393.11/1385: Telegram
The Consul General at Nanking (Peck) to the Secretary of State
[Received December 18—9:25 a.m.]
128. In a confidential circular letter mailed December 17,75 to American citizens in Kiangsu north of the Yangtze River and in Anhwei this Consulate General referred to the death of Reverend J. W. Vinson at the hands of bandits and warned American citizens in those districts that although this Consulate General had made insistent requests of the appropriate authorities that measures be taken for the security of American, life and property, concrete results from the measures which the Chinese authorities have promised to take against them are discouraging and could hardly be expected for [Page 979] some time. The American citizens to whom the circular was addressed were advised to retire temporarily from the interior with the exception of men of not more than middle age and American citizens residing in localities where in their own opinion exceptional reasons existed for confidence that full protection could and would be afforded them.
Copies of the circular letter are being transmitted by mail to the Department and the Legation.
- Not printed; circular was dated December 16.↩