Mr. Adee to Mr. Conger.
Washington, September 19, 1898.
Sir: I send you copy of a dispatch from the United States consul at Hankow,1 communicating the statements of the Rev. Z. Charles Beale and E. D. Chapin, of the Christian and Missionary Alliance, regarding a riot which occurred at Hong-kiang, in Hunan, and which resulted in their being driven from the scene of their labors and suffering injury, for which they have been in part indemnified by the local authorities.
Mr. Wilcox has been instructed to lay all the facts of the case before you. The inclosures with his dispatch are, however, herewith communicated, inasmuch as they have been received in original from Mr. Wilcox, and it does not appear that he has retained copies.
The instructions of the Department to your predecessor in 1895, with respect to the protection of missionaries in the interior provinces, the punishment of any persons guilty of interfering with them or injuring them in person or property, and the necessary discipline to be imposed on all provincial and local authorities who may have failed in their duty on such occasions, will afford you all proper guidance for dealing with the present question, which for the time appears to have passed from the acute stage to one of formal complaint and demand for exemplary action by the Chinese Government. (See Foreign Relations, 1895, correspondence concerning antiforeign riots, pp. 87–194.)
Respectfully, yours,
Acting Secretary.
- Not printed.↩