on the 'Awakening of China,' in which we were told that China was prepared to march shoulder to shoulder with the most advanced of Western nations. And after the recent victory of Japan it was not unnatural to expect that at last China would be driven in the interests of self-preservation to put her house in order. But all prognostications have been doomed to disappointment. For a moment after the war of 1860, and again within the last year or two, there were signs which afforded ground for supposing that the Empire had at last been aroused from its sleep of centuries, but the weight of the conquering hands was no sooner removed than these appearances vanished, and experience has shown that the awakening was in each case just long enough to enable the sleeper to turn round on the other side and fall into a still deeper slumber. It is a fact, and it is one that it is well to recognize at the outset in all our dealings with China, that she sees nothing in reform that she should desire it; and looking back on her long history it may be noted that every improvement in the administration of the Empire and in the condition of the people has been forced upon the country from the outside. Following this tradition, it would appear that her only hope is that circumstances may so shape themselves that some foreign Power or Powers should supply the momentum which might be expected to move the half-inanimate State. This is the hopeful symptom in the recent action of Russia and Germany. The present barrenness of the Imperial exchequer is indeed a blessing in disguise, since the loan which is so much needed is accompanied by conditions which compel the Government to place the direction of some fiscal branch of the State under foreign control. For forty years the Chinese have had before them an object-lesson in administration in the Foreign Customs Service which for more than a generation has been under the able direction of Sir Robert Hart. By the exercise of careful administration and common honesty the income derived from this Service has increased from seven million to twenty-two million taels, and, as the Chinese have repeatedly had occasion to learn, has formed the only security on which they have been able to borrow in the European markets. It is not too much to say that, if the collection of Likin is placed under the same management, the annual income, which as we have already stated amounts to rather more than two millions sterling, will increase in like proportion. The opening of new Treaty Ports will also prove a distinct advantage not only to Europe but also to China, since it has been proved undeniably by experience that the opening of new ports confers confers greater financial advantages on native than on foreign merchants. When Li Hungchang was in this country, he could suggest no other way of making that addition to the revenue of his country which he so much desired, and which might be readily secured by improving trading facilities, than by the crude expedient of doubling the foreign duties. This is a specimen of the kind of ideas which pass for statecraft in China. A Chinaman's mind is by nature narrow and unimaginative. There are no better hagglers over a bargain in the world than the Ministers of Tsungli Yamên, but these same men who will drive a foreign envoy to despair by cranks and quibbles on some small and insignificant matter, are quite incapable of forming broad views on political questions. If any evidence were needed in support of this statement it is only necessary to refer to their action in the matter of Talienwan. It was an open secret that Russia desired to have the Liaotung Peninsula under her influence if not as her own private property, and that this was the real reason why she objected to the opening of Talienwan as a Treaty Port. This circumstance should surely have been enough to make the Tsungli Yamên accept with avidity a proposal which would have preserved to them the possession of their own territory, besides opening up a fresh source of revenue. But no! their pettifogging minds were occupied with small intrigues and unreasoning fears, so that one day, when the English ships steamed into Port Arthur, they were inclined to listen to Sir Claude Macdonald's arguments, and on the next, when the same ships had taken their departure, they would have none of him. While China hesitated and procrastinated, events marched apace, and, so far as British interests are concerned, generally in the right direction. The Anglo-German loan for 16,000,0007. has been arranged on conditions which cannot but have a lastingly beneficial effect on the administrative machinery of the country. The clause which places the Likin Revenue of certain ports and districts in Central China under the control of Sir Robert Hart is full of promise for the future, and strikes a second wedge into that mass of official corruption which at present saps the strength and poisons the life of the Empire. The opening to foreign trade of the ports of Yo Chow on the Tungting Lake, of Funing Fu in Fuhkien, and of Chingwang on the Gulf of Liaotung, is also a marked step in advance. the same time the right of access by steamers to the great waterways of China will be cordially welcomed. It is impossible to regard the acquisition of Weihaiwei with the same complete satisfaction. That it was necessary in order to At maintain maintain our legitimate influence at Peking in face of the action of other Powers, must be admitted. But it is none the less a departure from our recognized policy in China, and cannot but be regarded as an unfortunate necessity. The process of dismemberment has commenced. Where will it end? One thing seems certain. If China wishes to retain the possession of her remaining territory and to check that partition of her Empire which has already begun, only one course is open to her, since as a fighting power she is by common consent quite unable to guard her own frontiers. By throwing open all her maritime and inland ports to foreign trade, she would place them under the safe and sure protection of the Treaty Powers, and would put it beyond the range of possibility that any one State should, after the manner of the Russians at Port Arthur and the Germans at Kiaochow, seize on ports and territories. But when once the immediate pressure is removed, it seems hopeless, judging from past experience, to expect that her statesmen' should realize and carry out this elementary act of salvation. At present, Great lord of all things, yet a prey to all,' she is in daily danger of dismemberment, and so purblind are her counsellors that, if she is to be saved at all, it must be by action taken against their will and in defiance of their most cherished prejudices. ART. ART. XII.-1. The Irish University Question, the Catholic Case. Selections from the Speeches and Writings of the Archbishop of Dublin. Dublin, 1897. 2. The Reports of the Presidents of the Queen's Colleges of Belfast, Cork, and Galway. Presented to Parliament by Command of Her Majesty. Dublin, 1897. 3. Fifteenth Report of the Royal University of Ireland. Dublin, 1897. 4. University Education in England, France, and Germany, with special reference to the needs of Ireland. By Sir Rowland Blennerhassett, Bart. London, 1898. A MONG the many vexed Irish questions, over which controversy has so long and persistently raged, there is none that involves more perplexing problems of debate than the establishment of a Roman Catholic University. Within the last sixty years several attempts have been made to settle the problem of the higher education of the Roman Catholics of Ireland by legislation, but their hierarchy are still dissatisfied, and the agitation for separate treatment has only gathered strength with the lapse of time. No leader of the movement for the settlement of the Roman Catholic claims has been more determined in attack upon the disabilities under which the Roman Catholics suffer, than Dr. Walsh, Archbishop of Dublin. His book, mentioned at the head of our article, embodies his writings and speeches on the subject since his appointment to the diocese of Dublin in 1885, and its publication marked an important stage in the history of the agitation, coincident indeed with the debate in the House of Commons which brought the question to a definite issue at the opening of Parliament in January 1898. tion. To understand the difficulty of the problem, much more to attempt its solution, it is necessary briefly to review its history, with special attention to previous efforts to solve it by legislaAnyone who has the most casual acquaintance with the people of Ireland and the history of that country must be aware of the passionate devotion which the Roman Catholics feel for their ancient faith. Neither penal laws, nor proselytizing schools, nor other similar agencies have weaned them from their allegiance to the Roman Church. Nay, further, as Sir James Graham well said, in introducing the Bill for the establishment of the Queen's Colleges, the various plans for educating the people of Ireland with the aid of Government grants had generally failed, and they had failed whenever there was an interference with conscience in matters of religion.' In the past the position of young Roman Catholics in respect to higher education, and State aid, was deplorable. Every endowed school in Ireland was Protestant, and it was not until the establishment of the Intermediate education system in 1878 that the Roman Catholic schools and colleges received any State aid (on terms applying equally to Protestant schools), and this only as the result of reaching a high standard of examination. Until the establishment of the Queen's Colleges, in 1845, the University of Dublin, with its one college, Trinity, was the only University in Ireland. Founded in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, it has for upwards of three centuries been the centre of Protestant thought, culture, and feeling. In this respect it was in no way different from the sister Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. The Protestant religion was that by law established, and every other denomination was in consequence excluded from the degrees and privileges of Dublin University. But long before Oxford and Cambridge had thought of extending their advantages to the youth of alien creeds, Dublin University offered the privilege of its degrees to the Roman Catholic youth of Ireland. But although Roman Catholics accepted the privileges thus opened to them, Dublin University, with its Protestant character and traditions, never overcame the hostility of the Roman Catholic Church. After the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829, a strong demand was made to remove the disabilities under which the Roman Catholic youth of Ireland suffered in the matter of higher education. Sir Robert Peel admitted the justice of the claim, and a Select Committee, under the chairmanship of Sir Thomas Wyse, was appointed to enquire into and report upon the subject. Acting upon the recommendations of this Report, Peel's Government introduced two measures in 1845. The first reconstituted Maynooth on a more independent foundation and largely increased the endowment of that College, which was established in 1795 for the education of those intended for the Roman Catholic priesthood; the second met the wants of the lay members of that and other denominations on the basis of religious equality, by establishing three colleges, in Belfast, Cork, and Galway. The treatment of Maynooth was most generous: a sum of 30,000l. was granted for building purposes, and the annual grant was raised from 8,9281. to 26,3607., which was to come from the Consolidated Fund; and we may here note that under the Irish Church Act (1869) the College received a sum of 369,0407. in compensation for the cessation of this grant. About 100,000l. was granted for the building of the new Colleges; an annual sum of 10,000l. was granted to each for endowment; and a further |