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:
to me the result of an interview which he had had
with the Viceroy on the previous day. At this His
Excellency had stated that there was no precedent
for removing the patrol of the River from the control
of the Commander-in-Chief and that he had no power to
agree to such a proposal, but he explained that he
had instructed the Commander-in-Chief to confer with
the Consul-General and the Commissioner of Customs,
and added that if a satisfactory arrangement could
be made, he would not object to the employment of
foreigners appointed by the Customs in the patrol
launches on the River.
This appeared to me to be a decided step in ad
The
vance and I assured His Majesty's Consul-General by
telegraph that I would do all in my power here to
secure acceptance for the scheme. I added that the
Chinese Government appeared to be convinced that a
serious effort must be made to repress piracy and that
there was less sacrifice of dignity in employing
foreigners for that purpose than in allowing foreign
Governments to police their inland waterways.
A slight hitch, however, occurred a few days
ago, when Mr. Mansfield informed me by telegraph that
the Commissioner of Customs had received telegraphic
instructions from Sir R. Hart to the effect that the
employment of foreigners on patrolling launches was
not contemplated, but that the Commissioners at the
four Treaty Ports on the River should control the
arrivals and departures of the launches which should
be duly reported to them. Both the Consul-General
and the Commissioner of Customs considered this ar-
rangement quite inadequate and held that each launch
should have a foreigner under Customs control in
command, in addition to a combatant native crew fur-
nished by the Chinese Authorities.
I lost no time in seeing Sir R. Hart on the sub-
ject. His telegram appears to have been sent under
the impression that the Chinese would scarcely con-
sent to the employment of foreigners. He anticipated
great difficulty in finding a sufficient number of
suitable foreigners for the work, but said that he
was prepared to go as far as the Chinese could be
A
induced