This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
AFFAIRS OF CHINA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
C.0.
406
[December 283394
REC SECTI2.29 JAN 08
[42343]
(No. 521.) Sir,
No. 1.
Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received December 28.)
Peking, November 11, 1907. I HAVE the honour to transmit to you herewith copy of a despatch from His Majesty's Consul-General at Hankow forwarding extracts from a book which has been recently published, and which is virtually an autobiography of the Grand Secretary Chang Chih-tung. This work exhibits, as Mr. Fraser points out, the policy and career of the Grand Secretary as he would himself desire it to be handed down in Chinese history, and, viewed from a foreign standpoint, it will scarcely be regarded as establishing a claim to any large measure of constructive statesmanship.
The Grand Secretary's attitude during the Boxer trouble is perhaps the only portion of his record which will be indorsed by foreigners, who cannot be expected to credit him with having served the true interests of his country by compiling impossible Mining Regulations, blocking currency reform, and resorting to all the other schemes which he enumerates for the restriction of foreign enterprise and the maintenance of China's sovereign rights. Chang Chih-tung's conservative instincts are not likely to undergo any change in the atmosphere of the capital, and his activities as a member of the Cabinet are being utilized as a counterpoise to the progressive tendencies of his younger rival, Yuan Shih-k'ai. It seems almost impossible that two men with such different aims and conceptions of government can remain long in the Supreme Council of the Empire, and even the Chinese themselves seem to realize that their favourite theory of attaining a safe régime by the use of opposing forces has been carried too far in this instance, for the partisans of both statesmen are engaged in divising schemes for bringing them closer together by forming marriage ties between their respective families and other means.
I have, &c. (Signed)
J. N. JORDAN.
(No. 83. Confidential.) Sir,
Inclosure 1 in No. 1.
Consul-General Fraser to Sir J. Jordan.
Hankow, October 22, 1907. I HAVE recently been given by one of his Secretaries a copy of a newly-printed book, entitled "The Record by the Disciples of the Hall of Austerity of the Nan-pi Grand Secretary, Chang."
The Secretary assured me that his Excellency was himself virtually the author of this work, which exhibits his policy and carcer as he desires them to appear in Chinese history.
I have the honour to forward, in translation, such of the 120 sections as appear to be of interest to us as revealing his Excellency's standpoint, and his curious conception of his past relations with foreigners.
I have, &c.
(Signed)
E. II. FRASER.
Inclosure 2 in No. 1.
Biographical Notes on the Grand Secretary Chang of Nan-pʻi (in 120 Sections).
2. WHEN Hanlin expositor he remonstrated against the Russian Treaty, and on
the recovery of Tli, a Decree ordered him to take part occasionally in Tsung-li Yamên
[2769 ee-2]
B