To his Excellency Frederick F. Low to Edward P. Capp and others, Che Foo, September 14, 1870

I.

Sir: I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your note of 20th instant, informing me of the withdrawal of all the Protestant missionaries from Tungchow, and inclosing a copy of Rev. Mr. Nevins’s letter to the United States vice-consul at Che Foo, giving the reasons for this action. With these came also a copy of your note to Admiral Kellett, thanking him for his humane and generous action, in sending vessels to your relief.

In your note you refer to the “reports that had been circulating for months of an intended attack,” and speak of interviews between the missionaries and the local officials prior to the departure of the former, in which they failed to obtain any guarantee for the safety of their lives and property. You also state that soon after your arrival in Che Foo, the United States vice-consul received a communication from the Taotai, in which he deprecated your departure and requested your immediate return to Tung-chow. You close by asking my judgment as to your future course, in view of all these considerations.

In reply, I have to say that prior to the receipt of your note, I had no intimation of apprehended trouble at Tungchow. If the reports referred to had been in circulation for months, it would seem that some information should have been given to the vice-consul at Che Foo or to me. If you did make any communication to the vice-consul upon the subject, he failed to apprise me of the fact.

I regret that your appeals to the local officers for protection were not made in writing, so I might have some tangible evidence of their culpability in not affording protection, on which to base a complaint to the authorities in Pekin. As it is, I have sent a strong note to Prince Kung concerning this matter, and have improved the occasion to point out the causes which led to this unhappy state of affairs, and impressed upon him the necessity of prompt action on the part of the government in order to avoid consequences that may be disastrous. As yet no reply has been received, but I hear unofficially that stringent orders went immediately to the provincial authorities in Shan-tung, which will, I hope, have a good effect.

Without pretending to question the propriety of your course in view of the danger which appeared to surround you, and conceding that you ought to be able to judge better of the value of the reports than I possibly can at this distance, I cannot repress a feeling of keen regret that you felt compelled to abandon, even temporarily, afield that had cost such a struggle to win, and that your action will be likely to strengthen the anti-foreign feeling—not only in Tungchow but in other places, and render the residence of missionaries in China more uncomfortable than it has been hitherto.

My opinion is that the male members of your mission should return at the earliest moment they can get a reasonable assurance of safety, and as you were taken away in a vessel of war, I desire very much that you shall return in a United States vessel, when yon go. I expect one or more of the fleet will be at Che Foo shortly, and as soon as I hear of the arrival of any, I shall ask that you be returned to your post of duty under the protection of your country’s flag, should you so desire.

If one of our vessels should come, and not be likely to remain long enough to communicate with me, you are at liberty to read this letter to the commanding officer, and ask, in my name, the services of his vessel for the purpose indicated above.

I hope to hear soon that active and honest measures are being taken by the officials for your protection, and that you are all safely back again in your field of labor.

Your obedient servant,