Page 53 of Scandalous Heiress
“Made worse by the fact that the Chinese man was put before our British magistrate and banished from Shanghai.The man’s friends rioted in objection.Problems in business are the only thing.The Chinese have a mistaken idea of what our Christian ministers and priests do.They fear our mass and communion, thinking the bread and wine are poison.They fear the nuns who take in orphans, thinking the women take the children to change them into evil spirits—or worse, kill them.They fear our doctors and medicines.For those Westerners who live in the villages, their lives are often in jeopardy.Only time and education can change that.”
“To go into the countryside must take great courage,” MacIntyre said, mesmerized by Victor’s words.
“It does.And when you navigate the rivers aboard a huge steamer belching steam and moving at the speed of ten horses, you are a god or a devil.How else to explain it, eh?”
“What did you think when you first arrived, sir?”
I thought it was heaven.“I was grateful to be there, MacIntyre.Don’t misunderstand me.I love this country and I would not have left…but let me be plain.I’m certain you must know some of the reason why I sailed away five years ago.”
MacIntyre met his gaze frankly.“I did, sir.”
You never indicated that and for it, I am indebted to you.“I would not have left were it not imperative for my family—”and my sanity, “—that I go.I welcomed the challenge of building something from the start.A second son must, you know.”
“I do, sir.I am the third in our family.”
“Are you, indeed?”he grinned at his man of business.“I did not know.We are then kindred spirits in many ways.”
“We are, sir.Wish to help you build this company as large and as profitable as you wish.”
Victor took a welcome drink of the spirits and warmed to the idea to educate his manager to maximum potential.“I may wish to grow it far beyond what we originally intended.”He wished to add facts to his hope he might stay in England, but he had to reassure himself he had income sufficient to his ambitions.“Remaining here means I do not have immediate control over conditions in Shanghai.While I trust my Chinesecomprador—extraordinary as that statement is for an Englishman to say about one’s Chinese factotum, I must assess how comfortable financially we would be should the business level fluctuate with my change in venue.I trust my man in Shanghai.What worries me always are my peasant stock who work as laborers in his factory and on his docks.”
“Do we pay our men well, sir?Compared to other foreigners?”
“We do, MacIntyre.I am good friends with the Chinese governor of the province, a man named Li Hung-chang.He’s a well-educated man who advises the emperor and the empress dowager on Western methods and he knows quite a bit about how we operate in Shanghai.He tells me that wages of Cole and Company are among the best.Only one American pays more.”
“Do we get the best men for our money then?”
“We do.And it’s worth it, I’d say.Everyone wants integrity, don’t they?Enough money to eat, live in peace.To be free is to hold your head up.Money can raise one up from despair.”
Yet last winter the venerable governor, Li, had challenged Victor that his good wage was as much a problem as the low wage paid by a competitive foreigner.
“You provide the contrast, good sir.”The Confucian mandarin who headed the province around Shanghai was in charge of a wide swath of China.But as a trusted government official he also headed his own private army.He headed in fact a mercenary force and Victor did not trust those men to keep allegiance to order or the empire, if anything ever happened to Li.“When you foreigners pay different wages, you create the tension that leads to riots.”
“To pay less, Honorable Li, would test my conscience, sir.”
“Persuade your friends to pay more.Then we can have peace.”
Victor gave a wan smile to MacIntyre.“What my friend the governor did not add was that the other act that could release tensions among peasants and their own government was to get the emperor to decrease taxes on the people.He knows it should be done, but it’s impossible.The Chinese government, bloated and inefficient, cannot reduce its income with out throwing itself into bankruptcy.The Chinese dragon limps along but five years from now, ten perhaps, when riots turn to revolution, we will have catastrophe.”Few will survive.
“And will the West be thrown out?Us too?”
“I fear so.If we do not change our imperial ways and the Chinese government cannot change theirs, the only ones who can change it all will be the millions of peasants.I’m sorry.I’ve turned gloomy.We’re doing well, MacIntyre.Very well and I don’t mean to sound as if there is no solution.There is.It’s complex, but we here in Parliament might change our portion of it.”Victor drained his glass on that possibility and got to his feet.“I thank you for the refreshment, MacIntyre.Most welcome.I must go but I will return Monday.”
“And you will tell me more about the Chinese peasants and your governor friend?”
“Li Hung-chang.Yes, I will.We’ll make you so informed, you could go out to Shanghai yourself, if you so wished, and see for yourself.”
“I’d like that, my lord.”
“Would you indeed?”Victor had always thought of Shanghai as his place of exile.But others saw it as a city of opportunity.Adventure, even.A weight fell from his shoulders.Intriguing what another’s perspective could do for one.
“I would.Thank you for that.”MacIntyre called for his young man to fetch Victor’s hat and coat.
“You may indeed, ask, MacIntyre.One thing before I go.I would ask your discretion that you not share my possible change of plans with your staff.”
“You have my assurance, milord.May I hail you a hansom?”
“You may.”Now it was time for his next challenge.
