CO129-353 - Public Offices - 1908 — Page 483

Tong told me that the enforcement of the 8th Article of the Mackay Treaty was one of the objects of his mission. He had discussed the question a few days ago with Baron Komura at Mukden and found that the consent of Japan was assured. In raising money for constructing railways and carrying out necessary reforms China found herself greatly handicapped by having no liquid asset which she could assign for the service of loans and no Budget to which she could appeal as evidence of her financial standing.

I said that our experience on the Shanghae-Nanking and other railways pointed to the urgent necessity of revising the whole system of inland taxation, and that some revision of the kind would probably have to precede the collection of an increased customs duty on foreign goods. Tong Ta-jén, however, with his usual optimism, saw no difficulties in sweeping away the present system at once, and passed on to the opium question, about which he was equally sanguine.

Here his only misgivings were that the Indian Government would not keep pace with the Chinese measures of eradication. In the lower province of Manchuria he had practically stopped the growth of the poppy. Not a root of it would have been seen there had he remained another year. The Governor of the upper province of Hei Lung Chiang had asked permission to stamp out the evil within a year, and the Viceroy of Yunnan and Kweichow had made a request to do the same within two years. But was Indian opium to continue to enter these districts for a period of seven or eight years after the native drug had disappeared? His original proposition had been to prescribe a term of three years for stopping the practice throughout the Empire, but he had been overruled and a limit of ten years had been substituted.

While fully admitting what he had done in Manchuria, I told Mr. Tong that I had hitherto been inclined to think that it was we who had been forcing the pace for China. We had taken the lead throughout, and China had followed, sometimes at a considerable distance. It was extremely difficult to ascertain what measure of success had attended the anti-opium propaganda in China, and Chinese information was not always correct. As an instance, I mentioned the case of Honan. A few days ago the Governor had been specially commended by the Throne for his energetic suppression of the habit, and yet a foreign observer who had lived in the province for some years assured me that the cultivation was on the increase in his district.

Mr. Tong was willing to admit that there might be exceptions, but he maintained that the movement generally was eminently successful and said that public opinion was everywhere with the Government. I added a statement in which I fully concurred, that the Chinese Government appeared to me to have the matter entirely in their own hands, for I felt sure that Great Britain would move as fast as China did.

On the question of China's future navy, Tong Ta-jén has always given me the impression that the intention was to have recourse to Great Britain for assistance. At his farewell visit he told me that the adoption of a naval scheme had been sanctioned by the Throne, and that he expected to be commissioned to take up the question on his arrival in England. He fully endorsed the view that China would do well to place herself in the hands of some eminent naval authority, and the names of Admirals Seymour and Moore were mentioned in this connection, as men who knew China and in whom the Chinese had confidence.

Speaking of the future of the country, Tong Ta-jén dwelt with some bitterness upon the tendency of the Manchus to monopolize all the important offices of State in the capital. Nearly all the Boards were controlled by Imperial clansmen, who had never been out of Peking and knew nothing of other parts of China, not to mention foreign countries. Prince Ching, who was over 70 and had never been a strong man, combined the offices of Grand Councillor, President of the Wai-wu Pu, President of the Board of War, and Chief Minister of the Council of Government Affairs, the consultative body which decided all questions of reform.

Prince Ch'un, the Emperor's brother, was a Grand Councillor; Prince Su was a member of the Council charged with initiating reforms and President of the Board of Interior; Prince P'u Lan was President of the Senate, now in process of formation; Duke Tsai Tsê presided over the Board of Finance; Tieh Lang was President of the Board of War; the Board of Commerce was controlled by P'u Ting, an Imperial clansman, and the Board of Education and Board of Dependencies were similarly under Manchu direction.

The result was that the Chinese who held the lower posts in the Departments of State were unable to make their influence felt, and that the Government was not in touch with the public opinion of the country. Even Yuan Shih-k'ai was often over-ruled and could never make sure that his views on any question would prevail.

Tong Ta-jén expressed great pleasure at the prospect of visiting England, where he had many old friends. He wished to see as much as possible in the time, to pay visits to various centres not only in England, but in Scotland and Ireland, and to come into contact with the public life of the country. He would be most grateful for any facilities which His Majesty's Government could grant him for the fulfilment of his mission.

Apart from the loan, on which I am reporting separately, the only current question on which Tong Ta-jén touched was the Chinese Engineering and Mining Company's case. He hoped that it would be settled before his return, but had little confidence in the Chinese receiving fair treatment from "the pack of Jews" who controlled its affairs in London. He said he had often, when playing cards with Major Nathan, "chaffed" him on drawing a higher salary for running a coal mine than a Minister of the Crown received for directing the affairs of the British Empire.

I am sending a copy of this despatch, by the first safe opportunity, to Sir Claude MacDonald.

I have, &c.

(Signed) J. N. JORDAN.

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