Mr. Hay to Mr. Conger.
(Mr. Hay, replying to Mr. Conger’s telegram of the 14th instant, states that we favor securing foreign rights at treaty ports by adequate foreign concession, either as an international settlement or separate for the interested nations; but forcible appropriation, under claim of conquest, conflicts with the declared purposes of the powers and disturbs their harmonious action. Mr. Conger’s protest is approved. We think the matter should be conventionally adjusted as part of the general arrangement, in which the rights of the United States of America should be reserved to an impartial share.)