236


FOREIGN RELATIONS.


with a suitable place elsewhere, and be enabled to erect (or they would erect
for them
if they preferred) buildings as good as those that they now have.  In short,
they
would leave me to decide what was just and reasonable in the matter of compensation.
This is the history and import of the matter as it has come before me.
   Now, in presenting it for your consideration, I will call your attention
to a few points
 which I think you should keep in view.
   I. In the first place, it is a settled-question, so far as the Government
of the United
 States is concerned, that missionaries have no treaty-right to reside in
China elsewhere
 than at the open ports. This matter has to some extent been misunderstood.
But
 it is known now that the clause in the French treaty, from which it was
supposed
 the right of missionaries to reside in the interior was derived, does not
exist in the
 French text, which alone, in cases of discrepancy, is to be regarded as
authoritative.
 Moreover, irrespective of the French treaty or any other, our Government
has decided
 that it is impolitic to claim from the Chinese government rights for missionaries
not
 claimed for other citizens. I mention this fact as one important to be borne
in mind
 in settling difficulties of this kind. The Chinese are dissatisfied with
your present
 location on the hill, and they ask you to exchange it for one somewhere
else. You
 may have thought, and so you may very naturally say, "We are here by
right; why,
 then, are we asked to remove ?" But just here is the mistake. "Your
right," replies our
 Government, "to reside on the hill, or in Hang-chow, at all, is only
such as the Chinese
 give you. We are willing and pleased to have you reside there, if you can
do so with
 their consent." Now, it seems hardly necessary for me to add, that
in order to obtain
 and secure this consent it may be necessary at times to concede something
to their
 prejudices. To reside on the plain with their consent and good will I should
judge to
 be far better policy than to insist on remaining on the hill without them.
   II. I remark, in the second place, that, however little or much the ruling
classes at Hang-chow knew or cared about your position on the hill at first,
there can be no doubt but that it has now become among them a matter of notoriety
and concern. The present movement is -proof enough of this. I think that
all Classes
of Chinese in Hang-chow are peaceably dlisposed toward foreigners ; but they
are, of
course, capable of being irritated, and, with this standing cause of irritation
among them,
it would be no strange thing if in time it led to the disturbance of the
peace you now
enjoy, or even to acts of wrong and outrage. Indeed, my opinion is that the
feeling on
this subject is already too deep and wide-spread to be safely ignored.
  III.-,The present method adopted by the Chinese to get rid of what is to
them a.
grievance seems to be just, and even generous. It admits that your being
where you
are is no fault of yours. It is a mistake, (as they look at it,) harmless
perhaps to you,
but disastrous to them. They courteously ask you to change your location,
and they
offer to pay your expenses in doing so.
  IV. By your acceding to their proposition, I think I can secure to you
a location
that will in most respects, if not in all, be as eligible as that which you
now have;
and, in addition to this, succeed in placing you and all the missionaries
in Hang-chow
on a safer and better footing. In this way the conflict that commenced a
year ago
will be well ended, and the Chinese will have had at least one proof that
the better
way to redress their grievances against foreigners is not by violence and
wrong, but
by law and order; and if this lesson is learned by them to any extent, you
cannot fail
to see how great a boon it must be to us all.
  V. In conclusion, I have to say that Lam strongly of the opinion that you
ought to
accede to the request that the Chinese have made. I think it will be for
your own in-
terest, and for the interest of your fellow-missionaries. And I suppose I
hardly need
say that, if you do accede to their request, I will use my best endeavors
to secure you
every interest and convenience that may seem just and practicable.
  The Chinese are anxious to have the matter decided as soon as possible;
so I trust
you will let me hear from you on the subject at your earliest convenience.
      I am, sirs, your obedient servant,
                                                         EDWARD C. LORD,
                                                               United States
Consul.
  Rev. M. HALE HOUSTON,
  Rev, B. HELM,
        Missionaries of the Southern Presbyterian Board of Missions, Hang-chow.



                               [Inclosure 3 in 1 in No. 17.]
                             Rev. B. Helm to Mr. Lord.
                                                     HANG-CHOW, August 22,
1873.
  RESPECTED AND DEAR SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt on
yester-
day (21st) of your recent communication to Mr. Houston and myself0 with regard
to a