Nien to To M. M. De Lano, March 5, 1875

Governor-General Li to Mr. De Lano.

I have had the honor of receiving your letter of the 3d instant, in which you speak of a dispatch sent by the Tsungli Yamen respecting protection to be extended to the submarine telegraph cable, and ask if it has reached me.

In reply, I beg to state that on the first of February I received a dispatch from Peking to the following purport:

“The British, French, American, and Danish ministers, with the Russian and German, have all addressed communications to the foreign office in respect to the cable which is laid between Hong-kong and Shanghai, complaining that the trading and fishing-boats constantly injure it, and thieving miscreants carry it off. It appears that this cable, being laid along the bottom of the sea, any injury caused by casting out anchors from vessels passing over it must be regarded as quite unintentional, and not possible to be prevented by mere orders as to their course; they cannot be regarded as crimes amenable to punishment. Thefts committed on the cable by sea-robbers, who go here and there as they list, and hide away in their secret places very easily, are still more difficult to search out, and punish the wrong-doers. The Yamen, therefore, now incloses copies of all the correspondence, and when it reaches Foo-chow you will see what measures can be devised to protect the cable, and direct the local authorities to exert themselves and arrange the affair properly.”

I have also received a dispatch from the southern superintendent of trade to the same purport. It appears to me that the telegraphic cable which the Danish company has laid in the sea, being entirely hidden from the sight of the boat-people who pass over it, can suffer injury from them only by the merest unintentional accident. Such dacoits and sea-robbers as skulk and lurk about, and steal portions of the cable, cannot be reached by any prohibitions and brought up for punishment. The case, in fact, is exactly stated in the Yamen’s dispatch to the foreign ministers.

The very friendly sentiments of the Tsungli Yamen in these dispatches differ greatly from their former views, when they explicitly declared that the Chinese government could in no case hold itself responsible for injuries suffered by the cable; and I am even still more desirous of carrying out their friendly desires. When I received their dispatches, and that from the southern superintendent of trade, I sent two instructions to the intendant at the head of the board of trade, directing him to immediately take measures to carry into effect these orders and report to me afterward.

I have, therefore, now the honor to reply to your letter in relation to this affair, and avail myself of the occasion to wish you prosperity.