exclusion of labourers, to which their government has given its a.s.sent. Yet in the growing intelligence of the Chinese a time has come when their rulers feel such discrimination as a stigma. It is not merely [Page 251]

a just application of existing laws that Viceroy Chang and his mandarins demand. They call for the rescinding of those disgraceful prohibitions and the right to compete on equal terms with immigrants from Europe. If we show a disposition to treat the Chinese fairly, their country and their hearts will be open to us as never before.

Our commerce with China will expand to vast proportions; and our flag will stand highest among those that overarch and protect the integrity of that empire."

On November 16, I was received by President Roosevelt. Running his eye over the doc.u.ments (see below) which I placed in his hands he expressed himself on each point. The grievances arising from the Exclusion Laws he acknowledged to be real. He promised that they should be mitigated or removed by improvements in the mode of administration; but he held out no hope of their repeal. "We have one race problem on our hands and we don't want another," he said with emphasis. The boycott which the Chinese have resorted to as a mode of coercion he condemned as an aggravation of existing difficulties. The interruption of trade and the killing of American missionaries to which it had led made it impossible, he said, to turn over to China the surplus indemnity, as he had intended.

This response is what I expected; but it will by no means satisfy the ruling cla.s.ses in China, who aim at nothing short of repeal.

When I a.s.sured him the newspapers were wrong in representing the agitation as confined to labourers and merchants, adding that the highest mandarins, while formally condemning it, really give it countenance, he replied that he believed that to be the case, and reiterated the declaration that [Page 252]