CO129-147 - Public Offices - 1870 — Page 287

$

2

8819

these on the mainland, by foreign machinery, together with the abolition of all duty on foreign coal, as well as a reduction of duty on the native produce, will have very beneficial effects, and were desirable in themselves.

The conditional and qualified right of temporary residence, and inland naviga- tion in foreign-owned vessels, if judiciously and quietly worked, will, I am satisfied, give foreign merchants all they can reasonably desire, and quite as much as they are in a position to turn to any good account for the present. It is too much to expect, however, that they will think so.

The introduction of a steam-tug for their use on the Poyang Lake may not be very valuable as a means of towing cargo-boats of tea, but as the first step towards familiarizing the Chinese authorities and people with steam-vessels in the inland waters, I think the concession far from unimportant.

The adoption of a written code of commercial law, in like manner, is more From a com- important for what it may lead to, than for any immediate results. mercial to a civil and criminal code, founded on European principles, and an international court for its administration in all mixed cases between foreigners and natives, there are but two steps; and these once gained, extra territoriality may be dispensed with, and the greatest impediment to inland residence and unwillingness on the part of the Chinese officials to see the foreigner located in the provinces will disappear.

+

For these various advances in the path of progress and other concessions we A small increase in the duty of the two have had to give something in return. products, one Indian and the other Chinese, which, from their great value, can best bear it, has been the price paid. It is very certain, however distasteful to the merchants any

increase may be, that not a pound less of either opium or silk will And the 2 per cent. be in demand, even if it increase the price, by that amount, in the one case, and I per cent. in the other, cannot, in any perceptible degree, diminish the profits of those who deal in them. Moreover, it was a case in which the British Representative could not, as the Lords of the Committee of Privy Council for Trade remark in regard to another article, tea, refuse a revision on any ground of reason or equity. Ön opium it is a matter of great indifference what import duty is levied while the Chinese Government has the acknowledged right to lay on any tax they please the moment it leaves the foreign importers' hands. Indeed, in the interest of India and our Indian revenue, anything calculated to give the Chinese Government an interest in the importation of the foreign article is by so much an advantage to the trade, as supplying a motive for checking the growth of the native produce, which has recently extended so greatly as to threaten the whole Indian trade, as I more particularly explained in my despatch No. 122 of the 13th instant, inclosing a reply to the Indian Government on the subject.

It was an article

As to silk, the argument on the Chinese side was irresistible. of so much value and in such great demand that it could well bear a heavy duty. The present duty was actually below the scale of 5 per cent, adopted as the average for all exports and imports, and for both these reasons they were well entitled to demand an increased rate to bring it up to that average. Considering that they desired to double the duty on tea, silk, and opium, and had a direct interest in doing so, I think they showed great moderation in being finally contented with so little. Indeed, the total prohibition of opium, the restriction of missionaries from inland residence, and the abolition of all extra-territoriality being the three cardinal points and chief objects of desire with the Chinese Government and all the official hierarchy, it must be matter of congratulation that they have not insisted upon any one of these as a condition of revision; that is, a revision in the sense which we alone contemplated or desired.

Besides the small increase in duty on these two articles, nothing has been conceded on our part but the plainest of all international rights, if there is to be any principal of reciprocity recognized in our relations with China, viz., the right to appoint Consuls in the British dominions. I have not for a moment forgotten the expressed wish of the Board of Trade that there should be no increase in the scale of duties,

30 and the last instruction conveyed in your Lordship's despatch No. 141 of the 4th of August, indicating a doubt as to the expediency of allowing a Chinese Consul to be appointed at Hong Kong; but this last could hardly be refused with any show of reason or justice; and as to the inconveniences to be anticipated-even supposing this Government should be prompt to avail themselves of the privilege, which is doubtful---I believe these will be found on experience, to be more or less chimerical. Hong Kong is confessedly a great smuggling depôt; and the Chinese revenue, it is

5

calculated, lose more than a quarter of a million annually in Customs revenue from its proximity to the mainland, It is natural, therefore, that they should desire to put a stop to it; and, as your Lordship's despatch No. 158 of the 20th of August last, with its inclosures, plainly shows, they are prepared to take as determined measures to check it as the Chinese smugglers are taking to carry it on by force. These things being so, it is much better, I conceive, that we should aid them, by legal and peaceable means, to control the smuggling proclivities of their own subjects sailing and trading from our Colony where there is a free port, than compel them to plant taxing stations, farmed out to unscrupulous guilds or Companies, and arm European-built ships of war to run "amuck" on all native vessels leaving the harbour of Hong Kong. Indeed, this course is so clearly laid down in the above- cited despatch of your Lordship that I may congratulate myself on having, as I trust, fully anticipated the wishes of Her Majesty's Government by providing, in the Convention for more satisfactory arrangements than those hitherto existing between the Chinese and the British Colonial authorities.

If the Consul appointed by the Chinese Government should, by controlling the smuggling propensities of his own countrymen in league with the foreign merchant, inflict any injury on Hong Kong by greatly diminishing illicit traffic, the concession contained in the Vth Article of the present Convention, giving to Hong Kong the much-desired privileges of a Chinese port in matters of transhipment, will go far to counterbalance any damage from effective action on the part of the Chinese autho rities against smuggling. The legitimate trade can only gain by the measures proposed, and the suppression of that which is illicit will go far to put an end to the hostile feeling, of the existence of which, as your Lordship justly remarks, there can be no doubt.

Finally, these three concessions constituted the price demanded; for all the Chinese were willing, or could be induced to grant in the interest of foreign trade. Have we paid too dear? I think the advantages we have gained so far preponderate over the little that has been yielded, as to leave no doubt on the subject.

I cannot close this review of the long protracted negotiations and their result in the Convention, without bringing to the notice of Her Majesty's Government the valuable assistance I have received from Mr. Frater, Second Secretary attached to this Legation, and Mr. Adkins, the Acting Chinese Secretary. The latter nas officiated as interpreter throughout, both in the Commission and at the Yamên. Much of the labour of the whole has devolved upon these two gentlemen, and I cannot speak too highly of their unwearied zeal and assiduity.

I have, &c.

KA

(Signed)

Inclosure 1.

RUTHERFORD ALCOCK,

Supplementary Convention to the Treaty of Commerce and Navigation of June 26, 1858, between Great Britain and China.

HER Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and His Majesty the Emperor of China, desiring to secure the better execution of the Treaty of Commerce concluded between them on the 26th of June, 1858, have resolved, in accordance with the provision made in the XXVIIth Article to the effect that either of the High Contracting Parties may demand a further revision of the Tariff and of the Commercial Articles of that Treaty at the end of ten years,” to negotiate a complementary arrangement, and they have for that purpose named as their Plenipotentiarics, that is to say:-

Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Sir Rutherford Alcock, Knight Commander of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath, Her said Majesty's Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to His Majesty the Emperor of China;

And His Majesty the Emperor of China, His Imperial Highness (Ho-shuo) Prince of Kung, Wen Hsiang, President of the Board of Civil Ŏice; Pao Chun, President of the Board of Revenue; Tung Hsün, President of the Board of Revenue; Tan Ting Hsiang, President of the Board of Punishment; and Chung Lün, President of the Colonial Office;

[70]

285