No. 256.
Mr. Bayard to Mr. Chang Yen
Hoon.
Washington, March 7, 1888.
Sir: I had the honor to receive, on the 5th instant, your note of the 3d instant, accompanied by a full statement of the pecuniary estimate of all the losses in property and injuries to person suffered by Chinese subjects throughout the United States in remote and unsettled localities at the hands of lawless and cruel men.
I have carefully considered the amended draughts of the proposed articles of the treaty and shall accept the modifications as they appear in the manuscript sent by you, asking, however, that a reasonable limitation upon the period of their voluntary absence from the United States shall be fixed within which Chinese subjects must avail themselves of the right to return to the United States.
The tragedy at Rock Springs in 1885 should, however be considered as having been deliberately closed as between the two Governments, and I am not wholly without hope that the hand of justice may yet reach the perpetrators of those crimes, none of whom, however, were citizens of the United States.
You will comprehend the obvious expediency of concluding the proposed convention at the earliest possible day, and I will therefore invite you to call at this Department on Thursday, the 8th instant, at 2 o’clock p.m., at which time I believe the terms of the treaty can be definitely agreed upon between us and the instrument be prepared for our signatures on Saturday next.
Accept, etc.,