Should you require any further instructions as to when and how American diplomatic and consular officers may properly exercise their good offices in behalf of Chinese subjects residing in Chile, you may consult Foreign Relations for 1871, page 28; 1872, page 5; and 1887, page 1076. You will inform the American consuls in Chile of these facts and send a copy of this instruction to each of them. The Acting Secretary of State to the Chinese Minister. No. 118.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, September 28, 1908. SIR: With further reference to your note of August 13 last, in which you were so good as to request that the task of protecting Chinese subjects in Chile and Ecuador, which formerly had been intrusted to the British ministers and consuls, should hereafter be intrusted to the representatives of this Government, I have the honor to inform you that the department is to-day in receipt of telegraphic information from the legation at Quito to the effect that the Government of Ecuador consents to the protection by the United States of resident Chinese. Furthermore, it gives me pleasure to say that the diplomatic and consular representatives of the United States in Ecuador have been fully informed of their duties in this connection. Accept, etc., ROBERT BACON. File No. 15077/21-22. The Acting Secretary of State to the Chinese Minister. No. 129.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, WASHINGTON, December 11, 1908. SIR: Referring to your note of August 13 last, and to the department's note of the 22d of that month in reply, concerning the exercise of the good offices of the American diplomatic and consular officers in Chile and Ecuador in behalf of Chinese residents in those Repub lics, I have the honor to inclose herewith for your information a copy of a dispatch from the American consul general at Guayaquil on the subject. You will perceive thereby that the form which the Government of Ecuador has accepted as a satisfactory certificate to be given to Chinese subjects in Ecuador, when applied for by them, has the effect of a passport. This concession on the part of the Government of Ecuador will, the department feels confident, be very gratifying to you and to your Government. Accept, etc., [Inclosure.] ALVEY A. ADEE. No. 235.] Consul General Dietrich to the Secretary of State. AMERICAN CONSULATE GENERAL, SIR: I have the honor, respectfully referring to copy of the department's instructions No. 61 of August 22, 1908, received from the legation at Quito, regarding the protection of Chinese subjects resident in Ecuador, to inclose herewith form of certificate which has been accepted by the Government of Ecuador as a satisfactory form of certificate to be given to the Chinese subjects, when applied for by them. - I, Herman R. Dietrich, consul general of the United States of America, certify: That claims to be a subject of the Emperor of China, resident in Ecuador, and that, upon his proving his status as a Chinese subject, he will in case of need be entitled to the protection of the Government of the United States and to the good offices of the diplomatic and consular officers thereof, while in Ecuador, in pursuance of an understanding between the Governments of Ecuador and China to that end. I, therefore, request all whom it may concern to permit safely and freely to pass Mr. and that in case of need, to give him all lawful aid and protection. -11) Given under my hand and seal of the consulate general at Guayaquil, Ecuador, this nineteen hundred and eight. day of ----- Consul General of the United States at Guayaquil, Ecuador, (Signature of the bearer.) and in charge of the interests of China. CHINA. PAYMENT OF THE CHINESE INDEMNITY-RETURN BY THE UNITED STATES OF A PORTION OF ITS ALLOTMENT. (Continued from Foreign Relations, 1907, p. 174 et seq.) File No. 774/135A. The Secretary of State to Minister Rockhill. [Telegram.-Paraphrase.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, (Mr. Root informs Mr. Rockhill of the passage of the bill authorizing the President to modify the indemnity bond from $24,440,000 to $13,655,492.69 and interest at 4 per cent, and to remit the remainder of the indemnity as an act of friendship, such payments and remissions to be at such times and in such manner as the President shall deem just. Says that a further sum of $2,000,000 is reserved from the indemnity paid to abide the result of the rehearing on private claims presented to the Court of Claims within one year. The balance. remaining after such adjudications is also to be returned to the Chinese Government in such a manner as the Secretary of State shall decide. Mr. Root directs Mr. Rockhill to invite an expression of views of the Chinese Government as to times and manner of remission which would be just; and advise him, in conferring with the Chinese Government upon this subject, to keep in mind the conferences during his last visit to the United States.) File No. 2413/138A. No. 469.] The Secretary of State to Minister Rockhill. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, May 27, 1908. SIR: I inclose herewith copy of an act of Congress authorizing the return to the Government of China a portion of the indemnity exacted to repay losses sustained by reason of the Boxer disturbances of 1900. The department would be glad of suggestions from the Government of China bearing upon the times and manner in which the remission shall be made. In conferences with the Chinese Government on this subject you will, of course, bear in mind the conversations which you had with the Secretary of State during your recent visit to the United States. I confirm the department's telegram of the 25th instant on this subject.1 I am, 1 Supra. E. ROOT. [Inclosure.] [PUBLIC RESOLUTION-NO. 29.] JOINT RESOLUTION To provide for the remission of a portion of the Chinese Indemnity. Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the President is hereby authorized to consent to a modification of the bond for twenty-four million four hundred and forty thousand seven hundred and seventy-eight dollars and eighty-one cents, dated December fifteenth, nineteen hundred and six, received from China pursuant to the protocol of September seventh, nineteen hundred and one, for indemnity against losses and expenses incurred by reason of the so-called Boxer disturbances in China during the year nineteen hundred, so that the total payment to be made by China under the said bond shall be limited to the sum of thirteen million six hundred and fifty-five thousand four hundred and ninetytwo dollars and sixty-nine cents and interest at the stipulated rate of four per centum per annum, and that the remainder of the indemnity to which the United States is entitled under the said protocol and bond may be remitted as an act of friendship, such payments and remission to be at such times and in such manner as the President shall deem just: Provided, That within one year from the passage of this resolution any person whose claim upon the Chinese indemnity, nineteen hundred, was presented to the United States commissioners or to the Department of State and disallowed in whole or in part may present the same by petition to the Court of Claims, which court is hereby invested with jurisdiction to hear and adjudicate such claim, without appeal, and to render such judgments de novo, or in addition to any allowance or allowances heretofore made, as, in each case shall be fully and substantially compensatory for actual losses and expenses of the claimant caused by the antiforeign disturbances in China during the year nineteen hundred, excluding merely speculative claims or elements of damage: And provided also, That the sum of two million dollars be reserved from the Chinese indemnity, nineteen hundred, for the payment of such judgments, the same to be paid by the Treasurer of the United States as and when they shall be certified to the Secretary of the Treasury by the said court, and any balance remaining after all such claims have been adjudicated and paid shall be returned to the Chinese Government in such manner as the Secretary of State shall decide, and the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized and directed to so return the same: And provided further, That all evidence furnished by the claimants, and statements made by them to the said commissioners or to the Department of State, shall be transmitted by the said Department to the said Court of Claims and considered together with such other additional testimony as may be presented by either side, and the Government of the United States shall defend the said claims in the said court by such attorney or attorneys as may be designated for such service by the Attorney-General of the United States: Provided further, That in no case shall the Court of Claims award a principal sum to any claimant which, together with the principal sums said claimant may have already received by decision of the United States commissioners and the Department of State, shall exceed the amount originally claimed by said claimant. Approved, May 25, 1908. File No. 2413/136–137. The Acting Secretary of State to the Chinese Minister. No. 113.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, SIR: I have the honor to inclose herewith copy of an act of Congress, approved May 25, 1908,1 whereby the President is authorized to return to the Chinese Government a designated portion of the indemnity paid by your Government in consideration of losses sustained by reason of the Boxer disturbances of 1900. The Government of the United States would be glad to obtain from the Imperial Chinese Government an expression of opinion as to the times and manner in which the remission shall be made. Accept, etc., File No. 2413/139. ROBERT BACON. The Chinese Minister to the Acting Secretary of State. IMPERIAL CHINESE LEGATION, SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note, Serial No. 113, inclosing therewith copy of an act of Congress, approved May 25, 1908, whereby His Excellency the President of the United States is authorized to return to my Government a designated portion of the indemnity paid by my Government in consideration of losses sustained by reason of the Boxer disturbances of 1900. In your note you intimated that your Government would be glad to obtain from my Government an expression of opinion as to the times and manner in which the remission shall be made. In reply I beg to say that the contents of your note have been transmitted by cable to my Government, and as soon as the reply arrives I will do myself the honor of communicating it to you. I take this opportunity to reassure your Government of the grateful feelings of my Government for this signal act of friendship on your part. WU TING FANG. Accept, etc., File No. 2413/140. Minister Rockhill to the Secretary of State. [Telegram.- Paraphrase.] AMERICAN LEGATION, (Mr. Rockhill reports having received to-day from the foreign office a reply to his note informing it of the act of Congress authorizing a refund of a portion of the indemnity, which, after acknowledging by subject his note, reads as follows: 1 Mr. Rockhill says that this plan appears to be very commendable and in accordance with department's instructions, and trusts it will commend itself sufficiently to urge immediate beginning of the refunds.) See inclosure to Mr. Rockhill's dispatch, No. 966, July 16, 1908. |