No. 237.
Mr. Fish to Mr. Low.
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 Tung-chow 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 citizens 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 flagrant violation of treaty stipulations of other powers may cause a change.