No. 125.
Mr. Williams to Mr. Fish.
Legation of
the United States,
Peking, October 2, 1874.
(Received December 8.)
No. 62.]Sir: I have the honor to send you the translation
of a dispatch from Prince Kung (inclosure 1) and a copy of my reply
(Inclosure 2) in relation to an application for the surrender of a criminal,
a point upon which I think there has not previously been any correspondence
with this government.
I am not fully aware of all the particulars of the enterprise in which this
man, Wang-Yen-ping, was engaged in the spring of last year, but he narrowly
escaped arrest and summary execution for being implicated in a wild and
lawless scheme of resisting the lawful authorities near Chin-kiang, by going
over to Japan. Three or four foreign sailors were taken up and handed over
to their consuls, and some proof was elicited during their examination that
certain persons in the plot did design to raise rebellion, but the whole
affair was almost ridiculous in its inception and management. It early
attracted the attention of the rulers, who are always alert to stop anything
that has the appearance of sedition, and several arrests were made, and I
believe a few unhappy natives, found with arms, were executed. There was no
overt act of sedition, nor was anybody injured, captured, or robbed by these
would-be revolutionists. This man, Wang-Yen-ping, who has, it appears, now
turned from the attempt to upset his national government, to act the part of
an imperial envoy to foreign countries, has probably attracted the notice of
some of the Chinese teachers or students, now in New England, through whom
his gasconade has been made known to their friends and superiors in this
country. The reference to a Hartford newspaper is the principal reason for
making this suggestion. Wang, himself, has received a good English
education; but, so far as I know anything of him, he is simply an
enthusiastic, excitable man, ready to engage in any enterprise which
promises reward or notoriety, and this assumption on his part of the dignity
of envoy is probably a piece of bravado which has been greatly exaggerated
by the newspaper writers.
I inquired of the members of the foreign office as to their sources of
information, but they had nothing besides the report quoted in the dispatch.
I explained to them, more fully than could be done by writing, the usages of
western nations respecting the extradition of criminals, and the modes of
procedure followed in obtaining their arrest and surrender. It would be
unwise, however, to allow this government those rights of extradition until
its jurisprudence has been remodeled on a better basis than it is at
present, while its application for the surrender of notorious criminals
might be entertained, each case on its own merits, so as to show to the
Chinese rulers that our Government is disposed to act fairly.
The twenty-first article of the British treaty provides for the rendition of
Chinese criminals fleeing to Hong-kong, and I understand that the practical
working of this clause has not, on the whole, been bad, though it has
entailed a good deal of trouble. One result has been that notorious
criminals are afraid to stay there long, and do not deem themselves safe
until they can get away to sea.
I have, &c.,
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[Inclosure 1 in No.
61—Translation.]
Prince Kung to Mr.
Williams.
Tungchi, 13th year, 8th moon, 18th day,
(September 23, 1874.)
Prince Kung, chief secretary of state for foreign affairs, herewith makes
a communication.
I received, on the 14th instant, from the southern superintendent of
trade, a dispatch inclosing two reports from the intendents at
Chin-kiang and Shanghai to the following effeet:
“There was a linguist named Wang-Yen-ping, who some time since got up an
illegal comb nation at Shanghai with some vagabonds, and without any
certificate for what he was doing, took a lot of arms up to Chin-kiang,
no doubt with the design of plunder a id brigandage. Hearing that search
was making for him, he managed to flee the country.
“Yesterday, on looking over the translations made by the taotai of
Shanghai, from a newspaper dated the 10th of August, there occurred the
following paragraph: ‘A copy of a Hartford paper has been received, in
which it is said that a Chinese from Shantung, named Wang-Tsang-fuh
alias Wang-Yen-ping, was there, going about among the hotels and
boarding-houses and talking in a wild manner. We have heard that he
intends going from Canada to England, and wherever he goes he gives out
that he has been sent as a special commissioner by the Chinese
government.’
“From what is said of his age and appearance, his former history, and the
manner of his escape from this country, there can be no doubt of the
identity of this man with Wang-Yen-ping. He can both talk and read the
English language, and if he has the hardihood to go abroad and
everywhere talk in this wild way, he ought to be closely pursued and
arrested, or it is greatly to be feared that he will cause difficulty of
the most serious kind.
“I have, therefore, to request that you will inform the American minister
at Peking of this, that he may write to his Government and have the man
Wang-Yen-ping arrested wherever he may be and sent back to China, so
that he may be severely punished.”
I, the prince, have learned, in relation to this man Wang-Yen-ping, that
he was once engaged in secretly carrying a lot of arms to aid in a
scheme of brigandage, and has now gone abroad with a false story that he
is a government envoy. This is all contrary to law, and it is very
important that he be arrested and punished, lest serious troulle arise;
and I now make known these facts to your excellency, and desire that you
will make them known to your Government. It is of the greatest
importance that Wang–Yen-ping be at once taken up and sent back to China
for trial, so that he can no longer roam over other lands and create
disturbance; and I certainly hope that it will be done as now
requested.
[Inclosure 2 in No 62.]
Mr. Williams to
Prince Kung.
Legation of the United States,
Peking, September 30,
1874.
To His Imperial Highness Prince Kung,
&c.:
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the
receipt of your highness’s dispatch stating that a certain
Wang-Yen-ping, who had formerly combined with some vagabonds in Shanghai
to convey arms from thence to Chin-kiang, and had escaped arrest by
flight to other countries, had there falsely asserted that he was an
envoy of the Chinese government, and you accordingly request me to write
to my Government and have the man arrested and sent back to China for
punishment, lest he cause further trouble, &c.
In regard to this man, who fled abroad to escape arrest, and has there
given out that he is an envoy from the Chinese government, I may first
state, in reply, that I have never heard anything of the particulars
mentioned by the taotai as seen in the news-paper.
But in relation to the request made in this dispatch for his arrest, I
beg to state that it is a general rule among western nations that when a
subject of one country, who is charged with such an offense, flees to
another, he is not liable to arrest and examination there, unless he has
broken the laws of that country. In this instance Wang-Yen-ping has fled
to the United States, and there has falsely given out that he is an
envoy of the Chinese government, but the officers there will soon learn
that, as he bears no letters with him from his own government, he is
only palming himself off as such.
It is quite out of the question for such a hare-brained, half-crazy man
as this to make
[Page 204]
any trouble
there, and it is needless for me to make known this application to have
him arrested with a view of punishment. Your highness will, therefore, I
hope, be relieved of all apprehension and solicitude on this head.
I have the honor to be your imperial highness’s obedient servant,
