SEWARD, Consul-General to Wells Williams, May 11, 1874

Mr. Seward to Mr. Williams.

Sir: I have heretofore advised you that a riot occurred in the French settlement on Sunday last.

Up to this moment no official inquiry has taken place in regard to its causes, or the merits of the grievance, as alleged by the Chinese. The consul-general for France has indeed, as it would appear, taken some conclusions, hut he has not communicated them to his colleagues; nor do we know of them excepting from the local prints and newspapers. Under these circumstances I shall confine this report to a statement of my own connection with the affair in its various aspects, and I shall transmit to you with it such printed documents as will set forth all the information that I can now communicate.

The riot took place on Sunday, the 3d instant. I was informed of the existence of a difficulty while at my house, more than two miles from the scene, at about half past 6 o’clock in the evening. I at once drove to the residence of Dr. Yates, which was not more than a third of a mile from the place in question. I found that Dr. Yates, his son-in-law, Mr. Seaman, and Mr. Hill, had been observing the tendency of the affair, and they assured me that it was not unlikely to assume serious proportions.

Acting upon a preconceived idea of what should be done under such circumstances, I determined to ask our gunboats to land the largest possible force, and to place them where they could be of most use in a defensive way, and I proceeded to the French consulate to state my information and my conception of the measures which should be taken. Upon leaving Dr. Yates’s house I saw that a fire had broken out, and that crowds of excited people were already moving down the Rue du Consulat, breaking the street lamps, and otherwise indicating their excitement. On reaching the French concession, I told Mr. Godeaux, the consul-general, what I had learned, and expressed my opinion that it would be well to land a force from the gunboats. He at once assented to this, and I proceeded to the Ashuelot and Yantic to secure the same. The commanders of these vessels yielded a ready assent to my request, and actually landed about a hundred men by 8.30 o’clock. Not anticipating that the rioters would have any disposition to proceed further in the face of the fact that this force was in hand, and that a squad of fifteen or twenty men from a French gunboat had been previously landed, I requested the commanding officer of the sailors to take them to the French consulate; I at the same time requested Mr. Bradford to remain with them, and to advise with Mr. Godeaux and the commanding officer in regard to their disposition, giving to him at the same time such general instructions as seemed appropriate. A meeting of the consuls had been called while I was thus engaged, and the hour for assembling having arrived, I proceeded to the place named for it, the Main-guard, to which the municipal council and the volunteers had also been summoned.

The question here arose what course should be pursued; and upon this point the chairman of the municipal council, as commandant of the volunteers, requested instructions from the consuls.

It was my opinion that one or two of the fire companies should proceed to the scene of the fire, guarded by the volunteers and our sailors, in order to put out the fire and make such a demonstration as would overawe the rabble; and this course was determined upon, the consuls and the chairman proceeding with the troops.

I may say that I was assured strongly that this course was the only one which could be pursued, having regard to all interests. If a fire was going on it should be put out. If the rabble was disposed to carry matters farther, nothing less than a demonstration of our ability to suppress them would answer. Neither was any danger to be apprehended. A Chinese mob will not fight foreigners, excepting as a pack of wolves will attack human beings, when in numbers and with full swing for their savagery. A squad of fifty men present during the day near the scene of the trouble, would have overawed the rabble and prevented all bloodshed.

In marching to the locality of the fire, I took about fifty of our sailors with the volunteers. I remained with the commanding officer, and informed both him and the commandant of the volunteers that I would be the sole medium of communication between them. I took this course because the responsibility of landing these men was mine, and because I felt unwilling that they should be asked to do any active work without my full knowledge and assent.

I should say here, that prior to my return to the French settlement from the Main-guard, reports had been received that the police station at the southern river corner of the settlement was in danger, and that Mr. Bradford had gone to its relief with a guard of the sailors.

Upon reaching the scene of the disturbances I found that, as I anticipated, the danger was over. The fire, too, was pretty nearly burned out, it having met obstructions which prevented it from spreading. Such measures were taken, however, to suppress it entirely, as were appropriate.

At this time information was brought that a band of the rioters had taken refuge in the Ningpo Joss-house, a rambling structure covering more than an acre of ground situated at the southwestern end of the settlement. It seemed advisable to determine whether this was the fact, and the force excepting an appropriate patrol moved at once to the place. The Chehsien, or district magistrate, who had previously appeared upon the scene of the riot, accompanied us.

The door of the joss-house, or wei-kuan, was found closed, and upon calling out to those supposed to be inside, no answer was received. Mr. Medhurst and myself then asked the magistrate to break in one of the doors, so as to enable us to make with him an inspection of the premises. This was effected by the foreign firemen with axes, the door selected having been barricaded with coffin material. The entry having been, effected, a squad of the magistrate’s soldiers with the magistrates and several of the consuls, proceeded to search, but found not one person.

It is likely that no one was there, and that, anticipating such a search, even those who usually occupy it had taken their departure. The force was then marched back to the municipal hall and the French consulate, at which places our sailors were to bivouac for the night.

Signals were agreed upon to call out the volunteers and fire companies if this should be necessary, and at 2 a.m. I returned to my residence.

I should mention that before retiring from the French settlement I waited on the French consul, and through his chancelier proposed a consuls’ meeting for the next morning at his office. He returned word, further thanking me for the aid rendered to him, but intimating that he did not care to have me call the meeting. I make this statement not to find fault with Mr. Godeaux, but to be accurate in my narrative.

On Monday morning I proceeded to the French settlement at an early hour, and after visiting the scene of the riot and consulting with Mr. Godeaux, I sent the sailors off to their ships, asking the officer in command to say that if a fresh squad could be landed, it would gratify me. This was done with reasonable promptness, and the men, at my suggestion, bivouacked in an appropriate way. Later in the day I again arranged that a squad of fifty men should remain on shore for the night.

The further occurrences in the French settlement need no comment from me.

On Monday a consuls’ meeting was held in my office, a minute of which will be found among the inclosed papers. Mr. Godeaux did not attend this meeting or make any communication to it.

The proclamation of the Taotai, made upon the request of this meeting, will also be found among the inclosed papers. It had not seemed to several of the body quite in accordance with the agreement made with him on Friday; therefore Mr. Medhurst, Mr. Schlik, and myself took advantage of a visit from the Taotai to urge him to issue another one in strict accordance with the agreement with the Taotai, and this has just come to hand.

I have received from several persons testimony to the careful manner in which the French police behaved. They appear to have been admirably handled, and to have refrained from using their weapons when provoked in the most extreme way.

Six Chinese were killed on Sunday. One has died since, and about ten or a dozen more or less severely wounded are under treatment in different places.

It will be found, I fear, that a large proportion of those killed met their death at the hands of persons armed by the French council, or upon no authority and under no adequate restraint.

There would have been no necessity to arm such men, and they might, if appearing on their own motion, have been arrested or turned back, if the riot had been checked at the outset by the landing of a suitable force, which would have left the police free to attend to their proper work.

I have no further details about the injuries suffered by foreigners than those stated in the inclosures. Mr. Fisher, with the modesty characteristic of many foreigners in such cases, values his bruised temple and two departed teeth at 10,000 taels, or $14,000. Rev. Mr. Allen and Mr. Haskell each lost a carriage.

You will see that the consular body have not entered upon the merits of the original dispute. We cannot well do so without an invitation from M. Godeaux or the Chinese authorities. We considered it our duty to state that we would give to either the benefit of our advice, if requested, and to stop there.

I shall not indulge now in remarks concerning the general bearings of the difficulties in question, or of the conduct of the French and native authorities, but may return to the subject hereafter.

I shall be glad to know what course should, in your view, be taken in regard to the losses of our people, as mentioned.

I am not quite sure that the prompt action which I took to land our sailors, especially in view of the fact that the French have charged themselves with the preservation of order in the French settlement, will be approved at first sight; but when it is remembered that American interests in that quarter are really greater than those of the French, and that the houses of the American families—viz, Dr. Yates’s, Mr. Allen’s, and Mr. Lambuth’s—were nearer to the scene of the riot than any others, one would hesitate to say that the landing of our sailors was not called for by the circumstances.

To my mind, a riot, here or elsewhere, is to be met as a riot, and to be put down with a strong hand. To this view the Chinese authorities have assented, and both they and the French consul and council have specially thanked me for the aid which I rendered. The judgment which would vacillate at such a moment would, I fear, vacillate in those earlier stages of a difficulty when nothing would be required but a conception of what is right and a disposition to do it.

The riot presents, I think, no occasion for fear of what may come in the future, at least in Shanghai. The Chinese have seen that it is dangerous to proceed to such an extreme, and whatever encouragement they may have received from the way in which their demands were granted, almost at the moment of their demonstrations, they will hesitate to take up such a procedure in the future.

I have, &c.,