8 Anglo-Chinese Diplomacy 1go6-1920 British policy towards China and Jordan's career before 19o6 9 Campbell,acting Chinese secretary,could be trusted to handle the work of the legation until the arrival of the new minister.As to the question first went to Korea in 1882 and left in August 1894,shortly after hostili- of his successor,he did not 'know Sir J.Jordan personally',but would ties had broken out between China and Japan.38 He was back in China himself recommend either Reginald Tower or Walter Townley,as each for less than two months before he left for Manchuria,where he was had served under him with great distinction as legation secretary.32 responsible for the supply of reinforcements to the Chinese forces Satow's views went unheeded.Two days after Satow's intention to fighting in Korea.39 Yian did not finally return to China until the retire was confirmed,Sir Charles Hardinge wrote to the King:Sir E. beginning of 19o5. Grey has seen Sir J.Jordan,and the latter is to go out shortly to China Jordan,on the other hand,did not take up his first posting in Korea as Charge d'Affaires with the rank of Minister until October,when Sir until late 1896.Early in July that year Sir Walter Hillier,consul-general E.Satow retires,and he will then be definitely appointed Minister at at Seoul,applied for early retirement because of a serious eye disease Peking'.38 The Foreign Office justified such 'extravagance'to the which threatened him with blindness.Sir Claude MacDonald,then British minister in China (1896-Igoo)who was also responsible for Treasury on the ground that 'the unsatisfactory state of affairs in China' made it'essential to place H.M.Legation at Peking in the hands of an overseeing British interests in Korea,recommended Jordan for the officer of special ability and experience'.4 vacancy.40 The Foreign Office approved of the recommendation in September.41 By the time Jordan officially assumed duties at Seoul on According to some Chinese,the Foreign Office chose Jordan for another,more important reason;that is,his close friendship with Yuan 26 October,42 Yuian Shih-k'ai had been away from Korea for two years and two months. Shih-k'ai who by this time had become a key political personage in China.An enthusiastic exponent of this view was Yeh Kung-cho,not Moreover,neither Jordan nor Yuan confirmed the Korean origin of their friendship.Jordan did not once mention the point in all his only a well-known figure in recent Chinese economic and railway history,but also a close associate of Liang Shih-i,who was intimately voluminous writings.The most natural and likely place for him to have connected with Yuan Shih-k'ai for many years.According to Yeh, done so was in his letter to Sir Walter Langley,assistant under-secretary Jordan had once saved Yuan's life in Korea,shortly before the outbreak overseeing the Far Eastern Department,written shortly after Yuian's death in 1916.In it Jordan says that during Yuan's 'early life in Korea of the Sino-Japanese War in 1894.The Japanese had plotted to assassinate he,Yuan,formed friendships with a number of Englishmen-Baker Yuan,believing his influence was grossly detrimental to their position in Korea.Yuian narrowly escaped by boarding a man-of-war-put at his [sic.E.C.Baber?],[Walter]Hillier,[John]McLeavy Brown and disposal by Jordan who was then consul in Korea-and eventually others'.43 Jordan himself does not appear on the list.Also Jordan does returned to Tientsin.Yeh claims that the British government intended not mention the Korean episode in 'Some Chinese I have known',an article he wrote after he had retired from China. to use the Jordan/Yuan relationship to achieve Britain's ends in China, Another answer must be sought.Jordan might have first met Yuan and hence took the unusual step of appointing a man in the Consular Service to a conventionally diplomatic post.35 in the two years'interval between Yuan's return to China from Korea, This view poses the question as to when this significant friendship and his own departure from China to Korea during the period when he began.The common assumption is that it began when Jordan and Yuan was Chinese secretary to the legation.Yuan was either in the Peking- were both serving in Korea.This idea was accepted by people who had Tientsin area between his return from Korea and departure for Man- had close ties with Yuian Shih-k'ai,including his son,K'e-wen,who was churia,or training China's first modern army in Hsiao-chan,a place more interested in literature than politics,and also T'ang Shao-i,and between Peking and Tientsin.Alternatively,the initial encounter might Yeh Kung-cho.36 It is not surprising,therefore,that this view has been have taken place after Jordan's return to China in 19o6.Neither premise, accepted by many historians and writers.37 however,is supported by positive documentary evidence.However, Jordan's account of his first visit as British minister to Yuan,who was However,the validity of this view is clearly open to doubt.In the first place,it is chronologically impossible.Jordan's term of service in then viceroy of Chihli at Tientsin,certainly does not read like a meeting Korea did not overlap at any period with that of Yuan Shih-k'ai.Yuan between two strangers,but there are no references to previous encounters.44