Mr. Tower to Mr. Hay.
Berlin, February 9, 1904.
(Mr. Tower reports that he has communicated to the German minister, for foreign affairs Department’s telegram of February 8 concerning the neutrality of China, and asked him whether this proposition of the United States is acceptable to the Imperial German Government. In reply he stated that the proposition is entirely [Page 310] agreeable to the German Government, and that Germany is ready, on receipt of further information from Washington, to instruct in this sense its representatives at St. Petersburg, Tokyo, and Peking. He said further that the German Government sympathizes fully with the purpose of the United States on behalf of humanity, the protection of foreigners in China, the maintenance of order, and the safeguarding of the commerce of the world. He added that Germany believes that to attain these purposes the support of the neutrality of China would be the most available means; and the German Government is prepared to act in harmony with the United States and the other neutral powers to assure the neutrality of China in so far as this may be compatible with the respective military interests of the belligerent powers.)