Mr. Tsui Kwo Yin to Mr. Gresham.
Washington, August 18, 1893. (Received August 18.)
Sir: I have the honor to advise you that I received this day from the Chinese consul-general at San Francisco a telegram, of which the following is a copy, to wit:
San Francisco, Cal.
Tsui Kwo Yin, Chinese Minister, Washington, D. C.:
During the past two or three days the Chinese laborers in the towns of Fresno and Tulare and in this city have been forcibly driven from these places by mobs and the Chinese merchants have been notified to close their places of business and quit the towns within two weeks. This will result in great loss of money and property to the merchants in these places. Will you please call the attention of the Federal authorities to this matter?
Li Yung Yew,
Consul-General.
I regard the information conveyed by this telegram of the utmost gravity and importance to the Chinese people in the State of California, and likewise throughout the United States, inasmuch as the acts of the mobs in California will incite the people in other States to inflict similar injuries upon the Chinese laborers and merchants in their respective localities.
I would suggest, therefore, that the United States authorities ought to take the necessary steps to quell the present disturbances, by which course further disaster may be prevented and the rights of the Chinese laborers and merchants in the United States protected and preserved.
I have the honor to request, therefore, that such action may be taken by the U. S. Government as may be deemed essential for the protection of the Chinese laborers and merchants and their business interests and property in the State of California and, if like reasons therefor shall arise, elsewhere in the United States.
Accept etc.,