To George F. Seward to Edward C. Lord, April 30, 1877

Mr. Seward to Mr. Lord.

Sir: I have had the honor to receive your full and interesting report on your visit to the new port of Wên-Chow.

I entirely approve of your course with the authorities, and hope that relations so-pleasantly begun will continue to the satisfaction of all concerned. It seems hardly possible that the district marked out by you and the intendant as an appropriate place for the residence of our people will be needed by them for many years to come, if ever, and even should it be needed it would not be altogether consistent on our part, in view of the positions taken up by us heretofore, to claim exclusive privileges in it. I think, therefore, that it will be well for you to inform the intendant that, while it may serve the convenience of the Americans who settle at Wên-Chow to find a district appropriated for their residence, we do not care to ask that the given district be retained for the exclusive use of our people, and that we shall not interfere with the roads, or undertake any municipal matters within it, without the full consent and accord of the local authorities and the authorities of any foreigners who may happen to establish themselves there.

If, as I hope, Wên-Chow is to prove a place of considerable trade, it will be desirable for us to establish a consular agency at the port.

It is not necessary that the agent shall be a citizen of the United States, and it would be better to choose a person from another nationality, if one of satisfactory qualifications can be found, than to intrust the duties to an American who could not be relied upon to represent us in a creditable manner. I see no occasion for haste.

I am, &c.,