CHINA. 



101 



The principal articles of imports and exports in 1877 and 1878 are shown in the following 

 table : 



The movement of shipping in the Chinese 

 ports during the years 1877 and 1878 is shown 

 by the following table (entrances and clear- 

 ances being taken together) : 



The first attempt to introduce railways was 

 made by the construction of a short line from 

 Shanghai to Woosung, forty miles in length. 

 One half of this line, from Shanghai to Kang- 

 wang, was opened for traffic June 3, 1876, but 

 closed again in 1877, after having been pur- 

 chased by the Chinese authorities. There aro 

 four lines of electric telegraph, having an ag- 

 gregate length of thirty-nine miles. 



The Chinese Government has lately main- 

 tained an independent and determined attitude 

 in its transaction" with foreign powers, and in- 

 dicated an intention to recover all of the ter- 

 ritory over which it formerly exercised domin- 

 ion. The treaty with Russia for the retroces- 

 sion of the province of Kulja or Hi to China, 

 which was concluded by the Chinese envoy at 

 St. Petersburg in the fall of 1879, was not sat- 

 isfactory to the Government. It granted more 

 important commercial privileges to Russian 

 subjects than the Government was willing to 

 concede, and abandoned to Russia the most 

 valuable part of the province of Kulja, a tract 

 which was so situated geographically and strati- 

 graphically that it left it in the power of Russia, 

 in the event of war between the two nations, to 

 cut off communication between Kulja and the 

 rest of the Chinese Empire at any moment. The 

 Government allowed no time to be lost in ex- 

 )robation of the conduct of its 

 issent from the conclusions to 



pressing its disappi 

 envoy, and its diss 



which he had committed it; and, on the com- 

 plaint of the Generalissimo Tso-Tsung-t'ang, 

 lodged with the Emperor, a decree was issued 

 on the 2d of January, several days before the re- 

 turning envoy, Chung How, reached the capital, 

 depriving him of all his ranks and offices, and 

 ordering him to be handed over to the Board of 

 Punishments, to be dealt with for returning from 

 his post without leave. By the same decree, the 

 treaty and all the official documents connected 

 with it were ordered to be submitted to a coun- 

 cil of the highest metropolitan officials, to be 

 reported upon. The indignation against the 

 envoy, Chung How, was very strong, so that 

 notwithstanding he was of one of the best Man- 

 tchoo families, and had powerful connections 

 who brought to bear in his favor all the influence 

 they could exert, and that his cause was taken 

 up by the foreign Ministers, he was for several 

 months threatened with the extreme punish- 

 ment. The court was divided between two 

 parties : one party, led by the Prince of Tun, 

 with the Board of Censors, of which Chung 

 How was a president, and other powerful offi- 

 cers, supported the impeachment urged by the 

 Generalissimo, and advocated the abrogation of 

 the treaty at all hazards; the other party, in 

 which the Prince of Kung, the Imperial Chan- 

 cellor, and the members of the Board of Foreign 

 Affairs, were prominent, did not approve of the 

 terms of the treaty, but advocated a lenient 

 treatment of Chung How, and efforts to effect 

 a peaceful settlement of the questions with Rus- 

 sia. The former party appeared to be in the as- 

 cendant for a time, but the views of the advo- 

 cates of a more moderate course prevailed in 

 the end. The treaty was submitted to the six 

 official boards for examination ; they, after con- 

 sidering its provisions, decided that the Govern- 

 ment ought rather to risk a war than consent 

 to such stipulations. The Russian Government 

 caused it to be given out that the refusal of the 

 Chinese to ratify the treaty would be considered 

 an insult to the Czar, who had given it his signa- 

 ture, and would be resented as an affront, mak^ 

 ing a rupture of diplomatic relations necessary. 

 The Chinese began to strengthen those points 

 which would be exposed to Russian attack in 



