Mr. Hay to Mr. Rockhill.
The following memorandum, which was handed to the Chinese minister on February 19, is transmitted to you for your information and guidance. It has been communicated to the Governments of the powers that preservation of the territorial integrity of China having been recognized by all the powers now engaged in joint negotiations concerning the injuries recently inflicted upon their ministers and nationals by certain officials of the Chinese Empire, it is evidently advantageous to China to continue the present international understanding upon this subject. It would therefore be unwise and dangerous in the extreme for China to make any arrangement or to consider any proposition of a private nature involving the surrender of territory or financial obligations by convention with any particular power, and the Government of the United States, aiming solely at the preservation of China from the danger indicated and the conservation of the largest and most beneficial relations between the Empire and other countries, in accordance with the principle set forth in its circular [Page 364] note of July 3, 1900, and in a purely friendly spirit toward the Chinese Empire and all the powers now interested in the negotiations, desires to impress its sense of the impropriety, inexpediency, and even extreme danger to the interests of China of considering any private, territorial or financial arrangement, at least without the full knowledge and approval of all the powers now engaged in negotiations.