Sewaed to Sir Thomas Wade, April 15, 1880

Mr. Seward to Sir Thomas Wade.

His Excellency Sir Thomas Wade, K. C. B., &c., &c., &c.:

Dear Sir and Colleague: I have already informed you, as doyen of the diplomatic body, that I visited the Tsung-li Yamên yesterday, and spoke with the ministers present, as requested by you and my colleagues generally, in regard to the mixed court at Shanghai, and I have now to hand to you a minute of my remarks.

I was asked by the ministers to submit such a minute to them, in order that they may send it to the viceroy at Nanking, with instructions to report further upon the business.

If you, and my colleagues generally, approve the minute I shall have it translated and transmitted to the Yamên at once.

I have already informed you that while the ministers listened to me with attention, and in an appreciative way, our proposal that an imperial commission and seal be “conferred upon the magistrate of the mixed court was stoutly contested by them. The burden of their argument was that it would be difficult to give him a seal, and that it would be useless. When I pressed them to state the difficulties, they appeared to me to be unable to define with any exactness the conditions which render the action desired by us embarrassing to them. They answered in a very general way, that the district within which the magistrate would act is very small, and that it would occasion jealousy on the part of the regular officers of the locality. Their most significant statement, perhaps, was, that an officer of the regular administration might feel bound to manage the court in more perfect accordance with Chinese ideas than the present deputy does.

As the proposal to give the magistrate imperial authority was the most important one of those which we put forward, and as I learned nothing from the ministers which seemed to me to invalidate the merit of our position, I urged our proposal as strongly as I could with courtesy, and took all possible pains to indicate that we are not disposed to accept a refusal as a satisfactory conclusion of the business.

At the last the ministers said that we must be aware of the evils which result frequently from attempting to change established institutions, and I was led to infer that the opposition exhibited had its origin in this conservative feeling rather than in any practical administrative difficulties. I shall not be surprised if the viceroy yields the point graciously.

You will see from the minute the line of argument which I followed in dealing with the question of the seal and otherwise. You will see in particular that I presented to them some details in regard to the court which were not advanced in our letter of November last.

I may say in this connection that I found it desirable to do this in order to impress upon the ministers more perfectly the merit of the proposals which we did advance in our letter of November, and because the matters so advanced do seem worthy of attention. It appeared tome moreover that a further reference to Nanking would be unavoidable, and that it would be a mistake to lose the opportunity to impress upon the ministers the fact that their court falls far short of being perfect in its constitution and details, and the chance of securing all possible ameliorations. The ministers were especially appreciative of the statements which I made in this connection, and said that if the magistrate is really overworked, or his duties are such that he cannot deal promptly with all matters demanding his attention, and if the Yamên is defective, measures may be taken to give him assistance and to provide suitable accommodations.

I am sure that reforms in these directions would be much appreciated at Shanghai, where the difficulties of bringing cases to trial, owing to the pressure of work upon the magistrate, and the almost intolerable discomfort of the court-room in the winter more especially, have been evils to which attention would have been called in urgent manner, if it had not appeared hopeless to attempt to improve matters.

It was not possible to avoid speaking of the proposals sent up by the viceroy. The ministers fully assented to my statement of the reasons why our officers cannot go to the mixed court to hear cases in which our nationals are concerned as defendants, and they did not seem to have any settled opinion in regard to the admission of lawyers in mixed cases. My statement that it would be a hardship to their countrymen to refuse to allow them to employ lawyers when they appear as complainants in our courts seemed to be appreciated by them, and to give force to my intimation that to some at least of the foreign representatives, their refusal to allow our countrymen to use lawyers would seem almost a denial of justice. I thought I could not do better in this connection than to say that the subject is one which may be so regulated as to do away with undoubted evils, and to preserve the benefits to be derived from the assistance of a class whose efforts have done much to make the course of law in western countries better than it is in China, and that the best plan is to ask the authorities at Shanghai to consult with the consuls on the subject. This will leave each representative here free to give his officer at Shanghai such instructions as may seem appropriate. I hope, however, that we may be able to agree upon an instruction to be sent to them which will avert the consequences of what appears to me a movement of a retrograde sort.

While thanking you and my colleagues for allowing me the opportunity to urge upon the Yamên the importance of the matters in hand, I beg leave to express the hope that my course will meet with general approval.

I am handing to each of my colleagues a copy of this note and of the minute prepared for the Yamên, and I beg leave to ask you to consider whether a meeting of our body should be held in order to consider the minute, and whether any instructions, and if so, what instructions, should be sent to our officers at Shanghai.

I am, my dear colleague, yours very truly.