It Is Impossible To State With Any Precision
The Amount Of Moral Or Material Support Which The Chinese Emperor Received
From his imperial brother and formidable neighbor, and which encouraged
him to the obstinate resistance that he offered to the
Demands of England
and France [in 1860]; but a slight acquaintance with Russian policy must
satisfy any one that, having established itself as a favored nation,
Russia could not regard with complacency any attempt made by another
nation to share such advantages." Comprehending, therefore, the Chinese
character, perceiving clearly that the present Manchu dynasty is unable to
perform the elementary functions of an organized society, that Pekin is
another Teheran or Constantinople, that, while the people are sound, the
courts and the officials are corrupt, Russia has studied and gained over
certain influential persons and applied skillfully the maxim, _divide et
impera_. What China is taught night and day is that Russia is a land
power, and, therefore, alone can protect China; that she keeps her
promises and threats; that, with England, on the other hand, it is always
a case of _vox et praeterea nihil_. In short, Russia protects China in
a peculiar sense, that is to say, for a price, to be paid to Russia or
even to her friends. The dominating idea instilled into the Chinese court
and bureaucracy, which, in the absence of a strong policy on England's
part, are in a hypnotized condition, is to be saved from Japan. The great
object of Russian policy is to utilize China for territorial and political
expansion.
What would China be worth to Russia? 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.
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