CO129-318 - Governor Sir Blake - 1903 [7-10] — Page 303

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cases a certificate should be registered with the Consul

whose duty it would be to inform the Chinese local authorities

of the presence of a Chinese British subject.

3.

Sir E Satew had shown to me the copy of his memorandum of

the 15th June in which I concur, and I have read carefully the

correspondence enclosed with your despatch, especially the

instructions given by Lord Roseberty on page 26. But the

situation has changed since 1894, and we know that in practice

the Chinese Government has yielded to the demands of other

nations that are not sustainable by any academic interpretation

ef International Law. Chinese Subjects, by simply declaring

their adhesien te French or German missions are supported and

protected in such a manner as practically to remove them from

the operation of Chinese jurisdiction. Chinese law is admirable

and forms a plausible basis of argument against foreign inter-

ference; but it practice varies with the character of the

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mandarin, and if protection be withheld the fact that a Chinese

had become a naturalised British subject would be a ground for

illegitimate squeezes or robbery on the one hand, and refusal of

redress