[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.? 670
C.O.
AFFAIRS OF CHINA,
CONFIDENTIAL.
[236]
No. 1.
10492
[January
MECR SECTION 525 MAR 09,
Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received January 2.)
(No. 1.) (Telegraphic.) P.
Peking, January 2, 1909. AN anti-foreign agitation of a serious character arose in Canton at the end of November 1908, owing to the death, on the 29th of that month, of a Chinese passenger on the British river-steamer "Fatsban." The native press and the so-called "Self- Government Society," a Chinese political association, raised the cry that the man's death had been caused by a Portuguese, a member of the ship's crew. On December the 1st and 2nd, 1908, the Acting British Consul-General held an inquiry, at which were present a Chinese Magistrate, the Secretary of the Viceroy, and the Portuguese Consul, besides a number of native newspaper reporters. The verdict that the man had died from natural causes did not satisfy Chinese public opinion, and the agitation reached such a pitch that Mr. Fox lodged a protest with the Viceroy, who, on the receipt of instructions sent by the Wai-wu Fu as the result of my representations here, issued a suitable Proclamation and arranged for a further inquiry to be held by the Portuguese Consul in order to satisfy public opinion. The Viceroy's action was successful in bringing about a fortnight's lull in the agitation.
A telegram which I have to-day received from Mr. Fox, informs me that, presumably because of the second inquiry having terminated with the same result as the first, the Self-Government Society has again set itself to stirring up popular feeling, with the consequence that a boycott has been declared against the steamer in question.
I am representing the gravity of the situation to the Central Government.
[220]
No. 2.
Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey,-(Received January 2.) (No. 2.) (Telegraphic.) P.
Peking, January 2, 1909. LEARN from what I believe to be a reliable quarter that the Prince Regent has dismissed Yuan Shih-kai. The information was given to me confidentially.
[251]
No. 3.
Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received January 2.) (No. 3.) (Telegraphic.) P.
Peking, January 2, 1909. IN confirmation of my immediately preceding telegram of this date, the official Gazette publishes to-day a Decree commanding Yuan Shih-kai, whose public services under the reign of Kwang-Hst are briefly referred to, to leave his post in the Imperial service and retire to his home in his native province, there to nurse his rheumatism, which at present incapacitates him from performing his duties.
Yuan's place on the Grand Council is, according to a further Decree, to be filled, on probation by Na T'ung.
The description, given in the Decree, of Yuan's health is notoriously exaggerated, and all indications point to his Excellency having been ignominiously dismissed and having fallen a victim to the intrigues of the reactionary Manchu party at Court.
The effects of Yuan's disgrace are likely to be felt throughout the Empire, so many of the chief appointments in the public service being in the possession of his protégés
or of men who received their nominations at his hands.
I am at one with my German and American colleagues in the opinion that the Foreign Ministers should simultaneously approach the Regent, Prince Ch'un, and each
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