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(This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
[B]
6.0 19607
AFFAIRS OF CHINA.
[May 17.]
REC?
HEG? 16 JUN 11
CONFIDENTIAL.
SECTION 1.
[18738]
No. 1.
(No. 184.
Sir,
Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.—(Received May 17.)
Confidential.)
I HAVE the honour to transmit to you herewith a memorandum containing my observations on the beads of missions in Peking.
Peking, April 28, 1911.
I have, &c.
J. N. JORDAN,
Enclosure in No. 1.
Memorandum respecting Heads of Diplomatic Missions in Peking.
Austria-Hungary.-M. de Kuczynski, who was doyen of the diplomatic body since the 2nd August, 1909, left for Europe in February last, and is not expected to return here. He has already been fully described in my despatch No. 267 of the 1st June, 1907, and in Mr. Max Müller's despatch No. 251, Confidential, of the 21st July, 1910. The eccentricities of his wife became very marked during the latter part of their stay here, and as doyen M. de Kuczynski showed himself so amenable to German influence that he lost to a large extent the confidence of his other colleagues.
The Austrian Legation is in charge of the first secretary, M. von Storck, but it is reported that M. von Rosthorn, the Minister at Tehran, who was formerly Chinese secretary here, will be transferred to Peking as successor to M. de Kuczynski,
Germany.-Count Rex, notices of whom will be found in previous reports, was transferred to the embassy at Tokyo about a month ago. Towards the end of his time here he had become very unpopular with his compatriots, and he left Peking for his new post without giving even the members of his own legation an opportunity of seeing him off.
Herr von Haxthausen, who was formerly consul-general at Warsaw, and has since been Minister to Bolivia, has been appointed to Peking, but will not arrive until June. In the meantime, the first secretary, Count Luxburg, is in charge of German interests.
France. The French Minister, M. de Margerie, who was French representative at Bangkok before he came here, is an excellent colleague and a charming man, with whom it is a great pleasure to be associated either in official business or in social life. I fully endorse all that Mr. Max Müller said of him in last year's report. Unfortunately, French interests in China give the French Minister little scope for the exercise of his undoubted ability, but he invariably lends this legation his cordial co-operation in all matters affecting our common interests.
He
United States of America.-The American Minister, Mr. Calhoun, is a lawyer from Chicago, who had no previous experience of diplomatic life, and who is still perhaps rather inclined to look at his new profession from the point of view of his old one. is a shrewd and thoroughly straightforward man, who takes a practical businesslike view of questions, and is very well-disposed towards us. I have generally found him quite frank and open in spite of his reputation for reticence and reserve, and in the currency loan and other questions in which we have been closely associated he has certainly given us a full share of his confidence. Like all American representatives here, Mr. Calhoun is at pains to cultivate friendly relations with the Chinese, but he is by no means blind to their shortcomings, and occasionally expresses himself in very strong language regarding the delays and evasions which attend the transaction of
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