of peace between the two nations of Germany and China may teach them mutually ever to understand and value one another better. This is also my most sincere wish." THE EMPEROR'S REPLY. The Emperor then addressed the following reply to Prince Tschun: "This is not a joyous or festive occasion, or the fulfillment of a simple act of courtesy, which has brought your imperial highness to me, but a deeply melancholy and very serious event. My minister at the court of the Emperor of China, Baron von Ketteler, has been slain in the capital of China by the murderous weapon of an Imperial Chinese soldier, lifted against him by superior command, an unheard-of crime, which is branded by international law and the usage of all nations alike. From the mouth of your imperial highness I have just received the expression of the deep regret of the Emperor of China. "Concerning this event I readily believe that your imperial highness' imperial brother personally stood aloof from the crime and the subsequent acts of violence against the inviolable legations and peaceful foreigners. All the greater is the guilt which falls upon his adviser and his government. These must not delude themselves into believing that by an expiatory mission alone they will have made atonement and obtained pardon for their guilt. This can only be done by their future attitude in conformity with the prescriptions of international law and the usages of civilized nations. If the Emperor of China conducts the government of his great Empire henceforth strictly in the spirit of these prescriptions, then will his hope be fulfilled that the sad results of the complications of the past year will be overcome, and that between Germany and China, as formerly, lasting peaceful and friendly relations will again prevail and conduce to the benefit of two nations and the whole of human civilization. In the sincere and earnest wish that this may be so, I bid your imperial highness welcome." CONDOLENCES ON THE ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT M'KINLEY. The German Emperor to the Secretary of State of the United States. [Telegram.] DANZIG, September 14, 1901. Deeply affected by the news of the untimely death of President McKinley, I hasten to express the deepest and most heartfelt sympathy of the German nation. Germany mourns with America for her noble son who lost his life whilst he was fulfilling his duty to his country and his people. WILLIAM, I. R. Mr. Hay to Mr. White. [Telegram.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, September 16, 1901. You are charged to express in the name of the President and the sorrowing people of this country the deepest appreciation of the touching message of his majesty the German Emperor. The generous share of Germany in our national affliction manifests the closeness of the ties that exist between the two peoples. JOHN HAY. No. 1740.] OPENING OF THE PORT OF EMDEN. EMBASSY OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: I have the honor to report that the new port of Emden has now been opened without any great formality. It is announced in last night's Reichs-Anzeiger that this port can now accommodate the largest seagoing ships. The inner harbor (Binnenhafen) has everywhere a depth of more than 6 meters, while the depth of the outer harbor at mean high water is more than 11 meters, so that it can accommodate ships drawing 8.2 meters at all times. The harbor will be kept open in winter, and the channel of the Ems, from Emden to the sea, is to be made 10 meters deep. Quays have been built in the outer harbor, and electric cranes, coaling chutes, etc., have been provided. The outer harbor is a free harbor, and provision has been made for the loading and unloading of goods, and for storage, with comparatively little supervision by the customs authorities. I have, etc.. JOHN B. JACKSON. VISIT OF GERMAN SCHOOLSHIPS MOLTKE AND STEIN TO UNITED STATES, PORTO RICAN, AND CUBAN PORTS. Count von Quadt to Mr. Hay. IMPERIAL GERMAN EMBASSY, Washington, September 30, 1901 MR. SECRETARY OF STATE: I have the honor, in pursuance of instructions received from my Government, most respectfully to inform your excellency that, in accordance with the plans approved by his majesty the Emperor and King, his majesty's schoolship Moltke will be at Baltimore from the 24th to the 30th of January next, and at Annapolis from January 30 to February 5. His majesty's schoolship Stein will be at San Juan de Puerto Rico from the 3d to the 6th of January next, at Cienfuegos from the 16th to the 18th, and at Habana from the 22d to the 28th of the aforesaid month. Accept, etc., No. 565.] A. QUADT. Mr. Adee to Count von Quadt. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, October 8, 1901. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 30th ultimo, informing me of the dates on which his majesty's schoolships Moltke and Stein will visit certain cities of the United States, Porto Rico, and Cuba. With a view to the extension of the usual courtesies to these vessels, I have made the matter known to the heads of the Treasury, War, and Navy Departments and to the governors of Maryland and Porto Rico. Accept, etc., ALVEY A. ADEE, EFFORTS TO DIVERT GERMAN EMIGRATION FROM NORTH AMERICA TO GERMAN COLONIES AND SOUTH AMERICA. Mr. Jackson to Mr. Hay. No. 1773.] EMBASSY OF THE UNITED STATES, Berlin, October 25, 1901. SIR: As the Department is aware, efforts have repeatedly been made to direct the flow of German emigration away from North America, the United States, and Canada, toward the German colonies and South America. It is claimed that in North America the emigrant is too readily absorbed and that he loses his political and economic nationality in a very short time, while in the colonies he remains a German in every sense, and in South America he still retains, to a considerable extent at least, his German tastes and habits. In short, the emigrant to North America is lost to Germany entirely, while those who go to South America, although they may lose their political nationality, continue to be purchasers in the German markets. It will be remembered that arguments of this character were used in advocating the passage of an emigration law in 1897. Germany is at present suffering from industrial depression, the eventual result of which can not but be healthy, and the immediate effect of this is almost certain to be increased emigration in the near future. The condition is such that the president of the Prussian ministry (Count Bülow) has thought it wise to instruct the provincial governors to collect information with regard to the numbers of the unemployed and to suggest measures by which aid can be given. The Colonial Society, however, has determined to endeavor to direct the emigration which it considers inevitable, and to that end it has made a provisional arrangement with the Imperial Government for the establishment of an information bureau for emigrants. This bureau is to be under the supervision of the chancellor of the Empire, although its character will not be strictly official, and information is to be furnished by it gratuitously to intending emigrants, directly or through agents. The Government is to bear a part of the expenses connected with this work, and is to furnish to the bureau such information as may be received from its representatives abroad as may be of interest to those wishing to make a home outside the limits of the Empire proper. The avowed object of this enterprise is "to prevent the dissipation of the energy, nationality, and capital which German emigrants take out of the Empire, uselessly throughout the world, and the economic fertilization of foreign countries, and to so direct German emigration that it may remain German, nationally and economically, to the greatest possible extent." I have, etc., JOHN B. JACKSON. GERMAN EMPEROR'S RESPONSE TO THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE OF GOOD WILL. Mr. White to Mr. Hay. No. 1791.] EMBASSY OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: I have the honor to report that, immediately after my recent return to Berlin, I included in the usual notification to the foreign office a request for an audience with the Emperor, in order to make known to him the special message of good will which the President had personally instructed me to convey. As a result, I was invited to dine last evening with their majesties at Potsdam, audience being previously given me. Having heard the message from the President expressing his hearty good feeling toward the Monarch and his Empire, His Majesty responded very cordially, declaring that he fully reciprocated the feeling the President had expressed, and referring to the President's career and character in terms which showed that he had studied both with care and highly appreciated them. He also referred to the recent elections in New York City and elsewhere, as proving that the President's courage and intelligent earnestness had given a strong impulse to men of like character throughout the country, and among these he especially named, with admiration, Mr. Seth Low. In this, as well as in the conversation at table and afterwards, the Emperor dwelt upon the wonderful progress made by the United States in sundry great enterprises and industries and especially in shipbuilding, discussing this and kindred subjects with remarkable thoroughness and knowledge of detail. He referred to the fact that he had sent suitable persons to the United States to study our canal systems and internal waterways generally. He also expressed his pleasure at the honor done the imperial ambassador, Dr. Von Hollenben, by Harvard University, and said that, in recognition of this courtesy, he had ordered a collection of casts of the more curious and interesting sculptures and works of art from various public monuments and collections within the Empire to be especially prepared and sent to the Germanic Museum at that institution. Both at the audience and in the conversation afterwards, the Emperor showed that he was really pleased with the message which the President had sent him, both with its assurances of a political nature and with its more personal and special details. I am, etc., ANDREW D. WHITE. COURTESIES TO UNITED STATES NAVAL ATTACHÉ IN GERMANY. No. 1272.] Mr. Hay to Mr. Jackson. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, December 7, 1901. SIR: At the request of the Secretary of the Navy, dated the 5th instant, you are instructed to express to the German Government the thanks of the Navy Department for the unusual courtesy extended to the United States naval attaché in that marked facilities for visiting the German Torpedo Schoolship and Depot have been granted him. I am, etc., JOHN HAY. DIFFICULTY OF GERMANY WITH VENEZUELA. PROMEMORIA. IMPERIAL GERMAN EMBASSY, Against the Venezuelan Government there is a claim pending of the Berlin Company of Discount (Berliner Disconto Gesellschaft) on account of the nonperformance of engagements which the Venezuelan Government has undertaken in connection with the great Venezuelan Railway which has been built by the said Government. Those obligations amount for the time being to fully 6,000,000 bolivares (1 bolivar to be counted as 80 pfennige). The obligations continue to increase, as the interest for the values of the 5 per cent Venezuelan loan of the year 1896, which was emitted to the amount of 33,000,000 bolivares and which have been transmitted to the company as a guaranty for the payment of interest of the capital spent in building, has not been paid regularly since seven years, nor has the payment been made regularly to the sinking fund. This behavior of the Venezuelan Government could, perhaps, to a certain degree be explained and be excused by the bad situation of the finances of the State; but our further reclamations against Venezuela, which date from the Venezuelan civil wars of the years 1898 until 1900, have taken during those last months a more serious character. Through those wars many German merchants living in Venezuela and many German landowners have been seriously damaged, as partly compulsory loans have been extorted from them, partly requisites of war which have been found in their possession, as especially the cattle necessary for the feeding of the troops have been taken from them without being paid for, partly their houses and grounds have been ransacked or devastated. The amount of these damages comes to fully 2,000,000 bolivares. This amount is to be divided between 35 claimants, who are partly poor people. Several of the damaged have lost nearly all their possessions, and through this their creditors who live in Germany have suffered likewise. Very likely these reclamations will be presently put before the Reichstag. Evidently the Venezuelan Government, if we judge it after its behavior in the present, is not willing to fulfill its engagements in compensating these damages. After having first fixed a six-monthly term during which the Government refused to discuss any claims for compensation, the Government issued in January last a decree stating that a commission consisting solely of Venezuelan officials should decide about the claims, which the damaged would have to bring to their knowledge during three months.. The proceedings as settled by this decree seem in three articles not to be acceptable. First of all, that all the claims for damage which came from the time before the 23d of May, 1899 (that means before the appointment of the present President of the Republic, Castro), should not be considered, while of course the government of Castro is, as all other governments, responsible for the deeds of its predecessors. Another article said that all diplomatic protestations against decisions of the commission should be excluded and only the appeal to the supreme Venezuelan court of justice should be admitted. The members of this court are entirely dependent on the Government and have frequently been simply dismissed by the President. Finally, the Government wanted to pay for the claims which should be recognized by the commission only with bonds of a newly to be emitted revolution debt, which would be, after the experiences made, up till present without any value. The behavior of the Venezuelan Government must therefore be considered as a frivolous attempt to avoid just obligations. As was to be expected, several of the few German claims put before the commission have been simply rejected and others have been reduced in a decidedly malicious way. So, by example, a German cattle breeder, from whom FR 1901 -13 |
