Wells Williams to United States Consuls, June 8, 1868

Mr. Williams to United States Consuls

Sir: I herewith send you a copy, in English and Chinese, of the eight rules which have been agreed upon with the Chinese government to be followed in adjudicating cases of confiscation, and for violating the revenue laws of China by American citizens. Four of them have been in operation at Shanghai since 1864, where they have been found to promote the satisfactory adjustment of such disputes, and no material alteration is made in them. Four others (Rules I, VI, VII, and VIII) have been added, relating to the official position of the foreign commissioner of customs, to the mode of procedure in settling cases of fines, and in disputes respecting duties leviable on goods, and the purchase of vessels or goods arrested by the custom-house officers. These are now all made alike applicable to all the ports, and it is at present agreed that they shall be regarded as experimental, and be open to alteration at the end of one year, if good cause be shown for modification. I wish, therefore, that you would report to this legation every case which comes under your cognizance connected with any of these rules, in order to furnish such facts and well-considered opinions as can guide those who may be called on to after them. I hope, however, that they will be found to work well, and prove to be the commencement of a system of joint tribunals on other cases. To my mind they exhibit an encouraging advance on the part of the Chinese government to assimilate their legal action to the rules adopted in western lands, and to acknowledge an equality of powers, interests, and aims between their own and other officials that has not hitherto been so distinctly marked. The results during a series of years can hardly fail to be instructive, and these rules may serve as a guide and precedent in adjusting disputes on other points, and suggest measures worthy to be adopted in other departments of territorial jurisprudence.

Among the chief objects aimed at in drawing up these rules, four deserve to be specified. One is the acknowledgment in rule I of the official standing of the foreign commissioners of customs, who heretofore, while exercising control in the details of their administration, has been more or less ignored by the consuls because of this non-recognition, and this has sometimes led to untoward results and antagonism.

Growing out of this is the indication of the equality of the native and foreign authorities when brought together on the same tribunal. It has been arranged by requiring that cases of confiscation (the power of doing which has been by treaty yielded to the Chinese) shall be investigated and decided at the custom-house, while cases of fining an American citizen for breaches of revenue laws shall be tried at the consulate; in both cases the officers of both nationalities sitting together on the bench.

Another is the refusal to grant an appeal to Peking when these officers agree upon the sentence, inasmuch as they must generally be better acquainted with the details of a case than referees can be, and better fitted for settling it on the spot, if the facts are known and the law clear.

The fourth point is that of allowing a merchant to file a bond in the consular court, for deposit in the superintendent’s hands, whereby he will be able to release his vessel or goods at once, and avoid the vexatious delays and inevitable losses which have hitherto been experienced in such cases as these rules cover. I have, however, to urge upon you the need of great carefulness in accepting these bonds, and see that the security be ample for their punctual fulfillment on the part of the merchant. In case of non-payment, the remedy would be difficult and the reproach to our national reputation not slight, seeing that the consul is regarded as the principal warrantor of its adequacy, and officializes it with his seal.

It is my impression that the feeling which was not uncommon 10 years ago, when the foreign inspectorate of customs was established, that its personnel had lowered themselves by entering it, and that disputes relating to the execution of the Chinese revenue laws were not discreditable, has gradually given place to a juster view on the part of the community to the benefit to be derived from an equitable administration of these laws. These eight rules will, it is to be hoped, not only tend to remove this feeling entirely, but to elevate the whole character of the revenue department.

If the Chinese government is ever to become able wisely to utilize the knowledge, integrity, and capacity of foreigners in carrying out reforms in its internal administration, their effective usefulness must depend somewhat on their status among their own countrymen. I need hardly add in conclusion, however, that I fully expect that you will, on your part, do whatever is right in carrying out these rules in the most harmonious and equitable manner.

I am, sir, respectfully, your obedient servant,