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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O. 882

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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH--NOT TO

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No. 175.

GOVERNOR SIR H. A. BLAKE to MR. CHAMBERLAIN.

(Paraphrase.)

(Received 12.25 p.m., May 31, 1899.)

TELEGRAM.

[Answered by No. 179.].

I have received a letter from a German Missionary in the Tung Kung district, stating that the inhabitants are preparing to attack the British; and there is another report that they are arming in fear of our attacking them. The missionary wishes me to inform the Chinese Government that the Basle Mission Station at Li Long is in danger; it is nine miles to north of Sham Chun. It appears to me undesirable that the German Government should be afforded the opportunity of intervention; I shall protect them if they are attacked. The reports are probably exaggerated, and the uneasiness arises from uncertainty as to our proceedings. It will subside when the boundary is settled.

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SIB,

(Secret.)

No. 176.

COLONIAL OFFICE to FOREIGN OFFICE. [Answered by No. 178.].

Downing Street, May 31, 1899. WITH reference to the letter from this Office of the 25th instant, respecting the occupation of Kowloon City and Sham Chun, I am directed by Mr. Secretary Chamberlain to transmit to you, to be laid before the Marquess of Salisbury, a copy of a telegram,† which has been to-day received from the Governor of Hong Kong, stating that he has received information from a German Missionary in the Tung Kung district, that the inhabitants are arming to attack the British, and that the Mission Station at Li Long is in danger.

Mr. Chamberlain would be glad to be informed what instructions, if any, should, in Lord Salisbury's opinion, be sent to Sir Henry Blake.

I am to add that in view of further telegrams and despatches that have recently been received from Sir Henry Blake, a further letter will shortly be addressed to you upon the general question.

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(Confidential.)

SIB,

No. 177.

I am, &c.,

C. P. LUCAS.

FOREIGN OFFICE to COLONIAL OFFICE.

(Received June 1, 1899.) [Answered by No. 182.].

Foreign Office, June 1, 1899. WITH reference to my letter of the 22nd ultimo. I am directed by the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to transmit to you, to be laid before the Secretary of State for the Colonies, the accompanying copy of a note which has been addressed to the Chinese Minister at this Court, in reply to the telegram§ from the Tsungli-Yamen, complaining of the expulsion of the Chinese troops and officials from the City of Kowloon, and the occupation of Sham Chun by a British force.

I am, &c.,

FRANCIS BERTIE

• No. 167.

↑ No. 175.

↑ No. 164.

* Enclosure in No. 164,

SIR,

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Enclosure in No. 177.

Foreign Office, May 30th, 1899.

I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of the telegram from the Tsungli- Yamen which you left at the Foreign Office on the 22nd instant complaining of the expulsion of the Chinese troops and officials from the city of Kowloon, and the occupa tion of Shamchun by a British force.

The following brief statement of what has occurred will explain the action which has been taken by the Governor of Hong Kong in this matter, with the entire approval of Her Majesty's Government.

On the 3rd of April last an attack was made on an officer of the Hong Kong Government at Taipohu, where mat sheds had been erected for the accommodation of police and officials of the British Government, who would be sent to keep order in the territory assigned to Great Britain under the Convention of the 9th of June last.

In consequence of this outrage, the Governor of Hong Kong proceeded to Canton, and invited the Viceroy to give protection to the mat sheds, and to preserve the peace of the territory until taken over. Measures were taken by the Viceroy accordingly, and soldiers sent into the territory,but the protection given was clearly inadequate, as on the 14th of April the mat sheds were burnt.

The Governor of Hong Kong having telegraphed to Her Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonies that he apprehended disturbances, I instructed Her Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires at Peking by telegraph to impress upon the Yamen the necessity of taking adequate precautions against further troubles. On the 16th of April the territory was taken over by the Hong Kong Government.

On the same day the Governor of Hong Kong telegraphed that the officer in command of the troops at Taipohu had found, posted on the hill opposite, a large Chinese force, which had fired on the British troops. Further attacks were made on the 17th and 18th.

On the 18th of April, the Governor reported that the Viceroy of Canton had de- clined to reply to a request which he had sent to him through Her Majesty's Consul at that port that the Chinese officials and troops should be removed from the territory leased to Great Britain. The Governor further stated that a force of 600 Chinese troops had been sent into Kowloon City, where they were not required, the need for pro- tection being on the northern frontier.

I thereupon instructed Mr. Bax-Ironside by telegraph to urge the Tsungli-Yamen to send stringent orders to the Viceroy for the removal of the troops and to impress on them that the results of neglect to observe the stipulations of the Convention would be serious. He reported on the 20th of April that he had carried out these instructions.

In consequence of further reports from the Governor of Hong Kong, I found it necessary to instruct Mr. Bax-Ironside on the 26th of April to inform the Yamen that Her Majesty's Government had been most painfully impressed by the recent occur. rences at Kowloon, and the resistance which had been made to the execution of the provisions of the Convention. That Her Majesty's Government were convinced that the repeated attacks made on the British force by Chinese troops uniform, could not have occurred without effective concurrence on the part of the Chinese local authorities, and that this view was confirmed by the refusal of the Viceroy of Canton to remove his troops from the territory leased to Great Britain, and by the capture of Chinese military flags.

Further, that Her Majesty's Government had seen instructions which had been sent from Canton to the officer commanding the forts on the coast to the effect that if more than three British men of war entered the harbour they were to be fired on.

Mr. Bax-Ironside was to inform the Yamen that Her Majesty's Government would be compelled to ask for satisfaction for these grave injuries, and that they reserved their demands pending further consideration of the form which they should take.

Mr. Bax-Ironside made a communication to the Yamen in the above sense at an interview on the 29th of April. In reply to his observations the Chinese Minister in- dignantly denied that the Chinese authorities were responsible for attacks by local mobs on British troops. Such mobs in the South of China constantly used false flags and military clothing.

On the 30th of April I further instructed Mr. Bax-Ironside to state to the Yamen that unless proper consideration were given by the Chinese Government to the repre- sentations made to them Her Majesty's Government must conclude that they were ignorant of or had no control over the proceedings of the Viceroy of Canton, and the

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