[Untitled]
Washington, August 13, 1900.
Memorandum in response to the oral inquiries of the Imperial Russian chargé d’affaires, made of the Acting Secretary of State on the 13th instant, having reference to the proposal of the Russian Government to send, cm international detachment under a white flag as far as the walls of Pekin to effect a peaceful bringing back of the foreign envoys now in Pekin.
The views of the Government of the United States upon this proposal have been expressed, in anticipation, in the third paragraph of the official memorandum handed [Page 378] to Minister Wu yesterday as a reply to his communication of the Imperial edict of August 8 appointing Earl Li Hung Chang envoy plenipotentiary to negotiate with the powers now cooperating in China for the relief of the legations in Pekin. It was therein said:
“We are ready to enter into an agreement between the powers and the Chinese Government for a cessation of hostile demonstrations on condition that a sufficient body of the forces composing the relief expedition shall be permitted to enter Pekin unmolested and to escort the foreign ministers and residents back to Tientsin, this movement being provided for and secured by such arrangements and dispositions of troops as shall be considered satisfactory by the generals commanding the forces composing the relief expedition.”
This memorandum was cabled in full last evening to the representatives of the United States at the capitals of the several powers now cooperating in the movement of relief, to be by them communicated to the governments to which they are respectively accredited. The paragraph above quoted appears to embrace the point presented in the Russian proposal, inasmuch as the approach of an international detachment to Pekin under a white flag and the delivery and reception of the foreigners’ there would necessarily depend upon some prior understanding with the Chinese Government and the adoption of such adequate arrangements and dispositions as may be satisfactory to the commanding generals for the realization of the desired end. Whether such a peaceful detachment should enter Pekin or receive the foreign legations and their inmates outside the city walls of Pekin would appear to be a detail to be arranged between the military commanders and the Chinese authorities, having in view that, if the latter alternative is adopted, the foreigners will have to pass through some two miles of the dense Chinese city before reaching the outer gate. It may be that some intermediate course, such as receiving the ministers and others at the gates of the inner Tartar city, will prove practicable.