[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
221
19141
AFFAIRS OF CHINA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[18217]
No. 1.
[May 23.1
SECTION 23 JUN 10]
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(No. 139.) Sir,
Mr. Max Müller to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received May 23.)
Peking, May 4, 1910. SINCE Sir John Jordan's despatch No. 28 of the 18th January, 1909, was written there has been considerable correspondence on the subject of the extension of the international settlement at Shanghae, which I propose to summarise briefly for your information.
The reply from the Wai-wu Pu to Sir John Jordan's note of the 14th January, 1909, copy of which was enclosed in his despatch above mentioned, refused to consider the proposal for the incorporation of the district in question within the municipal boundaries on the ground that it was incompatible with the treaties. The Wai-wu Pu further stated that the police and sanitation of the district were matters of internal administration, and in any case could not justifiably be subjects of complaint to foreigners residing in a district which the Chinese did not consider to be part of the port opened by treaty.
In transmitting this reply to Shanghae Sir John Jordan expressed the opinion that every attempt should be made to settle the question locally before the foreign representatives were approached, and, in pursuance of this line of policy, the Viceroy was invited by Sir Pelham Warren to visit the district to the north of the settlement and there convince himself of the unsanitary conditions obtaining there on the occasion of his Excellency's visit to Shanghae to open the Opium Conference. The Viceroy, however, declined the invitation on the ground that the pressure of public work and a slight indisposition prevented his accepting it, while further negotiations conducted by the consular body only added to the correspondence without obtaining any result.
Meanwhile the ratepayers of Shanghae met on the 22nd March, 1909, and passed a resolution unanimously in favour of the incorporation of the district in the settle- ment. Seeing that the time had come for collective action on the part of the diplomatic body, Sir John Jordan telegraphed to His Majesty's consul-general at Shanghae on the 6th April of last year to suggest to the consular body, without disclosing whence the suggestion came, that a copy of the ratepayers resolution should be sent to the doyen of the diplomatic body, and the question thus referred to the foreign representatives. The consular body took action in the sense desired, and at the meeting of the diplomatic body held on the 9th July last it was decided, against the advice of Sir John Jordan, in the first instance to address a note to Prince Ching calling attention to the unsatisfactory sanitation and policing of the district in question, and requesting that measures be taken to remedy the state of affairs. A note in this sense was accordingly sent by the doyen on the 22nd August last, of which a copy is enclosed herewith for your information. To this note no reply was returned by the Wai-wu Pu, and the Chinese authorities at Shanghae continued a policy of aggressive interference and obstruction, the most notable instances of which were the disputes arising over Mr. Algar's land and the Dixwell road extension, which were fully reported in Sir John Jordan's despatches Nos. 345 and 417 of the 23rd September and 12th November last respectively.
Nor were the consular body able to effect any settlement by the negotiations which they continued to carry on independently of the representations being made in Peking. The only result of their activity was to make the Viceroy send instructions to the Shanghae taotai to have the matters of sanitation and police properly arranged "in dne time." His Excellency also refused to receive a deputation which the consular body offered to send to Nanking to explain the situation and, seeing that it was useless to continue representations locally, the senior consul again referred the matter to the doyen in a despatch of the 9th December last. Unfortunately, this despatch was put by in a draw at the Austrian Legation, and it was not until the 6th March last that it was discovered and circulated among the foreign representatives. The doyen was thereupon empowered to ask for a speedy reply to his note of the 22nd above mentioned. He accordingly did so and received on the 23rd March last
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