2
Central Government as weak as it is under the present régime, and the local authorities apparently unable or too frightened to take the responsibility of repressive measures, the existence of such a secret organisation is a disquieting feature, and I shall not fail to watch as carefully as I can the developments of a situation which may easily become a dangerous one to the foreigners residing in China.
I have, &c.
W. G. MAX MÜLLER,
Enclosure 1 in No. 1.
[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
179
AFFAIRS OF CHINA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[19001]
No. 1.
со
18595
BECO [May 2818 JUN 10
SECTION 1.
Consul-General Fraser to Mr. Max Müller.
(No. 19. Confidential.) Sir,
Hankow, April 28, 1910. WITH reference to your telegram No. 17, Confidential, and my reply No. 46 of yesterday, I have the honour to report that Mr. Hewlett, upon his arrival yesterday morning, handed me an envelope, marked "Secret," and containing the document of which and translation are enclosed.
copy
It was given to him by Mr. Kurosawa, Commissioner of Customs at Yochow, with strict instructions not to let any Chinese see it, but with full permission to communi- cate it to the legations of Great Britain and Japan. Mr. Kurosawa further stated that he was informing Mr. Aglon of it, but was reticent as to its source.
From internal evidence I should say that it was a précis of a report by the taotai concerned to the governor of Ilunan, or it may be a telegram from one high officer to another.
It is noteworthy that the capture and execution of the man Chou Ts'ai-yün by the Ninghsiang authorities was communicated to me in Viceroy Jui's note of the 23rd instant, assuring me that no Hunan authority had disclaimed the duty of affording protection, and that proper measures had been taken to prevent further attacks on missions.
In the second paragraph of Mr. Hewlett's letter of the 18th instant, which I forwarded in my letter of the 22nd instant, he records that the Changsha consulate writer had actually seen the rioters led by a few of these "black troops" at their work of destruction, but neither in the accounts in the native papers, nor by missionaries, nor by Chinese officials has this point been mentioned.
I have, &c.
E. H. FRASER,
India Office to Foreign Office.--(Received May 28.)
Sir,
India Office, May 28, 1910. IN reply to your letter dated the 23rd May, 1910, as to the representations to be made at Peking respecting Chinese aggression at Pien-ma, I am directed to inform you that Viscount Morley concurs in the proposal to refer the Chinese Government to the last paragraph of Sir E. Satow's note of the 1st May, 1906, and to the warning as to the risk of armed collisions contained in Sir E. Satow's note of the 30th January, 1904. Ho feels some doubt, however, as to the advisability of the proposed reference to the "instructions" issued to the Yünnan authorities in 1898, that no attempt should be made to exercise Chinese authority west of the watershed. It would appear from Sir C. MacDonald's despatch No. 238, dated the 9th December, 1898, that, in reply to his request that instructions to the above effect might be issued, the British Minister was merely informed that his despatch had been " communicated to the Yunnan Governor," and it seems open to question whether any orders were actually sent to the provincial authorities on the subject. In the circumstances it would, perhaps, be inadvisable to raise the point.
As regards the proposal in the fourth paragraph of your letter under reply, Viscount Morley agrees to Mr. Max Müller being instructed to preface his reply in the manner suggested.
I am, &c.
R. RITCHIE,
[2751 cc-1]
Enclosure 2 in No. 1.
(Translation.)
Document communicated by Mr. Hewlett to Mr. Max Müller.
WITH reference to the rioting by bad characters at the provincial capital on the 13th and 14th April, although order is now restored, the Ning Hsiang magistrate reports that there also occurred burning and destruction of missions and schools by scoundrels, and he caught one Chou Ts'ai-yün, a Hupei man [who confessed to having] had interview at Frog Creek, a locality of Hsiang Yin, with the Shantung Boxer Lo Wu-kung ("Centipede") with a band collected of twenty-four conspirators in all; Chiang Shihchuan, a Kiangsi man; Wu Ha-mo ("Frog"), an Anhui Inau; Suu Chi-kung ("Cock"), and Kao Pao-kuo ("Protect the State"), Hupei mon; and also Hu Sung-san-pu ("Escort three paces ").*
[Chow further stated that all were dressed in black coats with black trousers, and that these so-called "black soldiers "t during the second moon came to Hunan seeking a chance to move, and, coming across the hungry people's demand for cheaper rice, seized the opportunity for privy action, destroyed the governor's yamên and the missions, and were ordered to every district with the object of making trouble.
Since this lot of scoundrels have hied them to the various districts to conspire to make disturbances the peace of the country demands strict and secret precautions.
* These are, of course, nick-names.-E.D.H.F.
Ching-in Hunan at any rate-is undoubtedly not "blue," but "black."-E.D.I.F.
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