File No. 2413/138A.
The Secretary of State to
Minister Rockhill.
Department of State,
Washington, May 27,
1908.
No. 469.]
Sir: I inclose herewith copy of an act of
Congress authorizing the return to, the Government of China a portion of
the indemnity exacted to repay losses sustained by reason of the Boxer
disturbances of 1900.
The department would be glad of suggestions from the Government of China
bearing upon the times and manner in which the remission shall be made.
In conferences with the Chinese Government on this subject you will, of
course, bear in mind the conversations which you had with the Secretary
of State during your recent visit to the United States.
I confirm the department’s telegram of the 25th instant on this
subject.1
I am, etc.,
[Page 65]
[Inclosure.]
[Public Resolution—No.
29.]
JOINT RESOLUTION To provide for the remission of a
portion of the Chinese indemnity.
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives
of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That
the President is hereby authorized to consent to a modification of
the bond for twenty-four million four hundred and forty thousand
seven hundred and seventy-eight dollars and eighty-one cents, dated
December fifteenth, nineteen hundred and six, received from China
pursuant to the protocol of September seventh, nineteen hundred and
one, for indemnity against losses and expenses incurred by reason of
the so-called Boxer disturbances in China during the year nineteen
hundred, so that the total payment to be made by China under the
said bond shall be limited to the sum of thirteen million six
hundred and fifty-five thousand four hundred and ninety-two dollars
and sixty-nine cents and interest at the stipulated rate of four per
centum per annum, and that the remainder of the indemnity to which
the United States is entitled under the said protocol and bond may
be remitted as an act of friendship, such payments and remission to
be at such times and in such manner as the President shall deem
just: Provided, That within one year from the
passage of this resolution any person whose claim upon the Chinese
indemnity, nineteen hundred, was presented to the United States
commissioners or to the Department of State and disallowed in whole
or in part may present the same by petition to the Court of Claims,
which court is hereby invested with jurisdiction to hear and
adjudicate such claim, without appeal, and to render such judgments
de novo, or in addition to any allowance or allowances heretofore
made, as, in each case shall be fully and substantially compensatory
for actual losses and expenses of the claimant caused by the
antiforeign disturbances in China during the year nineteen hundred,
excluding merely speculative claims or elements of damage: And provided also, That the sum of two
million dollars be reserved from the Chinese indemnity, nineteen
hundred, for the payment of such judgments, the same to be paid by
the Treasurer of the United States as and when they shall be
certified to the Secretary of the Treasury by the said court, and
any balance remaining after all such claims have been adjudicated
and paid shall be returned to the Chinese Government in such manner
as the Secretary of State shall decide, and the Secretary of the
Treasury is hereby authorized and directed to so return the same:
And provided further, That all evidence
furnished by the claimants, and statements made by them to the said
commissioners or to the Department of State, shall be transmitted by
the said Department to the said Court of Claims and considered
together with such other additional testimony as may be presented by
either side, and the Government of the United States shall defend
the said claims in the said court by such attorney or attorneys as
may be designated for such service by the Attorney-General of the
United States: Provided further, That in no
case shall the Court of Claims award a principal sum to any claimant
which, together with the principal sums said claimant may have
already received by decision of the United States commissioners and
the Department of State, shall exceed the amount originally claimed
by said claimant.
