ÉTATS-UNIS
The Chinese Minister Tsui has been interviewed on board the Bretagne by the Correspondent of the New-York Herald, and we find the following account of the interview in the Paris edition of this paper, Friday, July 18, 1890.
Queenstown, July 17.
My latest New-York mail dispatches, which were landed here to-day, contain the following important interview: —
The most distinguished personage on the passenger list of the French steamer La Bretagne, which arrived yesterday, was his Excellency Tsui, the Chinese Minister at Washington. If Minister Tsui is correct in his predictions, we are on the eve of a good deal of trouble with his Government.
The Celestial diplomat is very considerably worried, because for whatever happens he will be more or less held responsible. Tsuïs predecessor, Chang Yen Hoon, was abused for not preventing Congress from passing the Chinese Exclusion Law, and when the news reached China, his angry constituents burned his residence and destroyed his property. The present Minister realises that he does not control Mr. Blaine and Congress, and he doesn't like the outlook.
A World correspondent was a passenger on the Bretagne, and had a long talk with Minister Tsui. His Excellency’s words were carefully translated by Mr. V. K. Lee, the official interpreter to the Chinese Legation. The Minister expressed himself as glad to meet a representative of the World.
«Unless the United States Government repeals the law which now excludes my countrymen from this country we shall treat Americans to a dose of their own medicine. I mean that we shall exclude citizens of the United States from the Chinese Empire».
«Have you received information to this effect officially from the Home Office?»
«We hope we shall not be pushed to any measures of retaliation. The Chinese Foreign Office has sent several demands to Mr. Blaine to repeal the Exclusion Law. We have received no reply from him. Of course, Congress alone can set right the present outrage, but the State Department is the proper channel of negotiation. Our treaties with the United States have been regarded as sacred trusts, and we have lived up to the very letter of them. Now, without the slightest warning or excuse, the United States cruelly breaks its solemn agreement and builds up a barrier against our citizens. After this Exclusion Law, passed in defiance of all treaties, Secretary Bayard and the former Minister from China conferred, and the result was a proposed new treaty with China, which contained the Exclusion Law. When this treaty was submitted to the Emperor and his Council, it was instantly repudiated. The indignation against the Minister was such that his house was burned, and all his property within reach was destroyed. The Chinese Government at once refused to enter-
tain any such proposal for a new treaty, and demanded that the Exclusion
Law be at once repealed, and the terms of the present treaty complied with».
«What is the present status of the question in China?»
«The Council of State, which guides the Emperor, is simply waiting to hear from the United States Foreign Office. Your reputation for fair dealing and honesty with foreign nations has been such in the past that we cannot believe you mean to break a treaty without reason or excuse. That you have done so there can be no doubt. And if we find that the United States means to persist in excluding the Chinese from its shores we shall proceed to the samé tactics. The Chinese Government will forbid the landing of American citizens in the Empire».
«How about the American citizens now resident in China and the American capital invested there?».
«AIl those will be matters of detail which the Council of State will arrange. I am aware that there are a great many millions of American capital invested in China. American interests in China are, of course, vastly more important financially than our invested interests in the United States. Any rupture between the two nations will, of course, injure the American investments».
«What is believed in China to be the reason for our Exclusion Laws?»
«lt is generally supposed to be the work of the politicians. I know, of course, your argument about cheap labour and the destruction of fair wages. You say that Chinamen come to America and save all the money they can, and then take it home with them — that they don’t become citizens. Well, isn't that exactly what every American in China is doing?»
«How about the cheap labour charge?»
«Why, the Chinese have built your great Western railroads , and their cheap labour has made possible and has carried through to successful completion vast works and enterprises which would have been impossible with other labour. The Chinese are satisfied with small wages and do not strike. When they are driven out, the capitalist will be at the mercy of other foreign labourers, who will not work so cheap and who will combine and strike and jeopardise capital. ‘Chinese cheap labour’ has been tried in various parts of the world and is always a success. Look at the great Chinese colonies at Singapore, the Straits Settlements, and other places».
Minister Tsui then explained through his interpreter, Mr. Lee, that he was returning from an audience with her Majesty Maria Christina, the Queen-Regent of Spain. Mr. Tsui is not only the Minister to the United States, but represents his Government at the Court of Spain and also the Republic of Brazil. His residence is, however, in Washington, and he is expected to occasionally make a flying visit to Spain and Brazil, where he is represented by a local Chargé d'Affaires. Mr. Lee is à Chinaman, but writes and speaks English, French, and Spanish with ease, and is the general factotum of his Excellency, although the regular travelling suite includes eight servants.
Minister Tsui is a trifle over sixty years of age, and reached his official eminence through the Civil Service, which is an actual reality in China. He is of rather humble parentage, but by hard study has passed all the examinations, and is one of the most intelligent men of the Celestial Kingdom. He has only
one wife in America.
FRANCE
Le 2e Trimestre du «Bulletin de la Société de Géographie» contient un article du Lieutenant-Général Annenkof sur les ressources que l’Asie centrale pourrait offrir à la colonisation russe, et des Notes sur le Thibet par l’Abbé Desgodins.
Le Général Tcheng Ki-tong a commencé dans le Temps du 23 Juillet 1890
la publication d’un roman intitulé Homme jaune.
Le voyageur français Bonvalot qui accompagnait le prince Henri d'Orléans pendant son voyage au Thibet, a envoyé à un journal français quelques remarques sur ce voyage. Les voyageurs ont parcouru environ 1000 lienes par le désert à une hauteur de 13,000 a 19,000 pieds. Presque 1500 lieues étaient traversées par un pays inconnu. L'hiver était rude: le mercure était glacé, et on n'avait pas d'autre eau que celle obtenue de sale glace dont on devait faire une provision pour plusieurs jours. Comme combustible on employait les excréments du bœuf thibétain (des Argols) dont il fallait également faire provision.
Les bêtes de somme, chameaux et chevaux, mouraient en masse de fatigue, de soif et de faim. Les seuls habitants de ce désert étaient des antilopes, des bœufs et quelques oiseaux. Parfois on ne vit pas même ces derniers, et même les corneilles, qui suivaient continuellement la caravane, comme les requins un navire, manquaient.
L'expédition qui comprenait, outre le prince d'Orléans et M. Bonvalot, le prêtre Belge Dedeben et un domestique de Bonvalot, est arrivée sain et sauve à Ta-Tsien-Lou, où se trouve une garnison Chinoise et qui est le chef-lieu de la mission catholique du Thibet.
JAPON
Le Dr. C. Florenz a fait une conférence dans la session de Juin de la «Gesellschaft für Natur und Vülkerkunde Ostasiens» à Tokio, sur l’état social du Japon avant l'introduction de la civilisation Chinoise (Die gesellschaftlichen Zustinde Japans vor Einführung der chinesischen Kultur). Selon lui, l’état social était alors tout-à-fait patriarchal, l’ensemble des familles patriarchales (Ouji) formant l’unité du peuple, tandis que l'Empereur, un patriarche comme les autres, n'avait que peu de prérogatives. Le peuple était divisé en libres et non-libres, les premiers encore subdivisés en Tomonotsouki (Ouji de profession), Fuhito (Lettrés), Kuni no miyatsouko où Kunitsouko (agriculteurs), Mouraji et Omi
(Noblesse, la première de noblesse impériale).
Les prérogatives de la maison impériale consistaient en 1) la réprésentation des différents Ouji envers les Dieux des ancêtres; 2) le droit de déclarer la guerre et conclure la paix, ainsi que le commandement en chef pendant la guerre, et 3) en le pouvoir d’arranger les différences entre les Ouji.
C’est seulement plus tard que le pouvoir de l’empereur augmenta avec l’augmentation de la propriété foncière impériale.
Le %e volume du même recueil contient un article du Dr. Hering sur la littérature japonaise du Gynécée (Japanische Frauenliteratur). Cet article prouve que le parti réactionnaire au Japon veut à tout prix inculquer aux femmes du Japon la moralité outrée des moralistes Chinois et réduire la femme japonaise si aimable et innocente dans sa pudique désinvolture (M. l'amiral Roze a bien dit d’elle: Elle n’est point immorale: c’est une ve avant le péché) !) à l’état reclus de la femme Chinoise.
L'influence des principes moraux hypocrites des chrétiens étrangers au Japon n’est pas étrangère à cette stupide récrudescense soi-disant morale, et qui ne
peut que corrompre et putréfier le coeur de la femme japonaise. GS:
