adopted by the Chinese Government itself to open certain localities to foreign trade. The phrase "by China itself" appearing in this connection in the recent Treaties is not held by this Government to carry with it any special significance.
Article 1 of the Komura Convention, signed at Peking in 1905, provides for the opening of sixteen different cities and towns in Manchuria "by China itself." Among this number is the city of Harbin,
As to the methods pursued by the Chinese and various foreign Governments in the delimitation of Settlement areas in some of the more prominent ports opened under the early Treaties, some account of these operations, as well as a brief account of the action of this Government in reserving in every instance all rights of extra-territoriality for its citizens and their property located within the different Settlement areas, may be of interest.
Tien-tsin.
The Chinese Superintendent of Northern Trade, in 1860, just subsequent to the opening of Tien-tsin to foreign residence and trade, as provided by the various Treaties of that year, laid out in that port three tracts of land as Concessions or places of settlement for English, French, and American residents. The land areas measured off for the English and French Concessions were purchased by those Governments from the Chinese Government and then sold to persons of any foreign nationality desirous of buying. No such action was ever taken by the United States, the American purchasers, of whom there were several, buying directly from the Chinese Government those plots of ground confined within the limits of the so-called American Concession which they desired to secure. On the 27th June, 1896, this Concession was unreservedly handed back to the Chinese Government,
During the Boxer disturbance in North China in 1900-01, various foreign Powers appropriated for Concessions large tracts of land in Tien-tsin and its environs. Those Powers which had previously possessed Concessions extended their respective boundaries, while the others secured new Concessions. These Concessions, together with the Rules and Regulations enacted for their administration and control by the foreign residents thereof, after being approved and promulgated by the foreign Governments primarily concerned, were finally recognized by the proper officers of this Government in China, the Ordinances of the various municipalities being held as applicable to those American citizens who reside on any of these Concessions,
Shanghae.
Shanghae was opened to international residence in 1842 by the Treaty of Nanking between China and Great Britain. By virtue of the agreement, France, in co-operation with China, measured off a certain area of land now called the French Concession. Another area was measured and set apart for Great Britain, and a third for the United States.
It appears, however, that the last two Governments did not accept separate Concessions, but acted in concert, and what was then known as the British Concession has now become an international Settlement.
The British Minister to China in 1862 refers as follows to the British Concession at Shanghae: "It was neither a transfer nor a lease of the land in question to the British Crown; it was simply an agreement that British subjects should be allowed to acquire land for their personal accommodation within a certain space in order that they might have the advantage of living together. The land so acquired remains Chinese territory." The international Settlement still pays a small land tax to the Chinese Government.
In 1854 a code of Land Regulations was framed by the Consuls of England, France, and the United States, they representing at that time almost the whole foreign interests in Shanghae. The Regulations were approved by the Ministers of those Powers and by the Chinese Government authorities and local Representatives. They have received from time to time the sanction of other Powers.
In speaking of the municipal authority, Mr. Burlingame, the American Minister to China in 1863, says that it will not extend beyond simple municipal matters, rules, police, and taxes for municipal objects. That the Chinese not actually in foreign employ shall be under the control of the Chinese officers just as much as in a Chinese city. That each Consul shall have the government and control of his people as now,
the municipal authorities simply arresting offenders against the public peace, handing them over, and prosecuting them for their respective authorities, Chinese or others, as the case may be. There shall be a Chinese element in the municipal system to which reference shall be made and assent obtained to any measure affecting the Chinese residents."
In 1856 the French Government issued a set of Regulations for the municipal organization of the French Concession at Shanghae, which had been enlarged at different times by agreement with the local Chinese officials. Article 16 of the Regulations read
"No offender can be arrested within the limits of the Concession by order of a Judge or foreign Court, without permission from the Consul-General of France or one of his Agents."
Although the French Government disclaimed at the time all intention to encroach on the rights of other nationalities, the United States and Great Britain energetically took up this point, refusing to be bound by Article 16. The draft of the collective note in protest by the Consuls and Representatives of other Powers in Shanghae shows the attitude of foreigners other than French in respect to these Regulations. The protest stated:-
"We are averse to any Treaty between the several Powers, or any of them, which grants to either or any of them jurisdiction of any kind over the subjects of another Government; nor is there any authority in the Chinese Government to grant such jurisdiction, since it has already renounced in favour of the several nationalities all of its natural powers over their respective subjects.
"It is manifest that to form at any Chinese port any municipal body which shall be enabled to levy taxes and to collect them at law, it is indispensable that the authorities of the several nationalities shall concur in creating the Rules or Regulations having such intent and effect.
"It must at all times be held incompetent to any foreign Power to make Laws or Rules operative on the subjects or citizens of any other State resident in the Chinese Dominions; and no Laws, Rules, or Regulations so promulgated can be admitted as having any application or obligatory force whatever upon subjects of other foreign States."
Lord Stanley, British Secretary of Foreign Affairs, writes to Earl Cowley, the 22nd April, 1867:
"It was quite competent to adopt this system for a separate municipal government under control of their Consul so far as the French subjects were concerned, but it was not competent to the French Government to assume or exercise thereby any personal jurisdiction over the subjects of other States resident or commorant on the French occupation or site or on any other part of Chinese territory, inasmuch as those subjects had obtained by Treaty the right of exemption from all jurisdiction
but that of their own State."
The result of all this agitation was that the French Government withdrew Article 16 of their proposed Regulations and substituted the following:-
"The Consul-General in consultation with the authorities under whose jurisdiction the foreign residents may be placed and in accordance with the principles of a just reciprocity shall determine the manner of the execution of warrants of arrest which their authorities may issue, as well as of all judgments and orders of seizure issued against strangers resident or in transitu in the Concession."
The American Government were not entirely satisfied even then with the disposition of the whole question brought up by the French Regulations.
Mr. Seward stated that the President "sustains for the present the objections and protest which have been made against the French Regulations by the United States' Consul-General. This decision, however, is not conclusive for further proceedings. The decision is taken for the purpose of referring the whole matter to yourself for conference with the Representatives of Great Britain and Russia."
Apparently the matter was subsequently adjusted, and M. Moustier, French Minister for Foreign Affairs, admitted that the language which was adopted "does not protect
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