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[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.j
on the ground and the cold was intense, especially in the early hours of the morning. AFFAIRS OF CHINA. We were detained three days at the foot of the Yashki Altenimel pass by the depth of snow in the gorges, but once this difficult part of the journey was over there was ne difficulty.
CONFIDENTIAL.
This route is said to be considerably used in summer by Chinese merchants coming from Peking to the Ili district, and officials also use it to some extent between Chuguchak and Kuldja. It is said that the Russians are doing their utmost to develop [18026] this traffic, but so long as the staristas put so many obstacles in the way of the foreign traveller they will have little success, while for the Chinese, in addition to the language difficulty, there is the serious one of food.
At Khorgos, Djarkend, Kopal, Sergiopol, and Semipalatinsk there are large garrisons. Between Sergiopol and the frontier, and between Semipalatinsk and the frontier are the additional fortresses of Bakhti and Zaisan post.
It is difficult to cross the Irtish in winter at Semipalatinsk. There is no bridge, and a roadway has to be made among the blocks of ice, which gets considerably cut up by the steady flow of traffic, this is regulated by a couple of soldiers.
At Omsk our troubles as regards language came to an end, for we alighted at the Hotel Stepanowski, where the Polish landlady spoke French.
At Omsk I was told that the Russians in Siberia were seriously frightened of a Sino-Japanese alliance directed against them. I was asked whether it was true that the Chinese garrisons in North Mongolia were so strong. I reassured enquirers as regards this, and pointed out to them the numerous garrisons along the Russian frontier, as well as the extremely large one at Omsk itself.
I asked about the possibility of a railway being constructed soon from Tashkend to Vierny, Kopal, Semipalatinsk and Omsk; I was assured that as yet it was only a dream, that there was no money, and that the first railway to be built would be the long-promised one between Omsk and Tiumen,
There are excellent shops at Omsk, but they are very expensive, as also is living there. There are three steamer companies on the river; the boats are said to be excellent, and the service well organized and regular. A great deal of merchandise passes up and down the river.
I caught the Siberian express on the 23rd November, reached Moscow on the 26th, and was in London on the morning of the 30th.
I met in the Siberian train an engineer (of Messrs. Pauling and Co., London) on his way home from Siberia. He had been out some months in connection with the new Russian Amur Railway. He told me that at Irkutsk there were 40,000 soldiers, and that barracks were to be constructed for 100,000. Chita and Nerchinsk were to be great forts. The line to run from near Nerchinsk to Khabarovsk (with a branch to Blagover. gestchenk). The pace of construction to depend on the success of the great Russian loan in the spring of 1909. He leat me a map of the districts with the line, as projected, indicated on it in red. I subsequently lent this map to the War Office who, I believe, took a tracing of it.
Russian Garrisons along the Chinese Frontier.
In this connection it may be useful to remind His Majesty's Government of the information received from an officer in the 8th Hussars, dated the 25th September, 1907, respecting the strength of some of the Russian garrisons along the frontier.
Kopal Djarkend..
Viemy
Chinikent
Tashkend..
1 battalion of infantry.
2 regiments of Cossacks,
1 battery of artillery.
1 battalion of infantry,
Uncertain of exact strength, but
about same as Djarkend.
Total, 3,000.
1 battery of artillery.
1 battalion of infantry.
1 regiment of Cossucks.
2 batteries of artillery.
6 battalions of infactry.
No. 1.
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[May 12.]
SECTION 3.
Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.--(Received May 12.)
(No. 92.) (Telegraphic.) P.
Peking, May 12, 1909. PLEASE see your telegrams Nos, 81 and 86 of the 1st and 4th instant respectively, regarding the Macao dispute.
I took an opportunity yesterday of speaking strongly to the Wai-wu Pu on the subject. I pointed out that the Central Government would make themselves responsible for the possible failure of the negotiations if they continued to overlook the mischievous effect produced by the action of the provincial authorities, and I warned them that they might thereby bring about our intervention.
They promised to instruct the Viceroy by telegraph to check the local agitation, and, in assuring me that the Chinese Government had faithfully observed the Lisbon arrangement, stated that the Portuguese were laying entirely undue stress ou such popular agitation as existed in Canton,
I have since received from the Wai-wu Pu a copy of a telegram from the Viceroy at Canton, dated the 13th February, in which it is stated that the military post, to which objection had been taken by the Portuguese, had been removed.
(2265 m-3]
Total (though this perhaps includes the Samarcand command), 15,000.
To this information I would merely add from my knowledge that there are also garrisons at Khorgos, Zaisan, Bakhti, Sergiopol, Semipalatiask, and Irkutsk.
W. J. GARNETT.
(Signed)
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