File No. 893.00/1217.

The Acting Secretary of State to the American Minister.

Sir: I have to enclose herewith for the information and guidance of the Legation copy of an instruction this day addressed to the [Page 172] Consul General at Hankow regarding the manner of treating claims of American citizens and firms growing out of the recent disturbances in China.

In replying to any requests on the part of the American consular officers in China for instructions as to what action, if any, they may properly take with reference to such claims, you should follow the instructions embodied in the inclosure to this communication.

I am [etc.]

Huntington Wilson.
[Inclosure.]

The Acting Secretary of State to the Consul General at Hankow.

No. 23.]

Sir: The Department is in receipt of your dispatch No. 23 of February 16, 1912,1 reporting in regard to the massacre of American missionaries in Shensi Province and inclosing copy of a letter from Mr. E. E. Beckman in which he suggests that a proper indemnity be demanded for these outrages.

In reply you are instructed that until the establishment of a stable, responsible government it is not probable that any claim for indemnification of lives lost and for reimbursement of property destroyed during the recent disturbances will be presented to China. All such claims as may be filed with the Consulate General should in the meantime be carefully substantiated and the record in each case preserved in order that, when the Department deems the proper time to have arrived, all claims may be forwarded promptly to the Legation and to the Department for such formal action as the facts and circumstances of the particular claims may warrant.

I am [etc.]

(For
Mr. Huntington Wilson
.)
Wilbur J. Carr.
  1. Not printed.