File No. 774/310–313.
Ambassador Reid to
the Secretary of State.
American Embassy,
London, August 25,
1908.
No. 689.]
Sir: A reply has now been received from the
foreign office to my notes of May 8 and July 12, written under your
cable instructions of May 7 and July 11, and communicating your
proposals about the approaching opium conference.
I hasten to inclose herewith a copy of this reply. It will be seen that
while the British Government accepts your proposal for a meeting of the
joint commission at Shanghai on January 1 next, and will nominate three
British delegates, whose names are to be hereafter communicated, it
thinks certain modifications in the scope and procedure of the
commission desirable.
- (1)
- The inquiry into the production, commerce, use, and disadvantages
of opium in the Far East, named by you as one of the objects of the
commission, should be, in its judgment, made prominent in the
instructions.
- (2)
- It believes the work would be hastened if the representatives were
expected to study in advance the opium question in their respective
countries, and come prepared to inform the commission at the outset
as to regulations and restrictions in force there.
- (3)
- This would require modifications of the instructions, which at
present, in the view of the British Government, look to fuller
investigation after the joint commission meets than time permits,
and to proposals for changes in the administrative regulations of
different countries before the commission has made these
investigations or ascertained the precise present needs.
Finally, the British Government points out that it has itself already
made such investigations concerning India and other British territories,
and does not consider a fresh investigation necessary. When the
representatives of other countries have done similar work it will be
ready to meet them.
I have, etc.,
[Inclosure 1.]
Ambassador Reid
to the Minister for Foreign
Affairs.
American Embassy,
London, May 8,
1908.
Sir: With reference to Mr. Carter’s note of
the 26th of February last and to previous correspondence on the
subject of the opium trade in China, I am happy now to be able to
state, on behalf of my Government, that the Governments concerned
have agreed to an investigation of this question by a joint
commission.
In answer to my Government’s inquiries, no Government has expressed
any preference as to the date or place of the meeting of the
commissioners, although Shanghai has been mentioned as appropriate.
Thus the Government of the United States find themselves invited to
suggest such date and place, and believing that Shanghai will be
found agreeable and convenient to the other powers concerned,
venture to name that city as the place of meeting and January 1,
1909, as the date.
The President wills appoint as commissioners not more than three
persons familiar with the subject, and Congress will be asked to
appropriate a sum of money not to exceed $20,000 for the expenses of
the commission.
[Page 97]
It is the idea of my Government that each commission should proceed
independently and immediately with the investigation of the opium
question on behalf of their respective countries with a view—
- (1)
- To devise means to limit the use of opium in the
possessions of that country.
- (2)
- To ascertain the best means of suppressing the opium
traffic, if such now exists, among their own nationals in
the Far East.
- (3)
- To be in a position when the various commissions meet in
Shanghai to cooperate and offer jointly or severally
definite suggestions of measures which their respective
Governments may adopt for the gradual suppression of opium
cultivation, traffic, and use within their eastern
possessions, and thus to assist China in her purpose of
eradicating the evil from that Empire.
I may add, for your information, that the Government of Portugal have
also accepted, in principle, participation in the investigation.
I have, etc.,
[Inclosure 2.]
Ambassador Reid
to the Minister for Foreign
Affairs.
American Embassy,
London, July 12,
1908.
Sir: With reference to my note of the 8th
of May last relative to the subject of the opium trade in China, I
have the honor to inform you, under instructions from my Government,
that the United States opium commission is now at work on the
question with a view to limiting the use and transportation of the
drug in the United States, such use and transportation having
already been restricted in the Philippine Islands.
The investigations to date show clearly the opium question to be of
the highest importance to the United States, and the commission are
therefore also considering the question of opium derivatives; also
internal consumption of crude opium, licit and illicit; internal
manufacture and use of chandu morphia and other derivatives, licit
and illicit; extent of poppy cultivation in America; possibilities
of poppy cultivation; Federal laws regarding importation and
municipal laws governing use of opium and derivatives.
My Government, therefore, ventures to suggest that, for the ultimate
success of the joint commission, it would be advantageous if each
commission could, before the joint meeting on January 1 next at
Shanghai, study the opium question as it affects its possessions, in
the same manner as the United States commission is now carrying on
its investigations.
I have, etc,
[Inclosure 3.]
The Minister for Foreign
Affairs to Ambassador Reid.
Foreign Office,
London, August 19,
1908.
No. 27558.]
Your Excellency: With reference to your
excellency’s notes of May 8 and July 12 last, communicating to me
the suggestions of the United States Government as to the
constitution, scope, procedure, and time and place of meeting of the
proposed opium commission, I have the honor to state that His
Majesty’s Government accept with pleasure the proposal that the
joint commission shall meet at Shanghai on January 1 next, and that
they propose to nominate three British delegates.
The names of the delegates will be communicated to your excellency as
soon as they have been selected.
While His Majesty’s Government have every desire to further the
general objects which the United States Government have in view,
they can not but think, after consulation with their expert
advisers, that the attainment of these objects would be facilitated
were the proposed scope and procedure amended in certain
respects.
In proposing a commission the American Government, it is understood,
had in view the investigation of the opium trade and the opium habit
in the Far East, with the object of arriving at a decision as to
whether the consequences
[Page 98]
were not such that civilized powers should do what they could to put
a stop to it. A preliminary investigation of the facts by means of a
commission before the subject of restrictive and repressive measures
could be profitably considered was also pronounced to be necessary
by the French foreign office in their note of the 3d of July, 1907,
which you were good enough to communicate to me on October 30
last.
In the opinion of His Majesty’s Government a commission sitting at
Shanghai would be well placed for making the detailed inquiry
advocated in that note, into “the production, commerce, use, and
disadvantages of opium” in the Far East, and its findings on the
facts would be in the highest degree valuable and important. I
therefore venture to suggest that this aspect of the commission’s
duties should be brought out in the instructions to be framed for
its guidance. The findings of the commission on the facts would
naturally govern the nature of its recommendations.
His Majesty’s Government consider that its labors would be expedited
if the representatives of the several Governments were first to
acquaint themselves fully with the opium question as it presents
itself in their respective countries, and were thus in a position to
inform the commission, when it assembles, as to the regulations and
restrictions there in force, and to formulate and discuss proposals
for amending them in points in which they may be found in the course
of the joint inquiry to affect the opium trade and the opium habit
in the Far East. If this view of the procedure to be followed
commends itself to the American Government and to the other powers,
the instructions outlined in your excellency’s note of the 8th of
May will perhaps be reconsidered. As these instructions at present
are worded they would require the delegates of the several
Governments to undertake a more responsible and extensive
investigation than time permits, and to make proposals for altering
the administrative regulations of their respective countries before
the commission had entered upon its inquiry or had ascertained the
precise nature of the remedies which the present circumstances of
the opium trade and the opium habit in the Far East may require.
As regards India and the other British territories concerned, the
opium question has already formed the subject of investigation by
commission or of instructions from His Majesty’s Government, and it
is therefore unnecessary, as far as this country is concerned, that
a fresh investigation should be conducted for the investigation of
facts which are already well known. The British representatives
would be ready to meet the other commissioners when the latter had
concluded their inquiries and to place the result at their
disposal.
I shall be grateful if your excellency will submit these suggestions
to the consideration of the American Government and will communicate
to me in due course their final wishes as to the scope of the joint
commission and the procedure to be followed by it.
I have, etc.,
W. Langley
(In
the absence of
Sir E. Grey
).
