von BRANDT to the Ministers of the Tsung-li Yamên, November 20, 1880

Mr. Von Brandt to the Ministers of the Tsung-li Yamên.

On the 19th instant the undersigned had the honor to receive the visit of their excellencies Shen, Lin Wang, Chung, and Hsia. They informed him that, notwithstanding the opposition from the provinces, the Yamên was willing to agree to section I, rule 9, of the proposals laid before them by the undersigned, but that in view of the strong objections raised from the same quarter they could except neither section II nor section III of the same proposals.

At the close of the conference the ministers suggested to the undersigned to place before the Yamên in writing his reasons for desiring to maintain the two sections, and the undersigned agreed to do so after having taken the sense of his colleagues, the representatives of the other treaty powers. The reasons which caused the foreign representatives to place before the Yamên in May last the proposals contained in the three sections now under discussion were to do away with such difficulties as had arisen from time to time, and which, while they seriously interfered with the interests of trade, were likely to create and continue disagreements and ill-feelings between the local officials and the consuls as well as between the Government of China and those of the treaty powers.

The Tsung-li Yamên having repeatedly complained of abuses in the use of transit passes outwards, the representatives of the treaty powers made it their first object to remove all causes of complaint in relation to this subject. The restrictions as to the time within which transit passes must be used and within which native produce brought down under transit passes must be exported, as well as all the rules contained in section I of the proposals, are so many concessions, and important concessions, made by the foreign representatives to the Tsung-li Yamên; even rule 9, instituting a joint investigation in cases of fines and confiscations, arising under the stipulations contained in section I, may be fairly considered at least partly a concession to the Yamên, as by treaty the investigation of cases of fines belongs solely to the consul of the defendant.

While thus showing their earnest desire to consult the wishes of the Chinese Government and to comply with them, it was the duty of the foreign representatives to see at the same time that also the causes of those complaints were removed, which had been repeatedly urged by them upon the attention of the Tsung-li Yamên.

It was for this cause that sections II and III were introduced into the new proposals.

Neither the one nor the other claims any new advantages for the treaty powers, but they simply reassert rights granted to them by former treaties, a reassertion rendered necessary by the persistent efforts of some local authorities to ignore them.

Section II reasserts the right that certain articles of native produce, very few in number and very unimportant indeed, are free from export duty under Rule II of the regulations for trade. Alinea 2, of Rule I, of the regulations for trade, &c., mentions the articles in the list of duty-free goods as exempt from the ad valorem duty, which is paid by articles mentioned neither in the import nor in the export tariff. It is not necessary to enter upon a discussion of the Chinese text of the rules in question, as under article 5 of the German treaty of 1861, in cases of dissent, the French text is the one to be relied upon. I have the honor to hand herewith to the Yamên the French text of Rules I and II of the German treaty, and I have full confidence in the good faith and impartiality of the Chinese Government in expressing the conviction that in the face of this French text the pretentions of some local authorities to levy export duty on the articles mentioned in trade Rule II as duty free will be done away with forever.

But even in this section a concession is made to the Yamên by the foreign representatives in admitting the levy of a coast-trade duty on duty-free native produce, a new proof of the conciliatory and friendly spirit in which these proposals have been draughted, a spirit which, I am sorry to say, seems to he understood or appreciated neither by the provincial authorities nor by the Yamên itself.

Section III also contains nothing new, but reasserts only the right of foreign merchants to buy native produce at the ports and to export it without being bound to produce receipts for the payment of inland taxes, this latter rule holding good only for produce bought by foreigners in the interior and brought down under transit passes. The rule that on goods manufactured at the ports only export duty shall be levied is also in entire conformity with the stipulations of the treaties.

The undersigned trusts that this short review of the rules contained in the proposals submitted by him in the name of his colleagues to the Yamên will convince their excellencies that while these proposals contain many new and important concessions to the Chinese Government they contain nothing to which the treaty powers have not a full and undoubted right under the former treaties. It is for these reasons that the undersigned cannot admit that only one or two of the sections composing the proposals are accepted, while the other sections are rejected. The proposals stand as a whole, and have to be accepted or rejected as a whole. They were made by the foreign representatives in a spirit of moderation and friendliness, and the Yamên will have to bear the responsibility of their rejection.

As the decision of the Yamên in the one or the other direction will involve instructions to be forwarded to the German consular authorities in the provinces, the undersigned would feel obliged to their excellencies for a speedy reply. The undersigned is, at the same time, authorized by his colleagues, the representatives of France, Great Britain, Spain, Russia, and the United States, to state that they are equally unable with him to understand on what grounds the Chinese Government objects to the adoption of sections II and III, without which the arrangement would not be acceptable to them.

I avail myself,