This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
CHINA TRADE.
CONFIDENTIAL.
C. O.
42072
[December 5.
730
SECTIONS DEC 04.
No. 1.
(No. 354.) My Lord,
Sir E. Satow to the Marquess of Lansdowne.-(Received December 5.)
Peking, October 11, 1904.
IN my despatch No. 334 of the 17th September last I had the honour to transmit to your Lordship a copy of the note which I addressed to Prince Ching on the 16th September after consultation with my American colleague, embodying the sketch of an Agreement which might serve in place of those stipulations of the Protocol of the 7th September, 1901, which provide for the improvement of the water approaches at Shanghae.
In an interview which I had with the Prince on the 5th October I took the opportunity to ask his Highness when I might expect a reply to this note.
The Prince replied that they had submitted my proposals to the Commissioner for Southern Ports at Nanking, and must await his reply before they could come to any decision. He feared that the recent change of posts between the Viceroys of Nanking and Foochow would entail a certain amount of delay.
His Highness commented on the severity of the stipulation contained in my proposal, whereby, if the work were not carried out satisfactorily, the scheme laid down in the Protocol would revive. I remarked that there must be some misapprehension in the Prince's mind if he regarded this as a severe condition: the primary object of the Agreement was to insure the satisfactory performance of the work. By the Protocol a good scheme of operations was placed under the control of foreigners, and in now consenting to give up that scheme it was clearly necessary to guarantee that the alternative undertaking should be properly carried out.
Prince Ching said that it was particularly in reference to this stipulation that they needed the opinion of the Viceroy at Nanking, who was in a position to advise them as to whether they could get proper materials and machinery for the work, which must, of course, be entrusted to a foreign engineer, as no Chinese engineer was competent to undertake it.
I agreed with his Highness as to the necessity of engaging a foreign engineer, and said that I thought there would be no difficulty in getting the materials proper and machinery from abroad. I then told him that I wished him to understand that I did not claim sole responsibility for the provisions of the Agreement proposed in my note of the 16th September, but that they had been drawn up after consultation with one of my colleagues.
The Prince replied that he had realized that the suggestions did not emanate from me alone, as the American Minister had already addressed him in a similar sense.
I repeated the substance of this conversation to Mr. Conger, who observed that he had no confidence in the Chinese Government carrying out their own proposals. Not long ago a member of the Foreign Board had plainly told him that nothing would ever be done by China, because the French Government showed such determined opposition to the Protocol scheme for the improvement of the Hwang-pu. Owing to this opposition the Chinese Government were convinced that, even if such a reservation were made, as is proposed in my note of the 16th September to Prince Ching, France would not join the other Powers in insisting on its observance. In other words, that the French Government will not support other Powers in claiming the execution of the Protocol, even if, after undertaking to carry out the works at their own expense, the Chinese Government should fail to keep their promise.
If this really represents the attitude of the French Government I fear that our efforts to secure the improvement of the water approaches to Shanghae will ultimately prove to have been labour in vain.
I have, &c. (Signed)
ERNEST SATOW.
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