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No. 16.]

Mr. Williams to Mr. Seward.

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES,
Peking, July, 1868.

SIR: I have the honor to send you a careful translation which I have made of a secret memorial of Tsang Kwohfan, the highest in rank among the provincial governor-generals of the empire, and one of its most influential statesmen. It will repay perusal, not only as containing the opinions of an intelligent Chinese upon the various points on which his views were required, but from the importance of the matter and the probable influence of his decision upon the policy of his gov ernment during the coming decade.

Tsang Kwohfan is a Chinese, and regarded as one of the anti-foreign party, though he has not carried his opposition to the extent of resisting the orders of his government connected with the position and rights of foreigners. He feels, no doubt, a loyal sympathy with the danger which he thinks threatens his country through the craft and power of those who have thrice attacked it and forced the gates of Peking. This fear of untoward consequences from yielding to the new demands now made upon his country tinges this paper, and prevents him from candidly discussing their merits with his partial knowledge of their real bearings. He has been connected with the operations against the Taiping rebels during the last 20 years, and his capture of Nanking in 1864 gave him a commanding prestige that increased his influence in the empire. He is now over 70 years of age, and his long official life during four reigns adds weight to his opinion.

The standpoint from which he opposes the building of railroads and entry of steamers throughout the interior-that they will take the bread out of the mouths of the natives-has probably more weight in China than in any other country, and deserves our respectful consideration.

The occupations of the Chinese are hampered by no legal restraints of any strength. Every one is free to get his living in the best way he can. But when myriads of rustic, hard-fisted people, trained to a single line of labor, like boating or carting, are suddenly superseded by steamers or locomotives, their privations from such forced idleness may prove a serious calamity and real danger to their rulers. We have instances on record of their turbulence in other countries, one of which, cited by Josephus, showing the violence of the 40,000 workmen set adrift after Herod's temple was finished, will suffice; and those workmen were not unlike these Chinese in culture. These laborers are altogether too ignorant to understand the question, and go about to seek a liveli hood in other directions, and here they find every other line of life occupied.

The opening of the river Yangtsz' to steamers in 1860 drove thousands of native craft off into its tributaries, and there they drove a strong competition with the boats already in those waters; and in their strife hundreds of boatmen succumbed to want and temptation. Even the native merchants, who sent their freight on the steamers, bemoaned the destitution of these boatmen, thus suddenly turned out of their old course of life, and said that many of them had to join the rebels to get food.

If the introduction of steamers has been bad for the native boatmen, and in these vessels the greater part of the crews can be safely composed of these same boatmen, how much worse would it be at first for the cartmen, muleteers, and cameleers, superseded by a railroad? They could not be employed in making the road which was to take away their daily

bread, for their services would be required up to the day of its completion, and then they would be thrown aside-carts, wagons, mules, camels, inns, cartwrights, drivers, innkeepers, and all-never more to be needed on that route.

In Europe, the thousands who were thus superseded knew enough to turn to other occupations, or to emigrate to America, or to get work in the road itself; but no such resource is open to most of the laboring Chinese in their ignorance and misery. Between Peking and Tientsin, for instance, a distance of 80 miles, there are probably 5,000 carts engaged in carrying passengers and produce, whose owners and drivers would unite to make themselves heard by their rulers if they should be left destitute on the completion of a railroad between these two cities, even if they did not resist its construction.

The question consequently comes up in this light to men in the position of Tsang Kwohfan, who have to provide for and previse the future, and who must look at it very differently from ourselves. They may be more apprehensive of the dangers than there is ground for, but, while they have not our experience of the results to the whole country of introducing a great improvement like this, it is also true that our experience, in the United States at least, is not applicable to a densly-crowded country like China. Until more knowledge is introduced among the people, more strength infused into the government, and more tranquillity established throughout the provinces, it is a question whether it will be safe to attempt a railroad system.

The points which Governor Tsang approves in this paper are more feasible; and I am told that the central government has concluded to allow him to make an experiment of working the coal mines near Nanking or Chinkiang with foreign machinery. If once this experiment is tried, I think its success in developing a vast industry will prove a strong inducement to try other mines, as, for instance, those near Peking and north of Canton; and this source of wealth being once opened prosperously, a rail or tram road to carry the coal to the boats or a market would follow under more promising inducements than can be now expected. It is worth mentioning, in this connection, that the great stimulus to Stephenson in opening his railroad was also to get coal to a market.

The favorable view taken of granting an audience to foreign ministers, and its correlative of sending envoys to foreign countries, shows that the writer has begun to yield those antiquated notions of supremacy of the Emperor of China over all other human potentates in which he was educated, and to appreciate the benefit of an equal intercourse with other powers. In doing this, I think his position led him to be willing gracefully to accept the fait accompli as the best thing, while that change in his opinion illustrates the advantage the members of the Foreign Office have in discussing these new steps and advancing faster than their subordinates in the provinces. His ideas respecting the diffusion of Christianity are the most singular, and indicate, probably, the average opinion of the literary and official class to which he belongs. As converts to a vital faith in Christ multiply, who show in their conduct and lives the power of the new principles they profess, this indifference and ignorance of our religion will give way to greater desire to know its tenets, and a determination to oppose or favor them by various high officials.

In reading this minute of Governor Tsang's, one is pleased to see his desire to discuss the several points in a candid spirit as he sees their bearing on the prosperity of his own country. He is evidently ignorant

of the principles of trade, and has not carefully collected or collated facts to illustrate his arguments; but he does not find fault with the general result of foreign intercourse upon the country during the past 10 years, even while he warns his sovereign against the new schemes. This plan of previously obtaining the opinion of the high provincial authorities upon a certain number of grave points indicates, too, the care taken by the imperial government before entering upon a new course, and assures us somewhat that when a measure is adopted it will be maintained.

While I send this paper to you as worthy of your regard, it may not be altogether irrelevant to compare the sentiments of this Chinese and pagan ruler in regard to what is best to adopt for his country's good, and the willingness he shows to uphold the rights already conceded by treaties to the citizens of the United States, with the unjust manner in which the Chinese have been treated in our own country, especially in California.

The first article of the present treaty stipulates that "There shall be, as there has always been, peace and friendship between the United States and the Ta-Tsing empire, and their people respectively. They shall not insult or oppress each other for any trifling cause, so as to produce an estrangement between them."

While we have been very careful in this country to see that its rulers observe this stipulation, as a nation we have not taken corresponding measures to insure equitable treatment for the natives of China resorting to various parts of our shores.

It would be out of place for me to recapitulate the harsh laws by which, in California, the evidence of a Chinese in cases of murder or robbery was not allowed to be received, so that, at the last, the unrestrained license which this gave to reckless men to misuse these emigrants rose to such a pitch that one of the members of the legislature last winter moved to repeal these disabilities, because they allowed the practice of every crime, and the effects were becoming too serious on society. Enactments imposing a discriminating taxation against the Chinese, and other minor grievances, which put them below other inhabitants of the State, I do not so much allude to, for I hope they are most of them removed; but I refer to this proviso of the treaty as a matter deserving of the attention of our own government, which desires to carry out its treaty obligations.

We have deemed the Chinese to be a nation worth making a treaty with, but the United States have taken no measures to see that its first article is fulfilled. If the Americans in China had suffered one tithe of the wrongs that the Chinese have endured within the United States since 1855, there would certainly have been a war on account of it.

This unjust treatment begins to exert an unhappy influence upon those Chinese who are going and coming between the two continents, and the present seems to me a suitable occasion to bring it before you. The first article of our treaty most distinctly acknowledges some reciprocity between the contracting parties, and every one must acknowledge a reciprocal duty with a reciprocal privilege.

Rapidly increasing intercourse and the dictates of justice and good policy will ere long show the necessity to the national and State gov ernments of establishing some better legal status for the Chinese population of the Pacific States.

I have the honor to be, sir, your most obedient servant,
S. WELLS WILLIAMS.

Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD,

Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.

CHINA.

519

Tsang, the acting governor general of the provinces of Kiangsu, Nganhwui, and Kiangsi, reports to the throne that, in obedience to the imperial will requiring previous consultations as to the points to be attended to in revising the treaties, he now reverently incloses a secret statement, upon which he humbly begs the sacred glance.

On the 20th of October last, I was honored by a secret dispatch from the general council, stating that on the 12th of that month the following decree had been received by that board:

"The Foreign Office has memorialized the throne respecting the desirableness of previous consultations upon revising the treaties, and requested that orders might be sent to the high military and civil officers, in whose jurisdiction are situated the coast and river ports open to foreign trade, requiring each of them to send in his views, [upon the points specified.]

"The period of ten years, at the end of which the treaties are to be revised, being near its close, the Foreign Office sent up a request that orders might be sent to the two superintendents of trade for the northern and southern ports, to select from among their ablest and experienced officers two persons to bring these several reports to Peking in November. We accordingly gave orders at the time to the proper officers to carry it into effect. But that memorial proposed that when these deputed messengers had brought up all the plans and careful suggestions, [of the provincial officers,] their deliberation must await our decision in view of the exigencies of the whole question. "The month of January, 1868, being six months before the expiration of the British treaty, is the time when notice must be given of its revision; and the reports of all the civil and military provincial functionaries ought without fail to reach Peking by December, 1867. Then, when the several confidential orders from the Foreign Office respecting the articles to be discussed have reached their addresses, let the officers all examine this matter, in view of what the times require and our resources allow, so that everything be completely arranged, and a careful memorial be reported in reply. We shall thus be assisted in meeting the difficulties of the occasion, and they will fulfill the purpose of their offices. Respect this."

From this I am led to look up to his Majesty's far-reaching plans, by which he thus obtains the views and conclusions of the experienced and talented among his officers, and I have endeavored in the sincerest manner to carry out the design. The first dispatch and the secret letter from the Foreign Office have both been carefully considered in every point. The design is to firmly maintain our own views, without hazarding the safety of the present situation, connected with the desire to wipe out our shame and redress our wrongs without giving those parties reason to suspect our plans. A scheme like this is really doing what the times require and our resources allow, and I have most painfully labored to carry out the duties committed to me.

In order to aid in the consultations respecting the revision of the treaties, as soon as I received the confidential letter from the Foreign Office, in May, I sent directions to the collectors of each custom-house to make careful inquiries, arranging their reports under various heads. I myself most carefully examined them, and added notes as needed, and then forwarded them from Shanghai on the 18th of September, by the expectant intendant, Sun Sz'tah, and another deputy, to be thoroughly sifted and collated at Peking. In respect to the various points touched upon in the decree which I have now received, I humbly beg to suggest that in all our intercourse with foreign nations the most important things to be regarded are good faith and what is right, and perhaps even above these should be placed decision. Those things which we cannot yield should, from first to last, be firmly declared, and not retracted under any circumstances; but those privileges which we can liberally yield might be made known to them in direct and plain terms. Let our words be maintained when once spoken, and let no alternate concession and refusal be exhibited, which by its aspect of indecision and weakness will only open the door for the wily propositions and arguments of the other party.

It may be said in general that, during many centuries past, the inhabitants in western lands have been striving to encroach on each other's kingdoms; and in every case one has tried to possess itself of the profits of the other's trade, as a preliminary to getting hold of its territory. They have established places of business throughout China, and trafficked or become carriers in all kinds of produce, simply that they may carry out their unscrupulous schemes of injury, which will end in depriving our merchants of their means of livelihood.

Since the time when we raised troops against them, our people have long suffered every grievous calamity. If we now open three or five more ports to their trade, and the entire length of the Yangtsze river, it will daily add to the distress and indigence of our poor people, who, alas! are now nearly quite driven to the wall.

If we listen to the proposal of the foreigners to open the trade in salt, our own trade in and transportation of the article will presently be brought to naught. If we consent to their scheme of building warehouses, [in the country,] the occupation of those who now keep the inns and depots will likewise suffer. Their demand to have their small steamers allowed access to our rivers will involve the ruin of our large and small boats, and the beggary of sailors and supercargoes. So, also, if we allow them to construct rail

a copy of my circular letter to the American consuls explaining them, to all of which I respectfully invite your attention. These eight rules are the result of several years' efforts to adjust the workings of a very difficult part of our international obligations with due regard to the entire independence of each party. The experience of three years at Shanghai had shown the Chinese authorities how advantageously the three rules (Nos. 2, 3, and 4) relating to confiscation had worked, and they were thus prepared with more confidence to add similar ones relating to fines and disputed duties.

I have no doubt myself that the code will ultimately commend itself for approval to all nations who have treaties with China, and pass into the catalogue, not yet very long, of established rules of procedure for conducting international affairs with this empire. Such a series of rules as this could never have been established under the old régime; they are the result of the constant discussion of principles and their practice, which is going on in Peking to the gradual enlightenment of the minds of its rulers. I beg to refer you to Mr. Burlingame's dispatch No. 82, of June 6, 1864, for remarks connected with the experimental adoption of these rules, under which I am told that hitherto not a single case has come before any consul. One great preventive is the publicity attending such cases, and the exposure of the circumstances which led the customhouse officers to seize goods or ship.

The adoption of these important rules by this government shows the desire of its leading statesmen to go on and develop the principles contained in the treaties as fast as they can see their way clear to do so practically. In making these changes it is an advantage to them that they can examine the results of certain principles of government in other lands, and choose what they deem to be best without going through the same crucible of trial as Occidentals. These rules, for example, contain principles whose equitable adjustment would have baffled them completely, even if they had been disposed to adopt them; but, guided by experience acquired elsewhere, the rights of each nation have been easily guarded, and the Chinese themselves admit that no infringement of their rights has been urged upon them.

In the vast consequences connected with the elevation of so great a mass of people to the position of a civilized nation, the problems in social and political life which have already been worked out elsewhere, or are now developing, can be advantageously studied by this people, and their practical adoption cannot be long deferred. This power of comparison and choice carries with it immense advantages.

In all the discussions connected with the adoption of these rules, I have been in constant intercourse and accord with Sir R. Alcock, K. C. B., the British minister, and with Mr. Hart, the inspector general.

I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant,

Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD,

Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.

A.

S. WELLS WILLIAMS.

Prince Kung to Mr. Williams.

[Translation.]

TUNGCHI, 6th year, 12th moon, 13th day,
(January 7, 1868.)

Prince Kung, chief secretary of state for foreign affairs, herewith makes a communication:

In a dispatch formerly received from Sir Frederick Bruce, the British minister, he

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