[This Document is the Property of Her Britannic Majesty's Government]
C. C.
203
AFFAIRS OF CHINA.
2121
[January 14.]
CONFIDENTIAL.
REGE 18 JAN 01
SECTION 2.
No. 1.
Sir Chihchen Lofengluh to the Marquess of Lansdowne.--(Received January 14.)
My Lord,
Chinese Legation, January 12, 1901.
ON the 7th September last I communicated to Lord Salisbury a telegram from Li Heng-chang stating that Kang Yu Wei and Liang Ki Chan, joining with Ku Sing, a notorious sower of sedition in the Canton Province, and with the chiefs of certain secret and illegal Societies, were endeavouring to excite a rising against the Chinese Government in the South of China and the provinces bordering on the Yang-tsze River. In the same telegram it was pointed out that one of the principal seats of the conspiracy was Hong Kong, and Lord Salisbury was asked to take measures for the arrest of seven of the conspirators, mentioned by name, who were making use of the Colony to smuggle arms into China and for other illicit purposes.
I am desired by Chang Chi-tung to convey to Her Majesty's Government the thanks of himself and the Viceroy of Nanking for the measures which Lord Salisbury was so good as to instruct the Colonial authorities to take, with a view to the hospitality of the Island of Hong Kong not being abused by the desperadoes who were making use of it. But, notwithstanding the salutary effects of these measures, and the energetic action taken by Chang Chi-tung in suppressing the treasonable movement at Hankow and Tatung in October 1900, the situation in the central and southern provinces of China is still most critical. Large numbers of the followers of Kang Yu Wei and Liang Ki-Chao, and of the members of the Triad and other formidable affiliated Societies are known to exist and to be most active, particularly in the government of the Two Kwangs.
I have, therefore, been instructed to request that the stringency of the measures taken by the authorities at Hong Kong and the Straits Settlements may be increased rather than relaxed; and that the British Consuls at the Treaty ports may be instructed to co-operate with the Local authorities in preventing the foreign Settlements from being used as an asylum by those who are instigating and directing the insurrectionary movement.
The Viceroys of the southern and Yang-tsze Provinces hope they may count on the co-operation of all the foreign Consuls in this matter, and with a view to obtaining it, the Chinese Ministers residing in foreign countries have been directed to request the Governments to whom they are respectively accredited, to issue instructions to their Consuls in that sense.
Very effective assistance has already been received from the Portuguese authorities at Macao, the Governor having issued certain Regulations with regard to the holding of meetings and the search for arms and ammunition, which the Acting Viceroy of Canton acknowledges to have been attended with the most beneficial effects. These Regulations prohibit the holding of meetings intended for the dissemination of ideas calculated to promote disaffection or sedition amongst the Chinese people and for the hatching of plots against the Chinese Government. They also prohibit the importation of arms and war material, and authorize the search of passengers' baggage and in suspected quarters for arms and ammunition, large quantities of which are known to have been previously smuggled into Macao, and thence transported into China concealed in coffins and other ways.
These Regulations having been found to be so effective in the south, the Yang-tsze Viceroys consider that it would materially contribute to their ability to maintain order and tranquillity within their respective jurisdictions, if similar Regulations could be issued in Hong Kong and the Straits Settlements.
The complicity of Kang Yu-wei and Liang Ki-chao, who are now living in British territory, has abundantly been proved by documentary and other evidence discovered in the course of the investigations made in connection with the recently discovered plots at Hankow, Tatung, and Woochow; also in connection with the dynamite explosion in the Yamên of the Governor at Canton. And the Yang-tsze Viceroys think that nothing would so effectively contribute to allay the state of unrest which prevails over a very large extent of the central and southern provinces as an increased vigilance on the part of the British authorities.
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Page 210
Page 211
[This Document is the Property of Her Britannic Majesty's Govern
C. C.
203
AFFAIRS OF CHINA.
2121
[January 14.]
RECE
CONFIDENTIAL.
REGE 18 JAN 01
SECTION 2.
No. 1.
Sir Chihchen Lofengluh to the Marquess of Lansdowne.--(Received Jannary 14.)
My Lord,
Chinese Legation, January 12, 1901. ON the 7th September last I communicated to Lord Salisbury a telegram from Li Heng-chang stating that Kang Yu Wei and Liang Ki Chan joining with Ku Sing, a notorious sower of sedition in the Canton Province, and with the chiefs of certain secret and illegal Societies, was endeavouring to excite a rising against the Chinese Government in the South of China and the provinces bordering on the Yang-tsze River. In the same telegram it was pointed out that one of the principal seats of the conspiracy was Hong Kong, and Lord Salisbury was asked to take measures for the arrest of seven of the conspirators, mentioned by name, who were making use of the Colony to smuggle arms into China and for other illicit purposes.
I am desired by Chang Chi-tung to convey to Her Majesty's Government the thanks of himself and the Viceroy of Nanking for the measures which Lord Salisbury was so good as to instruct the Colonial authorities to take, with a view to the hospitality of the Island of Hong Kong not being abused by the desperadoes who were making use of it. But, notwithstanding the salutary effects of these measures, and the energetic action taken by Chang Chi-tung in suppressing the treasonable movement at Hankow and Tatung in October 1900, the situation in the central and southern provinces of China is still most critical. Large numbers of the followers of Kang Yu Wei and Liang Ki- Chao, and of the members of the Triad and other formidable affiliated Societies are known to exist and to be most active, particularly in the government of the Two Kwangs. I have, therefore, been instructed to request that the stringency of the measures taken by the authorities at Hong Kong and the Straits Settlements may be increased rather than relaxed; and that the British Consuls at the Treaty ports may be instructed to co-operate with the Local authorities in preventing the foreign Settlements from being used as
an asylum by those who are instigating and directing the insurrectionary movement.
The Viceroys of the southern and Yang-tsze Provinces hope they may count on the co-operation of all the foreign Consuls in this matter, and with a view to obtaining it, the Chinese Ministers residing in foreign countries have been directed to request the Govern- ments to whom they are respectively accredited, to issue instructions to their Consuls in that sense.
Very effective assistance has already been received from the Portuguese authorities at Macao, the Governor having issued certain Regulations with regard to the holding of meetings and the search for arms and ammunition, which the Acting Viceroy of Canton acknowledges to have been attended with the most beneficial effects. These Regulations prohibit the holding of meetings intended for the dissemination of ideas calculated to promote disaffection or sedition amongst the Chinese people and for the hatching of plots against the Chinese Government. They also prohibit the importation of arms and war material, and authorize the search of passengers' baggage and in suspected quarters for arms and ammunition, large quantities of which are known to have been previously smuggled into Macao, and thence transported into China concealed in coffins and other
ways.
These Regulations having been found to be so effective in the south, the Yang-tsze Viceroys consider that it would materially contribute to their ability to maintain order and tranquillity within their respective jurisdictions, if similar Regulations could be issued in Hong Kong and the Straits Settlements.
The complicity of Kang Yu-wei and Liang Ki-chac, who are now living in British territory, has abundantly been proved by documentary and other evidence discovered in the course of the investigations made in connection with the recently discovered plots at Hankow, Tatung, and Woochow; also in connection with the dynamite explosion in the Yamên of the Governor at Canton. And the Yang-tsze Viceroys think that nothing would so effectively contribute to allay the state of unrest which prevails over a very large extent of the central and southern provinces as an increased vigilance on the part
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