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under acknowledgment he handed it, as in doty bound, to the Company for considera- tion. Five hundred and some score of the gentry and merchants of all Yunnan have now sent in a joint Petition as follows:-
"The retention or the loss of the railway is a matter that affects the lives, fortunes, existence, and continuity of the Yunnanese. They would go through fire and water to struggle for it. The other day they came in crowds to the Company to hold a conference. When going into the question of the political aspects of this line they learnt for the first time that the British Envoy, without taking counsel of our Wai-wu Pu, had proceeded to fix a date for engineers to cross the border and survey the country between Tengyueh and Tali. Although this road is on the far frontiers, it intimately concerns our politics as a whole. The gentry and people of the Three Ridings must and will unite their strength to make it together, the rich providing money and the poor labour, but all putting their hands to it with one accord, in the hope of getting it well started. Thus would the terms of the Memorial be followed and hold over the profits maintained. No matter what dangers have to be faced in this affair of the railway, we would never dare to abandon our duty in its regard.
England is in the forefront of the world's civilization, and all admire the friendly spirit she displays and her high regard for justice. The British Consul in Yunnan has been long at his post, and knows well the feelings of the people. He is peaceable and conciliatory, and the Yunnanese have long entertained a deep respect for him. In the matter, however, of this reconnaissance we are ashamed to confess that we are lacking in understanding; we cannot but feel some doubts, and it is only by a personal interview that those doubts can be resolved.
"We therefore with one voice humble pray that your Excellency will write to the Consul to ask him to come on the 11th (26th December) to the railway Company's, to have an explanatory talk with the elected Representatives, and to arrive at a satisfactory understanding."
The Governor-General bas accordingly the honour to ask whether the Consul-General can meet their wishes, and on the 26th December do them the honour to proceed to the railway Company's and discuss matters in a friendly way with the gentry and merchants, so that he may get an inkling of the popular view. Should the duties of his high office not allow leisure for such condescension, the elected Representatives will be told to walk to his residence and pay their respects, when it is hoped that he will deign to receive them and give them the benefit of his counsel.
Requesting the honour of an acknowledgment. (Compliments).
Inclosure 3 in No. 1.
Extract from the "Yünnan Gazette" of December 21, 1906.
Telegram from the Yunnan Railways Company to the Wai-wu Pu.
(Translation.)
[Sent about December 20, 1906.] To their Excellencies the Prince and Ministers of the Wai-wn Pu, Peking :
WE have more than once submitted telegrams regarding the British Consul Wu's (Wilkinson's) reconnaissance of the Tengyuch-Tali country. According to recent communication from that Consul to his Excellency the Governor-General, the British Envoy at Peking telegraphs repeating telegraphic directions from his Foreign Office to instruct the Consul that the present reconnaissance is an integral part of last year's, and is not a new departure. He asks that against the day fixed for the engineers to start, instructions may be telegraphed to the Superintendent (of Trade, i.e., the Taotai) at Tengyueh and the local officials, to afford efficient protection as before.
When Englishmen on previous occasions crossed the frontier for reconnaissance, our Company for exclusive construction had not been established. There is an obvious difference between the conditions then and now. Opposition in accordance with the Treaty has been time and again offered, and Consul Wu, secing the exceeding strength of such opposition, changed ("reconnaissance") into "travelling." That not being agreed to, he again desires a crossing of the frontier for a survey. Were the survey to
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take place, there would be later on fewer arguments for resistance. Yunnan, for the sake of their lives and property, as long as they are Yunnanese, must The people of oppose with all their strength, and will certainly not yield in the slightest. Although Yannan is on the confines of the Empire, still there is not a foot or inch of its soil that does not belong to the State; we cannot by any means sit idly by and see it lost.
Should the British Envoy not yet have broached the subject with your honourable Board, we would pray you to strenuously oppose the British Envoy. The prestige of the State is concerned, and it is earnestly hoped that the object aimed at may be attained.
If they are once allowed to cross the frontier, it is to be feared that a grave calamity will ensue.
The matter is most pressing and vital.
Yunnan Railways Company, Head Office,
Li K'un, Ting Yen, Wang Hang-t'u, Yang Chin-tang, Shih Yu-k'uei, and 300 Delegates from all Prefectures, Sub-Prefectures, Departinents, and Districts, together with the Tengyuch Sawbwas.
Inclosure 4 in No. 1.
Consul-General Wilkinson to Governor-General Ting.
December 26, 1906.
(Translation.)
THE Consul General has the honour to acknowledge receipt of the Governor- General's note in reply to his despatch stating that he had received, on the 9th December, a telegram from His Majesty's Minister at Pekin, saying that the latter was desired by the Secretary of State to instruct the Consul-General that the present reconnaissance forms an integral part of last year's survey, and is not a new departure, and that protection ought to be accorded as on previous occasions. The Consul- General accordingly asked that instructions might be telegraphed to the Taotai at Tengyueh against the day earlier fixed for the start of the engineers, to direct the local authorities to afford protection as on the two previous occasions.
To that despatch his Excellency now replies that as a Railway Company has been established for exclusive construction of the Tengyuch line, the situation is not the same as before; that he had, as in duty bound, handed the despatch to the Company for consideration; and that the Company had sent in a representation begging his Excellency to invite the Consul-General to the Company's office, there to have au explanatory conversation with the elected representatives.
The Consul-General would observe that in May last he received telegraphic instruc- tious from His Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires at Peking to arrange with his Excellency to discuss the proposals of the Government of India regarding a railway from Burmah to Tengyuch when those proposal should be communicated to him by telegraph. His Excellency verbally agreed at the time to this course; but before the proposals had been telegraphed, a Memorial for the establishment of a Railway Company for exclusive Chinese construction of the Tengyuch line" is announced.
This had very much the appearance of an affront to the British Government; and the Consul-General could not recognize any such exclusive Company,
Moreover, in the matter of the reconnaissance, the instructions of His Majesty's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, conveyed through His Majesty's Minister-that the reconnaissance is no new departure, but an integral part of last year's, and that protection must be given as before-having been received by him, the Consul-General can only act in accordance with the orders of his superiors, and would be unable to enter on further negotiations, still less on an informal discussion with private individuals. It has long been understood between his Excellency and the Consul-General that the present is nothing more than a reconnaissance, and that if it is found that a railway can be constructed, further negotiations must take place; there is no question of imme- diate building. His Excellency has already twice consented to reconnaissances by the engineers, and the Consul-General is at a loss to understand why a third reconnaissance should be opposed; he seeks in vain for an explanation.
The matter is one that affects Anglo-Chinese relations, and it is of importance that regard should be had to international comity and friendly dealing. It is hoped, there- fore, that the previous procedure will be followed and that opposition will not he again lightly entertained and time wasted. The Consul-General begs that instructions may
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