566
•
48
items in Annex III. I request you, therefore, to endeavour to obtain on the spot such further information as may be necessary to elucidate the points in doubt with regard to these claims. If, in the light of any explanations which) you may require, the amount
of the claim arrived at in each case by the Administration appears to you to be fair, you are authorized to accept it.
With regard to the question of losses at Nanpiao, Mr. Townley was informed in my despatch No. 205 of the 17th July, that His Majesty's Government might perhaps pass the claim under No. 20 (p. 23 of the printed copy of his despatch No. 138 of the 9th April, which was forwarded to him), if the Railway Administration were able to prove that the facts brought to light since Mr. Wilkinson's Award showed a greater destruction of plant than they were aware of when the claim was sent to bim.
Mr. Cousins admits, however, that such is not the case, and that Mr. May, the boring engineer in charge at the mines, estimates the amount of extra direct damages (for which compensation had not been received) at 1001. Mr. Cousins expresses the hope that, in view of the indirect losses arising out of the troubles of 1906 being considerable, His Majesty's Government will give further consideration to the request of the British and Chinese Corporation that the claim under this heading may be allowed as compensation for three years enforced cessation of work.
As already explained, such a claim should properly have been included in Mr. Wilkinson's Award if the claim was legitimate, but it would presumably have been disallowed as conse- quential damages.
With the exception, therefore, of the 1001. estimated for extra direct damages, this claim must be disallowed.
As soon as figures of the unsettled claims in Annexes III and IV have been arrived at, I shall be obliged if you will furnish me with a Report showing the total amount of the claim as passed.
I request that you will thank Mr. Ottewill for his Report.
(No. 348.) My Lord,
No. 57.
I am, &c. (Signed)
LANSDOWNE.
Sir E. Satow to the Marquess of Lansdowne.-(Received December 7.)
Peking, October 15, 1903. IN my despatch No. 326 of the 19th September, I had the honour to report that Prince Ching had undertaken to telegraph to the Viceroy of Nanking to reconsider the suggestion of the Taotai that the " Supao" prisoners should be tried in the Mixed Court with the addition of a higher official for this occasion.
I subsequently ascertained through the British Acting Consul General at Shanghae, that up to the 23rd ultimo no telegram had been received by the Viceroy from Prince Ch'ing, and I consequently addressed the inclosed semi-official note of inquiry to his Highness on the 29th. To this I have received no answer.
My hope that the matter might be arranged without discussing the letter of the Viceroy to the senior Consul, copy of which was inclosed in my despatch No. 330 of the 24th September, has thus been frustrated.
On the 3rd instant, a meeting of the Diplomatic Body was held to take into consideration, among other matters, the "Supão" question. I have the honour to inclose a copy of the procès-verbal.
The French Minister proposed that a communication should be addressed to the senior Consul in reply to that in which he had forwarded the letter of the Viceroy, suggesting that the Consuls should endeavour to concert an arrangment with the provincial authorities.
I observed that my instructions precluded my consenting to the surrender of the journalists, and that the warrant for their arrest had been countersigned by the senior Consul in consequence of the Tàotai's proposal to have them tried before the Mixed Court. I propose, therefore, that the senior Consul should inform the Taotai that the journalists could not be given up, and that if they could not be tried by the Mixed Court in accordance with his undertaking, they should be discharged from custody within a certain time. I added that in my view the offence charged was of a political nature, and that His Majesty's Government had never given up Chinese political offenders, citing the Taeping rebellion as a case in point.
49
و,
The Russian Minister, after expressing the opinion that instigation to murder is not a political crime, proceeded to deliver himself of a diatribe against the
«Times correspondent of the
in Peking, for having, in his telegram of the 29th July, made public the opinions of the foreign Representatives upon the "Supao case. He then attacked the Municipal Council of Shanghae for having allowed the accused to write and publish inflamatory articles in the paper, after they had been locked up in the municipal gaol.
I replied that to procure information about the opinions of the Ministers was a legitimate journalistic enterprise, and I recalled the manner in which the press and the Chinese Government were in 1900-1901, constantly made acquainted with what passed in conference. As to the accusation against the Municipal Council, I felt certain they would be able to rebut it, if it were brought to their notice.
As regards the insinuation that the "Times," correspondent obtained his informa- tion surreptitiously, I am convinced that there is no foundation for such an idea, and that it was given to him in portions by various members of the Diplomatic Body.
After considerable discussion it was eventually decided to ask the Italian Minister to draft a letter to the senior Consul, which should be considered at a subsequent meeting.
It
Count Gallina consequently prepared the draft of which a copy is inclosed. was circulated before the meeting, and finding on perusal that it did not contain an explicit refusal to surrender the accused, and omitted mention of the trial to be held before the Mixed Court, I prepared the annexed counter-draft, which was also circulated.
Yesterday a meeting took place at which my draft was modified, at the suggestion of the German Minister, to meet the objections of some of the Diplomatic Body, and the letter was dispatched the same afternoon to Shanghae.
I have the honour to add a copy of this also, and of my despatch to Mr. Mansfield, transmitting the text for his information.
In the course of the discussion the Russian and German Ministers both stated that their Governments were in favour of the surrender of the journalists. On the other side, the Governments of Great Britain, Belgium, France, Italy, Japan, and the United States have already given instructions to refuse the surrender, and the Spanish The Portuguese and Chargé d'Affaires has also declared himself in the same sense. Corean Legations were not represented at yesterday's meeting, and the Netherlands' Chargé d'Affaires expressed no opinion.
It is doubtful whether the Viceroy, notwithstanding the offers which it is proposed that the senior Consul shall make to him, will agree to the trial being But I have instructed the Acting Consul- proceeded with in the Mixed Court. General that if the Viceroy consents, the original Agreement with the Taotai as to punishment being carried out in the foreign Settlement should be adhered to; and with regard to the punishment to be inflicted on those who are found guilty, I have expressed to him the opiniou that it should not exceed five years' imprisonment with hard labour. I beg to add a copy of these instructions,
Should the Viceroy ultimately refuse the offer now made to him, it will become necessary for the Diplomatic Body to act in accordance with the terms of their letter to the senior Consul, and give instructions for the accused to be set at liberty. Measures can then be taken to prevent their molestation by the Chinese authorities, and for their conveyance out of the country, if such a measure becomes indispensable to their safety.
I have, &c.
Your Highness,
(Signed)
Inclosure 1 in No. 57.
Sir E. Satow to Prince Ching.
ERNEST SATOW,
Peking, September 29, 1903.
case, your IN conversation on the 9th instant, with regard to the "Supao Highness informed me that you intended telegraphing on the subject to the Viceroy at Nanking.
His Majesty's Consul-General at Shanghae has reported to me by telegraph that
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