CHAPTER XXI
A Conference
Lord Melbourne once said that "nobody has ever
done a very foolish thing except for some great principle."
Well, it would be difficult to find the great
principle underlying most of the very foolish things the
average European does in Asia. As a nation we British
are very wise in our conduct there. As a race we deal
honorably with the Oriental peoples—when once we've
conquered them—and honorable conduct is a high wisdom
in itself, and from it we reap a fine reward—the
respect of the Eastern races. But as individuals we
perpetrate a long series of crass blunders, of petty daily
idiocies, whose sum total is tragedy and sometimes
threatens international holocaust. And it is the Englishwoman,
not the Englishman, who is the worst offender.
Our security in Asia is built up on Oriental respect and
liking, and Mrs. Montmorency-Jones can do more in a
day to undermine it than a Sir Harry Parkes can do in a
month to build it. Insolence is her method; fair dealing
is his.
The average British man in Asia learns little enough, Heaven knows! of the natives among whom he lives; the average British woman learns nothing. She does not decline to know the natives; no, indeed—she simply ignores them. Woman rules in Asia—and especially in China—as (if a woman may be allowed to hint it) she does almost everywhere. And Englishwomen living in Calcutta or Shanghai do English interests grave injury,
