13
by Sir B. Robertson on that occasion. with regard to the proceedings of the Chinese cruizers.
PUBLI
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RECORD OFFICE
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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
(No. 74.) Sir,
The Earl of Carnarvon to the Officer Administering the Government.
Downing Street, August 25, 1875. WITH reference to my despatch No. 71 of the 9th of August,* I have the honour to transmit to you, for your information, copies of further correspondence between the Foreign Office and this Department relative to the action of the Chinese revenue cruizers in the neighbourhood of the Colony.t
With respect to the question referred to in the fifth paragraph of you despatch No. 66 of the 9th June last, I should be glad to receive any information you can furnish showing the exact status of these cruizers in order that I may consider how far they may be entitled to the privileges of vessels of war.
No. 8.
I have, &c.
(Signed)
CARNARVON.
Acting Governor Austin to the Earl of Carnarvon.—(Received September 4.)
(No. 92.) My Lord,
Government House, Hong Kong, July 21, 1875. WITH reference to my despatch No. 66 of 9th June, I have the honour to transmit a copy of a letter which I have received from Mr. Wade, Her Majesty's Minister at Peking, by which your Lordship will observe that as soon as he is more at liberty, I shall be favoured with his views on the subject of the appointment of a Chinese Consul here, which I will forward, with any remarks I may have to offer, for your Lordship's consideration.
I have, &c.
Sir,
J. GARDINER AUSTIN, Administrator.
(Signed)
Inclosure in No. 8.
Shanghae, July 5, 1875.
I SHOULD long since have acknowledged your despatch of the 9th June, but was anxious to reply at greater length than is as yet in my power. I shall have the honour presently to address you further upon the important subject on which you have invited my opinion.
I have, &c.
The Hon. J. Gardiner Austin, Esq.,
&c.
&c.
&c.
(Signed)
No. 9.
THOMAS FRANCIS WADE.
Foreign Office to Colonial Office.
Sir,
Foreign Office, December 7, 1875. WITH reference to my letter of the 13th of August last, § I am directed by the Earl of Derby to transmit to you a despatch from Sir B. Robertson, stating his views as to the course that should be pursued with regard to the so-called blockade of Hong Kong by Chinese cruizers, and I am to request that, in laying this despatch before the Earl of Carnarvon, you will state that Lord Derby will await any observations which his Lordship may have to make upon it.
I am, at the same time, to inclose a further despatch from Sir B. Robertson, reporting an interview with the Acting Viceroy of the two Kwang; and I am to state that Lord Derby proposes, with the concurrence of Lord Carnarvon, to approve the language used
§ No. 6.
• No. 4.
+ Nos. 5 and 6.
No. 1.
Inclosure 1 in No. 9.
I am, &c.
(Signed)
TENTERDEN.
My Lord,
Canton, October 8, 1875. I HAVE had the honour of receiving Lord Derby's despatch of the 13th August last, referring to his Lordship's previous despatch of the 10th of March, relative to the complaint of the mercantile community of Hong Kong against the action of Chinese revenue cruizers in the neighbourhood of that Colony, and inclosing copy of a further letter from the Colonial Office, together with its inclosure, from which I perceive that the acts complained of have not ceased to occur, notwithstanding the arrangement which I had arrived at with the Cantonese authorities to place the control of their steam revenue cruizers under the foreign Collectorate of Customs, and instructing me to take the Colonial Office letter into my consideration, and to furnish his Lordship with my opinion as to the remedies proposed, as well as to make any suggestions which may occur to me as likely to check the evil and place matters on a more satisfactory footing.
out.
44
Having read these despatches with great care, I have the bonour to observe, with regard to the one from Mr. Gardiner Austin, the Administrator of Hong Kong, to Lord Carnarvon, that as long as Chinese find they can bring foreign influence to bear in cases in which they have, or not, suffered injustice at the hands of their own authorities, so often, I fear, they will employ it, and no supervision by the foreign Collectorate over the steam cruizers, or check upon the proceedings of the Chinese revenue junks, will avail; for whenever in the course of their duty they seize a vessel, immediate recourse is had to the Colonial Government, under the plea that the junk impounded is a trader with the Colony. At one time the complaints against the steam launches were rife, and I had them put under the supervision of an officer of the Foreign Inspectorate, and although I have reason to know they are under good government, the plan is declared by the Administrator to be "inoperative;" and he now adds the Chinese revenue junks to the list of offenders as under no legal control, and owned and manned by persons who have farmed a portion of the duties to be collected on the coast of the adjoining province."
It is to be regretted that mistakes of this kind should be made, for they lead to erroneous conclusions. In the first place, the officers of the Imperial are quite as much under control as those of any other Government, for otherwise it would be incom- prehensible how a vast Empire like this is governed at all; and in the second, that with the exception of the salt "gabelle," which is not considered one, no other duty is farmed
That the Chinese revenue officers are not of a superior class is very likely, indeed, they are not so in any country, but "bringing pressure to bear upon the provincial Government at Canton towards reforming the existing system, especially in the appoint- ment of officials of a higher class and of more responsibility," is not likely to succeed. In a friendly manner I have frequently spoken to the high authorities on this subject, and some reforms have been made, but pressure" is more likely to do harm than good in
As regards the appointment of a Chinese Consul, I agree with Mr. Austin in thinking it unadvisable, but have mentioned further on how a foreigner as Chinese Consul may be
With reference to the despatch from the Colonial Office, I may observe, as regards the second paragraph, it is true that, with a view of lessening the complaints made by the Hong Kong Government, 1 succeeded in having the revenue steam cruizers placed under the supervision of an officer of the foreigu Collectorate, but they are few in number, the bulk of the cruizers being sailing vessels of various classes, and it would be impossible to withdraw them if the duties have to be collected. Indeed, this is so evident, that I never anticipated such a result. I had great difficulty in obtaining this concession for the steam launches, and I am certain it would be refused for the sailing vessels. It must be remem- bered the duties collected are not of foreign or Treaty Tariff kind, but Chinese, and they have never yet employed foreigners in that Department of the Customs, for the probable reason that they manage these matters in their own way, and do not care for foreign supervision, and, consequently, there is little probability of their placing their numerous cruizers under it. Indeed, so jealous are the Customs' officials of foreign inter- ference, that, as mentioned in paragraph 5, I have never been able to obtain, at the request of Governor Sir Arthur Kennedy, a copy of the native Tariff. They think,
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