and bitter dispute among Englishmen at home. Still, it can hardly be supposed that Mr. Chamberlain's new crusade for a return to the system of protection is likely to take any hold on the general English public, and it may be assumed that Mr. Courtney's suggestion did really contain the germ for a possible agreement among civilized Powers which might allow the principles of economic science to be introduced gradually and steadily, without the false arbitrament of war, into the vast realms of the Far East.

Another interesting speech, made about the same time as Mr. Courtney's, was delivered by Sir Edward Grey. This speech, too, is worthy of especial interest, as it was made by a man who had never allowed himself to become, even when in office, the mere mouth-piece of an official and party policy. Sir Edward Grey was then, and is now, one of the rising men in the House of Commons. He entered Parliament as a Liberal, and during the Administration of Lord Rosebery he was Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. In his speech during the Easter recess of 1898, he condemned the policy of the Conservative Government in Chinese affairs as dilatory, irresolute, and inconsistent. Nearly three years, he said, had passed away since it first became known that Russia was arranging for her occupation of Port Arthur, and only three weeks had gone since the English Government first began to discuss the question with the Government of Russia, and just at that critical moment the British ships were withdrawn from Port Arthur. He was moderate enough in his censure not to assume that the withdrawal of the British ships from Port Arthur was intended to signify that England meant to raise no objection to the carrying out of the arrangements then going on between the Russian Government and the rulers of China, but he insisted that the British Government ought to have made

up their minds long before as to whether they did or did not intend to oppose the establishment of a Russian fortified naval station at that place. He contended that if the English Government were opposed to the plan they ought to have given timely and distinct notice of their opposition, and that if this had been done, if an intelligent policy had been followed, Russia would never have pressed the demand for a concession so certain to bring about international trouble. He thought it was too soon just then to express a decided opinion as to whether the arrangement for the lease of Wei-hai-Wei was wise or not, and with regard to the other concessions of China to England, he put it somewhat epigrammatically that we had only secured one right, and that was the right always open to us of getting into a quarrel with any Power which interfered with those concessions. It would seem that Sir Edward Grey and Mr. Courtney were generally agreed upon the point that the English Government had failed to make up their minds in good time as to what course ought to be pursued by England in regard to this new principle of leasing out Chinese territory to foreign Powers, that the Government ought to have framed some policy on the subject, and made that policy known in such terms as to render it clear what England's action must be with regard to the novel principle of limited ownerships on Chinese territory.

It has been thought well to call attention to these two speeches, as they both, although from different points of view, condemned the dilatory and undefined policy of the English Government, and both alike represented the opinions of men not content to be the mere exponents of party policy. There was a time when the Liberal party was much stronger, when it was greatly swayed by the influence of such men as Cobden and Bright, a time when Liberals in general would have stood up for the doctrine

that England ought, if possible, to keep out of all foreign complications, especially from complications with Eastern Powers, and that no temporary arrangements between Russia and China, not directly involving the safety of the British Empire, ought to be regarded as calling for any warning or active interference. But that time had passed away, and there had been unquestionably a reaction against the policy of non-intervention which at one period was growing to have a strong hold on the minds of Englishmen. Even in the days of Cobden and Bright it may be assumed that the Liberal party would have recognized the necessity for any English Administration to come to some definite opinion, and to make that definite opinion known at the earliest suitable moment. The immediate effect of the dilatory course pursued by the English Government was to leave Russia, China, Japan, and Germany alike ignorant of the policy which the English Government intended to pursue in the event of certain concessions being made by China to Russia, Germany, and Japan. If England intended to interfere with this or that possible arrangement, why not say so? If she were determined to regard the whole business as no affair of hers, why not make known her resolve? Perhaps the best or only excuse to be made for the English statesmen in office during the earlier part of the negotiations is that they really did not know what course it would suit them to pursue, that they had not taken the matter into consideration, and had therefore no announcement to make.

CHAPTER VI

THE FAR EAST

THE attention of the world, which had been for some time much occupied by the arrangements going on between China and such foreign States as England, Russia, Germany, and Japan, came now to be absorbed by events which disturbed the Government of China itself. The Dowager-Empress of China appears to have been a woman of decided ability and much ambition, with a complete reliance on herself and an ample estimate of her qualities for personal rule. She might be regarded as a sort of Chinese reproduction of England's Queen Elizabeth or of Russia's Catherine; and for a while it seemed as if she were destined to play an important part in the history of her vast country. When her son succeeded to the throne, the Dowager acted for some time as a sort of regent during what we should call his long minority. An Empress had made herself powerful more than once during former days in China, and this Empress seems to have had ambition and self-confidence enough to stimulate her towards an effort to seize the first prominent opportunity for becoming really the sovereign power over the State. The Government of the country had always been conducted by what might be called a system of provincial councils, but the throne did its best to exercise in the end a supreme jurisdiction, and the Empress was not willing to lose her hold of any supremacy which might belong to her through her son.

A strong party was arising throughout China with the object of preventing that immigration of foreigners, and more especially of Europeans, which had been going on of late years. This agitation formed itself almost suddenly into an organized political movement, spreading broadly over all parts of the dominions. As was to be expected, the many recent dealings with great foreign Powers, the concessions made by the leasing of Chinese territory to Russia, England, Germany, and Japan, and the right given to these States and to the American Republic to make railways through China, aroused into feverish agitation the characteristic and ancestral hatred of the Chinese in general to the policy of the open door. A society or organization known by the name of "the Boxers" had set itself against all that modern policy which was displayed in the encouragement of foreigners to settle and hold land and property in China. The Dowager-Empress appeared for the time to be thoroughly opposed to that policy and to those who were encouraging the Emperor to its adoption. A strong force of public opinion, therefore, supported the Empress when she took into her own hands the work of internal government. The state of affairs became worse and worse with every day. The Boxers began to show their hatred of foreigners by murderous outrages on strangers, and on natives who were supposed to favor the policy which was trying to break up what the Boxers believed to be the religious sacredness of China's ancient principle of absolute reservation from the outer world. It so happened that at the time there were many internal troubles in the land. There was a wide-spread failure in the growth of crops, and in many parts of the country there was absolute famine. The Boxers declared that all these evils had come from the immigration of strangers sanctioned by the ruling powers. It was even asserted that the foreigners had