No. 565.] Mr. Riddle to Mr. Hay. EMBASSY OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: Referring to Mr. Tower's dispatches, No. 543 of March 13 and No. 547 of March 18, 1902, I have the honor to transmit to you herewith a translated copy of a note received from the ministry for foreign affairs concerning irregularities in the transmission of telegrams with Niuchwang. It would appear from the present note that no further ground for complaint exists. I have, etc., J. W. RIDDLE, Chargé d'Affaires ad interim. [Inclosure.-Translation.] Prince Obolensky to Mr. Tower. No. 1565.] MINISTRY FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS, FIRST DEPARTMENT, St. Petersburg, March 26 (April 8), 1902. MR. AMBASSADOR: In supplement to the ministerial note of the 2d (15th) of March last under No. 1050, concerning irregularities in the transmission of telegrams with Niuchwang, I have the honor to inform your excellency that in accordance with a communication of the American consul at Inkow transmitted to the imperial ministry through the administration of Russian posts and telegraphs, the only complaint made upon this subject came from an American trading company, and was presented to the minister of the United States at Pekin in the month of December last. That complaint was made at the time of the installation at Inkow of the field telegraph when the reception of telegrams was temporarily suspended for two weeks. present moment, according to the reports transmitted by the local authorities, the consular representative above referred to is entirely satisfied with the Russian telegraph and recommends it to his fellow countrymen as being cheaper and working with as much regularity as all other telegraph lines. Please receive, etc., At the PRINCE OBOLENSKY. CONVENTION AND ARRANGEMENT BETWEEN RUSSIA AND CHINA RESPECTING MANCHURIA. « Mr. Hay to Mr. Tower [Telegram.-Paraphrase.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, February 1, 1902. (Mr. Hay states that a telegram has been received from the United States minister to China to the effect that Prince Ching has agreed to sign the convention with Russia relative to Manchuria, as well as a separate convention with the Russian-Chinese Bank concerning exclusive privileges of industrial development in Manchuria. That the Government of the United States can view only with concern an agreement by which China concedes to a corporation the exclusive right to open mines, construct railways, or other industrial privilege: That such monopoly would distinctly contravene treaties of China with foreign powers, affect rights of citizens of the United States a See under China, page 271, and Austria-Hungary, page 26. by restricting rightful trade, and tend to impair sovereign rights of China and diminish her ability to meet international obligations; that other powers will probably seek similar exclusive advantages in other parts of the Chinese Empire, which would wreck the policy of absolutely equal treatment of all nations in regard to navigation and commerce in the Chinese Empire; and that, moreover, for one power to acquire exclusive privileges for its nationals conflicts with assurances repeatedly given to the Government of the United States by the Russian ministry for foreign affairs of firm intention to follow the policy of the open door in China as advocated by the United States and accepted by all the powers having commercial interests in China. That the Government of the United States, animated now, as here-tofore, by the sincere desire to insure to the whole world full and fair intercourse with China on equal footing, submits the foregoing considerations to the Governments of Russia and China, with confidence that due weight will be given to them and such measures be adopted as will relieve the just and natural anxiety of the United States. Mr. Tower is directed to communicate the sense of the above to the Russian minister for foreign affairs.) Mr. Tower to Mr. Hay. [Telegram.-Paraphrase.] EMBASSY OF THE UNITED STATES, (Mr. Tower reports that he has communicated the contents of the Department's telegram of February 1, relating to Manchuria, to the Russian Government.) Mr. Tower to Mr. Hay. No. 523.] EMBASSY OF THE UNITED STATES, St. Petersburg, February 3, 1902. SIR: I have the honor to confirm your telegram of the 1st instant in regard to a report made by the United States minister in China of certain exclusive privileges about to be granted by the Chinese Government to the Russo-Chinese Bank; also my telegram to you of this date. In accordance with your instructions I addressed at once a note to the Count Lamsdorff, Imperial Russian minister for foreign affairs, communicating to him the text of your telegram, and I now respectfully inclose to you herewith a copy of that note. I have, etc. CHARLEMAGNE TOWER. [Inclosure.] Mr. Tower to Count Lamsdorff. EMBASSY OF THE UNITED STATES, MR. MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS: In obedience to instructions which I have received from the Government of the United States, I have the honor to inform your excellency that the American minister to China has reported, in a telegram recently received at Washington, that Prince Ching has agreed to sign the Manchurian convention and also a separate convention with the Russo-Chinese Bank under which exclusive privileges of industrial development in Manchuria are to be granted to that bank. I am instructed to say that the Government of the United States could look only with concern upon any arrangement by which China should extend to a corporate company the exclusive right within its territory to open mines, construct railways, or to exert other industrial privileges. It is the belief of the Government of the United States that by permitting or creating a monopoly of this character, China would contravene the treaties which it has already entered into with foreign powers and would injure the rights of American citizens by restricting legitimate trade; also that such action would lead to the impairment of Chinese sovereignty and tend to diminish the ability of China to meet its obligations. Other powers as well might be expected to seek similar exclusive advantages in different parts of the Chinese Empire, which would destroy the policy of equal treatment of all nations in regard to navigation and commerce throughout China. I am further instructed to convey to your excellency the sentiment of the United States Government that the acquiring by any one power of exclusive privileges in China for its own subjects or its own commerce would be contradictory to the assurances repeatedly given by the Imperial Russian ministry for foreign affairs to the United States of the intention of the Russian Government to maintain the policy of the open door in China as that policy has been advocated by the United States and accepted by all the powers who have commercial interests within the Chinese Empire. I am to assure your excellency that the Government of the United States is now, as it has always been heretofore, animated by the desire to secure for all nations entirely equal intercourse with China, and I am instructed to present to your excellency the request that the Imperial Russian Government will give due attention to the foregoing considerations, which have also been addressed to the Chinese Government, and to express to your excellency the hope that such measures of procedure may be adopted as will allay the apprehensions of the Government of the United States. I avail myself, etc., CHARLEMAGNE TOWER. No. 529.] Mr. Tower to Mr. Hay. EMBASSY OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: I have the honor to inclose to you herewith a copy of the reply of Count Lamsdorff, Imperial minister for foreign affairs, dated the 9th of February, to the note which I addressed to him, under telegraphic instructions from you, on the 3d of February, in regard to the report that exclusive concessions in Manchuria were about to be granted by China to the Russo-Chinese Bank. As this reply is of so great moment, and as the inquiry made by you has elicited the very important declaration, in writing, that Russia firmly intends to withdraw her troops from Manchuria and return that province to China as soon as arrangements for the evacuation can be made and precautions taken to guard against a fresh outbreak, I telegraphed it to you in very full detail in my cipher dispatch of the 10th of February, a copy of the text of which is respectfully attached hereto." In order that the Count Lamsdorff's note may be brought as fully as possible before you, I inclose herewith copies of the original Russian text" of the French translation of it, which accompanied it from the Imperial ministry for foreign affairs, and of an English translation made at this embassy.. I have, etc., CHARLEMAGNE TOWER. [Inclosure. -Translation.] No. 96.] Count Lamsdorff to Mr. Tower. MINISTRY FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS, First Department, January 27 (February 9), 1902. MR. AMBASSADOR: The Imperial Government, always desirous of cultivating and developing the best relations with the United States of America, is fully disposed to remove the anxiety which the proposed arrangements between Russia and China appear to have caused the Cabinet at Washington, but it feels itself bound at the same time to declare that negotiations carried on between two entirely independent States are not subjects to be submitted to the approval of other powers. There is no thought of attacking the principle of the "open door" as that principle is understood by the Imperial Government of Russia, and Russia has no intention whatever to change the policy followed by her in that respect up to the present time. If the Russo-Chinese Bank should obtain concessions in China, the agreements of a private character relating to them would not differ from those heretofore concluded by so many other foreign corporations. But would it not be very strange if the "door" that is "open" to certain nations should be closed to Russia, whose frontier adjoins that of Manchuria and who has been forced by recent events to send her troops into that province to reestablish order in the plain and common interest of all nations? It is true that Russia has conquered Manchuria, but she still maintains her firm determination to restore it to China and recall her troops as soon as the conditions of evacuation shall have been agreed upon and the necessary steps taken to prevent a fresh outbreak of troubles in the neighboring territory. It is impossible to deny to an independent State the right to grant to others such concessions as it is free to dispose of, and I have every reason to believe that the demands of the Russo-Chinese Bank do not in the least exceed those that have been so often formulated by other foreign companies, and I feel that under the circumstances it would not be easy for the Imperial Government to deny to Russian companies that support which is given by other governments to companies and syndicates of their own nationalities. At all events, I beg your excellency to believe that there is not, nor can there be, any question of the contradiction of the assurances which, under the orders of His Majesty the Emperor, I have had occasion to give heretofore in regard to the principles which invariably direct the policy of Russia. Please accept, etc., COUNT LAMSDORFF. DECLARATION OF RUSSIA AND FRANCE CONCERNING DEFENSIVE AGREEMENT BETWEEN GREAT BRITAIN AND JAPAN. Mr. Hay to Mr. Tower. [Telegram.-Paraphrase.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, (Mr. Hay states that Mr. Tower may say to Count Lamsdorff that the negotiations between Great Britain and Japan, which resulted in a Not printed. See also under Great Britain, page 513. -59 the treaty of January 30, 1902, were absolutely unknown to the Government of the United States until the day of the publication of the treaty; and that neither the British nor the Japanese Government was consulted in regard to the Department of State's memorandum of February 1, 1902, in regard to negotiations between the Russian and Chinese Governments respecting Manchuria; that the fact of the proximity of the dates of the treaty and memorandum referred to was purely accidental.) Mr. Tower to Mr. Hay. [Telegram.-Paraphrase.] EMBASSY OF THE UNITED STATES, (Mr. Tower acknowledges the receipt of the Department's telegraphic instruction of March 1, which has been communicated to the Russian minister for foreign affairs.) No. 541.] Mr. Tower to Mr. Hay. EMBASSY OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your telegram of March 1. I communicated the contents of this dispatch to the Count Lamsdorff, Imperial Russian minister for foreign affairs, as instructed by you to do, in a note dated the 3d of March, which I handed to him at a personal interview on that day. A copy of that note is respectfully inclosed herewith. I have, etc., CHARLEMAGNE TOWER. [Inclosure.] Mr. Tower to Count Lamsdorff. EMBASSY OF THE UNITED STATES, Mr. MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS: I have the honor to inform your excellency that I have been instructed by a telegram from the honorable Secretary of State of the United States of America to communicate to you the fact that the negotiations carried on between Great Britain and Japan, which have terminated in the treaty recently entered into by those two powers, were absolutely unknown to the Government of the United States until the day when the terms of that treaty were made public. I am also to say to your excellency that neither the Government of Great Britain nor that of Japan was consulted by the United States Government in regard to the memorandum of the 1st of February, 1902, upon the subject of the Russo-Chinese Bank. The proximity of date between that memorandum and the British-Japanese treaty was entirely accidental. I avail, etc., CHARLEMAGNE TOWER. |