THE CHINESE CUSTOMS DECREE. T HE new spirit in China has
given a startling manifestation of its power. On Wednesday week an Imperial Edict was published appointing Ti Eh-liang Administrator-General, and Tang-Shao-yi Assistant Ad- ministrator, of the whole Customs system of China, including the Imperial Maritime Customs, of which hitherto Sir Robert Hart has been the dictator. Now, however, Sir Robert Hart and his fifteen hundred European officials and large native staff are placed under the control of the new Chinese Administrator. The Imperial Maritime Customs have been for long the only honestly and efficiently administered Department in China. They have produced for the Imperial authorities a revenue which, but for their existence, would have for the most part found its way to the pockets of subordinate officials. In the many crises through which China has passed in the last twenty years, the existence of this efficient and unexceptionable Customs administration has more than once saved her from outside interference. In an Empire of confusion it was the one thing orderly and reasonable, and since it dealt successfully with the most vital interest of foreign nations, their commerce, it alone has stood between China and attempts at dismemberment at the hands of irritated Powers. It was the sole reason why she has been able to borrow, and why certain indemnity payments have been spread out over terms of years, for so long as it remained under Sir Robert Hart it formed ample security for any payment. Moreover, its existence has been the subject of special assurances. In 1898, and again in 1903, the Chinese Government undertook that the present administration of the Customs should be continued, and that the successor to Sir Robert Hart should be an Englishman, so long as Britain held the pre- dominant place in the Chinese markets. The Customs, indeed, were a kind of hostage held by China against the depredations of outside Powers. The Service was filled with their young men, for Sir Robert Hart was wise enough to make his staff as representative as possible; it gave complete satisfaction to their trading and shipping classes ; it was obviously competent and honest ; and it formed the security for their loans. Clearly it was not to the advantage of the Powers to do anything to impede so excellent an institution, and while China, possessed it she had a strong card in reserve. And yet the new spirit, like so many types of nationalism, has chosen to manifest itself by a disregard of national interests. Two Chinese officials, who admittedly know nothing of the subject, have been appointed to administer the whole of the Chinese Customs.
There seems no reason to doubt the current explanation of the affair. The reforming Viceroy, Yuan Shih-kai, has for the moment a unique influence in the Yemen. His hobby is the new Chinese Army—a very good hobby in its way—and he has succeeded, by all accounts, in manufacturing out of his raw material a remarkable force, well drilled, well equipped, lacking nothing except leaders. But Japanese instructors cost money, and batteries and rifles cost money, and even in China soldiers have to be fed and occasionally paid. Large sums have already been spent on this Army, but the Imperial revenues are inelastic, and the Viceroy seems to have found himself with an empty exchequer in prospect. The revenues secured by issuing debased copper coinage had been exhausted, and he naturally turned to what is certainly the most secure of all China's assets, her Maritime Customs. Unfortunately for his purpose, the control of Sir Robert Hart made it difficult to reach these large incomings, which were earmarked for foreign interest and other services about which a Chinese reformer could not be expected to feel any great concern. It became important, therefore, to have officials in charge of the Customs who were in sympathy with Army reform and with the needs of the reforming Viceroy. The new Administrator-General is the Director of Military Reorganisation. With such a man at the head of the Department there was some hope that its vast Customs revenue would be available for military uses.
We have every sympathy with China's desire for an efficient Army. But there is one thing which she stands in still greater need of,—a reasonably honest and com- petent system of administration. Until her whole bureau- cratic methods are reformed there is no guarantee of military efficiency, for what one honest Viceroy may do his less honest successor may undo. More especially is this important in her Revenue Departments, where her great resources are frittered away among fraudulent officials. There will be no national renascence until the nation acquires the full use of its resources. In these circumstances, much depends on the existence of an efficient Department like the Customs, even though it is managed by foreigners. It is an object-lesson in administration, and, apart from its business value, it is a nucleus from which a general bureaucratic reform may begin. At the same time, no one has shown himself more anxious than Sir Robert Hart that China should as far as possible be allowed to manage her household for herself. For over forty years he has been the trusted adviser of the Chinese Government, and he has repaid their confidence with loyal service. Again and again he has extricated them from their diplomatic diffi- culties, and he has issued many pleas to his countrymen for a better understanding and a fairer treatment of the Power whose service he had adopted. But Sir Robert Hart would be the first to admit that China is not yet ready to stand alone. The interest of the other Powers in the matter is not merely the common European love of meddling. There are substantial money interests involved, which they are as much justified in safeguarding as in the case of the Egyptian Debt twenty-five years ago. Britain alone has twenty-three millions at stake ; France, Ger- many, and the United States have also large interests ; and, finally, there are the unpaid instalments of the " Boxer " indemnity. In no circumstances could the world con- template a change in the administration of the Customs before China has wiped out those foreign debts, for which they form the only security.
Happily, on this matter all the Powers are agreed. The Japanese Press announces that Japan's interests in China are identical with those of Europe, and that she will co-operate with Britain in whatever policy may be thought wise. Inquiries have been addressed to the Chinese Government by the various Ministers asking for assurances that the Edict of Wednesday week involves no interference with the present regime in the Maritime Customs. The answer, so far, has not been satisfactory. The Chinese Government announce that no such change is contemplated, that the Edict was merely meant to simplify administration, and that the present establishment will not be superseded. We do not profess to understand how the advent of two brand-new, unnecessary, and, on their own admission, ignorant chief officials will simplify administra- tion. It is important that the matter be cleared up as soon as possible, for the appointment of two of Yuan Shih-kai's assistants to manage arbitrarily a great revenue- producing Department suggests that the simplicity aimed at is of that type which simplifies accounting by reducing receipts.
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