Mr. Scott to Sir A. Satow.
H.. Consulate-General, Canton,
March 29, 1906. Received April 4, 1906.
I beg to report that the Viceroy sent his Secretary to me on the 18th instant, ostensibly to convey his thanks for the friendly action of the Governor of Hong-kong, in suppressing a violent article which had recently appeared in the native Press of that Colony.
The Governor of Hongkong had compelled the Editor to retract the statement, and publish an apology in the paper. I assured the Viceroy through his Secretary that the Hong-kong Government would never allow the Colony to become a basis for scurrilous attacks on his administration.
The real purport of the Secretary's visit, however, was to induce me to recommend that negotiations in connection with the Canton-Kowloon Railway be resumed in Peking with Tang Shao-Yi. I declined to do so; and the Viceroy's Secretary then informed me that an Imperial Edict had been received by the Viceroy directing him to resume negotiations in Canton, and that I should receive on the following day a letter from the Viceroy to that effect.
The Viceroy was anxious that I should communicate this to you at once; and I undertook to do so immediately on receipt of H.E.'s letter.
This I absolutely...
Page 396
(JUN 2 1906)
3064
No. 21.
Satow's No. 170 of April 10th, 1906.
18902