This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
FAIRS OF CHINA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
No. 1.
[February 27.]
SECTION 1.
49A.
Sir C. MacDonald to the Marquess of Lansdowne.-(Received February 27.)
12.) Very Confidential.
Lord,
Tókić, January 19, 1903.
WITH reference to a note from the Colonial Office to the Foreign Office, dated November, 1902, forwarding a Memorandum from Sir Henry Blake, Governor of Hong Kong, containing some observations made on his journey to Hong Kong viâ Vancouver, and which note and Memorandum came to hand by last mail, I would venture to make the following observations.
Sir Henry Blake travelled on the same steamer with Prince Tsai Chen, and the members of his suite, notably Sir Chentung Liang Cheng, K.C.M.G., and a Mr. Wang Peh Tung, all of whom seem to have spoken to Sir Henry with considerable freedom and in a very unrestricted manner.
Prince Tsai's observations seem to have been confined to the necessity of education in China, and the inutility of undertaking any real reform until the Chinese were a little prepared by education to receive it.
As your Lordship is aware, the Chinese are, to a very great extent, a nation of literati, and may be said, in a sense, to be highly educated. The education is, however, not of a useful character, being mainly confined to a deep and severe study of the Chinese classics, and it certainly does not make them anxious to receive reform.
Prince Tsai created a very good impression during his visit to Japan, and it is only to be hoped that he may, through his father, be able to influence the central Government of his country. This hope is, I am afraid, unless matters have changed very much since I left China, somewhat of a forlorn one.
Mr. Wang Peh Tung's observations seem to have been of a somewhat peculiar character. He stated that after the Japanese war he had sent in a Memorial to his Government, advocating the surrender of Manchuria to Japan, "which would then form a buffer State between Russia and China." He went on to say that there now existed a strong rapprochement between China and Japan, which would "profoundly affect the future," and added that "Yuan Shi Kai had 200 Japanese officers engaged in his army;
"also that "there are 500 students at present in military colleges in Japan." I am afraid that Mr. Wang's statements are hardly in consonance with facts. There is, undoubtedly, a desire for a rapprochement between the two peoples, which is, perhaps, stronger on the part of the Japanese than of the Chinese. The latter, strange as it may seem, are imbued with a tolerant contempt for the "little people," notwithstanding the severe lesson they received at their hands in 1894.
Yuan Shi Kai has certainly not got 200 Japanese officers in his army; twenty would be much nearer the mark, and this includes non-commissioned officers.
I am assured by the Minister for War and the Minister for Foreign Affairs that the Japanese officers and non-commissioned officers engaged by all the various Viceroys in China do not number thirty.
There are in the military schools in Tokio fifty-five Chinese students, the names of all of whom are in my possession. These fifty-five have all been sent by Yuan Shi Kai. The number of students in the military schools throughout the Empire is 120, not 500, and all of these are not destined for the army; a good many study surveying only. There are, of course, in Japan a fairly large number of Chinese students, but they do not study the military arts, and are, for the most part, a thorn in the flesh of the Chinese Minister here, who, as Sir Henry mentions, is of opinion that many of them "neglect their studies and are suffering in their morals."
If Mr. Wang really memorialized his Government, “advocating the surrender of Manchuria to Japan," it is a matter of some surprise that he should still be in office.
The statements of Sir Chentung Liang Cheng are of a somewhat pessimistic character, but coming from a man of his knowledge and experience, they are not to be disregarded. I have known him personally since 1896, and consider him to be one of the most straightforward, courageous, and intelligent of Chinamen, and an ardent, but sensible reformer. It will be within your Lordship's recollection that he accompanied his chief, Chang Yin Huan, to the Jubilee of Her late Majesty Queen Victoria, in 1897,
[1841 dd-1]