the Grand Master of Ceremonies and his wife, and were given a garden-party in the Summer Palace of the Emperor, at which we met members of the Diplomatic Corps and many of the society people of the Capital. We were first conducted through the palace and then taken to the garden, where an elegant collation was served. These gardens are perfectly beautiful. No words can describe the attractive and artistic array of trees, plants, and flowers.

We go in the morning to Yokohama, where other social engagements are to be filled, and then we take the steamer for San Francisco. I cannot tell you how much we have enjoyed our month's stay in this beautiful country. We had heard so much of its beauty and attractions that our expectations were high, but they were fully realized.

Our sail across the Pacific Ocean was very agreeable, but uneventful, and we reached San Francisco at the time we had planned when we began the tour. The entire journey had been performed with no serious mishap, and we look back upon it as among the most pleasant and useful experiences of our lives.

CHAPTER XXXI

PEACE MISSION TO JAPAN FIRST CHINESE COMMISSION

As we were approaching the holiday week in Washington, early on the morning of December 23, 1894, I was awakened by the delivery to me of a cablegram in cipher from Peking. As I had been in communication with that Capital about a business matter, I supposed it was not urgent, so I had another nap, then leisurely dressed myself and took my breakfast.

On being deciphered, the cablegram proved to be a message from the Tsung-li Yamen, or Chinese Foreign Office, stating that a commission had been appointed to go to Japan to sue for peace, and that the Emperor desired that I should meet the commission in Japan and aid it by my "wise counsel."

When I was in China in 1893-94, I was honored with a reception by the Tsung-li Yamen, and elsewhere met a number of the public men of that country, as mentioned in Chapter Xxx. I had also been the counsel of the Chinese Legation in Washington, and had attended to some important business for it; but on inquiring of the Minister he informed me that he knew nothing of the intention of his Government. The cablegram was a complete surprise to me.

I felt greatly honored by the invitation. Upon consultation with my wife, who has always been my first and wisest counselor, we decided that I should obey the summons of the Emperor, unless some official obstacle should arise. It seemed to me the most important duty which had ever been intrusted to me, as it not only concerned two important nations, but was connected with one of the greatest problems of the future - the political relations of the Pacific.

I was then a private citizen, but I deemed it my duty to inform my own Government of the contents of the cablegram, especially as it had been acting as the mediating power between Japan and China during the war. On the morning of its receipt I called on Secretary Gresham at the Department of State. He saw no impropriety in my acceptance of the mission, but suggested that when the fact was made public I should state that I had no connection with or authority to represent our Government. Accordingly when the announcement was made a few days later, the Associated Press, upon my authority, stated that I was going to Japan purely in a private capacity, as an adviser of the Chinese peace commissioners, and that I had no authority to represent or speak for the Government of the United States.

My next solicitude was to know the spirit in which Japan would receive my mission. This solicitude was inspired by two motives. First, I knew that the efficiency of my services would be greatly affected by the attitude of that Government towards me personally. Second, I had been known for years both at home and abroad as a warm advocate of Japanese emancipation from foreign exterritorial jurisdiction. When in Japan in the spring of 1894, Count Mutsu, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, whose friendship I had formed several years before while Minister in Washington, had consulted me about the progress of negotiations with the foreign powers for treaty revision. He said that for some unexplained reason the negotiations at Washington had come to a standstill, and he appealed to me when I returned home to see Secretary Gresham and do what I could to bring them to a successful conclusion.

I reached Washington July 7, and the next day I had a conference with Judge Gresham, with whom I had maintained a lifelong friendship. The explanations which I made to him respecting the pending Japanese treaty were satisfactory, and their effect may be seen in the extract which

I make from a letter written me, July 20, by Count Mutsu: "A few days ago I had a telegram from our Minister at Washington acquainting me of a very favorable and friendly attitude which Mr. Gresham assumed with reference to the question of treaty revision, and I am informed that this dawn of brighter prospects was caused by your powerful influence and kind representation to Mr. Gresham of the true state of affairs in Japan, and in thanking you now for thus rendering me assistance, I indulge to entertain the hope that you may continue to help us in a similar manner in the future."

Two months later a new Minister, Mr. Kurino, was sent out from Japan to Washington, bringing a letter from Count Mutsu to me, in which he said: "The most important work with which he is now intrusted is the revision of treaty, and I request that you may be good enough to take him to your friendly confidence, and render him such assistance as may be deemed most needed in bringing his work to a satisfactory termination." Within a few weeks, and just one month before the receipt of my cablegram from China, the new Minister was able to sign the long-desired treaty. My service in this connection was not professional, but purely of a friendly and personal character.

Under the circumstances, I felt that it was important that, if I undertook the work to which I was invited by the Emperor of China, I should have the Government of Japan understand the spirit in which I assumed it. Hence, after having informed Secretary Gresham and leaving the Department of State, I went direct to the Japanese Legation and had a conference with Minister Kurino, who it may be of interest. to know is the same diplomat who conducted the late negotiations at St. Petersburg which resulted in the Russo-Japanese War. I stated to him the object of my visit, and said that I was unwilling to go to Japan on the errand to which I was summoned if it would in any degree embarrass the Government of that country or in any measure imperil my friendly

relations with it. The Minister said he was not in a position either to approve or disapprove of my contemplated visit to Japan, but that he would inform his Government of my purpose, and that he had no doubt I would receive a cordial reception, in view of the acquaintance of its public men with my career and of my well-known friendship for the Japanese. The interview was in all respects satisfactory and reassuring. No official obstacle seemed in the way, and I proceeded with the preparations for the journey.

Later, upon my arrival in Japan, I was gratified to learn that Count Mutsu had authorized a statement to be published in the native press, in which my selection as the adviser of the Chinese Peace Commissioners was announced, and the Count said: "I am very much satisfied with the coming of Mr. Foster, who is my personal friend. With him as adviser there would be no such restrictions in our course of action as would obtain in case we were negotiating with the Chinese Government alone, which is irregular and procrastinating in its methods. Mr. Foster is an experienced diplomatist of unimpeachable character, and his presence will expedite the negotiations very much."

A more hopeless state of affairs for peace negotiations advantageous to China could scarcely be imagined. The populous empire, which had for ages treated its smaller neighbor with contempt, had been utterly routed by an antagonist of one tenth its size in population. Its armies had everywhere been defeated and overwhelmed; its navy had been destroyed; its strongest fortresses captured. The helpless giant lay prostrate before the triumphant Japanese. It would seem that negotiations were out of the question, and that it only remained for the conqueror to dictate the terms. The state of sentiment in Chinese official circles may in part be seen in the following graphic picture extracted from a private letter written me by Colonel Charles Denby, the United States Minister at Peking, dated November 13, 1894, and which was