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Affairs Office, Mr. Pi Wei, who was formerly employed by the late Tuan-fang at Nanking.
Mr. Pai, escorted by a dozen military officers, appeared after a few minutes, and proved eager to descant on the evils of opium smoking and his own zeal in eradicating the vice in Anhui.
He admitted, in answer to a question, that there was an agreement regarding the gradual cessation of import from India; but he held that that applied only to the trade at open ports. Once opium, Indian or other, passed into native hands and
away from a port we had no further concern with it.
I produced the agreement of last May with the relative papers sent me in your circular of the 19th June, 1911, and showing him article 3, asked whether he had reported to Peking the total suppression of poppy cultivation in Anhui so that you might be moved to agree to the province being closed to the Indian drug. some beating about the bush, he admitted that he had not done so; but, at the instigation of Mr. Pi, he asserted in a blustering fashion that the closing of a province was entirely an internal question, and that no previous acquiescence on our part was required by the agreement. His vigorous measures, which would include sending troops to shoot down every person found growing the poppy, brought his province within the
terms of the article.
After
I proceeded to call his attention to article 4 and the other provisions of the agreement as well as to the papers appended and asked if he recognised that his Government has accepted as valid all the engagements of its predecessor.
He displayed considerable uneasiness and greedily scanned the papers shown him with every appearance of being quite unfamiliar with any of them.
Encouraged by Mr. Pi, he now took up the liue that this was not a diplomatic question worthy of my being sent in a cruiser, but a mere matter of finance to be adjusted, it his Government, to which he had sent reports, should not uphold bis action, by payment of some compensation. And he proceeded once more to inveigh against the vice and assert for China an absolutely free hand in dealing with it, our only claim being for compensation to our dealers should China decide to stop importation at once instead of spreading the prohibition over a term of years.
His attention was again called to the papers in my hand, and especially to the penultimate paragraph of the Wai-wu Pu's circular telegram of the 15th June, 1911. I added that the important point in the case was precisely the international question of the due performance of solemn engagements between friendly nations. That this instance referred to opium was a mere accident: if China could go back on this agreement and her own official interpretation of its meaning, all her treaty engagements became untrustworthy and her position in the world one of serious danger.
Mr. Pai, who had been reading the documents while listening to my words, seemed at last to perceive in what an awkward position his rash act had placed him; but Mr. Pi again intervened with voluble assurance that they had carefully studied all the treaties, even last year's agreement, and were prepared to prove they were within their rights. He sent an attendant for a book of treaties, but, though sent back more than once, the man returned empty-hauded. He explained, meanwhile, that the Tien-tsin Treaty specially provided against foreign interference with opium once it left the foreign importers hands (presumably referring to the second sentence of the first rule of trade).
I explained that the proper interpretation of treaty terms was a matter for the parties making the treaties, that is, for the Governments concerned, and no good purpose could be served by our arguing on a matter already explained authoritatively by his own country's Government. Besides my instructions were simply to investigate
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specific case and its circumstances; I desired, therefore, to obtain direct answers to certain questions concerning it :----
1. Were the seven chests seized and destroyed by the tutu's direct orders? The answer was, "Yes, they were."
2. For what reasons? Because Anking was not a treaty port, and because the owners were not foreigners. The treatment of all opium under such conditions was purely a matter of internal administration in the absolute discretion of the provincial authorities.
Prompted by Mr. Pi, the tutu, in a confused manner, added that the seven chests had not all the necessary papers-transit certificates and bills of lading--and the opium had been changed
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They all seemed astonished when I said this was scarcely possible, as the Imperial Maritime Customs kept the most careful track of every ounce of Indian opium sent inland and could have supplied any information required in case of suspicion of irregularity. Mr. Pai then said the opium had been left on the hulk unclaimed for some days; and I replied that this was quite usual and did no harm, as the hulk-keeper was bound to keep cargo securely.
We took leave after arranging that Mr. Pai would return our call on Monday, the 7th October.
During the 6th my servants and the Wuhu writer traversed the city in search of proclamations and news. They found one proclamation freely posted: copies of this and of one other are enclosed; both are signed as well as sealed by Mr. Pi and I myself saw them posted freely in the city. It will be observed that at first Mr. Pai went beyond the Wai-wu Pu's standing order only by confining the sale of prepared opium to certain official shope-a monopoly of which, I believe, Mr. Pearson complained. This process, however, seemed to him too dilatory and he has, in fact, recently closed all the shops in the city, though, I believe, secret sales continue.
About 6 PM. on the 6th, Mr. Pai sent me a note of which copy is enclosed, alleging a cold due to the sudden change of temperature, as sufficient reason for sending Mr. Pi to return my call on board the steamer." A reply was returned declining to receive any substitute for the officer whom I was directed to deal with in person.
I bad trustworthy information that Mr. Pai was up and about and had spent most of the day consulting with his subordinates. His note may have been due not only to
a wish to belittle us, but also to my having told his secretary that I desired to return to my regular work as soon as was consistent with the fulfilment of my mission.
Late on the night of the 6th instant, Mr. Pai again wrote that his doctor warned him against the risk of aggravating his ailment by exposure to cold; and the next morning I rejoined that my own health would benefit by a rest and I should await his recovery, only asking him to let me know as soon as possible the time of his visit in order that I might telegraph to you, whom I had already told of his sudden indisposition.
On the evening of the 7th, Mr. McCarthy, the British master of the American Church Mission School, who is in friendly relations with Mr. Pai and the other native authorities and who had heard the tutu at a recent feast dilate on his determination to suppress the use of opium by any means he thought fit, called with a letter giving the result of enquiries by one of his Chinese assistants who has a friend a secretary in the yamên. Mr. McCarthy erroneously described this as posted on a wall near the mission, which lead me to describe it in my first telegram of the 8th instant as a manifesto. He also stated that he had been hurriedly called to consult with Mr. Pi and another secretary as to what was the best course to pursue. They admitted that all that ailed Mr. Pai was anxiety over this case and reluctance to call lest he be treated rudely or even with personal indiguity. Mr. McCarthy, who specially asks that his name be kept private, pointed out the impropriety of leaving unreturned the official call of a British officer sent by his Government on one of His Majesty's ships.
As to the act complained of, which they tried to excuse solely on the ground of supposed defect in the papers covering the opium, he suggested that Mr. Pai might ask leave to explain to the President in person why he has taken so unprecedented a step. But they said the tutu was too busy to go to Peking-a curious answer in view of his visits to Nanking on his own affairs.
On the same day Mr. Jones had obtained from the hulk-keeper copies of the letters sent him by the chief of police which preceded the removal of the opium. The material part of these has already been sent you by telegram in Chinese; full copies with translations are now enclosed.
On the 9th instant Mr. McCarthy, whom a perusal of the agreement of last year and the relative papers had convinced of the impossibility of defending the tutu, for whose zeal against opium smoking he has every sympathy, had another interview with the secretaries, and again urged the evil impression produced by his delay in calling, and the advisability of his putting himself into the hands of the president.
On the evening of the 8th instant, as our inaction might tend to lessen the salutary impression produced by our visit, I had sent the Wuhu writer to the tutn's yamên with polite enquiries after his health, and he had been told that he might probably be well enough to call on board on the 10th,
Meanwhile the pilot had insisted that the unusual lowness of the water, which was falling steadily, rendered it imperative that the "Flora" should get below Wade Island without delay, and our departure was fixed for the morning of the 10th
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