It is difficult for people who have not lived in China and travelled in the interior, away from the busy life of the Treaty Ports, to realise what the Chinese Empire is to-day — an enormous stretch of country larger than the whole of Europe, peopled by a dense population, most industrious and civilised, yet still living under conditions which vividly recall the descriptions of our own Middle Ages.

Few people realise upon what a democratic and decentralised basis the Chinese Empire stands. The Central Government at Peking may exercise despotic sway over its own appointed officials, but it dares not touch the people at large, who have their own ideas of self-government consecrated by centuries of " custom." This unwritten law goes ever unchallenged, while the codified law is more often than not a dead letter. Theoretically the local magistrate, the appointee of the provincial viceroy, and so the officer of an infallible Emperor, is absolute ; in practice his powers are extremely limited. The fact of his having no armed force at his back prevents his issuing any decree not in accord with the public opinion of the citizens he is supposed to rule over; should he attempt anything of the kind, he is' soon made to withdraw by public demonstrations of discontent, which never fail ultimately to bring him into line with the popular will ; and he will go great lengths in evading disagreeable instructions from above, rather than expose himself to humiliation from below. The " father and mother " of his flock dares not incur an exhibition of his rebellious children before an invidious world.

很難讓那些沒有在中國生活過，且沒有深入內地旅行、遠離通商口岸繁忙生活的人們，真正理解當今的中國帝國。這是一片遼闊的國土，面積比整個歐洲還大，居住著一個人口稠密、勤勞且文明的民族，但他們仍然生活在某些條件下，這些條件生動地讓人聯想到我們自己中世紀的描述。

很少有人意識到中國帝國是建立在一個多麼民主且去中心化的基礎上。北京的中央政府或許對其任命的官員可以行使專制權力，但它不敢觸碰廣大人民，因為人民有自己經過幾個世紀「習俗」認可的自治觀念。這部未成文的法律從未受到挑戰，而成文的法律則往往淪為一紙空文。理論上來說，地方官員，即由省級總督任命、代表無誤的皇帝的官員，是絕對的掌權者；但在實際操作中，他的權力極為有限。由於他背後沒有任何武裝力量支撐，這使他無法頒佈任何不符合他所統治的市民輿論的法令；如果他試圖這樣做，市民會通過公開的抗議活動迫使他收回成命，而這樣的抗議最終一定會讓他順應民意。他甚至會竭力迴避來自上級的令人不快的指示，而不是讓自己在民眾面前丟臉。作為「父母官」，他絕不敢冒著讓他「叛逆的子民」在世人面前展現不滿的風險。

Dating back from the time of the Taiping Rebellion (1848-1864), the Chinese people have been encouraged by their officials to form themselves into militia for selfdefence. This militia, analogous to the train-bands of the Middle Ages, is officered and armed by the citizens themselves, and, again like our train-bands, resents official control. They refuse to obey their officials, whom I have known order them to put down riots, mostly antimissionary, and at times assemble in open defiance of instructions, in order to defeat some scheme which they consider anti-patriotic. Thus at Chungking, in 1897, when, at the close of the war with Japan, it was rumoured that Japanese merchants and officials were coming up the Yangtse to take up a concession of land that the Governor had marked out for them, the local militia assembled, literally in its thousands, swearing that never ! never ! should the audacious Japs be permitted to take possession. Fortunately for the peace of this far inland and, from the European resident point of view, defenceless treaty port, the Japanese expedition was delayed in the rapids, so that the militia, after three days' shouting and demonstrating— an extraordinary mixture of the comic and the picturesque — at last got tired and returned to their occupations. Having fired off all their powder and neglected their business in the interval, when the Japs did arrive no notice whatever was taken of them. The only result of this exuberant patriotism was to alarm the unfortunate Chinese officials and the merchants and gentry who had anything to lose, as well as to afford an amusing spectacle to the onlookers perched on the high city walls above them.

自太平天國起義（1848-1864）以來，中國百姓在官員的鼓勵下，開始組建民兵來進行自衛。這些民兵類似於中世紀的地方武裝，由市民自己擔任軍官和武裝力量，並且像我們的地方武裝一樣，對官方控制懷有抵觸情緒。他們拒絕服從官員的命令，我曾見過官員指示他們去鎮壓騷亂（大多是反對傳教士的騷亂），而他們有時甚至公開無視指令集結，目的是挫敗他們認為不符合國家利益的計劃。

例如，1897年在重慶，當時正值中日戰爭結束，謠傳日本商人和官員將沿長江而上，接收總督為他們劃出的土地特許權，當地民兵立即集結，成千上萬地宣誓：「絕不！絕不！讓狂妄的日本人占領這裡！」從歐洲居民的角度看，這是一個遠離海岸且幾乎無防禦的通商口岸，幸運的是，日本遠征隊因為長江激流被耽擱了。民兵在喊叫和展示力量了三天後——這場面充滿了喜劇性與視覺效果的奇妙結合——終於精疲力竭，回到自己的工作崗位上。他們把所有火藥都放光了，生意也耽擱了，等到日本人真的到達時，大家對此已毫不理會了。

這場過度的愛國情緒唯一的結果，就是讓可憐的中國官員，以及有財產的商人和士紳們感到驚恐，對於站在城牆高處觀望的旁觀者來說，這無疑成為了一場別開生面的好戲。

The weakness of the Central Government in China has ever been the bane of our diplomatists. Instead of recognising things as they were, and redressing grievances on the spot, our Government has cherished the illusion that by holding Peking alone responsible for every disturbance in the provinces, they could strengthen the Empire and simplify their work. The result has been to worry the Peking officials, as well as our own ministers there, beyond endurance ; while many a crime, such as the absolutely unprovoked murder of two Englishmen by the Wusueh mob, not a hundred miles from Hankow, and many other outrages too long to enumerate, have gone unpunished. . The old gunboat poHcy of seeking redress on the spot ' has been the only successful one in China, and it is / gratifying to see that this has been the policy pursued in Hong Kong — a policy too, which in the long run, earns ' the approbation of the Chinese themselves.

中國中央政府的軟弱一直是困擾我國外交官的根源。我們的政府未能認清實際情況並就地解決問題，反而存有一種錯誤的幻想，認為只要將一切省內動亂責任推給北京，就能強化帝國權力並簡化外交事務。結果不僅讓北京的官員，甚至我們駐當地的使臣都忍無可忍，因而許多罪行——例如在武穴發生的暴民無故謀殺兩名英國人，以及其他難以計數的暴行——都未受到懲罰。

在中國，唯一行之有效的政策就是老式的「炮艦政策」，即在事發地點尋求賠償。而令人欣慰的是，這也是香港當局所採取的政策。從長遠來看，這種政策甚至會獲得中國民眾的認同與讚許。

In travel in China there is a charm which repays the traveller for the many discomforts incidental to finding oneself suddenly transported into the life of the fifteenth century and enabled to realise the state of our ancestors generations ago ; a state from which the " revival of learning " gradually transformed the civilised world so-called, into its present state of activity, mental and physical, and the resultant astonishing development of material comfort and international intercourse. But it is difficult for denizens of Europe to realise that a highly civilised people like the Chinese should be so behindhand in many of what we hold to be the first necessities of civilisation such as roads and railways. Magnificent waterways supply the place of roads throughout the alluvial plains, but in the hilly and mountainous regions, which occupy three-fourths of the whole empire, nothing worthy of the name of road exists.

在中國旅行，雖然會面臨許多不便，但其中的魅力卻足以補償旅者這些不適。這種旅途彷彿讓人瞬間穿越回十五世紀的生活狀態，得以真切體會我們祖先世代前的生活狀況。這種狀況，隨著「文藝復興」逐漸轉變了所謂的文明世界，最終促成了現今社會的活躍精神與物質上的驚人發展，以及國際間的頻繁往來。然而，對於生活在歐洲的人來說，很難想像像中國這樣一個高度文明的民族，居然在許多我們認為是文明的基本需求上——如道路和鐵路——如此落後。壯麗的水路雖然在廣袤的沖積平原上取代了道路的作用，但在占全國四分之三的山地丘陵區，幾乎沒有任何稱得上是「道路」的基礎設施。

The difficulty of inter-communication is thus the great obstacle to any rapid increase in our trade. The present Manchu dynasty in China has discouraged intercourse between the different provinces and, has allowed the old roads to fall into decay. This state of things will be slowly remedied by the introduction of railways, but it will be a long time before many of the numerous projected lines come into existence, and in the meanwhile it will be well to induce our Government to aid in removing the other great obstacles which oppose the advance of our trade with China. The chief of these is the opposition still placed by the Chinese officials in the way of developing the country, and so enriching the people, and giving them the means wherewith to indulge in the foreign luxuries of Manchester cottons and Sheffield hardware. The mass of the Chinese people are poor labourers living from hand to mouth, fairly well fed, food being good and cheap in this fertile land, but with no possible surplus for good clothing or comfortable lodging. All work such as tracking boats against the swift current of the Chinese rivers, and, in the mountainous regions, conveying merchandise on their backs from town to town, is done by overtaxed hand labour, and thus the mass of the people are little better than the beasts of burden, docile to a degree, but with few more wants than the animals, with the additional quality of being a cheaper machine for the work, for over rough mountain paths a coolie will carry more than a horse and cost less to feed.

交通不便成為了我們貿易快速增長的最大障礙。中國現任的滿清王朝一直不鼓勵各省之間的交流，並任由古老的道路衰敗。雖然鐵路的引入將慢慢改變這種狀況，但許多計劃中的鐵路線要落實還需要相當長的時間。與此同時，我們應該促使政府幫助消除其他阻礙我們與中國貿易發展的主要障礙，其中最主要的就是中國官員仍然對開發國家、促進民眾富裕持抵制態度，這也阻礙了他們有能力購買曼徹斯特的棉織品和謝菲爾德的五金製品。大多數中國人都是貧困的勞工，靠日結工資為生，這片富饒的土地讓他們有足夠且便宜的食物維持溫飽，但幾乎沒有任何多餘的錢來購置優質的衣物或舒適的住房。所有的重體力活，如在中國河流湍急的水流中拖曳船隻，或是在山區內肩負貨物在各城鎮間運輸，都是靠被過度剝削的手工勞力來完成。因此，這些勞工的生活與牲畜相差無幾，他們溫順至極，需求極少，且比牲畜更為廉價，因為在崎嶇的山路上，一個苦力所能承載的重量比一匹馬還多，而他的口糧成本卻更低。

Now hberal mining laws would lead to the almost unlimited investment of foreign capital in China, and thus to the better employment of the people, and their gradual enrichment ; but so far mining continues to be generally discouraged ; a few big concessions to privileged syndicates appear to have been granted, but anything like general permission to mine, either to Chinese or to Europeans, is still persistently refused. Our Government, through their Minister in Peking, should press upon the Chinese to adopt mining laws similar to those in force in our great colonies. Everything is possible in China by a mixture of pressure and persuasion ; but it has required the late successful action of Germany and Russia in their so-called spheres to bring the fact of this possibility home to our Government, who, until the recent startling intrusion of our rivals into Chinese politics, have been for the past fifty years deaf to the remonstrances and recommendations of British residents in China.

如今，若能實施寬鬆的採礦法，將會促使外國資本在中國（China）進行幾乎無限量的投資，從而更好地解決當地勞動力的就業問題，並逐步使人民富裕起來。然而，迄今為止，中國（China）的採礦活動仍然受到普遍的抑制。少數獲得特權的財團似乎獲得了大規模的特許權，但無論是對中國人（Chinese）還是歐洲人（Europeans），任何類似於普遍性的採礦許可仍然被堅決拒絕。我們的政府應該通過駐北京（Peking）的使節，敦促中國（China）採取類似於我們大殖民地所實行的採礦法規。事實上，對中國（China）施加壓力與說服相結合，任何事情都有可能實現。只是直到最近德國（Germany）和俄國（Russia）在他們所謂的勢力範圍內的成功行動，才讓我們的政府切實感受到這種可能性。過去五十年裡，英國（British）駐華居民的不斷抗議和建議一直未能引起政府的重視，直至我們的競爭對手在中國（China）政治中的突然介入才驚醒了政府。

When Russia advanced another thousand miles south, practically shutting us out of Manchuria, with a second Sebastopol in Port Arthur, ready to pounce upon Peking

BRITISH TRADE WITH CHINA 43

at any moment, some attention was at length paid to the critical condition of the Chinese Empire, and there is some chance now of the " open door " remaining open as long as our attention is not called off elsewhere. We have an active Minister watching our intereste at Peking ; all that is now needed to ensure due protection to our trade in China is for the people of this country to see that their representatives in Parliament understand and watch the China question, and so keep the Government of the day up to the mark, and compel them to give hearty support to our Minister's representations. We must give the young reform party in China our moral, if not material support and help them to rid themselves of the reactionary Manchus. We should keep wide awake when the coming tariff revision comes under discussion, and in any modifications of the tariff study carefully our own interests as well as those of the Chinese people, which, in truth, run on all fours with our own. Should higher export and import duties be ultimately agreed upon (ten per centum ad valorem is spoken of in lieu of the present five per centum) we must demand a quid pro quo in the total abolition of all inland transit dues and likin, by whomsoever collected, and let the internal trade of China be made as free as is that of protectionist America to-day. There is great danger, that, in the state of chaos into which China is falling, these inland dues, under " foreign " control, and against which our diplomatists have been carrying on a continuous struggle for many decades, may become crystallised and irremovable. The Imperial Maritime Customs, under Sir Robert Hart, is no longer confined to the ports on the coast 'and along the land frontier : strings of new inland custom houses have of late years been gradually estabUshed, with foreign staffs along the Yangtse, and now a steamer or foreign-owned junk is called upon to pay " export and coast-trade " duty on the cargo it carries of seven and one-half per cent. ad valorem between ports sometimes less than a hundred miles apart.