and
that also is felt as a grievance. They are, however, protected
against the rapacity of their own officials; and it is said they
took no part in the riot. In fact had it not been promptly suppressed
they must have suffered all the horrors of sack and pillage. After it
was over they took occasion to demand recognition in the municipal
government; promising to be satisfied if allowed to appoint a permanent
committee, with whom the council should consult before deciding on
any question affecting their interests.
Modest as this request was, it was rejected by an almost unanimous
vote of the foreign ratepayers. They knew that such committee,
however elected,
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was certain to be manipulated by the governor to extend his
jurisdiction. Their decision was quietly accepted by the Chinese
residents, who appreciate the protection which they enjoy in that
strange republic. The question is certain to come up again, and
their claim to be heard will be pressed with more insistence as
they become more acquainted with the principles of representative
government.
The existence of an _imperium in imperio_ which comes between
them and their people is of course distasteful to the mandarins;
and they are bent on curtailing its privileges. If its franchises
were surrendered, "Ichabod" might be inscribed on the gates of
the model settlement.
The practice of marking out a special quarter for each nationality
is an old one in China, adopted for convenience. When, after the
first war, the British exacted the opening of ports, they required
the grant of a concession in each, within which their consuls should
have chief, if not exclusive authority. Other nations made the
same demands; and China made the grants, not as to the British
from necessity, but apparently from choice--the foreign consul
being bound to keep his people in order. Now, however, the influx
of natives into the foreign settlements, and the enormous growth
of those mixed communities in wealth and population, have led the
Chinese Government to look on the ready compliance of its predecessors
as a blunder. Accordingly, in opening new ports in the interior it
marks out a foreign quarter, but makes no "concession." It does not
as before waive the exercise of jurisdiction within those limits.
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The above question relates solely to the government of Chinese
residing in the foreign "concessions." But there is a larger question
now looming on the political
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