893.00/3409: Telegram
The Minister in China (Crane) to the Secretary of State
[Received July 22—6:36 a.m.]
191. Referring to Department’s telegram 180, July 16, 2 p.m.32 The action of the diplomatic body, reported in the Legation’s 168, July 9, 11 a.m. [p.m.]33 is not intervening in behalf of any faction nor is it so understood by the Chinese of either faction. The issues of the present campaign will be settled by the fighting outside of Peking. The city is under the protection of a large force of police and gendarmes who are nominally neutral. The extension of the fighting area to the inside of the city would endanger the lives of the members of the Legation staffs and of the numerous civilian Chinese living here. It would give soldiers on both sides the opportunity for looting without affecting the final result of the civil strife. The Legation will be careful not to join in any action which would appear to be intervention in favor of either faction.