is Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.)
439
AFFAIRS OF CHINA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
40347]
No. 416.)
No. 1.
[December 1.]
SECTION 3.
C. O. 49055
09 DEC 06
Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received December 1.)
WITH reference to my despatch No. 384 of the 20th September, I have the honour to inclose a translation of the reply which Prince Ching returned to my note of the 9th September, in which his Highness continues to justify the action of the Chinese authorities and to refuse compliance with my request that no further steps should be taken towards the establishment of a Chinese municipality on the northern limits of the foreign Settlements at Shanghae. I also inclose a copy of another note which I addressed to his Highness on the 6th October, reminding him that the port of Shanghae is a foreign creation, and insisting that the scheme objected to is the offspring of an anti-foreign agitation, and that it is intended, by thwarting sanitary measures and road improvements on the outskirts of the foreign Settlements, to check the growth of the treaty port.
I have, &c. (Signed) J. N. JORDAN,
Inclosure 1 in No. 1.
Prince Ching to Sir J. Jordan.
(Translation.)
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Excellency's note of the September, on the subject of the establishment of a Chinese municipality outside the foreign Settlements at Shanghae [note of the 20th September quoted at length].
This Board have the honour to observe, in reply, that all measures connected with local administration and public health must naturally be of gradual development. For several years past this class of administrative work has been undertaken in Peking, and similar organizations exist in various provincial cities. It cannot therefore be said that no steps have been taken in this direction. The locality in question is situated outside the foreign Settlement, and its development as a commercial district for Chinese, with a police and sanitary organization on the usual lines, is a measure of policy which China, as the sovereign Power, is entitled to undertake, and it cannot be said that because the locality is in the immediate neighbourhood of the Settlement, such a step should not be taken.
The friendly feeling of His Britannic Majesty's Government is amply manifested in your Excellency's observation that they have no desire to obstruct Chinese measures of reorganization, or to maintain that the power of extending the Settlement should be unlimited; but it is certainly unjust to deny to China the right to open up a commercial district herself in a certain locality because it is on the borders of the Settlement and in view of possible future expansion. For it must be borne in mind that at the beginning of foreign commercial relations China had not yet undertaken any of these measures of police and sanitation, and lest the protection she could afford should prove insufficient, it was determined with several Powers to establish foreign Settlements. But many decades have elapsed since that time, and in recent years various steps have been taken towards the inauguration of police and sanitary measures, the importance of which is fully recognized. The opening up of a commercial district in that locality by China herself is entirely actuated by the interests of trade, and will be equally advantageous to all foreign merchants. If the municipal organization does not prove to be completely satisfactory, the local authorities can be informed and urged to improve it, so that all may enjoy the benefits of protection. But to hold that protection is equivalent to imposing control is losing sight of the equity of the question at issue.
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