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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 March 2011
Anson Burlingame, lawyer and politician, was elected to the Congress of the United States from Massachusetts in 1855 as a member of the Know Nothing Party. Later he changed his allegiance to the new Republican Party of which he was one of the founders in Massachusetts. He served in the House for three successive terms winning some slight fame as a member of the House Committee on Foreign AiFairs and wide notoriety for his speech against Preston Brooks, assailant of Charles Sumner. An ardent supporter of Lincoln, Burlingame himself failed of re-election in 1860. In reward for his faithful party service, President Lincoln appointed him Minister to Austria. When it proved that he was persona nan grata to the Austrian Government, the President then offered him the post of Minister to China. Burlingame promptly accepted and arrived in China in October of 1861.
1 Chinese sources give Burlingame's title as “Minister for the Management of Chinese Diplomatic Relations with the Powers.” Vide Biggerstaff, K., “The Official Chinese Attitude toward the Burlingame Mission,” American historical review, XLI no. 4 (June, 1936), 684.Google ScholarVide also Biggerstaff, K., “A translation of Anson Burlingame's instructions from the Chinese Foreign Office,” FEQ, I No. 3 (May, 1942), 277–79.Google Scholar Burlingame himself in a dispatch to Secretary of State Seward used the title ‘envoy.’ Cf. Williams, F. W., Anson Burlingame and the first Chinese Mission to foreign Powers (N. Y.: Chas. Scribners Sons, 1912), p. 89.Google Scholar
2 J. McLeavy Brown, Chinese Secretary of the British Legation at Peking, was a friend of the Burlingame family and especial favorite of the two boys, Ned and Walter.
3 There has been considerable confusion as to the relative ranks and position of the several members of the Mission. Mr. Biggerstaff shows from Chinese sources that the two Chinese officials, Chih Kang and Sun Chia-ku, had the same title and rank as Burlingame. Vide Biggerstaff, loc. cit., 685 et sqq. Mrs. Burlingame's general comments bear out Biggerstaff's supposition that Burlingame was not fully informed by the Chinese of their plans and purposes. Mr. Burlingame knew no Chinese and Chih and Sun did not know English.
4 This does not agree with Mr. Biggerstaff's implication (loc. cit., 689) that the appointment was for one year only.
5 Other Burlingame family letters in my possession speak of leaving Peking in early November, i.e., before this letter was written. The reference is not wholly clear but it seems to indicate a permanent departure and not a temporary one. I do not know the reason for the discrepancy.
6 Colleague of and next in rank to Prince Kung, Wensiang was a leader of the progressive faction in the Yamen. Cf. Williams, F. W., op. cit., pp. 18, 42.Google Scholar
7 Sir Robert Hart, long-time Inspector General of the Chinese Maritime Customs, claimed the credit for having originally suggested the idea of a mission to the Chinese. Vide “Note on Chinese matters by Robert Hart,” and also “Remarks on the foregoing by J. Ross Browne” in Williams, F. W., op. cit., pp. 285et sqq.Google Scholar
8 Burlingame's resignation as well as other official correspondence concerning the Mission are to be found in House Executive Documents, Papers Relating to Foreign Affairs 40th Congress, 3d Session, 1868–9. Vol. I, No. I, Pt. I, pp. 493–500, 502, 600–605. The resignation was dated Nov. 21, 1867 at Peking.
9 Interestingly, Mr. Burlingame used almost the same phraseology in his despatch to Seward, cited ut supra.
10 S. Wells Williams was for many years American consular and diplomatic official in China; later Professor of Chinese Language and Literature at Yale; author of the famous study of China, The Middle Kingdom. He was left in charge of American interests at Peking by Burlingame after the latter's resignation. Dr. Williams' son, Frederick W., a playmate of the Burlingame children in China, was the author of the standard work on the Burlingame Mission. Vide ut supra note 1.