Mr. Jackson to Mr. Hay.
Berlin , August 23, 1900 .
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt this morning of the Department’s telegram, as follows:1
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and to confirm the reply sent you this afternoon paraphrased as follows:
(The foreign office informs Mr. Jackson that it has received similar communications. As the German Government does not know whose representative Li Hung Chang is, or whose authority he has, it could not enter into negotiations with him. Verbal reply has been made to this effect.)
As soon as practicable after receiving the Department’s telegram I called at the foreign office and communicated its text to Mr. von Derenthall, who is still in charge. As anticipated, similar communications to those referred to had been presented by the Chinese legation in this city, and in general during the past few weeks communications similar to those submitted in Washington have been presented here. At first the German Government, while consenting to receive such communications, consistently declined to make any reply. When, however, it had been made possible for the German representatives in Pekin to telegraph to the German Government, that Government made the formal written reply reported in my dispatch No. 1364, of the 18th instant. Since that time no further written communication has been sent to the Chinese legation here.
Mr. von Derenthall told me this morning that when Mr. Kinginthai, the secretary of the Chinese legation, who has been in Berlin for many years, informed him of the telegrams from Li Hung Chang referred to above he told him that, as the German Government did not know whose authority Li Hung Chang had or whose representative he was in making the proposition mentioned, the German Government could not enter into negotiation with him. No further reply has been made.
I have, etc.,
Chargé d’Affaires.