Mr. Williams to Mr. Hunter
Sir: Since my last despatch I have received from the department despatches Nos. 129 to 134, inclusive, addressed to Mr. Burlingame. The first containing the President’s proclamation of April 11, relating to the privileges of United States national vessels in foreign ports, requires no action in China, where the courtesies due to our flag have not been withheld. The notification in No. 130, relating to the death of the President, had been anticipated, as you will have already learned from my last despatch of the 11th instant.
The directions in your circular of April 17 about wearing mourning have already been complied with. I have the honor to inform you that the disturbances in the south of this province of Chihli, and the adjacent provinces of Shantung and Honan, to which I referred in my despatch of May 24, No. 1, have been repressed, and the bands of insurgents dispersed or forced to retire to the hills, which have sheltered them many years past. The government brought up a force of 5,000 or 6,000 men from Shanghai in steamers to Tientsin, which had the effect of showing the people, as well as insurgents in that region, the facilities it now possessed for concentrating troops.
The death of Saukolinsin had weakened the army under his command and terrified the inhabitants, while it emboldened the insurgents; these movements had the effect of reversing this state of things. If the latter had felt strong enough to march on the capital, there was then no adequate force to resist them. One ground of safety on the part of government was the difficulty its enemies had of getting arms of any kind in their remote condition in the interior, and that no foreigners could reach them.
The funeral of Saukolinsin, on the 13th instant, was one of the most magnificent parades that has been seen in Peking for a long time; and the death of this loyal soldier is regarded as a great loss by the court, which is now without an influential leader to set over against Tsang-Kwoh-fan.
The evacuation of Changchan, near Amoy, and the retirement of the insurgents from that neighborhood, is regarded here as the virtual dispersion of the last force which the Nanking rebels can bring against the imperialists on the south side of the Yang-tse-kiang. Large tracts of country in the west and northwest provinces are still harassed by bands of Mohammedan rebels, who are ineffectually opposed by government troops, and between the two the inhabitants are soon driven off or destroyed, and their country gradually turned into a desert. Such is said to be the case at present with many places in Shensi and Kansuh provinces.
I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant,
Hon. William Hunter, Acting Secretary of State.