Mr. Adee to Mr. Herdliska.
Washington , August 8, 1900 .
The Chinese minister to-day officially communicated to me an imperial edict, dated August 2, in response to the joint memorial of Li Hung Chang and Liu Kun-Yi, proposing the sending of the foreign ministers to Tientsin. The edict reads as follows:
Throughout the disturbances recently caused by our subjects on account of Christian missions, which have resulted in a conflict of forces, it has been found necessary to afford protection to all the foreign ministers in Pekin. On repeated occasions the Tsungli Yamen sent notes inquiring after their welfare; and, as Pekin has not yet been restored to order and as precautionary measures may not secure absolute safety, the foreign ministers are being consulted as to the proposed plan of detailing troops to escort them safely to Tientsin for temporary shelter, so that they may be free from apprehensive anxiety or fear.
We hereby command Jung Lu to appoint, as a preliminary step, trustworthy high civil and military officials, who together with reliable and efficient troops, shall, at such time as the foreign ministers may agree upon for leaving Pekin, escort and protect them throughout their journey. Should lawless characters manifest evil designs upon the ministers or attempt to rob them or in any way create trouble they (the high officials) shall at once repress them without fail.
If the foreign ministers before leaving Pekin should desire to communicate with their respective Governments, and if their telegraphic messages should be In plain language, the Tsungli Yamen shall at once attend to them without the least delay, thus manifesting the utmost friendliness to the Imperial Government. Respect this.
Minister Wu also communicated to me a cablegram received by him on the morning of the 8th instant from Yu Lien-Yuen, taotai of Shanghai, reading as follows:
Have received telegram from Governor Yuan Shih-Kai to the effect that the tsungli yamen received on the 5th of August an imperial edict allowing all the foreign ministers free communication with their respective Governments in cipher.
The following signed memorandum in reply was handed to the Chinese minister this evening:
We are availing ourselves of the opportunity offered by the imperial edict of the 5th of August allowing to the foreign ministers free communication with their respective Governments in cipher, and have sent a communication to Minister Conger, to which we await an answer.
We are already advised by him, in a brief dispatch received August 7, that Imperial troops are firing daily upon the ministers in Pekin. We demand the immediate cessation of hostile attacks by Imperial troops upon the legations and urge the exercise of every power and energy of the Imperial Government for the protection of the legations and all foreigners therein.
We are also advised by the same dispatch from Minister Conger that, in his opinion, for the foreign ministers to leave Pekin as proposed in the edict of August 2 would be certain death. In view of the fact that the Imperial troops are now firing upon the legations, and in view of the doubt expressed by the Imperial Government in its edict of August 2 as to its power to restore order and secure absolute safety in Pekin, it is evident that this apprehension is well founded, for if your Government can not protect our minister in Pekin it will presumptively be unable to protect him upon a journey from Pekin to the coast.
We therefore urge upon the Imperial Government that it shall adopt the course suggested in the third clause of the letter of the President to His Majesty the Emperor of China of July 23, 1900, and enter into communication with the relief expedition, so that cooperation may be secured between them for the liberation of [Page 301] the legations, the protection of foreigners, and the restoration of order. Such action on the part of the Imperial Government would be a satisfactory demonstration of its friendliness and desire to attain these ends.
Alvey A. Adee, Acting Secretary.
You will communicate this for the information of the minister for foreign affairs.
- Also sent to the United States representatives at Berlin, London, Paris, Rome, St. Petersburg and Tokio.↩