PROBLEMS IN CHINA 299 



railway, mining, and other industrial concessions granted to foreigners. 

 There is no contention that these have always been in the interest of 

 China. In one notorious instance — the forcing her to admit opium — 

 it was certainl}^ not the case. But the universal experience has been 

 that when it has seemed to be for the interest of China to evade the 

 rights granted under the treaties, or to make the concessions value- 

 less, she has done so, often bringing great losses to individuals who 

 have trusted in her promises. The interior navigable waters, for in- 

 stance, were made free to foreign vessels in the summer of 1898, and 

 large sums were spent in fitting out craft for this traffic ; but when, 

 on reaching China, an attempt was made to employ them the author- 

 ities put such obstacles in the way that this "concession" became a 

 dead letter. They justified their action by the contention that it was 

 in the interests of the river boatmen, whose means of livelihood would 

 be taken away by the introduction of foreign steamers, which was no 

 doubt true to a great extent. 



This, then, is a principal cause of the present conditions in China. 

 It is the mutual hostility of two distinct and diverse civilizations 

 brought into intimate relations. In the one rights are maintained 

 which seem to the other no rights — an obedience to a fundamental 

 law demanded whose authority the other does not recognize. 



Another, and possibl}^ as significant, a cause is to be found in the 

 fact that resistance to a ruler " so soon as he ceases to be a minister 

 of God for good " is incumbent on every Chinaman. " This sacred 

 right of rebellion was distinctly taught by Confucius, and was em- 

 phasized by Mencius, who went the 'length of asserting that a ruler 

 who, by the practice of injustice and oppression, had forfeited his 

 right to rule, should not only be dethroned, but might, if circum- 

 stances required it, be put to death." For two hundred and fifty 

 years the Chinese have been the subjects of Manchu or Tatar sover- 

 eigns, alien to them in race and disposition. Nomads by descent, 

 these emperors of the present dynasty have retained some of the bar- 

 baric characteristics which distinguish a pastoral from an agricultural 

 and commercial ])eople such as the great mass of the Chinese are. 

 Their single aim has been, not to develop the resources of the empire, 

 but to consolidate and strengthen their power. One result of their 

 methods of government is the prevalence of official corruption to an 

 extent previously unknown. The principal officers of the provinces 

 ar(3 ajtpointed for tliree years only, to prevent their gaining an undue 

 and dangerous influence. The chief duty of the governor with rela- 



