No. 79.
Mr. Young
to Mr. Frelinghuysen
.
Peking , March 14, 1883. (Received May 5.)
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge your dispatch, No. 77, in reference to the right of Chinese laborers to transit through the United States, and your instructions as to the manner in which the legation should treat the question in discussions with the yamên.
I have read with care the opinion of the Attorney-General, and may venture the belief that the action of the Government will go far toward strengthening our position, “evidencing, as it does,” to quote your words, “our sense of justice to China.”
As I have had occasion to say in former dispatches, the question of emigration has never been alluded to in any of my conversations with the yamên, * * * and I prefer to believe that the Government here is satisfied that the action of Congress was dictated by a supreme necessity, and that nothing has been done by the American people inconsistent with a spirit of the sincerest friendship and good-will toward China.
I have, &c.,