The ten months which Mr. McLane had passed in his active but vexatious duties had been very trying, and exposure at Canton to the heat and malaria of the tropics had brought on a fever, which so seriously affected his health as to make it necessary for him to ask for a leave of absence. Before taking his depar ture, however, he was enabled to bring to a conclusion a matter which had greatly troubled the American merchants at Shanghai. Mr. Marshall had decided that they should pay to the imperial government the duties uncollected and suspended during the paralysis of authority while the rebels were attacking Shanghai. On the arrival of the new minister a fresh representation was made to him, with an agreement to abide by his award. Mr. McLane decided that a considerable amount of the sum in controversy should be paid to the Chinese government, and it was accordingly done, although the British merchants successfully resisted a similar demand upon them. It is greatly to the credit of the American minister's impartial rectitude that, in the midst of his disappointment and ill treatment by the authorities, he should have rendered a decision so favorable to China; and it is likewise to the credit of the American merchants that they should have observed their obligations when those of other nationalities refused.

In December, 1854, the legation was again intrusted to Dr. Parker as chargé, and Mr. McLane left his post on sick leave. On his arrival at Paris he tendered his resignation of a mission which had proved so unsatis

factory in its results,1 and returned to the United States to receive new honors at home and to hold later the missions to Mexico and Paris.

Dr. Parker conducted the affairs of the legation for several months under very perplexing conditions. The Taiping rebels were threatening Canton and the other treaty ports. In the impotent state of the imperial government, pirates multiplied, infested the coasts, and imperiled foreign commerce in the treaty ports. In the consequent disorganization of trade, smuggling greatly increased, and a ready market was found for warlike supplies. Both Ministers Marshall and McLane had issued proclamations enjoining strict neutrality upon Americans, and Dr. Parker exerted himself to enforce these orders. He found that the American flag was being abused through the negligence or bad faith of consuls by its illegal transfer to Chinese or other foreign vessels. The shipping and registry regulations of Great Britain made easy the transfer of its flag to such vessels, which was forbidden under American law; and except through the connivance of consuls in authorizing registry, American shipping was placed at a disadvantage in these times of disorder. Claims by Americans for injury to their property or business or for non-observance of their treaty rights, were also accumulating, and the authorities were badly situated or indisposed to give them satisfaction.

Twenty years' residence in China and the onerous labors of his position so impaired his health that Dr.

1 For details of McLane's mission, S. Ex. Doc. 22, 35th Cong. 2d Sess. ; S. Ex. Doc. 39, 36th Cong. 1st Sess.; N. A. Review, Oct. 1859, pp. 487–504.

Parker found it necessary to ask for a leave of absence, and in May, 1855, he made a visit to the United States. His intercourse with the authorities at Washington so favorably impressed them with his intimate acquaintance with Chinese affairs and with his ability, that, discarding the prevailing rule of party preferment, he was nominated full commissioner to China.

He returned to his post through Europe, and held interviews in London and in Paris with the British and French ministers for foreign affairs, in which there was a free exchange of views as to the policy to be pursued in China by the three maritime powers, and an informal agreement reached that there should be cooperation and harmony of action. Full reports of these interviews were sent by him to the Secretary of State, by whom his action was commended.

On his arrival at Canton in January, 1856, Dr. Parker notified Yeh of his appointment as commissioner and that he desired a personal interview to deliver for transmission a letter from the President to the emperor. To this application Yeh returned his stereotyped reply that he was then too busy to grant the interview. After conferring with his British and French colleagues and determining upon uniform action for a revision of the treaties, he again asked Yeh for an interview, and being again refused, the amiable and usually even-tempered minister could restrain his indig nation no longer. He addressed Yeh a communication reviewing the latter's conduct towards his predecessors, who had in vain sought for interviews on important business, and stated "that so sure as there is a sun in

heaven, so certainly is it that the day is near when it will be endured no longer." He then gave him notice of his intention to proceed to Peking for the purpose of obtaining a revision of the treaty of 1844 and a redress of the accumulated grievances. Similar notices were given by the British and French representatives.

But the doctor was no more successful than Messrs. Marshall and McLane in the execution of his indignant resolution. He was delayed some time by the absence of a naval vessel in reaching Shanghai. There his hopes were raised by the promise of the local Chinese authorities that they would bring about the opening of negotiations. This promise was only made to be broken, and then the season was too far advanced to go to the Peiho; besides, an adequate naval force was not at hand for the purpose.

The chief result of his visit to the north was the reception of an additional indignity to his government. On his resentment of Yeh's incivility Dr. Parker had declined his offer to receive the President's letter, and at Amoy he accepted the promise of the viceroy of that province to transmit it. While at Shanghai the letter was returned to him from Peking, with a statement that it could only be received through the high commissioner, Yeh, specially delegated by the emperor to deal with foreign affairs. But when the autograph letter of President Pierce addressed to the emperor was redelivered to Dr. Parker the seals were broken.1

When he reached Hongkong on his return from

1 S. Ex. Doc. 22, 35th Cong. 2d Sess. pp. 495-984; Martin's Cathay,

pa

Shanghai in November, 1856, he found that British tience with the Chinese authorities had been exhausted, and that a state of flagrant war existed. The forts which guarded the city of Canton had been captured, and the city itself had been bombarded and entered by the British forces.

The immediate event which brought on this second war of Great Britain against China was the boarding of the lorcha Arrow in front of Canton by marines from a Chinese war vessel, the seizing and carrying away of the crew on charge of piracy, and hauling down the British flag. The vessel was built and owned by a Chinese, but had been registered as British and was carrying the British flag. The term of registry had, however, expired several days before the seizure and had not been renewed.

Sir John Bowring, the governor of Hongkong and diplomatic representative of Great Britain, made a demand for the return of the seized sailors, an apology for the act, and an assurance that the British flag should be respected in future. Yeh ordered the release of the sailors, although he stated that an investigation proved nine of them to be guilty of piracy, but he declined to make the apology demanded because he claimed the

1 Lorcha a Portuguese term for a fast-sailing schooner.

2 Sir John Bowring, who was the active agent in bringing on the war, was a noted man of his time, possessed of various accomplishments. He was of peaceful inclinations, but of an impulsive temperament; a pupil and the literary executor of Jeremy Bentham; for several years a member of Parliament and an authority on commercial subjects; of literary tastes, a linguist having a mastery of more than forty languages; and a poet and hymnologist, best known as the author of the hymns "In the Cross of Christ I glory," and "Watchman, tell us of the Night."