Mr. Olney to Mr. Denby.
Washington, December 9, 1896.
Sir: I have to acknowledge the receipt of your Nos. 2405 and 2407, of October 23 and 25, respectively, in regard to the Kutien investigation.
With the former you inclose copy of the report of the British consul at Foochow on the conduct of the authorities of Fukien in connection with the massacre at Huashan, and in the latter you report your instructions to Mr. Hixson to discontinue his investigation when the British consul leaves.
These instructions are approved. The views of the Department touching our consul’s line of action are embodied in its cablegrams of August 12 and September 19, and its Nos. 1152, of September 21; 1179, of October 23, and 1208, of November 30. These are sufficient for your present guidance.
The statement made by the British consul in his report, forwarded with your No. 2405, that “the deplorable weakness and duplicity of the local authorities (at Kutien) were the indirect cause of the massacre,” has been noted as tending to show the absolute necessity of carrying out the instructions of the Department on the subject. The Department also notes the conclusion of Mr. Manfield’s report as to the evident negligence of the former and the present viceroys and the various other provincial officials he mentions, and anxiously awaits the report of Mr. Hixson and Commander Newell, when it may be in a position to give you further instructions in the matter.
I am, etc.,