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.
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Page 621 of 704
Words from 168530 to 168808
of 191255
