CO129-482 - Public Offices - 1923 — Page 297

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Finally I should like to record that I was received by General Wu with the greatest cordiality and hospitality, and that everything possible was done to make my visit as interesting and pleasurable as possible.

H. B. ORPEN-PALMER, Colonel,

Military Attaché.

Peking, April 10, 1923.

Enclosure 3 in No. 1.

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military supplies taken longer than he expected, but the Chinese Eastern Railway question and the general prevalence of brigandage are both tying his hands. If there is to be another civil war, therefore, this year in this part of China it will not be Chang Tso-lin who will be the aggressor, and as it also seems most unlikely the Wu Pei-fu will attack Chang in Manchuria, the probabilities are that the present scare has its origin in the mutual suspicions which the two sides entertain of one another aggravated by alarmist articles in the press and Wu Pei-fu's very tactless telegrams. Not unnaturally local currency has been seriously affected by the reports prevalent of coming hostilities and the small coin dollar note has fallen ten points during the past week.

I have, &c.

F. E. WILKINSON.

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(No. 15.) Sir,

Consul-General Wilkinson to Sir R. Macleay.

Mukden, April 19, 1923. IN continuation of my despatch No. 14 of the 14th instant I have the honour to report that I called on Marshal Chang Tso-lin yesterday by appointment to discuss the question of the return of the Mukden-Shanhaikuan section of the Peking- Mukden Railway to the Central Government. It would appear that there is a strong party in Mukden which includes amongst its numbers both the Civil Governor, Mr. Wang Yung Chiang, and, I have reason to believe, the chief of the staff, General Yang Yu Ting, who have been in favour for some time past of the reunifica- tion of the line for the reasons given in my last despatch, but they have been unable up to now to convert Marshal Chang to their views and it was in the hope that my arguments might be more successful than theirs that this interview was arranged for me.

Unfortunately my visit was postponed too long and it took place at the most inopportune moment possible for any such discussion. The marshal received me very politely and when I brought up the subject of the railway, informed me that he was prepared to return the Shanhaikuan section at any time provided he received satisfactory guarantees that the railway would not be used by his enemies for military purposes. Could the British Minister, he asked, give him such a guarantee. I replied that he could hardly expect my Minister to do so, seeing that the Peking-Mukden line was not under British control, but if he would inform me what kind of guarantees he wanted I felt sure that if they were reasonable you would be glad in the interests of the British bondholders to take up the matter with the Central Government.

The marshal then made it quite clear that I was wasting my time in discussing the question with him. What use was it, he said, talking about guarantees when General Wu Pei-fu was about to attack him. He had proof of this from his spies, and with thi sinister object a Chihli division had already been moved to Hsifengkou. Personally he had no aggressive intentions of any kind as he realised only too well that another civil war would be disastrous to the country, but, if he was attacked, what option had be but to defend himself. I should warn my Minister that in that case he (Chang) could not be responsible for the protection of foreigners in Manchuria. He went on to say, in reply to an enquiry of mine as to whether the situation on the Chinese Eastern Railway was not also causing him some anxiety, that he expected no immediate trouble" from that quarter, especially now that Mr. C. T. Wang was about to confer with the Soviet representatives. He fully realised the danger of the propaganda carried on by the Reds, but the railway question was not affected by it.

After a few further remarks in which Marshal Chang expressed his satisfaction at your appointment as British Minister, adding, however, that he had no fault to find with Sir Beilby Alston personally as it was not of his manner towards him that he had had reason to complain, I took my leave.

That Marshal Chang is as convinced as he professes to be that he is about to be attacked by Wu Pei-fu is difficult to believe. I am informed that he received a few days ago an insulting telegram from General Wu, who accused him of pro-Japanese sympathies, a point on which Chang Tso-lin is very sensitive, who promised to deal with him before long Chang is said to have been greatly infuriated at the message, but he accepted the advice given him by his military staff to refrain if possible from engaging in hostilities this year, but wait until next summer when his military preparations would be complete. For this latter information I have the authority of Marshal Chang's Japanese military adviser, who takes the credit of having persuaded his chief to keep the peace, but there appears to be no doubt whatever that Chang gave up the idea some months ago of launching a campaign against Wu Pei-fu during the present year. Not only has the reorganisation of his army and

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