been detailed to join in its deliberations under the chairmanship of Prince Kung. The members act in it conjointly under the style of the Tsung-li koh kwoh s'z, or general managing office of foreign countries; but individually they are responsible also for the conduct of their own departments to the general council of the government. When the desirableness of appointing Mr. Burlingame and his associates as envoys to foreign countries was proposed, the matter was agreed to by the Empress Regents and others, as a proposal of the Foreign Office chiefly, for the success and results of which it was responsible; but when the question of granting them a letter written directly from the Emperor to other crowned heads, indorsing the Mission and requesting them to accept it, the whole traditionary policy of the empire was interfered with; the supremacy of the Emperor as the Son of Heaven, appointed from on high to rule over mankind, was proposed to be practically ignored by his own officers. The propriety of granting the letter was stoutly opposed by many of the members of government, and I am inclined to think that the Mission would have left the shores of China without it if it had not been for the precedent set by the Chinese Government itself, and drawn out of it by the American ministers. In explanation of this remark it may be stated that it has been the usage among most of the foreign ministers accredited to this government not to deliver their letters of credence to the Emperor, because they were not permitted to do so in person; but the American ministers have chosen to hand them to the highest official they could meet, accompanied by an open translation. Replies to two of these letters having been issued, it was argued by Mr. Brown and Mr. Hart (who,

being officials themselves, in the employ of government, were entitled to a hearing), that if his Majesty could personally reply to a letter from the President of the United States without derogating from his authority or dignity, he certainly could write a letter to him with equal propriety. The question had been often discussed whether it was suitable in every respect for the American minister to transmit his letter of credence to the Emperor instead of delivering it in person, but the result has answered a purpose that one cannot object to, and has probably incidentally furnished a strong argument for those officers who, in a few years, must go further and claim for him an audience at court.

I have read the translation of the letter addressed to the President, and I am confident that you will not find anything in it savouring of the extraordinary assumption on the part of the Emperor which runs through the two replies quoted in the other dispatch. It completes the full authority and authenticalness of this new Mission to the Western world on the part of this ancient empire, the first, I believe, which it ever sent from its shores to other lands on a footing even approaching to equality. Previous embassies have been sent in a patronising, authoritative style, requiring the rulers of other countries humbly to accept the envoys and behests of his Majesty; this goes to confirm and develop an intercourse mutually beneficial to all.1

May 1442

& FEQ As no written instructions were given their envoy, the following (December 7, 1867) from the Tsung-li Yamên to Mr. Williams-sub

1 Williams to Seward, January 25, 1868.

277-9

stantially repeated in Prince Kung's communication to the foreign ministers in Peking and to "the secretaries of state of those treaty powers not yet having diplomatic representatives in China" - claims attention as the sole authorisation for action abroad vouchsafed by the Imperial Government to its Embassy.

His Imperial Majesty having seen fit to appoint Anson Burlingame, formerly minister from the United States, with [the Manchu] Chih-Kang and [the Chinese] Sun Chia-ku, two of the members of the Foreign Office, to be his envoys to proceed to all the treaty powers with authority to manage whatever affairs may arise between those countries and this, the imperial decrees conferring this authority on them were recently copied and sent to you.

But I am somewhat apprehensive that the foreign ministers in this capital, learning that his Majesty has commissioned three persons at once thus to represent him, will conclude that neither of them is to take the lead in conducting affairs with those nations, and I have therefore deemed it proper to explain the reasons of this cause in order to remove all doubt upon this point.

It is the usage among all the great Western powers, in the interests of peace and goodwill, to appoint envoys to go to each other's countries to attend to any affairs that may arise; and it would have been proper, during the many years that peace has existed between your honourable country and this, for his Imperial Majesty to have, at a much earlier period, commissioned a high officer to go there for the pur

pose of representing him and attending to any affairs arising between us. But owing to our imperfect knowledge of the languages and usages of foreign nations, this step has been delayed from time to time. Now, however, as Mr. Burlingame, a man of honour and peace, and intimately conversant with our intercourse and relations with other countries - one, too, with whom the officers of this government have long had acquaintance and confidence — is willing to act on behalf of China in attending to her interests, a memorial was presented to his Majesty requesting that he might be appointed imperial commissioner to all the treaty powers, and that Messrs. Brown and Deschamps might be also appointed to be first and second secretaries of the legation, to aid him in conducting its duties and accomplishing its purposes. But if no high officers are sent on the Mission from China also, there will hereafter be no one sufficiently acquainted with the necessary details to be qualified to receive the post of envoy; and this consideration induced the Foreign Office again to request his Majesty to appoint both Chih and Sun as his imperial commissioners, to go at the same time. This arrangement would manifest the good feeling existing, and be, moreover, the means of giving them practice and experience in their duties. If they could, in this way, add to the efficiency and dignity of Mr. Burlingame and his two secretaries, then the completeness of the Mission for its duties would be all that could be desired. When this government at a future day desires to send her own envoys, she will then have precedents to follow, and it will be easier to prepare them for their duties.

Everything, however, that relates to the duties

of imperial commissioner in the United States will devolve alone on Mr. Burlingame, and his decision will be final; but the correspondence with the Foreign Office at Peking will properly devolve upon the two Chinese commissioners, who will at all times consult with Mr. Burlingame in attending to their duties. In this way the requirements of the entire legation will be provided for without difficulty to any part of it. As one of its members understands the languages and peculiarities of all the countries he will visit, so do the other two as fully comprehend the language and affairs of China. This arrangement is, however, rather a temporary one, applicable at the initiation of the Mission, and is not designed to serve as a constant rule in the future. I have, therefore, to request that you will inform the secretary of state of these particulars, so that when these imperial commissioners reach the United States to transact the business of their Mission, he will be fully aware of their position and relative duties.

Evidences of dissatisfaction over the conception of an Embassy to the Western powers were numerous and immediate on the part of the conservative politicians in Peking. They would have been more numerous had the court been less prompt in its action. As it was, the country was not taken into its confidence in this matter, the reason obviously being that to call for counsel upon such an unprecedented proposition in the presence of the universal rancour of the literary aristocracy against the "bar