The Government of the United States highly appreciates the courtesies shown on this occasion to the representatives of the Navy Department, and is much impressed by the friendly intention shown in the erection of the monument to celebrate the entry of Commodore Perry into the ports of Japan. I am, etc., ALVEY A. Adee, CONDOLENCES ON ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT M'KINLEY. [Telegram received from the Japanese minister for foreign affairs, September 14, 1901, and communicated to the Department of State by the Japanese minister at Washington.] Painful news of Mr. McKinley's death at the time when his speedy recovery was confidently expected caused profound affliction to His Majesty, and he commands you to convey to the family of the late President the expression of his sympathetic condolence. Mr. Hill to Mr. Takahira. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, September 25, 1901. SIR: The pressure of public business attendant upon the death of President McKinley has delayed until now an acknowledgment of the telegram from the Japanese minister for foreign affairs (copy of which was left by you at the Department), conveying an expression of His Imperial Majesty's sympathy in view of that sad event. I shall be obliged if you will assure his excellency, in the name of the Government and people of the United States, as well as in the name of the family of the late President, that this message of sympathy on the part of His Majesty was received with sincere and grateful appreciation. Accept, etc., DAVID J. HILL, EXPIATORY MISSION TO JAPAN OF NA TUNG, SPECIAL ENVOY OF THE EMPEROR OF CHINA. Mr. Buck to Mr. Hay. No. 586.] UNITED STATES LEGATION, SIR: I have the honor to report that Mr. Na Tung, special envoy of the Emperor of China, to apologize for the murder by Chinese soldiers during the Boxer troubles last year of Mr. Sugiyama, chancellor of the Japanese legation at Pekin, arrived in Tokyo accompanied by a retinue of some twenty persons on the 5th instant. On the 13th the envoy, with his suite in attendance, was received in audience by the Emperor of Japan and discharged his mission of apology. The Japanese court bestowed upon Mr. Na the First Class Order of the Rising Sun, and upon the members of his suite various lower orders. During his sojourn in Tokyo Mr. Na has been entertained on several occasions by bankers, business men, and others; and, in general, his reception seems to indicate the hope that his visit may have the effect of improving the commercial and political relations between Japan and China. The envoy is to depart on his return to China on the 2d proximo. I have, etc., A. E. BUCK. ASSISTANCE RENDERED UNITED STATES TRANSPORT HANCOCK BY JAPANESE NAVY. Mr. Buck to Mr. Hay. UNITED STATES LEGATION, Tokyo, Japan, November 26, 1901. SIR: I have the honor to report that on the 16th instant, on receipt. of a telegram from Capt. John Baxter, United States quartermaster at Nagasaki, that the United States transport Hancock was aground near Moji, in the Shimonoseki Strait, and requesting that I obtain immediate assistance of a Japanese warship from Kure, if possible, I at once communicated with the navy department, which promptly dispatched a ship equipped with the necessary appliances for relieving the vessel. Receiving a telegram from Quartermaster Baxter on the 17th instant announcing the floating of the Hancock uninjured, and expressing his great appreciation of the prompt action of the navy department in sending a ship to her aid (copy of telegram herewith), I addressed through the minister for foreign affairs a note of thanks to the minister of the navy (copy herewith). I have, etc., A. E. BUCK. [Inclosure 1.-Telegram.] Captain Baxter to Mr. Buck. NAGASAKI, November 17, 1901. Advised that Japanese admiralty sent two warships with salvage appliances to help Hancock near Moji. Hancock floated high tide 16th uninjured, and sailed same day to relieve Warren at Kobe. Action Japanese admiralty greatly appreciated. This office will promptly pay admiralty's bill of expense. BAXTER. [Inclosure 2.] Mr. Buck to Mr. Komura Jutaro. UNITED STATES LEGATION, Mr. MINISTER: I have the honor to express, through your excellency, to his excellency the minister of the navy my high appreciation and thanks for his great kindness in so promptly dispatching two vessels with salvage appliances to the assistance of the United States transport Hancock, aground near Moji a few days ago. In pursuance of a telegram received from the United States quartermaster at Nagasaki, I have the honor to express his grateful acknowledgments also, and to say for him that his office will promptly pay the bill of expenses for the two vessels when known. A. E. BUCK. I avail, etc., Mr. Buck to Mr. Hay. UNITED STATES LEGATION, Tokyo, Japan, December 9, 1901. SIR: I have the honor to inclose a copy of a communication from the minister for foreign affairs in response to the note, a copy of which accompanied my dispatch of the 26th ultimo, on the subject of the steps taken by the Japanese navy to assist the transport Hancock. In acknowledging the expressions of thanks for the sending of vessels to the Hancock's assistance, the minister for foreign affairs' note is to the effect that the minister of the navy, while appreciating the quartermaster's desire to reimburse the expenses involved, states that the expenses for the vessels are not expected to be refunded. The quartermaster has been informed accordingly. I have, etc., A. E. BUCK. [Inclosure.-Translation.] Mr. Komura Jutaro to Mr. Buck. DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, Mr. MINISTER: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your excellency's note dated the 20th ultimo, expressing through me to the minister for the navy your high appreciation and thanks for two Japanese vessels having been dispatched to the assistance of the United States transport Hancock, aground near Moji, and at the same time desiring that the bill of expenses for the two vessels be made known. Having at once communicated to the minister for the navy upon the subject, I am now in receipt of a reply from him requesting me to state that he profoundly appreciates your excellency's courtesy, but that the expenses for the said vessels are not expected to be refunded. I avail, etc., KOMURA JUTARO, Minister for Foreign Affairs. SIR: I have the honor to hand you a statement in regard to the ill treatment of two American missionaries at Taiku, the capital of the province of North Kyung Sang, to which I alluded in my No. 306 of December 14, 1900. " a The facts are briefly as follows: Messrs. Adams and Johnson, American missionaries residing under passport at Taiku, had some trouble over a contract for tiles to cover a house they were preparing for themselves at that place in the name of a Korean. The matter was brought to the attention of the local governor, who is reported as being a man of conservative and rather independent ideas. Upon the order of this governor the Korean writer employed by the Americans, who had written the contract with the tile burner, was arrested, the police forcibly entering the domicile of the Americans to make the arrest. The man was taken before the governor and most inhumanly beaten. When the Americans went to the governor's yamen to inquire into the case, the governor refused to see them, pronounced their official Korean passports valuelesss and treated them with great indignity, compelling them to stand in the courtyard with the rabble, and refusing to hear their explanations though they were the principal parties to the transaction under discussion. Mr. Adams telegraphed me upon December 5 and I sent him immediately a long telegram en claire in which I stated that the governor was at fault and that I would take up the matter with the Korean Government. I saw the foreign minister as soon as possible and obtained from him an order for the release of the Korean writer, Kim, which however did not reach Taiku for some days, owing to a sudden break in the telegraph lines. The governor had in the meantime presumably read while in transmission my telegram to Mr. Adams, for he at once announced that his mother had died and left his post to go into mourning. On December 17 I formally addressed the foreign minister as per inclosure No. 1, detailing the case upon information received from the Rev. Mr. Adams by letter, and contending that the treaty had been violated in four particulars. I saw the foreign minister several times and insisted on his replying to my letter. On "Not printed. January 25 he replied by quoting from a report of the acting governor, who was one of the chief culprits. This reply was not satisfactory and was almost if not quite discourteous. The principal points in this reply are included in a letter which I prepared on February 1. In 1890 a French priest was very badly treated at this same city of Taiku, his property was stolen and he himself was imprisoned. This incident formed the subject of a dispatch, No. 141, of April 2, 1891, from Mr. Heard, to which Mr. Adee replied in No. 95 of May 19, 1891, instructing him to demand equal rights and privileges for Americans. No such demand has had to be made, as our people have kept "within the letter" of the treaties, but I thought I might well use these instructions in this case. I wrote, therefore, another letter, referred to above as having been prepared upon February 1, replying to the chief points of the letter of the acting governor of Taiku and inclosing a memorandum of the French case of 1890-91. In this communication I informed the foreign minister that I was compelled reluctantly to fall back upon instructions my predecessor had received in connection with the above-cited French case, and that in view of the fact that the action of his Government had rendered practically inoperative the treaty provisions restricting the residence of foreigners to the open ports, I should inform my people that they were at liberty to live anywhere in the interior where foreigners of other nationalities were sojourning. * * My object in writing this letter was that I might lay the whole matter before His Majesty and have the position of the Americans at Taiku made more comfortable. His Majesty has requested me to consult with him personally before taking any decisive action with the foreign office. I wrote this letter, therefore, with the intention of sending it informally to the Emperor to read before delivering it. I felt certain that His Majesty would not permit it to go officially to the foreign office, a surmise in which I proved to be correct when the translation of the letter was returned me with the request that I retain it for a few days while His Majesty had the foreign minister adjust the matter to my satisfaction. The foreign minister called upon me twice and arranged with me that he should write a careful instruction to the governor of North Kyung Sang Do, who had meantime succeeded the former one, and that he should send me a polite and satisfactory letter on the subject. He offered to punish or dismiss the chief culprit, Noh Chusa, but in discussing the matter he begged that I would allow the new governor to examine first the said Noh. This suggestion met with my approval, as I did not desire the man to be punished without a hearing. I agreed to send the foreign minister an unofficial copy of my withheld letter of February 1, that he might give it to the new governor for his guidance. On February 26 the foreign minister sent me, therefore, a letter, a translation of which I inclose. It proved to be unsatisfactory, as it did not include a copy of the instruction of the foreign minister to the newly appointed governor of North Kyung Sang Province and said nothing in regard to the examination and punishment of Noh Chusa. I had my interpreter return it in person, with a verbal statement as to the omissions, and upon the same day I received a satisfactory reply, a translation of which I inclose, handing me a copy of the foreign minister's instructions to the governor, a translation of which instrucions I inclose also. |