Mr. Peirce to Mr. Adee.
St. Petersburg , August 30, 1900 .
Sir: Confirming my telegram of to-day,2 I have the honor to inform you that yesterday afternoon, being the official reception day of Count Lamsdorff, I had an interview with his excellency at a late hour, during which he communicated to me the substance of the telegraphic circular which he had sent out on Sunday to the powers. * * *
[Page 372]He then informed me of the circular dispatch to the powers relating to the withdrawal of the allied troops from Pekin. In regard to this he used the following arguments:
The prime purposes for which we sent the relief expedition to Pekin and for which our forces are now in China were the rescue of our ministers and those under their protection, and to aid the Chinese Government in restoring order in China. That the ministers and their dependents have now been rescued, but that the continued occupation of Pekin obstructs the Chinese Government in restoring order, if it has the power to do so, by depriving it of its capital and keeping it in a state of alarm and at the same time discrediting it with the Chinese people.
He then went on to say that Russia, in common with the other powers, had not declared war upon China, but, on the contrary, had been insistent that war does not exist; that the continued occupation of the capital of the Chinese Empire by the military forces of the powers after the rescue of the legations would constitute an act of war.
As a matter of policy he believed that negotiations would be much simpler if the Chinese Government be permitted to return to the capital by a withdrawal of the forces to Tientsin and that the temper of the Chinese would be more conciliatory than if terms were dictated during a military occupation of Pekin.
Count Lamsdorff then volunteered the statement, in the most positive terms, that while Russia is at present, for certain necessary military purposes, occupying certain points within the Chinese dominions, this is a temporary measure and that Russia has no intention whatever of seeking to acquire or of retaining “a single inch of territory in either China or Manchuria.” I quote his own phrase.
Count Lamsdorff then said that the Emperor had expressed the earnest hope that the Government of the United States would respond favorably to the proposition of Russia to withdraw from Pekin.
I have, etc.,
Chargé d’Affaires ad interim.
- Not printed.↩