In view of the present favorable conditions, you are instructed to submit the above considerations to His Imperial German Majesty's Minister for Foreign Affairs, and to request his early consideration of the subject.
Copy of this instruction is sent to our ambassadors at London and at St. Petersburg for their information.
I have, etc.,John Hay.
Inclosures.
To London, September 6, 1899, No. 205.
To St. Petersburg, September 6, 1899, No. 82.
The American Chargé d'Affaires at Berlin (John B. Jackson) to Mr. Hay
[TELEGRAM]
Embassy of the United States,
Berlin, December 4, 1899.
I have just had a conversation with secretary of state for foreign affairs, who stated that the politics of Germany in the extreme Orient are de facto the politics of the open door, and Germany proposes to maintain this principle in the future. Germany does not wish the question to become the subject of controversy between the different powers engaged in China. She thinks it would be advantageous for the United States Government to confer with other European Governments having interests in China. If the other cabinets adhere to the proposal of the United States Government, Germany will raise no objection, and Germany is willing to have the Government of the United States inform these other cabinets that no difficulty will come from her if the other cabinets agree.
The German Foreign Minister (Count von Bülow) to Mr. White
[TRANSLATION]
Foreign Office,
Berlin, February 19, 1900.
Mr. Ambassador: Your excellency informed me, in a memorandum presented on the 24th of last month, that the Government of the United States of America had received satisfactory written replies from all the powers to which an inquiry had been addressed similar to that contained in your excellency's note of September 26 last, in regard to the policy of the open door in China. While referring to this, your excellency thereupon expressed the wish that the Imperial Government would now also give its answer in writing.
