If it were in their power, the Chinese would cancel not merely
the franchises of foreign settlements, but the treaty right of
exemption from control by the local government. This is a franchise
of vital interest to the foreigner, whose life and property would
not be safe were they dependent on the native tribunals as these
are at present constituted.
Such exemption is customary in Turkey and other Moslem countries,
not to say among the Negroes of Africa. It was recognised by treaty
in Japan; and the Japanese, in proportion as they advanced in the
path of reform, felt galled by an exception which fixed on them the
stigma of barbarism. When they had proved their right to a place
in the comity of nations, with good laws administered, foreign
powers cheerfully consented to allow them the exercise of all the
prerogatives of sovereignty.
How does her period of probation compare with that of her neighbour?
Japan resolved on national renovation on Western lines in 1868.
China came to no such resolution until the collapse of her attempt
to exterminate the foreigner in 1900. With her the age of reform
dates from the return of the Court in 1902--as compared with Japan
four years to thirty! Then what a contrast in the animus of the
two countries! The one characterised by law and order, the other
[Page 259]
by mob violence, unrestrained, if not instigated, by the authorities!
When the north wind tried to compel a traveller to take off his
cloak, the cloak was wrapped the closer and held the tighter.
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