REGULATION FOR THE CONSULAR COURTS OF THE UNITED STATES IN CHINA. In pursuance of section 4th of the act of Congress approved June 22, 1860, entitled "An act to carry into effect certain provisions in the treaties between the United States, China, Japan, Siam, Persia, and other countries, giving certain judicial powers to ministers and consuls, or other functionaries of the United States in those countries, or for other purposes," I, S. Wells Williams, chargé d'affaires ad interim of the United States to China, do hereby decree the following regulation, which shall have the force of law in the consular courts: Whereas repeated complaints having been made of the danger incurred by the native shipping from steamers passing through the channel commonly known as the Straw Shoe channel, situated between the mainland and the island of Tsih-li-chau, called Tsau-hia on the admiralty charts, lying east of the city of Nanking; and collisions having already occurred between them and the native craft constantly using this reach, resulting in loss of life and property, the Chinese government has seen proper to prohibit the use of this channel, extending from Theodolite Point to the eastern end of the island at Swallow Rock, to all steamers navigating the Yangtsze river: Now, therefore, in order to give full force and effect to this prohibition, be it known, to all whom it may concern, that all steamers sailing under the American flag are forbidden to use or pass through the above-described Straw Shoe channel, and every infraction of this regulation will render the steamer liable to a fine of 100 taels, prosecutable in either of the consular courts of the United States on the Yangtsze river, or at Shanghai; and in case of collision, to pay full compensation for all damages done to the Chinese or their shipping. B. Prince Kung to Mr. Williams. TUNGCHI, 6th year, 12th moon, 9th day, January 3, 1868.1 Prince Kung, chief secretary of state for foreign affairs, herewith makes a communication. It appears that at the port of Nanking, along the bank of the Yangtsze river from the Tashing Custom Pass down to the end of the island of Kingsin, and from Swallow rock up to Theodolite point at the end of Tishtichan or Tsanhai island, that there is a narrow passage or cut-off commonly called the Tsan-hiai-hiah, or Straw Shoe channel. It is, however, much used by native craft, among which are many salt junks and timber rafts. In the month of May, 1864, the American steamer Hukwang, belonging to Messrs. Russell & Co., in coming through this passage ran down a salt junk; and the circumstances of this casualty were soon after made known to the foreign ministers at Peking, to ascertain if they were willing that a regulation should be made for preventing any such accidents in future. In the month of May, 1867, another steamer was passing through the narrow channel near the Kwanyin gate and ran against several vessels of different sizes, which were injured or sunk, and 18 persons thrown into the water. On the 24th of August last, this subject was again brought to the notice of the foreign minister at Peking, with the request that they would instruct their consuls to see that the previous decision (about using the channel) was carried out, and that a regulation might be immediately issued by them to that effect, or if possible that a prohibitory notice to steamers not to use this channel be promulgated until the regulation should be decided on. But it has been suggested that if the rule now desired is to be deliberated on by the consuls, that there will be a long delay and a great deal of time unnecessarily lost before it can be all arranged. When the steamer Hukwang ran down the salt junk, the United States authorities fined the captain 1,700 taels, besides making him pay a consideration of 100 taels for each of the three persons who were drowned at the time. But, in fact, it is incumbent on all foreign steamers to use the main channel of the river, and it is rather a freak than a necessity that they pass up this cut-off. The native junks and rafts are very sluggish in their movements, and cannot instantly weigh anchor when they see a steamer, and thus the damages they receive are neither slight nor seldom. The foreign office is in duty bound to do all it can to protect these vessels and the interest of their subjects, and they therefore now again bring this matter to the notice of your excellency, with the request that you would instruct the consuls to notify the American merchants and the captains of steamers trading on the Yangtsze river that they must thenceforth keep to the main channel of the river in passing up and down, and not go through this narrow passage, the Straw Shoe channel, nor anchor in it, nor off the Salt Commissioner's depot; and that whoever transgresses this regulation and goes through, the channel, thereby injuring or sinking any native craft, or causing the death of any person, shall be obliged to recompense the sufferers for the fair value of all their property destroyed, and pay a consideration of 100 taels for every person injured in any way by the collision, and 200 taels as a compensation for every life destroyed. If a merchant or master of steamers thus offending thinks to preserve himself from the consequences of his conduct and refuses to make just compensation, then it shall be permitted to the col lector, acting in conjunction with the commissioner of customs, to detain the goods and the vessel as surety until full compensation be made. The foreign office now, therefore, make known this plan to your excellency, as well as to all the other foreign ministers at Peking, and we shall instruct the superintendent of commerce for the northern and southern ports, and the inspector general, to the same intent; and we have to request that you will immediately transmit the necessary directions to the United States consuls, that they may make the same fully known to the merchants and captains of American steamers for their observance. This will exhibit a desire to act impartially to all, and will moreover allay the fears of the native traders. His Excellency S. WELLS WILLIAMS, United States Chargé d'Affaires. C. Mr. Williams to Prince Kung. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: I had the honor to receive the despatch of January 3, 1868, in which your Imperial Highness proposes that the Straw Shoe channel near Nanking shall henceforth be closed, under certain penalties, to the passage of all foreign steamers. On receiving the above statement and proposition I took measures to get full particulars respecting this channel, and have learned that it is a narrow passage wherein native craft continually go and come, and that there is danger if a steamer suddenly sails through it that the native vessels will be run down. I have therefore made a regulation to prevent and guard against such disasters, and forbidden steamers carrying the American flag from going through this reach under penalty of a fine to be inflicted by the United States consul. But I cannot forbear here to refer, and with some surprise, to the proposal in the despatch under reply, that whenever a steamer violates the law about using this channel, and a collision ensues, the custom-house authorities shall detain the vessel and her cargo as surety till compensation be made. Now the treaty distinctly provides that whenever an American vessel violates any regulation, information of the same shall be sent to the consul, who will investigate and decide the case. The custom-house authorities have no power to act in the matter; and to detain a vessel, therefore, as a lien upon it or its masters for an offence, as this despatch now under reply proposes, is going beyond the treaty. In this your Imperial Highness has assumed greater powers than can be permitted, and the provisions of the treaty cannot thus be overpassed and rules established which it did not contemplate. Furthermore, it is here proposed to estimate the value of wounds and human life; but who can know beforehand whether the sufferers are high or low, old or young, and thus settle at a fixed rate their worth and the amount of their just compensation? I beg to add, in explanation of the prohibitory regulation which I have now issued against steamers using the Straw Shoe channel, that it only speaks of that passage, and does not refer at all to their anchorage near or off the Yen Kwan or Salt Gabal office. I have the honor to be, sir, your Highness's obedient servant, His Imperial Highness PRINCE KUNG, Chief Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. D. Mr. Salter to Mr. Williams. CONSULATE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Hankow, July 2, 1868. SIR: I have received from George F. Seward, esq., United States consul general, your "regulation" of June 1, 1868, relative to the edict of the Chinese government prohibiting the use of the Straw Shoe channel, extending from Theodolite Point to Swallow Rock on the Yangtsze Kiang. I came out to China in 1863, and have had consular charge of the three ports on the Yangtsze. I think I may safely say that I am more familiar with the accidents on the river than any other consul in China, and I speak from actual observation when I assert that there is no more probability or possibility of collision in this Straw Shoe channel than on the main channel of the river, if ordinary diligence and care is used. The Chinese government speak of "the danger incurred by the native shipping from steamers, and collisions having already occurred, resulting in loss of life and property." In 1865, the Shanghai Steam Navigation Company's steamer “Hu quong," under the command of the most experienced commander then on the river, Captain Simmons, collided with a junk in this channel; no lives were lost, and the consul general at Shanghai awarded full damages to the Chinese owners. I have carefully interrogated the different captains now running on the river, and their testimony is uniform that “no other collisions have occurred in this cut-off, and no lives have been lost." I look upon this edict of the imperial government as emanating from the fertile brain of Tseng-Kuo-Fan, who, as one of the guardians of the throne, wields immense influence at Peking; his object, I think, is a strategic one, to divert the foreign steamers from one of the approaches to Nanking. If he succeeds in this step, what is to prevent him from asserting that frequent accidents have occurred in the other cut-offs, "resulting in loss of life and property," and close them also? I will enumerate the principal cut-offs in order, and it is only following the idea to a logical conclusion, if the imperial government close one cut-off, they may close all the cut-offs on the Yangtsze Kiang between Chinkiang and Hankow: No. 1, Nanking cut-off or Straw Shoe channel..saves 5 miles. saves 7 miles. saves 4 miles. saves 6 miles. saves 4 miles. saves 4 miles. saves 4 miles. saves 10 miles. saves 4 miles. 48 miles saved. = If this fatal concession is made it will be one insidious step towards closing the river altogether. It is quite a significant fact that the Straw Shoe channel or Nanking cut-off is the only one of the nine above enumerated navigable during the entire year; in mid-winter the lead shows from three to three and a half fathoms; in the narrowest part, if 200 junks were moored three deep on each side there would still be room for the two largest steamers on the river-the Plymouth Rock. of 2,380 tons, and the Fire Queen, of 2,886 tons-to pass each other. There are other eut-offs on the Yangtsze; if they were all closed it would involve a loss to the American steamers now on the river of $50,000 per annum in coal alone. The pecuniary sacrifice, however, is nothing compared to the surrender, as I consider it, of a treaty right. Looking dispassionately on the subject, with the light of five years' experience, I am constrained to return the regulation without my approval. I am, sir, with great respect, your obedient servant, Consul of the United States, Hankow and Kiukiang. His Excellency S. WELLS WILLIAMS, United States Chargé d'Affaires ad interim. E. Mr. Williams to Mr. Salter. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, Peking, July 28, 1868. SIR: I beg to acknowledge your despatch of the 2d instant, giving your reasons for not assenting to my decree of June 1, 1868, prohibiting the use of the Straw Shoe channel to American steamers. As these reasons (some of which are hypothetical) do not in my view outweigh those in favor of the measure, I shall publish the decree, and send it, with all the papers, to the Secretary of State, to be submitted to Congress. In your despatch you very properly refer to your long acquaintance with the ports and navigation of the Yangtsze river as entitling your opinion on this decree to much weight. It is possible, indeed, if care be taken, that there is no particular danger in navigating the Straw Shoe channel, yet here has been the scene of the only two serious collisions on the river which I now remember. In one of them, on April 5, 1865, by the American steamer Hu-Kwang, three women were drowned; and in another one, last year, by a French steamer, a score of men were precipitated into the water as their junk was crushed, but happily no lives were lost. So long ago as 1861 the use of this cut-off by foreign steamers was deemed to be so dangerous to the native crafts lying there that the Tarpings, then in possession of Nanking, prohibited it, and Governor General Li, on reoccupying the city, complained of the danger of collision. In the spring of 1865, when the British and French commissioners accompanied the Chinese officers in their visit to Nanking, preparatory to opening it as a new port, the latter drew the attention of their associates to the risk attending the constant passage of steamers through this channel. The governor general says: The channel varies much in width, and the water at times runs deep and strong, and at other times with less force. Hitherto, native vessels trading up and down the river, and among them salt junks and timber rafts. have used this reach, and as these last are clumsy, if steamers pass up and down by them they cannot easily move out of the way. These arguments, based on facts of constant occurrence, are worthy of consideration on grounds of humanity. By co-operating with the Chinese authorities in restricting this channel to native craft, we show a desire not to unnecessarily incommode them; and it appears by your |