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for the purpose. Thereupon I wrote a note, copy of which I have the honour to inclose, warning Prince Ch'ing that the appointment of Shêng would be unacceptable to me.

I was informed on the 5th instant by a telegram from the Governor of Hong Kong that the Viceroy had refused to see Mr. Ross, the Corporation's agent, on the ground of illness, and had not deputed anyone else to do so. I complained of this when I saw Na-t'ung at the Wai-wu Pu on the 6th instant, and requested that instructions should be sent to Viceroy Ts'en either to negotiate himself or appoint a deputy.

Na-t'ung readily consented. He said that the Viceroy had been asked some time previously to begin negotiations with the Corporation, and the Wai-wu Pu had not received any intimation that he was too unwell. A telegram would be sent urging him to negotiate or to appoint a deputy.

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despatch and letter I also enclose copies. I wrote to His Majesty's Consul-General in the manner I had proposed as soon as I received Sir Ernest Satow's concurrence in my so doing on the 28th instant (CLI). Mr. Scott's reply, received to-day, states that he will take an early opportunity of communicating my views to the Viceroy, but judging from his knowledge and experience of the man, he has not much hope of his representations producing any effect; " especially after seeing how, in a recent instance, he has successfully defied the express request and instructions of the Wai Wu Pu."

4. Mr. Scott sent me at the same time a copy of Sir Ernest Satow's telegram to him of the 27th instant (CLII.). I have no doubt as to the correctness of Sir Ernest's view that the Viceroy's anti-foreign feeling, of which his treatment of the Canton-Kowloon Railway question is a manifestation, is fraught with much danger.

I have, &c.,

M. NATHAN,

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O. 882

6

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

YOUR HIGHNESS,

ERNEST SATOW.

I have, &c.,

Enclosure in No. 201.

Sir E. SATOW to PRINCE CH'ING.

Peking, November 3, 1905. On the 19th September last I addressed your Highness a note on the subject of the Canton-Kowloon Railway, in which I requested that the instructions of the Imperial Chinese Government be sent forthwith to the Viceroy of Canton to enter into negotiations with the representative of the British and Chinese Corporation.

I am now in receipt of a telegram from His Majesty's Consul-General at Canton to the effect that at the request of the Wai-wu Pu the Viceroy agrees to the opening of negotiations, but asks that His Excellency Shêng Hsuan-huaï shall be appointed to do this, he being the official who concluded the preliminary agreement.

In my note of the 10th ultimo to Your Highness, I stated that the appointment of His Excellency Shêng to negotiate the final agreement for the Soochow Hangchow-Ningpo Railway would not be acceptable to me. To avoid any mis- understanding, I have the honour to request Your Highness to inform the Viceroy that the appointment of His Excellency Shêng to negotiate the final agreement of the Canton-Kowloon Railway would be equally unacceptable to me.

3022

SIR,

(Secret.)

No. 202.

I avail, &c.,

ERNEST SATOW.

GOVERNOR SIR M. NATHAN to THE EARL OF ELGIN.

(Received January 27, 1906.)

Government House, Hong Kong, December 29, 1905. IN continuation of my secret despatch of the 15th December, on the subject of negotiations for the completion of a loan agreement and of a joint working agree- ment in connection with the proposed. Canton-Kowloon Railway, I have the honour to enclose, for your information and record, a paraphrase of further telegraphic correspondence with His Majesty's Minister at Peking and His Majesty's Consul- General at Canton.

2. My telegram of December 20th (CXLIX.), embodied the report handed to me by Mr. C. H. Ross on that date on his return from Canton. He subsequently supplied me and His Majesty's Minister at Peking (through the Consul General at Canton), with the minutes of his two meetings with the Viceroy's deputies, of which I enclose a copy.

3. My telegram of December 25th (CL.), was sent on receipt from His Majesty's Consul-General, for transmission to His Majesty's Minister, of a despatch, dated 22nd December, covering a letter, dated 20th December, from the Viceroy, of which

• No. 195.

Enclosure 1 in No. 202.

PARAPHRASE OF TELEGRAPHIC CORRESPONDENCE.

(CXLIX.)

Governor.

GOVERNOR, Hong Kong, to HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY'S MINISTER, Peking.

(Despatched 11.45 a.m., December 20, 1905.)

Ross has just reported to me that after two interviews with the deputies of the Viceroy they absolutely declined to carry out the original concession or discuss the details of the proposed Loan Agreement. The Viceroy requires that the concession should be cancelled, and offers merely to refund out-of-pocket expenses, and he is notifying the Consul-General officially of this.-NATHAN.

(CL.)

GOVERNOR, Hong Kong, to HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY'S MINISTER, Peking. (Despatched 12.30 p.m., December 25, 1905.)

My telegram, December 20th. I am forwarding a letter addressed to you by. the Consul-General covering one from the Viceroy, which, on the grounds that the Railway Agreement could be modified if local difficulties was found to exist, and that the present situation differed from that when the Preliminary Agreement was signed, urges that the question of British firms constructing the Chinese section should now be dropped.

The Viceroy requests that this should be communicated to the Corporation, you, and me.

I propose replying to Scott that I cannot accept this view, which the Chinese Government cannot support without a breach of faith; that I am communicating with you on the subject, and that so long as the Viceroy continues in his present unfriendly attitude, he cannot expect any co-operation or assistance from this Govern-

Do you concur in my so replying?—NATHAN.

ment.

(CLI.)

HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY'S MINISTER, Peking, to GOVERNOR, Hong Kong. (Despatched 4.7 p.m., December 26, 1905; received 4.30 p.m., December 26, 1905.)

(No. 25.)

Referring to your telegram of yesterday's date, I concur in proposed reply to Consul-General. Directly I receive the text of the Viceroy's letter, I will argue the point with the Chinese Government.—SATOW.

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