FAIRS OF CHINA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[15381]
No. 1.
[May 4.]
SECTION 2.
51
Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received May 4.)
Peking, May 4, 1908.
(No. 91.) (Telegraphic.) P.
ON the receipt of your telegram No.73 of the 2nd instant, I interviewed my Portuguese colleague on the subject of the reported landing of Chinese troops at Voncan. Baron Sendal told me that he had made a verbal protest to the Wai-wu Pu, adding that, as the boundaries of Macao had never been delimited, he had based his representations on the last sentence of Article 2 of the Portuguese Treaty of 1887. This protest has, as yet, had no effect.
I gathered from Baron Sendal that the Chinese Government had taken the action complained of as a precautionary measure, in view of the contraband traffic which is carried on between Macao and the mainland.
(Confidential.)
The contraband traffic at Macao is, as is well known, carried on with the connivance of the Portuguese authorities.
I would submit that intervention on our part would expose our motives to grave misconstruction by the Chinese, as the interests, not only of general order, but also of trade, demand the stoppage of this traffic.
[2960 d-2]