333
manendi and of domicile must be accorded
great weight; but he desires me to state
that in his opinion it would be undesir-
able to make any concessions at present on
the subject, and that the claims of His
Majesty's Goverment to protect all British
subjects in China should be pressed on the
Government of China if only as affording
room for concessions in any negotiations
which may take place.
3. As Sir Edward Grey is aware,
it has been proposed that a Commission consisting of
3 officers of the Chinese Government and
three officers selected respectively from
the staff of His Majesty's Minister at
Peking, the Government of Hongkong and
the Government of the Straits Settlements
should be appointed to draw up recommenda-
tions for a definite settlement of the
questions of the classes of British subjects
of Chinese race who should be protected in
China, and of the stage of descent at
C
which the Chinese Government will recognise
that British subjects of Chinese race have
lost their theoretical Chinese nationality.
In view of the possibility of the appointment of such a commission Mr.Harcourt
thinks it desirable to comment upon the
4.
classes of British subjects discussed in
paragraph 5 of Sir F.Lugard's despatch of the
16th of October.
5.
With regard to Class I viz.per-
sons of Chinese race naturalised as British
subjects in Hongkong, I am to observe, in the
first place, that any considerations which
apply to this class will apply equally to
Chinese naturalised elsewhere in His Majesty's
outside dominions except the United Kingdom. So far
as Mr.Harcourt is aware such persons have
never been given protection when in China
since naturalization in a British Colony is
not effective except in the Colony, and the
only right which they possess is that of
claiming
which