examined and passed upon in China. The greater portion of them had their origin in the loss of property occasioned by the British hostilities at and in the vicinity of Canton, and many of those allowed were of questionable validity in international law. After all the claims awarded had been paid, and a considerable amount which was rejected by the commission had been allowed by Congress, there still remained a large portion of the fund in the treasury of the United States. In 1885, Congress, responding to the sense of justice and fair dealing of the American people, authorized the President to return the balance in the treasury to China, and the sum of $453,400 was paid over to the Chinese minister at Washington, and by him received with "feelings of kindness and admiration " on behalf of his government.

Upon the conclusion of the claims convention, Mr. Reed proceeded to Hongkong, and there being informed by the Department of State of the acceptance of his resignation, which he had tendered on the conclusion of his labors at Tientsin, he placed the legation in charge of the secretary, Dr. Williams, and in December, 1858, returned to the United States. Soon after his arrival at his home in Philadelphia, he delivered a public address, reviewing his work in China, in the course of which he made some criticism of his foreign colleagues. It was an indiscretion which has been committed by other returning American ministers, but is none the less censurable. In most other respects his services in an important epoch in the relations of the United States with China have been deservedly commended.'

1 S. Ex. Doc. 47, 35th Cong. 1st Sess.; S. Ex. Doc. 30, 36th Cong. 1st

One of the few messages which passed over the Atlantic cable of 1858 before its connection was broken was the news of peace with China and the signature of the treaties at Tientsin, which seemed to secure satisfactory relations with that empire for the future. But the sequel proved that these were vain hopes, as the Chinese were doomed to greater humiliation and punishment before they would consent to place their government upon an equal footing with the other powers of the world.

The successor of Mr. Reed was John E. Ward, of Georgia, a lawyer by education, little known outside of his own State before his appointment except as presiding officer of the convention which nominated Buchanan for the presidency, and without diplomatic experience. When he arrived at Hongkong in May, 1859, he found a British minister at that place and a French minister at Macao, who had been recently appointed to exchange the ratifications of their treaties and take up their residence at Peking. Mr. Ward's instructions from Washington were likewise to proceed to Peking and exchange ratifications of the American treaty. Upon reaching Hongkong he sent each of these ministers a letter notifying them of his appointment and arrival, and as soon as the Powhatan, the naval vessel assigned to his use,

Sess. 1-541; Williams's Life and Letters, chaps. vii. and viii.; Williams's Hist. of China, chap. vi.; Martin's Cathay, pt. i. chaps. x. and xi.; N. A. Rev. Oct. 1859, p. 518; Jan. 1860, p. 125; Littell's Liv. Age, Oct. 1858, p. 383; Walroud's Life and Letters of Lord Elgin, 252. As to claims, Ex. Doc. 30 (cited), 12, 101, 521; H. Ex. Doc. 20, 40th Cong. 3d Sess. ; U. S. For. Rel. 1885, p. 183. For text of treaty of 1858, U. S. Treaties (ed. 1889), 159.

was ready, he set out for Peking by way of the Peiho, without waiting for his British and French colleagues.

Hearing, however, that the Chinese commissioners who had negotiated the treaties of Tientsin were at Shanghai, he called at that port to confer with them. He learned from them that they had been designated to exchange ratifications, and they desired him to await the arrival of the other ministers and proceed with the latter to Peking, where all the treaties would be exchanged at the same time. No place had been named in the American treaty for its exchange, but Peking was fixed in the other three. As the treaties were at Peking, and the time within which the American treaty was to be exchanged was about to expire, Mr. Ward was forced to comply with the commissioners' request.

The three envoys reached the mouth of the Peiho about the same time, the British and French being escorted by a considerable naval force, the American only having the vessel, which brought him, and a lightdraught chartered steamer, with which to cross the bar and ascend the Peiho. The Russian treaty had already been exchanged and its minister established at Peking. The mouth of the Peiho was found to be closed by obstructions, and orders were given to allow no foreign vessel to enter the river or ascend to Tientsin. The commander of the British squadron informed Mr. Ward that unless the obstructions were removed he would proceed to destroy them and the Taku forts, and open by force the way for his minister to Peking. Mr. Ward, desiring to communicate with the authorities,

and also, if possible, to prevent another outbreak of hostilities, crossed the bar in company with Commodore Tatnall of the Powhatan in the small steamer Toeywan. Before he could communicate with the shore the Toeywan grounded. The British admiral, seeing the steamer was placed in the immediate locality of the prospective hostilities, sent a steam tug to her relief and sought in vain to get her afloat. Drs. Williams and Martin, secretary and interpreter of the legation, went on shore in a small boat and were informed that no one would be permitted to ascend the river, but that the governorgeneral of the province would meet the envoys at the north entrance of the river, about ten miles away.

The next day Admiral Hope, the British commander, advanced to the bar with the intention of removing the obstructions from the river, when he was fired upon by the Taku forts. A general engagement followed between the forts and the British and French forces, resulting in the complete repulse of the allies with heavy loss of vessels and men. They were overwhelmed with surprise at the effective defense of the Chinese, who had evidently profited by the experience of the engagement the year before.

The American minister and commodore were enforced witnesses of the contest. The little steamer on which they were had been floated off by the tide, but could not pass through the line of battle. In the midst of the conflict Commodore Tatnall, hearing that Admiral Hope was dangerously wounded and his vessel disabled, hastened with a boat's crew, as the minister reports, "not to assist him in the fight, but to give his sympa

thy to a wounded brother officer whom he saw about to suffer a most mortifying and unexpected defeat." Tatnall's coxswain was killed at his side in the passage, and although the visit was intended to be one only of sympathy, his boat's crew, finding only three men on the admiral's ship able for duty, while the commodore tendered his sympathy to the admiral, assisted in working the guns.

In addition to this, the commodore, in his enthusiasm, used his steamer to tow into the engagement several barges loaded with British marines which could not make head against the wind and tide. Besides, the steamer was of service in rescuing the wounded and taking them outside of the line of fire. Tatnall's defense of his conduct was that "blood was thicker than water; " that he could not refrain from aid when kinsmen were in distress; and that he was only reciprocating the kindness of the admiral of the day before in sending his tug to draw his vessel off the bar. The commodore's gallant conduct made him famous, but Mr. Ward soon felt the influence of it in his intercourse with the Chinese officials.

The allied forces, after their unexpected defeat, withdrew to Shanghai. The English and French ministers broke off all negotiations, and "were exceedingly anxious" that Mr. Ward should likewise do so. But he said to the Secretary of State: "The path of my duty seems to me to be very plain. I arrived here with the English and French ministers, not as an ally, but because the Chinese commissioners insisted on my coming with them;" that on his arrival at Hongkong he left there