393.115 Hunt and Company, William/80: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in China (Johnson)
291. Reference Canton’s 47, November 5, 5 p.m., property of China Merchants Steam Navigation Company which William Hunt and Company now claims to own. Please instruct the American Consul General at Canton that the Department has not found the property indicated in the telegram under reference to be entitled to American protection. The Consul General should implement the Department’s decision only to the extent necessary to interdict American protection of the property in question. The Department’s decision involves neither an admission nor a denial of the existence of any interest on the part of William Hunt and Company in the property of the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company and the Consul General should avoid any statement which might convey a contrary impression.
Repeated to Shanghai and Hankow.