Mr. Buck to Mr. Hay.

No 456.]

Sir: I have the honor to confirm your telegram [reporting tidings from Conger] received last night, as follows:1

Upon the communication of the above to Viscount Aoki to-day he expresses himself as believing that through a Chinese minister and En Sei Kwai, military governor of Shantung, is the likeliest method of successfully communicating with Pekin. It is the one his Government essays. Continuing, the minister for foreign affairs suggested that a solemn warning telegraphed by the President himself to the Emperor of China would be exceedingly efficacious, he evidently placing great reliance upon such pressure, which he thought “would do more good than 20,000 troops.”

Further to epitomize Viscount Aoki’s remarks, he says he is able, somehow or other, to discern a slight change for the better in the posture of Chinese affairs. He thinks this is probably to some extent [Page 363] due to the message of the Japanese Emperor sent to the Emperor of China about the 13th instant—although he is yet uninformed whether that message reached its destination—and to the fall of Tientsin.

* * * * * * *

I have the honor to be, etc.,

A. E. Buck.
  1. Printed, p. 313.