Mr. Uhl to Mr. Breckinridge.
Washington, May 16, 1895.
Sir: I inclose a copy of a dispatch from our minister at Peking,1 stating that the Russian minister at that capital had, under the regulations of his Government, declined to issue a passport or some official paper to certain American missionaries residing at Kalgan, in China, enabling them to take temporary refuge in Russian territory, in case the outbreak of an insurrection in China imperiled their lives.
You may take occasion to inquire whether the Russian regulations against the residence or travel of foreign ecclesiastics or missionaries in Siberia are as strict as Count Cassini interprets them to be, even to the inhospitable degree of denying shelter to citizens of a friendly State whose lives might be imperiled.
I am, etc.,
Acting Secretary.