Mr Allins
? Sept 12
kmy
is scaredy walt sending
us Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government...
# SOUTH-WEST CHINA.
## CONFIDENTIAL.
No. 1.
[August 14]
SECTION
33486
526
26 SEP 04)
Allo
Page 1
Sir E. Satow to the Marquess of Lansdowne.--(Received August 15.)
Peking, June 22, 1904.
(No. 226.) My Lord,
I HAVE the honour to transmit to your Lordship herewith the translation of the reply which Prince Ching has sent me to the note which I addressed to him respecting the undelimited section of the Burmah-Yunnan frontier, copy of which was inclosed in my despatch No. 177 of the 18th ultimo.
His Highness gives an account, taken from the Report of the Chinese Commissioner, Chen Taotai, of the proceedings of the British Commissioners when they broke off negotiations, and set to work to demarcate the frontier alone. He states that the Chinese Commissioner objected, at the time, to the line they laid down, and suggested another, traced in accordance with previous proposals for a compromise. His Highness remarks on the want of geographical detail in the maps and Conventions, and considers that a joint comparison and investigation are necessary in order to avoid doubts and dissensions. Finally, in begging me to communicate his reply to His Majesty's Government, he asks that officers may be appointed for a joint demarcation,
Your Lordship will by now have received a despatch from Mr. Acting-Consul Litton, dated the 14th April last, in which he describes certain Chinese Government surveyors whom he met. His criticisms on their antiquated and inaccurate methods are entirely in accordance with my own views, and show, if past experience has not done so already sufficiently, how hopeless it is to expect to arrive at a satisfactory understanding with Chinese officials in regard to a contentious frontier question within any reasonable space of time.
I therefore venture to suggest that your Lordship should refuse to entertain this request for another frontier Commission.
In view, however, of this proposal contained in Prince Ch'ing's reply, I have considered it advisable to postpone addressing the Chinese Government in the sense of the penultimate paragraph of your despatch No. 377 of the 11th December, 1903, and I shall await instructions from your Lordship before making a further communication on the subject.
I have, &c.
(Signed) ERNEST SATOW.
P.S.-A copy of this despatch will be forwarded to the Government of India.
E. S.
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(Translation.) Your Excellency,
## Inclosure in No. 1.
Prince Ching to Sir E. Satow,
Peking, June 17, 1904.
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Excellency's note of the 12th ultimo with regard to the southern portion of the Burmah-Yunnan frontier (note summarized).
I have the honour to observe that an officer was appointed by the Yunnan Government for the joint delimitation, with British officers, of this portion of the frontier, but that no agreement had been come to with regard to it, when the disorders of 1900 occurred. The Board wrote to Yünnan for a Report, and copies of the documents have already been received. In the original covering despatch the Viceroy quotes a Report from Chen Taotai to the effect that he had had several discussions with British officers, without reaching an agreement, and that the latter had, on the 21st of the 3rd moon (the 20th April, 1900), started for Meng Ma, left Chinese, and entered British territory, and on the 26th (the 25th April) had proceeded with troops to a point on the opposite bank, to Su-Hsin-chai Hsup-hse, crossed the river, and on the east of the Namkha River, at a point near the bank, they by themselves erected a pillar and departed. On the
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