493.11/756

Senator Henry Cabot Lodge to the Secretary of State

My Dear Mr. Secretary: There is a matter which I have been meaning to speak to you about and in which I think you will feel the same interest that I do. You will recall, of course, the Boxer Rebellion in China and the final settlement, which was by protocol, under which we received in common with the other powers a payment of money as indemnity for injuries to our people by the Boxer uprising. Mr. Hay,96 with whom I had many talks in regard to it, was very much averse to taking any indemnity at all and felt very strongly that at the outside we ought not to have more than two hundred million taels, but under the settlement we received, as I recall, four hundred and fifty million taels (I think it is millions—it may be thousands—but the tael is of comparatively small value). In any event we received quite a large sum as indemnity, I think a total of over twenty million dollars. This indemnity was to be paid in annual instalments. We settled such claims as there were and retained a considerable sum for the payment of other claims, in regard to the validity of which the Department, which had charge of the matter, did not feel satisfied. However, everything has been, I think, long since settled. After we had received the larger portion of the indemnity I discussed the matter further with Mr. Hay, and with his sympathy and approval I introduced a resolution to return a portion of the indemnity to China. It amounted, I think, altogether, to [Page 399] eleven million dollars. This was passed, and the money returned, and I do not think we ever did anything that caused a better feeling toward us in China. It is still remembered. When the war came we arranged for the suspension of further payments from China to us on the indemnity account.97 Now what I would suggest is this, if it meets with your approval and that of the Department: to put an end to any further payments from China. We have had the suspension for some years and I think the thing ought to be ended. I do not believe there are any further claims that can possibly have any good ground for payment, and I am certain that the remission of all further debt on that account from China to us would be a very good move politically. It would strengthen still further our hold in China. It would require no appropriation on our part, as I understand, and the return of no money. It would simply remit, as I have said, the remainder of the debt under the indemnity, amounting, I think, to between five and seven millions. If this should meet with your approval and you would have a proper form of resolution drafted I should be very glad to introduce it in the Senate and I think we could probably get it through both Houses. There is a very friendly feeling toward China, I think, in Congress, and has been for some time past, owing largely to our sympathy with China in the Shantung business. It seems to me, if it meets with your approval, to be something well worth doing and doing, if possible, now. I therefore take the liberty of bringing it to your attention.

With kind regards [etc.]

H. C. Lodge
  1. Secretary of State from 1898–1905.
  2. See telegram of Sept. 5, 1917, from the Minister in China, Foreign Relations, 1917, supp. 2, vol. i, p. 685.