Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, With the Annual Message of the President Transmitted to Congress December 3, 1907, (In two parts), Part I

File No. 167/90–91.

Minister Rockhill to the Secretary of State .

American Legation,
Peking , January 7, 1907.

No. 499.]

Sir: In further acknowledgment of your cabled instruction of December 11 [13]a informing me that you had reached an agreement with the Chinese minister in Washington in the matter of the indemnity for the Lienchou massacre, and instructing me to conclude the arrangement of the whole affair in the manner indicated in my dispatch No. 381 of August 28, 1906,b I have the honor to inform you that on December 111 called at the Wai-wu Pu and handed His Excellency T’ang Shao-i a copy of your cablegram. He said that the foreign office had already telegraphed to the viceroy at Canton to pay to the American consul-general the indemnity agreed upon by you and Sir Chentung Liang Cheng, and that this would probably be done in a few days. He added that the delay in settling this question had been occasioned by a misunderstanding, that while the foreign office had been all the time desirous of indemnifying the families of the Lienchou victims, as ordered by the imperial edict of October 28, 1905, the Chinese minister at Washington and the Canton viceroy, misunderstanding the general statement of the missionary board that it would not receive indemnification for the killing of any of its members, had insisted that in the present case no indemnity was to be paid; hence the delay.

I then told his excellency that, with the indemnity paid, all the conditions of the settlement agreed to by the American consul-general at Canton and the viceroy would have been complied with, except the publication of the proclamation to be issued by the provincial authorities of Kuang-tung stating the settlement, and which was to be submitted to this legation as provided for in the draft agreement I had handed to the Wai-wu Pu in August, 1906. (See my No. 381 of August 28, 1906.) We could then sign the final protocol of settlement, or agreement, and the whole matter would be finally disposed of.

He at first raised some slight objections to the signing by the Wai-wu Pu of a general agreement on the subject, contending that the local settlement by the viceroy and the consul-general was sufficient. To this I replied that the mode of settlement you had approved and authorized me to make was in strict accordance with that followed a few months ago by the Wai-wu Pu in the settlement made with the British and French ministers for the Nanch’ang Fu riots, and that he had raised no objection to it when I had previously submitted it to him. He then said that he thought the matter could be arranged as you desired, and that he would take the orders of the Prince of Ch’ing.

On the 18th of December I telegraphed our consul-general at Canton as follows:

American Consul, Canton:

Foreign office has informed me have directed Canton viceroy pay you $25,000 in gold to indemnify Americans killed Lienchou. Secretary of State has informed me has agreed to accept. You will receive it, therefore, at the rate of [Page 213] exchange on New York on the date of payment. Advise me when paid, for further instructions. Final agreement covering the settlement will be signed here.

Rockhill.

On the 31st ultimo I received a dispatch from the consul-general informing me that the missionaries were now anxious to return to Lienchou to resume their work there, and asking me to telegraph him whether I thought they could be authorized to do so—all proper precautions being taken for their safety on the journey and after arrival at their destination. My telegraphic reply to him and the reasons for sending it appear in my dispatch to Mr. Bergholz of the 3d instant, copy of which I inclose.

On the 5th instant I received a telegram from Mr. Bergholz advising me that the indemnity had been paid to him. I at once instructed him to remit the amount directly to you, and at the same time I telegraphed of the payment having been made and that I expected shortly to sign the protocol of settlement with the Wai-wu Pu. This I have not yet done.

I confirm as follows my telegram to you of the 5th instanta referred to above.

I have, etc.,

W. W. Rockhill.

[Inclosure.]

Minister Rockhill to Consul-General Bergholz .

American Legation,
Peking , January 3, 1907.

Sir: I have to acknowledge the receipt of your dispatches Nos. 32 of December 12, 36 of December 18, and 37 of December 19, dealing with the question of the settlement of the Lienchou affair.

In your No. 32 you inclose copies of the texts engraved upon the two tablets erected by the local authorities of Lienchou in compliance with the arrangement reached by your predecessor with the Viceroy Ch’en, the one being the imperial edict of October 28, 1905, the other, placed in front of the cave temple in which the victims of the massacre were found by the mob, a memorial of the event, and a statement of the punishment of those guilty of the murders. You also inclose a copy of a letter from Henry V. Noyes, chairman of the executive committee of the American Presbyterian Mission, Canton, in which he says in the name of his mission that they “think the officials have faithfully carried out their agreement in regard to the Lienchou affair so far as concerns the payment for losses incurred there, and the erection of the tablets.”

In his note to you of December 2 last (inclosure 3 in your No. 32) the viceroy informs you that he has ordered higher rewards than those previously offered to be made for the arrest of the culprits still at large; that the acting subprefect of Lienchou has reported his readiness to use every possible means for protecting the missionaries on their return to that place, and that on their arrival he will again post the imperial edict of October 28, 1905, in conspicuous and public places in the city and district of Lienchou.

As regards the conversion into a schoolhouse of the small temple used for ta tsui celebrations, the viceroy in the same note states that he has ordered the acting subprefect to devise proper means for so doing. In your dispatch No. 37 you say, in view of the subprefect’s statement that he has been unable [Page 214] to raise the funds necessary to convert the temple into a schoolhouse, that the viceroy may be induced to order the razing of the temple or its removal to some other part of the city. “The latter course,” you remark, “would be as satisfactory as transforming it into a school.” I had originally suggested to Mr. Lay that he should ask the razing of the temple in question, but on his stating that he thought this might be strongly objected to I agreed to only ask its conversion into a schoolhouse. I would be much pleased to see my original suggestion carried out.

It appears from the above and from previous correspondence that the Chinese authorities have now complied—so far as can be done at the present time—with the demands which your predecessor made of them, with the exception of the razing of the temple, which you believe will shortly be done. Such being the case, I see no reason why the Lienchou missionaries, who, you say in your No. 36, are “fearful of the influence their continued absence may have upon the minds of their converts and are desirous of getting speedily to work to regain the ground they may have lost and to begin the erection of their mission property,” should not return to Lienchou as soon as they are ready to do so, the viceroy again undertaking to protect them adequately on the journey and after their arrival at their place of destination.

The payment by the viceroy to you of $25,000 United States gold for the surviving members of the families of those killed in October, 1905, not being an essential feature of the settlement so far as punishment of culprits, reparation for losses, guaranteeing of future protection, etc., are concerned, this payment not having yet been made, though it certainly will within a very short period, the amount having been agreed to by both Governments, need not delay the return of the missionaries to Lienchou.

The above being the present status of the settlement of this affair, I telegraphed you on the 2d instant, in reply to the request in your No. 36, as follows:

“American Consul, Canton:

“If all conditions are complied with about Lienchou except payment of the indemnity, missionaries may return. Razing of temple is very satisfactory arrangement.

“Rockhill.”

W. W. Rockhill.