of taking up this question. As to the time and place of meeting, we will communicate further with you upon this subject as soon as the above-mentioned official has arrived in the capital. It becomes my duty in the meantime, however, to send this reply to your excellency's note. A necessary dispatch. [SEAL OF THE WAIWU PU.] PAYMENT OF THE CHINESE INDEMNITY-RETURN BY THE UNITED STATES OF A PORTION OF ITS ALLOTMENT. (Continued from Foreign Relations, 1906, pp. 273, et seq.) File No. 2413/58 A. The Secretary of State to the Chinese Minister. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, June 15, 1907. SIR: After the rescue of the foreign legations in Peking during the Boxer troubles of 1900, the note of the powers to China prescribing the conditions upon which the occupation of Peking and the Province of Chihli would be ended, dated December 22, 1900, required in its sixth article the payment of "equitable indemnities for governments, societies, companies, and private individuals, as well as for Chinese who have suffered during the late events in person or in property in consequence of their being in the service of foreigners." The final protocol under which the troops were withdrawn, signed at Peking, September 7, 1901, fixed the amount of this indemnity at $450,000,000 Haikwan taels, equivalent in round numbers to $333,000,000 United States gold. China agreed to pay this sum, with interest at 4 per cent per annum, by installments running through a period of thirty-nine years. The share of this indemnity allotted to the United States was $24,440,778.81, and on account of the principal and interest of that sum China has paid to the United States, down to and including the 1st day of June, 1907, the sum of $6,010,931.91. It was from the first the intention of this Government at the proper time, when all claims should have been presented and all expenses should have been ascertained as fully as possible, to revise the estimate and account against which these payments were to be made, and, as proof of sincere friendship for China, to voluntarily release that country from its legal liability for all payments in excess of the sum which should prove to be necessary for actual indemnity to the United States and its citizens. Such a revision has now been made by the different executive departments concerned, and I am authorized by the President to say that, in pursuance of that revision, at the next session of the Congress he will ask for authority to reform the agreement with China under which the indemnity is fixed by remitting and canceling the obligation of China for the payment of all that part of the stipulated indemnity which is in excess of the sum of $11,655,492.69 and interst at the stipulated rate. Accept, Mr. Minister, etc., ELIHU ROOT. File No. 2413/59. The Chinese Minister to the Secretary of State. IMPERIAL CHINESE LEGATION, Washington, June 17, 1907. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your valued note of the 15th instant, in which, by authority of the President, you inform me, with reference to the revision made by the different executive departments of your Government concerned, of the estimate and account against which the payments on account of the indemnity allotted to the United States by the protocol signed at Peking, September 7, 1901, have been made and are to be made by China, that, in pursuance of that revision, the President, at the next session of the Congress, will ask for authority to reform the agreement with China under which the indemnity is fixed, by remitting and canceling the obligation of China for the payment of all that part of the stipulated indemnity which is in excess of the sum of $11,655,492.69 and interest at the stipulated rate of 4 per cent per annum. I have lost no time in communicating by cable to my Government the welcome information with the request that it be laid immediately before the Emperor. I take this first opportunity to express to you the grateful thanks of my Government for this signal act of generosity shown by the United States toward China, which can not fail to bind the two countries into closer and more friendly relations, and which affords. another conspicuous proof of the high sense of justice that has always actuated the Government of the United States in its intercourse with China. Accept, etc., CHENTUNG LIANG-CHENG. File No. 2413/63–64. The Acting Secretary of State to Minister Rockhill. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, SIR: Referring to instruction No. 317, of the 18th ultimo," I inclose herewith, for your information and the legation's files, a copy of the translation of a telegram dated the 24th ultimo, from the Waiwu Pu to the Chinese minister, expressing the thanks of the Emperor for the President's expression of his purpose to ask Congress for authority to reform the agreement with China respecting the indemnity. The telegram was handed to the President personally by the Chinese minister on the 27th ultimo. ROBERT BACON. I am, etc., a Not printed. [Inclosure. Telegram.] The Wai-cu Pu to the Chinese Minister. [Translation.] PEKING, June 24, 1907. Your telegraphic report on the remission of the indemnity having been laid before the Emperor, you are commanded to convey to the President of the United States His Majesty's warm thanks for this noble exhibition of his friendship toward China, which is deeply and gratefully appreciated, by having alone taken the lead in a matter of international justice. PROTECTION OF FOREIGN MISSIONS IN CHINA. File No. 9864/-1. No. 751.] Chargé Fletcher to the Secretary of State. Peking, October 4, 1907. SIR: I have the honor to inclose herewith a translation of an edict issued on the 1st instant on the subject of the protection of missions in China, which, after mentioning that attacks upon and injuries to missionaries and mission property have occurred in every province, directs the viceroys and governors of the provinces to have all the clauses of the treaties which concern missions printed and circulated among their subordinates, so that they may be energetically explained to the people and observed by the officials. The edict calls upon all Chinese subjects, converts and nonconverts alike, to observe the laws, and prescribes that justice be meted out to all classes without discrimination. I have, etc., HENRY P. FLETCHER. [Inclosure. Translation.] Imperial edict (October 1, 1907)-Protection of missions. An edict for the protection of missions in accordance with treaty provisions. It is the duty of all local officials to protect missionaries wherever found in China, in respect to their persons, lives, money, and property. In the last two or three years there have been cases in every province of the burning of the buildings belonging to missionary societies. No locality has been able to keep away from doing injury to missionaries. We are greatly grieved at this. We are pushing inquiries as to the cause. A large part of the disagreement arising between the missionary societies and the common people is caused by the crookedness of the Yamen underlings. In times past treaties have been concluded in which it is clearly stipulated that missionaries shall do their duty in preaching their doctrines. Those who practice these doctrines should not be oppressively treated nor obstructed. If, however, there arises any question coming under the jurisdiction of Chinese law, the local officials must conform to said law in that which they do. The necessary distinctions are clearly drawn. Let the viceroys and governors of all the Provinces have printed all the clauses of the treaties concerned with missions and circulate them among their subordinates, to the end that they may be energetically explained to the people and observed by the officials. The missionaries, on the other hand, must likewise observe treaty stipulations. The people, whether in or out of the mission societies, are alike our children and are all amenable to the country's law. So far as infraction of the laws and lawsuits are concerned all the people are on an equality. They should on no account be treated with any discrimination. Thus the laws will be respected. Let it be known forthwith to the common people and to the members of the societies that the relations of each to the other must, according to their duty, be just; the officials and their underlings must be upright in their jurisdiction. Let the people and the members of the societies of their own accord make an end of their mutual anger and jealousy. For there are certain rowdies who deceitfully stir up trouble with false reports. Continual guard should be taken against these occurrences and on signs of their appearance they should be prevented. If the local officials do not understand the treaty provisions, or if they are negligent or unjust in their administration, or if they are pusillanimous and backward in their actions, then gradually serious trouble will arise. In that case these officials will be sought out and condignly punished. This decree is for their warning. Respect this. File No. 9864/5-7. No. 771.] a Chargé Fletcher to the Secretary of State. AMERICAN LEGATION, Peking, October 31, 1907. SIR: I have the honor to inclose herewith a printed copy of two memorials to the Chinese Government, prepared by the Centenary Missionary Conference which assembled at Shanghai in May, 1907, and to report that at the request of the conference they have been submitted to the foreign office in a joint note, copy inclosed, signed by the ministers of Great Britain and Germany and myself. The memorials explain at some length the teachings of the Christian religion, the object of Christian missions, the nonpolitical character of their teachings, and ask for complete religious liberty in China. The Chinese text of the memorials was prepared by Dr. W. A. P. Martin. I have, etc., HENRY P. FLETCHER. [Inclosure.] Joint note of Sir John Jordan, Count Rex and Mr. Fletcher to the foreign office. PEKING, October 23, 1907. YOUR HIGHNESS: The undersigned ministers of Great Britain and Germany, and the chargé d'affaires of America, having been requested by the China Centenary Missionary Conference to bring to the notice of the Chinese Government two memorials setting forth the object of Christian missions and asking for complete religious liberty for all Chinese Christians, now have the honor to transmit to your highness these documents, and to request that they may be submitted to the Throne. Your highness' board is doubtless aware that the conference from which these memorials emanate met at Shanghai in May of this year and was attended by Protestant missionaries from all parts of China. The representations which they have made in the two documents inclosed are intended in the first place to demonstrate the nonpolitical character of their teaching, and in the second to urge upon the Chinese Government the importance of granting complete religious liberty to all its subjects. If your highness will be good enough to carefully peruse the arguments of the memoralists we venture to think that your highness will be prepared to support their request, and to ask for the issuance of a decree in the sense suggested. We avail ourselves, etc., SIR JOHN JORDON, HENRY P. FLETCHER. a @ Not printed. 85111-FR 1907- -12 GOVERNMENTAL AND EDUCATIONAL REFORMS IN CHINA. (See Foreign Relations, 1906, pp. 341 et seq.) File No. 1787/4-5. No. 593.] Minister Rockhill to the Secretary of State. AMERICAN LEGATION, Peking, April 24, 1907. SIR: I have the honor to transmit herewith in translation a copy of an imperial edict which was issued on the 20th instant, referring to the present administration of the three Manchurian Provinces of the Empire, over which a viceroy is appointed. The official chosen for the post of viceroy is Hsü Shih-ch'ang, the present president of the Mincheng Pu (home office), a young, progressive, and deservedly popular official, who previously served for many years under the Viceroy Yüan Shih-k'ai, to whom he is naturally greatly attached. He was a few months ago sent with Chên Beileh, the son of Prince Ch'ing, as one of the high commissioners to Manchuria to investigate conditions there, and to devise means for the reorganization of these provinces. Tang Shao-i, the first governor of the Province of Sheng-ching (Mukden) is well known to you. The office to which he is appointed is scarcely a promotion for him, but his friends are of opinion that after the harsh rebuke he received from the Throne a few months ago, it is best for him that he should leave the capital for a while. Of the new governors of Kirin and Hei-lung-chiang I know but little; the former is provincial judge of Kiang-su, the latter police commissioner of Tientsin and high in the confidence of Viceroy Yüan Shih-k'ai. W. W. ROCKHILL. I have, etc., [Inclosure. Translation.] Imperial edict reorganizing Manchuria. The following imperial edict was issued to-day, April 20, 1907: The government of the three eastern Provinces (Manchuria) has become antiquated, and the condition of the people is one of poverty. It becomes urgently necessary, therefore, to conscientiously undertake a thorough reorganization of these provinces to get rid of long-standing abuses, and to define the responsibility of officials. The tartar-generalship of Shengking is hereby changed to the viceroyship of the three Manchurian Provinces, and to this post are added the functions of the tartar-generals of these three provinces. The incumbent of the post will have an office in each of the three provinces and reside in each of them in turn. The post of governor is created in each of these three provinces, Feng-t'ien (Mukden), Kirin, and Hei-lung-chiang, to assist in the administration of the government. Hsü Shih-ch'ang is hereby appointed to the post of viceroy of the three Manchurian Provinces with the added powers of tartar-genera! of the three provinces, and is also made a high commissioner of the Imperial Government. Tong Shao-i is appointed governor of Feng-t'ien (i. e., Mukden), Chu Chiapao acting governor of Kirin, and Tuan Chih-kuel is given the rank of a provincial treasurer, and made acting governor of Hei-lung-chiang (Amur). |