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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

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THILCO. 882

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

5 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

Mr. Bax- Ironside.

No. 121 of 19 May.

300

As

that no power to introduce our laws additional territory, and that word jurisdiction in Convention only confers power to administer Chinese law, and therefore Her Majesty's Order in Council, 20th October, and my Proclamation, based on it, are void. Executive Council will meet 17th July to consider finding and sentence, and Francis asks that point raised may be submitted to Imperial Government for legal opinion, I shall be glad to know Law Officers' views before 17th July. Acting Attorney-General advises that Francis's contention is not sustainable."

17915.

SIR,

No. 218.

WAR OFFICE to COLONIAL OFFICE.

(Received July 11, 1899.)

[Copy to Governor, July 19, 1899, No. 130. L.F.]

War Office, London, S.W., July 10, 1899. I AM directed by the Secretary of State for War to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 27th ultimo, bringing to notice the services rendered by the troops under the command of Major-General Gascoigne, C.M.G., in connection with the taking over of the new territory recently annexed to the Colony of Hong Kong, and in reply I am to acquaint you that the Commander-in-Chief has perused this favourable report with much satisfaction and has caused it to be duly recorded.

I have, &c.,

18270.

(Confidential.)

SIR,

No. 219.

FOREIGN OFFICE to COLONIAL OFFICE.

(Received July 14, 1899.)

R. H. KNOX.

Foreign Office, July 13, 1899

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 despatch as marked in the margin, relative to the recent occurrences at Kowloon.

Enclosure in No. 219.

I am, &c.,

FRANCIS BERTIE.

Mr. BAX-IRONSIDE to the Marquess of SalISBURY.

(No. 121, Confidential.) MY LORD,

(Received June 26.)

Peking, May 12, 1899.

WITH reference to my despatch, No. 110, Confidential, I have the honour to state that on the 27th ultimo I received a telegram from Your Lordship, instructing me to inform the Tsung-li Yamên that Her Majesty's Government have been most painfully impressed by the recent occurrences at Kowloon, and the resistance to the carrying out of the Convention of June, 1898.

Your Lordship added that Her Majesty's Government are convinced that the repeated attacks made on the British force by Chinese troops in uniform cannot have taken place without the effective concurrence of the local authorities, and this conviction is confirmed by the refusal of the Canton Viceroy to remove his troops from the leased territory when urged to do so by the Governor of Hong Kong, and by the despatch of 600 additional men to Kowloon city on the 14th April, and the capture of certain Chinese military flags.

• No. 205.

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Her Majesty's Government had further seen instructions which were sent rom Canton to the officer in command of the coast forts that, in the event of more than three British men-of-war entering the harbour, fire was at once to be opened on them.

Your Lordship instructed me to intimate that Her Majesty's Government will be compelled to ask for satisfaction for these grave injuries, and that they reserve their demands pending further consideration of the form which they should take.

1 at once asked for an interview with the Tsung-li Yamên, which was fixed for the 29th ultimo. I informed the Ministers of the contents of Your Lordship's telegram. Their Excellencies complained, with regard to the despatch of the 600 troops re- ferred to by Your Lordship, that they had been sent at the especial request of the Governor of Hong Kong to keep order.

For this purpose only 300 men had been sent to Samchun and 300 to Kowloon, and they contended that, as soon as I had asked for their removal, instructions in that sense were forwarded to Canton at once. Nothing further had been heard by the Yamên.

The people who offered resistance had, they asseverated, no connection whatever with the Viceroy's troops. As a matter of fact, all the village train-bands in the Kuang- tung Province wore uniforms and carried flags just like Government troops, although they were not controlled by the Government.

Their Excellencies refused to credit that orders had been sent from Canton to the coast-forts to fire on British men-of-war, and they asked what proofs I could bring of such orders having been despatched. According to information which had reached them from the Kuangtung notables, the disturbances were all the work of Roman Catholic converts.

matter.

I reviewed at length every incident which had taken place in connection with this I pointed out that I had written once and had warned their Excellencies verbally twice, but they had entirely failed to realize what was happening.

The Ministers could only repeat their old explanations, and they found fault with the British Commissioner of Customs at Kowloon, Mr. Hillier, who, the Viceroy of Canton said, had made a mistake in stopping the levy of Customs duties except at three of the stations. For this he was about to be removed from Kowloon.

I pointed out that Mr. Hillier had not fallen into error. The Yamên had been expressly informed by a despatch of the 15th ultimo that the Hong Kong Government had been instructed to permit the retention for the present of only three stations.

The Ministers said they had instructed Sir Robert Hart to send the Commissioner of Customs to consult with the Viceroy at Canton about the Customs stations.

Inquiries would also be made about the report that orders were given to fire on British ships. Their Excellencies hoped that I would also make inquiries on my side.

I remarked that the Ministers still failed to grasp the situation. In spite of re- peated warnings, grave attacks had been made on British authority, and Her Majesty's Government were very angry in consequence.

Hsu Ta-jên, one of the leading Ministers, heatedly refused to accept my summing Where and when were the attacks made? I retorted that I bad already given them details at my previous interviews: that Her Majesty's Government were not in the habit of making unfounded statements, neither did they make the declaration which I had had the honour of communicating to the Tsung-li Yamên without thorough pre- vious consideration.

up.

The same Minister protested that the Canton Viceroy could not have committed any act of hostility.

A long discussion followed, in which the Ministers protested that they had all along done whatever they had been asked to do. The old excuses were repeated, and tele- grams from the Viceroy of Canton were produced and read, to the effect that the per- sons responsible for the resistance of which Her Majesty's Government complained were not soldiers, and that everything had been done to preserve the peace.

I stated that I was in no way desirous of adding to the difficulties of the situation, but that Her Majesty's Government would instruct me to make demands in reparation

for the injuries inflicted. Had the Ministers any suggestions to make!

Their Excellencies thereupon again asserted that Chinese Government soldiers had not been concerned, that the disturbances had been caused by private individuals and local mobs.

I reminded them that the local officials were responsible for the maintenance of order and the prevention of attacks on British authorities.

The Tsung-li Yamén then protested against the local officials being held responsible. As the Ministers had no suggestion whatever to make as to reparation, and could

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