Mr. Smith to Mr. Hay.

Sir: Some weeks since I had occasion to communicate to the State Department the anxiety of the officers and friends of the board concerning the safety and protection of those American citizens who were engaged in missionary work in the province of Shansi under the direction of our board. The assurance given in response to this reply, that everything possible was being done by our Government for the welfare of these people, was most welcome and is gratefully acknowledged.

On September 8 word came through Consul-General Goodnow, at Shanghai, that our entire force in that field, 5 men, 5 women, and 5 children, had been massacred, some on July 31, the others on August 15. Further tidings immediately followed which made it clear that this foul murder was done with the connivance of the governor of the province, if not by his express direction. The husband and father in two of the families—the only means of support in each case to a wife and three little children, happily in this country—fell, and the fear of want has been added to the unspeakable anguish of the terrible bereavement. Nothing could well exceed the atrocity of this deed. Its bold defiance of our treaty rights, the undisguised treachery of this governor which attended the act, the tremendous proportions of the crime, the extinction of a whole mission, all alike demand most careful inquisition and righteous punishment. When our Government arranges a settlement with China this horrible deed of the Shansi governor will not be forgotten, and a repetition of such a deed in the future will surely be made impossible.

Confiding in the impartial regard of our Government for each and every one of its citizens and in its inflexible purpose to see that justice is done,

I am, etc.,

Judson Smith.