2
The
definite information that there were, when he left A-tun-tze in March, 1,200 Chinese soldiers in the Zayul country, which lies to the west of the Irawaddy-Salween watershed and in the neighbourhood of the Burmese Shan State of Khamti, troops belong to the Szechuan army, and are armed with modern rifles; they descended from Batang to Ye-ka-lo, and are reported to have crossed the Salween at Chamutong.
Shortly after the flight of the Dalai Lama, despatches reached the officer at A-tun-tze from Batang reporting that 3,000 Russian troops had entered Thibet, and were camped at some distance to the north of Lhassa, but I am unable to offer any opinion as to the accuracy of this information. I learn from other sources that deputies sent out by the Sub-Prefect of Wei-hsi crossed to the Chiu country on the west bank of the Salween, where they collected tribute, during the autumn of 1909; also that two companies of Likiang troops are under orders for the Wei-hsi district, I have sent messengers one to be stationed on the Salween, the other at A-tun-tze. to the French Fathers along the Mekong to obtain confirmation of the above reports, and I shall not fail to keep you in touch with any further information which may reach me from the direction of the northern frontier.
As you are aware, the country in the neighbourhood of latitude 28, round the upper waters of the Salween and Mekong, was visited by the late Mr. Litton in September and October of 1904, but no journey in these districts has since been made by a British officer, and I am generally dependent for information on the Fathers of the "Missions étrangères," to whom I am occasionally able to render small services, and who write to me from time to time. They have penetrated into regions which were previously closed to the Chinese, and they find, with little satisfaction, that they are allowed to play the pioneer for the Yunnan authorities. In the event of such incidents as the burning of Tzeku and the murder of the Fathers, the Lamas are declared responsible, and the missions are reported beyond the pale of civilisation. Should their enterprises prove successful, however, the Fathers are speedily followed by the officials and soldiers of Yunnan, who are unequalled in the art of peaceful penetration.
If we may be guided by the opinion of M. Peronne, there can be no doubt that the Chinese have advanced yet another step in an ambitious policy on their north- western frontier, and it would appear advisable that such steps be taken at the close of the rainy season as will place accurate information at the disposal of His Majesty's Government, and will form a bar to the further advance and establishment of the Chinese in the basin of the Irawaddy.
I have, &c.
ARCHIBALD ROSE.
[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.
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282
AFFAIRS OF CHINA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[20826]
(Secret.)
No. 1.
Rege 1 JUL 10
(June 11.]
SECTION 2.
War Office to Foreign Office.--(Received June 11.)
Sir,
War Office, June 10, 1910. I AM commanded by the Army Council to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 27th ultimo relative to the maintenance of British troops and a legation guard in North China, and to state, for the information of Sir Edward Grey, that, in deference to the strong opinion expressed by His Majesty's Minister at Peking, they are prepared to accept thic view that the garrison cannot at present be withdrawn.
2. As, however, the weakness in numbers of the troops renders their position insecure from a military point of view the council doubt the advisability of reducing the force, as proposed in your letter, by 500 men. It is thought that, for political reasons a British detachment has to be quartered in a foreign country, it should be strong enough, in the event of its being attacked, to hold out with some chance of success until it could be withdrawn or reinforced,
3. I am to add that the council would be glad to be informed whether it is considered feasible to make the arrangements which were suggested in paragraph 7 of War Office letter of the 27th April for the prompt succour of the garrison by the Japanese Government should emergency arise.
I
&c. R. H. BRADE.
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