Not: the date of une Order in Council re- voking Article 4 of the Con- vention is 27/ 12/1899.
Sir Claude MacDonald to
Lord Salisbury Despatch No.2 of 5/1/1900.
Canton Des-
patch to Peking
8
19
This appears to have ended the official corres-
pondence with the Yamen. In an interview however with
Sir C. Macdonald, Li Hung-chang, newly appointed Acting
Viceroy of Canton, urged very strongly the views expres-
sed by the Yamen. To quote His Majesty's Minister's re-
port to the Foreign Office, "... Li contends that the Viceroy 'an, the cause of all the trouble, having been
removed by the Chinese Government and he himself having
been appointed in his place, full reparation has been made for T'an's behaviour, and that the Convention should
now be faithfully observed on both sides. He contended
that his record should satisfy His Majesty's Government
that he would keep proper order in all places under his
jurisdiction. I could not agree with His Excellency's
views, but advised him to discuss the matter with the
Governor of Hong kong up on whan he intends to call en
route for Hongkong"
The interview between Li Hung-chang am the Gov-
No.4 of 17/1/99.ernor of Hongkong to ok place on the 15th of January 1900
Li asked whether Kowloon city would be hani ed back to
China. The Gover nor replied that this was a matter con-
cerning which he could not decide, as he had taken pos-
session of Kowlom solely under intructions fron His
Majesty's Government. Kowloon was a very small town,
containing only a Yamen and barracks, and if Viceroy Li
would depute officers to look at the place, he could
easily satisfy himself as to its insignificance.
Viceroy
Li pointed at that one of the chief reasons for asking for the retro ession of Kowloon was to deprive the Russians
of any cause of complaint Sir Claude MacDonald was ac-
•
quainted with all the circumstances connected with the
retrocession of Kim how by the Russians. That power having
/relinquished
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