Wetmore to Cheshire, September 9, 1882

Mr. Wetmore to Mr. Cheshire.

Sir: I am sorry to trouble you again in the matter of the company formed by me for the manufacture of cotton yarn, but the situation appears to be so critical as to call for such immediate action as may be possible to protect my interests and those of the parties associated with me in the company.

I hoped your visit to the taotai would have tended to neutralize the effect of the article in the Shen Pao to which I called your attention, but so far from this being the case, not only has the payment of subscriptions been stopped, but several of the principal shareholders are in great fear, owing to reports that they are to be prosecuted before the mixed court, and unless steps can be taken at once to restore confidence I fear the company will be broken up altogether.

Though the article in question appeared in the Shen Pao simply as a news item, it is known to have been furnished by the manager of the China Telegraph Company, and probably in consequence of the use of certain forms of expression which a private Chinaman would not venture to employ without some show of authority, the article carries a weight for the purpose intended probably as great as if it were an official communication.

Even if exclusive right or permission has been given to any person or company to manufacture cotton, no legal action could be taken against me or any one else for an infringement of that permission until I had actually commenced the making of the goods. I would have a perfect right to form a company, dispose of shares, purchase land, erect buildings, set up machinery and start it, and no infringement of rights could be set up and established until I actually commenced the production and sale of the manufactured article.

The parties interested in the company which has taken this unexpected action against me have, I am informed, taken legal opinions, and have doubtless been advised that they could take no judicial measures against us, and have therefore resorted to this underhand method to prevent the formation and carrying out of our company.

Being thus attacked in a semi-official way, it is my right to demand of the Chinese authorities, through you, an inspection of the alleged concession for the exclusive privilege of manufacturing cotton, under which this interference with the formation of my company has been ventured upon, so that in case no such concession has been made with reference to cotton yarn, or in regard to the manufacture of cotton generally, in terms which would render my action an infringement upon any existing exclusive privileges, I can at once have an official contradiction inserted in the Shen Pao to that effect, or that in case it does appear such a concession has been made, I can take the necessary steps to have its validity contested in the proper quarter, and my right or that of any other American to engage in such a business established, or the contrary.

I have, therefore, respectfully to request that you will obtain from the taotai an official contradiction of the truth of the allegations in the Shen Pao referred to, or a copy of the concession under which the claims referred to are put forward, so that I may at once be able to contradict the statements myself if they are not true, or take the necessary steps to contest the validity of any exclusive concessions if they have been made.

I am, &c.,