The Grand Secretary Ch'ü made a lame defence of their position, and appealed to my knowledge of Chinese methods of statecraft to excuse their action, which he held to have been the only possible course to pursue. He strongly repudiated the charge of having chosen to act counter to the wishes of the two foreign Governments rather than resist popular agitation among his own people, and his colleague, Na Tung, emphatically assured us that, if we would but await the Viceroy's reply, the Wai-wu Pu would do its utmost to bring the matter to a successful issue.
The interview terminated with a promise from them to let Count Rex know as soon as they had a reply to offer, and with an engagement on our part that we would in any case come for it in a week's time.
My impression of this long discussion is that the Wai-wu Pu feels shaken, and that they will not be sorry to find means of satisfying our demands. Whether they will be able to do so depends largely upon the answer they receive from Chang Chih Tung, to whom I have, at Mr. Bland's suggestion, sent a copy of the draft final Agreement in Chinese through His Majesty's Consul-General at Hankow.
I have, &c.
(Signed)
J. N. JORDAN,
[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
CHINA RAILWAYS.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[21612]
No. 1.
[July 1.]
SECTION Q. Č.
26320
REC
470
Sir J. Jordon to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received July 1.)
Rect 23 JUL 07. (No. 238.) Sir,
Peking, May 16, 1907. REFERRING to my despatch No. 195 of the 29th ultimo, I have the honour to report the result of further conversations at the Wai-wu Pu, on the subject of the Soochow-Hangchow-Ningpo Railway.
On the 7th instant I reminded the Grand Secretary Na T'ung of his promise to see Prince Ching again regarding this matter, and impressed on him that from the point of view of His Majesty's Government it was the most important railway question in which we were interested. His Excellency had not been able to see the Prince, and was not prepared to act on my request that all work should be stopped on this line by the Chinese Company pending a solution of the difficulty between the Chinese Government and the British concessionnaires.
I held that the continuance of construction work by the Chinese Company was evidence of the Government's had faith, and that it could only tend to complicate the settlement of affairs. His Excellency contended that the native Company was merely wasting its money, and that it need not be interfered with.
I resumed the discussion of the question on the 14th instant, when the Grand Secretary Ch'ü Hung-chi was also present. When I again remarked that this was the foremost railway question in which His Majesty's Government was interested, the Grand Secretary Na observed that he would be pleased if I would say so to my German colleague-with whom the interview reported in my despatch No. 236 had just terminated.
I replied that the German Minister was well aware of the position; that I had told him, and was prepared to tell him again, that my interest in the Tien-tsin- Yang-tsze negotiations was secondary to that in the Hangchow-Ningpo question, owing to the latter being a purely British enterprise involving the construction of a line supplementary to the Shanghae- Nanking Railway.
Their Excellencies said they had been thinking over the situation, and that they proposed to intrust the matter to Mr. Wang Ta Hsieh as soon as he arrived from London. The ex-Minister to England was to take up his post as Vice-President of the Wai-wu Pu; he was a native of Chekiang province, and so would be in an excellent position to reason with his fellow provincials, while his long residence in England, where he doubtless experienced many kindnesses, would cause him to approach the question with a sympathetic mind.
The proposal involved a further delay of nearly two months, and I was only inclined to entertain it provided they could give me a definite assurance that Mr. Wang would be appointed to negotiate the final agreement on his arrival here.
Their Excellencies refused to go so far as to give me a formal assurance in these terms, but said they would answer for it that Mr. Wang would be charged with the question as soon as he arrived, with instructions to bring it to a satisfactory solution. He would have to prepare the way with the Chekiang Notables first, and they felt confident that it would result in his appointment as negotiator, in the same way as Mr. Tong Shoa-yi was appointed negotiator for the Canton-Kowloon Railway.
I expressed my strong disappointment at the delay involved by this proposal, which I neither accepted nor rejected, but which I promised to communicate to you. This I did in my telegram No. 82 of the 15th instant, informing you that the agent of the British and Chinese Corporation favoured its acceptance if work by the Chinese Company was stopped forthwith on the Soochow-Kashing section, which forms an integral part of the Corporation's proposed line. I intend to take an early opportunity of placing this condition before the Board, but do not think that the Wai-wu Pu will agree to its adoption.
The proposal of the Wai-wu Pu offers a possible settlement of this long-standing difficulty, and is at least an advance on their previous answer, that the time had not yet come to take up the question. I have not lost sight of the instructions conveyed in your telegram No. 38 of the 10th ultimo, but do not feel that the prospects of
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