To George F. Seward to James Henderson, May 1, 1877

Mr. Seward to Mr. Henderson.

Sir: I have the honor to recur to your dispatch No. 46, and to say that I have considered the matter therein dealt with, in concert with my colleagues, the ministers for Russia, Germany, Japan, Spain, France, and England, and that we are of opinion that if it be desirable to establish a municipal organization for the control of roads, &c, upon the island of Koolangsoo, at your port, it will be better to secure, if possible, their acceptance by the local authorities before sending them to us to be submitted to the foreign office. We are also of opinion that the rules which have been proposed are unduly complicated, and that simpler ones should be agreed upon.

In this connection I may inform you that a revised code of rules for Shanghai was presented to the land-renters there in the spring of 1875, which might well be taken by you as a guide in preparing those for your port.

The principles to be observed in the framing of rules which shall be binding upon our people will be clear to you upon perusal of the case of the Shanghai Municipal Council vs. Fogg, which was heard in the consular court at Shanghai two or three years ago, and which was fully reported at the time in the North China Herald. You will find some interesting dispatches on the same subject in the book of diplomatic correspondence for last year, in reference to municipal matters at Nagasaki.

I am, &c.,