File No. 1787/19–20.
Minister Rockhill
to the Secretary of State.
American Legation,
Peking,July 18,
1907.
No. 670.]
Sir: In continuation of my dispatch No. 593 of
April 24 last, in which I transmitted to you a translation of a scheme
of provincial administrative reform, I now have the honor to inclose
copies of two imperial edicts published on the 7th and 8th of this
month. The first makes certain administrative changes in the three
Manchurian provinces, in Chihli, and in Kiangsu, the same to be made in
the other provinces of the Empire as soon as they have been tried and
found successful.
The second edict is the first step taken toward associating the people in
the government of the State, the first move on the way to constitutional
or, rather, representative government. It calls on the people to
cooperate with the Throne in planning for the future government of the
State and allows them to submit their views in writing, through certain
stated official channels, to the Throne.
The practical result of this well-meant measure will, I fear, be small.
The court of censors and the superior local authorities through which
these memorials are to pass will, I fancy, exercise in their plenitude
their right to censorship and editorship and will leave little in them
that will help the Throne to get a better view than it has of the wishes
and aspirations of the people.
I have, etc.,
[Inclosure.—Translation.]
Imperial edicts re Administrative reforms in the
provinces.
An imperial edict has this day (July 7, 1907) been received as
follows:
Her Imperial Majesty, Tzu Hsi, etc., etc., has issued a decree saying
that in response to her previous exhortations urging our high
governmental officials, princes, and ministers to proceed with the
arrangement and settlement of the provincial administrations and
after proper deliberation to prepare a memorial on the subject, she
has now received such a memorial from I-K’uang, prince of Ch’ing et
al., proposing that the title of the provincial judge be changed
from “An-ch’ah-shih” to “T’i-fa-shih;” that two new kinds of Taotai
be created, one to have charge of police affairs and one to have
supervision over the encouragement of industries; that the offices
of “Fen-hsun”a and “Fen-shou”b Taotai be abolished, but
that the office of “Ping-pei-Taotai”c be retained;
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that provincial courts be established;
and that additions and changes be made in assistants and
subordinates, all of which various articles ought to be put into
operation in proper sequence.
Let the plan be tried first in the three eastern provinces
(Manchuria). If it shall prove unsuited to the conditions in any one
province, then the viceroy and governor concerned should consider
the facts and prepare a memorial with regard thereto asking for
permission to institute the needed changes.
In addition, since the people in the provinces of Chihli and Kiangsu
are somewhat acquainted with the plan, certain places should be
selected in these provinces where the plan may be put into
experimental operation. Then, as soon as good results are seen, the
system may be extended. In the other provinces the various viceroys
and governors should examine the existing conditions and should
request permission from the Throne to adopt and extend the system
year by year and place by place, and at the end of fifteen years’
time the whole country must be prepared for a uniform administration
along these lines.
As to detailed rules limiting administrative authority, the various
boards and yamens concerned must take these matters into
consideration, so that satisfactory and uniform plans may be decided
upon and presented to the Throne in orderly fashion for
promulgation. Should there appear anything not entirely
satisfactory, changes may be made from time to time until a
first-rate system shall have been developed.
Just at present, when these reforms are first being tried, the
personnel of our officials and methods of administration that are
adopted are both of the highest importance. A little want of caution
may result in the outcropping of hundreds of abuses. The various
viceroys and governors must rigorously direct their subordinates to
exert all their energies in this matter, and to apply themselves
vigorously to secure practical ends, and to get rid of indulgence in
wordy documents. In a word, we hope that by fitting the
administration to the conditions the Government and the people may
come to be of the same accord, and that the Emperor and the subject
may enjoy equal happiness. Then surely may we make preparations for
the establishment of a constitutional government. Respect this.
