shanghai harbor rules., September 17, 1879

shanghai harbor rules.

Minute of a conversation with His Excellency Shen, at the foreign office, September 16, 1879.

Mr. Holcombe repeated the memorandum furnished to him by Mr. Seward.

His excellency then remarked that he saw no reason why he should not speak with the utmost frankness in the business.

The rules, as Mr. Holcombe doubtless knew, did not originate in the foreign office, but had come from Mr. Hart, and the foreign office had approved them, asked the assent of the foreign representatives at Peking, and sent them to Shanghai to go into effect, because they believed that they were well calculated to conserve the interests of both Chinese and foreigners.

But at the very outset the consular body at Shanghai had not only put them to serious embarrassment, but also jeopardized the rules themselves by insisting at once upon greatly enlarging the range of their application beyond the area originally proposed by Mr. Hart. This had resulted in strong opposition to the rules on the part of the local Chinese authorities, and a protest by the high provincial officers against the action of the foreign office in approving the rules without having first consulted them.

His excellency added that at present the prospects for the successful application of the rules were much better, and that they could probably be enforced—the portion within the foreign concessions by the harbor master, and the portion of the area without those concessions by the local authorities acting in concert with the harbor master.

A suggestion of this sort had been recently received from the southern superintendent of trade.