File No. 893.00/1694.

The President of China to the President of the United States.

[Telegram.]

In the name of the Republic of China I thank you most heartily for the message of recognition which you have sent to me through your honored representative in this capital. The sentiments of amity and good will which it bespeaks and the expressions of greeting and welcome which it conveys at once testify to the American spirit of mutual helpfulness and adds another brilliant page to the history of 70 years of uninterrupted friendly intercourse between China and the United States. Though unfamiliar with the republican form of government the Chinese people are yet fully convinced of the soundness of the principle which underlies it and which is so luminously represented by your glorious Commonwealth. The sole aim of the Government which they have established, therefore, is and will be to preserve this form of government and to perfect its workings to the end that they may enjoy its unalloyed blessings, prosperity, and happiness within, through union of law and liberty, and peace and friendship without, through the faithful execution of all established obligations.

Yuan Shih-kai,
President of the Republic of China.