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matters for negotiation between the Chinese Government and the diplomatic body; the maintenance of this principle was of far greater importance to the future of the Whangpoo Conservancy than the intention of M. de Rijke to resign or to remain; it was necessary, therefore, to find some solution which would not in any way weaken the binding effect on both parties of the agreement of 1905.
A few words are necessary to explain the change in the views of many of my colleagues as to the necessity of retaining the services of M. de Rijke. I myself had not at the time of the meeting received a copy of the report of the three British engineers, but some of my colleagues had had an opportunity of studying it, and the "North China Daily News" had already published extracts which showed clearly that Sir John Wolfe Barry and his two colleagues were not at all convinced of the necessity of many of the works comprised in M. de Rijke's scheme. The judgment which I myself formed on this point after a careful study of the report has already been expressed in my despatch No. 361 of the 13th ultimo, and need not, therefore, be repeated here. I may say that before I saw the report I had an opportunity of discussing the question with Mr. Landale, the chairman of the Shanghai Municipal Council, who said that, so far as he knew, very little work remained to be done, and that what did remain could be executed under the supervision of a far less eminent engineer than M. de Rijke. I noticed also that the North China Daily News," which is very representative of the feeling of the British community in Shanghai, admitted that "à stage has been reached, it is true, when the exceptional talents of the engineer-in-chief, M. de Rijke, whose contract is now expiring, are no longer required to carry into effect the remainder of the scheme of conservancy for which he is responsible."
Again, the China Association, who in their letter to the Foreign Office of the 21st May promised, upon receipt of the report of the British engineers, to address you further in regard to the threatened dismissal of M. de Rijke, would, to judge from the fact that I have heard nothing further from you on the subject, appear to have reconsidered their intention. From the letter of the Admiralty enclosed in your despatch No. 317 of the 1st September, it does not appear whether they had bad an opportunity of studying the British engineers' report before they wrote that they "considered it most important that every effort should be made to secure the retention of the services of M. de Rijke as engineer-in-chief of the works of the Whangpoo Conservancy." In reply to an inquiry from me as to M. de Rijke's intentions, Sir Pelham Warren telegraphed that M. de Rijke stated that he was not anxious to resign of his own free will, that he could not leave the work with a clear conscience, as much remained to be done, but that he would now only stay on at the urgent request of the Conservancy, and on the clear understanding that he should continue the work free from any restrictions. There can, however, be no doubt as to the feeling that has grown up among my colleagues, even among those who previously supported M. de Rijke's scheme, namely, that he had, no doubt with the best intention, misled us into making unnecessary and exaggerated demands on the Chinese Government.
To return to the meeting of the 1st October, after a lengthy discussion it was arranged that the doyen, the French Minister, and myself should be charged with the mission of persuading the Wai-wu Pu of the necessity of preserving the contractual character of the Whangpoo Conservancy work which the Chinese Government now appeared anxious to manage and terminate by one-sided declarations, and without previous consultation with the signatory Powers. Our representations were to have a twofold object :-
1. To settle by an agreement----
(a.) The question of the departure of M. de Rijke on the ground that the more important work had already been effected to the general satisfaction; and
(b.) The question of the appointment of another engineer to supervise the execution of the work that still remained to be done and the maintenance of what had already been executed.
2. To convince the Wai-wu Pu that the whole question is on account of the predominant foreign interests, based on an agreement and on collaboration between the Powers and the Chinese Government, but that we are quite prepared, now that the more essential portions of the work mentioned in the agreement of 1905 are practically finished, to enter into a friendly discussion with them with a view to deciding what further works are necessary, and determining the conditions of their execution and of the provision of the necessary funds.
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A long discussion followed in regard to Prince Ch'ing's note of the 15th July and the statement of the Chinese Government that the whole work of the conservancy of the river was finished. The general view of the meeting was that there certainly was more work to be done, though not of such importance as we had previously been led to believe. I pointed out that our want of technical knowledge and advice, and the fact that we were in Peking while the consuls were in Shanghai, made it desirable that, before committing ourselves again with the Wai-wu Pu, we should obtain from the consular body at Shanghai a definite and well-considered statement as to what further work was of urgent necessity. The consuls had at their disposal the various reports of M. de Rijke, of the Commissioner of Customs, and of the three English experts, but besides that, they were on the spot, and could consult the various persons and bodies principally interested in the Whangpoo Conservancy, namely, the municipal council, the chambers of commerce, the merchant shipping companies, the captains of the men-of-war and the merchant-ships, and, lastly, the Conservancy Board itself. It was finally decided to instruct the consular body in the sense of my suggestions, and to inform the Wai-wu-Pu that the opinion of the diplomatic body, based on the reports of technical experts, was that the conservancy work was not yet terminated, and that the foreign representatives reserved to themselves the right to study the question with the assistance of the consular body at Shanghai, and to communicate later to the Chinese Government the result of their deliberations. The French Minister and I drew the attention of our colleagues to reports which had reached our ears as to the intention of the Chinese Government to dissolve the Conservancy Board as constituted by the agreement of 1905, and we pointed out how absolutely essential it was to preserve the board for purposes of maintenance even when we were satisfied that all the necessary initial work had been properly carried out. Considerable time was lost owing to the delay in drawing up the joint note, but ou the 14th October I received a telegram from Sir Pelham Warren, stating that the taotai, acting under instructions from the Viceroy at Nanking, who was carrying out a programme memorialised to and approved by the Throne, had informed the Commissioner of Customs that the 1995 agreement was abrogated and the Conservancy Board dissolved, and that the work of maintaining the river in good condition would be delegated to the taotai alone, a Swedish engineer, named Heidenstam, having been engaged to succeed M. de Rijke.
This was followed on the 25th October by another telegram from Sir Pelham Warren in his capacity of senior consul transmitting a message to the diplomatic body. I have the honour to enclose a copy of this telegram, for your information. M. de Kuczynski and M. de Margerie agreed with me that these arbitrary acts on the part of the Viceroy and the information that the Conservancy Board still had 860,000 taels at their disposal materially altered the situation from that on which the foreign representatives had based their instructions to us in regard to the representations we were to make to the Chinese Government, and that those representations must now take the form of an urgent protest with the object of preventing, if still possible, the illegal instructions of the Viceroy from being carried into effect. I think I cannot do better than enclose, for your information, a copy of the approved minutes, as circulated to the other beads of missions, of the meeting, which we had at the Wai-wu Pu on the 26th October.
You will see that his Excellency Na-t'ung denied that the Wai-wu Pu had given any orders in the sense indicated to the Viceroy of Nanking, and promised after consultation with Prince Ch'ing to telegraph to the Viceroy.
On the 29th ultimo a verbal communication was made to M. de Kuczynski that Prince Ching fully recognised the bilateral and contractual character of the Whangpoo Conservancy question, both in regard to the execution of the work and to its main- tenance, and that instructions had been sent to the Viceroy not to modify in any way the status quo, as China was bound by treaties in this matter, and the Imperial Government were at the present moment negotiating in regard thereto with the foreign representatives; further, that the Chinese Government, considering that the major and most essential part of the proposed work had been finished, intended to replace the engineer-in-chief, M. de Rijke, by another engineer, M. Heidenstam, and asked for the consent of the foreign representatives to this step.
M. Kuczynski replied to M. Alfred Sze, who had come to him on behalf of his Excellency Na-t'ung, that he took act of his assurances, namely, that the Chinese Government acknowledged the binding effect of the existing agreements in regard to the Whangpoo; and that the Viceroy had been instructed not to dissolve the Con- servancy Board, not to consider the 1905 agreement as abrogated, and not to hand
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