But These
Expectations Were Soon Shown To Be Premature.
Half of the railway was open
for use in the summer of 1876, and during some weeks the excitement among
the Chinese themselves was as marked as among the Europeans.
The hopes
based upon this satisfactory event were destined to be soon dispelled by
the animosity of the officials. They announced their intention to resort
to every means in their power to prevent the completion of the
undertaking. The situation revealed such dangers of mob violence that Sir
Thomas Wade felt compelled to request the company to discontinue its
operations, and after some discussion it was arranged that the Chinese
should buy the line. After a stipulated period the line was placed under
Chinese management, when, instead of devoting themselves to the interests
of the railway, and to the extension of its power of utility, they
willfully and persistently neglected it, with the express design of
destroying it. At this conjuncture the viceroy allowed the Governor of
Fuhkien to remove the rails and plant to Formosa. The fate of the Woosung
railway destroyed the hopes created by its construction, and postponed to
a later day the great event of the introduction of railways into China.
Notwithstanding such disappointments as this, and the ever present
difficulty of conducting relations with an unsympathetic people controlled
by suspicious officials, there was yet observable a marked improvement in
the relations of the different nations with the Chinese. Increased
facilities of trade, such as the opening of new ports, far from extending
the area of danger, served to promote a mutual goodwill. In 1876
Kiungchow, in the island of Hainan, was made a treaty port, or rather the
fact of its having been included in the Treaty of Tientsin was practically
accepted and recognized. In the following year four new ports were added
to the list. One, Pakhoi, was intended to increase trade intercourse with
Southern China. Two of the three others, Ichang and Wuhu, were selected as
being favorably situated for commerce on the Yangtse and its affluents,
while Wenchow was chosen for the benefit of the trade on the coast. Mr.
Colborne Baber, who had been a member of the Yunnan commission, was
dispatched to Szchuen, to take up his residence at Chungking for the
purpose of facilitating trade with that great province. The successful
tour of Captain Gill, not merely through Southwest China into Burmah, but
among some of the wilder and more remote districts of Northern Szchuen,
afforded reason to believe that henceforth traveling would be safer in
China, and nothing that has since happened is calculated to weaken that
impression.
When Kwangsu ascended the throne the preparations for the campaign against
Kashgaria were far advanced toward completion, and Kinshun had struck the
first of those blows which were to insure the overthrow of the Tungani and
of Yakoob Beg. The fall of Souchow had distinguished the closing weeks of
the year 1873, and in 1874 Kinshun had begun, under the direction of Tso
Tsung Tang, who was described by a French writer as "very intelligent, of
a bravery beyond all question, and an admirable organizer," his march
across the desert to the west.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 323 of 366
Words from 168453 to 168984
of 191255
