Mr. Rockhill to Mr. Hay.
Sir: The diplomatic corps held a meeting to-day for the discussion of pending questions.
A note was prepared to the Chinese plenipotentiaries concerning the limits of the diplomatic quarter in this city. This note practically settles the whole question. I will send you copy of all correspondence bearing on this point of the negotiations as soon as I can get them together.
By referring to the British proposals concerning the payment of the indemnities (see my dispatch No. 89), you will find it there suggested that the payments on account of the indemnities should be made by the Chinese Government to a mixed commission, which would distribute them among the powers in proportion to their claims. To-day the committee on the payment of indemnities, to further expedite the discussion of this subject, made the following report to the conference. I quote it in full:
The committee on the payment of indemnities is of opinion that the committee of encashment (committée des recettes) proposed by the British Government should be composed of the heads of the foreign banks at Shanghai designated by the interested Governments to receive in common the sums of money which they shall have collected from China. The said committee of encashment should confine its operations to cover in the total amount of the sums due, dividing it among the powers proportionately to the amounts due each one of them.
This subject can, of course, only be settled when the mode of payment of the indemnities has been finally decided upon.
The German minister then stated that his Government, desirous of bringing about as promptly as might be a settlement of the question of indemnity, had accepted the proposition of the British Government to limit the amount of the indemnity to be asked of China to the approximate sum of 450,000,000 taels, calculated to the 1st of July of this year, with interest of 4 per cent, reserving for future determination the question of the amortization. His Government was ready to ask at once of the Chinese Government a guaranty for the payment of this sum and for the interest specified.
The Italian minister also informed the conference that his Government accepted the British proposal to limit the demand to the 1st of July, and to accept the approximate figure of 450,000,000 taels.
None of the other ministers had received instructions from their Governments, but it is highly probable that at the next meeting most of them will be able to announce their formal adherence to the British proposal.
I have informally informed several of my colleagues that I would ask you whether you would accept the British proposal but I have not held out any hope of your doing so. I have, on the contrary, said that it only remained for me now to ask that the whole subject of the indemnity be transferred to the Arbitral Court of the Hague. This has given my colleagues a good deal of uneasiness, and they greatly fear the delay which such a motion on the part of our Government might occasion, though they all feel convinced that a reference of the question as you suggest would not be agreed to by any of their Governments. As I am convinced of the truth of this also, I shall not formally make the suggestion unless directed to do so by you.
The above subjects having been temporarily disposed of, the question [Page 177] of replying to the last letter of the Chinese plenipotentiaries concerning the suspension of examinations for a period of five years was taken up.
The Chinese have already agreed to the suspension of examinations in all cities and towns where foreigners were massacred or cruelly treated, with the exception of Peking and Tai-yuan Fu, the capital of Shansi. They contend, and with some degree of reason, that it is not fair to close the provincial and metropolitan examinations—the latter of which must be held in Peking, and once in every three years only—to people who have never been hostile to foreigners, and who belong to towns where no massacres or riots occurred.
The Russian, French, and Japanese ministers are in favor of a compromise. The whole question of Chinese examinations is, however, so badly understood by a number of the foreign ministers that they hesitate very much to come to any decision on the subject. The discussion to-day did not result in any progress being made toward a final understanding. * * *
I have the honor, etc.,