146 



CONGRESS. (THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE.) 



lously carried out. A circular note to the powers 

 dated July 3 proclaimed our attitude. Treating 

 the condition in the north as one of virtual 

 anarchy, in which the great provinces of the south 

 and southeast had no share, we regarded the local 

 authorities in the latter quarters as representing 

 the Chinese people, with whom we sought to re- 

 main in peace and friendship. Our declared aims 

 involved no war against the Chinese nation. We 

 adhered to the legitimate office of rescuing the 

 imperiled legation, obtaining redress for wrongs 

 already suffered, securing wherever possible the 

 safety of American life and property in China, and 

 preventing a spread of the disorders or their re- 

 currence. 



As was then said, " the policy of the Govern- 

 ment of the United States is to seek a solution 

 which may bring about permanent safety and 

 peace to China, preserve Chinese territorial and 

 administrative entity, protect all rights guaran- 

 teed to friendly powers by treaty and international 

 law, and. safeguard for the world the principle of 

 equal and impartial trade with all parts of the 

 Chinese Empire." 



Faithful to those professions which, as it proved, 

 reflected the views and purposes of the other co- 

 operating governments, all our efforts have been 

 directed toward ending the anomalous situation 

 in China by negotiations for a settlement at the 

 earliest possible moment. As soon as the sacred 

 duty of relieving our legation and its depend- 

 ents was accomplished we withdrew from active 

 hostilities, leaving our legation under an adequate 

 guard in Pekin as a channel of negotiation and 

 settlement a course adopted by others of the in- 

 terested powers. Overtures of the empowered 

 representatives of the Chinese Emperor have been 

 considerately entertained. 



The Russian proposition looking to the restora- 

 tion of the imperial power in Pekin has been ac- 

 cepted as in full consonance with our own desires, 

 for we have held and hold that effective reparation 

 for wrongs suffered and an enduring settlement 

 that will make their recurrence impossible can 

 best be brought about under an authority which 

 the Chinese nation reverences and obeys. While 

 so doing we forego no jot of our undoubted right 

 to exact exemplary and deterrent punishment of 

 the responsible authors and abettors of the crimi- 

 nal acts whereby w r e and other nations have suf- 

 fered grievous injury. 



For the real culprits, the evil counselors who 

 have misled the imperial judgment and diverted 

 the sovereign authority to their own guilty ends, 

 full expiation becomes imperative within the 

 national limits of retributive justice. Regarding 

 this as the initial condition of an acceptable settle- 

 ment between China and the powers, I said in my 

 message of Oct. 18 to the Chinese Emperor: 



" I trust that negotiations may begin so soon as 

 we and the other offended governments shall be 

 effectively satisfied of your Majesty's ability and 

 power to treat with just sternness the principal 

 offenders, who are doubly culpable, not alone to- 

 ward the foreigners, but toward your Majesty, 

 under whose rule the purpose of China to dwell in 

 concord with the world had hitherto found ex- 

 pression in the welcome and protection assured to 

 strangers." 



Taking, as a point of departure, the imperial 

 edict appointing Earl Li-Hung-Chang and Prince 

 Ching plenipotentiaries to arrange a settlement, 

 and the edict of Sept. 25, whereby certain high 

 officials were designated for punishment, this Gov- 

 ernment has moved, in concert with the other 

 powers, toward the opening of negotiations, which 

 Mr. Conger, assisted by Mr. Rockhill, has been 



authorized to conduct on behalf of the United 

 States. 



General bases of negotiation formulated by the 

 Government of the French Republic have been 

 accepted with certain reservations as to details, 

 made necessary by our own circumstances, but, 

 like similar reservations by other powers, open to 

 discussion in the progress of the negotiations. The 

 disposition of the Emperor's Government to admit 

 liability for wrongs done to foreign governments 

 and their nationals, and to act upon such addi- 

 tional designation of the guilty persons as the 

 foreign ministers at Pekin may be in a position to 

 make, gives hope of a complete settlement of all 

 questions involved, assuring foreign rights of resi- 

 dence and intercourse on terms of equality for all 

 the world. 



I regard as one of the essential factors of a 

 durable adjustment the securement of adequate 

 guarantees for liberty of faith, since insecurity of 

 those natives who may embrace alien creeds is a 

 scarcely less effectual assault upon the rights of 

 foreign worship and teaching than would be the 

 direct invasion thereof. 



The matter of indemnity for our wronged citi- 

 zens is a question of grave concern. Measured in 

 money alone, a sufficient reparation may prove to 

 be beyond the ability of China to meet. All the 

 powers concur in emphatic disclaimers of any pur- 

 pose of aggrandizement through the dismember- 

 ment of the empire. I am disposed to think that 

 due compensation may be made in part by in- 

 creased guarantees of security for foreign rights 

 and immunities, and, most important of all, by 

 the opening of China to the equal commerce of 

 all the world. These views have been and will be 

 earnestly advocated by our representatives. . 



The Government of Russia has put forward a 

 suggestion, that in the event of protracted diver- 

 gence of views in regard to indemnities the mat- 

 ter may be relegated to the Court of Arbitration 

 at The Hague. I favorably incline to this, believ- 

 ing that high tribunal could not fail to reach a 

 solution no less conducive to the stability and en- 

 larged prosperity of China itself than immediately 

 beneficial to the powers. 



Ratifications of a treaty of extradition with the 

 Argentine Republic were exchanged on June 2 

 last. 



While the Austro-Hungarian Government has in 

 the many cases that have been reported of the ar- 

 rest of our naturalized citizens for alleged evasion 

 of military service faithfully observed the pro- 

 visions of the treaty and released such persons 

 from military obligations, it has in some instances 

 expelled those whose presence in the community 

 of their origin was asserted to have a pernicious 

 influence. Representations have been made against 

 this course whenever its adoption has appeared 

 unduly onerous. 



We have been urgently solicited by Belgium to 

 ratify the international convention of June, 1899, 

 amendatory of the previous convention of 1890 in. 

 respect to the regulation of the liquor -trade in 

 Africa. Compliance was necessarily withheld, in 

 the absence of the advice and consent of the 

 Senate thereto. The principle involved has the 

 cordial sympathy of this Government, which in 

 the revisionary negotiations advocated more dras- 

 tic measures, and I would gladly see its extension, 

 by international agreement, to the restriction of 

 the liquor traffic with all uncivilized peoples, es- 

 pecially in the western Pacific. 



A conference will be held at Brussels Dec. 11, 

 1900, under the convention for the protection of 

 industrial property concluded at Paris March 20, 

 1883, to which delegates from this country have 



