393.1121 Smit, Albert H./12: Telegram
The Minister in China ( Johnson ) to the Secretary of State
171. Nanking’s 10, February 21, 9 a.m. Cunningham has reported as follows:
“On February 17th, 1930, Mr. Albert H. Smit, in giving an account of the accident, made the statement that ‘we did not know exactly what the American Government would want us to do’, when it was proposed that a bond should be given by Dr. Hagman for the appearance of Mr. Smit at a Chinese court. In explanation of his meaning he stated that ‘we had been advised that extraterritoriality had ceased’, and though he realized that the pronouncement had been a unilateral one by the National Government, he stated that ‘there was a statement by the American Government that it would be gradually relinquished and we were up against it.’”
Cunningham suggests the possibility that other missionaries in China may have similar misapprehensions and he suggests that a statement be issued by the Minister setting forth clearly the American Government’s attitude as to the Nanking Government’s mandate of December 28, 1929,8 for circulation to missionary societies for transmission to their members throughout China.
- Telegram in two sections.↩
- See telegram of December 28, 1929, from the Consul at Nanking, Foreign Relations, 1929, vol. ii, p. 666.↩