Mr. Peirce to Mr. Hay.
(Mr. Peirce reports that he has to-day been informed by the Russian minister for foreign affairs that the Russian Government has replied to the German Government that Russia is in accord with the principles of the German circular in so far as that the responsible authors of the crimes recently perpetrated in China against international law must be punished as a guaranty for the future, and that those guilty authors should be specified by the powers for punishment, but that Russia considers that the Chinese Government should inflict such punishment, and that it should not be demanded as a necessary preliminary to the negotiations, but should be made a condition therein.)