Mr. Peirce to Mr.
Uhl.
Legation of the United States,
St. Petersburg
,
June 4, 1895
.
(Received June 21.)
No. 89.]
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the
receipt of your No. 57, of May 16, 1895, relating to the action of the
Russian minister at Peking in the case of certain American missionaries
in Kalgan, China, who desired to take refuge in Siberia, fearing an
insurrection in China.
As instructed by you, I have addressed a note to the imperial foreign
office asking whether the regulations against the residence or travel of
foreign ecclesiastics or missionaries in Siberia are as strict as Count
Cassini interprets them to be. I inclose herewith a copy of my note.
I have, etc.,
[Page 1075]
[Inclosure in No. 89.]
Mr. Peirce to
Prince Lobanow.
Legation of the United States,
St. Petersburg
,
June 4, 1895.
Your Excellency: I am instructed by my
Government to call your excellency’s attention to the refusal, on
March 22, of the Russian minister at Peking, on the request of the
United States minister at that capital, either to issue on his own
account such an official paper as would enable a small party of
American missionaries living at Kalgan, China, consisting of three
ladies and three gentlemen, to take temporary refuge in Russian
territory for the protection of their lives in the event of an
insurrection breaking out in China, or to telegraph to the imperial
authorities in St. Petersburg requesting authority to do so.
In his letter to Mr. Denby, the American minister at Peking, His
Excellency Count Cassini stated that the rules relating to the
matter were very precise, and that it would be useless to telegraph
to St. Petersburg on the subject.
I am directed 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 degree of denying shelter to the citizens of a friendly State
whose lives might be imperiled.
My Government believes that this may be too strict an interpretation
of laws governing religious proselyting in Siberia, and that it is
not the intention of the Imperial Government to refuse shelter to
citizens of a friendly State in time of peril, whose purpose in
seeking it is the safety of their lives, and not the dissemination
of religious teachings or views, or the interference with the faith
of the people among whom they desire temporary asylum.
I avail, etc.,
