Mr. Conger to Mr.
Hay.
American Legation,
Peking,
China, June 22,
1904.
No. 1639.]
Sir: Referring to my No. 1630 of the 8th
instant, I have the honor to inclose copies of a note received from the
Waiwu Pu and of my reply thereto.
All the representatives of the signatory powers have received identical
notes. The German and British ministers have made replies much the same
as mine.
The proposals are the same as those irregularly presented by the Nanking
viceroy to the consuls at Shanghai.
Trusting that my action will meet with your approval, and waiting your
instructions,
I have, etc.,
[Inclosure 1.]
Prince Ch’ing
to Mr. Conger.
It is stated in the eleventh article of the peace protocol of 1901
that a board shall be established to have charge of the various
matters connected with the maintenance and improvement of the
Whangpu River bed, that the commercial interests of Shanghai may be
protected. According to the estimate an expenditure of 460,000
Haikwan taels each year for twenty years will be necessary; of this
amount one-half shall be supplied by the Chinese Government and
one-half by the foreign nations interested.
This board finds that this excavation of the bed of the Whangpu River
will not only open up a free course for the river but will be a
great benefit to commerce as well. For this reason the Chinese
Government now desires to do this excavating herself and assume the
whole expense without the subscriptions of the commercial men of
other nations. The whole manner in which we propose to handle the
matter is set forth in the following five regulations:
- 1.
- The Chinese Government shall itself be responsible for all
the expenses. Each year there shall be appropriated from the
customs receipts 460,000 Haikwan taels to cover the expense
of dredging the Whangpu, and this appropriation shall
continue until the work is completed. The duties payable
according to the thirtieth section of the seventeenth annex
to the protocol shall all be remitted, and there shall be no
duties levied on this account.
- 2.
- All public work on the Whangpu River will be under the
direction of the taot’ai of Shanghai and the customs
taot’ai. All marine, quarantine, and other matters of that
nature will continue to be conducted according to the old
regulations.
- 3.
- The plan now proposed is that, if all the ministers
residing in Peking are agreeable, the Chinese Government
will, after three months, select and appoint one or two
engineers thoroughly acquainted with such work, to take
charge of the whole affair. But those who wish to undertake
any part of the work must first hand in an estimate of the
cost, and selection will then be made from all the
applicants.
- 4.
- A quarterly account of all receipts and expenditures
should be kept, and a clear account sent to the various
foreign consuls in Shanghai for their inspection.
- 5.
- The Chinese Government will itself supply all the funds
necessary for the excavation, and hereafter it will not be
permissible at any time to quote as a precedent the
seventeenth annex of the protocol, nor will it be
permissible to levy duties of this kind upon merchants of
any nation owning land near the mouth of the river or having
goods shipped thereon.
The foregoing five regulations are most advantageous both to China
and to the other nations, and it becomes our duty to transmit them
in a dispatch to your excellency for your inspection. We trust, too,
that they will be sent to the Department of State for their
deliberation. A reply to this dispatch is requested.
A necessary dispatch.
Kuanghsü, 30th year, 4th moon, 26th day
(June, 9, 1904).
[seal.]
[Page 190]
[Inclosure 2.]
Mr. Conger to
Prince Ch’ing.
American Legation,
Peking, June 21,
1904.
Your Imperial Highness: I have the honor to
acknowlege the receipt of your imperial highness’s note of the 9th
instant, inclosing a proposition for the conservancy of the Whangpu
River, which the Chinese Government desires to substitute for the
arrangement agreed to by China and the powers in the final protocol
of September 7, 1901, and contained in annex 17 thereto.
For three years the Chinese Government has been repeatedly urged by
the representatives of the signatory powers to appoint the Chinese
member which it has the privilege of appointing under Article IV (h)
of annex 17, in order that the work arranged for by the protocol
might be begun, and several times I have been personally assured by
your highness and other members of the Wai Wu Pu that the said
appointment would be speedily made.
Of course, your imperial highness is well aware that a change in the
protocol or the adoption of any new plan must be unanimously
accepted by all the signatory powers. In their present form I fear
the proposals of the Chinese Government will not meet with unanimous
approval, and the presentation of them must necessarily cause great
delay.
The Chinese Government can hardly expect that the powers will consent
to the appropriation for this purpose of any portion of the customs
revenue which is already wholly pledged to the payment of foreign
loans and indemnities, or agree to its diversion to any other
purpose than that stipulated in Article VI of the protocol. Besides,
the proposals now made, in my judgment, do not offer the same
guaranties for the faithful execution of the necessary works as
those which were agreed to by China and the powers in 1901.
Propositions similar to these were some time since made to me
verbally by one of the ministers of your board, and I replied that
until the Chinese Government evidenced its intention to carry out
the provisions of Article IV (h) of annex 17, by appointing its
member of the conservancy board, I could not entertain any
proposition whatever for a change in the plan already agreed
upon.
But, since the proposals have come to me in a formal manner, I will,
as your highness requests, transmit them at once to my Government.
Under present circumstances, however, I am unable to recommend their
adoption.
I improve the occasion, etc.,
