William H. Seward to Evarts, September 18, 1879

No. 112. Mr. Seward to Mr. Evarts.

Sir: I bad the honor to transmit to you on the 29th of July a copy of a circular which I had addressed to the consuls in regard to procedure upon the trial of mixed cases occurring between our own people and the subjects of China, and I beg leave to hand to you now copies of the responses which I have received.

You will observe that there is a divergence of opinion between the consuls, but that the tendency is to favor the rule to which I adhere, that all such cases are to be tried in the court of the defendant.

My views on this subject are set forth with exactness in the protocol of November 25, 1876, and the dispatch with which I transmitted that paper to the Department, No. 177, of the 5th December following.

I am in hopes that these views will be fully indorsed at the approaching conference of the ministers at this court, and steps taken to gain the formal assent of the Chinese to it, and to the adoption of a few simple rules of procedure intended to aid our people in their efforts to secure the right hearing of their matters in the Chinese courts. This, of course, would be a modest beginning for judicial reform in mixed cases, but it may prepare the way for something still better.

I have, &c.,