Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, With the Annual Message of the President Transmitted to Congress December 3, 1906, (In two parts), Part I

Minister Rockhill to the Secretary of State.

American Legation,
Peking, China, August 29, 1906.

No. 383.]

Sir: I have the honor to inclose herewith a translation of an imperial edict which was communicated to me by the Chinese Government on the 26th instant and which orders the creation of a committee to consider the reports and recommendations of the high commissioners recently returned from investigating the methods of government of Japan and the western world.

The committee is composed of the following high officers of state, exclusive of those mentioned in the edict: The Prince of Ch’ing, Ch’ü Hung-chi, Liu Ch’uan-lin, Jung Ch’ing, Hsu Shih-ch’ang, T’ieh-liang, Na-t’ung, Wang Wen-shao, Sün Chia-nai, Shih-hsü.

I have, etc.,

W. W. Rockhill.

[Inclosure—Translation.]

Imperial edict.

The ministers of the grand council in a personal audience have received the following imperial edict:

“The commissioners appointed to investigate methods of government have returned to Peking and have submitted their several reports.

“We hereby appoint Tsai-feng, the Prince of Ch’un, with the ministers of the grand council, the ministers of the council of state, the grand secretaries, and Yuan Shih-k’ai, the superintendent of trade for the north, to carefully consider these reports together, and to request an imperial decree authorizing the proper course of procedure.

“Respect this.”