5
4
inefficiency is in itself sufficient to rouse public indignation. You should therefore take instant measures to remedy matters by instructing the officers of the patrol boats to keep the river clear of pirates, and at the same time instruct the Magistrates along the river bank to raid their haunts on shore. You should also offer reward for the capture of pirates within a given time and capture and punish the perpetrators of past outrages. The Acting Admiral Ch'in has shown himself to be a capable officer, and if you think fit we will write and ask him to take the matter up in earnest, so that foreigners and Chinese alike may enjoy security and foreigners may have no pretext for interfering. The matter is one of vital interest, and the Board trusts that you will issue strict orders on the subject to the civil and military authorities and warn them against slackness. Please telegraph what measures you take.
Viceroy to Wai-uu Pu, September 27, 1907.
I am in receipt of your two telegrams. As regards the additional cruisers, as the Revenue Council is prepared to find the initial 200,000 taels, I will at once arrange for the purchase of four fast cruisers. Piracy is extremely prevalent in the Canton Province, and satisfactory Regulations cannot be made in a day, or without taking the whole condition of the province into consideration. I will report to you again after consultation with Admiral Chin. As regards the additional vessels and the British Minister's request that they should be placed under Customs control, there are many objections to such a course of action. Apart from the fact that the Commissioner has no power to capture pirates, and that it is impossible for him to overstep his authority and interfere, you state that his duties and powers are to be kept quite distinct from those of the local authorities, and that he is only to use the vessels in the prevention of smuggling. But for this object the Customs is already provided with vessels and does not require more, and the proposed extra vessels are solely intended to be used in the suppression of piracy, and have nothing to do with smuggling. The West River arca extends to Hsünchow and Wuchow up the river and downwards as far as the Pearl river. This area is honeycombed with the haunts of pirates, and I hesitate to think that the four additional vessels proposed will be sufficient for the task, and maintain that it is a fortiori impossible for them to assist in the prevention of smuggling. More- over, the capture of pirates is within the province of the local officials, and even supposing the vessels assist in the repression of smuggling, they should still be under the orders of the local authorities, if the limits of authority of the latter are not to be encroached upon. In matters of internal administration of this kind it is not for foreigners to interfere and say what officers shall be employed. I suggest, therefore, that you reply to the British Minister to the effect that you consent to the purchase of four additional vessels by the Canton authorities to be devoted to the suppression of piracy, but that the vessels will be under the control of the Admiral, and cannot on any account be placed at the disposal of the Commissioner of Customs, which would be an infraction of my rights. I trust you will refuse the Minister's request in the sense indicated.
had made a public example of a Magistrate who, in accordance with ordinary usage, had attempted to do his duty by exacting compensation from the families of the ringleaders. As arrests are seldom or never made, and no stolen property is ever recovered, the Viceroy's declaration was practically an intimation to the pirates that they would find it to their advantage to devote their attention exclusively to foreigners, and that so long as they confined their depredations within these limits they might expect to enjoy immunity from molestation in the disposal of their plunder. Their subsequent activity shows that the Acting Viceroy's benevolent attitude was fully appreciated by the pirates, and they doubtless fully realize that the example which has been made of the San Hing Magistrate will insure them against further interference on the part of the territorial authorities.
It must be perfectly clear to your Highness that the Canton authorities will never suppress piracy if left to deal with the matter by themselves, and that the only method of putting an end to these outrages which are endangering the relations between our two countries is to enforce the system of patrol by Customs cruisers which was set forth in my note of the 3rd July last, and which I have repeatedly explained at length to your Highness and your Excellencies. That proposal met with the formal approval of the Board, and several months ago I was assured that definite measures would be taken for giving it effect. Nothing, however, has so far been done to carry out this undertaking, and my notes on the subject have not even received the favour of an acknowledgment.
In these circumstances I must again appeal to your Highness and request you to be so good as to inform me whether the Chinese Government intends to introduce the above scheme, or whether I should notify the British Admiral, who is now on his way to Canton, that he should adopt the course which, as he explained at his recent interview at the Wai-wu Pu, failure to enforce the scheme would impose upon him, and proceed to police the waterways of the Canton Delta with the ships under his command.
I avail, &c. (Signed) J. N. JORDAN.
Inclosure 3 in No. 1.
Sir J. Jordan to Prince Ch'ing.
Peking, October 26, 1907.
34
Your Highness,
IT is with extreme regret that I have the honour to bring to the serious notice of your Highness another outrage of the kind which has become so familiar of late in Canton waters. In a telegram which I received yesterday His Majesty's Consul-General at that port informs me that the British steam-launch " T'ung Feng 7 miles below Whampoa on the 22nd instant. This is the second occurrence of this was pirated nature which took place within a week, and unfortunately the prediction of further trouble which I made at my interview a few days ago with your Highness has been too speedily fulfilled. It required no great wisdom to foresee that the attitude of the provincial authorities and the inaction of the Imperial Government were bound to lead to a continuance of these acts in increasing frequency.
The Acting Viceroy at Canton, his Excellency Hu Hsianglin, had widely proclaimed in the native press that the arrest of the delinquents and the recovery of the stolen property constituted the sole redress that foreigners could expect in cases of piracy, and
337
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.