the district magistrate of Punglai (i. e., Tungehow City) to adopt precautionary measures to remove all doubt and alarm, so that when Mr. Mateer and his associates return their safety can be assured. The day fixed by rumor, September 10, for bringing in soldiers, and destroying the missionaries, having long since passed over without disturbance, plainly shows that the whole was a rumor, unworthy of belief, which need have excited no alarm. The doubt which your excellency expresses, that the delay in settling the riot of Tien-tsin, and the want of energy manifested in dealing with it, considering the serious consequences likely to result from it, are calculated to lead all western nations to doubt the faith and earnestness of the government, arouses in my mind the closest attention and shows your full knowledge of the matter. In dealing with an affair like this, that involves the relations between this and other countries, it is indeed important that the government should earnestly put forth its utmost energy, uniting safety with speed in bringing it to a close. But in dealing with the difficulties of this case we have proved the truth of the saying, "the more haste the worse speed;" having found that the two are incompatible, the wisest course for us seems to be to humor things so as to attain the end safely. Can any one doubt that government desires to speedily bring the Tien-tsin riot and all that has grown out of it to a close? Yet to arrest the murderers is not easy; to find the clue to them is hard; but the hardest of all is to reconcile the evidence obtained, for the whole affair was done on a sudden provocation and had no leader who had planned it. When a great crowd rushes together in a frenzy, the course of events cannot be closely remembered, nor who it was that killed the victims be certainly found out or known. The names of the leaders or the actual murderers are not ascertainable, and this makes the difficulty in arresting them. When robbers plunder and secrete their booty, it is comparatively easy to trace them; but here all the world ran about in commingling crowds, without order or leaders, and this is what makes it so hard for us to get any clue to the guilty. In common cases of robbery or murder the plunder is hid somewhere, or there is proof of the killing; somebody has taken the lead in the act; but in this instance there is nothing, no booty, no proof, no leader, nothing to guide to a conviction. But the most difficult part is in discriminating the evidence, for if the prisoners are verbally interrogated their testimony is not true probably, and if they are put to the question they are ready to implicate the innocent. This shows the difficulties in the way of getting evidence. Amidst these various obstacles, if the settlement of this affair be unduly hurried, not only will it be hard to satisfy the Chinese people that justice has been done, but I fear that foreigners will also be disappointed. These are the causes which have delayed the settlement of the Tien-tsin affair. Many guilty persons are already in custody, among whom ten or more have been proven to be guilty and will suffer the extreme penalty of the law. I think that their cases will be closed in a few days and will remove all doubts as to whether anything would be done. I have thus endeavored to state my difficulties in conducting this affair, both toward my own government and toward foreign nations, and I hope that your excellency and all the other foreign ministers will appreciate the contingencies of my position. His Excellency F. F. Low, United States Minister to China. C SEPTEMBER 11, 1870. (Tungchow, 9th year, 8th moon, 16th day.) Prince Kung, chief secretary of state for foreign affairs, herewith sends a communication: I was yesterday honored by receiving the following decree. "Li Hung-chang having been appointed governor general of the province of Chihi, let him immediately proceed to Tien-tsin, and in conjunction with Tsang kwoh-fan, Ting Jih-chang and Chinglin, inquire into and manage affairs there. Let Mao Changhi, the president of the board of works, return to Pekin and resume his duties. Respect this." With respect to the Tien-tsin case I may observe that during the three months which have passed, Governor General Tsang and his colleagues have searched out and arrested more than eighty of the criminals engaged in the riot, and he is now employed in ex-' amining them and taking testimony; he will, without doubt, be able to ascertain clearly who are guilty and decide their sentences. His excellency Li having received the above order to go to Tien-tsin, he will join in the inquiry and hasten the matter, so that there seems now a strong probability that this affair may ere long be brought to a conclusion. His Excellency FREDERICK F. Low, United States Minister to China. No. 232. Mr. Fish to Mr. Motley. MOTLEY, Minister, London : [Telegram.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, November 1, 1870. The following telegram was sent to-day to Bancroft. Communicate its substance verbally to Lord Granville: It appears to the President that the hostilities between France and Germany, if conducted in Chinese waters, will operate on the minds of the Chinese to put in peril the lives of Europeans and Americans in that empire. You are instructed to sound the government of North Germany to ascertain whether it is possible to obtain a suspension of hostilities and a cooperative action between the squadrons in the Chinese waters, so far as the protection of the lives and property of Americans and Europeans may require. In case the answer is favorable you will ask leave to communicate their action to Washburne, and will send him a copy of this telegram, which he will take as his authority to ask for a like action on the part of the French government. FISH, Secretary. No. 233. Mr. Motley to Mr. Fish. [By cable.] LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, London, November 2, 1870. (Received at 4.10 p. m., November 2.) On communicating verbally this morning the substance of your telegram to Bancroft, Granville requested me to inform you that what you proposed had already been done. Commander of the Prussian naval forces in China had proposed to the French commander their coöperative action to protect European life and property. English government had already signified its cordial applause of the step to both bellige rents, and Granville hopes that you may be inclined to the same course without preliminary formalities. MOTLEY, London. No. 234. Mr. Motley to Mr. Fish. [By cable.] UNITED STATES LEGATION, LONDON, November 3, 1870. (Received November 3d.) FISH, Secretary of State, Washington: In correction of my telegram of yesterday, Granville learnt from French chargé d'affaires that Prussian commander in Chinese waters proposed suspension of hostilities to French commander, and latter accepted. Granville infers that French government sanctions the step, but is not sure that Prussian has done so. What you propose is begun with good prospect of success. MOTLEY, London. No. 261.] No. 235. Mr. Davis to Mr. Bancroft. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, November 8, 1870. SIR Referring to my No. 259, inclosing a copy of Mr. Fish's telegram of the 1st instant, instructing you to propose to the North German government a suspension of hostilities in Chinese waters, I have to say that no reply or acknowledgment has been received. When the massacre of Tien-tsin took place, Mr. Low was of opinion that the outbreak was a local one and unpremeditated, * and although the Chinese populace were still much excited, Mr. Low thought that the danger was over, that the government was sincere in its intention to prevent a repetition, and to punish the offenders, and that there was no probability of similar outbreaks elsewhere. In his subsequent dispatches he still adheres to his original opinion that the disturbance was local and unpremeditated, and that the government at Pekin sincerely desired to prevent a repetition and to preserve peace; but he appears to have decidedly modified his opinion as to the probability that they will be able to do so. His doubts are founded on the injudicious course pursued by the French chargé d'affaires in demanding the summary execution of the Tien-tsin officials as an ultimatum, and upon the hopes the populace in the large Chinese cities derive from the state of war existing between Germany and France, which they argue will neutralize the force of those two powers. He expresses the fear that the government at Pekin may find itself too weak to resist the pressure of popular opinion in the masses, acting in harmony with the cherished wishes and purposes of the literati, and that it may be forced into war to prevent popular outbreaks. It seemed to the President that these views coming from a gentleman so cautious, dispassionate, and prudent as Mr. Low, were entitled to more than the ordinary consideration. He therefore directed, after consultation with the cabinet, the telegram of the 1st instant to be sent to you, believing that any advantage which one belligerent might gain over the other in eastern waters would be of small consequence to the victor, compared with the preservation of peace in China. The President does not intend to depart from the policy pointed out in Mr. Fish's dispatch No. 148, of August 31, 1869. He does not propose to take part, nor does he invite North Germany to take part in any controversy between France and China growing out of the massacre of Tien-tsin. He only desires that so far as the impression of the neutralization of German and French influence by the state of hostilities operated to enfeeble the central government, that impression may be removed; and that should unfortunately a general war be declared by China, or should an outbreak against foreigners take place which the government cannot prevent nor punish, the several powers may be in a position to afford the fullest measure of protection. I inclose copies of two telegrams from Mr. Motley, which would seem to indicate that the commanders of the French and Prussian fleets have come to some understanding, but it is not clear that this has been ratified at Berlin and Paris. I also inclose a copy of a communication of the 5th instant from Baron Gerolt bearing upon this subject. J. C. B. DAVIS, No. 236. Mr. Bancroft to Mr. Fish. No. 157.] It appears to the President that the hostilities between France and Germany, if conducted in Chinese waters, will operate in the minds of the Chinese to put in peril the lives of Europeans and Americans in that empire. You are instructed to sound the government of North Germany to ascertain whether it is possible to obtain suspension of hostilities or a coöperative action between the squadrons in the Chinese waters so far as the protection of the lives and property of Americans and Europeans may require. In case the answer is favorable, you will ask leave to communicate their action to Washburne, and will send him a copy of this telegram, which he will take as his authority to ask for a like action on the part of French government. This Government most fully adopts the line of policy marked out by you, and I shall, therefore, make to Mr. Washburne the communication which you direct. No. 237. Mr. Fish to Mr. Low. GEO. BANCROFT. No. 24.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, November 29, 1870. SIR: I acknowledge the receipt of your dispatch of the 26th of September last, No. 31, with three inclosures, exhibiting your correspondence with Prince Kung upon the removal of the missionaries from Tungchow and the disturbed condition of affairs in China. Although the general tenor of your note of the 13th September to Prince Kung is regarded as judicious and proper, your assurance toward the close, that a flagrant violation of the rights and privileges of our cit izens by the people, and the failure of the imperial government to apply the proper remedy promptly, are the only circumstances which will cause a departure from the traditional policy of the United States in their intercourse with China, is considered to be too strong an assurance of forbearance, and it would be, perhaps, well that Prince Kung should understand that any violation of the rights of our citizens and any flagraut violation of treaty stipulations of other powers may cause a change. HAMILTON FISH. SIR: No. 238. Rear-Admiral Rodgers to the Secretary of the Navy. UNITED STATES STEAMER COLORADO, FLAG-SHIP OF ASIATIC FLEET, Wusung, below Shanghai, China, October 8, 1870. I propose to send the Benicia in a few days to Che Foo, to convey the American missionaries from that place back to Teng-chow-foo, which they left in consequence of apprehensions of violence from the native population, having been brought away by an English gunboat. From an apparently dispassionate account of the state of suspense, uncertainty, and reasonable expectation of mob violence, in which they were for a time there, I cannot see that they did otherwise than prudently and wisely in coming away. They go back at the request, I believe, of our minister to Pekin, and at their own desire. I shall give the commander of the Benicia carefully-considered instructions in regard to them, and as to his intercourse with the authorities. Having performed this duty, the Benicia will be ordered to proceed to Japan. * I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, Rear Admiral, Commander-in-chief of Asiatic Fleet. No. 26.] No. 239. Mr. Fish to Mr. Low. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, December 1, 1870. SIR With reference to your No. 29, dated 17th September, 1870, in relation to the removal of the American residents at Tung-chow to Che Foo on the British naval vessels Borassa and Grasshopper kindly placed at their disposal by Sir Henry Kellett, I have to inform you that I have instructed Mr. Benjamin Moran, the chargé d'affaires of the United States at London, to cause the grateful apppreciation entertained by this government for the friendly and meritorious conduct of Sir Henry to be communicated to her Majesty's government. It is presumed that you have called upon Mr. Holmes for an explanation of his failure promptly to report to you upon the circumstances. which gave rise to the sudden exodus of the missionaries and other American residents from Tung-chow, and the manner of their departure. If not it would be well for you to do so, and it might be expedient to call the attention of other consular officers to the importance of promptly communicating with you in similar cases. HAMILTON FISH. GREAT BRITAIN. No. 240. THE NORTHWESTERN BOUNDARY. The Secretary of War to the Secretary of State. WAR DEPARTMENT, November 18, 1870. SIR: In reply to your letter of the 17th instant, I have the honor to inclose, herewith, copies of the report of Captain D. P. Heap, United States Army, upon the location of the new military post and reservation known as Fort Pembina, Dakota Territory, together with a plot of the reservation. WM. W. BELKNAP. |