William H. Seward to the Taotai, September 30, 1873

Mr. Seward to the Taotai.

Sir: I have had the honor, as senior consul, to receive your communication, dated the 19th of August last, in which you call attention to the fact that the Great Northern Telegraph Company have recently established a station at Woosung, and have carried a wire along the line of new road, between that place and Shanghai, and request the consuls to require the immediate removal of both station and wire, on the ground that the extension of the telegraph to Shanghai was permitted on the express understanding that the end should not be landed anywhere upon the shore.

I have placed this letter before the consuls, and have now to communicate to you their response.

The company alluded to is Danish. Its lines connect with the Russian telegraph, and in this way that government is interested.

As a consequence, the matter is one which more directly concerns the Danish and Russian consuls; and if your protest is to be further urged, it would with more propriety be addressed to them.

As, however, the general question of telegraphic communication intimately concerns the entire commercial interests of the port, the consuls have given the subject their most careful consideration, and, on their behalf, I am to state the opinion that you are attaching great importance to a very simple proceeding, which in no way injuriously affects the public welfare, and to request your attention to the following considerations:

The new road between the anchorage and Shanghai (which, after all, is only 12 miles long) is the property of foreigners, who have acquired the land in the usual manner, and subscribed funds for its construction, their object being to secure quick communication between Shanghai and the shipping at Woosung.

The manager of the telegraph company, finding that the cable which had been laid along the river’s bed between Woosung and Shanghai was often broken in consequence of fouling the anchors of the numerous vessels which frequent the stream, applied to the road proprietors for permission to take the wires along the road. Their consent was obtained, and the new line formed. The posts are placed wholly on foreign-owned lands, and, therefore, in no way interfere with the rights of the Chinese government or of the people; and the convenience of the company and of the business of the port has been materially benefited.

I am authorized to say further, that it is by no means foreigners alone who have derived advantages from the lines of the Great Northern Telegraph Company. Chinese merchants employ them very extensively, and the supreme and provincial governments have had occasion to invoke their valuable aid.

The consuls believe, indeed, that the telegraph is an appliance, the utility of which cannot be overrated, and against which no argument? worthy of consideration can be adduced; and they have no doubt that in view of the whole case you will accept this explanation and refrain from pressing the matter.

I have, &c.,