Page:China Under the Empress Dowager - ed. Backhouse and Bland - 1914.pdf/289

 Government, the Chinese policy of passive resistance eventually carried the day. The following telegraphic correspondence on the subject is of permanent interest. Prince Ch’un (whose personal name is Tsai Feng) tele- gtaphed from Germany on the 26th September to the Peace Plenipotentiaries, Prince Ch’ing and Li Hung-chang, as follows :—

“I have duly received the Grand Council’s message, and note that 1 am commanded to act as circumstances may require, and that a middle course is suggested as expedient. | fully appreciate the intelligent caution of your policy, and fortunately had already taken steps to act in the scnse indicated. On the i4th of this Moon the German Emperor had given orders to stop preparations for the ceremony, but as | noticed that the Royal train had not been withdrawn nor had his aide-de-camp left my suite, I inferred that there was a possibility of his yielding the points in dispute. Accordingly, after a long discussion of the situation with Yin Ch’ang, | directed him to write in German to jeng-yintai } requesting his friendly inter- vention at the Foreign Office with a dclinite explanation that China could not possibly agree that the mission should be received kneeling, that Germany had nothing to gain on insist- ing upon such a procedure, and that the only result of a fiasco would be to make both countries appear extremely ridiculous. 1 therefore hegged that the Emperor should accede to my personal appeal and waive the point. At the same time I requested the German gentleman who acts as Chinese Consul for Bavaria to address the Forcign Office to the same effect, and with a request that we might enter upon discussion of the point. Four days later I directed Li Hai-huan to return to his post at Berlin to make such arrangements as might be possible, and on the following day I telegraphed to him a summary of the Grand Council’s views on the matter. In the afternoon of the 20th I received the Consul for Bavaria, who informed me that he had received a telegram from the Foreign Office inquizing when I proposed to start for Berlin, and hoping that I would do so speedily, as the Emperor had naw consented to waive the question of our kneeling, but required that only Yin Ch’ang should accompany me when presenting the letter of regret, the remainder of my suite to remain in another place.

“The same evening I received a message from Lit Hai- huan, stating that the Emperor would undoubtedly receive me, and that, since all other difficult questions had been settled,

The Chinese rendering of a German name.