CO129-372 - Public Offices - 1910 — Page 237

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made an armed raid across the frontier to Pienma, where he burned houses and looted property in five villages, carrying off all the cattle and other possessions of the villagers, that the raiders are still in occupation of the country, and that the chief has threatened certain other villages in the neighbourhood.

Apart from the fact that a serious breach of international courtesy has been committed, the action of the Chief of Teng Keng in raiding peaceable villagers, burning their houses and stealing their property is outrageous and reprehensible to the utmost degree. I have accordingly the honour to beg that his Excellency the Governor-General will send telegraphic instructions to the taotai at Tengyuch to comply with Mr. Rose's request that the chief be compelled to remove his men from British territory, and pay compensation to the raided villagers for the injuries inflicted, and further that he be severely punished for his illegal action.

I have, &c.

(Translation.)

Enclosure 3 in No. 1.

P. E. O'BRIEN-BUTLER,

Mr. Shih to Consul-General O'Brien-Butler.

Yünnan-fu, April 11, 1910. THE Administrator of Foreign Affairs, Yünnan-fu, makes the following com- munication in reply to the British consul-general.

The administrator received some time ago a despatch from the consul-general, in which it was stated that a despatch had been received from the Government of Burmah, informing him that a letter had been addressed to the acting British consul at Tengyueh relating to a raid made by the chief of Teng Keng, situated on the Salween, in China, on Pienma and other villages, and requesting him to bring the matter to the notice of the Viceroy of Yün-Kuei, asking that instructions be issued to the taotai at Têngyüeh to take steps to suppress the raiders and obtain compensation for the raided villagers for the injuries inflicted. With the despatch were enclosed copies of the villagers' petition and Mr. Rose's despatch to the Tengyueh taotai.

Pienma was formerly under the magistrate of Yünlung Chou in Taili Fu, and afterwards was transferred to the jurisdiction of the magistrate of Paoshan Hsien, in Yungchang Fu; the fixed tax annually collected in 2 piculs and 4 tou of rice, and the village, it will be found from a memorial presented to the Emperor during the reign-period Tao Kuang, is under the direct control of the province of Yunnan. The tax is collected for the Government by the Chief of Teng Keng, who is under the orders of the magistrate of Paoshan sien, and the village pays annually as house tax 50 taels to Teng Keng, and also 100 taels transit dues on goods passing through are levied by the same chief.

Last year the bad chiefs, Hsü Lin-IIsiang, Wu Chia-Yuan, and others, seduced the chiefs of the two places (Teng Keng and Pienma), and put their minds in a ferment, so there has been a dispute between them; but no burning, plundering or crossing of the frontier has occurred.

The villages Shanglou, Hsiachia, and Shihchia, or Langpung, are all under the control of the sub-prefect of Tengyueh, Ting, and during the Tao Kuang reign there was also a memorial on the subject, which can be referred to. They are now ruled by the chief of Tatang, and are not in the territory of Burmah. All the villages of Teng Keng, Pienma, Shanglou, Hsiachia, and Langpung, therefore, are within the territory of Yunnan, as the records can show. If there is any quarrelling between the villages the question is to be settled by the Yunnan provincial authorities alone, and does not concern the Government of Burmah. Now, the Government of Burmah says that these villages are under the control of Burmalı, and that compensation is to be paid by Yunnan for the injuries inflicted, and the administrator really cannot understand the meaning of this, and it is impossible for him to agree to it.

Again, when the administrator reads Mr. Rose's despatch to the taotai at Tengyueh to the effect that the mouth of the Hsiaochiang River is Burmese territory he carefully refers to the records of his office, and finds that what Mr. Rose says is equivalent to the attempt made by the former consul, Mr. Litton, to encroach on Yunnan territory, which attempt was rejected by the Board of Foreign Affairs at Peking and the Government of Yunnan. At present, as the boundary-line has not been completely determined, both nations ought to keep to the boundaries within

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which they now exercise jurisdiction. The place at the mouth of the Hsiaochiang River is really within the original boundary of Yunnan, and there is no doubt about this fact. As Burmese officials cannot secretly enter Chinese territory in order to put (down disturbances, still less can they wrongfully say that Pienma and other villages

in Yünnan are within the territory of Burmah.

In the petition of the villagers there is an expression used to "kneel and petition the foreign official, the consul." "Foreign official," it will be found, is a general name given to officers of foreign countries by Chinese subjects. The ignorant people at the mouth of the Hsiaochiang River make the mistake of petitioning Mr. Rose, and Mr. Rose, not making investigation, again makes the mistake of saying that Pienma and other villages are within the territory of Burmah, and so demands compensation. Things get mixed, and misunderstanding prevails. The administrator, having carefully referred to the records and minutely investigated the circumstances on the frontier, cannot but declare the correct facts and rectify the error without delay, in order that matters may be made certain.

The taotai at Tengruch has written to Mr. Rose in the same sense, and it is necessary for the administrator to ask the consul-general to have the wrongly presented petition rejected, and request Mr. Rose to say no more about these villages and the demand for compensation, and, further, to notify the Government of Burmah that it is not concerned in the matter, and that Yünnan is now settling the question itself.

The administrator writes this to inform the consul-general, with the earnest hope that he will take note and act accordingly.

(No. 15.)

Enclosure 4 in No. 1.

Consul-General O'Brien- Butler to Mr. Max Müller.

Sir,

Yunnan-fu, April 27, 1910. WITH reference to the second enclosure in my despatch No. 11 of the 15th instant, I have the honour to forward to you copy of a despatch which I sent to the Administrator of Foreign Affairs in this city explaining how the term "foreign official " came to be used in the Pienma villagers' petition to Mr. Rose, and a copy of his reply,

I have, &c.

P. E. O'BRIEN-BUTLER

Enclosure 5 in No. 1.

Consul-General O'Brien-Butler to Mr. Shih,

Sir,

Yünnan-fu, April 18, 1910. I HAVE the honour to inform you that I have sent copies of your despatch of the 11th instant, on the subject of the raid made by the Chief of Teng Keng on the village of Pienma, to His Majesty's Legation at Peking and to the Government

of Burmah.

r

In the despatch in question you lay stress on the fact of the expression yuan kuan" (foreign official) being used in the petition to Mr. Rose as showing that the petitioners were aware that they were Chinese subjects addressing an official of a foreign country. With regard to this point I would state as follows:-

1. The inhabitants of Hpimaw and the other villages belong to a tribe having a language of their own, different from both Burmese and Chinese.

2. They are evidently very simple and ignorant, since, when they were in trouble, they had to get a Chinese who happened to be on the spot to write a petition to the authorities for them.

3. If the villagers had thought that they were Chinese subjects, living on Chinese territory and suffering wrong at the hands of a chief subject to China, it is evident that they would have made their complaint to the nearest Chinese territorial official. That they addressed their petition to a British official is, I consider, proof that they regarded themselves as British subjects living on British territory.

B 2

[2788 ƒ-3]

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