Wells Williams to His Imperial Highness Prince Kung , Chief, June 9, 1868

Mr. Williams to Prince Kung

Sir: I had the honor to receive the dispatch of January 3, 1868, in which your imperial highness proposes that the Straw Shoe channel, near Nanking, shall henceforth be closed, under certain penalties, to the passage of all foreign vessels.

On receiving the above statement and proposition, I took measures to get full particulars respecting this channel, and have learned that it is a narrow passage wherein native craft continually go and come, and that there is danger, if a steamer suddenly sails through it, that the native vessels will be run down. I have, therefore, made a regulation to prevent and guard against such disasters, and forbidden steamers carrying the American flag from going through this reach under penalty of a fine, to be inflicted by the United States consul.

But I cannot forbear here to refer, and with some surprise, to the proposal in the dispatch under reply, that, whenever a steamer violates the law about using this channel, and a collision ensues, the custom-house authorities shall detain the vessel and her cargo, as surety, till compensation be made. Now, the treaty distinctly provides that, whenever an American vessel violates any regulation, information of the same shall be sent to the consul, who will investigate and decide the case. The custom-house authorities have no power to act in the matter; and to detain a vessel, therefore, as a lien upon it or its master for an offense, as this dispatch now under reply proposes, is going beyond the treaty. In this your imperial highness has assumed greater powers than can be permitted, and the provisions of the treaty cannot thus be overpassed and rules established which it did not contemplate.

Furthermore, it is here proposed to estimate the value of wounds and human life; but who can know beforehand whether the sufferers are high or low, old or young, and thus settle, at a fixed rate, their worth and the amount of their just compensation?

I beg to add, in explanation of the prohibitory regulation which I have now issued against steamers using the Straw Shoe channel, that it only speaks of that passage, and does not refer at all to their anchoring near or off the Yen Kwan or Salt Gabal office.

I have the honor to be, sir, your highness’s obedient servant,