PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O. 882
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO
¿Translation.)
YOUR EXCELLENCY,
370
CONSUL-GENERAL to VICEROY.
Canton, January 4, 1906. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge receipt of Your Excellency's letter of the 20th December. last on the subject of the Canton-Kowloon Railway, desiring the discontinuance of all further negotiations, but offering to refund certain survey expenses incurred by Messrs. Jardine, Matheson, and Company, against which latter Your Excellency desires to be furnished with the plans and specifications of their
survey.
On receipt of Your Excellency's letter in question, I duly communicated its contents to His Majesty's Minister, and am now in receipt of telegraphic instructions to pomt out to Your Excellency, that the Canton-Kowloon Railway Agreement is a solemn contract between the two Governments, and cannot be withdrawn, and further, that Your Excellency's action in this matter is wholly inadmissible.
rtis Majesty's Minister continues that if Your Excellency persists in this unfriendly attitude, he will have no option but to lay the whole matter before his Government, with the request to take serious note thereof. In respect to British trade and enterprise, Your Excellency's action has been hostile, and has already excited considerable comment on the part of His Majesty's Government. From the manner in which Your Excellency has dealt with the political agitation against foreigners, there can be no doubt but that Your Excellency's sympathies are with the agitators. As regards the Canton-Kowloon Railway, if Your Excellency has not actually instigated the agitation, you have at least encouraged it; and this attitude is part and parcel with the general agitation against foreign enterprise in China,
His Majesty's Minister accordingly instructs me to inform Your Excellency, that this unfriendly and obstructive attitude is producing a serious situation, and to warn Your Excellency that if you have a true regard for China's best interests, Your Excellency should make it your duty to check, and not to encourage, these political agitations and movements.
I have the honour to also enclose in English the text of His Majesty's Minister's instructions.
Card of Consul-General.
HIS MAJESTY'S MINISTER PLENIPOTENTIARY to HIS MAJESTY'S CONSUL-GENERAL, Canton, to be forwarded to the Viceroy at Canton. (Paraphrase of Peking telegram No. 37.)
Peking, December 25, 1905.
With reference to the Canton-Kowloon Railway, the contract was a solemn engagement between the two Governments, and the present action of the Viceroy in this matter is totally inadmissible. If the Viceroy persists in this attitude, I shall have no option but to lay the whole question before the British Government, with the request that it take serious notice of his unfriendliness. The Viceroy has been hostile and unreasonable to British trade and enterprise, and his action has already excited serious comments in Great Britain. It is clear from the way in which the Viceroy has dealt with the political agitations against foreigners, that his sympathies must be at least with the agitators. As regards the Kowloon Railway, there is scarcely a doubt that the Viceroy, if he has not actually instigated the agitation, has certainly encouraged it. This attitude is part and parcel of the general agitation against foreign trade and enterprise throughout China. I, there- fore, instruct you to warn His Excellency that his unfriendly and hostile attitude is producing a serious situation, and to point out to him, that it is his duty, if he have any regard for China's true interests, to check, and not to encourage, these political movements and agitations.
(Translation.)
SIR,
VICEROY to Mr. SCOTT.
Canton, January 6, 1906.
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge receipt of your letter of the 4th instant regarding the Canton-Kowloon Railway, recapitulating the instructions you received from His Britannic Majesty's Minister in Peking.
371
With reference to this Railway, it was decided that it should be built by British merchants on behalf of China. Sheng, the Director-General of the Railway Admin- istration, only entered into a draft agreement with the representative of Messrs. Jardine, Matheson, and Company and of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, an arrangement which has absolutely nothing in common with a final agreement.
But even with regard to the draft Agreement itself, it lays down that if after- wards, in consultation with the Viceroy and Governor of this Province, any difficulties be met with, it shall be amended accordingly. It really cannot be considered a final settlement.
My former proposal that each build its own line, and when completed join the rails for through traffic, was actuated by a sincere hope of seeing its early completion, so that our neighbourly relations may increase in friendliness, In all works of a public nature, one cannot ignore the situation, nor fail to reckon with public opinion. The same applies to all countries.
His Britannic Majesty's Minister's statement that I am anti-foreign and obstruc- tive cannot but be due to a misunderstanding. On receipt of your letter of the 29th December, I have, in my answer of the 30th, already carefully explained these various circumstances, and I now have the honour to request you to again submit to His Britannic Majesty's Minister in Peking the reasoning detailed in these two notes.
I avail, &c.,
(3)
Card of Viceroy.
MEMORANDUM handed to Prince Ching by Sir E. Satow at the interview of February 17th, 1906.
=
Canton-Kowloon Railway.
On December 12th Sir E. Satow received a letter from Prince Ch'ing stating that the Viceroy of Canton had been requested by telegram to delegate an official to discuss the question of the Canton-Kowloon Railway with a representative of the British and Chinese Corporation, and that His Excellency had replied that as soon as the Corporation's representative arrived in Canton a deputy would be appointed to negotiate with him.
On December 27th Sir E. Satow informed Prince Ch'ing that the Viceroy had appointed officials to meet the Corporation's representative, but that in the two interviews which had taken place they merely said that the Viceroy wished to cancel the Preliminary Agreement of March 28th, 1899. Sir E. Satow did not consider this a proper method of dealing with a solemn contract to which the Chinese Government were a party, and he requested Prince Ch'ing to move the Viceroy to issue such instructions at once to his delegates as would ensure that the negotiations were conducted in accordance with the ordinary rules of international business.
On January 12th, 1906, Sir E. Satow addressed another note to Prince Ch'ing reviewing correspondence which had passed between His Majesty's Consul-General and the Viceroy, from which it appears that the Viceroy proposed to abrogate the Preliminary Agreement for no better reason than that the situation in China had changed since 1899. That such a proposition should be seriously advanced by His Excellency seemed to Sir E. Satow astonishing, for if the abrogation of the Prelimi- nary Agreement could be so justified there was nothing to prevent the Chinese Government from repudiating the foreign loans or abrogating all the treaties with foreign powers on the grounds that the conditions had changed in the intervals since they were concluded. Sir E. Satow mentioned that he had sent Chinese versions of the draft Final Agreement with the British and Chinese Corporation, and pro- posed Working Agreement with the Hong Kong Government to His Excellency Tang Shao-yi on January 11th, and requested that definite telegraphic instructions might be sent to the Viceroy by the Chinese Government to order his delegates to discuss their contents with the Corporation's representative.
On January 22nd copies of the English texts of the draft Agreements mentioned above were sent to His Excellency Tang Shao-yi.
18885