Nr. 13106. GROSSBRITANNIEN. Der Gesandte in Peking an

den Minister des Ausw. Verhandlungen zwischen

Rußland und China.

Peking, June 12, 1903. (June 12.)

(Telegraphic.) || Evacuation of Manchuria. || Two days ago Prince Ching called on Russian Minister. The Prince, as I understand from a reliable source, refused to discuss any of the conditions except those relating to the establishment of a Newchwang Sanitary Board and the payment of customs duties into Russo - Chinese Bank. These might be open to reconsideration, he said. | Prince has been granted five days' more sick leave, and has returned to the Summer Palace.

Nr. 13107. GROSSBRITANNIEN. - Der Minister des Ausw. an den Gesandten in Peking. China soll die Zahlung in die russisch-chinesiche Bank ablehnen.

Foreign Office, June 13, 1903.

(Telegraphic.) || Your telegram of yesterday and my telegram of the 30th April. || Urge the Chinese Government to resist the continued payment into the Russo-Chinese Bank of the Newchwang Customs re

(Telegraphic.) I have been informed that the Chinese Government is being pressed by the Russian Minister at Peking to consent to the conditions which the Russian Government endeavoured to attach to the evacuation of Manchuria, and that he was urging in particular compliance with those conditions which relate to the appointment of foreign Consuls and establishment of open ports in the districts which are to be evacuated. || Please inform me if any information to this effect has reach

ed you.

Nr. 13109. GROSSBRITANNIEN. - Der Gesandte in Peking an

den Minister des Ausw. Ein Abkommen zwischen Rußland und China ist bevorstehend.

Peking, June 20, 1903. (June 20.)

(Telegraphic.) || Prince Ching informed me yesterday that an arrangement, of which he could not give me details, would shortly be arrived at by which Manchuria would be preserved to China without any loss of sovereign rights. I warned him that any concessions to Russia calculated to threaten British possessions in Asia would be strongly opposed, and that the Treaty rights of the Powers must be respected. On both these points he gave me assurances. || With regard to the opening of Treaty ports, his Highness said that China would open them after the Russian evacuation if she saw fit. He added that as soon as the Russian occupation ceased the Newchwang customs revenue duties would be paid into the Customs Bank as before.

Nr. 13110. GROSSBRITANNIEN. Der Minister des Ausw. an den Botschafter in Petersburg. Unterredung mit dem russischen Botschafter. Rußland wird sich. der Öffnung der mandschurischen Häfen nicht widersetzen.

Foreign Office, July 11, 1903.

Sir, The Russian Ambassador asked me for an interview to-day, and made me a verbal communication in the following terms: What|| ever may be the result of the negotiations which are pending between Russia and China, and which bear exclusively upon the protection of Russian interests of the first importance in the occupied province, the Imperial Government have no intention of opposing the gradual opening by China, as commercial relations develop, of some towns in Manchuria to foreign commerce, excluding, however, the right to establish,Settlements'. ||,,This declaration does not apply to Harbin. The town in question being within the limits of the Concession for the Eastern Chinese Railway, is not unrestrictedly subject to the Chinese Government, the establishment there of foreign Consulates must therefore depend upon the consent of the Russian Government." || I told his Excellency that I was obliged to him for his communication, and that I had been for some time anxiously expecting that he would say something to me upon this important subject. I reminded him of the statement which he had made

to me on the 1st May, when he contradicted the rumours which had reached me as to the conditions required by Russia for the evacuation of Manchuria, and informed me that measures tending to exclude foreign Consuls or to abstruct foreign commerce in that country were far from entering into the intentions of the Imperial Government. His Excellency's present communication seemed to me to qualify his earlier statement, for it was now clearly indicated that the opening of ports in Manchuria was to be gradually accomplished, and that no foreign Settlements were to be allowed in ports thus opened. The exclusion of Harbin was also new. His Excellency said that Harbin was the centre of the Russian railway system, and must obviously remain under exclusively Russian control. His Excellensy hoped that, now that we were aware of the intentions of Russia, we should be found willing to discourage the Chinese from their persistent opposition to a settlement. || I said that it seemed to me that we were still very imperfectly informed as to the nature of the Russian demands, and that we certainly could not be expected to assist the Russian Government even in preferring those which might seem to us unobjectionable so long as we were in ignorance of their other requirements. We had heard, for example, that amongst the latter were demands that no foreigners, except Russians, should be employed in Northern China, that the Newchwang customs should be paid into the Russian Bank, and that the sanitary arrangements at that port should be entirely under Russian control. || His Excellency expressed incredulity at the first of these statements; as to the second, he said that the customs receipts must be paid into one bank or another, and that he could not see why the Russian Bank should not be selected, considering the position of Russia in that part of China; as to the third point, he believed that there had been a demand that some Russian doctors should be employed on the Sanitary Board. || I begged his Excellency to remember that we had large commercial interests and Treaty rigths at Newchwang, and that it was impossible for us to tolerate its passing under exclusively Russian control. These were, at any rate, points upon which we should require to be satisfied. I promised his Excellency that I would consider his statement carefully, and that I would speak to him again upon the subject after I had laid it before my colleagues.

Lansdowne.

Nr. 13111. GROSSBRITANNIEN. - Der Minister des Ausw. an den Botschafter in Petersburg. Unterredung mit dem russischen Botschafter. England wünscht nähere Kenntnis der russischen Forderungen. Foreign Office, July 15, 1903.

Sir, I told the Russian Ambassador to-day that I had communicated to my colleagues the statement which he had made to me on the 11th instant, as to the conditions upon which Russia was prepared to evacuate Manchuria. Their views were not dissimilar to those which I had expressed to him as my own. || The statement appeared to us to be upon the same lines as that which his Excellency had made to me on the 1st May, with additions, or I ought, perhaps, to say, subtractions. I referred to the reservations as to Harbin, and as to the question of foreign Settlements. The latter point in particular would, in our opinion, require careful examination if British commerce was to be carried on in the newly-opened ports under satisfactory conditions. || The main point was, however, this: that we could not arrive at a conclusive opinion in regard to these particular proposals unless we were fully informed as to the whole of the terms upon which the Russian Government were insisting. At some points those conditions were believed to concern us very closely indeed, more especially in so far as they affected Newchwang, where we had large trade interests. Lansdowne.

Nr. 13112. GROSSBRITANNIEN.

Der Minister des Ausw. an den Botschafter in Petersburg. Unterredung mit dem russischen Botschafter über die Mandschurei, Yangtsethal, Niutschwang. Rußland muß mehr Vertrauen bezeigen.

Foreign Office, July 29, 1903.

(Extract.) || The Russian Ambassador spoke to me as to the possibility of a better understanding between our two countries as to Chinese affairs. He said that the Russian Government had no desire to oppose us in the Yang-tsze Valley, and they were by no means averse from the idea of coming to an understanding with us if such an understanding, could be arrived at. || I replied that our difficulties with Russia could not be properly described as being peculiar to the Yang-tsze Valley. My impression, at any rate, was that, by the Anglo-Russian Agreement of 1899, we had already arrived at a partial understanding with regard to that part of China. On the other hand there were certainly other points

at which we had, unfortunately, failed to come to an understanding. || I referred particularly to Manchuria and to the position of the two Powers in Newchwang. I said that I had myself always been in favour of an amicable arrangement with Russia, and I had more than once suggested, but without success, the possibility of making one. || His Majesty's Government would, I felt sure, not repel any overture which might be made to us, but in such a case it would be necessary for Russia to show us more confidence than she had hitherto vouchsafed, and to let us know, particularly in reference to Manchuria, what terms she was endeavouring to obtain from the Chinese Government. At present we were to a great extent in the dark, and obliged to rely upon reports of Chinese origin, which were no doubt not always of a trustworthy character. If Russia would put us in full possession of her ideas, and if she would bear in mind that for any concessions which she obtained from us we should expect corresponding concessions from her, I believed that we might put an end to the unfortunate rivalry which had so long prevailed between us in China. We had, I said, always recognized that Russia had special interests in that part of China which adjoined her possessions, and we should be ready to consider in the most friendly spirit an arrangement based on the one hand upon the recognition of those interests by this country, and on the other, upon the recognition by Russia of the analogous interests of Great Britain in other parts of the Chinese Empire.

Nr. 13113. GROSSBRITANNIEN. Der Gesandte in Peking an Prinz Tsching. Öffnung der Vertragshäfen in der

Mandschurei.

Peking, June 13, 1903.*)

Your Highness, || Some time ago I had a conversation at the Board of Foreign Affairs with regard to the opening of Treaty ports in Manchuria, as requested by the United States' Government. || The opening of Treaty ports is so greatly to the interest of the trade of all nations, and also of China herself, not only as regards revenue, but for other reasons, that I am instructed by His Majesty's Government to express to your Highness their hope that the request of the United States' Government will be complied with.

Walter Townley.

*) Dem englischen Minister des Ausw. am 4. August zur Kenntnis gekommen. Red.

Staatsarchiv LXIX.

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