would have sent a commissioner to Canton for that purpose; that he had been instructed to go to Peking and deliver the President's letter to the emperor; and if the governor did not think it prudent for him to go to Tientsin in a warship, he was ready to proceed to the capital overland.

The governor, in response to this proposition, said the way was long overland, the crossing of the rivers was inconvenient, and he desired to save the American envoy the great trouble and weariness the journey would occasion him; that he would notify the august emperor of the envoy's arrival, and memorialize the throne for the appointment of a commissioner; and that in the mean time he should" tranquillize himself " at Macao, as otherwise his movements might eventuate in the loss of the invaluable blessing of peace.

There seemed nothing else for Mr. Cushing to do but accept the situation, nevertheless he found enough to occupy the months consumed in learning the emperor's will. The commander of the flagship, the Brandywine, thought to take a sail up the river to Canton, but he was stopped at Whampoa, and ordered to return to the anchorage at Macao. Mr. Cushing protested that it was only a friendly visit, but he was told that the British governor of Hongkong after the peace, in making a visit to Canton, left his ship at the mouth of the river and came up in a small boat; that the commander of the Brandywine must do likewise, and by a return of his ship to Macao he would obey the fixed laws of the land, and exhibit the courteous friendliness subsisting between the two nations.

After two and a half months had passed, Mr. Cushing was advised of the emperor's decision. "America never as yet having gone through with presenting tribute," the coming to Tientsin and the capital to negotiate would be irregular; that he had appointed as high commissioner with the imperial seal, Tsiyeng (or Kiying); and that he was traveling with all speed to Canton to meet the American plenipotentiary. The appointment of Tsiyeng was a happy one, as he possessed fully the emperor's confidence, and had shown his fitness for the work in the supplementary treaty as to trade which he had a few months before agreed upon with the British plenipotentiary.

On the 9th of June Mr. Cushing received a letter from Tsiyeng, advising him of his arrival in Canton, and added that " in a few days we shall take each other by the hand, and converse and rejoice together with indescribable delight." In view of the many delays and tergiversations experienced, doubtless Mr. Cushing accepted this as a somewhat exaggerated figure of speech. But his relations with Tsiyeng proved in the main quite satisfactory. Only one untoward incident need be noticed. In the address of two of the communications of the commissioner, the name of the Chinese government stood higher in column by one character than that of the United States, a Chinese method of indicating the relative dignity of the parties to a correspondence. Mr. Cushing returned the letters with an expression of his belief that his excellency would "see the evident propriety of adhering to the form of

national equality." Tsiyeng immediately caused the address to be corrected and returned.1

The Chinese high commissioner and his suite arrived at Macao on June 16. After a few days spent in the exchange of visits and social courtesies, the formal negotiations were opened on the 21st, by the submission of a draft of treaty proposed by Mr. Cushing. The Secretary, Mr. Webster, and the two Chinese secretaries of the legation met three members of the Chinese embassy, and discussed the project in detail, with occasional conferences between Mr. Cushing and Tsiyeng. The treaty was concluded without any serious difficulty, and preliminary to its signature a dinner was given to the Chinese embassy at the house of the American legation, attended by the American ladies residing at Macao.

On July 3, 1844, the treaty was signed at the temple occupied by the Chinese embassy, in a suburb of Macao called Wang Hiya. The ceremony of signing was a simple one, the members of the legation and embassy being the only witnesses, and no presents were made. After the execution of the treaty, an entertainment was served by the Chinese, and congratulations were exchanged on the speedy and happy issue of the negotiations. A singular fact attended these events. Mr. Cushing had not set foot on Chinese territory nor had he had personal intercourse with a single high Chinese official except the embassy up to the time of signing the treaty, and that instrument had been negotiated and executed on foreign (Portuguese) territory.

1 For full correspondence, S. Ex. Doc. 67, pp. 2-38, 28th Cong. 2d Sess.

Mr. Cushing having abandoned the idea of going to Peking, the letter of the President to the emperor of China was delivered to Tsiyeng at the time of signing the treaty, upon his assurance that he would respectfully forward it to his august sovereign.

war.

In transmitting a copy of the treaty to the Secretary of State, Mr. Cushing pointed out sixteen particulars in which his treaty contained provisions not embraced in the British treaty negotiated at the conclusion of the In his dispatch he says: "I ascribe all possible honor to the ability displayed by Sir Henry Pottinger in China, and to the success which attended his negotiations; and I recognize the debt of gratitude which the United States and all other nations owe to England, for what she has accomplished in China. From all this much benefit has accrued to the United States. But, in return, the treaty of Wang Hiya, in the new provisions it makes, confers a great benefit on the commerce of the British empire; . and thus whatever progress either government makes in opening this vast empire to the influence of foreign commerce is for the common good of each other and of all Christendom." 1

One of the most important of the provisions of the Cushing treaty was that relating to what is known in international law as "exterritoriality," as applied to non-Christian countries. This principle had been observed to a limited extent for many years between the European and Mohammedan countries; but in this treaty it was broadened and made more explicit by the

1 For text of treaty, see Treaties and Conventions of United States, 144; for correspondence, S. Ex. Doc. 67 cited, pp. 38, 77.

skill of an able lawyer. In criminal cases the offender was to be tried by the laws and authorities of his own country. In civil cases between American citizens in China their consuls were to have exclusive jurisdiction, and civil cases between Americans and Chinese were to be adjusted by the joint action of the authorities of the two nations.

as many,

On this subject Mr. Cushing's position was that Western nations could not make civilization the test of equality of intercourse, for it was impossible to deny to China a high degree of civilization, though, in many respects, differing from theirs; but it is such as to give to her as complete a title to the appellation of civilized, if not most, of the states of Christendom can claim. In an exhaustive review of the subject to the Secretary of State, he said: "I entered China with the formed general conviction, that the United States ought not to concede to any foreign state, under any circumstances, jurisdiction over the life and liberty of any citizen of the United States, unless that foreign state be of our own family of nations; in a word, a Christian state. The states of Christendom are bound together by treaties, which confer mutual rights and prescribe reciprocal obligations. How different the condition of things out of the limits of Christendom. As between them and us, there is no community of ideas, no common law of nations, no interchange of good offices." To none of the governments of this character did it seem to him safe to commit the lives and liberties of citizens of the United States.

The privilege of exterritoriality had a very early