under the direction of Captain Osborn, the ships sold, the men paid off and discharged, and the proceeds remitted to them. They followed this advice to the letter."

Perhaps no single event in his life in China illustrates better than this the kind of hazards confronting a foreign minister dealing with Asiatics uninured to the affairs of a new world, or the risks devolving which may bring a group of nations into jeopardy. "Had Captain Osborn," observes Mr. Burlingame, "thought more of his pecuniary interests and less of his own and his country's honour, he would have taken command on the Chinese conditions - have made an attack upon Nanking, won a temporary notoriety, and left his country involved in a mortal struggle with the rebels and subject to the taunts of the civilised world." The quotation

1

1 Burlingame to Seward, November 7, 1863. The two chief documents on this incident are "Parliamentary Papers, China, no. 2 (1864),” “The Lay-Osborn Flotilla Papers," and H. N. Lay's "Our Interests in China. A Letter to Earl Russell," London, 1865, 71 pages. Lay was, of course, dismissed from Chinese employ. The effect of this contretemps upon the progressive party in Peking was disastrous. Sir Rutherford Alcock alludes to it thus in a letter to Lord Stanley, January 1, 1868: “Our own dealings with the Osborn Flotilla left deep traces of discouragement in the official mind, and paralysed by far the most advanced and progressive among the leading ministers of the Yamên and Grand Secretariat. It went far also to destroy his influence, especially in regard to progress or reforms by foreign agencies. . . . The whole burden of the fiasco fell upon the Yamên and the progressive party in the state, and notably upon Wên-siang, with whom the scheme had originated. However unavoidable at last, the results were deplorable." ("Parliamentary Papers, China, no. 5 (1871),” p. 114.)

is significant as illustrating Mr. Burlingame's characteristic magnanimity in awarding praise to others whom his own services as mediator had brought into agreement. An indirect result of this episode was the establishment of Robert Hart in the place of the discredited Lay - an appointment which was to develop in the next forty years the most remarkable and creditable career of any European, perhaps, in Asia during the century.

Before his departure from Shanghai the American minister made the acquaintance of General Frederick T. Ward, "an American soldier of fortune, but one who reflected extraordinary credit upon American valour and military skill." The career of this remarkable but little-known Yankee in the Far East, to whom was due the creation of the famous "EverVictorious Army," renders Mr. Burlingame's accounts of him in two letters to Mr. Seward of some value historically. In intrusting his younger brother, H. G. Ward, with letters of introduction to the President and the secretary of state, he writes (March 7, 1862): "Colonel Ward, now, I believe, a general in the Chinese service, is an American to whom my attention was first called by Admiral Sir James Hope,

1

1 General J. W. Foster, "Diplomatic Memoirs," vol. II,

p. 294.

who wanted to introduce him to me, and who commended him warmly for his courage and skill. He is instructing the Chinese in the use of European weapons, and has about two thousand of them trained, whom he has led in a most desperate manner, successfully, in several recent battles. I know nothing of him since what I have learned from Sir J. Hope, the Chinese, and himself. He says he was born in Salem, Massachusetts, went to sea when a boy, became mate of a ship, and then was a Texas ranger, Californian gold-miner, instructor in the Mexican service, was with Walker - for which he was outlawed by his government - at the Crimea, and then joined the Chinese, among whom he has gradually risen to influence and power. He is now their best officer, and for his recent successes has been recommended by the Chinese and English for still greater promotion. He says he is a loyal American, and, though a Chinese by adoption, he desires above all things that his country shall have its full weight in the affairs of China. I have felt it to be my duty to write all these things that you may have all the light I have."

The second letter, written after Ward had been killed in battle, shows his patriotism. October 26, 1862. . . . "General Ward was a

man of great wealth, and in a letter to me, the last, probably, he ever wrote, he proposed through me to contribute ten thousand taels to the Government of the United States to aid in maintaining the Union; but before I could respond to this patriotic letter he died. Let this wish, though unexecuted, find worthy record in the archives of his native land, to show that neither self-exile, nor foreign service, nor the incidents of a stormy life could extinguish from the breast of this wandering child of the republic the fires of a truly loyal heart. After Ward's death, fearing that his force might dissolve and be lost to the cause of order, I hastened by express to inform the Chinese Government of my desire that an American might be selected to fill his place, and was so fortunate, against considerable opposition, as to secure the appointment of Colonel Burgevine, Ward's second in command, and an American. He had taken part in all the conflicts with Ward, and common fame spoke well of him. Mr. Bruce, the British minister, as far as I know, did not antagonise me, and the gallant Sir James Hope favoured the selection of Burgevine. Others did not. I felt that it was no more than fair that an American should command the foreign-trained Chinese on land, as the English through Osborn would

Do

command the same quality of force on sea. not understand by the above that I have pushed the American interests to the extent of angry disagreement. On the contrary, by the avowal of an open and a friendly policy, and proceeding on the declaration that the interests of the Western nations are identical, I have been met by the representatives of the other treaty powers in a corresponding spirit, and we are now working together in a sincere effort to strengthen the cause of civilisation in the East." 1

The incident involved Mr. Burlingame's particular attention at this time, and resulted, rather curiously, in the employment by the Chinese Government of another famous Englishman, General Charles George Gordon. Upon the death of General Ward, and after Mr. Burlingame's proposal, Captain Burgevine, an exConfederate officer, took charge of the EverVictorious Force, but presently, falling foul of one of Li Hung-chang's agents in Shanghai, was denounced as a robber of public money. He appealed to the minister at Peking, who discovered on presenting his case to the Tsung-li Yamên that a varied assortment of charges had been there arrayed against the American by his

1 Burlingame to Seward, nos. 11 and 27. United States State Department Archives, "China," vol. 20.