The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1891-05-07
DON'T WANT BLAIR.
Too Much "Talkee, Talkee," on tho Chi
nese Question in Congress-

hese question In congress.
WASHINGTON, April 20-A represen,
tatlve of the Associated Press this morn
ing called at the Chinese legation here
and had an interview with Minister Yen
III regard to the diSinclinatiOn of his Gov
ernment to receive Senator Blair as the
accredited representative of the United
States.
MI. en- said, through an Interpreter,
That he had received cablegram from
tne Chinese foreign office, which he was
instructed to lay before Secretary Blaine
wlthout delay, expressing the unwill-
ness of the Emperor to receive Blair.
Other than this Mr.. Yen had received
no instructions, written or otherwise
from his Government on the subject.
The exact language of the cablegram,
or whether the reasons for this action
were given, Mr.. Yen declines to state
personally he. had Il very high opinion
OF Senator Blair; he had met him sew
eral times and had always found him TO
be very courteous gentleman. At the
time Senator Blair was nominated min
lister to China Mr.. Yen was in Peru, to
which Government he is also the repre-
sentative OF China, and did not return
TO the Cnlted States until early in the
present month. He had never had oc-
caslon to ascertain what had been Sen
ator Blairs attitude toward China or
or the Chinese residents in this country,
and not until his return had the Senators
utterances on the Chinese question as
reported in the Congressional Record
been brought to his attention. The
minister conveyed the impression that
he had simply stated the facts to his
Government. and aside from that had
not sought to influence its decision
~ hn fn,
1avorably. This action Of the Chinese
authorities has not created the least eX-
cltement here, as it had been anticipated
ny many from the first. The proceed
lnGS Is not very unusual one and can
not be construed as indicating unfriend-
ly feeling toward this Government.
Among the departmental officials
there is Il general indispositiOn to dis
clSS the subject of Blair's rejection.
still 1t is evident that there IS no gencr-
i'll desire to magnify the Incident into
the proportions of diplomatic rvptllro
IL is the long established rule of diplo-
macy that Il nation is not obliged to ac-
cept i minister who is not persona
grata, and that rejection on That ac-
count is not to be construed into an in
tended affront to the dignity of the ma
tlon which sends the minister. The
United States heSitated for Il long time
to fully endorse this rule and showed
some resentment when the Austrian
government during the last Admins
tration asked that Minister Kelly be
not sent to Austria as United States
munster. But about the time of the
SackVllle. West episode the United
| States became an enthusiastic adhcrant
OF the policy that nation is not bound
TO receive or retain a foreign minister
who is not acceptable to it's people
Then, too, there was a lingering recol
lection of the fact that the United States
had about the time of the French revo
llltlon sent home q representative of the
French Republic because he had made
himself obnoxious to the people Of the
United States.
In these cases the demand for the
minister's recall was rather peremptory,
ana we did not show the consideration
manifested by the Chinese Government
IN refraln!ng from an absolute rejection
or Minister Blair, and simply stating
that his coming to China in the capaci-
ty o. nited States minister would not
De entirely agreeable to the Government
or that country. Altogether the opn-
ION IN official circles is general that the
nlted States is by its own conduct
stopped from resenting Minister Blair's
rejection, and that after waiting for a
length OF time sufficient to maintain
the national dignity new minister will
be appointed by President Harrison.