https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-germans-in-china-xs285pxfj?CMP=TNLEmail_118918_2054865&MN=12.07.2017%20China%20(1)
The Germans in China
There is no doubt that much trouble of a minor kind on the Russian railways in the Far East has been caused by the expenditure of German money
April 10, 1917
In the following article our Peking Correspondent discusses the propaganda of the Germans in China. Since it was written the Chinese Government has severed diplomatic relations with Germany, and has decided not to make her any further payment on account of the Boxer indemnity.
It is a matter of course that the Germans are doing their best to damage the Allies and to forward their own interests in China. Some damage they are doing, and they are certainly preparing for fierce commercial competition in the future. It is difficult to say whether all their scheming has serious results. The people who count in China where foreign relations are concerned are extremely limited in number. They comprise the officials who control and execute Government policy; the merchant classes at the Treaty Ports, through whom passes the foreign commerce of the country; Young China representatives, who sit in Parliament in Peking, or in the Provincial Assemblies, and who are demanding development on Western lines. Outside these elements German intrigues would seem to be wasted. So far as the Government of the day is concerned, the Germans have had considerable success. The controlling power in Peking is military, and German military prestige stands as high here as elsewhere. There are several Chinese officers who have been educated in Germany, and German methods are constantly before the Army. The German diplomatic mission at the capital has little to do except to work on the imagination of the military men. The Premier is a soldier with a limited knowledge of world affairs, and there is no gainsaying the effect upon him of the occupation of Belgium, of parts of France and Russia, of the conquest of Serbia and of Rumania. All these points are pressed upon his attention, and nothing is said of the occupation of German colonies, of the destruction of German trade, of the exhausting efforts made by Germany to maintain a front in face of the ever-growing power of the Allies.
PROPAGANDA MAPS
Two maps relating to the war have recently appeared in the Chinese newspapers. They were given by the German Legation to the Premier, and have since been reproduced in the subsidized organs of the Cabinet. One represented the Western front, 400 miles long, with a tiny dent to illustrate the Allied progress on the Somme. The map is correct in detail. The information by which it was accompanied gave no indication of the gigantic nature of the conflict, of the damage done in this small area to the German Army as a whole. The other map depicted the North Sea as a naval sphere continually swept by the German fleets, all but a strip at the Straits of Dover being under German domination. Germans in China have a useful weapon at their disposal. Their share of the Boxer indemnity, their part of the interest in tho two big Anglo-German loans (£16,000,000 each), and various other receipts are estimated to equal over £3,000,000 a year, all of which is paid by the Chinese Government to the Deutsch-Asiatische Bank in China. With this money Germans who are stranded in China in consequence of the war are supported, propaganda is maintained, various devious methods of damaging the Allies are financed, and the ground is prepared for future commercial cultivation. The bases of these operations are the German Legation in Peking, the German Concessions in Tientsin and Hankow, and every German Consulate in the country. Press propaganda is limited to the publication of a few newspapers in English, which have a very small circulation, and to small subsidies to many Chinese sheets, the whole limited in effect.
DANGEROUS AGENTS
German enterprise sometimes takes a more dangerous form. At the beginning of the war it will be remembered that Major Pappenheim, the German Military Attache in Peking, left here to shoot in Mongolia, and was discovered by the Russians to be marching north with a caravan of explosives designed to wreck tunnels on the Siberian Railway. A band of Mongols, apprised of his character, destroyed the whole party.
There is no doubt that much trouble of a minor kind on the Russian railways in the Far East has been caused by the expenditure of German money. Another interesting case is that of Major Dinkelman, once of the Legation Guard, and a military adviser to the Chinese Government until his dismissal was secured on the ground that his anti-Ally activities constituted a breach of neutrality. The enterprising Major disappeared from Peking last May, and his whereabouts was a subject of curiosity for some time. In December he was discovered in Kashgar preparing to cross the frontier into Afghanistan, where, doubtless, he intended to add his blandishments to those of Von Hentig. From Kashgar, under the interested observation of the Indian Government, he proceeded along the well-known Pamir route, via Tashkurgan, into Taghdumbash, where “three Empires meet”. Here instead of swinging west into Wakhan, Afghan territory, he continued south, and put his foot into the lion’s mouth at Hunza-Nagar. When arrested 9,000 golden sovereigns were found on him.
When Von Hentig, after a fruitless effort to get the Ameer to declare himself against the Allies, was politely put over the Afghan border into Chinese Turkestan, he proceeded to Yarkand, and there began an anti-Russian propaganda in aid of a Mahomedan rebellion under promotion by German agents. In due course an outbreak took place in Ili, the local Sarts and Kirghiz deluded by vast promises, infinite lying and much money, suddenly rising and murdering many Russian settlers - men, women, and children. A handful of troops easily suppressed the movement. Thousands of the rebels were killed, including some hundreds of Chinese subjects.
Von Hentig, accompanied by an Indian soldier captured on the Western front, and by Hamsa Effendi, a relative of the Emir of Bokhara, afterwards comfortably marched across China, nominally escorted by Chinese soldiers, and is now believed to be safe in the German Consulate at Hankow. British and Russian representations to the Chinese Government as to the desirability of interning this firebrand have hitherto met with no response.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/china-and-the-war-8z2khwh6l?CMP=TNLEmail_118918_2054865&MN=12.07.2017%20China%20(1)
It is a matter of course that the Germans are doing their best to damage the Allies and to forward their own interests in China. Some damage they are doing, and they are certainly preparing for fierce commercial competition in the future. It is difficult to say whether all their scheming has serious results. The people who count in China where foreign relations are concerned are extremely limited in number. They comprise the officials who control and execute Government policy; the merchant classes at the Treaty Ports, through whom passes the foreign commerce of the country; Young China representatives, who sit in Parliament in Peking, or in the Provincial Assemblies, and who are demanding development on Western lines. Outside these elements German intrigues would seem to be wasted. So far as the Government of the day is concerned, the Germans have had considerable success. The controlling power in Peking is military, and German military prestige stands as high here as elsewhere. There are several Chinese officers who have been educated in Germany, and German methods are constantly before the Army. The German diplomatic mission at the capital has little to do except to work on the imagination of the military men. The Premier is a soldier with a limited knowledge of world affairs, and there is no gainsaying the effect upon him of the occupation of Belgium, of parts of France and Russia, of the conquest of Serbia and of Rumania. All these points are pressed upon his attention, and nothing is said of the occupation of German colonies, of the destruction of German trade, of the exhausting efforts made by Germany to maintain a front in face of the ever-growing power of the Allies.
PROPAGANDA MAPS
Two maps relating to the war have recently appeared in the Chinese newspapers. They were given by the German Legation to the Premier, and have since been reproduced in the subsidized organs of the Cabinet. One represented the Western front, 400 miles long, with a tiny dent to illustrate the Allied progress on the Somme. The map is correct in detail. The information by which it was accompanied gave no indication of the gigantic nature of the conflict, of the damage done in this small area to the German Army as a whole. The other map depicted the North Sea as a naval sphere continually swept by the German fleets, all but a strip at the Straits of Dover being under German domination. Germans in China have a useful weapon at their disposal. Their share of the Boxer indemnity, their part of the interest in tho two big Anglo-German loans (£16,000,000 each), and various other receipts are estimated to equal over £3,000,000 a year, all of which is paid by the Chinese Government to the Deutsch-Asiatische Bank in China. With this money Germans who are stranded in China in consequence of the war are supported, propaganda is maintained, various devious methods of damaging the Allies are financed, and the ground is prepared for future commercial cultivation. The bases of these operations are the German Legation in Peking, the German Concessions in Tientsin and Hankow, and every German Consulate in the country. Press propaganda is limited to the publication of a few newspapers in English, which have a very small circulation, and to small subsidies to many Chinese sheets, the whole limited in effect.
DANGEROUS AGENTS
German enterprise sometimes takes a more dangerous form. At the beginning of the war it will be remembered that Major Pappenheim, the German Military Attache in Peking, left here to shoot in Mongolia, and was discovered by the Russians to be marching north with a caravan of explosives designed to wreck tunnels on the Siberian Railway. A band of Mongols, apprised of his character, destroyed the whole party.
There is no doubt that much trouble of a minor kind on the Russian railways in the Far East has been caused by the expenditure of German money. Another interesting case is that of Major Dinkelman, once of the Legation Guard, and a military adviser to the Chinese Government until his dismissal was secured on the ground that his anti-Ally activities constituted a breach of neutrality. The enterprising Major disappeared from Peking last May, and his whereabouts was a subject of curiosity for some time. In December he was discovered in Kashgar preparing to cross the frontier into Afghanistan, where, doubtless, he intended to add his blandishments to those of Von Hentig. From Kashgar, under the interested observation of the Indian Government, he proceeded along the well-known Pamir route, via Tashkurgan, into Taghdumbash, where “three Empires meet”. Here instead of swinging west into Wakhan, Afghan territory, he continued south, and put his foot into the lion’s mouth at Hunza-Nagar. When arrested 9,000 golden sovereigns were found on him.
When Von Hentig, after a fruitless effort to get the Ameer to declare himself against the Allies, was politely put over the Afghan border into Chinese Turkestan, he proceeded to Yarkand, and there began an anti-Russian propaganda in aid of a Mahomedan rebellion under promotion by German agents. In due course an outbreak took place in Ili, the local Sarts and Kirghiz deluded by vast promises, infinite lying and much money, suddenly rising and murdering many Russian settlers - men, women, and children. A handful of troops easily suppressed the movement. Thousands of the rebels were killed, including some hundreds of Chinese subjects.
Von Hentig, accompanied by an Indian soldier captured on the Western front, and by Hamsa Effendi, a relative of the Emir of Bokhara, afterwards comfortably marched across China, nominally escorted by Chinese soldiers, and is now believed to be safe in the German Consulate at Hankow. British and Russian representations to the Chinese Government as to the desirability of interning this firebrand have hitherto met with no response.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/china-and-the-war-8z2khwh6l?CMP=TNLEmail_118918_2054865&MN=12.07.2017%20China%20(1)
China and the War
The Germans have crowned an infamous record in China by stirring up the recent revolt and by financing the attempt to restore the discredited Manchu dynasty
August 10, 1917
China is not yet officially at war with Germany and Austria-Hungary, but her decision has been announced, and it may be assumed that the technical declaration will soon follow. Had it not been for the recent internal troubles, China would probably have entered the war more than three months ago. The crisis at Peking is apparently now at an end. Li Yuan-Hung has finally refused to resume office as President, and his place has been taken by Feng Kuo-Chang, whose arrival at the capital appears to have helped to clear the air. Tuan Chi-Jui has now had his new Cabinet at work for nearly a month, and the opposition to his reappearance as Premier is subsiding.
A few days ago Tuan Chi-Jui issued a manifesto in which ho declared his firm adherence to the Republican cause. He certainly gave ample proof of his sympathies when he took the lead in crushing the recent rising. He has further announced that in his view “an organ for the expression of the will of the people is indispensable”. He says, however, that such an “organ” must cooperate with the Government and be “suitable to the present condition of the people”.
The real issue evidently is whether China is to have full Parliamentary government or some less complete form of popular control. The Young China Party and the Canton stalwarts are restive, but there now seems less likelihood of further active differences between North and South. Dr Sun Yat-Sen is said to have gone to Canton, where he threatens to cause trouble, but his influence is spasmodic and is probably diminishing. The one interest of the Western Powers, as we have repeatedly urged, is that China should have a stable and continuous government. If President Feng Kuo-Chang and Tuan Chi-Jui can overcome dissensions and restore strength to the Administration, their assumption of office will be approved by the Allies.
One of the first acts of the new Administration was to range itself definitely on the side of the Allies and against Germany. So long ago as March 12 China broke off diplomatic relations with Germany because no satisfactory reply was made to her strong protests against unrestricted submarine warfare. At the beginning of the present month Tuan Chi-Jui and his colleagues unanimously decided to proclaim war against Germany. It is understood that on August 2 President Feng Kuo-Chang expressed approval of the Cabinet’s decision.
There is every reason to believe that all political parties in China will unite in supporting a declaration of war. The troubles of May and June were not due to serions differences about war policy, for the Chinese have ample reason to regard Germany and German methods with peculiar detestation. The seizure of Kiaochau as the price of murdered missionaries is not forgotten. The barbarities wrought by the German troops during the Boxer rebellion revealed to the horrified Chinese and to the rest of the world those tendencies in war which have more recently been demonstrated afresh by the Huns wherever they have fought.
The Germans have crowned an infamous record in China by stirring up the recent revolt and by financing the attempt to restore the discredited Manchu dynasty. They are not loved in China, any more than in the many other countries whose doors are closed against them. It is satisfactory to know that China’s resolve is strongly approved in Japan. When Viscount Motono said at Tokyo in June that should China enter the war she would “win for herself the esteem and sympathy of all the Powers striving for the triumph of the great common cause,” he expressed a sentiment which will be shared by all the Allies.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/china-reviewed-2g3gnd5cq?CMP=TNLEmail_118918_2054865&MN=12.07.2017%20China%20(1)
A few days ago Tuan Chi-Jui issued a manifesto in which ho declared his firm adherence to the Republican cause. He certainly gave ample proof of his sympathies when he took the lead in crushing the recent rising. He has further announced that in his view “an organ for the expression of the will of the people is indispensable”. He says, however, that such an “organ” must cooperate with the Government and be “suitable to the present condition of the people”.
The real issue evidently is whether China is to have full Parliamentary government or some less complete form of popular control. The Young China Party and the Canton stalwarts are restive, but there now seems less likelihood of further active differences between North and South. Dr Sun Yat-Sen is said to have gone to Canton, where he threatens to cause trouble, but his influence is spasmodic and is probably diminishing. The one interest of the Western Powers, as we have repeatedly urged, is that China should have a stable and continuous government. If President Feng Kuo-Chang and Tuan Chi-Jui can overcome dissensions and restore strength to the Administration, their assumption of office will be approved by the Allies.
One of the first acts of the new Administration was to range itself definitely on the side of the Allies and against Germany. So long ago as March 12 China broke off diplomatic relations with Germany because no satisfactory reply was made to her strong protests against unrestricted submarine warfare. At the beginning of the present month Tuan Chi-Jui and his colleagues unanimously decided to proclaim war against Germany. It is understood that on August 2 President Feng Kuo-Chang expressed approval of the Cabinet’s decision.
There is every reason to believe that all political parties in China will unite in supporting a declaration of war. The troubles of May and June were not due to serions differences about war policy, for the Chinese have ample reason to regard Germany and German methods with peculiar detestation. The seizure of Kiaochau as the price of murdered missionaries is not forgotten. The barbarities wrought by the German troops during the Boxer rebellion revealed to the horrified Chinese and to the rest of the world those tendencies in war which have more recently been demonstrated afresh by the Huns wherever they have fought.
The Germans have crowned an infamous record in China by stirring up the recent revolt and by financing the attempt to restore the discredited Manchu dynasty. They are not loved in China, any more than in the many other countries whose doors are closed against them. It is satisfactory to know that China’s resolve is strongly approved in Japan. When Viscount Motono said at Tokyo in June that should China enter the war she would “win for herself the esteem and sympathy of all the Powers striving for the triumph of the great common cause,” he expressed a sentiment which will be shared by all the Allies.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/china-reviewed-2g3gnd5cq?CMP=TNLEmail_118918_2054865&MN=12.07.2017%20China%20(1)
China reviewed
What productive industry asks for in China is peace within its borders, law and order, and a respite from being looted in the name of liberty
August 18, 1917
China’s declaration of war against Germany and Austria, like her severance of diplomatic relations and the seizure of German ships at Shanghai which took place in March, is essentially a matter of internal politics. The question of making common cause with the Allies hlas been characteristically involved in the more immediate and domestic differences of the factions fighting for power at Peking; first, in the struggle between President Li Yuan-hung and his Premier, Tuan Chi-jui; next, in Chang Hsun’s short-lived attempt at re-establishing the Monarchy, finally, in the quarrel between the Military Governors and the self-styled Parliamentarians, the Young China modernists of the Kuo Min-tang. From the outset, it has been unmistakably evident, since the Allies first mooted the idea of compensating benefits to China, that the several aspirants to power in Peking have been fully alive to the advantages which they may expect to derive from joining the Allies, but it has been equally evident that this very knowledge has tended to stimulate the ambitions and increase the violence of the partisans.
In order that we should grasp something of the inner significance of the bewildering combinations and permutations of their unceasing strife, it is essential to remember that, as it was under the last of the Manchus, so it is under the soi- disant Republic. The struggle is essentially a struggle between the “Ins” and the “Outs”, by no means to be determined by any readjustment of political machinery or by giving new names to old things. Dynasties may pass, Empires fall, but the Mandarin remains.
INTRIGUE AGAINST THE CABINET
Chang Hsun’s blundering attempt to restore the Monarchy has proved a blessing in disguise, in so far that it has enabled Tuan Chi-jui to resume control of the Government with the half-hearted, but nevertheless effective, blessing of General Feng Kuo-chang, who succeeds to the Presidency. It is characteristic of the peculiar qualities of intrigue which habitually dominate politics in Eastern countries that many of those who fervently supported Tuan against President Li in March, when he insisted on severing relations with Germany, now oppose him with equal fervour, on grounds of internal politics, for having carried that act to its logical conclusion.
Scheming agitators of the Cantonese faction, politicians of the class of Sun Yat-sen and Tang Shao-yi, now refuse to recognize the authority of the Central Government, not because of its policy in joining the Allies, but on alleged grounds of concern for the purity of Republican ideals and the sanctity of Parliamentary procedure. The personnel of Tuan Chi-jui’s Cabinet, as formed on July 18, affords in itself evidence that his policy is not intended to be reactionary. His loyal adherence to the Republic (which means non-adherence to the Manchus) has been clearly proved. Nevertheless, Sun Yat-sen, Tang Shao-yi, and Admiral Chen Pi-kuan, have gune to Canton for the avowed purpose of organizing a league of the Southern and South-Western Provinces against the Central Government; and straightway the European Press resounds with echoes of Young China’s threats of an abysmal cleavage between North and South.
It was even so in 1913, when the disgruntled place-seekers went to Canton, and, with promises of loot and largesse, enlisted a rabble for “the war to punish Yuan”. Today, once again, the Powers that are sincerely desirous of seeing China re-established under a stable Government are being invited to repeat the error which they committed in 1912, in allowing themselves to be persuaded not to give Yuan Shih-kai the moral and financial support to which he was entitled. and which would have enabled him to restore the authority of the Central Government. It is sincerely to be hoped that the Allies will not again be misled by these natural but utterly misleading manifestations of Young China’s activities. It cannot be too emphatically stated that, so far as the toiling, inarticulate masses of the Chinese people are concerned, there is no permanent cleavage, no rooted hostility between North and South.
THE SOUTHERN AGITATORS
There is a Southern political party, in the sense that the ever-restless Cantonese, the Irish of China, are always intolerant of authority and also because Canton has become a very cave of Adullam for the “Outs”. In this sense, there is a Southern political party, whose programme is identified with sea-green Republicanism, by no means incorruptible, but the fact remains that the peasantry and people of South China have no standing quarrel with the North, no consistent complaint against the Central Government, and no sympathy with the pernicious activities of the baser sort of politicians.
What productive industry asks for in China is peace within its borders, law and order, and a respite from being looted in the name of liberty. The “stupid people” will welcome any Government, no matter what its image and superscription, which confers these boons upon them; for they have come to look with deep suspicion and fear upon the class of “patriot” that has made of China’s Parliament a byword and a thing of scorn. Unfortunately, however, the noisy journalists and professional agitators of young China still exercise influence, out of all proportion to their achievements and merits, at Shanghai and Hong-Kong, and are thus enabled to spread abroad their bogey-talk of North against South. Although the Government that has now been organized by Tuan Chi-jui may not be an ideal one, it is undoubtedly the only one in sight that offers a reasonable prospect of restoring law and order. But, as the Shanghai Correspondent of The Times telegraphed on July 10, there is evidence that the old intrigues against Tuan, originally fomented by German money, are still active.
The Cantonese leaders, faithful to their habits of factionist strife, now declare that there is no hope for Republican institutions so long as Tuan and President Peng remain in power. The Correspondent of The Times added that “every support should be given to Tuan and Feng, who are unquestionably the two men most able to secure the peaceful reorganization of which China stands in such great need.”
The Allies, unanimously convinced that this reorganization can only be achieved by means of a strong and stably-centralized Government, will need to show the courage of that conviction and to avoid falling into the vacillating weaknesses of the past.
SUPPORT FOR THE GOVERNMENT
As a matter of fact, stability of government at Peking being fundamentally a question of solvency, Tuan’s administration starts with a considerable advantage over its predecessors. In addition to the financial relief which it has already obtained in the greatly increased value of silver, and in the efficient management of the Salt Gabelle, Tuan has reason to expect that the Allies will show their appreciation of China’s action against Germany by suspending or remitting the Boxer indemnities and by consenting to a substantial increase of the Customs import dues. Thus financially established, and assured of the support of the Allies against pro-German intrigues and other conspiracies, the Central Government should be in a position gradually to restore the fiscal machinery of the provinces, on which stability ultimately depends. At the outset, however, to tide over immediate difficulties and to inspire confidence in waverers, a loan from the Allies will be necessary and should be forthcoming.
In order that we should grasp something of the inner significance of the bewildering combinations and permutations of their unceasing strife, it is essential to remember that, as it was under the last of the Manchus, so it is under the soi- disant Republic. The struggle is essentially a struggle between the “Ins” and the “Outs”, by no means to be determined by any readjustment of political machinery or by giving new names to old things. Dynasties may pass, Empires fall, but the Mandarin remains.
INTRIGUE AGAINST THE CABINET
Chang Hsun’s blundering attempt to restore the Monarchy has proved a blessing in disguise, in so far that it has enabled Tuan Chi-jui to resume control of the Government with the half-hearted, but nevertheless effective, blessing of General Feng Kuo-chang, who succeeds to the Presidency. It is characteristic of the peculiar qualities of intrigue which habitually dominate politics in Eastern countries that many of those who fervently supported Tuan against President Li in March, when he insisted on severing relations with Germany, now oppose him with equal fervour, on grounds of internal politics, for having carried that act to its logical conclusion.
Scheming agitators of the Cantonese faction, politicians of the class of Sun Yat-sen and Tang Shao-yi, now refuse to recognize the authority of the Central Government, not because of its policy in joining the Allies, but on alleged grounds of concern for the purity of Republican ideals and the sanctity of Parliamentary procedure. The personnel of Tuan Chi-jui’s Cabinet, as formed on July 18, affords in itself evidence that his policy is not intended to be reactionary. His loyal adherence to the Republic (which means non-adherence to the Manchus) has been clearly proved. Nevertheless, Sun Yat-sen, Tang Shao-yi, and Admiral Chen Pi-kuan, have gune to Canton for the avowed purpose of organizing a league of the Southern and South-Western Provinces against the Central Government; and straightway the European Press resounds with echoes of Young China’s threats of an abysmal cleavage between North and South.
It was even so in 1913, when the disgruntled place-seekers went to Canton, and, with promises of loot and largesse, enlisted a rabble for “the war to punish Yuan”. Today, once again, the Powers that are sincerely desirous of seeing China re-established under a stable Government are being invited to repeat the error which they committed in 1912, in allowing themselves to be persuaded not to give Yuan Shih-kai the moral and financial support to which he was entitled. and which would have enabled him to restore the authority of the Central Government. It is sincerely to be hoped that the Allies will not again be misled by these natural but utterly misleading manifestations of Young China’s activities. It cannot be too emphatically stated that, so far as the toiling, inarticulate masses of the Chinese people are concerned, there is no permanent cleavage, no rooted hostility between North and South.
THE SOUTHERN AGITATORS
There is a Southern political party, in the sense that the ever-restless Cantonese, the Irish of China, are always intolerant of authority and also because Canton has become a very cave of Adullam for the “Outs”. In this sense, there is a Southern political party, whose programme is identified with sea-green Republicanism, by no means incorruptible, but the fact remains that the peasantry and people of South China have no standing quarrel with the North, no consistent complaint against the Central Government, and no sympathy with the pernicious activities of the baser sort of politicians.
What productive industry asks for in China is peace within its borders, law and order, and a respite from being looted in the name of liberty. The “stupid people” will welcome any Government, no matter what its image and superscription, which confers these boons upon them; for they have come to look with deep suspicion and fear upon the class of “patriot” that has made of China’s Parliament a byword and a thing of scorn. Unfortunately, however, the noisy journalists and professional agitators of young China still exercise influence, out of all proportion to their achievements and merits, at Shanghai and Hong-Kong, and are thus enabled to spread abroad their bogey-talk of North against South. Although the Government that has now been organized by Tuan Chi-jui may not be an ideal one, it is undoubtedly the only one in sight that offers a reasonable prospect of restoring law and order. But, as the Shanghai Correspondent of The Times telegraphed on July 10, there is evidence that the old intrigues against Tuan, originally fomented by German money, are still active.
The Cantonese leaders, faithful to their habits of factionist strife, now declare that there is no hope for Republican institutions so long as Tuan and President Peng remain in power. The Correspondent of The Times added that “every support should be given to Tuan and Feng, who are unquestionably the two men most able to secure the peaceful reorganization of which China stands in such great need.”
The Allies, unanimously convinced that this reorganization can only be achieved by means of a strong and stably-centralized Government, will need to show the courage of that conviction and to avoid falling into the vacillating weaknesses of the past.
SUPPORT FOR THE GOVERNMENT
As a matter of fact, stability of government at Peking being fundamentally a question of solvency, Tuan’s administration starts with a considerable advantage over its predecessors. In addition to the financial relief which it has already obtained in the greatly increased value of silver, and in the efficient management of the Salt Gabelle, Tuan has reason to expect that the Allies will show their appreciation of China’s action against Germany by suspending or remitting the Boxer indemnities and by consenting to a substantial increase of the Customs import dues. Thus financially established, and assured of the support of the Allies against pro-German intrigues and other conspiracies, the Central Government should be in a position gradually to restore the fiscal machinery of the provinces, on which stability ultimately depends. At the outset, however, to tide over immediate difficulties and to inspire confidence in waverers, a loan from the Allies will be necessary and should be forthcoming.
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