The Department has considered the draft, and has made some changes in it.
The only one of importance is the omission of the fifth measure
suggested by you for the prevention of antiforeign riots. This is done
because the right of this Government to send a commission to any part of
the Chinese Empire to investigate into riots in which American citizens
had suffered in person or property is one we claim under existing
treaties, and is not open to discussion.
I inclose the amended draft note for presentation to the Yamên.
[Inclosure in No. 1368.]
Draft.
Your Highnesses and Your Excellencies: On
the 21st day of September I had the honor, by direction of my
Government, to address to you a communication to the effect that my
Government was carefully considering the subject of antiforeign
riots in China with the view to present to you thereafter another
communication embodying its views on the measures that it desired to
see adopted in order to prevent the occurrence of these lamentable
outrages on foreign residents in China.
I have now the honor by order of my Government to lay before you the
following observations:
It is unnecessary to dwell upon the necessity that rests upon China
to secure the safety and security of foreigners residing in her
borders. Such persons dwell in China by virtue of the treaties and
conventions which recognize their right to remain in her territory.
This right and the consequent duty of protection by the Government
have been recognized in many Imperial edicts, and in many papers
emanating from the Tsung-li Yamên. In spite, however, of the most
solemn assurances given from time to time by the Imperial Government
that foreigners in China would be protected, in spite of the
issuance of passports, which on their face engage the Government to
afford protection, there occur year after year, almost month after
month, riots and massacres which startle and shock the civilized
world.
It is desirable that the subject of riots should be treated as a
whole, for while the incentive motives are not the same in all
cases, the graver question of official responsibility which
underlies most anti-foreign outbreaks in China is the principal
subject of the concern of my Government.
The earnest desire of the United States Government, and it is
confidently expected a like desire animates that of China, is to
render the recurrence of outrages of this nature impossible by the
adoption of such measures as experience has now shown best suited to
that end.
The punishment of those who have actually participated in antiforeign
riots has rarely been as prompt or as severe as it ought to have
been; furthermore, the erroneous idea is entertained in China by
many of the officials and the people generally that money payments
for injuries suffered constitute a complete indemnity. Such,
however, is not the case, for in addition to the reimbursement to
the sufferers for losses actually sustained there remains that
vindication of the law by the state, which is the only deterrent of
crime.
Nor does the punishment of a few ringleaders satisfy justice. The
official who deliberately stands by and fails to intervene to
protect inno cent people, when he has at his disposition sufficient
means to enable him to do so, is at least as guilty as the actual
leader of a mob.
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The commission sent last year by my Government to investigate the
antiforeign riots in Szechuan has stated its belief that—
The simplest and most efficacious policy is to insist that
the local officials shall be held responsible, and punished,
without further investigation than is necessary to establish
the fact that such riots have occurred; for we are firmly
convinced that, except in case of open rebellion, no such
riots of any extent can take place if the local officials
are energetic in the use of their influence and the means
they have at their disposal.
Commander Newell, in his report of the Kutien riots, says that but
for the inertness, inefficiency, and culpable negligence of certain
provincial and other authorities, whom he mentions by name, the
massacre of Hua-shan could have been prevented. While these
statements may not be strictly applicable to every locality in China
in which riots have occurred, they certainly do apply to every city
and town of considerable importance. In such places there are
soldiers and policemen sufficient and able to prevent rioting if
they are commanded to do so.
Uprisings against the authorities occurring anywhere in China are
promptly put down by the strong hand, and secret societies are held
firmly in check, and the members thereof are often tried and
executed. Incipient conspiracies are unearthed and instantly
suppressed. In any offense against the Government the utmost
vigilance, forethought, and strength are shown in dealing with the
offenders.
Antiforeign riots are not sudden local uprisings of ignorant and
malicious persons, as has sometimes been claimed, but all the proof
shows that antiforeign rioting, pillage, and massacre are often
arranged beforehand, without much, if any, effort at concealment,
and it is difficult to avoid the belief that the local officials are
cognizant of and at least tacitly approve of the felonious designs
which are concocted within their immediate jurisdiction. It is
perfectly evident, for instance, that there was last year a
concerted action between the capital and the outlying towns in
Szechuan, and that a general plan was organized to drive foreigners
from that province, and that the officials had knowledge
thereof.
From the foregoing remarks it is necessarily to be inferred that the
main remedy for existing evils, and the surest preventive of riots,
will be the holding of the local officials to a personal
accountability for every outrage against foreigners that may occur
in their jurisdiction. Such a line of conduct is in strict
conformity with the established usage in China with regard to all
crimes and misdemeanors other than such as concern foreigners.
My Government concludes that the best means to prevent the recurrence
of antiforeign riots in China, as far as Americans are concerned,
for whom alone it speaks, would be to adopt the following measures:
- 1.
- Recognition by the issuance of a formal declaration in an
Imperial decree that American missionaries have the right to
reside in the interior of China.
- 2.
- The declaration in such decree that American missionaries
have the right to buy land in the interior of China; that
they have all the privileges of the Berthemy Convention, as
amended in 1895, and that deeds taken by them shall be in
the name of the missionary society or church which buys the
land, as that convention provides.
- 3.
- The determination of and formal declaration by China by
Imperial decree to hold responsible and promptly punish not
only all individuals or minor officials directly or remotely
involved upon the occurrence of any riot whereby peaceable
American citizens have been affected in person or property
or injured in their established rights, but also the viceroy
or governor of the province in which it has occurred, who is
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directly
responsible to the Throne for the acts and omissions of
every one of his subordinates, although his only fault may
be ignorance.
- 4.
- That the punishment of officials found guilty of
negligence in case of a riot, or of connivance with rioters,
shall not be simply degradation from or deprivation of
office, but that they shall be, in addition, rendered
forever incapable of holding office, and shall also be
punished by death, imprisonment, confiscation of property,
banishment, or in some other manner under the laws of China
in proportion to the enormity of their offense.
- 5.
- That the Imperial decrees embodying the above provisions
shall be prominently put up and displayed in every Yamên in
China.
In presenting the foregoing suggestions, it will naturally occur to
you that my Government has not undertaken to go into detail
regarding everything it thinks should be done after a riot has
occurred, such, for example, as compensation to be paid for
injuries, the right of American citizens to return to the scene of
the riot and abide there, the ceremonies to be observed by the local
officials in reinstating sufferers in their rights, and other
matters which can be better discussed as occasion may require. But
my Government has simply endeavored to outline the measures that it
considers should be taken by China to prevent the riots. This is the
great object that it has in view in addressing this communication to
your highness and your excellencies, and having no doubt that the
Government of China shares to the full its desire to prevent the
recurrence of antiforeign riots it indulges the hope that early
action will be taken by China on the lines indicated, so that the
good relations existing between the two countries may be confirmed
and strengthened.
