This question is answered by Mr.
Colquhoun at considerable length.
What the utilization of China would mean
can be realized, he says, only by a full appreciation of the extraordinary
resources of that country, judged from various points of view. The
Celestial Empire has the men with which to create armies and navies; the
materials, especially iron and coal, requisite for the purposes of railway
and steam navigation; all the elements, in fact, out of which to evolve a
great living force. One thing alone is wanting, namely, the will, the
directing power, which, absent from within, is now being applied from
without. That supplied, there are to be found in abundance within China
itself the capacity to carry out, the brains to plan, the hands to work.
When, moreover, it is understood that not merely is the soil fertile, but
that the mineral resources, the greatest, perhaps, in the whole world,
are, as yet, practically untouched, the merest surface being scratched;
when we further consider the volume of China's population, the ability and
enterprise, and, above all, the intense vitality of the people, as strong
as ever after four millenniums; when we reflect on the general
characteristics of the race; it seems indisputable that the Chinese, under
wise direction, are destined to dominate the whole of Eastern Asia, and,
may be, to play a leading part in the affairs of the world. Even although
the Celestial Empire appears to be now breaking up, it is capable, under
tutelage, of becoming reconsolidated. Often before now, when conquered,
has China either thrown off the yoke or absorbed its conquerors. But never
before has the conqueror come, as does the czar to-day, in the guise of a
great organizing force. To much the same effect wrote Michie, whose
opinion is of weight, and from whom we have already quoted: "The theory
that China's decadence is due to the fact that she has long since reached
maturity and has outlived the natural term of a nation's existence does
not hold good. The mass of the people have not degenerated; they are as
fresh and vigorous as ever they were; it is the government only that has
become old and feeble; a change of dynasty may yet restore to China the
luster which belongs legitimately to so great a nation. The indestructible
vitality of Chinese institutions has preserved the country unchanged
throughout many revolutions. The high civilization of the people and their
earnestness in the pursuit of peaceful industry have enabled them to
preserve their national existence through more dynastic changes than
perhaps any other country or nation has experienced." Mr. Colquhoun, for
his own part, testifies that, in peaceful pursuits, in agriculture, in the
arts and manufactures, no limit can be placed to the capabilities of
China. Even in the paths of war, he deems it difficult to foretell what,
under skillfull direction, may not be accomplished. It is true that,
touching this point, there is a wide difference of opinion. Prjevalski
said, apropos of the Tonquin campaign: "She [China] lacks the proper
material; she lacks the life-giving spirit. Let Europeans supply the
Chinese with any number of arms that they please: let them exert
themselves ever so energetically to train Chinese soldiers: let them even
supply leaders: the Chinese Army will, nevertheless, even under the most
favorable conditions, never be more than an artificially created,
mechanically united, unstable organism. Subject it but once to the serious
test of war, speedy dissolution will overtake such an army, which could
never hope for victory over a foe animated with any real spirit." On the
other hand, high testimony has been borne by other travelers and military
critics to the excellent quality of China's raw material for military
purposes. Wingrove Cooke, the "Times" correspondent with the allied forces
in 1857-58, who is generally accounted one of the best critics of Chinese
men and affairs; Count d'Escayrac de Lauture, one of the Pekin prisoners
in 1859-60; Chinese Gordon and Lord Wolseley, have all spoken highly of
the courage and endurance of the Chinese soldier. The following summary of
his capabilities was given by one who had had experience with Gordon's
"Ever-Victorious Army": "The old notion is pretty well got rid of that
they are at all a cowardly people, when properly paid and efficiently led;
while the regularity and order of their habits, which dispose them to
peace in ordinary times, give place to a daring bordering on recklessness
in times of war. Their intelligence and capacity for remembering facts
render them well fitted for use in modern warfare, as do also the coolness
and the calmness of their disposition. Physically, they are, on the
average, not so strong as Europeans, but considerably more so than most of
the other races of the East; and, on a cheap diet of rice, vegetables,
salt fish and pork, they can go through a vast amount of fatigue whether
in a temperate climate or a tropical one, where Europeans are ill fitted
for exertion. Their wants are few; they have no caste prejudices and
hardly any appetite for intoxicating liquors." It is Mr. Colquhoun's
opinion, based upon prolonged observation, that, if China were conquered
by Russia, organized, disciplined and led by Russian officers and Russian
administrators, an industrial and military organization would be developed
which India could not face, and which would shake to its foundations the
entire fabric of the British Empire. If, he says, the Chinese failed to
profit by their numerical superiority and their power of movement in
Tonquin, it must be remembered that they were as ill-equipped and supplied
and nearly as unorganized and unofficered as they were in the Chino-
Japanese war. Transport, commissariat, tents, medical service, all the
paraphernalia employed in organized army work, were then, as in the late
campaign, absolutely unknown. Notwithstanding the unfavorable judgment of
Prjevalski that the Chinese are animated by neither military nor patriotic
spirit, the conviction of many observers is that, however undisciplined
they proved themselves in the Chino-Japanese war; however badly the
undrilled, unfed, unled Chinamen in uniform compared with the highly
organized troops of Japan, their capabilities, as the components of a
fighting machine, should be rated exceedingly high.
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