Page 444 - Merchants and Mandarins China Trade Era

430.

Within two weeks after O'Donnell left for Canton, Cush­

ing received a reply from Ch'eng. Dated March 17, the letter

formally stated that a trip to Peking was unfeasible. Regarding

Cushing's desire to see the Emperor, the governor explained that

"it is exceedingly to be feared that there will be no means of

presenting the subject .li. e. Cushing/ intelligibly." Since

Peking was inland, Cushing would have to disembark at its port

of Tientsin. This further complicated matters, "there being

no High Commissioner residing at Tientsin who will negotiate

with the Plenipotentiary the regulations for intercourse of the

people of the two nations. 11 Ch' eng also argued that Cushing' s

mission was useless. As Ch'i-ying had stated to Forbes, the

governor wrote that, unlike the English, all the American mer­

chants at Canton had "observed the laws of China without any

disagreement." In response, the Chinese had not failed in "treat­

ing them with courtesy, so that there has not been the slightest

room for discord; and, since the two nations are at peace, what

68
is the necessity for negotiating a treaty?"
Chinese officials, unfamiliar with Western concepts of

international law, could not understand Cushing's desire for a

treaty. They believed the Emperor's policy of granting American

merchants equal commercial rights and privileges at the new ports

to be sufficient. PrevioU':ly, the Americans had peacefully ac­

quiesced to Chinese regulations and had remained uninvolved in

the political disputes initiated by the English. The Chinese had

68
Ch'eng's communication is in Diplomatic Despatches:
China, c. Cushing, Mar. 28, 1844.