The Portland daily press., 1893-09-25
THE CHINESE BisMARc On
Ii Hung Changes Views on the eeary Law.

Dr.G.H. Cotton Salter, formerly our
consul at the Yang Use. Kiang ports in
China, where The rendered services in
1864 which commended him to Prince
Lii Hung Chang, the great viceroy, the
Chinese Bismarck, has received from a
friend, an English gentleman in the Eng
lish service in China, letter, dated
Picking, August 5, giving an interesting
report of one of two interviews with
Prince Lii which he had just had.
When he spoke to Prince Ii OF the APP
prehensions expressed by Dr.Salter in
letter to him, as to the strained relations
between this country and China, after
quoting Prince Lii as saying: "Tell my
old friend, the Chonkung consul in 1884,
that remember him well; he was just
and true, and when he crushed the
piracies on the Yang Use under the. Nag
Of the United States, and deported the
criminals, thanked him, and the regent,
Minister Burlingame, the 1llustrious
American we all loved so much" The
letter proceeds:
aLi became very excited as he talked
about the Geary act, and said that the
souls of the American people must have
gone into the bodies of hogs when they
passed this Geary bill putting honest
pariahs. Tell Consul Salter to urge the
new President ito wipe out, as far as he
can, this infamous act, which is viola
ton of the grand constitution of the
American republic. But if the statute
remains IN force, and when our minister
at Washington wires to me that the bill
is to be enforced in it's entirety, and that
tho 6pr,of rot ipnc hQUq a Ippa6U commenced
at San Francisco, tn en- China will retail
ate at once. The right of exterritoriality
hitherto sacredly kept, will be cancelled.
Long treaty rights will be abrogated and
immediate notices will be given to every
American to leave China within go days
ON penalty of imprisonment.
"Li spoke in most contemptuous term
of the American Asiatic squadron as
utterly helpless to protect Americans
in case of trouble. He seemed to know
the exact calibre of every gun of every
American warship in China and Japan
" You know SO well, my dear Salter,
that at the time you left Japan in the
was only represented by three vessels, the
old tub Monocacy, as you term her,
twice condemned, yet the admiral's flag
ship; the ferry boat Palos and the Alert
Lii said that when nation talks so big
they ought to have few warships
worthy or the name. -ae sdiu tnere
was nothing to prevent China sending
her first class cruisers to San Francisco,
and destroying the city in "a hours, il
some enormous indemnity was not paid.n
GAS Lii rose and concluded this inter
view, his tall and stately form seemed to
swell aid dilate with profound emotion
his eyes flashed with all the fire of youth
and he looked grand ). and even magnifi-
cent, as he hurled out the bly, offensive
wasas applied to the American people,
Yang Kwaoer, thrice repeated. The scene
was dramatic in the extreme.
If your voice can reach President
Cleveland say to him that the United
States stands on the edge of terrible
precipice just now in her fearfully
strained relations with China, and let
him urge on Congress to stop the en-
forcement of this bundle of infamies
as Ii tersely phrased ,it-this bill, so
odious, SO insulting and SO offensive to
China"