January 18, and your No. 117 of March 10 in reply to my No. 206 of January 21, all in reference to the mining regulations which the Chinese Government is now attempting to frame. On receipt of your instruction No. 114, I addressed a note to the Prince of Ch'ing, a copy of which I inclose, in which I embodied the substance of your instruction. On the 24th instant the Prince of Ch'ing replied in the inclosed note, saying that the experimental regulations, of which I have had to complain, will very shortly be withdrawn, as the compilation of the general mining regulations has now been completed by the Viceroy Chang Chih-tung, who had been intrusted with this work, and is at present being gone over by the Wai-wu Pu before submitting them to the Throne for approval. Although not so stated in the note, I take it to imply that the objections which the United States has made to the experimental mining regulations will be met in these general mining regulations. 66 I shall await the publication of the regulations, and if they do not remove all discrimination against foreign miners and secure their peaceful and practical working of their property " I will, in conjunction with my colleagues interested in the question, or alone if I can. not secure further action on their part, urge on the Chinese Government strict compliance with the terms of Article VII of its treaty with us of October 8, 1903. I have the honor, etc., W. W. ROCKHILL. [Inclosure 1.] Mr. Rockhill to the Prince of Ch'ing. PEKING, April 17, 1906. YOUR IMPERIAL HIGHNESS: Referring to Article VII of the recent regulations which provide for the establishment of provincial bureaus of mining inspection, I had the honor on the 23d of December last to call the attention of your imperial highness to the conflict between the provisions of said article and those of the commercial treaty between the United States and China. On January 10 your highness replied quoting a dispatch from the board of commerce in which it was argued that, if my interpretation were correct, there would also be conflict between these new regulations and the provisions of the general mining regulations, and that my interpretation must therefore be wrong. On the 30th of January I had the honor to communicate with your highness again, expressing my dissatisfaction with the argument of the board of commerce, and asking that the article be amended so that there could be no doubt as to its meaning. To this dispatch I have received no reply whatever. I now have the honor to say that I am in receipt of instructions from my Government directing me to inform Your Imperial Highness that the American Government can not consider the statement of the board of commerce as sufficient to prevent misunderstanding and friction, since this interpretation of Article VII is hidden away in the correspondence between the board of commerce and the Wai-wu Pu, where it will be inaccessible to most of the officials of the Empire and consequently unknown to them. My Government believes it to be necessary either that a public announcement should be made to the officials and people generally that Article VII of the new regulations does not forbid the sale of mineral lands to foreigners, or, better still, that the article be amended so that there may be no misunderstanding of its meaning, and that all may know that it does not apply to the sale of mineral lands to foreigners. I have the honor, therefore, to request once more that Your Imperial Highness will direct such action to be taken without delay as will remove all appearance of conflict between the provisions of the article in question and those of the treaty of 1903. W. W. ROCKHILL. I avail, myself, etc., [Inclosure 2.] The Prince of Ch'ing to Mr. Rockhill. FOREIGN OFFICE, April 24, 1906. YOUR EXCELLENCY: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your excellency's dispatch of the 17th instant referring to Article VII of the recent regulations providing for the establishment of provincial bureaus of mining inspection. Your excellency pointed out that there was a conflict between the provisions of this article and those of the commercial treaty between the United States and China; that you had already called my attention in a previous dispatch and received a reply in which was quoted the argument put forward by the board of commerce on the subject, which was to the effect that your interpretation of the matter was wrong; that you had after this communicated with me again expressing dissatisfaction with the argument of the board of commerce and asking that the article be amended so that there could be no doubt as to its meaning, but to this last you had received no reply up to that time. Your excellency then informed me that you had received instructions from your Government directing you to inform me that the American Government could not consider the statement of the board of commerce as sufficient to prevent misunderstanding and friction, since the proper interpretation of Article VII was hidden away in the correspondence between the board of commerce and the Wai-wu-Pu, where it would be inaccessible to most of the officials of the Empire, and hence unknown to them, wherefore your Government believed it to be necessary either to make a public announcement to the officials and people generally that Article VII of the new regulations does not forbid the sale of mineral land to foreigners, or, better still, that the article be amended so that there might be no misunderstanding of its meaning, and all might know that it does not apply to the sale of mineral lands to foreigners. It became your excellency's duty in the matter to request that such action be taken without delay as would remove all appearance of conflict between the provisions of the article in question and those of the treaty of 1903. In reply to this communication I have to state that regulations providing for the establishment of provincial bureaus of inspection were drawn up by the board of commerce because the general mining regulations were still unpublished, and that these regulations were for temporary and experimental use only. Now, however, His Excellency Chang Chih-tung, the viceroy of Hu-Kuang, has completed the compilation of the general mining regulations, and has sent them to my board; and as soon as we have carefully gone over them with the ministers of the board of commerce we will memorialize the Throne, and, if approved, then all mining affairs of any kind will be dealt with according to the new regulations. It becomes my duty, however, having received your excellency's dispatch. quoted above, to send this reply for your information, and I trust that you will transmit the contents of this communication to the Department of State. A necessary dispatch. [SEAL.] No. 433.] Minister Rockhill to the Secretary of State. AMERICAN LEGATION, Peking, China, October 17, 1906. 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. 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., W. W. ROCKHILL. [Inclosure 1.] Mr. Rockhill to the Prince of Ch'ing. PEKING, May 25, 1906. 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.] W. W. ROCKHILL. OCTOBER 16, 1906. 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 Amer ican 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 my Government for its observations. I avail myself, etc., W. W. ROCKHILL, His Imperial Highness PRINCE OF CH'ING, No. 219.] Acting Secretary of State Adee to Chargé Moore. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, December 1, 1906. SIR: I have to acknowledge the receipt of Mr. Rockhill's dispatch, No. 433, of October 17 last, inclosing copies of two notes addressed by him to Prince Ch'ing regarding the proposed new Chinese mining regulations, in the second of which he emphasizes the fact that the regulations must be submitted to him for consideration before they may properly be put into effect. The department approves Mr. Rockhill's course in the matter. In this connection I inclose herewith a copy of a letter from Mr. F. W. Sutterle, managing director of the American-Chinese Company, renewing his complaint of delay on the part of the Chinese Government in promulgating the rules and regulations. A copy of the department's answer is also inclosed." I am, etc., ALVEY A. ADEE, PAYMENT OF THE CHINESE INDEMNITY. (Continuation of correspondence in Foreign Relations for 1905, p. 145 et seq.) The Secretary of State to Minister Rockhill. No. 89.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, January 16, 1906. SIR: Referring to your No. 113, of October 4 last," inclosing a copy of a revised translation of the note addressed to the Prince of Ch'ing by the representatives of the powers, by which they accept the Chinese Government's proposals for the settlement of the indemnity due under the final protocol of September 7, 1901, I have to inform you that a copy of your dispatch was sent to the Secretary of the Treasury for his information. A copy of a letter from the Acting Secretary of the Treasury in reply, stating the Treasury Department's understanding of the situation, is herewith inclosed. I am, etc., a Not printed. Printed in Foreign Relations for 1905, p. 156. 59605-FR 1906-18 E. ROOT. No. 258.] Minister Rockhill to the Secretary of State. AMERICAN LEGATION, Peking, China, March 14, 1906. SIR: Referring to my No. 134 of October 27 last, I have the honor to call to your attention the fact that the bond signed by the Chinese Government for the payment of the United States' share of the indemnity of 1900 specifies certain methods to be followed by China in making the various payments. The agreement signed on the 2d of July, 1905, by the various interested powers, including the United States, and China, a translation of which was forwarded to the department as an inclosure in my dispatch No. 113 of October 4, 1905, introduces certain changes in these methods which may necessitate requesting the Government of China to sign a new bond conforming to the existing conditions governing these payments. I would be greatly obliged if you would kindly instruct me whether I shall ask the Chinese Government to sign a bond identic in tenor with those it has recently given the other powers receiving payments on account of the same indemnity. W. W. ROCKHILL. I have, etc., No. 274.] Minister Rockhill to the Secretary of State. AMERICAN LEGATION, Peking, China, April 3, 1906. SIR: I have the honor to inclose a cutting from the China Times (a Tientsin paper) of March 21, with regard to an attempt which is being made by the Chinese to pay the indemnity by popular subscription. The project originated in Peking in August of last year, in the unofficial class. The idea was that if the movement became widely known the necessary amount could be raised without great hardship in a comparatively short space of time, and that if this were done the powers would consent to some arrangement for immediate payment of the principal, and in this way China would be relieved of a great burden of interest. The appeal met with a quick response, but it was decided that no money was to be paid until the authorities should designate a receiver, and it was also considered essential that the Government should pledge itself to use the money for no other purpose than the payment of the indemnity. When these matters had been arranged the project was presented to the grand council and approved by the throne. The princes and high officials then began to subscribe largely and the nonofficial classes of the province of Chih-li have already contributed over a million taels. Letters have been sent to the provinces, and the first report of the bank which has been designated to receive the subscriptions will appear shortly. a Printed in Foreign Relations for 1905, p. 157. |