Tientsin, 13th May, 1871.
Sm,—We are in receipt of your note of yesterday, informing us that H. B. M-'Charge d'Affaires has accepted the sum of Tls. 2,500 from the Chinese Government, in yyment of the claims of our Societies arising out of the events of June last, and that the said sum is now lying in the Consulate awaiting our acceptance. \\While we cannot profess to feel satisfied with a settlement which is, in our judgment, so far from meeting the necessities of the case, we fully recognise that the matured decision of his Excellency precludes our personally reopening the discussion. Presuming, however, that the affair may, without prejudice, remain in statu mo until the expected' early return of Mir. Hall from Shanghai (in concurrence with whom we would prefer to act), we wish to defer our final reply.
We are not insensible to the serious difficulties with which both his Excellency and yourself have had to contend, and beg that' you will accept our sincere thanks for the efforts you have made on our behalf, and also convey them to Mr. Wade.
It is, however, evident that certain mis conceptions still remain unexplained. We shall therefore ask permission, in justice to ourselves, to allude to these in a future note.
We are, Sir, Your obedient Servts.
J. Lees, B. B. Tunvocs,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.