[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
AFFAIRS OF CHINA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[17720]
No. 1.
114
C
о
17589
RECE [May 18 JUN 10
SECTION 1.
(No. 131.) Sir,
Mr. Max Müller Sir Edward Grey.--(Received May 18.)
Peking, April 30, 1910.
I HAVE the honour to transmit to you herewith copy of a circular note addres ed by the Austro-Hungarian Minister to the heads of the foreign missions, announcing that the guard of his legation has been reduced to forty men, of whom five will be stationed at Tien-tsin and two at Tongku.
The situation with regard to the defence of the legation quarter in case of attack has been so fully explained in Sir John Jordan's despatch No. 154 of the 12th April of last year, that I do not feel that I could usefully add anything to his remarks. The recent events at Changsha show that disturbances are by no means a thing of the past. The legation guards could not, of course, resist for any great length of time an organised attack upon the legation quarter by the Chinese army, but they act as a deterrent to the mob, and as a police force in case of riots in which, as is not at all impossible, the Chinese forces would play the part of passive spectators until they saw which side was winning. It is therefore a matter for regret that the foreign guards in Peking should be continually reduced, thus throwing a disproportionate burden in case of disturbances upon the shoulders of those who remain.
M. Korostovetz, the Russian Minister, yesterday deplored to me the reduction of the Russian guard, which, he told me, was allowed soon after his arrival, when his general instructions were to do everything he could to secure the goodwill of China, but he had since come to the conclusion that such a policy was a mistaken one, as the Chinese Government knew no gratitude, and looked on friendliness as a sign of weakness.
I have, &c.
W. G. MAX MÜLLER.
*
Enclosure in No. 1.
Circular Note addressed to Heads of Foreign Missions by M. Kuczynski.
LE doyen, en sa qualité de Ministre d'Autriche-Hongrie, a l'honneur d'informer ses honorables collègues que, d'ordre de son Gouvernement, l'effectif du détachement de marine chargé de servir de garde à la Légation Impériale et Royale à Pékin vient d'être réduit à quarante hommes, commandés par un lieutenant de vaisseau, dont cinq hommes stationnés à Tien-tsin et deux homines at Tongkou.
Dans la communication adressée à ce sujet au Prince Ch'ing, la Légation Impériale et Royale a observé que le Gouvernement Impérial et Royal se réserve de rapporter la garde à son ancien effectif si les circonstances l'y obligent.
KUCZYNSKI.
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