Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, With the Annual Message of the President Transmitted to Congress December 7, 1903

Mr. Conger to Mr. Hay.

Legation of the United States,
Peking, June 23, 1903.

No. 1333.]

Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of your No. 674, concerning the opening of treaty ports in Manchuria.

I have therefore consulted with the Japanese and British representatives here, and they both agree with me as to the desirability of opening Ta-tung-kou, Mukden, and Harbin.

The British, having completed their treaty, are only making general suggestions to the Chinese as to the importance of opening these places. The Japanese are demanding in their treaty the opening of Ta-tung-kou, which they have, as we have, and for the same reason, substituted for Ta-ku shan and Mukden; They, however, acknowledge the importance of opening Harbin, but have not been instructed to demand it in their treaty.

The Japanese and British are the only powers which seem interested in this matter, and hence I have not conferred with any of my other colleagues upon the question.

I have, etc.,

E. H. Conger.