6
I have again the honour to request your Highness to instruct the Superintendent of Southern Trade and the Shanghae Taotai to desist from any step towards the establishment of a Chinese trade mart or municipality on land adjoining the foreign Settlements at Shanghae.
The favour of an early reply is requested.
0
[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.
AFFAIRS OF CHINA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
I avail, &c. (Signed)
[33688]
L. D. CARNEGIE.
No. 1.
38
40914
[October 6.]
RECEIVED 6 NOV.
SECTION 8.
Mr. Carnegie to Sir Edward Grey.—(Received October 6.)
(No. 358. Confidential.)
Peking, August 23, 1906.
Sir,
WITH reference to my despatch No. 314, Confidential, of the 23rd July, I have the honour to inclose for your information copies of further correspondence relating to the Soochow-Hangchow-Ningpo Railway.
My personal letter of the 30th July to Mr. Tong Shoa-yi (Inclosure 1) places on record the nature of the verbal understanding come to between us to let the Soochow-Hangchow-Ningpo question stand over for the present, and was written with the object of preventing possible future misunderstanding. In this I made it plain that manifest obstruction on the part of the Chinese negotiators to the completion of the Canton-Kowloon final Agreement, or material violation by Chekiang of the Corporation's rights under the Soochow-Hangchow-Ningpo preliminary Agreement, would entitle me to consider myself no longer bound by our verbal arrangement.
In consequence of the appearance in the Chinese press of two Memorials (translations inclosed), from which it was clear that the Board of Commerce was actively supporting the provincial movements in Kiangsu and Chekiang, and had obtained the Imperial sanction to proposals under which provincial semi-official Companies were authorized to survey and undertake railway lines from Soochow to Ningpo through Hangchow, I lost no time in addressing my note of the 4th August to Prince Ch'ing (Inclosure 4). At the same time I asked His Highness to accord me an interview, not with any immediate hope of seeing him (he is in constant attendance at the Summer Palace), but rather to mark my sense of the importance of the matter in hand.
The Board's two Memorials, and especially that relating to the Chekiang Railway Company with the Imperial Rescripts attached, directly violated the Corporation's Preliminary Agreement, and, taking into consideration the correspondence that has passed since October last with the Chinese Government, appeared to me to constitute a wanton act of bad faith.
On the 6th August Prince Ching excused himself from granting me an interview on the plea of pressing occupation, and begged me to see his subordinates instead. Next day I met the Grand Secretary Na Tung and their Excellencies Lien Fang and Tong Shoa-yi at the Wai-wu Pu. They said that they had considered my note of the 4th carefully on receipt, and that in view of the gravity of its contents they had decided to consult Prince Ching before returning an answer. They explained that the importance of the matter to them arose from the fact that a Memorial of the Board of Commerce, which had been approved by Imperial Rescript, was involved. They would see His Highness at the Summer Palace about the 12th August, and would then be in a position to reply to me by letter, or to fix a day for an interview.
His son, Prince Tsai-chen, being the President of the Board of Commerce, was directly responsible for the Memorials, and Mr. Tong Shoa-yi had confided to Mr. Campbell privately that neither Na Tung nor himself knew anything of those documents, of which they disapproved, till they appeared in print, and were at a loss what to do to rectify the error.
Not hearing from the Wai-wu Pu by the 17th August, I again called to make inquiries, and was told that His Highness had come to Peking for a short time with the Court, and had arranged to see their Excellencies next morning.
But not
On Monday last, the 20th August, their Excellencies Lien and Tong called and conveyed a message from the Prince to the effect that a reply would be sent to my note of the 4th August in due course, but that in the meantime I could rest assured that the Soochow-Hangchow-Ningpo Preliminary Agreement was recognized by the Chinese Government, although the discussion of the Final Agreement was postponed for the present. I refused to be satisfied by this message. There was no question of the validity of the Preliminary Agreement, which had already been admitted by the Chinese Government; but here, I said, were two Memorials, approved by Imperial Rescript,
[2183-8]
6
I have again the honour to request your Highness to instruct the Superintendent of Southern Trade and the Shanghae Taotai to desist from any step towards the establish- ment of a Chinese trade mart or municipality on land adjoining the foreign Settlements at Shanghae.
The favour of an early reply is requested.
0
[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.
AFFAIRS OF CHINA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
I avail, &c. (Signed)
[33688]
L. D. CARNEGIE.
No. 1.
38
40914
[October 6.]
RECE TRAGE 6 NOV.
SECTION 8.
Mr. Carnegie to Sir Edward Grey.—(Received October 6.)
(No. 358. Confidential.)
Peking, August 23, 1906. Sir,
WITH reference to my despatch No. 314, Confidential, of the 23rd July, I have the honour to inclose for your information copies of further correspondence relating to the Soochow-Hangchow-Ningpo Railway.
My personal letter of the 30th July to Mr. Tong Shoa-yi (Inclosure 1) places on record the nature of the verbal understanding come to between us to let the Soochow- Tangchow-Ningpo question stand over for the present, and was written with the object of preventing possible future misunderstanding. In this I made it plain that manifest obstruction on the part of the Chinese negotiators to the completion of the Canton- Kowloon final Agreement, or material violation by Chekiang of the Corporation's rights under the Soochow-Hangchow--Ningpo preliminary Agreement, would entitle me to consider myself no longer bound by our verbal arrangement.
In consequence of the appearance in the Chinese press of two Memorials (transla- tions inclosed), from which it was clear that the Board of Commerce was actively supporting the provincial movements in Kiangsu and Chekiang, and had obtained the Imperial sanction to proposals under which provincial semi-official Companies were authorized to survey and undertake railway lines from Soochow to Ningpo through Hangchow, I lost no time in addressing my note of the 4th August to Prince Ch'ing (Inclosure 4). At the same time I asked His Highness to accord me an interview, not with any immediate hope of seeing him (he is in constant attendance at the Summer Palace), but rather to mark my sense of the importance of the matter in hand.
The Board's two Memorials, and especially that relating to the Chekiang Railway Company with the Imperial Rescripts attached, directly violated the Corporation's Preliminary Agreement, and, taking into consideration the correspondence that has passed since October last with the Chinese Government, appeared to me to constitute a wanton act of bad faith.
On the 6th August Prince Ching excused himself from granting me an interview on the plea of pressing occupation, and begged me to see his subordinates instead. Next day I met the Grand Secretary Na Tung and their Excellencics Lien Fang and Tong Shoa-yi at the Wai-wu Pu. They said that they had considered my note of the 4th carefully ou receipt, and that in view of the gravity of its contents they had decided to consult Prince Ching before returning an answer. They explained that the importance of the matter to them arose from the fact that a Memorial of the Board of Commerce, which had been approved by Imperial Rescript, was involved. They would see His Highness at the Summer Palace about the 12th August, and would then be in a position to reply to me by letter, or to fix a day for an interview.
His son, Prince Tsai-chen, The necessity of consulting Prince Ching was clear. being the President of the Board of Commerce, was directly responsible for the Memorials, and Mr. Tong Shoa-yi had confided to Mr. Campbell privately that neither Na Tung nor himself knew anything of those documents, of which they disapproved, till they appeared in print, and were at a loss what to do to rectify the error. hearing from the Wai-wu Pu by the 17th August, I again called to make inquiries, and was told that His Highness had come to Peking for a short time with the Court, and had arranged to see their Excellencies next morning.
But not
On Monday last, the 20th August, their Excellencies Lien and Tong called and conveyed a message from the Prince to the effect that a reply would be sent to my note of the 4th August in due course, but that in the meantime I could rest assured that the Soochow-Fangchow-Ningpo Preliminary Agreement was recognized by the Chinese Government, although the discussion of the Final Agreement was postponed for the present. I refused to be satisfied by this message. There was no question of the validity of the Preliminary Agreement, which had already been admitted by the Chinese "Government; but here, I said, were two Memorials, approved by Imperial Rescript,
[2183-8]
B
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.