This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
[June 3.121622
AFFAIRS OF CHINA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[17899]
No. 1.
269
SECTION 2
TRECE
Rret 18 JUN 07,
Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received June 3.)
(No. 178.) Sir,
Peking, April 15, 1907. ON the 19th ultimo I was informed at the Wai-wu Pu that the Viceroy of Nanking had not replied to the Memorandum of the 8th ultimo, which was inclosed in my despatch No. 133 of the 16th ultimo on the Shanghae riots case, and, receiving the same information at another interview on the 27th ultimo, I warned their Excellencies that, if no answer came by the date of my next visit, I should be compelled to consider whether I must not request the Wai-wu Pu to take the matter into their own hands. Being told again on the 2nd instant that nothing had come from Nanking, I complained of the delay, and urged their Excellencies to deal with the question themselves. They objected that taking it into their own hands would not advance matters, as, if they came to a decision which the Viceroy did not indorse, he would protest against enforcing it, but they agreed to press the Viceroy by telegrami for an answer to the Memorandum, and I consented to wait another week.
When I called again on the 12th instant, the Wai-wu Pu stated that the Viceroy had telegraphed expressing his readiness to accept a joint official inquiry, which would be conducted under closed doors. I told them that I attached importance to publicity, and objected strongly to the Viceroy being permitted to obstruct a settlement by insisting on a form of inquiry which would prove abortive or satisfy no one. My proposal, I said, for a joint and public investigation, at which all the necessary witnesses, official and non-official, on both sides, should give evidence in person, was perfectly fair and reasonable, and could not be objected to logically, and, if the Viceroy was unable to accept it, the only alternative was a direct settlement with the Wai-wu Pu.
l'heir Excellencies professed ignorance of the Viceroy's reasons for rejecting a publie inquiry, and said that they would press him again on the point.
The discussion then turned to the claims for compensation. Some time ago I had heard that the Shanghae Municipal Council did not intend to insist on their claim, which amounted to a sum of 20,000 taels, and recently, during a visit of the Chairman, Mr. II. Keswick, to Peking, I arranged that he should ascertain definitely the views of his colleagues on the subject. As he had informed me that the Council were prepared to waive their claim, I made use of this as a last concession in the interests of an amicable winding up of this long-standing dispute.
Their Excellencies appreciated the Council's action, and said that they would telegraph the information to the Viceroy, but they wished me to understand that quite lately a new difficulty had arisen in regard to this question of compensation. The Gorman Consul-General at Shanghae bad within the last month presented to the Taotai claims amounting to 78,000 taels for injuries sustained by Germans in the riots of December 1905, and the Japanese Minister in Peking had asked the Wai-wu Pu to bear in mind that there were some Japanese claims also. Their Excellencies had understood all along that the British representations comprised the claims of all nationalities, but this unexpected action of the German Consul-General and Japanese Minister, neither of whom had made mention of compensation during the eighteen months since the riots, showed them that this was not so, and made it necessary for the Chinese Government to proceed cautiously. The Shanghae Taotai had been instructed to reject the German claims.
I explained that I had never pretended to speak for any but the British claims, which amount to about 70,000 dollars in the gross. As regards them, I welcomed any arrangement for the closest scrutiny, and felt sure that the total could be reduced materially.
No doubt my German aud Japanese colleagues were content to leave the burden of establishing the right to compensation to this Legation, and when they saw a reasonable prospect of success they judged that the time had come to make their claims, but their intervention before the Chinese Government had actually come to terms with me has certainly not facilitated a settlement of either their claims or ours.
I have, &c. (Signed) J. N. JORDAN,
[2524 c-2
Page 270Page 271