154 



CHINA. 



Commercial Treaty with France. Negotiations 

 between M. Cogordan, the French plenipoten- 

 tiary, and Li-Hung-Chang, for the arrange- 

 ment of the terms on which trade is to be con- 

 ducted across the frontier between Tonquin 

 and China, were carried on at Tientsin for 

 nearly a year. The French sought to obtain 

 large concessions, on the supposition that the 

 result of the war enabled them to dictate 

 terms, but the Chinese were resolved to yield 

 as little as possible, and disputed trivial points 

 in a contentious spirit in order to deprive 

 France of even the semblance of exacting con- 

 cessions. The delimitation of the Tonquin 

 frontier advanced smoothly, but is not ex- 

 pected to be completed before 1888. The 

 French demanded the right of keeping an offi- 

 cial agent at Talifoo or Yunnan-fu, in Yun- 

 nan, but only obtained the stipulation that no 

 other country should have that privilege. 

 China agreed to open two places to trade : one 

 above Laokai, giving access to Yunnan ; and 

 one on the frontier beyond Langson, at the 

 entrance of the rich and populous province of 

 Kwangsi. This provision was already con- 

 tained in the treaty of Tientsin, signed on June 

 9, 1885. China will establish custom-houses at 

 these points, and France may maintain consu- 

 lar agents there. China has the right to keep 

 consuls in Hanoi, Haiphong, and other places 

 in Tonquin, and is given favored-nation treat- 

 ment in that country, with freedom of trade 

 and residence. The French are accorded the 

 usual rights in the open places in China. Only 

 persons with Chinese passports can enter 

 China from Tonquin. Imports across the front- 

 ier into China pay one fifth less than the mari- 

 time customs dues, and exports one third less. 

 Articles not mentioned in the tariff pay 5 per 

 cent, ad valorem in each case, and all such 

 goods pay the liTt,in, or inland transit dues, in 

 the usual way. These reductions are not so 

 great as those of the Russian overland tariff. 

 The French plenipotentiary contended for a 

 stipulation enabling France to impose a poll- 

 tax on Chinese immigrants into Tonquin, and 

 virtually obtained it in a vaguely worded 

 clause. The reductions in the duties are not 

 regarded by English merchants as sufficient to 

 give the French any advantage in the trade of 

 Southeastern China or Yunnan, at least not 

 until Tonquin is tranquillized, French goods 

 admitted duty free into Tonquin, and a rail- 

 road constructed to the frontier. Even then 

 they can be counterbalanced by the opening 

 of a treaty port on the upper Canton river. 

 Lord Salisbury disputed M. de Freycinet's 

 contention that the overland duties and the 

 maritime duties stand on a different footing, 

 and intimated that similar reductions could be 

 demanded at the open ports under the favored- 

 nation clause ; yet no such claim was put for- 

 ward by the British Government, which ex- 

 pects to reap the entire benefit of the commer- 

 cial concessions obtained by France in the fu- 

 ture trade across the Burman frontier. The 



treaty provides for the absolute prohibition of 

 the trade in opium between Tonquin and 

 China. When asked to let the French build 

 railroads in China, Li-Hung-Chang gave them 

 permission to make tenders for a small line 

 running from the Kaiping coal-mines to Tient- 

 sin, for which the contract was ultimately 

 awarded to the Krupp Company, of Germany. 

 The French were completely disappointed in 

 their expectations of obtaining material com- 

 mercial advantages, and repeatedly stopped the 

 negotiations for several weeks at a time ; but 

 the Chinese statesmen had no fear of a resump- 

 tion of hostilities. 



Direct Representation of the Vatican. A result 

 of the French war, which weakened the posi- 

 tion of France in China and her prestige in the 

 far East, is the prospective revival of the di- 

 rect relations between the Chinese Govern- 

 ment and the Vatican that existed in former 

 centuries, and the cessation of the protection 

 over Catholic missions in China exercised by 

 France, sometimes needlessly and mischievously 

 for the sake of political effect. In July a con- 

 vention was concluded with the Holy See, 

 committing the charge of the interests of the 

 Catholic churches and missionaries in China 

 to a Papal intern uncio at the Chinese court. 

 Monsignor Agliardi was appointed by the Pope 

 to this post. The Vatican acted in this matter 

 in compliance with a request of the Chinese 

 Government, which invited the Pope to send 

 a plenipotentiary to Pekin while hostilities 

 with France were still in progress. The 

 French Government, in the beginning of 

 August, informed the Vatican that if a Papal 

 legate, with functions independent of France, 

 were sent to Pekin, the French ambassador at 

 the Papal court would be withdrawn. On 

 Aug. 21 a fresh proposal was made to France, 

 to the effect that if an envoy were sent by 

 the Vatican he should have a temporary mis- 

 sion. The Curia agreed to send only a tempo- 

 rary envoy, if the Chinese Government would 

 consent. The Chinese Government notified 

 the Pope that no representative would be 

 acceptable unless perfectly independent of 

 France and other countries, through a legate 

 possessing full and free diplomatic functions. 

 The Papal court informed the various Euro- 

 pean governments of the compromise that had 

 been effected with France, and ordered Arch- 

 bishop Agliardi to depart on his mission. On 

 Sept. 12 the Pope received an ultimatum from 

 France, threatening that if an envoy of any 

 description were sent to Pekin the ambassador 

 at the Vatican would be recalled, the Concor- 

 dat annulled, the church and state separated, 

 and the grant of 50,000.000 francs a year to 

 the Catholic Church in France suppressed. 



The question had hitherto been complicated 

 with that of the removal of the Petang, or 

 North Cathedral, in Pekin, which the French 

 Government utilized for the purpose of im- 

 posing its wishes on the Chinese Government. 

 An arrangement by which the Catholic au- 



