TABLE III. showing the BORROWING POWERS of the TREASURY which have been granted or are being asked for. 2. By War Stock and Bonds under War Loan Act, 1900 (at 981) According to the statement in Table II. the total estimated deficit 49,732,000 And the further amount required to be raised is 10,182,000 3,000,000 The further amount, therefore, required to cover the estimated But the amount for which fresh power is sought is as it is thought prudent to have reserve powers to the extent of 7,182,000 13,000,000 in order (1) to meet any unforeseen Expenditure in connection with the military operations in China and South Africa; (2) to provide for the interest on further War Debt to be created; and (3) to cover temporarily the excess of Expenditure over Receipts in the course of the current and next quarters, during which, as compared with the last quarter of the financial year, the Revenue accrues at a slow rate. * The last instalment in respect of the War Loan is not due until the 8th November, 1900. TABLE IV. giving the TOTAL ESTIMATED COST of the WAR IN SOUTH AFRICA, and showing how it would be met. According to Table I., had no provision been necessary for the War, the account would have balanced as follows: In order to provide for the War charges (1.) Additional Taxation was imposed to the amount of (2.) The Revenue was relieved of the Sinking Fund charges, viz. The amount, therefore, of Revenue available to meet War charges in If to this sum of. there be added the other expenditure to be met out of Supplementary Grants, 1. Army. 2. Ordnance Factories. 3. Naval Services 4. Civil Services The Total will be as in Table III. 336,000 5,869,000 7,182,000 CEYLON [Cd. 354]. The Report by Mr. J. J. Thorburn for the year 1897, sent from Ceylon as late as September 12th, 1900, shows & Revenue of Rs. 25,913,141, an increase of Rs. 774,472. Expenditure, Rs. 24,950,940; an increase of Rs. 2,107,088, partly due to plague precautions. The Imports were of the value of Rs.213,007,870; and Exports, Rs.111,955,936. Prospects of Trade.-The value of the trade of the Colony has risen from Rs. 181,326,925 in 1898 to Rs. 213,007,870 in 1899. In 1895 the value was Rs. 76,543,473. These splendidly progressive figures speak for themselves and show that future prospects of trade are bright. Plumbago mining is now attracting capital from within and without the Island, and with the settlement of the difficult question on the terms on which the industry can be exploited more capital will no doubt be attracted. Tea continues to prosper, and cocoanut cultivation will always form a sound investment, while cocoa, cardamons, and other like products yield a good return. Social Condition of the People.-As noted in last year's report, the native of Ceylon lives under more favourable conditions than his Indian cousin. His taxation is lighter, plague and famine he knows only by hearsay, he has greater facilities for bringing his desires and complaints to the notice of Government officials, while his medical and educational wants are very generously provided for. He is still too criminal; not in the sense of deliberate and wilful criminality, but like a wayward child committing crimes of violence in the heat of passion, and recklessly using the knife, which he cannot be debarred from wearing without the infliction of the greatest hardship. Education must be looked to to supply the cure, but the process must be a slow, as it is hoped it will be a thorough one. Meanwhile, the enactment of laws prescribing corporal punishment for the offence of recklessly using the knife shows him, in a way that he understands, that it has been determined to guide him by the fortiter in re as well as the suaviter in modo and it is anticipated that the combination will ultimately have its effect. The general condition of the Colony is one of maintained and progressive prosperity. CHINA. Boxer Risings-Siege of the Legations at Peking [Cd. 93].-The first sign of a recrudescence of anti-foreign feeling in China observable in official literature published subsequently to that dealt with in he issue of the POLITICIAN'S HANDBOOK for 1900, appears in a Despatch from Sir F. Lascelles. Germans had been insulted and attacked in February, 1899, in the streets of Tientsin. The German Government had been aware, said Herr von Bülow in the Reichstag, that for some weeks past a considerable feeling of irritation had manifested itself against foreigners in China, especially in the southern portion of the province of Shantung. The Chinese Government had accordingly been warned of the necessity of maintaining order, and informed that if it failed to do so the "consequences for China would be very serious." At the same time Herr von Bülow made the following statement of policy : We have neither the occasion nor the desire to interfere in the internal affairs of China. But it is our duty to watch lest the life and property of our fellow subjects, whether missionaries or traders, should be made to suffer through the internal complications in China. We will bear this duty in mind, and effectively safeguard the weighty interests which we possess in the Chinese Empire. On March 2nd Sir Henry A. Blake, the Governor of Hong Kong, called attention to the increasing frequency of piratical outrages in Chinese waters adjacent to the colony, and complained that the inland waters were also infested with pirates. The Viceroy of Canton, said Sir C. MacDonald, seemed to be helpless. Strong representations were therefore made to the Chinese Government and a British gunboat ordered to patrol the West River, the Viceroy and Governor of Canton repudiating responsibility should the gunboat be successfully attacked. In May, 1899, further antiforeign disturbances were reported from Central Ssuchuan, missionaries and mission stations being attacked and robbed and native Christians murdered. On June 22nd the Church Missionary Society communicated to the Foreign Office a telegram from Archdeacon Wolfe with reference to recent attacks on missions at Kienning-Urgent strong measures necessary." On June 28th it was reported that the French Consulate had been destroyed by the miners, excited by French Mining Survey at Mengtze, in Yünnan. A Report from the Acting-Consul at Wuchow showed that large quantities of arms and ammunition had lately been imported into the district by British firms. Further cases of piracy on the West River were reported in May and June, 1899, together with negligence in suppression by the Chinese authorities. Early in July Mr. Bax-Ironside, in charge of the Legation at Peking during Sir C. MacDonald's absence in England on leave, reported that the anti-foreign rioting at Kienning appeared to have subsided, and that the Tsung-li-Yamên had telegraphed instructions to the authorities there and at Foochow to take severe measures against the circulation of anti-foreign placards and rumours. In July the piracy on the West River became more flagrant. The position was thus defined by Mr. Bax-Ironside in his protest to the Yamên (August 3rd, 1899): The robbers and pirates of Kwangtung are overrunning the province with the boldest effrontery. During the past year the Tsung-li-Yamên has repeatedly sent instructions on the subject to the provincial Governor. These instructions are ignored, and when an outrage occurs the provincial Government contents itself with a mere pretence of doing its duty. The evil, therefore, continues to increase, and a reign of terror prevails. Unless some severe example be made, there is reason to fear that this state of things will go from bad to worse until some great disaster takes place. Further gunboats were sent from Hong Kong to patrol the river. On August 26th attacks were reported upon a mining party prospecting at Nanp'iao on behalf of the British and Chinese Corporation, the party having to retire. The Viceroy of Chihli promised to send troops to pacify the district. Throughout these months Mr. BaxIronside had been pressing without result for the dismissal of the Governor of Kuichow in connection with the murder of Mr. Fleming (see POLITICIAN'S HANDBOOK, 1900), the Governor having neglected to effect the arrest of a headman responsible for the crime, and had also, with better results, been urging a settlement of the claims arising out of the anti-missionary riots at Kienning, their efforts in this matter being, however, less drastic than might otherwise have been the case had Archdeacon Wolfe and others been able to bring formal proof against certain persons of whose guilt they were morally convinced. On November 15th the North German Gazette contained an official telegram from Peking giving the first notification of the appearance of the bands who eventually became known as the Boxers. Viscount Gough wrote to Lord Salisbury : : It appears from this communication are 121 the Administration and the people in The premonitory symptoms detailed For several months past the northern part of the province of Shantung has been disturbed by bands of rebels connected with various secret societies, who have been defying the authorities and pillaging the people. An organisation known as the "Boxers" has attained special notoriety, and their ravages recently spread over a large portion of the native Southern Chihli, where Christians appear to have suffered even more than the rest of the inhabitants from the lawlessness of these marauders. The danger to which, in both provinces, foreign missionary establishments have been thus exposed has been the subject of repeated representations to the Chinese Government by others of the foreign representatives especially the German and United States' Ministers-and myself. Early last month the Governor of Shantung, Yu Hsien, was ordered to vacate his post and come to Peking for audience, and the General Yuan ShihK'ai was appointed Acting-Governor in his place. In Southern Chihli the task of dealing with the disturbances was entrusted to the Viceroy of Tientsin. Her Majesty's Consul at Tientsin has had repeatedly to complain to the latter of the inadequacy of the protection afforded to British life and property in the districts affected by the rebellion;. and in consequence of these representations and of my own communications to the Tsung-liYamên, guards of soldiers have been stationed for the special protection of the missionary premises which were en dangered. I took occasion to warn the Yamên by letter that if the disorder were not vigorously quelled, international complications were likely to ensue. The Representatives of Great Britain, United States, France, Germany and Italy met in concert and made a united request for the issue of an Imperial Decree for the suppression of the Boxer secret societies. This was refused. Sir C. MacDonald therefore (March 10th, 1900) recommended to Lord Salisbury-his colleagues in the Concert making the like recommendation to their Governments-that a few ships of war of each nationality concerned should make a Naval Demonstration in north Chinese waters. Lord Salisbury telegraphed (March 11th): "It will be desirable only to resort to naval action when other means of pressure are exhausted." Sir E. Monson sent the following telegram to Lord Salisbury the next day : The French Minister for Foreign Affairs has this morning received a telegram, similar to the one repeated to me in your Lordship's telegram of yesterday's date, on the subject of missionary troubles in China. His Excellency had not read it before I saw him. He expressed the opinion that, if the five Representatives on the spot looked upon the situation as one requiring a naval demonstration in the northern waters of China, as proposed, their Governments could not properly refuse to authorise it. He said, however, that he could not at once state positively what the French Government would decide. A Decree was issued by the Chinese Government, but its terms were considered so unsatisfactory that the five Representatives of the Powers had a further interview with the Tsung-li-Yamên, which Sir C. MacDonald described in a Despatch of March 5th: Mr. Conger, United States' Minister, Baron von Ketteler, German Minister, Marquis Salvago, Italian Minister, Baron d'Anthoüard, French Chargé d'Affaires, and myself were received at the Yamên by Prince Ching and nearly all the Ministers. On behalf of myself and my colleagues I recapitulated the circumstances, as detailed above, which had led to the demand which we now made. My colleagues all expressed to the Prince and Ministers their entire concurrence with the language I used. Mr. Conger reminded the Yamên of the incredulity with which they had listened to his representations regarding these disturbances over three months ago, and the promises they had been making ever since, from which nothing had resulted. Baron von Ketteler laid special stress on the fact that in the Decree just communicated no mention was made of the "Ta Tao Hui," or "Big Knife Society," the denunciation of which, equally with that of the " 'I-Ho-Ch'uan," or "Fist of Righteous Harmony," had been demanded. The Prince and Ministers protested emphatically that the Throne was earnest in its determination to put a stop to the outrages committed by these Societies. They maintained that the method adopted for promulgating the Imperial Decree, that of sending it to the Governors of the provinces concerned, to be embodied in a Proclamation and acted upon, was much speedier and more effective than that of publishing a Decree in the Peking Gazette, as suggested by us. With regard to the omission of the term "Ta Tao Hui" from the Decree, they declared that this Society was now the same as the "I-HoChuan.” While we acknowledge the sincerity displayed by the Imperial Decree and its promulgation by Proclamation, none of the arguments employed by the Yamên convinced us that there was any real objection, beyond a dislike to obeying foreign dictation, to the publication of a Decree in the Gazette in the terms we demanded, and we therefore handed in the identic notes which we had prepared. The Governor-General of Chihli issued a Proclamation of a persuasive and prohibitory character against the "Society of the Fist of Righteous Harmony," but, wrote Sir C. MacDonald, on March 16th: No reply has yet been received from the Tsung-li-Yamên to the note of the 10th March, and it was with serious mis |