No. 147.
Mr. Avery to Mr. Fish.

No. 39.]

Sir: Two cases of recent occurrence illustrate so well the peculiar difficulties’ attending the introduction of foreign improvements in China, [Page 276] as well as the nature of the proceedings for their protection, that I think it right to send a statement of the facts.

The first case occurred at Ningpo, and had reference to the telegraph-cable. Some months ago this cable was cut, and a piece of it stolen, in the neighborhood of Gutzlaff. Mr. E. C. Lord, our consul at that port, writes me that the agent of the company at Shanghai was able to find the stolen portion, and by this means to discover the thief, who proved to be a fisherman residing not far from Ningpo. The company’s agent, through the advice and introduction of Consul-General Seward, called on Mr. Lord and requested his help in bringing the matter before the local authorities, with the view of getting the guilty person arrested and punished. Mr. Lord entered heartily into the matter, and under date of February 18 informed me of his success in obtaining redress. The case was brought before the authorities, the thief was convicted and punished, and a proclamation has been posted by the magistrate of the district in which the culprit resided, warning others not to molest the cable. Subsequently a proclamation from the Taotai was issued and more widely circulated. This incident, together with others of a like character, in which our consuls have secured redress for depredations on the Danish cable at various points, proves that when the will is not lacking, the way to protect telegraphs is not difficult to find. I have written to Mr. Seward and Mr. Lord, congratulating them upon the success of their efforts in behalf of so important a work.

The second case referred to occurred at Shanghai, where, on the 3d of February, Mr. Charles E. Hill, an American citizen in charge of the grading for the railway between Shanghai and Woosung, was assailed by a mob of several hundred Chinese, and escaped with his life only by a remarkable display of courage and coolness. The railway alluded to, some twelve miles long, is being built on land bought by the projectors, and is intended, not alone to connect the city with the outer anchorage, where ships are often detained with cargoes, but to acquaint the Chinese with the nature and value of this mode of transportation, and dispose them to permit its extension. The purchases of land having been made satisfactorily, and every means used to win the favor of people along the route, no hostility was anticipated, and the work of grading did in fact proceed quietly until the assault upon Mr. Hill. This assault does not, however, seem to have been prompted by popular dislike of the improvement, but by the bad temper and extortionate disposition of an old native woman, a large land-owner along the route, who instigated her tenants to the attack, which she led in person. Consul-General Seward writes me:

She had given a great deal of trouble when efforts were made two years ago to secure a satisfactory line for the road across her land, and had succeeded in so diverting the line that when the engineer of the railroad came to lay it out, lately, the ground actually purchased, skirting her own, was found unsuitable. As a consequence, another line of road was purchased, avoiding her property except at a point where a settlement had been made with her. Her efforts to effect a “squeeze,” (an extortion,) if this was her object, was in this way frustrated. However, adjoining her land is a narrow swale or ditch, a few rods long and 10 or 12 feet wide. It has no tidal or drainage connection. Across this ditch Mr. Hill was grading up for the road. The old woman insisted that a culvert should be put into the ditch, under the grading. This was refused as being entirely useless, and thereupon she called her people together and made the assault.

Mr. Hill retired, fighting, for two and a half miles, using a cane and such weapons as he wrested from the foremost of the mob, and having the rare discretion not to draw the pistols which he carried on his person. Although he knocked down a considerable number of the Chinese, fortunately none were killed, and his own wounds were not serious. [Page 277] Two of his Chinese employés, who tried to help him, were maltreated and carried off to a neighboring town.

Mr. Seward rode down the road immediately afterward, and found the squad of men at work at different places, as if nothing had happened, so it was evident that the assault was not the result of hostility to the railway. Mr. Seward, on hearing the news, at once telegraphed to the various police-stations in the foreign settlement for all the available men to be sent forward, and, accompanied by his interpreter, deputy, and several other gentlemen, rode in the direction of Paoshan, a district-city eight miles distant, whither Mr. Hill’s captured men had been taken and the old woman had followed. The magistrate was appealed to, Hill’s men were released, and the old woman, with three of her people, arrested and conveyed to Shanghai.

Mr. Seward wisely abstained from an extended trial of the offenders, for the reason that it would call undue attention to the rail way-works, and perhaps lead to some misapprehension of the difficulties attending such works. The officials having made no opposition, it was desirable not to excite the animosity of the people. Hence, when the parties arrested were brought into a court consisting of the Paoshan magistrate and the magistrate of the mixed court, at Shanghai, and examined in presence of Mr. Seward, the latter contented himself, on their conviction of a malicious assault, with exacting from the old woman the sum of thirty-nine dollars, lost by one of Hill’s men in the affray, and having her bound over to keep the peace henceforth. The Paoshan magistrate also posted a proclamation along the line of the road, in which he distinctly asserts the right of foreigners to build a road over the land they have bought, and warns the natives that they will be severely punished if they attempt further disturbance.

On the 15th of last month, after these proceedings were over, Mr. Hill reported from Woosung that he had not been molested, and the work was going on quietly. He met the old woman, who “intimated that the business had been expensive for her, and that she would not prosecute it further.”

Mr. Seward’s prompt and discreet action in the affair has doubtless had an excellent effect. He thinks that when the workmen begin to lay the ties and iron the officials will write some letters of objection. It is proposed in such case, he says, to answer simply that the land upon which the works are being constructed is foreign-owned, and that the necessity of interference is not seen. Beyond that, the authorities will be informed that rules for the management of the road, when it is ready for operation, will be made in consultation with them, in order to insure the safety of person and property, and all measures will be taken with a view to the avoidance of trouble and a proper recognition of Chinese sovereignty.

It was Mr. Seward’s opinion, however, that “the body of ministers at Peking ought, in advance, to hold language regarding the project of a sort calculated to keep matters in their present satisfactory condition.” In reply I have written to him as follows:

As the assault does not seem to have been provoked by hostility to the railroad, but was instigated solely by personal malice, and directed against an individual rather than against the enterprise, and as the continued prosecution of the work meets with no opposition, but is put under official protection by native proclamation, it strikes me that the most prudent course is not to call the attention of the Yamen to it in any way, lest they may be led to convey the very hint for its obstruction which you apprehend. Personally, I am prepared to defend the right of the projectors to build such a road over their own land, should it be seriously disputed; but am quite certain my colleagues would not agree to say aught in its behalf in advance of such an exigency.

[Page 278]

Perhaps I should apologize for writing at such length It seems to me that the Department will be interested to know all the steps attending the first experiment at railroad-building in China, as well as those which I have heretofore detailed concerning land-lines of telegraph; and as the clerical force at my disposal is not sufficient to enable me to make copies of all the correspondence on the matter, I have now summarized the essential facts.

I have, &c.,

BEN J. P. AVERY.