This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.
[B]
# AFFAIRS OF CHINA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[31036]
(No. 325.) Sir,
No. 1.
.0. 34816
552
A
23 SEP 08
[September 7.]
## SECTION 6.
Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.~(Received September 7.)
Peking, July 20, 1908.
I HAVE the honour to transmit to you herewith copy of a Report, in duplicate, with maps, on Manchuria, which I have received from the Military Attaché to this Legation.
I have, &c. (Signed)
J. N. JORDAN.
(Confidential.)
### Inclosure in No. 1.
#### Report by Lieutenant-Colonel Pereira on Manchuria,
1. Russians against Japanese in Manchuria.-At the actual termination of hostilities the Japanese held a line roughly running east and west through Chang-t'u Fu, whilst the Russian line ran roughly east and west through Ssu-p'ing-chieh Railway-station, but by the terms of peace the Japanese advanced their line 100 miles further north, whilst the Russians fell back 70 miles. What Russian officers now speak of as their boundary is a line running east and west at Erh-tao-kou Railway-station, the Russian terminus of the Chinese Eastern Railway, and slightly over 2 miles to the north-north-west of K'uan-ch'eng-tzu. Along the dividing line between the two spheres of influence the Japanese influence is constantly on the increase, whilst the Russian is continually on the wane. There are Russian and Japanese Consuls both at K'uan-ch'eng-tzu and Kirin. The Russo-Chinese Bank at Kirin has already been closed, whilst the Manager of the branch at K'uan-ch'eng-tzu thought it most likely that it would also shortly do the same. In the latter city there are about 2,000 Japanese (this includes a large number of prostitutes), whilst there are only a few Russian traders. A large Japanese Settlement with houses built in the Japanese fashion is being laid out to the north-west of the city, covering the ground between the city and the new railway-station. The Russian post at Erh-tao-kou consists at present of 300 soldiers under a Colonel. The officer selected for this important post is, like many other similar officers to be found in Siberia, one of those who have been constrained by domestic reasons to leave Russia, and whose sole enjoyments in life are apparently the pleasures of the dinner-table. As in the case of other Russian officers I have met since the war, I was struck by the callous indifference he displayed when talking of the disasters of the campaign.
In Kirin there are some 270 Japanese as against forty Russians, and, when the line connecting with K'uan-ch'eng-tzu is completed, Japanese prestige will be still further strengthened. Whilst the Russians appear to be indifferent, the Japanese are moving with energy.
2. The Japanese and Chinese.-The Japanese are making the same mistake in Manchuria that they have committed in Korea. They treat the Chinese with harshness, and do nothing to soften the feelings of the natives. The Chinese, who always bend before the strong, cringe in their presence, but cordially detest them, and look back with regret to the time when they used to grow rich on the indolence of the Russians. Even in trading the Chinese cannot compete with the Japanese, who can bring up their goods by the railway at advantageous rates.
The Japanese are bad colonizers, trampling on the rights of the weaker race and flooding the land with the dregs of their own country. By inundating the towns and villages near the railway with their prostitutes, the Japanese have excited the contempt of the Chinese, who, blind to their own faults, are ready to notice the shortcomings of others. As these unfortunates will barter themselves at a lower rate than the Chinese women, they are able to carry on a lucrative trade with the natives. It is incomprehensible...
→ The Maps are not reproduced.
(1933 g―6]