The Chinese Minister to the Acting Secretary of State.
Washington, August 21, 1905.
Sir: I have received cable instructions from the Waiwu Pu, the foreign office at Peking, to inform you that early in the present month Minister Rockhill stated that he was directed to inquire whether the Canton-Hankau Railway concession had been canceled and whether I had been authorized by my government to make the agreement signed by Mr. John W. Foster on behalf of China, and Mr. Elihu Root and Mr. George L. Ingraham on behalf of the American China Development Company and Mr. J. P. Morgan. To these inquiries of Minister Rockhill an answer was duly given by the Waiwu Pu that I had been fully empowered by the Throne jointly with the Viceroy Chang Chih-tung to take all necessary measures for regaining control of the railway, as I informed you on the 15th instant.
The Waiwu Pu now instructs me to say to you that the Viceroy Chang has communicated the said agreement of Messrs. Foster, Root, and Ingraham to the Imperial Government; that the same has been approved by the Emperor, and that the Viceroy Chang has been empowered and instructed, jointly with me, to do all that is necessary and required to carry the said agreement into effect, and the Waiwu Pu desires that this information be given to you to remove all misapprehension which may have arisen.
[Page 135]In communicating the foregoing to you I beg that you will forward to the President a copy of this note for his information.
Accept, etc.,