[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
CHINA RAILWAYS.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[21610]
No. 1.
469
[July 1.]
SECTION 1C. C.
26320
RECE
IREG! 23 JUL 07
Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.--(Received July 1.)
(No. 236.) Sir,
Peking, May 15, 1907. REFERRING to my despatch No. 186 of the 18th ultimo, I have the honour to report that Count Rex and myself have pursued the question of the Tien-tsin-Yangtsze Railway negotiations at two further interviews with the Wai-wu Pu.
When we called together on the 7th instant we were received by the Grand Secretary Na Tung, to whom Count Rex explained that the object of our visit was to receive the Chinese Government's reply to the protest we had delivered against the transfer of the railway negotiations into the hands of the two Viceroys, Yuan and Chang.
The Grand Secretary frankly declared that he was not in a position to give a reply, as no answer had yet been received from the Viceroys. It was explained to him that the question was not one for the Viceroys to answer, but for the Chinese Govern- ment itself, against whose action the protest had been directed. We agreed to wait a few days more for their answer, and Count Rex then proceeded to call the attention of the Board to the mischievous articles appearing in the native press on the subject of this railway. He produced a few specimens of these articles, together with a copy of the joint Syndicate's latest proposal for the final Agreement, and demanded that the Chinese Government should take steps to correct through the press the false statements which had been disseminated.
The Grand Secretary confessed that the Wai-wu Pu was in total ignorance of the concessions which the foreign negotiators had made before their work at Tien-tsin was suspended. In the absence of any official organ he did not see how the Chinese Goverment could correct the inaccurate statements of the press, to which he considered Count Rex attached too much importance.
After waiting a week, we proceeded again on the 14th instant to to the Wai-wu Pu, and once more demanded a reply to our protest against the transfer of the negotiations. On this occasion the Grand Secretary Chu Hung Chi was also present. Their Excellencies were still unable to furnish us with an answer. In order to justify themselves they produced copies of telegrams addressed to the two Viceroys, informing them that the British and German Governments were pressing for information regarding the transfer of these negotiations, and urging the Viceroys to send a speedy reply. No reply having been received, their Excellencies could only express regret, and ask us to wait some days more.
We pointed out again that the question at issue lay in the hands of the Govern- ment. Count Rex considered that the Chinese Government, by this transfer of the negotiations, had shown its intention to block the whole proceedings, and I supported him by reminding their Excellencies that the negotiations which had been abruptly stopped by the issue of this recent Imperial Rescript, themselves rested on the basis of a preliminary Agreement approved by Imperial Decree. I asked their Excellencies to explain how international business could be conducted if it was liable at any moment to be interrupted by the issue of Imperial orders at variance with the lines of policy previously established. While prepared to treat with the highest respect the mandates of the Throne, I begged the Grand Secretary Ch'ü especially, as a member of the Grand Council, and therefore possibly the very draughtsman of this Rescript, to earnestly consider the grave consequences which this course of action must involve. The telegrams which they had shown us proved that the transfer of negotiations was evoked by a memorial of some censors acting as spokesmen for the gentry of the provinces concerned. These gentry, whose knowledge of the circunstances and of the proposals of the foreign negotiators was not likely to be greater than that of the Wai-wu Pu, had expressed the wish to construct the railway themselves. The Chinese Government bad bowed before their agitation, with no consideration for the feelings of the two foreign Governments interested in the question, and had brought to a standstill negotiations which were progressing favourably, and which were within sight of completion.
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