Page:The Truth about China and Japan - Weale - 1919.djvu/115

 properly presented no reasonable person will deny that she is entitled to justice.

That is why Young China demands the summary abolition of exterritoriality, and cries aloud that inasmuch as in the inoperative Shanghai treaties of sixteen years ago it was specifically stated that so soon as a reform of the judicial system was accomplished this foreign jurisdiction would be relinquished, the hour has come for the pledge to be redeemed. For a new code has been adopted under the Republic and a new system of courts; and although there is more theory than practice, the independence of the judiciary forms an integral part of the draft Constitution.

Now, as no questions are so thorny as questions of law and jurisdiction, it is obvious that if this one matter is to be handled successfully it will require a special conference of all the Treaty Powers. The vast and complicated interests which have grown up in China since the Boxer period necessitate a special practice being grafted on to the Chinese administration step by step, rather than any dramatic relinquishment of old rights. It is not possible to refuse to deal with this matter, any more than it is not possible to refuse to deal with the railway question. For since her declaration of