Mr. Denby to Mr. Gresham.
Peking, October 15, 1894.
Sir: I have the honor to confirm my telegram of this date, as follows:
October 15.
Reports of danger of residence Peking exaggerated. Only one attack on Americans; insignificant; promptly punished. Excellent proclamations enjoining the protection of foreigners issued at my request.
There have been repeated back to Peking recently several telegrams, sent to London and elsewhere, reporting the danger of residence in this city. The alarm expressed in them is not shared by well-informed residents. It is my impression that these telegrams originated at other points and did not proceed from Peking. Whatever their object, whether to justify foreign interference or to serve other purposes, they will cause groundless anxiety in Europe and America, which it is to be hoped the above telegram may help to allay.
The fact of the matter is that, while the excitement caused by the threatened Japanese invasion justified the precautions reported in my dispatch No. 1988, of the 3d instant, that excitement has now subsided, and there is no reason at present to regard ourselves as unsafe.
I have, etc.,
Chargé d’Affaires ad interim.