Mr. Breckinridge to
Mr. Olney.
Legation of the United States,
St. Petersburg, August 24, 1895.
(Received Sept. 10.)
No. 132.]
Sir: I have to confirm my telegram of August
23, in regard to the admission of American missionaries in China to
Russian territory.
Referring to my No. 127, of August 15, upon the same subject, I inclose
copy and translation of a note from Mr. Chichkine of August 9/21,
received yesterday evening.
[Page 1078]
I also inclose copy of my reply to Prince Lobanow, of this date,
discussing the mode of applying the conditions imposed and referring to
the treatment which has been given by his Government to this
business.
While the Russian Government does not reply in terms to the inquiry
whether their laws deny the right of asylum to our citizens in peril of
their lives, as in China, yet it is only too plain that such is the
case, and also that it is extremely difficult to get them to effectively
exercise their ready power to waive its application in the present
emergency.
This matter has occasioned me no little anxiety, both as to the nature of
the subject and, especially under the pressure of recent events in
China, as to the possible peril to some of our people at remote and
exposed points in that country.
I have tried to keep as closely in touch with the Department as the
circumstances seemed to permit. The last note from the foreign office
has seemed to me to require a reply no less full than the one I have
made, though, as stated in my No. 127, I did not expect to communicate
with the Russian Government further upon the subject until I received
instructions based upon that statement of the case.
I will not lengthen this dispatch by recapitulating the points in my
present note to Prince Lobanow; but referring to it and to the other
inclosure, I respectfully submit my action in the premises and the
present status of the case.
I have, etc.,
[Inclosure 1 in No.
132.—Translation.]
Mr. Chichkine to
Mr. Breckinridge.
Asiatic Department,
Ministry of Foreign
Affairs,
August 9/21,
1895.
Mr. Envoy: In answer to the two notes which
you have had the goodness to address to the ministry of foreign
affairs, dated May 23/ June 4 and July 27/August 8, I hasten to
inform you that the Imperial Government finds no inconvenience in
permitting the American missionaries, victims of religious
persecution in China, to pass the frontier and to give them asylum
on Russian territory. At the same time, the members of American
ecclesiastical missions can only resort to Siberia after they have
bound themselves in writing to abstain from all religious propaganda
and from all interference in religious matters.
I deem it my duty to add that, in conformity with the decision taken
by the Imperial Government, our minister at Peking, as well as the
competent authorities in Siberia, has been furnished the necessary
instructions to this effect.
Please accept, etc.,
[Inclosure 2 in No.
132.]
Mr. Breckinridge
to Prince Lobanow.
Legation of the United States,
St. Petersburg, August 12/24, 1895.
Your Excellency: I have the honor to
acknowledge the receipt of the note of His Excellency Mr. Chichkine
of August 9/21, in reply to the notes of this legation of May
23/June 4 and July 27/August 8, informing me that the Imperial
Government finds no inconvenience in
[Page 1079]
permitting American missionaries who may be
victims of religious persecution in China to pass the frontier and
to give them refuge in Russian territory.
I note the condition attached, that said missionaries can only enter
Siberia after they have bound themselves in writing to abstain from
all religious propaganda and from all interference in religious
matters.
His excellency further has the goodness to state that in conformity
with this decision the Russian minister at Peking as well as the
competent authorities in Siberia have been furnished with the
necessary instructions.
I have not failed to telegraph this gratifying assurance to my
Government and to confirm it more fully by mail.
In regard to the condition imposed upon the privilege of asylum in
Russian territory, I wish to call your excellency’s attention to a
feature in its application which may entirely neutralize the
benefits intended to be bestowed.
First, however, I wish to emphasize the fact that no privilege upon
Russian soil has been requested or desired for these citizens above
those extended to any other persons. This legation has sought to
make it very plain that the sole purpose is in the interest of
humanity to save life, and that our citizens would be expected to
obey strictly the laws of the Empire or to surfer the just
consequences of not doing so.
To return, then, to the manner in which the proposed condition is to
be applied, I note that these citizens are only to be permitted to
cross the frontier “after” they have bound themselves in writing,
etc.
I believe it is the practice of the Imperial Government to turn back
at the frontier all those of whom a condition is required unless
they conform to or have complied with that condition, as certified
by the proper imperial authority, who may be stationed in the
country from which the applicant comes or in some country through
which he has passed.
As I have tried heretofore to make clear, the only cases in which the
hospitalities of the Empire could be of avail to our citizens in
China are those in which they are comparatively near the Russian
border, and hence are remote from Pekin and the coast, where the
minister and consuls are located. Their danger consists chiefly in
the remoteness of their location and the suddenness of their
peril.
Hence it would seem quite impossible for them now to enter into the
required agreement and have it acted upon by his excellency the
minister at Pekin, the only official beyond the frontier mentioned
in the note now under consideration, in time to be of much service
to them. This might have been of service when the American minister
at Pekin first sought to provide them with such a permit; but if in
the midst of the present peril they are to communicate with Pekin
and then wait until they can get a reply, it would seem to be a
dangerous delay.
I ask, then, if this emergency can not be met by letting our citizens
cross the frontier simply upon condition that they obey the laws
after they enter the empire?
It is an immediately operative permit that I have sought to
procure.
I trust your excellency will not misconstrue me when I say that the
delay which has occurred in this business is a matter of extreme
regret to me. At the earliest possible moment I sought to impress
with all proper earnestness the peculiar character of this question
in the estimation of my Government and in that of all the people of
the United States. Tour excellency’s reception of my statements was
gracious and gratifying; but from some cause, despite my continued
efforts, no attention
[Page 1080]
to
the business could be secured; and my note of July 27/August 8,
written when you were not receiving the diplomatic representatives,
and which requested, in view of the nature of the case, the honor of
an acknowledgment, that I might know if it had received your own
attention, was not acknowledged. Of course, there may be good and
sufficient reasons for all this that I do not know. I could only
report the facts to ray Government as they occurred. Having now this
measure of favorable action, I hastened to telegraph it to my
Government, both for the benefit of our exposed citizens and to
correct, as far as this favorable information can, the impression
justified by the former condition of this business. I now avail
myself of this opportunity to make this frank statement to your
excellency, as a course both right in itself and best conducive to
good relations between our respective Governments and countries.
I further avail myself, etc.,
