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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

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C.O. 882

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men could hardly be expected to serve under an alien flag. I cannot think that deser- ters from the Regiment are likely to be serving as Officers in the Chinese Army, for, as I have stated, they are mostly peasants by birth, and are not educated sufficiently to be likely to be much use as officers.

General Remarks. I desire to enter a very strong protest against these allega- tions, and the manner in which they have been made. They bear strong internal evidence of being answers to questions. It is a commonly known and generally accepted characteristic of the Chinese to give such answers as may seem acceptable to the questioner. Still little or no effort appears to have been made to test the accuracy of these statements. Take for instance the statement re the non burial of men killed in action. As I have shown, a visit to the native cemetery at Tientsin, or to the Municipal Office would have proved its inaccuracy. Moreover, when the coffins were removed from Tientsin to be shipped to Wei-Hai-Wei, the local papers at Tientsin commented on the fact; nevertheless, the statement is allowed to pass. The other alle- gations are on a par with this astounding falsehood, and I maintain it is neither just nor right to make use of the idle statements of irresponsible Chinese as a framework for charges against a body of Officers. I regret that I am unwillingly forced to the conclusion that there is a growing tendency to make use of any gossip against the Chinese Regiment. Since the Boxer riots a prejudice has arisen against the Regiment, solely because they are Chinese, in spite of the loyal service rendered by them at that time. It is noteworthy, moreover, that the unfavourable rumours that are circulated generally appear to have come from the North, that is to say, from places several hundred miles distant from the station where the Regiment is quartered, and, appar- ently, emanating from people who cannot, at any rate, have seen the Regiment for many months. The quite recent report* by the General Officer lately commanding at Wei-Hai-Wei, in which, among other things, the good feeling existing between the Officers and men was commented on, should, of itself, be sufficient to disprove any charge of ill-treatment.

It will not be possible to maintain the high state of efficiency at which the Chinese Regiment is now acknowledged to have arrived if the Officers are to be exposed to in- sults of this description. The first period of engagement of several Officers and British non-commissioned officers is drawing to a close, and if the experiment of training Chinese as soldiers is to be continued it is highly desirable that these Officers and non-commissioned officers, who have all some knowledge of the language, and gained a certain insight into the characteristics of the Chinese, should be encouraged to remain. They have laboured loyally and indefatigably to gain the confidence of the men they have been sent out to train. I am well aware that from the outset of the carcer of the Chinese Regiment certain people have held that it was not sound policy that such a Regiment should be raised. The prejudice that existed was strengthened by the Boxer riots, and has become more violent since the Chinese Regiment has proved its capa- bilities in the field. Fair and open criticism is to be expected and desired in a new undertaking, but this spreading of false reports is not in accordance with British tra- ditions of fair play. I hold that the Officers entrusted with the task of training the Chinese Regiment are entitled to the support of Government Officials, civil or military, in the furtherance of the scheme.

As the Commanding Officer of the Regiment is at present in England for the main purpose of reporting on matters connected with the Chinese Regiment, I have forwarded a copy of this correspondence and my report to him, for such action as he may think necessary.

Shanghai, December 31, 1901,

M. WATSON,

Captain,

Commanding Chinese Regiment.

N.B. While on the subject of desertions, is the percentage of desertions in the Chinese Regiment as large as that of the Beluchi Regiments when they were first raised?

• General Dorward's confidential Report on Chinese Regiment was forwarded on December 24, 1951, to Major-General Creagh, for transmission to the Under Secretary of State for War. J.H.C.

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Enclosure 3 in No. 85,

The OFFICER COMMANDING TROOPS, Wei-Hai-Wei,

I HAVE little to add to the remarks of Captain Watson. I can only record my amazement that such statements as those of the Railway Staff Officer, Peking, con- taining, as they do, charges of a nature happily quite unknown, and, hitherto, I trust, never hinted at, in the dealings of British Officers with the men under them, should have been placed on record in an official document-and that, too, of the permanent and public nature of a Diary-by one British Officer with reference to the performance of the official duties of a body of his fellow Officers. It is true that the statements are those of Chinese, but I venture to think, that by thus placing them on record, the Railway Staff Officer at l'cking has accepted a very grave responsibility. I may add, further, that had one of the men of this Regiment made statements of this nature re- garding the treatment, either of the men of the B.R.P., or of any non-European soldiers, by their British Officers, the only official notice taken would be the punishment of the offender for making a false accusation, as it would, undoubtedly, be. Were I, to-day, to follow the example of the Railway Staff Officer at Peking, which I earnestly trust will never be the case, and to enquire of any of our Tientsin men why they had en- listed in this Regiment instead of joining the B.R.P., I have little doubt I should receive some reply which, if brought officially to the notice of the Railway Staff Officer at Peking, would cause him the same amazement as the answers he has placed on official record have caused me.

2. With regard to the "good bit of instructing" said to be done by our deserters in the camps of Yuan and Ma, this statement, to anyone in the least degree acquainted with these camps, is its own refutation.

These armies are instructed on German lines, with German Drill and Chinese words of command, and it is, therefore, a manifest impossibility that the best in- structor in the British Army, to say nothing of a partly trained deserter from this Regiment, could do any "bit of instructing" at all. On the contrary, he would have to begin heavily handicapped, for he would need to first unlearn all his English Drill and ideas, as anyone who has compared the two systems will readily realise.

A. A. S. BARNES, Captain,

Off in Command, 1st Chinese Regiment.

Wei-Hai-Wei, January 12, 1902.

No. 86.

3754

SIR,

COLONIAL OFFICE to TREASURY. [Answered by No. 101.]

Downing Street, March 11, 1902. WITH reference to the letter from this Office of the 3rd October last,* I am directed by Mr. Secretary Chamberlain to transmit to you, for the consideration of the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury, a copy of a despatch from the Acting Commissioner of Wei-hai-wei, on the subject of the proposal to make the British dollar legal tender in that dependency.

2.

I am to observe that, in writing this despatch, Major Cowan has apparently overlooked the suggestion made in paragraph three of the letter from this Office of the 9th May last, that no special preference should be shown to the British dollar. More- over, it is clearly indicated in the correspondence between the Treasury and this Depart- ment that it is in no way intended to enforce the circulation of the British dollar in Wei-hai-wei to the exclusion of the Mexican dollar.

3. Mr. Chamberlain would suggest that as the proposal to make the British dollar legal tender at Wei-hai-wei was originally made by the Hong-Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, their Lordships may perhaps think it advisable to consult that bank in regard to the prospects of obtaining from the foreign banks at Chifu such a promise of recognition and assistance as is contemplated in paragraph 4 of the enclosed despatch.

4. In the meantime, Mr. Chamberlain proposes to request the new Commissioner of Wei-hai-wei to report further on the matter, and to instruct him to defer issuing

* No. 18.

• L.F. transmitting copy of No. 56.

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