CO129-361 - Public Offices - 1909 — Page 556

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subjects at the open ports, they shall not be harboured or concealed, but shall be delivered up on due requisition by the Chinese authorities addressed to the British Consul."

The Treaties with America, France, Germany, Russia, Japan, Italy, Belgium, Spain, Holland, Denmark, and Austria are all

very similar.

Inasmuch as these criminals are Chinese, the place where the offence was committed is a part of the Chinese Empire, and it is the duty to hand offenders back to the Chinese authorities for trial and punishment; all of these represent the sovereign rights of China, which no country should in any way infringe or violate.

It is for this reason that it is inserted in the Treaties with all Powers that offenders shall not be harboured or concealed, but shall be immediately delivered up; and this would be acting according to justice.

If, when the Shanghae Taotai first discussed the matter, he did say that the prisoners should be tried in the Mixed Court, and therefore you wish to consider this as a positive agreement, you do not know that the laws of our nation provide that "if a local official in the transaction of international matters exceed the limit of his powers, then his actions shall not be upheld."

Inasmuch as the Treaties are mutually agreed to by two Governments, the officers of the two Powers should observe their provisions, and cannot on their own authority alter or cancel them.

At the present time, according to the Treaties as well as the Shanghae Mixed Court Rules, these criminals should all be handed over to the Chinese authorities for trial and punishment by them, and therefore, of course, they should be immediately handed over according to Treaty Regulation. Moreover the intent of these criminals was to throw the whole Empire into disorder, and China, in punishing these offenders, not only punishes criminals guilty of seditious practices, but also gives peace to the country and protection

to trade.

I make this communication to you as Senior Consul-General, with the request that you may, in concert with your colleagues, cousider this matter, and that you will with all despatch hand over the criminals in accordance with the Treaty, and to the promotion of fricudly relations.

I hope you will take prompt action in all these matters.

I have, &c.

consent to the accused being handed over to be dealt with by the Chinese mandarins, undertook to telegraph to the Viceroy of Nanking to reconsider the Taotai's suggestion. I have the honour to inclose a Memorandum of the interview.

Having reason to expect that the matter would be thus arranged, I decided to wait the result of the Prince's telegram before approaching M. Dubail with an invitation to retract his previous utterances.

As your Lordship will have noticed in the correspondence, of which copies were transmitted in my despatch No. 318 of the 8th September, the Chinese official world is aware that "France" and "Russia are in favour of handing over the prisoners, and this fact appeared to render it still more difficult for the French Minister to retreat gracefully from his original position.

On the 15th instant the doyen of the Diplomatic Body circulated a copy of a letter received by the senior Consul at Shanghae from the Viceroy of Nanking, dated the 30th August, in which his Excellency reiterated his demand to have the accused delivered up. taking his ground upon Article XXI of the Treaty of Tien-tsin, and repudiated the Agree- ment made by the Taotai with the Consular Body. This Circular was seen first of all by M. Dubail, who passed it on without remark.

Acting on a suggestion from myself, made with the object of rendering things easier for those of my colleagues who have committed themselves to the Chinese view of the question, the Italian Minister, who, from the beginning, has been opposed to the surrender of the accused, proposed that the affair should be placed by the Diplomatic Body in the hands of those foreign Representatives who had been already directly addressed by the Wai-wu Pu on the subject, and that it should be left to them to come to an arrangement with the Chinese Government which would meet with the approval of all the foreign Representatives.

As this proposition will necessitate the Circular being sent round a second time, and as in the meanwhile I had received your Lordship's telegram No. 156 informing me that the French Minister for Foreign Affairs was apparently annoyed at nothing having been said to M. Dubail about the fresh proposal of the Taotai telegraphed by Mr. Townley ou the 16th August, I thought the moment had arrived for clearing the ground with my French colleague.

I have the honour to inclose a Memorandum of the conversation that ensued, from which it will be seen that M. Dubail found no difficulty in abandoning his earlier position, though he very naturally refrained from referring to the instructions he had received from M. Delcassé.

Flis apparent suggestion that we should proceed to abandon the vantage-ground given us by the Taotai's Agreement and take our stand upon a view of Article XXI, to which he had become converted during our conversation, cannot be conveniently adopted, as it would involve a censure upon the action of the British, Japanese, and United States' Consuls, to which my two colleagues and I could not assent.

I have, &c.

(Signed) ERNEST SATOW.

No. 34.

Sir E. Satow to the Marquess of Lansdowne.-(Received November 9.)

(No. 326. Very Confidential.)

My Lord,

Peking, September 19, 1903. YOUR Lordship's telegram No. 149 informed me that my French colleague had instructions to confer with me with a view to joint action in the "Supao desired me to endeavour, in concert with him, to obtain the assent of the Chinese Govern- case, and ment to the compromise proposed by the Shanghae Taotai, namely, that a higher official should be added to the Mixed Court Bench for the trial of the prisoners.

1 supposed that it would be for M. Dubail to broach the subject with me, but when

I visited him on the day after the receipt of your Lordship's telegram, he said nothing. which I attributed to his being evidently in a somewhat difficult position.

Your Lordship will remember that he took the lead in suggesting in July to the Diplomatic Body, in the most uncompromising language, that it was their duty to hand over the accused to the Chinese Government, as a refusal would entail consequences injurious to the commercial interests of all countries, and would, moreover, be in contra- diction with the spirit of the Agreements on which the existence of the foreign concessions depends.

It seemed to me prudent to allow him time to effect the change of attitude imposed upon him by his Government, and I was also in hopes that before long news might reach me that the Viceroy had consented to the compromise suggested by the Taotai.

Another consideration was that none of the members of the Foreign Board with whom I exchanged visits after my return here had mentioned the subject, and I was unable to ascertain the attitude of the Chinese Government until I received the visit of Prince Ching, which was delayed until the 9th instant.

The result of the conversation which took place on that occasion was that His Highness, finding that there was no possibility of inducing His Majesty's Government to

Inclosure 1 in No. 34.

Memorandum of Interview with Prince Ch'ing, September 9, 1903.

PRINCE CHING called, and expressed his regret that his duties at Court had prevented him from receiving Sir Ernest Satow when he visited the Wai-wu Pu, and from calling himself at an earlier date. His Highness proceeded to refer to the "Supao" case.

He wished Sir Ernest to telegraph to His Majesty's Consul-General at Shanghae to have the prisoners handed over to the Taotai, and he would give his word that the punishment of death would not be inflicted on them. In his private opinion their crime was not sufficiently serious to deserve death.

Sir Ernest replied that the Taotai bad made an arrangement with the Consular body that the prisoners should be tried and punished by the Mixed Court, and that he had instructions from His Majesty's Government that this was the procedure to be adopted. Several other Ministers had received similar instructions, and they could not act otherwise.

On his way through Shanghae the Taotai there had called on him and made a proposal that when the case was tried an official of higher rank than the Mixed Court

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