Minister Rockhill to the Secretary of State.

No. 433.]

Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the department’s instruction No. 131 of April 13 last with reference to the new mining regulations which the Chinese Government is attempting to frame.

On May 25 last I addressed a note to Prince Ch’ing on the above subject (Inclosure 1), requesting that before submitting the proposed regulations to the Throne for its approval they should be sent to me for examination and for transmission to my Government, in order that when approved they should be such as would comply with the requirements of the treaty.

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Not having received any reply to my note of May last I have again addressed Prince Ch’ing in a note dated the 16th instant (Inclosure 2), in which I emphasize the fact that the proposed regulations must be submitted to you for consideration before they may properly be put into effect.

I have the honor, etc.,

W. W. Rockhill.
[Inclosure 1.]

Mr. Rockhill to the Prince of Ch’ing.

Your Imperial Highness: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your imperial highness’s dispatch of April 24 last, replying to my objections to Article VII of the Regulations for Provincial Inspection of Mines, in which your highness says that His Excellency Chang Chih-tung has now completed his compilation of general mining regulations and had forwarded them to your highness’s board and that your board would confer with the board of commerce regarding them and would submit them to the Throne for approval, after which all mining matters would be controlled by them.

I have the honor to remind your imperial highness that the revision of the Chinese mining regulations is provided for in the last commercial treaty between China and the United States, which requires that they shall be of such a character “as will offer no impediment to the attraction of foreign capital, and place foreign capitalists at no greater disadvantage than they would be under generally accepted foreign regulations,” and that “the residence of citizens of the United States in connection with such mining operations shall be subject to such regulations as shall be agreed upon by and between the United States and China.”

It would seem proper, therefore, before submitting the proposed regulations to the Throne for its approval, to transmit a copy of them to me for examination and for transmission to my Government for its observations, so that there may be no doubt that the regulations, when approved, will be such as will comply with the requirements of the treaty.

I have the honor, therefore, to request that your imperial highness will direct that a copy of the proposed regulations be sent to me as soon as possible.

I avail, etc.,

W. W. Rockhill.

[Inclosure 2.]

Your Imperial Highness: On the 25th of May last I had the honor to address a note to your imperial highness requesting that a copy of the proposed new mining regulations, compiled by His Excellency Chang Chih-tung, might be sent to this legation. Your highness had previously informed me that the said regulations had already been received by the foreign office, and, inasmuch as the revision of the mining laws had been undertaken in compliance with the stipulations of the last commercial treaty between the United States and China, it seemed but proper that a copy of the new regulations should be transmitted to my Government for its observations before they were submitted to the Throne for its approval. Up to the present I have received no reply to this dispatch.

It is now reported in the public press that His Excellency Chang Chih-tung has requested the Imperial Government to have these new mining laws published, and it becomes my duty, therefore, to point out once more that the treaty between the United States and China requires that the revised mining regulations “shall be of such a character as will offer no impediment to the attraction of foreign capital, and place foreign capitalists at no greater disadvantage than they would be under generally accepted foreign regulations.” The treaty further provides that “the residence of citizens of the United States in connection with such mining operations shall be subject to such regulations as shall be agreed upon by and between the United States and China.” It is evident, therefore, that in order to carry out these plain provisions of the treaty, the proposed mining regulations should be submitted to the Government of the United States for its consideration before they are published and put in force, that the American [Page 273] Government may be satisfied that the terms of the treaty are properly fulfilled, and that future discussion and misunderstanding as regards this subject may be prevented.

I feel sure that your imperial highness will see the reasonableness of this position, and I have the honor to request once more that a copy of the proposed regulations be sent to this legation for examination and for transmission to ray Government for its observations.

I avail myself, etc.,

W. W. Rockhill,
Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States.

His Imperial Highness Prince of Ch’ing,
President of the Board of Foreign Affairs.