William H. Seward to Isaac F. Shepard, September 18, 1879

Mr. Seward to Mr. Shepard.

Sir: Recurring to your dispatch No, 33, I beg leave to say that I have read your remarks upon the subject with much interest, and that they will be of much value to me in the further consideration of the subject. I entirely agree with you that, looking to the character of native courts and the interests involved, it is indispensable that the foreign officer present in the native court must be admitted to assist his national and the court, by intervention, intended to place the court in full possession of all the facts, and to see that their bearing is understood and appreciated. While in Shanghai I never found difficulty in accomplishing such intervention as fully as could be expected with reason. I accorded like privileges to the native officers who were present upon the trial of cases in which their people were complainants and ours the defendants, and it was a matter of satisfaction to me then, as it is of encouragement to me now, that I never failed to secure the approval of such officers to my judgments.

The views entertained by many that we should establish the principle of mixed courts, and make it effectual by securing the adoption of a code applicable to natives and foreigners alike, to be enforced in such courts, is an attractive one, but I fear that the prospects of success which could be entertained would not be great, and, moreover, as it seems to me, it is not desirable to fix upon the Chinese a system which, in the end, would still be irregular and abnormal. We may enlist Chinese pride in the demonstration of the merits of their courts, and in the introduction of ameliorations of their own system, but we could at best expect only a halting support to an institution of an exotic sort.

I am, &c.,