Page 441 - Merchants and Mandarins China Trade Era

427.

to Canton, inside the Celestial Empire, unless invited by the
62
Imperial government.

Within a week Cushing sent a formal notification of his

. · 1 1 6 3
. h G
• • t
arriva 1 t o t e overnor o f K wang ung province, Ch eng Yu- s ai.
t
•
1
He despatched John H. 0 Donnell, one of the ''unpaid attaches, "
to Canton with an official letter for the governor. Consul
Forbes arranged a meeting between O'Donnell and local officials.

The letter informed the governor that Cushing carried two com­

missions from the President of the United States. As American

Commissioner to China, he had authority to conclude a treaty of

amity and commerce between the United States and the Celestial

Empire. Cushing was also an Envoy Extraordinary and Minister

Plenipotentiary of the United States with letters from President

Tyler to be delivered to the Emperor. In the role of the latter,

Cushing announced that as soon as his squadron had fresh sup­
64
plies he would travel to Peking. After O'Donnell delivered

the letter, Cushing turned his attention to his correspondence

and awaited a reply from the Chinese.

1
Cushing s intention to visit Peking at first startled
1
Governor Ch'eng Yu-ts ai. When Forbes had informed the authori­

ties in October 1843 that the American government planned to

62 . . .
l
D1p.omat1c Despatc h es: China, C. Cushing, Feb. 26 and
28, 1844.
63
Normally Cushing would have dealt with the governor­
general (or viceroy) of Liang-kwang (Kwangtung and Kwangsi pro­
vinees), who was the highest-ranking local official. In 1843
1
1
Ch eng Yli-ts ai, governor of Kwangtung, was also acting-governor­
general because of a vacancy in that post. When Ch'i-ying came
to Canton as Imperial Commissioner, he became governor-general of
1
Liang-kwang. In the 1840 s Westerners transliterated Chinese
names differently than at present. Americans referred to Ch'eng