Prince Kung to the foreign ministers, November 23, 1883

Prince Kung to the foreign ministers.

Your Excellencies: Upon the 21st instant I had the honor to receive your collective note, in which it was stated that you accept certain propositions made by this office in an earlier note in regard to disposing of the Shameen case, and that yon recognize a desire to do all in my power to atone for the injury inflicted upon foreigners by a Chinese mob; that an arbitration is meant in which a majority shall decide all questions, and that an early disposition of the case is much to be desired, &c.

In the Shameen affair the prince and ministers would observe that, it having originated in murder, an investigation into the circumstances of the riot should be the objective point. These circumstances being correct, the guilty parties could be punished according to their deserts, and there would be no difficulty in bringing out the truth in regard to any damages to property.

This was the purpose of the prince and ministers in their proposition in an earlier note to appoint aboard of arbitration; and I beg your excellencies to take it into consideration.