The Chinese Hsinhai Revolution: G. E. Morrison and Anglo-Japanese Relations, 1897-1920

270 Pages·2003·2.58 MB·English

by  Eiko Woodhouse

THE CHINESE HSINHAI
REVOLUTION
This authoritative and original work throws new light upon international relations after
the Russo-Japanese War by exploring for the first time the important role of
G.E.Morrison. As an Australian correspondent for The Times living in Peking and later as
a political adviser to four presidents of the Chinese republic, Morrison’s concern for
Australian interests often placed him at odds with The Times and the British Government.
In an era when British supremacy was being challenged in East Asia by the
increasingly militant Japan, Morrison regarded himself as a watchdog for Australian
national security. While the protection afforded to Britain under the Anglo-Japanese
Alliance against Germany often meant that the British turned a blind eye to Japanese
activities in China, Morrison saw Australia’s need to check the growing power of Japan
as vitally important. By showing how Morrison worked both with and against power
elites of different nations, this book traces how he managed to develop an effective
personal diplomacy and a successful propaganda campaign which aroused international
public attention.
In addition to Morrison’s diaries, memoranda, correspondence and articles in The
Times, Woodhouse examines multi-national scholarly sources, including British,
Japanese and American personal and official materials, in order to develop the context in
which Morrison carried out personal diplomacy and to delineate the many-sided story
into which he has been placed. The centenary period of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance and
the Russo-Japanese War provides an ideal backdrop against which to re-examine these
events.
Eiko Woodhouse gained a PhD at the University of Sydney.

THE CHINESE HSINHAI
REVOLUTION
G.E.Morrison and Anglo-Japanese relations, 1897–1920
Eiko Woodhouse

LONDON AND NEW YORK
First published 2004 by RoutledgeCurzon 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by RoutledgeCurzon 29 West 35th Street, New
York, NY 10001
RoutledgeCurzon is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of
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© 2004 Eiko Woodhouse
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or
by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission
in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Woodhouse, Eiko. The Chinese Hsinhai
revolution: G.E.Morrison and Anglo-Japanese relations, 1897–1920/Eiko Woodhouse Includes
bibliographical references and index. I. Title: G.E.Morrison and Anglo-Japanese relations, 1897–
1920. II. Title. DS774.W63 2003 951′.036—dc21 2003010194
ISBN 0-203-49388-5 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-60-203--X (Adobe e-Reader Format)
ISBN 0-415-32262-6 (Print Edition)
CONTENTS

Acknowledgements vi
List of abbreviations vii

Introduction 1
1 International relations in China, 1897–1905 6
2 The outbreak of the revolution 26
3 Morrison and Yuan Shih-kai 59
4 Sino-Anglo-Japanese diplomacy 82
5 Morrison’s personal diplomacy, 1911–12 98
6 The effect of Morrison’s work 129
7 China after the Hsinhai revolution 148

Summary/conclusion 167
Epilogue 171
Notes 174
Bibliography 224
Index 240
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Many people and organizations assisted me in the completion of my study.
My sincere thanks go to Professor Neville Meaney, my supervisor in the Department
of History, University of Sydney, for his constant advice, criticism and help; to Professor
Ian H.Nish, Emeritus Professor, London School of Economics, for his advice; to Dr
Bernice-Eve Somerton Calf and to Mr Bruce Wylie, for their comments and editing; to
Mr Toshihiko Kobayashi, former Senior Lecturer, Department of Asian Studies,
University of Sydney to the late Professor Kazuo Enoki, Head of the Tōyō Bunko in
Tokyo (originally the Morrison Library), to Mr Ken Kurihara, Chief Archivist, and to Mr
Kazuo Kawamura, Archivist of the Archives of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
for their research material; to the Mitchell Library, the State Library of New South
Wales, to the Fisher Library University of Sydney, and to the Macquarie University
Library in Sydney, to the National Library of Australia in Canberra, to the Japanese
National Diet Library and to the Tōyō Bunko in Tokyo, for their assistance in material
gathering; to Mr Hidenori Ōnuki of Tōyō Keizai Shimpōsha for his help in preparing the
illustrations; and to Professor Peter King, Department of Government, and to Dr Aedeen
Cremin, formerly in the Department of Archaeology, University of Sydney, for proof
reading; to the Mitchell Library the State Library of New South Wales, Dr Helen Dodson
Kahn, formerly in Cornell University, USA, to Cambridge University Press, to Times
Newspapers Limited, London, for granting permission to use their copyright materials.
My special thanks go to Dr Lo Hui-min, formerly in the Research School of Pacific
Studies, Australian National University, for editing the Correspondence of G.
E.Morrison, the Cambridge University Press publication, which is an invaluable source
of information for studies on Morrison.
Every effort has been made to contact copyright holders for their permission to reprint
plates 7 and 8. The publishers would be grateful to hear from any copyright holder not
here acknowledged and will undertake to rectify any errors or omissions in future
editions of the book.
My heartfelt thanks go to Mr Alastair Morrison, G.E.Morrison’s son in Canberra, for
his co-operation and understanding towards my study; to Mrs Shigeko Yaguchi, my sister
in Tokyo, for her encouragement and assistance throughout.
This research project would never have been possible without assistance from these
many people and organizations.
ABBREVIATIONS
BD British Documents on the Origins of the War 1898–1914,
ed. G.P. Gooch and Harold Temperley, His Majesty’s
Stationery Office, London, 1926.
BFO British Foreign Office Papers, British Public Records
Office, London.
BPD British Parliamentary Debates, Hansard Fourth Series:
Third Session of the Twenty-Eighth Parliament of the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland: 1908–1909:
Under Contract with His Majesty’s Stationery Office by
Wyman & Sons Limited, London.
BPP British Parliamentary Papers, presented to both Houses of
Parliament by Command of His Majesty, His Majesty’s
Stationery Office, London.
Correspondence Lo Hui-min (ed.), The Correspondence of G.E.Morrison,
vols 1 and 2, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge,
1976 and 1978.
FRUS Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United
States, Department of State, Washington, DC, Government
Printing Office.
JADC Japanese Archives Diplomatic Correspondence, the
Archives of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
NGB Nihon Gaikō Bunsho [Japanese Diplomatic Documents],
Gaimushō Hensan (comp. and ed.), Tokyo: Ministry of
Foreign Affairs.
Morrison Papers Morrison Papers, Mitchell Library, State Library of New
South Wales, Sydney, MSS 312.
NGJ Nihon Gaikōshi Jiten [A Dictionary of Japanese
Diplomatic History], Dictionary of Japanese Diplomatic
History Compilation Committee (comp. and ed.), Tokyo:
Yamakawa Shuppansha, 1992.
SSMH Shimbun Shūsei Meiji Hennen-shi [The Annals of the
Newspapers: Chronicle of the Meiji Period], vol. 14, The
Chronicle of the Meiji Period Compilation Committee
(comp. and ed.), Tokyo: Zaisei Keizai-Gakkai, 1972.
The Times The Times, London.
Plate 1 George Ernest Morrison
Source: From Mr Alastair Morrison
Plate 2 G.E.Morrison, his employees
and their children
Source: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South
Wales, Australia

Plate 3 G.E.Morrison’s diary
Source: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South
Wales, Australia