[Subinclosure.] Revs. Johnson and Chalfant to Mr. Fowler. I-CHOU-FU, June 20, 1899. SIR: We beg to acknowledge the receipt of your communication, No. 1235, inclosing a copy of Minister Conger's letter to you under date of June 1. We are gratified to learn that our minister has renewed his demands upon the tsungli yamen for an immediate settlement of the riot cases in which we are interested. We wish to repeat what we have said before, that we are by no means making our demands upon the local officials in a spirit of revenge, nor do we entertain an unreasonable estimate of the extent of the reparation due to us. We simply deem it necessary that our treaty rights as American missionaries be vindicated, and that the clause in the treaty between China and the United States which provides that no Chinese subject shall be molested because he chooses to embrace the Christian religion be not allowed to become a dead letter. The general spirit of these persecutions has been avowedly antiforeign, and in many instances, such as the cases where ancestral groves of converts have been cut down by enemies, they have been anti-Christian in the strictest sense. We maintain that foreign Governments can not afford to stand by inactive and see the Chinese Christians mobbed, robbed, driven from their homes, and even brutally murdered, because they have accepted the religion which the Chinese popularly and rightly identify with those Governments. It is not only a direct violation of the treaty, but it leads logically and actually to popular contempt for foreign Governments and to riotous attacks upon the persons and property of individual foreigners. In this contention we believe that we have the support of the American and of other Christian Governments. We Since the date of our last letter our local magistrate has called upon us and asked us to submit a list of the losses of the mission and of the Christians to the Taotai of Yenchou-fu through a committee of the local gentry. We have, of course, long since filed these claims in the yamens of the counties where the disturbances arose. nevertheless did as we were requested and handed the list to the committee, who report that it has been handed to the Taotai to be forwarded to the governor. were assured that an answer might be expected by the 20th of the present (5th) Chinese month. Whether these promises will be carried out or ignored as similar promises have been ignored heretofore remains to be seen. We The claims of the Christians were carefully examined by us and cut down to the lowest limit which seemed to be just. They are, by counties, as follows: In northwest I Swei (Hsi Ch'eng Yu, etc.) In southern I Swei In northwest Ji Chao (Man T'ang Yu) In Chu Chou (Liu Ts'un) Large cash. 1, 000, 000 35,000 363, 000 86, 950 To these sums we have added 150,000 "large cash" toward the expense incurred by us in telegrams, messengers, and the support of refugee Christians, a sum far within the actual expense for such items. The total amount of our claims is thus 1,635,200 “large cash," equal to about $2,000, Mexican. A number of our Christians still do not dare to return to their homes, and with a single trifling exception no offer of indemnity has been made by the persons immediately responsible for their losses. The report that the burned chapel at Man T'ang Yu has been rebuilt is utterly without foundation. We are, etc., [Inclosure 5.] Mr. Conger to Mr. Fowler. CHAS. F. JOHNSON. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, SIR: I have the honor to inclose herewith copy and translation of a note just received from the tsungli yamen, re the I-chow-fu persecutions, which please hasten on to Rev. Mr. Chalfant, and request him to make up the cases in the line of the suggestions made, and see if it is not possible to settle them and enable the persecuted people to return to their homes and there continue to practice and teach Christianity. There are many evident errors in the report of the officials to the governor, and even in his statement to the yamen. But there are so many officials from high to low to deal with, the distances are so great and means of communication slow, that I do not deem it best to delay the cases by taking up these errors for discussion until after Mr. Chalfant takes up the cases, and tries his best to arrange them with the prefect, as the tsungli yamen requests. It seems to me, with a copy of the yamen's note for Mr. Chalfant to present to the prefect, a reasonably satisfactory settlement ought to be made, and with the help of Mr. Chalfant and the native Christians the ringleaders can probably be readily produced for arrest and punishment. I apprehend it will be much better for missionary work as well as for the native Christians in that locality, and especially for the future potency of Rev. Mr. Chalfant's influence there, if the affair can now be settled locally and through negotiations which seem to be now opened up to him. I am, etc., E. H. CONGER. [Inclosure 6.] Mr. Conger to the Tsungli Yamen. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the note of your highness and your excellencies concerning the Shantung missionary troubles, dated June 30, 1899, in which you furnish very full reports from the governor and other local officials, and request me to instruct Rev. Mr. Chalfant to take up the cases with the prefect, who has been instructed to settle them with him, etc., and see if the matter can not be ended. Many of the statements which, according to the note of your highness and your excellencies, the local officials present to the governor, I regret to say do not all agree with the facts reported to me by the missionaries. But since your highness and your excellencies have ordered a settlement made and have asked me to instruct Mr. Chalfant to join the prefect in accomplishing it, I hasten to so instruct him and will only take up the question of fact again upon their failure to satisfactorily arrange the matter. I am, however, strongly hoping that a satisfactory settlement will now speedily result and further trouble in that locality be avoided. With renewed assurances, etc., E. H. CONGER. [Inclosure 7.] Mr. Conger to Mr. Fowler. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, SIR: I have received your dispatch No. 191, of July 3, with its inclosed letter from Revs. Johnson and Chalfant. Before this can reach you I trust they will have received my communication of the 3d instant and that a satisfactory settlement of the case may be well under way. I am, etc., Mr. Adee to Mr. Conger. E. H. CONGER. No. 203.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, August 24, 1899. SIR: You transmit hither, with your dispatch No. 232 of the 12th ultimo, copies of correspondence exchanged by you with the tsungli yamen and with the consul at Chefoo, and Messrs. Johnson and Chalfant, American missionaries at I Chou-fu, in the province of Shantung, touching their trouble with the provincial authorities growing out of the antiforeign riot cases pending in that prefecture. It appears from the correspondence transmitted by you that under date of June 5 the missionaries reported that their native Christians had not been allowed to return to their homes and resume their agricultural pursuits, and that no steps had been taken by the local authorities to settle their claims for injuries received; that on June 27 you wrote to the tsungli yamen, calling attention to this condition of affairs, and to the trifling way in which your representations to the Chinese Government had been treated, and requesting that immediate telegraphic instructions be sent to the provincial authorities to bring about the punishment of the offenders and reparation to the missionaries, as well as security for the native converts; and that under date of June 30 the yamen replied that it had already instructed the governor of the province to consider the matter and take action thereon, and that they were now in receipt of his report, which they proceeded to summarize. From that sunimary it appears that those directly responsible for the outrages were not found; that the place of their occurrence was quiet and peaceful; that the gentry and people of the locality were willing to pay the losses sustained, as well as to rebuild the chapel which had been destroyed; and that all that was required to bring about a peaceful settlement was that the missionaries and their converts should return to I Chou-fu to consult with the local authorities. Three of the persons implicated in the crime were then, according to the statement of the yamen, under arrest awaiting trial. Under date of June 30 you wrote to the consul at Chefoo, inclosing a copy of the yamen's note, and, while noting a number of errors in its statements, saying that you deemed it advisable "in view of there being so many officials from high to low to deal with, the distances so great, and the means of communication so slow," for the missionaries to take up the case themselves and try to make "the best arrangement possible" with the prefect, adding that by such means you thought "a reasonably satisfactory settlement" ought to be reached. Finally, on July 6, you wrote again to the tsungli yamen, acknowledging their note of June 30, informing them of the advice you had transmitted to the missionaries, and stating that you would only take up the question of fact again upon the failure of the missionaries and the prefect to satisfactorily arrange the matter. Upon this showing the Department is disposed to think that, while the procedure suggested by you may operate to bring about a settlement of this particular case satisfactory to the immediate sufferers, you have foregone a convenient opportunity for insisting upon the responsibility of the local authorities of I Chou-fu, whose punishment you might have continued to urge on the lines of the policy laid down in the instructions heretofore sent to the legation in analogous cases, such punishment being in complete accord with Chinese ideas, and being, moreover, apparently the only recognized method of preventing the recurrence of such inquiries. There is ground for apprehension lest an omission, the appropriate case arising, to strongly bring to the knowledge of the tsungli yamen the purpose of this Government to insist upon the punishment of the local officials may tend to weaken any representations you may hereafter be called upon to make in that sense under standing instructions. I am, etc., ALVEY A. ADEE, Acting Secretary. No. 265.] Mr. Conger to Mr. Hay. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Pekin, China, October 7, 1899. SIR: Referring to my dispatch No. 232 of July 12 last, in regard to missionary troubles in Shantung, I have the honor to inform the Department that I am to-day in receipt of a dispatch from Consul Fowler, at Chefoo, in which I am advised that a satisfactory indemnity has been paid Mr. Chalfant. I have, etc., E. H. CONGER. No. 215.] Mr. Hay to Mr. Conger. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, October 27, 1899. SIR: I inclose for your information a copy of a dispatch from the United States consul at Chefoo inclosing a letter to him from Charles F. Johnson and others in Ichoufu in relation to the payment of indemnity for damage done during the recent anti-Christian disturbances in that prefecture. I am, etc., JOHN HAY. [Inclosure in No. 215.] Mr. Fowler to Assistant Secretary of State. CONSULATE OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: I have the honor to inclose herewith a letter received from Ichowfu dated August 14, 1899, in regard to the payment of indemnity for damage done during the recent anti-Christian disturbances in that prefecture. I have, etc., [Subinclosure.] JOHN FOWLER, Consul. Mr. Johnson et al, to Mr. Fowler, ICHOW, SHANTUNG, August 14, 1899. SIR: We beg to acknowledge the receipt of recent communications from you, as follows: No. 1266, inclosing copy of minister's dispatch, No. 365; No. 1272, inclosing note from Mr. McMullan, in re postal route; No. 1281, inclosing copy minister's dispatch, No. 376; No. 1324, inclosing copy minister's dispatch, No. 392, and No. 1327, inclosing copy of minister's dispatch, No. 393. We desire, once more, to express our appreciation of the energy with which you have prosecuted this case, and, moreover, we hereby request you to be so kind as to convey to his excellency, Minister Conger, our thanks for the renewed pressure which he is bringing to bear in our interest. There can be little doubt that a determined attitude and persevering pressure from above will now enable us to bring these cases to a creditable termination. Since forwarding our last letter, that dated July 31, we have renewed our demand upon the prefect for the payment of the promised indemnity to the Christians. We first wrote a letter, and then, receiving no reply except a card, we went in person and presented him the copy of the letter from the tsungli yamen to Minister Conger. He FR 99- -12 explained that the expected remittance of silver had not arrived from Chinanfu and assured us, as usual, that it would be here sooner or later. We then informed him that the condition of the Christians who were robbed is very pitiable, especially in the Iswei district, where the summer crops which they have been able to plant have been destroyed by a severe hailstorm. We suggested that he personally advance part of the indemnity for the relief of the immediate necessities of the Christians. We pointed out that, at his instance, the acting county magistrate had already advanced sufficient funds to the Catholics to cover all their losses in this county. He promised to take the matter into consideration, and last night a committee of the gentry called to notify us that the prefect would cause the magistrate I to advance a sum which was, after some discussion, fixed at 300,000 "large" cash, or nearly one-fifth of our entire claim. This sum he promises to pay to-morrow. This morning a secretary of the Chu Chou yamen arrived to negotiate for a settlement of the Liu Ts'un cases. He claims to have brought down with him, in custody, one of the ringleaders in the robbery at Liu Ts'un, together with a representative of Liu Ts'un. We have sent for the Christian involved and shall try to settle the matter. At the written request of the magistrate of Ji Chao County we have sent to him, to be forwarded to Man T'ang Yu, the refugee Christians who have found an asylum with us for the past eight months. In spite of the statement to the contrary, in the letter from the tsungli yamen to Minister Conger, there has been no reparation whatever made to the despoiled Christians at Man T'ang Yu. The arrangement alleged to have been made by the local gentry evidently refers to the written promise of settlement which the three foreigners extracted from the Ho Chia Lou people when the latter attempted to frighten the visitors away by an armed demonstration, as related in the first letter written to you by us concerning these riot cases. That promise was not kept. On the contrary, most of the rioting was done after it had been given. In reference to our recent demand that the Ji Chao magistrate arrest the chief ringleader at Ho Chia Lou, Ho Wen Chih (not Ho Yen Man, as the tsungli yamen's letter, above referred to, insists on having it), the magistrate replied that he had again sent constables, but Ho Wen Chih had fled. We consider it important that this man be arrested, so as to prove to the people in that region that they can not with impunity organize armed attacks upon American citizens going quietly about their business under treaty guaranties. We remain, etc., CHARLES F. JOHNSON. PROTECTION OF PURCHASERS OF CHINESE PATENTS. No. 296.] Mr. Conger to Mr. Hay. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Pekin, China, December 20, 1899. SIR: I have the honor to transmit herewith correspondence concerning a patent spinning machine bought by Revs. Miner and Brewster, American missionaries, and Henry Edgar, an Englishman, from a Chinese who had secured a patent therefor from the tsungli yamen, and which they claim is now being manufactured by another Chinaman without their permission. The tsungli yamen, as you will see, claim that because there is no stipulation in the treaties upon the subject they can take no action. It seems to me that, under the circumstances, further argument on my part is useless. I may add, however, that the Chinese look with a degree of suspicion upon the missionaries who engage in any sort of business scheme or enterprise, and possibly this may in some measure account for their decision. I have, etc., E. HI. CONGER. |