4
missionaries' accounts of the mobilisation of troops and the arrival of heavy guns are strengthened by the admission made to His Majesty's consul by the German consul at Chengtu that he knew of large purchases of arms and ammunition carried out by the Szechuan Government at Shanghac. Time will show whether these warlike preparations are the heralds of Chao Erh-feng's long-delayed advance into Thibet.
The Tongking Chinese frontier remains in a state of disturbance, but it may be said that but little of the trouble comes from the Chinese side of the border. In Tongking the general unrest has assumed somewhat grave proportions, according to a report received from His Majesty's consul at Pakhoi. Numerous minor successes gained by the rebels have obliged the French military authorities to start a series of arduous "drives," without, however, attaining any decisive results, as the rebels, when hard-pressed, generally managed to take refuge in Chinese territory, much to the discomfort of the Chinese border officials. The agreement for mutual assistance is nevertheless working well, both Chinese and French authorities affording each other early information of rebel movements.
Chang Chih-tung.
Some interest attaches to the severe criticisms on the career of the deceased statesman that have appeared lately in a native paper published at Hankow, with which Yuan Shih-k'ai is believed to be closely connected. Chang is chiefly accused of reckless borrowing from foreigners, whereby he is stated to have besmirched the fair fame of his earlier career. Ilis attitude in regard to borrowing was guided entirely by his idea of his own interests. Thus, the first time he acted at Nanking, just after the Japanese war, had added 200,000,000 to our burden, he borrowed from the foreigner a sum of 2,000,000 merely for the construction of a road from his official residence to the river. His twenty years at Wuchang brought 10,000,000 of debt, and he set the fashion of reckless foreign loans" Taking the above as a text, the paper in question preaches the necessity for seizing the opportunity offered by Chang's death, and preventing the conclusion of the foreign railway loan.
In Chang's last memorial to the Throne he refers particularly to his unfinished task of providing funds for the two railways running south and west from IIankow. These lines, he says, should be run by the Central Government, though provincial capitalists should be allowed to participate to the extent of one-half.
As regards the campaign now in progress against Chang's foreign loan for the Hankow Railways, an article which has appeared in the native paper above mentioned suggests the suspicion that the provincial objection is not so much to foreign loans per se, but rather to the determination of the Central Government to keep such loans entirely in its own hands. Commenting on the reported refusal of the Government to allow the province of Manchuria to raise a foreign loan for the expenses of reform, the paper complains that the Peking authorities want to monopolise the raising of loans and prevent the provincial authorities from sharing in the plunder which is to be made out of foreign loans. "As to the suggested internal loan bonds," the paper continues "such things are not feasible in a country like China, where no trust is placed in the honesty of the Government."
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[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government)
AFFAIRS OF CHINA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[147]
(No. 669.)
Sir,
▪ནྟྭཱ་
No. 1.
105
C
765
[January 31
1 29 JAN 10 SECTION 5.
Sir A. Nicolson to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received January 3, 1910.)
St. Petersburgh, December 22, 1909. I HAVE the honour to transmit herewith copy of a despatch which I have received from His Majesty's vice-consul at Vladivostock, reporting on recent attacks on the German consul at that port and on Russo-German relations in the Far East in general.
I have, &c.
1.
Enclosure in No. 1.
Vice-Consul Hodgson to Sir A. Nicolson.
A. NICOLSON.
(No. 26.) Sir,
Vladivostock, December 5, 1909. IT is possible that your Excellency's attention has been called to an article which appeared some six weeks ago in the "Novoe Vremya" in which it is stated that meetings had been held in the course of last summer in Berlin with the object of organising a plan of action with a view to undermining Russian influence in the Far East, and that these meetings were attended by M. Adolph Dattan, head of the firm of Kunst and Albers, and German consul at Vladivostock.
This article has been reprinted, with additions and commentaries, in the Vladivostock press, and I have the honour to transmit herewith a cutting from the local "Okeanski Vyestnik,"* reproducing it and continuing it by a further attack on M. Dattan, who is accused of ingratitude towards Russia, in which country he has made a large fortune and from whose Governinent he has received honours and decorations of various kinds.
That M. Dattan in fact attended meetings in Berlin which had for their object the fomenting of anti-Russian agitation in North Manchuria has, naturally, been denied both in the German press and, by M. Dattan himself, in the Vladivostock papers. As far as I have seen, no attempt has indeed been made to substantiate the charge. The fact, however, that it should have appeared at all is indicative of the very strong antipathy to Germans in general, and to the firm of Kunst and Albers in particular, which has been growing up in this country for some time past, notably since the latter part of the war; which has gained in intensity on account of the recent political events in the Balkans, and which has latterly been rendered particularly acute by the friction arising out of the attitude adopted by the German consul in Kharbin.
The firm of Kunst and Albers has existed in Vladivostock for some forty-five years, being one of the earliest businesses established here. From a small ship- chandler's store it rose to hold a commanding position in the Russian Far East as merchants, as retail dealers in goods of all kinds, and as shipping and insurance agents and bankers. Their Asiatic head-quarters are in Vladivostock, while their European office is in Hamburg, and they have branches in about twenty of the more important commercial centres of this region. Till lately they have had to face no serious competition, except in the retail trade, in which they have long been closely followed by the Moscow firm of E. Churin and Co. Latterly, however, former employees of the firm, having learnt the business with them, have established themselves in lines in which Kunst and Albers formerly had the monopoly, and a number of their best agencies in trade and shipping have passed into other hands. 'Moreover, Messrs. Churin and Co. have started competing for the large contracts for Government supplies, which have in past years constituted the backbone of Kunst and Albers's business, and, being a Russian firm dealing in goods of Russian
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[2605 €-5]