Prince Kung and the ministers of the Yamen to To His Excellency W. Raasloff, February 25, 1875

Prince Kung and the ministers of the Yamen to General Raasloff.

Prince Kung and the ministers of the foreign office herewith send a reply:

We had the honor on the 15th instant to receive your excellency’s dispatch, in which you state that you had just received the following report from the agent of the Great Northern Telegraph Company:

“The company’s workmen, between Amoy and Foo-chow, have been attacked in several places by soldiers and the people, all armed with weapons, many of our employés badly wounded; some of the watch-houses and huts demolished; several hundred of our posts carried off, with an unknown quantity of wire, and a great number of tools taken away. About a hundred li or more of the land-line going from Foo-chow is still left, and the cable connecting Kulangsu with the main-land has not been harmed.”

You therefore request that orders may be, immediately sent down there to take measures to put a stop to these proceedings, so that no further losses and injuries may be suffered, and you propose that the hundred li, or more, of the telegraphic line now set up between Foo-chow and Amoy, with the cable connecting Kulangsu and the main-land, and all the materials collected between these two cities to construct the telegraphic line, shall all be sold to this government, so that hereafter China can herself manage and take care of it.

Orders have in consequence been already sent from this office to Fuhkien, directed to the governor-general, governor, and manchu-general, requiring them to inquire into the facts immediately, and ascertain what arrangement can be made. When their reply has been received we will again address your excellency, but content ourselves at this time with the present communication.