File No. 893.00/2879
The Chargé in China ( MacMurray) to the Secretary of State
Sir: Referring to the despatch (No. 2124) of June 26 last,1 with which the Legation forwarded copies of despatches bearing on political conditions in the disturbed provinces of China, I have the honor to enclose herewith copies of the following despatches, addressed to the Legation by the several consulates.1
[Page 109]In this connection, I have to advise you that the Legation has just received from the Vice Consul in charge at Changsha a telegram to the effect that the local authorities consider it unsafe for missionaries to return to the interior of Hunan Province; and that he and his British colleague are proposing to instruct American and British missionaries, particularly women and children, not to return to their stations in the interior. After consulting with the British Legation, I have telegraphed Vice Consul Nicholson to join with the British Consul in preparing identical notices to their respective nationals that women and children must not for the present go into the interior of Hunan Province, and that men are to be advised of the grave risk which they would incur in doing so.
I have [etc.]