You will notice that the ministers sent abroad by China will be commissioned
for three years only, and that they will nominate their secretaries and the
consuls who will be accredited to the same countries. In making these
arrangements, the government follows closely the system pursued at home,
under which officers are not allowed, as a rule, to serve at one place more
than three years, and are given a considerable voice in the appointment of
their subordinates.
[Inclosure.]
The Sin-pao of the 16th instant contains a code of
regulations, twelve in number, for the guidance of envoys to foreign
countries, stated to have been submitted in a memorial to the throne by
the Tsung-li Yamên, and to have received the imperial sanction. The
following is a translation:
Code of regulations for the guidance of
Chinese envoys.
1. It is proposed that the board of rites shall cause an official seal of
copper to be cast, one of which shall be issued to each envoy accredited
to a foreign country, as an evidence of good faith. The inscription to
be as follows:
Official seal of the high officer, envoy by imperial appointment of the
Chinese government.”
Pending the issue of this seal a wooden one shall be engraved for
temporary use.
2. The period of service for an envoy to a foreign country shall be three
years, to commence from the date of his arrival in the country to which
he is accredited. Before this term has expired the Tsung-li Yamên shall
request His Majesty to appoint high officers to succeed him. The same
rule shall be followed in the case of assistant envoys.
3. Envoys to foreign countries shall receive the title of officers of the
first, second, or third class. The institution being now in process of
inauguration, it is proposed that all envoys at present appointed to
foreign countries shall be temporarily invested with the title of second
class.
4. The number of secretaries (ts’an-tsan) consuls, interpreters, and
others, attached to each mission, shall be determined by the envoy at
the head of that mission, who will draw up a list of their names, with
other particulars, for the information and approval of the Tsung-li
Yamên. These officers will accompany the envoys abroad, and in like
manner with them will serve for a period of three years, at the end of
which time they will be recommended to the throne for honorary
distinction. If any of their number show themselves worthy to be
retained, the successor of the envoy shall, if he see fit, retain them.
If, however, they show themselves incompetent, they shall, in like
manner with the envoys, be periodically recalled.
5. After the arrival of envoys in the countries to which they are
accredited, they shall memorialize the throne direct on matters of
pressing importance as they arise; but in all cases of an ordinary
nature they shall communicate with the Tsung-li Yamên either by note or
officially, and the Tsung-li Yamên will embody the subject of their
correspondence in a memorial to the throne.
6. In the case of an envoy being accredited to several countries at once,
it will be the duty of that envoy to determine on the place at which he
will reside, and report to the Yamen for their information and
approval.
7. It is requested that the monthly salary and allowances granted to
envoys shall be fixed at rates proportionate to the grades of the
officers now in actual employment. It was, however, originally proposed
that officers of the second and third grades occupying the post of envoy
of the second class should receive 1,200 taels; that officers of the
third and fourth rank occupying the post of envoy of the third class
should [Page 86] receive the third rank,
1,000 taels; and the fourth rank, 800 taels. No provision has as yet
been made for the case of officers of the fourth rank, occupying the
post of envoy of the second class, but it is now arranged that these
shall receive 1,000 taels per mensem. Assistant envoys shall receive 700
taels per mensem.
8. The monthly salary and allowances of envoys who are accredited to more
than one country shall not be augmented in consequence; the same rule
shall be followed in the case of assistant envoys.
9. Envoys, assistant envoys, and the various officers below them, shall
receive salary and allowances at the rate to which they are entitled
from the date of their arrival in the country to which they are
accredited, for a full period of three years, at the expiration of which
time their salary will cease. If an envoy’s successor is not able to
arrive (at his due date) and the envoy whose time has expired has not
given over charge, he will receive salary at the same rate as while in
office, but it will not be issued to him after the arrival of the high
officer who is to succeed him. The same rule will be followed in the
case of assistant envoys and all officers below them. When secretaries,
consuls, interpreters, or others, are retained by the envoy’s successor,
salary will continue to be issued to them from the date of the expiry of
their (three) years’ term of service.
10. Envoys, assistant envoys, and the various officers below them, will
have to provide their own outfit, whether on leaving China or returning
from the place to which they are appointed. It is proposed that each
officer shall receive a sum of money equivalent to three months’ pay to
meet the expenses of outfit for his journey to and fro. All these
amounts are to be provided by the Tsung-li Yamên out of the 60 per cent,
allotment of the foreign customs dues.
11. Envoys to foreign countries will send in annually a detailed
statement of salaries, traveling expenses outward and homeward,
house-rent in the countries to which they are severally accredited, and
all expenses whatsoever incurred by them, to the Tsung-li Yamên for
inspection and approval.
12. The Shanghai customs shall prepare an account of all salaries of
envoys or other members of missions, traveling expenses outward and
homeward, house-rent, and all other expenses whatsoever incurred by
them, and shall yearly remit the same. The Tsung-li Yamên will instruct
the inspector-general of foreign customs to take steps for the due
remission of these sums to their various destinations.
