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Children are wearing charms in order to date throw further light upon the situation. prevent their souls being taken away to form the foundations for railway bridges. The census is popularly believed to have been instituted in order that foreigners may place the names collected under the railroad; whenever a name is crushed by a train, ) the person so named immediately dies. The epithet "foreign devil," which since 1890 has been rarely heard, is now frequently applied to foreigners in the streets, and the missionaries all agree that the Chinese are in a most restless and excited state, and ready to be led away by any mob orator. The Viceroy has assured the foreign consuls, in an official note to the senior consul, that there is "no ground for anxiety," and that he is "fully able to protect foreign lives and property" (see enclosure in Mr. Goffe's despatch No. 32 of the 23rd May). According to a telegram from Nanking, his Excellency also sent two deputies to His Majesty's consul on the 29th May, and these officials told Mr. Goffe that the Viceroy was confident of his ability to deal with any emergency, that every precaution had been taken, and that the troops could be relied on. Whether his Excellency's assurances are due to a knowledge that he is master of the situation, or whether, as the foreign consuls are inclined to believe, they are inspired by a desire to appear confident, is a matter of opinion, and the truth will only be ascertained when and if disturbances occur, but of one thing I feel sure after the conversation I had with his Excellency Natung on the 26th instant, and that is that the Chinese Government are fully alive to the necessity of preventing any revolutionary outbreak at Nanking, and that every precaution that can be taken has been taken. "Astra" will be at Admiral Winsloe has informed me that His Majesty's ship Nanking on the 5th June, the date of the opening of the exhibition, and stay there for a few days.
The despatch from His Majesty's consul-general at Chengtu, copy of which is enclosed herewith,* serves the double purpose of showing that the spirit of unrest is manifesting itself in the most remote provinces of the Empire, and that, where the local authorities are really efficient, the situation is by no means so serious as it undoubtedly is in Hupei, Hunan, and Kiangsu, Mr. Wilkinson reports that rumours similar to those current at Nanking have been prevalent at Chengtu, where it has been commonly asserted that foreigners were cutting off women's hair, emasculating small boys, and desecrating graves. The authorities took prompt measures to undeceive the populace, and to remind them that death was the penalty for those who disseminate dangerous lies. The Governor-General, the energetic and able Chao Erh-bsun, assured Mr. Wilkinson that some of the culprits had already been punished, and the result of his Excellency's action is that Mr. Wilkinson is able to report that the rumours are dying out." Similarly I have received a despatch from His Majesty's consul at Chinkiang, reporting that an anti-foreign riot very nearly occurred at Hsing Hua Fu, a town situated 55 miles to the north-east of Chinkiang, owing to a woman falsely accusing a local missionary of stealing her child. A riot was prevented by the decisive action of the magistrate, who not only adequately protected the mission house from the crowd, but caused the guilty woman to be paraded through the streets bearing a cangue and preceded by a man carrying a board on which the nature of her misdeed was described in large characters.
Although, therefore, the situation is serious, as I have already pointed out in my previous despatches, it has not yet passed beyond control, and the central Government have it still in their power to prevent, by the adoption of firm measures, the spread of disorder and the advent of a revolution which the present policy of laisser faire is calculated to encourage.
Two favourable factors in the situation are that, firstly, the comet has come without bringing again great misfortune to China, though many Chinese, I am told, believe that it was the cause of the grievous loss suffered by the British Empire in the death of His late Majesty King Edward, and, secondly, that during the last few days there has been a marked improvement in the climatic conditions, in the Yangtse Valley sunshine and dry weather has greatly improved the prospect of the crops, while in the neighbourhood of Peking, and in fact throughout the province of Chihli, the three last days of rain have had a similar effect.
I have, &c.
Chengtu, No. 33, May 3, 1910.
W. G. MAX MÜLLER.
AFFAIRS OF CHINA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
C [June 20858
330
[22106]
No. 1.
SECTION 2.
REC?
Mr. Maz Müller to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received June 20.)
REGE 8 JUL 10
(No. 183.) Sir,
Peking, June 4, 1910. I HAVE the honour to transmit to you herewith copy of a report which I have received from the military attaché upon the discipline of the Chinese regular troops quartered at Changsha.
Enclosure in No. 1.
I have, &c.
MAX MÜLLER.
Report of Lieutenant-Colonel Willoughby on the Discipline of the Chinese Army.
(Hunan Regular Troops.)
Peking, June 1, 1910. WITH reference to the remarks on p. 5 of my report No. 6, dated the 25th April, 1910 (on "Indiscipline in the Chinese Army,") relating to the inaction of the troops at Changsha during the recent riots there, the following report, just received from His Majesty's consul at Changsha, is of especial interest, bringing out strongly, as it does, the fact that the headway gained by the forces of disorder was due, not to culpable inaction on the part of the troops or sympathy with the rioters, but to the pusillanimous conduct, if not worse (viz., actual connivance), of the high civil officials, who prevented the troops from acting against the rioters, thereby incidentally subjecting their discipline to the severest strain.
The report is as follows :-----
"During the attack on the governor's yamên the regular troops were only once permitted to fire, and that was when General Yang obtained Governor Ts'en's permission to kill the men who were pouring oil on the roofs of his Excellency's entrance halls. With this one exception the men stood stolidly for twelve hours, hemmed in by a hostile mob, stoned with large bricks and tiles and suffering casualties; yet not one single shot was fired nor one bayonet thrust given in retaliation because . as a soldier himself quite simply expressed it, 'How could we? we had orders not to.'
Such discipline might be equalled by some, it could not be surpassed by any troops in the world.
"From the 14th April to the 7th May the consulate was left to the care of a section of infantry under the command of a lieutenant. There were also two of the consulate servants on the premises. During this period not one single article of any type or description was stolen. It would not have been surprising had chickens been stolen or vegetables removed, but nothing was touched.
"At present I have one section (forty-two men) under a lieutenant quartered in the chair-house attached to the consulate, and they will remain here, I am told, till the middle of August. The total size of the quarters is 38 feet by 20 feet, and the accommodation is miserable, and yet not a single complaint is made. The men, who are specially picked, are uniformly civil. quiet and orderly.
Whatever defects the Mixed Brigade' of Hunan may have, their discipline is beyond all praise. As I conceive that perfect discipline forms the very backbone of military efficiency, I take this opportunity of bringing the admirable discipline of General Yang's troops to your notice."
Mr. Hewlett then moots the question of our Government giving some permanent memento to the troops for their services, the British property (Government and personal) protected by them being worth about 1,000; and I think with him that, amid so much that is blameworthy (viz., attitude of the high provincial officials, hostility of the gentry and students, anti-foreign tone of the press, &c.), it would be
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