This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government?
SOUTH-WEST CHINA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
No. 1.
[November 29.]
SECTION 1.
Consul-General Scott to the Marquess of Lansdowne.--(Received November 29.)
(No. 39.) My Lord,
Canton, October 24, 1903.
I HAVE the honour to inclose herewith copy of a Report which I have addressed to His Majesty's Minister in Peking, that affairs in Kwangsi are quiet, and that the rebels have retired to the hills in the north.
I have, &c.
(Signed)
JAMES SCOTT.
Inclosure in No. 1.
Consul-General Scott to Sir E. Satow.
Canton, October 24, 1903.
(No. 42.) Sir,
I HAVE the honour to report that the Viceroy Ts'ên Ch'un Hsüan returned to Canton from Kwangsi on the 27th September. This step was taken by him with great reluctance. His campaign against the rebels in the interior has by no means proved so successful as the Viceroy desired. The valley along the West River from Wuchow to Nanning and on to Po-sé on the Yunnan border, has been practically cleared, thus removing all anxiety in respect to the Tonquin frontier.
On the North River, towards Kuei-lin, the provincial capital, the country has always remained more or less quiet. The rebels, on their part, have abandoned the plain, and are now located on the high ground to the north of Kwangsi, adjoining Kiao-chau Province. All attempts by the Viceroy to dislodge them have proved futile; and his only hope is that with the coming of winter, and the pressure of defective supplies, the rebels may, in time, be induced to voluntarily surrender.
No active operations are in progress by the authorities, who content themselves with maintaining a cordon around the hills on the north and south in Kiao-chan and Kwangsi.
As regards the Viceroy's return to Canton, this step was forced upon him by the clamours of the officials and gentry, who complained that the Canton city had been denuded of soldiers and money, and was in serious danger of being rushed and plundered by disorderly characters in the city itself, and especially from the Waichow Prefecture. Further, the Triennial Examinations brought some 50,000 outsiders into Canton from the surrounding country; and altogether the situation was so unsatisfactory as to compel the Viceroy to suspend active measures in Kwangsi and to return to Canton, bringing with him some 5,000 men of his picked bodyguard.
At present everything is quiet, and I see no cause for alarm in Canton. With respect to the Viceroy himself, I regret to have to report that his health appears to have given way.
On the 22nd instant, a notice was publicly posted at his Yamên that his Excellency was indisposed, could receive no visitors, and that he had applied to the Throne for a month's sick leave.
I learn confidentially, and from reliable sources, that he suffers from diabetes, aggravated by pneumonia; and that faute de mieux he has placed himself under European medical treatment.
I have, &c.
(Signed)
JAMES SCOTT.
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