THE NEW CHINESE DECREE.
rildecree just issued by the Emperor of China, thorising the construction of a railway from Pekin to Hankow, a distance of seven hundred miles, is of some importance to the material interests both of Europe and China, and the more so because it has been delayed for years by internal controversy. The Liberals of China, as we may call them, though the most extreme of European Tories are Radicals in comparison, have long been persuaded that the quickest means of strengthening China—and it is to strengthen China, not to " regenerate" China, that they are anxious—would be to introduce rifles, telegraphs, and railways in sufficient quantities. They want the rifles to kill their enemies with, the telegraphs to transmit orders by, and the railways for the conveyance of troops and of food-supplies to Pekin. They had no difficulty at all, except the pecuniary one, in carrying the first point ; they have armed the elite of their soldiers with modem weapons, and they will, in the end, arm a larger multitude of their Militia than Europe will in the next contest altogether approve. They have also the full consent of the authorities and the population to put up telegraphs, which somehow do not alarm the Chinese imagination ; but about railways they have had a fierce struggle. The Conservative Party of Pekin is convinced that this European device threatens the calm of China, and will tend to the extension of Euro- pean influence, and they have used as their instruments the boatmen, porters, and other interests threatened by the innovation, and the strange Chinese idea about disturbing the sanctity of the earth and so possibly pro- ducing earthquakes and famines. The Empress-Regent, able as she was, shared the ideas of the Conserva- tives, if not also the superstitions of the mob, and under her regime it was found impossible to obtain the resolute official support necessary to carry any innova- tion looked on, or supposed to be looked on, with disfavour with the populace. One little railway was, we believe, built, but it was taken away again, in obedience, as was asserted, to the religious scruples of the people. The young Emperor, however, is of a bolder mind, or submits to other influences ; the leading . officials have swerved round to his side, and his decree sanctioning one great experiment will, it is believed, be sufficient to conciliate or overawe the popular suspicion and distaste. The Son of Heaven can do no wrong, and can execute anybody who calls him a wrongdoer, and the two-fold prerogative usually is found to make his commands effective. The railway will be built, and, in all human probability, will succeed. Those who have sanctioned it will see that the land does not cost too much ; there are mil- lions of experienced canal makers and masons ready to accept low wages and able to do the work of construction ; and if the trains travel at low speeds and charge un- precedentedly low fares, the profits should be more than satisfactory. Amidst such a population, all intent on work, and all accustomed to movement, there should be no limit to the third-class traffic, except the extent of carrying-power, while the mere feeding and clothing of Pekin and its surrounding provinces should be suffi- cient to supply the Railway Company with a sufficient traffic in goods. The probability is that, as in India, the volume of the business to be done will make up for the low rates, that the railways will cost the Exchequer nothing, and that the Government, perceiving that railways help on their great official object, which is effective centralisation, will sanction the gradual construc- tion of a system of iron roads throughout the country,. Merely to be able to send soldiers easily into the West and South will double the revenue received in Pekin, while it will reduce by one-half the chances of successful insurrec- tion. There is no lack of capital for such enterprises, and if the Government is sincere, China in twenty years may have ten thousand miles of railway in full work.
The material gain to China from the increased mobility of her supplies of food, and the development of internal trade, must be very great, while the direct profit to Europe from the demand for rails, from the new careers open to engineers, and from the profitable use of two or three hundred millions of capital now languishing at 3 per cent., must in the aggregate be considerable, and may be worth perhaps more than the whole trade of China, which again will rapidly grow larger. The Chinese, it is true, will keep much in their own hands, and especially all ultimate control ; but though they promise " protection " to conciliate their people, they must, in the end, draw capital, materials, and scientific guidance from Europe. That is a pleasing prospect to men who are complaining that the world is getting used up, and that by-and-bye in every department of effort there will be three producers for every customer, and we see no kind of objection to their gratulations. China must benefit as much as the world by good communications, and railways are simply roads on which it is possible to travel easily and fast. All we pro- test against is the view that the Railways will produce results other than material, that they will banish supersti- tion from China, as the Times affirms, or will alter the relations of Chinamen to Europeans greatly for the better. They will do nothing of the kind. Caste has survived and will survive the creation of a Railway system in India ; and since the roads were introduced, the distaste of the Indian for the European has become, if not stronger, at least more audible. A slight additional respect may be felt for the European ability in mechanics, but that will be all the " influence " Europe will acquire, even if China should be traversed by as many railways as Lanca- shire or the Midlands. There is nothing whatever in quick travelling to induce Asiatics to modify their governing ideas, or to give up their dislike to the arrogant and disturbing Europeans, or to relax in any way their social organisation. The Chinese in California return more Chinese than ever, with a stronger preference for their own civilisation, and a heartier disdain for the white men, and in that State the railway system is more perfect than it ever will be in China. In fact, it is more than probable that European influence will be less, because the Government will be stronger. The absolutism of Pekin is hampered by the vast distances of the country, by the difficulty of controlling distant. Mandarins, and by the impossibility of despatching troops quickly ; and as these obstacles disappear, the Govern- ment will grow stronger to carry out its will. It is net its will that Europeans should control China, or modify its social system, or interfere with its official organisation ; and it will, when once possessed of railways, resist those changes more energetically and effectively than ever. China, in fact, will remain as it is, with rather better roads and quicker communication ; and therefore with a more effective and independent Central Government. That is not a bad result, while the enriching of China and Europe is a good one ; but neither of them justify that singing of hymns with which any new opening for enter- prise is always celebrated in London, to the immense increase of the national reputation for hypocrisy. There is, we quite admit, no conscious hypocrisy ; but there is a most stupid confusion between innovations which will make Asia richer, and innovations which will make Asia liker Europe in non-material things. A railway will no more make a Mandarin honest than a telegraph will make him a Christian.
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