James Burrill Angell to Walker Blaine, July 16, 1881

No. 168. Mr. Angell to Mr. Blaine.

Sir: On the morning of June 20, I mailed to you my dispatch No. 174, which informed you of the attempt of the Northern Telegraph Company to secure for twenty years the exclusive right to land telegraphic cables in China.

On the afternoon of that day I had business at the foreign office, and learned that the ministers had received from Li Hung Chang an answer to the letter of inquiry which, agreeably to their promise to me, they had sent to him. They said they would send the answer to me, but they evidently preferred not to discuss the main subject until I had read the viceroy’s letter. I therefore contented myself with again expressing the conviction that my government would be most strongly opposed to the scheme.

Soon after I received a communication from Prince Kung, embodying evidently only a portion of the viceroy’s letter. I inclose a copy. The viceroy’s statements are somewhat obscure. He wishes to leave the impression that an agreement has not been drawn; but surely the paper which I inclosed in No. 174 is an agreement, and I have no doubt of its genuineness. The viceroy’s words seem to indicate that he is perhaps conscious of having gone too fast and too far before consulting the Imperial Government. He would apparently have us understand that no promise has been made beyond that of the privilege of exclusive connection with the new land line from Shanghai to Tientsin. Yet, at once and inconsistently, he pleads the examples of France and Russia in making concessions as precedents for the monopoly proposed here. It is possible that by making extracts from his paper injustice has been done to it. But it does not seem frank and ingenuous as given to me.

For certain reasons, and especially for the reason that the British and German ministers were conferring with the ministers on the subject, I delayed further discussion upon the matter until July 13.

I began my interview on that day by saying that I found the viceroy’s words somewhat obscure, and begged the ministers to inform me exactly what is the request of the telegaph company. With their usual reluctance to convey information until they see that you have it, they said at first that they did not know exactly, since the viceroy had carried on the business without consulting them. But when I drew the agreement from my pocket and asked if it did not distinctly forbid an American company to land a cable in China for twenty years, they confessed that it did. They then asked me to repeat my objections to the plan, which I did at length. After a prolonged conversation they said if I would send them my views in writing they would send them to the viceroy and ask him to modify the scheme in such a manner as not to preclude us from laying a cable. They assured me that they did not wish to give offense to the United States.

I do not report my remarks, because the substance of them is found in the communication to Prince Kung, which, in compliance with the request of the ministers, I have sent in. I inclose a copy.

There were present at the interview their excellencies Mao, Wang, Ch’ung, and Hsia. I have of course had to proceed entirely without instructions in this business, but trust my action may meet with the approval of the Department. I cannot venture to predict the result.

I have, &c.,