Yamen to Mr. Bax-Irons id e Despatch No.65 of 15/11/99.
Mogie 41191
Yamen to Mr. Bax-Irons il e Red Letter No. 118A of 24/12/ 1899.
Sir C.Mac- Donald to Ya-
7
Yemen and His Majesty's Government adhere to the deci-
sion therein contained." "The Yamen returned to the
charge on 15th November stating that the Convention re-
quired the continuance of Chinese jurisdiction within
the City of Kowloon. They repeated their arguments at
an interview on the 14th December when His Majesty's
Chargé promised to communicate their views by telegraph
to the Foreign office. Again on the 24th December the
Yamen addressed a secret letter to His kajesty's Chargé
setting forth a new argument, namely that "the position
as regards the city of Kowloon is without doubt analogous
to that of the city of Kinchow situat e within the leased
area of Port Arthur. If the city of Kowloon be not ad-
ministered by Chinese officials, it is to be feared that
Russia will in consequence conceive designs which will
certainly be greatly to the detriment of China.... We are
of the opinion that the British Foreign Office would be
unwilling that another nation should have a pretext on
account of the Kowloon affair........ Should there be
fear of any prejudice to the mili tary requirements of
Hongkong, we would be moet willing to discuss and arrange
such measures as might be advis able .....
On the 2nd January 1900, Sir Claude KacDonald ad-
men Red Letter dressed a red letter in reply reviewing the whole course No.2 of 2/1/ 1900.
of the represent at ions in Peking since the 4th of Apri 1
and enclosing a translation of the Marquess of Jalisbury's
Note of the 30th May, in case the Yamen had not seen it.
He stated that he had already telegraphed to the Foreign
Office the arguments given by the Yamen in their secret
letter of the 24th December and did not feel justified in
again telegraphing on the subje ct.
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/This