Mr. Hay to Mr. Conger.
Washington, April 16, 1900.
Sir: I have to acknowledge the receipt of your dispatch No. 332, of February 26 last, inclosing a copy of a protest by the American Presbyterian Mission at Chefoo, wherein it is stated that through the activity of the Germans in the province of Shantung in prospecting for minerals, and in the construction of railroads, the lives and property of American missionaries and their families are being endangered, because of the fact that the natives are bitterly opposed to all such enterprises, and in their hostility to foreigners, as a consequence, make no distinction whatever between foreign nationalities.
The protestants request that this Government bring this state of affairs to the attention of the German Government and ask it to instruct its representative in the province of Shantung not to expose American citizens needlessly to risk, and that in case they are thus endangered by it, whether directly or indirectly, that it see that adequate protection is afforded them.
The Department thinks that the American missionaries, who for forty years have conducted their peaceful and beneficial enterprises in the province of Shantung, under the guaranty of treaties and the protection of the Chinese Government, have a reasonable and just claim to as great a degree of efficient recognition and, in case of need, protection, within the zone of effective German operations, as the missionaries of Germany enjoy. Your German colleague has already assured you of this much, as you will recall, at the time the question of consular representation in the German leased territory and the adjoining sphere of influence was under discussion.
You will therefore take an early occasion to say to your German colleague that the Government of the United States feels that under the circumstances of the case it can expect that the German authorities in Shantung will see to it that American citizens, and particularly American missionaries in that quarter, shall receive equal treatment with Germans in the matter of necessary protection of life and property.
The chronic situation in Shantung appears now to be scarcely less disquieting than in April a year ago, when the German expedition was about to go to the interior, and the assurances then given as to the equal protection of Americans have no less pertinency now than then. In this connection you may consult my instruction No. 156, of April 4, 1899.1
This friendly reliance on German protection within the effective zone of German occupation or action does not of course prejudice the [Page 119] course of this Government with respect to the due protection of our citizens in the remoter interior beyond the limits of German control.
I am, etc.,
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