[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
AFFAIRS OF CHINA.
CONFIDENTIAL,
[36991]
CO. 44c02
309
[November 3.]
KECH
SECTION 8.
Rect 5 GFC OF
No. 1.
Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.--(Received November 3.)
(No. 381.) Sir,
Peking, September 18, 1906.
I HAVE the honour to inclose, for your information, copy of a despatch received from His Majesty's Consul-General at Tien-tsin transmitting a letter from a Swedish missionary at Tso-yun Hsien, in Northern Shansi, to Mr. G. Clarke, of the China Inland Mission at Tien-tsin, from which it appears certain that Boxers, or some similar organization, has been collecting in that neighbourhood during the past summer. My German colleague informs me that the German officer referred to is Lieutenant Fiedler, of the Legation Guard, and that this gentleman's report corroborates the statement of M. Karlsson.
I had the attention of the Wai-wu Pu drawn yesterday to this matter, of which they appeared to have no information. A copy of M. Karlsson's letter was left with Mr. Tong Shao-yi, who has been told that my object is to enable the Chinese Government to make telegraphic inquiries in Shansi. It has been pointed out that a massacre of Swedish missionaries took place in this locality in 1900, and that several foreign missionaries are at work there now whose lives would be endangered if the Boxer organization mentioned were to obtain the upper hand even for a day.
While writing this I have received a further despatch from Mr. Hopkins (copy inclosed) from which it will be seen that the local authorities appear to be alive to the importance of the situation, and are taking steps to deal with it. I shall take an early opportunity of communicating the information contained in the inclosure in Mr. Hopkins' despatch to the Wai-wu Pu, and of impressing upon them the necessity of suppressing the movement before it attains more serious dimensions.
I have, &c.
(Signed) J. N. JORDAN.
Inclosure 1 in No. 1.
(No. 69.) Sir.
Consul-General Hopkins to Sir J. Jordan.
Tien-tsin, September 12, 1906.
I HAVE the honour to forward, for your information, copy of an interesting letter, dated the 22nd August, and written from the city of Tso-yun Hsien, in Northern Shansi, by a M. Karlsson, a Swedish missionary, to Mr. G. Clarke, of the China Inland Mission here, which reached the latter yesterday.
There seems little doubt that the lives of the little band of Swedes were saved by the courage and inspiring example of the unnamed German officer who happened to arrive on the spot in the nick of time.
What is less agreeable reading is the news that Boxers, or some similar organization, have been openly collecting in that neighbourhood, in which in 1900 a number of Swedish missionaries were massacred by the Boxers of that time.
Mr. Clarke affirms that the Prefect of So-p'ing Fu, north of Tso-yun Hsien, has not been changed since then, and that he is known to be strongly anti-foreign.
The last telegram sent by the Wai-wu Pu to the Governor of Shansi, at Mr. Carnegie's instance, was so effectual in the case of Tai-yuan Fu, as reported in my despatch No. 56 of the 30th June last, that similar action would probably have equally good results now, should you see fit to move in a matter in which no British subjects are involved.
I have, &c.
(Signed) 1. C. HOPKINS.
[2226 c-8]