Foreign devils, finance and informal empire: Britain and China c. 1900-1912

Modern Asian Studies

Volumn 40, Issue 3, 2006, Pages 737-759

  Phimister, Ian ^a,b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD   (United Kingdom)

^b UNIVERSITY OF PRETORIA   (South Africa)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

FINANCE; IMPERIALISM;

ASIA; CHINA; EURASIA; EUROPE; FAR EAST; UNITED KINGDOM; WESTERN EUROPE;

EID: 33748335369     PISSN: 0026749X     EISSN: 14698099     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0026749X06002174     Document Type: Article

References (126)

1. P. Cain and A. Hopkins, British Imperialism 1688-2000 (Harlow: Longman, 2002), pp. 361, 380.
2. Ibid., pp. 374-5.
3. For Addis, see especially R. Dayer, Finance and Empire: Sir Charles Addis, 1861-1945 (London: Macmillan, 1989).
4. Most notably, F. King, The History of the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987)
5. and E. Edwards, British Diplomacy and Finance in China, 1895-1914 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1987).
6. N. Pelcovits, Old China Hands and the Foreign Office (New York: King's Crown Press, 1948) p. 190.
7. S. and B. Webb, The Decay of Capitalist Civilisation (London: The Fabian Society, 1923), p. 106
8. and Daily Chronicle, 10 November 1898
9. both as cited in G. Searle, Corruption in British Politics 1895-1930 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1987), pp. 38-9.
10. D. McLean, 'Chinese Railways and the Townley Agreement of 1903', Modern Asian Studies, 7:2 (1973), p. 145.
11. Cain and Hopkins, British Imperialism, p. 371.
12. For Edwards, the Pekin Syndicate was a 'substantial concern' backed by 'solid City interests'; see his British Diplomacy and Finance, pp. 196, 33.
13. J. Osterhammel, 'British business in China, 1860s-1950s', in R. Davenport-Hines and G. Jones (eds), British Business in Asia Since 1860 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989), p. 197.
14. See also, The Critic, 12 November 1898.
15. For directors of, and shareholders in, the Yangtse Valley Syndicate; the Pekin Syndicate Investment Trust Ltd; and the Chinese Mining and Engineering Company; see respectively BT 31/8558/62317; BT 31/8076/ 58219; and BT 31/9233/68532, PRO.
16. For the Oriental Syndicate, see E. Davis to Lord Lansdowne, 26 June 1903, FO 17/1759, PRO.
17. The Oriental Syndicate was itself largely owned by Davis' Anglo-Continental Gold Syndicate, for which see The Stock Exchange Year Book, 1897; and especially His Excellency Chang Yen Mao ... v. Bewick Moreing and Company, Herbert Charles Hoover, Charles Algernon Moreing, Edmund Davis, Walton Fitzjames Turner and Albert Thys, High Court of Justice, Chancery Division, 10 April 1905, pp. 4-11, J4/6971, PRO.
18. E. Carlson, The Kaiping Mines, 1877-1912 (Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1971), passim.
19. The wider context is discussed in T. Wright, Coal Mining in China's Economy and Society 1895-1937 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984).
20. The Statist, 20 July 1901.
21. Variously 'Zhang Yanmou' and 'Chan yen Mao'. See Wang Yuru, 'Capital Formation and Operating Profits of the Kailuan Mining Administration (1903-1937)', Modern Asian Studies, 28, 1 (1994), p. 100.
22. For details of his career, see G. Burke, 'Moreing, Charles Algernon', in D. Jeremy (ed.), Dictionary of Business Biography (London: Butter-worth, 1984).
23. G. Nash, The Life of Herbert Hoover. The Engineer, 1874-1914 (New York: Norton, 1983).
24. Far Eastern Review, November 1928.
25. See also, Carlson, Kaiping Mines, pp. 67-9
26. and Nash, Hoover, pp. 125-81.
27. Hou Chi-ming, Foreign Investment and Economic Development in China, 1840-1937 (Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1965), pp. 73-4.
28. Carlson, Kaiping Mines, pp. 69-73.
29. See also, Nash, Hoover, pp. 170-6.
30. For Davis's business career, see R. Davenport-Hines, 'Sir Edmund Gabriel Davis', in Jeremy (ed.), Dictionary of Business Biography.
31. More of Davis' social and cultural background is sketched in I. Phimister, 'Sir Edmund Davis', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004).
32. At the Chinese Engineering and Mining Company's Third General Meeting held on 13th September 1904, Moreing told shareholders that 'at that time all the largest firms involved in Chinese affairs were disdainful of this project'.
33. Louis Magne, 'Kaiping', Le Courrier de la Bourse et de la Banque, 26-7 June 1904.
34. G. Kurgan-Van Hentenryk, Leopold II et les groupes financiers belges en Chine: La politique royale et ses prolongements (1895- 1914) (Brussels: Palais des Academies, 1972), p. 690.
35. For a wider look at Leopold's business concerns, see N. Ascherson, The King Incorporated (New York: Doubleday, 1964)
36. and L. Bauer, Leopold the Unloved. King of the Belgians and of Money (London: Cassell, 1934).
37. J-M. Frochisse, La Belgique et la Chine: Relations Diplomatiques et Economiques (1839-1909) (Louvain, 1936), p. 387: 'Edmund Davis ... doué d'une volonté tenace et d'une énergie peu commune. C'est Davis qui réunit la majorité des capitaux indispensables à l'acquisition de Kaiping'. French investment in the Pekin Syndicate is discussed further in King, 'Heritage of the Boxer Uprising - the Boxer Indemnity and related consequences', unpub. 2001.
38. Emile Franqui to King Leopold, 8 August 1901, 19 May 1902
39. Emile Franqui Papers File 108, Archives Générales du Royaume, Brussels.
40. Kurgan-Van Hentenryk, Leopold II, pp. 708, 711.
41. Thys to King Leopold, 12 July 1902; Archives du Cabinet du roi Leopold II - documents relatifs au développement extérieur de la Belgique, File 253, Archives du Palais Royal a Bruxelles; Franqui to Leopold, 10 December 1902, Emile Franqui Papers File 108, Archives Generales du Royaume; Joostens to Favereau, 30 December 1903, Kaiping Mines, File 2821, Archives du Ministère des Affaires Etrangères, Brussels; and A. Barry to G. Detring, 1 May 1903, W. S. Nathan Papers, Bodleian Library.
42. Informed contemporaries believed that 'London is in it only for other floatations & tinkering with the funds to make windfall profit ... [while] Belgium believe in the thing & is solidly in it for dividends'; see unsigned, 'List of CEMC shareholders', 10 June 1904, Nathan Papers.
43. China Gazette, 25 July 1902.
44. Davis to Morrison, 19 May, 6 October 1904
45. Morrison Papers, ML. MSS 312/48, and MSS 312/232, Mitchell Library, Sydney.
46. Morrison to V. Chirol, 2 July 1905, in Lo Hui-Min (ed.), The Correspondence of G.E. Morrison. I. 1895-1912 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1976), p. 324.
47. The Critic, 3 March 1900; and the Pall Mall Gazette, 11 April 1900.
48. See also, En-Han Lee, 'China's Response to Foreign Investment in Her Mining Industry (1902-1912)', Journal of Asian Studies, 28 (1968), p. 59.
49. For Meyer himself, see especially J. Orbell, 'Sir Carl Ferdinand Meyer', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004).
50. McLean, 'Chinese Railways', pp. 148-151.
51. See also, D. Kynaston, The City of London. Volume II. Golden Years 1890-1914 (London: Chatto & Windus, 1995), pp. 394-5.
52. Morrison to Chirol, 8 September 1906, in Lo (ed.), Correspondence of G.E. Morrison, p. 375.
53. For the British and China Corporation, see especially Pelkovits, Old China Hands, p. 230
54. and J. Bland, Recent Events and Present Policies in China (London: William Heinemann, 1912), pp. 266-7.
55. The Secretary, Pekin Syndicate, to Lord Lansdowne, 14 July 1903, FO 17/ 1619.
56. The Economist, 23 December 1905.
57. Meyer to wife, 6 March 1905, Carl Meyer Letters 1900-1905, Papers in the private possession of Sir Anthony Meyer.
58. Meyer to Bell, 16 November 1905
59. Morrison Papers, ML. MSS 312/123, Mitchell Library.
60. Morrison to Chirol, 8 September 1906, in Lo (ed.), Correspondence of G.E. Morrison, pp. 375-6.
61. The Critic, 29 September 1906, 15 December 1906.
62. Pall Mall Gazette, 24 January 1907.
63. Morrison to Chirol, 4 April 1907, in Lo (ed.), Correspondence of G.E. Morrison, p. 401.
64. Morrison to Chirol, 8 September 1906, 2 July 1907, in Lo (ed.), Correspondence of G.E. Morrison, pp. 376-7.
65. H. van de Ven, 'Robert Hart and Gustav Detring: Two Men in the Middle during the Boxer War', Modern Asian Studies (forthcoming).
66. Nash, Hoover, pp. 187, 220.
67. Memorandum respecting Difficulties which have arisen in connection with the Chinese Engineering and Mining Company's properties in the Province of Pechihli', January 1908, FO 371/418
68. and Carlson, Kaiping Mines, pp. 104-6. For a full record of the two court cases, see 'Printed Report of the judgement in the High Court, 1905, and proceedings in the Supreme Court, 1906', Nathan Papers.
69. Nash, Hoover, p. 220.
70. Carlson, Kaiping Mines, p. 107
71. Chi-ming, Foreign Investment, pp. 74-5
72. and Wang Yuru, 'Capital Formation', p. 104.
73. See also, R. Gibson, Forces Mining and Undermining China (New York: Century, 1914), pp. 68-71.
74. Carlson, Kaiping Mines, pp. 92-4.
75. Townley to Bertie, 4 December 1902, FO 17/1759.
76. Memorandum, 27 January 1903, FO 17/1759.
77. Townley to Lansdowne, 13 January 1903
78. and Lansdowne minute, 20 January, 1903; both in FO 17/1759.
79. Townley to Prince Ch'ing, 15 June 1903, FO 17/1759.
80. Franqui to Joostens, 13 June 1903, Kaiping Mines, File 2821, Archives du Ministère des Affaires Etrangères.
81. Kurgan-Van Hentenryk, Leopold II, p. 710
82. and Nash, Hoover, pp. 203-4.
83. Joostens to Favereau, 5 February 1904, Kaiping Mines, File 2821, Archives du Ministère des Affaires Etrangères.
84. Satow to Campbell, 25 June 1904, Satow Papers, PRO 30/33-14/14.
85. E. Katz, A Trade Union Aristocracy (Johannesburg: African Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, 1976), pp. 120-1.
86. For further discussion of Tarbutt, see Phimister and J. Mouat, 'Mining, Engineers and Risk Management: British Overseas Investment, 1894-1914', South African Historical Journal, 49 (Nov 2003), pp. 11-17.
87. Walter to Colonial Office, 2 September 1904
88. Perry to Colonial Office, 11 February 1905; both in CO 879/85.
89. Perry to Board of Management, Labour Importation Agency, 10 October 1904, Foreign Labour Department Volume 1327, no.21/1, Transvaal Archives Depot, Pretoria.
90. P. Richardson, Chinese Mine Labour in the Transvaal (London: Macmillan, 1982), pp. 118, 104, 114.
91. 'Copy of Register of Directors or Managers', 2 July 1907, Chinese Engineering and Mining Company, BT 31/9233/68532
92. and J. Hamill, The Strange Career of Mr. Hoover Under Two Flags (New York: William Faro, 1931), p. 161.
93. 'Memorandum respecting Difficulties', January 1908, FO 371/418.
94. Nash, Hoover, p. 221.
95. Ibid.
96. Richardson, Chinese Mine Labour, pp. 6, 134.
97. En-Han Lee, 'China's Response', pp. 69-70
98. Chi-ming Hon, Foreign Investment, pp. 75, 71
99. and Wright, 'Entrepreneurs, Politicians and the Chinese Coal Industry, 1895-1937', Modern Asian Studies, 14, 4 (1980), pp. 583-4.
100. See also, Carlson, Kaiping Mines, p. 123.
101. Carlson, Kaiping Mines, p. 120.
102. 'Memorandum respecting Difficulties', January 1908, FO 371/418.
103. Carlson, Kaiping Mines, pp. 119-20.
104. See, for example, Hawksley to Chang Yen Mao, 6 March 1908
105. Berry to the Under Secretary of State, 19 March 1908; both in FO 371/419.
106. Campbell to Grey, 25 February 1909, FO 371/630.
107. Carlson, Kaiping Mines, pp. 121, 137.
108. 'Loan to Servian Govt.', 6 December 1909, FO 371/734.
109. Langley to Davis, 10 December 1909, FO 371/734.
110. J. Osterhammel, 'Britain and China, 1842-1914', in A. Porter (ed.), The Oxford History of the British Empire. The Nineteenth Century (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), pp. 159, 165.
111. See also his chapter, 'British business in China', in Davenport-Hines and Jones (eds), British Business in Asia, p. 215.
112. N. Petersson, 'Gentlemanly and Not-so-Gentlemanly Imperialism in China before the First World War', in S. Akita (ed.), Gentlemanly Capitalism, Imperialism and Global History (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2002), pp. 103-22.
113. Cain and Hopkins, 'The Peculiarities of British Capitalism: Imperialism and World Development', in Akita (ed.), Gentlemanly Capitalism, p. 227.
114. 'Memorandum respecting Difficulties', January 1908, FO 371/418.
115. Kynaston, City of London, pp. 220-37.
116. McLean, 'Chinese Railways', pp. 163-4.
117. McLean, 'Finance and "Informal Empire" before the First World War', Economic History Review, 29 (1976), p. 305.
118. Hu Sheng, Imperialism and Chinese Politics (Peking: Foreign Languages Press, 1955), pp. 111, 172.
119. Wei Zichu, Imperialism and the Kailin Coalmines (Shanghai: Shen-chou kuo-kuang she, 1954), p. 1. I am most grateful to Professor Tim Wright for his translation of key passages in this book.
120. Stock Exchange Year Book, 1907
121. and Dayer, Finance and Empire, p. 51.
122. Addis' biographer writes that 'the new position involved partnership with individuals whose past record in China Addis could not have approved .... Since he makes no reference to such issues, one must conclude that he accepted these conflicts as inevitable in business life'; see Finance and Empire, pp. 54-5. But as there is evidence that the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank invested in both the CIO and the CEMC, and none that the 'partnership' was a conflictual one, the possibility exists that a quite different conclusion can be drawn from Addis' silence.
123. Cain and Hopkins, 'Peculiarities of British Capitalism', p. 226.
124. South China Daily News, 26 October 1906.
125. McLean, 'Finance and "Informal Empire"', p. 304.
126. Pall Mall Gazette, 10 March 1905.