¹ The ‘Old Consortium’, the origin of which will be explained later in the article, was distinct from the ‘New Consortium’ which was formed in 1918 under the initiative of the American government but was refused by the Chinese government for fear of international control of China's finance. See, Hou, Chi-ming, Foreign Investment and Economic Development in China 1840–1937 (Harvard University Press, 1965), p. 21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

² For example Li, Chien-nung, Chung-kuo chin pei-nien cheng-ch'ih shih (Chinese Politics in the Past Hundred Years) (Taiwan Commercial press, 1957), II, p. 395;Google ScholarHung-jan, ChouChung-kuo min-chu szu-hsiang yün-tung shih (History of the Democratic Ideas and Movement in China) (Taipei, 1964), p. 338Google Scholar; Chung-yu, Chu, Pei-yang chün-fa ti t'ung-ch'ih (The Rule of the Northern Warlords) (Peking, 1956), p. 3Google Scholar; and Chüyin, T'ao, Pei-yang chün-fa t'ung-ch'ih shih-chih shih-hua (History of the Period under the Rule of the Northern Warlords) (Peking, 1957), I, p. 174.Google Scholar

³ For example Coons, A. G., The Foreign Public Debt of China (Philadelphia, 1930), pp. 54–61;CrossRefGoogle ScholarLamont, T. W., Henry P. Davison: The Record of a Useful Life (Davison was head of the American bank of the consortium) (New York, 1933), pp. 160–5;Google ScholarField, F. V., American Participation in the China Consortiums (Chicago, 1930), pp. 67–97;Google ScholarLi, Tienyi, Woodrow Wilson's China Policy 1913–1917 (New York, 1952), pp. 23–55;Google ScholarVivier, C., The United States and China, 1906–1913 (New Jersey, 1955), pp. 196–213;Google ScholarOverlach, A. M., Foreign Financial Control in China (New York, 1919), pp. 239–69;Google Scholar and Huang, Fenghua, Public Debts in China (New York, 1919), pp. 56–71.Google Scholar

⁴ Lowe, P., Great Britain and Japan 1911–15 (London, 1969), pp. 128–136.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁵ Details of the scramble are available in Cheng Lin, formerly counsellor in the Ministry of Railways in the republican period, The Chinese Railways (Shanghai, 1935), pp. 19–23;Google ScholarHsu, Mongton Chih, Railway Problems in China (New York, 1915), pp. 27–51;Google Scholar and Sun, E-tu Zen, Chinese Railways and British Interests 1898–1911 (New York, 1954), pp. 27–48 for circumstances under which the British obtained their concessions.Google Scholar

⁶ Sun, , Chinese Railways and British Interests 1898–1911, p. 9.Google Scholar According to Collis, M., Wayfoong, The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (London, 1965), p. 118, the relative roles of the bank and company were as follows: ‘On the Jardine, Matheson side the Corporation was a contracting firm equipped to build railways, supply engines and rolling stocks, and engage engineers and others to work the lines. The financial aspect of such activities was the affair of the Hongkong bank.’Google Scholar

⁷ For a comparison of the two modes of foreign railway control in China see Sun, , Chinese Railways and British Interests 1898–1911, pp. 9–10.Google Scholar

⁸ Sun, , Chinese Railways and British Interests 1898–1911, p. 9.Google Scholar Also Tamagna, F. M., Banking and Finance in China (New York, 1942), p. 27.Google Scholar

⁹ Jordan, to Campbell, , private, 6 August 1908, FO 350/4.Google Scholar

¹⁰ Kit-ching, Lau, ‘Sir John Jordan and the Affairs of China, 1906–1916, with Special Reference to the 1911 Revolution and Yüan Shih-k'ai (Ph.D. thesis, London, 1968), p. 18;Google Scholar and Sun, , Chinese Railways and British Interests 1898–1911, p. 100.Google Scholar

¹¹ For Jordan's displeasure see for example Jordan, to Campbell, , private, 4 March 1909, FO 350/5. Also see memorandum of terms of the agreement in Addis, London manager of British bank, to Grey, 17 May 1909, FO 371/624.Google Scholar

¹² The text of the agreement is available in MacMurray, J. V. A., Treaties and Agreements With and Concerning China (New York, 1921), I, pp. 886–7.Google Scholar

¹³ For details of the loan see Ping-lin, Liu, Chin-tai Chung-kuo wai-chai shihkao (Foreign Debts in Modern China) (Peking, 1962), pp. 98–9.Google Scholar

¹⁴ Jordan, to Langley, , private, 22 October 1912, FO 350/8.Google Scholar

¹⁵ Sun, , Chinese Railways and British Interests 1898–1911, pp. 112–3.Google Scholar

¹⁶ For Jordan's attitude towards negotiations over the railways see Lau, ‘Sir John Jordan and the Affairs of China, 1906–1916, with Special Reference to the 1911 Revolution and Yüan Shih-k'ai’, pp. 30–46.Google Scholar

¹⁷ For Jordan's attitude towards Yüan Shih-k'ai between 1906 and 1911 see ibid., pp. 72–82.

¹⁸ Details of the neutral attitude adopted by the quadruple consortium are available in Kit-ching, Chan Lau, ‘British Policy of Neutrality during the 1911 Revolution in China’, Journal of Oriental Studies, VIII, no. 2 (1970), pp. 361–70.Google Scholar

¹⁹ This figure was given to Jordan, by Yüan, , confidential clause in Jordan to Grey, tel. 88, 1 March 1912, FO 371/1315.Google Scholar

²⁰ Ch'en, J.Yuan Shih-k'ai (London, 1961), p. 145;Google Scholar and Yün-han, Li ‘Huang K'o ch'iang hsien-shang nien-p'u kao’ (Draft Chronology of Huang Hsing), in Hsiang-hsiang, Wu (ed.), Chung-kuo hsien-tai shih ts'ung-k'an (Chinese Contemporary History Series) (Taipei, 1962), IV, pp. 307–8.Google Scholar

²¹ For a list of the outstanding liabilities of the Chinese government due at the end of 1911, see China Year Book (1912), p. 298.Google Scholar

²² Yuan Shih-k'ai, p. 147,Google Scholar and Kann, E., The History of China's Internal Loan Issues (Shanghai, 1934), p. 5.Google Scholar The attempt of the Nanking goverment in raising a military loan in January was also a failure, Huang, , Public Debts in China, p. 16,Google Scholar and Chia-chu, Ch'ien (ed.), Chiu Chung-kuo kung-chai shih tzu-liao (Materials Relating to the History of Public Debts in China) (Shanghai, 1955), pp. 33–5.Google Scholar

²³ Grey, to Jordan, , tel. 36, 21 February 1912, FO 371/1313.Google Scholar

²⁴ For example Jordan, to Langley, , private, 16 April 1912, FO 350/8. Knowing Jordan's feelings towards Russia, Langley explained that the Foreign Office had to accept Russia's participation because it was supported by France, Langley to Jordan, private, 21 June 1912, FO 350/1. Japan had to be accommodated because of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance.Google Scholar

²⁵ Such protests were abundantly available in FO 371/1312.

²⁶ Jordan, to Grey, , tel. 41, 9 February 1912, FO 371/1312.Google Scholar

²⁷ Jordan, to Grey, , tel. 60, 23 February 1912, FO 371/1313.Google Scholar

²⁸ Hillier, to Addis, in Addis to Langley, 1 March 1912, FO 371/1314.Google Scholar

²⁹ The advance was also made by the British bank on behalf of the others, Addis, to Langley, , 6 March 1912, FO 371/1314.Google Scholar

³⁰ For option given by Yüan and banks' terms see Field, , American Participation in the China Consortiums, pp. 75–6.Google Scholar

³¹ The agreement was signed on 19 March For terms see China Year Book (1913). pp. 350–53.Google Scholar

³² Jordan, to Grey, , annual report for 1912, FO 371/1620.Google Scholar

³³ Jordan, to Grey, , tel. 98, 4 April 1912, FO 371/1316; Jordan to Langley, private, 16 April 1912, Fo 350/8: and Hongkong and Shanghai Bank to Peking in Hongkong and Shanghai Bank to Foreign Office, 19 April 1912, FO 371/1317.Google Scholar

³⁴ Jordan, to Langley, , private, 16 April 1912, FO 350/8.Google Scholar

³⁵ Jordan, to Grey, , annual report for 1912, FO 371/1620.Google Scholar This is supported by Yüan-yung, Huang, , a well-known resourceful reporter at the time, Yüan-sheng i-chu (Works of Huang Yüan-yung), in Hsiang-hsiang, Wu (ed.), Chungkuo hsien-tai shih-liao ts'ung-shu (Collection of Chinese Contemporary Historical Materials) (Taipei, 1962), 1st series, pp. 131–3.Google Scholar

³⁶ Jordan, to Grey, , no. 198, 29 April 1912, enclosing the scheme, FO 371/1318.Google Scholar

³⁷ Hillier, to Addis in Addis to Foreign Office, 13 May 1912, FO 371/1318.Google Scholar

³⁸ Straight, W., ‘China's Loan Negotiations’ in Blakeslee, G. H. (ed.), Recent Developments in China (New York, 1913), pp. 143–4;Google Scholar for a brief but lucid analysis of the psychology of the consortium bankers while drawing up the terms see Field, , American Participation in the China Consortiums, p. 83.Google Scholar

³⁹ Details of the National Subscription Movement are found in Jordan to Grey, no. 241, 31 May 1912, FO 371/1319. For details of anti-foreign feelings illicited by the movement especially in Szechuan see Jordan, to Grey, , no. 248, 6 June 1912, FO 371/1319; no. 254, 12 June 1912, FO 371/1320.Google Scholar Also Yen-yün, Wu (ed.), Huang liu-shou shu-tu (Huang Hsing's Correspondence During the Nanking Period) inGoogle ScholarWu, , Chung-kuo hsien-tai shih-liao ts'ung shu, 1st series, pp. 10–15, 20–21, 25–7;Google Scholar and Li, , ‘Huang K'o-ch'iang hsien-sheng nien-p'u kao’, pp. 319–26.Google Scholar

⁴⁰ Jordan, to Grey, , no. 241, 31 May 1912, FO 371/1319.Google Scholar

⁴¹ For example, the supervision of the disbandment of troops at Nanking was a complete failure, Jordan, to Grey, , no. 323, 5 August 1912, FO 371/1321.Google Scholar Also Jordan, to Grey, , tels. 151, 152, 9 July 1912, FO 371/1320.Google Scholar

⁴² Gregory's minute on the interview, 27 August 1912, FO 371/1321.Google Scholar

⁴³ Lowe, , Great Britain and Japan 1911–15, pp. 132–3.Google Scholar For a detailed biography of this outstanding figure see Pearl, C. A., Morrison of Peking (Sydney, 1967).Google Scholar

⁴⁴ Addis, to Langley, , 6 March; Langley to Addis, 14 March 1912, Fo 371/1315.Google Scholar

⁴⁵ Grey, to Jordan, , tel. 134, 30 August 1912, Fo 371/1321.Google Scholar

⁴⁶ Jordan, to Grey, , tel. 175, 3 September 1912, FO 371/1322.Google Scholar

⁴⁷ Grey, to Jordan, , tel. 148, 16 September 1912, FO 371/1322.Google Scholar

⁴⁸ Jordan, to Grey, , tel. 185, 13 September 1912, FO 371/1322.Google Scholar

⁴⁹ Jordan, to Grey, , tel. 188, 15 September 1912, FO 371/1322.Google Scholar

⁵⁰ Terms enclosed in Addis to Foreign Office, 30 September 1912, FO 371/1322.Google Scholar

⁵¹ Jordan, to Grey, , tel. 199, 24 September; tel. 202, 25 September 1912, FO 371/1322.Google Scholar

⁵² Jordan, to Grey, , tel. 192, 20 September 1912, Grey to Jordan tel. 154, 21 September 1912, FO 371/1322,Google Scholar

⁵³ Jordan, to Langley, , private, 7 October 1912, FO 350/8.Google Scholar

⁵⁴ Jordan, to Grey, , tel. 206, 5 October 1912, FO 371/1322.Google Scholar

⁵⁵ Jordan, to Grey, , tel. 204, 1 October 1912, FO 371/1322.Google Scholar

⁵⁶ There were constant rumours of such Chinese overtures: Jordan, to Grey, , tel. 215, 19 October 1912; and Foreign Office minute, 23 October 1912, FO 371/1323.Google Scholar

⁵⁷ Field, , American Participation in the China Consortiums, p. 84;Google Scholar and Jordan, to Langley, , private, 4 November 1912, FO 350/8.Google Scholar

⁵⁸ Article 5 of the Reorganization Loan Agreement, MacMurray, , Treaties and Agreements With and Concerning China, II, pp. 1009–10.Google Scholar

⁵⁹ Jordan, to Grey, , tel. 23, 26 January 1913, FO 371/1590.Google Scholar

⁶⁰ Field, , American Participation in the China Consortiums, p. 93.Google Scholar

⁶¹ Langley, to Jordan, , private, 13 February 1913, FO 350/11.Google Scholar

⁶² Jordan, to Grey, no. 109, confidential, draft, 10 March 1912, FO 228/2354.Google Scholar

⁶³ Bemis, S. F. (ed.), The American Secretaries of State and Their Diplomacy (New York, 1929), X, ch. 2, p. 10.Google Scholar Details of the American secession are available in, for example, Bryan, W. J., The Memoirs of William Jennings Bryan (Chicago, 1925), pp. 361–2. Bryan was American Secretary of State 5 March–8 June 1913.Google Scholar Also Lamont, , Henry P. Davison: The Record of a Useful Life, pp. 160–5.Google Scholar

⁶⁴ It appears that America did later propose to make loans of US $25,000,000 and $125,000,000 respectively, Hongkong and Shanghai Bank to Foreign Office, 6 April 1913, FO 371/1593. Also Shih-i, Chia, Min-kuo ch'u-nien ti chi jen ts'ai-cheng tsung-ch'ang (The Ministers of Finance of the Early Chinese Republic) (Taipei, 1967), pp. 25–6;Google Scholar and Liu, , Chin-tai Chung-kuo wai-chai shih-kao, p. 103.Google Scholar

⁶⁵ Jordan, to Grey, , tel. 74, 21 March 1913, FO 371/1592;Google Scholar and Langley, to Jordan, , private, 26 March 1913, FO 350/11Google Scholar

⁶⁶ Jordan, to Grey, , very confidential, tel. 81, 4 April 1913, FO 371/1593.Google Scholar

⁶⁷ Hillier, to Addis in Addis to Foreign Office, 10 April 1913, FO 371/1593.Google Scholar

⁶⁸ Grey, to Jordan, , tel. 108, 11 April 1913, FO 371/1593.Google Scholar

⁶⁹ Jordan, to Grey, , tel. 92, 14 04 1915, FO 371/1593.Google Scholar

⁷⁰ Jordan, to Langley, , private, 21 April 1913, FO 800/246.Google Scholar

⁷¹ Jordan, to Grey, , tel. 103, 28 April, 1913, FO 371/1593.Google Scholar

⁷² Jordan, to Langley, , private, 4 August, 1912, FO 350/8.Google Scholar

⁷³ Jordan, to Langley, , private, 21 April, 1913, FO 800/246.Google Scholar