Minister Rockhill
to the Secretary of State.
American Legation,
Peking,
China, October 17,
1906.
No. 433.]
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the
receipt of the department’s instruction No. 131 of April 13 last with
reference to the new mining regulations which the Chinese Government is
attempting to frame.
On May 25 last I addressed a note to Prince Ch’ing on the above subject
(Inclosure 1), requesting that before submitting the proposed
regulations to the Throne for its approval they should be sent to me for
examination and for transmission to my Government, in order that when
approved they should be such as would comply with the requirements of
the treaty.
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Not having received any reply to my note of May last I have again
addressed Prince Ch’ing in a note dated the 16th instant (Inclosure 2),
in which I emphasize the fact that the proposed regulations must be
submitted to you for consideration before they may properly be put into
effect.
I have the honor, etc.,
[Inclosure 1.]
Mr. Rockhill to
the Prince of Ch’ing.
Your Imperial Highness: I have the honor to
acknowledge the receipt of your imperial highness’s dispatch of
April 24 last, replying to my objections to Article VII of the
Regulations for Provincial Inspection of Mines, in which your
highness says that His Excellency Chang Chih-tung has now completed
his compilation of general mining regulations and had forwarded them
to your highness’s board and that your board would confer with the
board of commerce regarding them and would submit them to the Throne
for approval, after which all mining matters would be controlled by
them.
I have the honor to remind your imperial highness that the revision
of the Chinese mining regulations is provided for in the last
commercial treaty between China and the United States, which
requires that they shall be of such a character “as will offer no
impediment to the attraction of foreign capital, and place foreign
capitalists at no greater disadvantage than they would be under
generally accepted foreign regulations,” and that “the residence of
citizens of the United States in connection with such mining
operations shall be subject to such regulations as shall be agreed
upon by and between the United States and China.”
It would seem proper, therefore, before submitting the proposed
regulations to the Throne for its approval, to transmit a copy of
them to me for examination and for transmission to my Government for
its observations, so that there may be no doubt that the
regulations, when approved, will be such as will comply with the
requirements of the treaty.
I have the honor, therefore, to request that your imperial highness
will direct that a copy of the proposed regulations be sent to me as
soon as possible.
I avail, etc.,
[Inclosure 2.]
Your Imperial Highness: On the 25th of May
last I had the honor to address a note to your imperial highness
requesting that a copy of the proposed new mining regulations,
compiled by His Excellency Chang Chih-tung, might be sent to this
legation. Your highness had previously informed me that the said
regulations had already been received by the foreign office, and,
inasmuch as the revision of the mining laws had been undertaken in
compliance with the stipulations of the last commercial treaty
between the United States and China, it seemed but proper that a
copy of the new regulations should be transmitted to my Government
for its observations before they were submitted to the Throne for
its approval. Up to the present I have received no reply to this
dispatch.
It is now reported in the public press that His Excellency Chang
Chih-tung has requested the Imperial Government to have these new
mining laws published, and it becomes my duty, therefore, to point
out once more that the treaty between the United States and China
requires that the revised mining regulations “shall be of such a
character as will offer no impediment to the attraction of foreign
capital, and place foreign capitalists at no greater disadvantage
than they would be under generally accepted foreign regulations.”
The treaty further provides that “the residence of citizens of the
United States in connection with such mining operations shall be
subject to such regulations as shall be agreed upon by and between
the United States and China.” It is evident, therefore, that in
order to carry out these plain provisions of the treaty, the
proposed mining regulations should be submitted to the Government of
the United States for its consideration before they are published
and put in force, that the American
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Government may be satisfied that the terms of
the treaty are properly fulfilled, and that future discussion and
misunderstanding as regards this subject may be prevented.
I feel sure that your imperial highness will see the reasonableness
of this position, and I have the honor to request once more that a
copy of the proposed regulations be sent to this legation for
examination and for transmission to ray Government for its
observations.
I avail myself, etc.,
W. W. Rockhill,
Envoy Extraordinary and Minister
Plenipotentiary of the United States.
His Imperial Highness Prince of
Ch’ing,
President of the Board of
Foreign Affairs.
