[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
SOUTH-WEST CHINA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
No. 1.
693
[October 31.]
SECTION 1.
Consul-General Wilkinson to the Marquess of Lansdowne.--(Received October 31.)
Yunnan-fu, September 14, 1904.
(No. 18.) My Lord,
WITH reference to my despatch No. 2 of the 16th March last and its inclosures, I have received from the Government of Burmah a printed copy of their despatch of the 29th June last to the Indian Government, another copy of which will doubtless have been furnished to your Lordship.
As I cannot but consider that the policy of the moment is to secure the concession of a railway from Burmah via Tali to Yunnan-fu (though not necessarily to build such railway), and that this is the sole measure which can adequately meet the advance of French influence, I have addressed to the Secretary of the Burmali Government in the railway branch of the Public Works Department, the reply of which I have the honour to inclose copy. I am sending at the same time a copy to His Majesty's Minister.
I have, &c.
(Signed)
W. H. WILKINSON.
Inclosure in No. 1.
Consul-General Wilkinson to Government of Burmah.
(No. 24. Burmah. Confidential.) Sir,
Yünnan-fu, September 12, 1904.
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge receipt of your despatch of the 11th ultimo, forwarding, by direction of Sir Hugh Barnes, a copy of the Government of Burmah railway branch letter, dated the 29th June last, to the Government of India on the subject of railway communication between Burmah and China.
From that letter I learn that the Lieutenant-Governor is in favour of the construction, as soon as possible, of a railway from Bhamo to Tengyueh for the reason, among others, given in the third paragraph of the Secretary of State's despatch of the 18th December last, namely, that "in the interests of Burmah, whether commercial or political, it is imperative to forestall the loss and injury that will certainly result from the completion of the French line to Yünnan-fu.”
In my Memorandum of the 15th March, which forms an inclosure in your despatch under acknowledgment, I had expressed my conviction that the whole future of the relations between Burmah and Yunnan turns largely on the extension to Tali and Yunnan-fu of the Mandalay-Lashio Railway; and I had urged that the foremost measure to be taken to meet the situation created by the advance of French influence is the mission of a railway engineer to examine in detail the country between Yun Chou and Mitu. His Honour does, indeed, state that he will be glad, when opportunity offers, to see a rough survey carried out of this portion of the line; but he is constrained to agree with the view expressed in the Government of India's despatch of the 21st August, 1902, that for the present such line is outside the pale of practical politics, and that to postpone for it the proposed railway from Bhamo to Tengyueh would be to postpone the latter indefinitely.
When I wrote in March I had not been privileged to read Mr. Brodrick's despatch of the 18th December, but the measure which I then advocated was, as it happened, almost identical with that proposed by the Secretary of State. Nor, when in the same paper I prophesied that there would be a French demand for an extension to Tali of their Haiphong-Yunnan-fu Railway, had I seen, what I have since been able to lay before your Government, the French official maps which confirm my fears.
But if such prolongation to Tali of the Tonquin line is carried into effect, then, I would submit, the whole argument in paragraph 4 of your Government's letter to India will fall to the ground, and the alternative proposal of the India Office be shown, though too late, to have been the sounder policy.
[2216 hh-1]
[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
SOUTH-WEST CHINA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
No. 1.
693
[October 31.]
SECTION 1.
Consul-General Wilkinson to the Marquess of Lansdowne.--(Received October 31.)
Yunnan-fu, September 14, 1904.
(No. 18.) My Lord,
WITH reference to my despatch No. 2 of the 16th March last and its inclosures, I have received from the Government of Burmah a printed copy of their despatch of the 29th June last to the Indian Government, another copy of which will doubtless have been furnished to your Lordship.
As I cannot but consider that the policy of the moment is to secure the concession of a railway from Burmah via Tali to Yunnan-fu (though not necessarily to build such railway), and that this is the sole measure which can adequately meet the advance of French influence, I have addressed to the Secretary of the Burmali Government in the railway branch of the Public Works Department, the reply of which I have the honour to inclose copy. I am sending at the same time a copy to His Majesty's Minister.
I have, &c.
(Signed)
W. H. WILKINSON.
Inclosure in No. 1.
Consul-General Wilkinson to Government of Burmah.
(No. 24. Barmah. Confidential.) Sir,
Yünnan-fu, September 12, 1904. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge receipt of your despatch of the 11th ultimo, forwarding, by direction of Sir Hugh Barnes, a copy of the Government of Burmah railway branch letter, dated the 29th June last, to the Government of India on the subject of railway communication between Burmah and China.
From that letter 1 leard that the Lieutenant-Governor is in favour of the con- struction, as soon as possible, of a railway from Bhamo to Tengyueh for the reason, among others, given in the third paragraph of the Secretary of State's despatch of the 18th December last, namely, that "in the interests of Burmah, whether commercial or political, it is imperative to forestall the loss and injury that will certainly result from the completion of the French line to Yünnan-fu.”
In my Memorandum of the 15th March, which forms an inclosure in your despatch under acknowledgment, I had expressed my conviction that the whole future of the relations between Burmah and Yunnan turns largely on the extension to Tali and Yunnan-fo of the Mandalay-Lashio Railway; and I had urged that the foremost measure to be taken to meet the situation created by the advance of French influence is the mission of a railway engineer to examine in detail the country between Yun Chou and Mitu. His Honour does, indeed, state that he will be glad, when opportunity offers, to see a rough survey carried out of this portion of the line; but he is constrained to agree with the view expressed in the Government of India's despatch of the 21st August, 1902, that for the present such line is outside the pale of practical politics, and that to postpone for it the proposed railway from Bhamo to Tengyueh would be to postpone the latter indefinitely.
When I wrote in March I had not been privileged to read Mr. Brodrick's despatch of the 18th December, but the measure which I then advocated was, as it happened, almost identical with that proposed by the Secretary of State. Nor, when in the same paper I prophesied that there would be a French demand for an extension to Tali of their Haiphong-Yunnan-fu Railway, bad I seen, what I have since been able to lay before your Government, the French official maps which confirm my fears.
But if such prolongation to Tal of the Tonquin line is carried into effect, then, I would submit, the whole argument 10 paragraph 4 of your Government's letter to India will fall to the ground, and the alternative proposal of the India Office be shown, though too late, to have been the sounder policy.
[2216 hh-1]
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.