The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1891-05-06
DON'T WANT BLAIR.
Too Much "Talkee, Talkee,'' on the Chi
nese Question in Congress.

" WASHINGTON, April ga repreSen-
tatiye of the Associated Press this morn
ing called at the Chinese legation here
and had an interview with Minister Y en-
in regard to the disinclination of his Gov
ernment to receive Senator Blair as the
accredited representative of the United
States.
Mr.. Yen said, through an interpreter,
that he had received cablegram from
the Chinese foreign office, which he was
instructed to lay before Secretary Blaine
without 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 a very high opinion
of Senator Blair; he had met him sew
eral times and had always found him to
be a 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 United States until early in the
present month. He had never had oc-
casion to ascertain what had been Sen
ator Blair's attitude toward China OF
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
either favorably to the Senator or un-
favorably. This action of the Chinese
authorities has not created the least ex-
citement here, as it had been anticipated
by many from the first. The proceed
ings is not very unusual one and can
not be construed as indicating unfriend-
ly feeling toward this Government.
Among the departmental officials
there is a general indisposition to dis
cuss the subject of Blair's rejection.
Still it is evident that there IS no gener-
al desire TO magnify the incident into
the proportions ofa diplomatic rupture.
It is the long established rule of diplo-
macy that a nation is not obliged to ac-
cept minister who is not persona
grata, and that rejection on that &C
count is not to be construed into an in
tended affront to the dignity of the ma
ton which sends the minister. The
United States hesitated for a 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
minister. But about the time of the
Sackville West episode the United
States became an enthusiastic adherant
of the policy that a nation is not bound
to receive or retain a foreign minister
who is not acceptable to its people.
Then, too, there was lingering recol-
lection of the fact that the United States
had about the time of the French reVo-
luton sent home 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
ministers recall was rather peremptory,
and we did not show the consideration
manifested by the Chinese Government
in refraining from an absolute rejection
of Minister Blair, and simply stating
that his coming to China in the capaci-
ty OF United States minister would not
be entirely agreeable to the Government
of that country. Altogether the opln-
ion in official circles is general that the
United 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.