No. 58.
Mr. Tsai Kwoh
Ching to Mr. Frelinghuysen.
Washington, July 31, 1884. (Received July 31.)
Sir: I have the honor to inform you that I have received from Mr. Huang Tsun Hsien, Chinese consul-general at San Francisco, a telegram in substance as follows:
There arrived in San Francisco on the 28th instant twenty-four Chinese merchants holding Chinese consular passports or certificates issued by that consulate. The holders are hot permitted to land, by order and indorsement made by the collector as follows:
Refused to land, on account of noncompliance of new law.
These certificates are the same as referred to by the Secretary of the Treasury in a letter to the collector dated March 14, 1884; also a letter of the Secretary of State to his excellency the Chinese minister dated March 19, 1884. The steamship left China before the passage of the new law, and the exempt class could not comply with its provisions. If the action of the collector is carried out in these cases, it will be a great hardship to the Chinese merchants. Immediate attention is desired to this, as the ship departs on the 7th of August.
I submit most respectfully this matter to your excellency’s just and impartial consideration, in the hope that your excellency will kindly request the honorable Secretary of the Treasury to grant those twenty-four Chinese merchants permission to land.
Such action on your part will be esteemed a great favor, and will be a further evidence of the friendly disposition of your Government towards that of China.
Accept, &c.,