Beebe to F. F. Low , Peking, December 16, 1872

Mr. Beebe to Mr. Low.

My Dear Mr. Low: Mr. V. C. Hart, an American missionary at this port, contemplates establishing a station some distance in the interior, for the purpose of extending his business, i. e., converting the heathen.

Before proceeding, however, he wishes to know the amount of protection he will have from the United States, and has addressed the following questions to me, viz:

• “Can American citizens purchase, legally, property outside a treaty-port?”
• “If property can be purchased thus, and dwellings or chapels be built thereon, will the American Government hold the Chinese government responsible for damage or destruction of said property by mob or other violence of the Chinese?
• “Can full damages be recovered in case rented property be destroyed, outside a treaty-port?”

The above are Mr. Hart’s questions, and he further adds: “I should like to be clear in my own mind; for some two years since Dr. Jenkins, late of Shanghai, informed me that the favored-nation clause might not be pressed in such case.”

Can you give me a reply to these queries? I do not address yon officially, because it occurs to me that you may feel more free to answer privately.

Yours, truly,