f
4
being sold at fair prices, and business is going on as usual. to make a detailed investigation I will again report."
After I have sent officials
On the 17th April an Imperial decree was issued in the following terms:-
"Let Tsen Ch'un-ming vacate his post and let Yang Wen Ting temporarily act as governor. The latter must proceed immediately to Changsha, taking with him civil and military officials. He must arrest the ringleaders of the disturbance and punish them with the utmost rigour of the law. He should also take measures to reorganise affairs in a satisfactory manner.'
We have the honour to address this letter for your
Your Highness,
information.
We have, &c.
Ministers of the Wai-wu Pu.
Enclosure 5 in No. 1.
Mr. Max Müller to Prince Ch'ing.
Peking, April 21, 1910. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of the Wai-wu Pu's three letters of the 15th, 16th, and 18th April with reference to the disturbances at Changsha, which have resulted in the destruction or looting of all the foreign property at that port except the British Consulate.
In the letter of the 15th a telegram was enclosed from the governor which stated that the riots were provoked by the high price of rice, and an Imperial decree was communicated by which the governor was commanded to quell the disorders and punish the ringleaders. The letter of the 16th enclosed a further telegram from the governor to the effect that he had ordered the granarics to be opened and grain sold at a fair price, that the foreigners had all escaped personal injury, and that trade was proceeding as usual. Again, in the letter of the 18th, a telegram was enclosed from the governor repeating that grain was being sold at a fair price and that business was going on as usual; and the text of an Imperial decree of the 17th was communicated by which Governor Ts'ên was relieved of his post, and his Excellency Yang Wêng-ting, the Financial Commissioner of Hupei, was ordered to proceed immediately to Changsha as acting governor, repress the disturbances rigorously, and take the necessary measures to restore order.
The impression conveyed by the reports of Governor Ts'ên, that the disorder was at an end, was not, as I had the honour to explain in my two interviews at the Wai-wu Pu yesterday and the day before, confirmed by the information reaching me from His Majesty's consuls and other sources. A telegram of the 16th from Changsha said that the rioters beaded by the masons were as active as ever, that the troops stood by and made no attempt to stop the rioting, that there was complete anarchy in Changsha, and that all the wealthy people were leaving the city in fear of civil war, A telegram of the 18th reported that looting was going on in every village, that 500 of the regular troops had deserted from the barracks with arms and ammunition, and that the local authorities were apprehensive of further disturbances. Yesterday morning I heard that the rioters at Changsha were not a mob but an organised band in uniform and that the riots were spreading; and a telegram received from Hankow last evening states that one mission station at least in Hunan has been destroyed and that Yo-chou is reported to be unquiet.
As regards the origin of the riots my information is that Governor Ts'ên, who had promised to open the grauaries from the beginning of the 2nd moon, put off doing so until the 3rd and again to the 4th moon, and it is alleged that this action was taken at the instigation of local gentry who were speculating in rice. From more than one source I am given to understand that there is little real distress in Hunan province and that the high price of rice there is partly due to the holding up of stocks by speculators; but if the high price is really due to distress it seems difficult to understand the action of the governor in allowing rice riots to break out before opening the granaries.
This question of rice speculation is one which has recently been brought once more to the notice of the Chinese Government in connection with the rice prohibitions at Hankow and Changsha, and since it is now openly mentioned as the principal cause of the present disturbances, it is essential that the facts should be thoroughly
5
investigated, and that a repetition of such practices should be placed by appropriate legislation beyond the bounds of possibility. The matter is one of the highest importance, not only to the Chinese Government and the Chinese people, but also, as the present events have proved, to all foreigners living in China.
Apart from the necessity of taking strong measures in Hunan for the punishment of the persons responsible and for the restoration of order, in accordance with the terms of the Imperial decrees, it is my duty to point out to your Highness without delay that the unprecedented occurrences at Changsha, which is the seat of a provincial government, have greatly encouraged the lawless and anti-foreign elements always present in large centres, and correspondingly weakened the prestige of Chinese provincial authorities generally; and that the possible extension of the Hunan troubles to other places in the Yangtse Valley, and especially to Hankow, where there is a largo Government school of Hunan students, where rice is abnormally dear and refugees are numerous, is a contingency feared by the foreign consuls and by some of my colleagues, who, I understand, have ordered ships of war to be stationed at Hankow in consequence. I am myself in communication with the commander-in-chief of His Majesty's naval forces on the subject.
Your Highness will, I trust, conclude, from what I have stated, that the situation in Hunan is still far from being settled, and requires vigorous and immediate treatment, and that precautionary steps should be taken without loss of time to prevent the spread of the Hunan disorders to other provinces.
I have, &c.
W. G. MAX MÜLLER.
99
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