Among the Celestials : vol.1 / Page 103 (Color Image)

0103	Among the Celestials : vol.1

CHAP. Iv.] BRITISH INTERESTS. 77

And according to Mr. Henry Norman Manchuria

is already taking more British goods than our

oldest colony, Newfoundland. Now, with two.

more ports added—Talienwan and Chang-wang-

tan—and one at least an ice free-port, with

railways constructed from end to end of the

country ; with the Chinese population so rapidly

increasing and opening out new districts ; the

trade will, if unchecked, increase with compound

acceleration. It has indeed been calculated

that, if the rate of increase of , the last ten years

be maintained during the next two decades, in

twenty years' time the foreign trade will equal

twenty-three millions sterling.

We not only then have rights in Manchuria,

but considerable and increasing interests arising

out of those rights.

At the beginning of the present year, when

Mr. Curzon was speaking in the House of

Commons of the necessity of maintaining these

rights and interests, the Leader of the Opposition

asked if they were threatened. It is well for

the nation thoroughly to understand that they

are. In 1886, when Mr. James Fulford and I

travelled round Manchuria, we did not meet

with a single Russian. Practically, the whole

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