893.102 Tientsin/642
The British Embassy to the Department of State14
Aide-Mémoire
His Majesty’s Embassy have been instructed to inform the State Department for their confidential information that as a result of negotiations between the Japanese Government and His Majesty’s Ambassador in Tokyo in regard to the situation at Tientsin, the following draft statement regarding the silver now in the Bank of Communications at Tientsin has been agreed upon between Sir Robert Craigie and the Japanese authorities:—
- (1)
- The silver coin and bullion now in the Bank of Communications in Tientsin shall remain in that bank under joint seal of the British and Japanese Consuls General in that city.
- (2)
- Except as provided in the third paragraph below, this silver shall remain under seal until such time as the Governments of the United Kingdom and Japan shall agree upon other arrangements for its custody. This silver shall be sealed in the presence of the British and Japanese Consuls General in Tientsin.
- (3)
- Before this silver is thus placed under seal a quantity equivalent to the sum of one hundred thousand pounds sterling shall be set on one side to provide a fund for relief of famine conditions resulting directly from flood in certain areas and drought in other areas of North China. Such relief shall include provisions for certain machinery urgently required from abroad to drain water from the flooded areas, thus diminishing danger of epidemics.
- (4)
- The appropriate British authorities will be prepared to give all possible facilities to enable the silver thus set on one side to be allocated for relief purposes; to be sold; and to be used for the purchase of foodstuffs and other articles required for relief.
- (5)
- The British and Japanese Consuls General in Tientsin shall appoint experts who, under the supervision of the Consuls General, will assist them in the administration of this fund and will advise the existing relief committee in Peking as to the distribution of food and other articles required for relief purposes. In addition to the Japanese and British advisers, experts of Chinese and French nationality and one expert of another nationality shall be invited to assist in this work.
The text of this statement is being communicated to the Chinese Government by His Majesty’s Ambassador at Chungking. His Majesty’s Government feel that the consent of the Chinese Government to the formula cannot reasonably be refused. In the first place, the Chinese Government have already agreed to allot £100 thousand worth of silver for relief. In the second place, by securing the sealing of the silver where it lies in the Bank of Communications, the Chinese Government maintain their right of “nuda proprietas” with the additional [Page 850] safeguard of the seal of the British Consul General. Furthermore, the provision in clause 5 that the relief fund should be under the control of a genuinely international body should, it is hoped, be acceptable to the Chinese authorities. The terms contained in the formula are more favourable to the Chinese Government than His Majesty’s Government had at one time thought possible, and have only been secured by hard bargaining by His Majesty’s Ambassador at Tokyo over a long period during which the British community at Tientsin has been faced with a situation involving great hardship and danger. In return, the Japanese Government now undertake to remove all the barriers and restrictions, and to suppress all anti-British action and activities at Tientsin. That being so, His Majesty’s Government feel that it is very desirable to bring this agreement into force at the earliest possible moment, and they do not consider that they would be justified in postponing action to this end even in the event of the Chinese Government raising objections.
In making the above communication to the State Department, His Majesty’s Embassy have been directed to add that in addition to the agreement in regard to silver, agreements will also be concluded concerning the currency and the abolition of restrictions at Tientsin, while an announcement will be made regarding the control of terrorist and anti-Japanese activities in the Concession. These various undertakings, the final details of which have not been completed, will be communicated as soon as possible to the State Department. His Majesty’s Government feel confident that the different agreements will be found to have been drawn up on the side of His Majesty’s Government with due regard to the principles of the Nine Power Treaty15 and to the policies which His Majesty’s Government have endeavoured to follow in the Far East in line with the other interested governments.
- Handed by the Counselor of the British Embassy (Butler) to the Chief of the Division of Far Eastern Affairs (Hamilton) on April 17.↩
- Signed at Washington, February 6, 1922, Foreign Relations, 1922, vol. i, p. 276.↩