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further communication on the subject, together with that of a circular letter marked "confidential" addressed by Mr. Mickles to this department.

I am, sir, your obedient servant,

ANSON BURLINGAME, Esq., &c., &c., &c.

WILLIAM H. SEWARD.

Mr. Mickles to Mr. Seward.

Office of THE EAST INDIA TELEGRAPH COMPANY,
55 LIBERTY STREET, New YORK,
New York, January 23, 1867.'

DEAR SIR: I have to acknowledge receipt of your communication of the 21st instant. The particular object of this communication is to advise Mr. Seward of what, in the press of other engagements, may have escaped his notice, that the Russian extension line, (of which P. McD. Collins is the projector,) and the Russian government, and also the Western Union Telegraph Company, are now interested in the success of the East India Telegraph Company, and the construction of this line by that company is regarded with interest by the Pacific Mail Steamship Company. There are are now no conflicting claimants for the concessions from the authorities at Peking. Letters of November 13, 1866, show that the East India Telegraph Company is regarded with favor at Irkutsk, Peking, and at all the Chinese ports. Your excellency may have understood that Mr. Collins, representing other corporations, was an applicant for these concessions, which is not now the case, he being one of the directors of the East India Telegraph Company. If Mr. Seward can spare the time, I should be glad to have him peruse the accompanying circular letter, which is for the private use of the directors of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company.

Very truly, yours,

Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD,

N. MICKLES,

Vice-President.

Secretary of State.

[Confidential.]

Mr. Collins to the Pacific Mail Steamship Company.

OFFICE OF THE WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH COMPANY,
145 Broadway, New York, January 12, 1867.

To the President, Directors and Company of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company :
The successful inauguration of a line of steamships from
China by your company has awakened unusual interest in
future of this great enterprise can scarcely be overestimated.
reward to the promoters are certain to follow.

San Francisco to Japan and the commercial world. The Success and a rich pecuniary

It is not necessary for me to make an argument in favor of your enterprise, or to point out the inevitable success of this great commercial undertaking. I take the liberty, however, to refer you to the accompanying papers, written some years since, in regard to steam and telegraphic communication with Japan and China.

What I have to propose is this: to connect China, Japan and India, by a system of telegraph lines with both Europe and America, in connection with your steam service upon the Pacific. As you will perceive, it is no very new thought, but one which has been waiting for a combination just such as is now being carried out by your company. The time and the opportunity has, in my opinion, now arrived in order to carry out my original views.

I think that upon a proper study of the proposition, you will agree with me that a radiation of the telegraph, such as proposed, will inevitably tend to increase and consolidate the power, profit and usefulness of your company in a very eminent degree.

The world-wide reputation of your company, and its peculiar field of action, point to it as the proper pioneer in a twin enterprise, because in our day steam and the telegraph are so intimately and usefully connected that one seems hardly complete without the other.

In the construction of the Russian American overland telegraph, China, Japan and British India, were originally considered as awaiting only certain events in order to be galvanized into a new life by the power of steam and electricity. In the service you have to perform between such distant points as San Francisco and Hong Kong, the success and pecuniary advantages of your line would be, I may say without overestimating or overstating, doubled, if you had the use of a telegraph between San Francisco and Hong Kong, by which you could

regulate your commercial exchanges, prevent delays, and effect a thousand advantageous arrangements which would escape you by the ordinary means of the mails.

The crude digest of the proposition for telegraphic communication contained in the prospectus of the East India Telegraph Company will give you a general idea of what is intended to be accomplished.

There are, however, some collateral issues not so easily explained here, but which add greatly to the inevitable success of the enterprise. The mode and manner of connecting British India with China is one of these issues, and can only be fully understood by maps and documents in my possession, which will be exhibited if required.

The line should commence at Canton, or, probably at first, at Hong Kong, touching at important intermediate points, and extend to Shanghai. This portion of the system could be put into immediate profitable use. Parties engaged in the Chinese trade are certain that this first great section of the telegraph would prove more profitable than any telegraph line of equal extent in the world. Looking at the actual cominerce of China as it now exists, there can be no reasonable doubt of this.

As we progress northward from Shanghai in order to tap the Russian telegraph at Kyachts, in Asiatic Russia, now completed and operating to within 800 miles of Peking, we can readily see what would be accomplished when the circuit should be made complete between Hong Kong and London. The line, of course, will finally extend from Shanghai, or some other convenient point on the route to Peking, to Japan, covering the commerce of that growing country.

British India will be united with the Russian line to the west of Kyachta so as to put China and Japan in telegraphic contact with the whole of British India. Thus we will unite China and Japan with British India, and the whole with both Europe and America. The Atlantic cable now gives us one means of communication to within 800 miles of Peking and when the East India Telegraph Company shall have done its work and consummated its plans, and the Russian American telegraph shall have been completed, we will have a choice of routes, or we may forward despatches one way to America and the other way to Europe, thus having the world girt about by the telegraph, and the whole of China, Japan and India subsidiary to our interests.

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I trust it may not be urged that participation in telegraphic enterprise is not a legitimate field for a steamship company to embark in. If, however, you can enlarge the scope of your usefulness in the promotion of an undertaking so closely allied to the one you are prosecuting, and make a few millions of dollars more with which to extend, improve and enlarge your legitimate operations, and cover the Pacific with your steamships, then I think all will agree that the object was highly politic, proper and legitimate.

I am in the firm belief that the happiest results will attend your participation in the enter prise of the East India telegraph, and I can see nothing but results of the very highest interest to come out of it to your company.

The simple fact of your participation in the promotion of the telegraph to connect China, Japan and India, in order to protect and facilitate your own special interests, would, in my humble opinion, strengthen and add greatly to the power and standing of your company throughout the world. On the other hand I feel that the most perfect success would be assured to the telegraph company so soon as it was known that the Pacific Mail Steamship Company had become warmly interested in it.

With your assistance the whole capital would find a market, and the construction of the telegraph assured beyond peradventure.

Very truly yours,

P. McD. COLLINS.

Mr. Seward to Mr. Burlingame.

No. 186.]

DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, February 11, 1867.

SIR: I have to acknowledge the receipt of Mr. Williams's despatch of the 1st of October, No. 43.

That paper is accompanied by a copy of a correspondence between Mr. Williams and Prince Kung, upon the subject of the erection of light-houses along the coast of China. It is very gratifying to learn that proceedings have been instituted with a view to carry into effect this important object. I earnestly hope that the present movement may be followed up with vigor.

I am, sir, your obedient servant,

ANSON BURLINGAME, Esq., &c., &c., &c.

WILLIAM H. SEWARD.

No. 188.]

Mr. Seward to Mr. Burlingame.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, February 23, 1867.

SIR: I have to acknowledge the receipt of a despatch of the 24th of October, No. 44, which Mr. Williams has addressed to this department relative to the humane conduct of the Rev. Father Gillie, in giving assistance to and successfully aiding a company of shipwrecked sailors belonging to the American schooner Surprise in their journey across Manchuria to Niuchwang. The government of the United States fully appreciating the kind service rendered by Father Gillie to our unfortunate countrymen on the occasion referred to, have caused a suitable testimonial to be prepared, which when completed will be transmitted to you for presentation to Father Gillie.

In the same despatch Mr. Williams informs the department of the wreck of the American schooner General Sherman. It is stated that the hull of this vessel was burned by the Coreans, and that the entire crew were murdered by them. I will thank you to make diligent inquiry respecting the fate of these unfortunate seamen, and acquaint me with the result.

I am, sir, your obedient servant,

ANSON BURLINGAME, Esq., &c., &c., &c.

WILLIAM H. SEWARD.

No. 131.]

Mr. Burlingame to Mr. Seward.

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES,
Peking, March 13, 1867.

SIR: I received a short time since a letter from Baring Brothers covering a despatch to them from you intimating the possibility of a removal of the surplus of the indemnity fund from the Oriental Bank of Hong Kong to some other place of deposit. I at once notified the bank to be ready for a draft. I have now received your despatch No. 174, conveying the same intimation, and await your instructions.

present the present condition of the fund by a letter (enclosure A) from Dr. Williams, who had charge of it during my absence, and to whom the government is indebted for its very wise management before I came to China.

The principal was $220,000, (two hundred and twenty thousand dollars,) which is kept in one account, and the interest accruing on it in another. Altogether there must be about $240,000, (two hundred and forty thousand dollars,) but the exact amount I cannot know until I hear from Hong Kong.

Dr. Williams, in the exercise of the power conferred by the act of March, 1859, while in charge invested a portion of the interest in the manner pointed out in his letter, and though he did this on his own responsibility in the exercise of his own discretion, he has done it for such good reasons and with such good results that I can but commend his action to the government, with an earnest request that it may be approved and his further suggestions carried out.

After receiving the letter from the Barings I did not feel authorized to make any further investment for the purpose of executing the plan of Dr. Williams until the views of the government should be ascertained. In my judgment an appropriation should be asked for covering the amount already drawn and yet required to perfect the buildings so that the legation may belong to the government. If this cannot be done, it seems to me absolutely necessary to leave this investment where it is, and permit the still further outlay required to complete

what is so nearly finished. The investment is safe and more advantageous by one per cent. than if deposited in the bank, and just the same as if placed in our own bonds.

May I ask the favor of as speedy an answer as possible?
I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant,

Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD,

ANSON BURLINGAME.

Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.

Mr. Williams to Mr. Burlingame.

PEKING, March 12, 1867.

SIR: In reply to your inquiry as to the present condition of the indemnity fund, I am unable to give you the exact amounts now on hand, owing to the delay in receiving the accounts from the depositary at Hong Kong. After the liquidation of the claims in 1862, the sums received from the Chinese government were successively placed in the Oriental Bauk to the amount of $220,000. This was kept in one account, and the interest accruing on it has been deposited in another account as it has been paid over to the depositary. The prin cipal is ready to be moved whenever the government desires; but a portion of the interest was drawn out by me while in charge of the legation, in order to build a suitable residence for the American minister in Peking.

This fund was placed, by the act of March, 1859, under the direction of the chief diplo matic officer of the United States in China, and has hitherto been left by him on interest until Congress should decide on its disposal. I therefore had the legal authority to move it, if I thought that by so doing it could be increased or advantaged in any way.

The reasons which led me to employ these funds in building arose from the necessities of the case. There was not a suitable house in Peking where you or your successor could find lodging on arrival. When you sold your former residence, on returning to America in 1865, the archives of the legation were moved to my own house, where they remained till your arrival; but the house is small and narrow, affording no accommodation for others. It was the first house obtained in the city outside of the legations, and had been previously used as a cartwright's shop.

After your departure, therefore, and in view of the arrival of a minister, it became neces sary to provide some place for him, inasmuch as it would be undesirable on every account to ask the favor of a guest-chamber at the other legations for several months until a house could be erected. When the United States legation came to Peking in 1862, circumstances were different, and we could remain as guests at the French legation for six months, while your house was undergoing repairs, without exciting remark; but after the Americans had once established themselves, propriety required that their establishment should be kept up.

In regard to this whole subject, however, I may refer to your despatch No. 25, of September 16th, 1862, where the desirableness of placing our legation on a footing of equal respectability with those of other foreign powers is conclusively shown; and also to the reply of Mr. Seward, of February 28th, 1863, (No. 27,) in which, after acknowledging the importance of the subject, and stating the impossibility of attending to it then, he adds: "The important subject you have presented so fully and so clearly will be reserved for consideration at the next session of Congress." Four years have elapsed since then, and urgent national affairs have still postponed its consideration.

It is needless, therefore, to repeat what is there said of the utter want of hotels and furnished houses in Peking to accommodate a minister, and the impossibility of getting the Chinese authorities to prepare a lodging to lease to him. In fact, there was no alternative that I could see: a house must be built before his arrival, or he must remain at Shanghai till it was built. On these grounds I decided to apply a part of the interest fund to the purchase of a suitable lot near the Russian legation, and erect a house sufficient to accommodate you and your family. I was confident of the approval of those best qualified to judge, and. moreover, the investment would be as secure as if the money remained in the bank; while I calculated that the annual rent paid to the fund by the minister would bring in rather more than the interest which had been received from the other source.

The sum paid for the land and the buildings on it was $10,262 60. The house was commenced last March, and completed in August; you went into it in November. Its cost was $4,894 82, and I have drawn from the interest fund the sum of $14,586 21 for both, leaving a balance still due me of $571 21 (E. & O. E) on the outlay. This house, of course, does not include the whole plan; the dwelling for the secretary of the legation, and rooms for visitors, are still to be erected on other parts of the lot.

In order to complete them, the sum of $10,000 will now barely be sufficient. When I furnished you with the estimate in 1862, and stated that $25,000 would suffice to build a legation,

the cost of land, materials, and labor were all cheaper than now; but I still think that the balance of that sum would suffice to fit up the residence of the American minister so as not to suffer in comparison with other legations. Within their walls are accommodations in separate houses for students, for a physician, and for a military escort, none of which came into my plan. The French government has spent altogether about $70,000, and the English nearly $65,000 in the restoration and alteration of old buildings and erection of new ones. The latter has plans to carry out which will involve an outlay of $40,000 more; the Russian has laid out about $13,000 on new dwellings alone. The first two paid nothing for their land, having obtained the cession of two palaces when they came here with troops in 1860; the Russians have enlarged their original mission limits by the purchase of adjacent lots.

In comparison with their extensive precincts the United States legation seems small; but it is so much better than its lodgment during your absence, that the mortification will not again occur of being obliged to receive Prince Kung and other high officers of state in a house so small that their sedan chairs could not enter its gate, but were set down in the dirty street, while their retinue filled the gateway and obstructed the road, attracting a crowd of idlers. No wonder that one of these functionaries said, on meeting you in the new quarters, "It is now respectable." If such things here did not concern our national position, I would not mention them.

The surplus principal of the indemnity fund, as I understand, is to be strictly devoted to an educational institution, as set forth in your despatch No. 57, of November 18th, 1863. I have your approval of the outlay of part of the interest in this manner, and hope that the government at Washington will, on learning the dilemma I was placed in, likewise approve it, However, if they disallow the procedure, I am quite willing to take the property and lease it to the United States minister, or sell it to the Spanish or some other power which intends to establish a legation in Peking.

It would be more agreeable, however, to have the United States take it, and, in accordance with the suggestion made in your despatch No. 25 above referred to, to establish here the headquarters of their own exterritorial government in China, and finish it for the residence of their minister and his suite, as other western powers have done. I think this would gratify our citizens in China, some of whom have already expressed their satisfaction at this com

mencement.

In building the house I economized the money as far as was consistent with durability and convenience. I hope that you will also urge the desirableness of immediately completing the original plan; so that our legation, like all the others, can be brought within the same enclosure. During its erection the superintendence of the workmen required my daily supervision, which, in addition to all the other duties devolving on me as the only person here connected with the legation, was one reason why I did not complete the plan at once. I counted too on your return early in the autumn, in time to have got up the other buildings before frost set in, and to consult with you on the best location for them.

In conclusion, I may be allowed to express my own satisfaction at seeing the representative of the United States in China settled in quarters at its capital that do not suffer in comparison with those of other nations, and that he was not obliged to adopt either of the alternatives I have alluded to.

I have the honor to be, yours faithfully, His Excellency Hon. ANSON Burlingame.

S. WELLS WILLIAMS.

Mr. Seward to Mr. Burlingame.

No. 190.]

:

DEPARTMENT of State,
Washington, March 18, 1867.

SIR Referring to Mr. Williams's despatch of the 24th of October, No. 44, and to instruction No. 188 of the 23d of February last from this department, relative to the humane conduct of Pere Gillies, a French missionary residing at Mukten, in generously assisting the shipwrecked crew of the American schooner Surprise, I transmit herewith a gold watch which the President of the United States is desirous of presenting to the Rev. Mr. Gillies, as a mark of the grateful appreciation by this government of proceedings so characteristic of his sacred calling. I will thank you to cause this testimonial to be transmitted to him in such manner as you may think most expedient and safe, and at the same time convey to him an expression of the high sense entertained by the government of the United States of the noble and humane spirit evinced by him on the occasion referred to.

I am, sir, your obedient servant,

ANSON BURLINGAME, Esq., &c., &c., &c.

WILLIAM H. SEWARD.

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