Mr. Olney to Mr. Yang Yü.
Washington, July 13, 1896.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge, with an expression of the Department’s gratification, the receipt of your note of the 8th instant, in regard to the settlement of the claims of the Methodist Episcopal Mission in Szechuan, in accordance with the recommendations of the United States commission, by which 30,325 taels were agreed upon, of which 10,325 taels were to be paid in Chengtu and the remainder, 20,000 taels, in Chungking. This indemnity, you add, has been paid in two installments.
I observe your further statement to the effect that another claim preferred by a missionary society (called the Chin-Li Hui) is still pending, but that the United States minister at Peking, with the consent of the Imperial Government, has instructed the consul-general of the United States at Shanghai to investigate and report upon it, to the end that it might be speedily adjusted in a like satisfactory manner.
It is inferred that this claim is identical with that mentioned in Mr. Denby’s dispatch, No. 2525, dated May 9, 1896. It amounted to $16,180, and was preferred by the American Baptist Mission Union on account of damages for injuries suffered in Szechuan in 1895. Mr. Denby remarks that it had been ordered to be paid to Consul-General Jernigan at Shanghai.
Accept, etc.,