6
approbation pour qu'on agisse d'après l'exemple des villes du Chantong et du Hounan. Les règlements de Yao-tehéou et de Tsi-nan visent les locations de terrains; le Gouverneur du Chan-tong a délibéré à ce sujet avec les fonctionnaires étrangers et a fait des proclamations. Cela est dans les archives. Si des commerçants étrangers ont acheté secrètement auparavant des terrains les autorités chinoises ne reconnat- tront pas ces achats; il faudra se soumettre absolument aux règlements fixés pour les cités commerciales.
Si pour faciliter l'application locale des règlements ci-dessus il y a lieu d'y apporter des modifications, on les fixera par la suite.
Enclosure 3 in No. 1.
Mr. Max Müller to Consul-General O'Brien-Butler.
(No. 9.)
Peking, August 20, 1910. Sir,
WITH reference to my telegram No. 7 of to-day, instructing you to protest against the trade-mart regulations enclosed in your despatch No. 27 of the 23rd ultimo, I transmit to you herewith, for your information and guidance, the copy of a despatch which I have addressed to Ilis Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs on the subject.
Without criticising the regulations in great detail in that despatch I have drawn attention to some of the principal clauses which, in my opinion, render the regulations unacceptable as they stand. The French Minister informs me that M. Wilden bas already protested against them and that he will be instructed to discuss this questien with you.
You should formally protest against the regulations and if, after conversation with French colleague, such a course seems advisable, you should urge on the Chinese authorities the desirability of amending the regulations in a manner acceptable to British subjects. In their present form they are likely to defeat their own object and repel foreign residents and foreign trade from Yunnan-fu rather than attract them.
your
0
I am, &c.
(In the absence of His Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires),
ERNEST SCOTT.
[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
[B]
AFFAIRS OF CHINA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[33918]
No. 1.
30791 eptember 19.] REG
117 10 1 SECTION 1.
Mr. Max Müller to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received September 19.)
(No. 251. Confidential.) Sir,
I HAVE the honour to transmit to you herewith the accompanying memorandum
Peking, July 29, 1910. containing my observations on the heads of missions in Peking. I have, &c.
Enclosure in No. 1.
W. G. MAX MÜLLER.
Memorandum on the Heads of Missions at Peking.
Austria-Hungary.-M. de Kuczynski, the Austrian Minister, became deyen of the diplomatic body on the recall of M. de Carcer last summer.
M. de Kuczynski has been described by Sir John Jordan, in his despatel No. 267 of the 1st June, 1907. He is a man of agreeable manners, good intentions, and limited capacity. It is thus pleasant to dine with him, but very wearisome to have any work to transact with him. As Austrian Minister his work was practically nil, but the assumption of the "décanat" has opened up fresh fields to his activity. Unlike bis predecessor, who looked upon his position of doyen as purely honorary, M. de Kuczynski takes his duties most seriously, and as all his little fishes are big whales, the most trivial question--such as the completion of a new list of the diplomatic body, or a proposal that a path shall be laid out on the international glacis-is of sufficient importance in his mind to induce him to call upon some foreign colleague and discuss the matter in all its bearings, with a consequent waste of time not at all welcome to the overworked heads of some of the other missions, meetings of the diplomatic body M. de Kuczynski often acts as the spokesman of the views of the German Legation which the German Ministor is unwilling to advocate openly himself. I do not think, however, that this is due to any duplicity on the part of M. de Kuczynski, who is a man without guile, means thoroughly well by everyone, and has shown himself particularly friendly to me since I have been in charge.
At
Mme. de Kuczynska is a pleasant-looking lady of the German bourgeoisie, who makes up in amiability and vivacity of manner what she lacks in tact and discretion. She has literary tastes, and is at present engaged on the composition of a drama which, according to her husband, will make a scusation in the Germanic world. She spends as much of her time as possible in Europe.
Germany.Count Rex, the German Minister, conceals under a cloak of bluff heartiness and apparent indifference to anything except a good dinner, a considerable amount of ability and astuteness. He is of imposing proportions, and his physique is a great help to him in the role which he plays as a representative of the Bismarckian policy of "action not words." His national fondness for food and the good things of this life have not really made him slothful or neglectful of his country's interests. He has, I am assured, a good position with the Chinese. He never worries them over trifles, but speaks out when necessary, and certainly is fairly successful with them. He is distinctly anti-British, but I am all the same où excellent terms with him. He is a little apt to overreach himself when he attempts too much diplomatic finesse, and after comparing notes on one or two occasions the French Minister and I have discovered that he is not trustworthy.
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