Mr. Conger to
Mr. Hay.
Legation of the United States,
Pekin, China, December 23, 1900.
No. 482.]Sir: I have the honor to confirm herewith
your telegrams of the 5th, 17th, 19th, and 21st instants, and mine
of the 19th, 20th, 20th, and 22d instants.
I am gratified with and grateful for your permission to sign the note
in the final terms agreed to, and 1 believe it will turn out better
thus than if we had insisted to the end of opening up the whole
question again.
I regret exceedingly the error in the transmission of your cipher
telegram of the 5th instant. But for this all the late trouble and
misunderstanding would have been avoided. As it arrived and was
understood here it instructed me to sign the note as the majority
desired, that is, retaining the word “irrevocable.” The erroneous
group in your telegram was “majorities.” It is true this did not
make a correct grammatical construction, and for this reason its
repetition might have been requested, but it was such a direct reply
to the inquiry in which I used the word “majority” that, after
trying numerous other combinations, we had no doubt that you
intended for me to accede to the wish of the majority and retain the
word. This construction did not seem unreasonable, since I
understood your strongest opposition to the word grew out of its use
in connection with the demand for death punishments, the omission of
which I had secured. As further strengthening this view, I
apprehended that you had concluded that it was such a short step
from “conditions absolutely indispensable” to “irrevocable
conditions” that the latter might be used instead of the former.
Hence, as I wired you, I immediately notified all my colleagues, on
the 7th instant, that my Government instructed me to accept the word
“irrevocable,” and we all believed the matter settled until the
receipt of your telegram of the 16th instant. In the meantime all my
colleagues had so wired their Governments, and none of them were
willing, unless compelled to do so, to telegraph for further
instructions. I therefore feel certain that your permission to sign,
although reluctantly given, has greatly facilitated negotiations. I
also hope and believe that no serious trouble can come from the
retention of the word “irrevocable.”
A meeting of the ministers was held yesterday afternoon, in which I
again clearly stated to my colleagues that my statement to them on
the 7th instant that my Government had agreed to the retention of
the word “irrevocable” was a mistake resulting from an error in the
transmission of a telegram, and that, on the contrary, you had been
opposed to the word from the beginning, and still believe its use
unwise as apparently equivalent to “ultimatum;” but that in order
not to unnecessarily delay or imperil negotiations, you had
authorized me to sign the note with its retention. I therefore
signed, and it was decided to request Prince Ching and Li Hung-chang
to meet us at the Spanish legation at 10 o’clock a.m. on Monday, the
24th instant, when it will be presented to them.
I inclose herewith a copy of the note in French, that being the
language in which it is written, and also a copy of the English
translation agreed upon by the British minister and myself, which,
together with a Chinese translation, will accompany the note.
I have the honor to be, etc.,
[Page 244]
[Inclosure.]
Joint note of the Powers.
The following English version is the translation agreed upon by
the American and British ministers to China of the French text
of the note addressed to the Government of China, signed by the
representatives of the cooperating powers at Pekin, December 22,
1900:
“During the months of May, June, July, and August of the present
year, serious disturbances broke out in the northern provinces
of China, and crimes unprecedented in human history, crimes
against the law of nations, against the laws of humanity and
against civilization, were committed under peculiarly odious
circumstances. The principal of these crimes were the following:
- “1. On the 20th of June, His Excellency Baron von
Ketteler, German minister, proceeding to the tsungli
yamen, was murdered while in the exercise of his
official duties by soldiers of the regular army acting
under orders of their chiefs.
- “2. Trie same day the foreign legations were attacked
and besieged. These attacks continued without
intermission until the 14th of August, on which date the
arrival of foreign troops put an end to them. These
attacks were made by regular troops who joined the
Boxers and who obeyed orders of the court, emanating
from the Imperial Palace. At the same time the Chinese
Government officially declared by its representatives
abroad that it guaranteed the security of the
legations.
- “3. The 11th of June, Mr. Sugiyama, chancellor of the
legation of Japan, in the discharge of an official
mission, was killed by regulars at the gates of the
city. At Pekin and in several provinces foreigners were
murdered, tortured, or attacked by Boxers and regular
troops, and only owed their safety to their determined
resistance. Their establishments were pillaged and
destroyed.
- “4. Foreign cemeteries, at Pekin especially, were
desecrated, the graves opened, the remains scattered
abroad.
“These events led the foreign powers to send their troops to
China in order to protect the lives of their representatives and
their nationals, and to restore order. During their march to
Pekin the allied forces met with the resistance of the Chinese
armies, and had to overcome it by forced China having recognized
her responsibility, expressed her regrets, and manifested the
desire to see an end put to the situation created by the
disturbances referred to, the powers have decided to accede to
her request on the irrevocable conditions enumerated below,
which they deem indispensable to expiate the crimes committed
and to prevent their recurrence:
“I.
- “(A) Dispatch to Berlin of an extraordinary mission,
headed by an Imperial Prince, to express the regrets of his
Majesty, the Emperor of China, and of the Chinese
Government, for the murder of His Excellency, the late Baron
von Ketteler, German Minister.
- “(B) Erection on the place where the murder was committed
of a commemorative monument suitable to the rank of the
deceased, bearing an inscription in the Latin, German, and
Chinese languages, expressing the regrets of the Emperor of
China for the murder.
“II.
- “(A) The severest punishment in proportion to their crimes
for the persons designated in the Imperial decree of
September 25, 1900, and for those whom the representatives
of the Powers shall subsequently designate.
- “(B) Suspension of all official examinations for five
years in all the towns where foreigners have been massacred
or have been subjected to cruel treatment.
“III.
“Honorable reparation shall be made by the Chinese Government to
the Japanese Government for the murder of Mr. Sugiyama,
chancellor of the Japanese Legation.
“IV.
An expiatory monument shall be erected by the Imperial Chinese
Government in each of the foreign or international cemeteries
which have been desecrated, and in which the graves have been
destroyed.
[Page 245]
“V.
“Maintenance, under conditions to be settled between the Powers,
of the prohibition of the importation of arms, as well as of
material used exclusively for the manufacturing of arms and
ammunition.
“VI.
“Equitable indemnities for Governments, societies, companies, and
private individuals, as well as for Chinese who have suffered
during the late events in person or in property in consequence
of their being in the service of foreigners. China shall adopt
financial measures acceptable to the Powers for the purpose of
guaranteeing the payment of said indemnities and the interest
and amortization of the loans.
“VII.
“Right for each power to maintain a permanent guard for its
legation and to put the legation quarter in a defensible
condition. Chinese shall not have the right to reside in this
quarter.
“VIII.
“The Taku and other forts which might impede free communication
between Pekin and the sea shall be razed.
“IX.
“Right of military occupation of certain points, to be determined
by an understanding between the powers, for keeping open
communication between the capital and the sea.
“X.
“(A) The Chinese Government shall cause to be published during
two years in all subprefectures an Imperial decree
embodying—
“Perpetual prohibition, under pain of death, of membership in any
antiforeign society.
“Enumeration of the punishments which shall have been inflicted
on the guilty, together with the suspension of all official
examinations in the towns where foreigners have been murdered or
have been subjected to cruel treatment.
“(B) An Imperial decree shall be issued and published everywhere
in the Empire, declaring that all governors-general, governors,
and provincial or local officials shall be responsible for order
in their respective jurisdictions, and that whenever fresh
antiforeign disturbances or any other treaty infractions occur,
which are not forthwith suppressed and the guilty persons
punished, they, the said officials, shall be immediately removed
and forever prohibited from holding any office or honors.
“XI.
“The Chinese Government will undertake to negotiate the
amendments to the treaties of commerce and navigation considered
useful by the powers and upon other subjects connected with
commercial relations with the object of facilitating them.
“XII.
“The Chinese Government shall undertake to reform the office of
foreign affairs, and to modify the court ceremonial relative to
the reception of foreign representatives in the manner which the
powers shall indicate.
“Until the Chinese Government have complied with the above to the
satisfaction of the powers, the undersigned can hold out no
expectation that the occupation of Pekin and the province of
Chihli by the general forces can be brought to a conclusion.
“Pekin, December 22,
1900.
“For Germany:
A.
Mumm.
“For Austria-Hungary:
M. Czikann.
“For
Belgium:
Joostens.
“For Spain:
B. F. de
Cologan.
“For United States of America:
E. H.
Congee.
“For France:
S.
Pichon.
“For Great Britain:
Ernest Satow.
“For
Italy:
Salvago
Raggi.
“For Japan:
T. Nissi.
“For
Netherlands:
F. M.
Knobel.
“For Bussia:
Michel de
Giers.”
