No. 132.
Mr. Avery
to Mr. Fish.
Peking, December 4, 1874. (Received February 8, 1875.)
Sir: I have the honor to inform you that on the 29th ultimo, one month from the date of my arrival in Peking, I had audience with the Emperor and duly presented the letter of the President. As this is the [Page 229] first occasion on which a minister from the United States has had audience alone, the former presentation of Mr. Low being at the collective audience in 1873, a full statement of the circumstances preceding and attending the e vent will not be out of place in the record of our diplomatic intercoms e with China.
On the 11th of November, after the Tsung li Yamen had been some days notified of my arrival and taking charge of this legation, and after I had made the usual formal calls on Prince Kung and his associates, I addressed a note to the latter, (inclosure 1,) asking that his highness would, on my behalf, request His Imperial Majesty to name a day when it would be convenient to have me deliver the President’s letter of credence, a copy of which had already been left at the foreign office. As the court was just then occupied with the elaborate ceremonies attending the Empress mothers birthday, a reply was not immediately received; but, on the 21st of November, Prince Kung wrote me (inclosure 2) that he had presented a memorial to the Emperor on that day, and had received already this answer: “Wait for a decree stating the details.” Three days later—that is, on the 24th of November—Prince Kung addressed me again, (inclosure 3,) giving in the text of his communication a copy of the imperial decree fixing Sunday, the 29th of November, at the Tsj-kwang-Koh, or Pavilion of Purple Brightness, as the rime and place for the audience of both myself and the Japanese minister, Yanigiwara.
The decree stated that the audience had been by both of us “humbly requested.” This phrase, of course, is only a survival of the old spirit of arrogance, which had formerly denied audience to foreigners unless on conditions so humiliating that they could not be complied with. But it may pass for a mere figure of oriental speech, and there was such singular courtesy shown in fixing an early day for my reception that practical y there was no cause to complain.
Remembering with what reluctance, and after how many years of urging and declining, the imperial government had consented to receive foreign ministers at all in the honorable way in which alone they would be received at court, and remembering also that Mr. de Butzow, the Russian minister, who arrived here after the collective audience, had waited two months for his presentment, the prompt attention to ray request and the early day at which it was realized must be regarded as a decided advance toward western usages.
Or the 24th of November I received another communication from the Yamen (inclosure 5) requesting me to call at the foreign office at a specified time, to “rehearse the ceremony” (of presentation to the emperor.)
As the phrase quoted seemed to imply going through an undignified mimicry, I thought proper to decline, putting my refusal (inclosure 6) on the ground that every detail of the ceremony had been settled and was known to me already. I stated, however, that I would send the secretary of legation, Mr. Williams, to learn the hour appointed, which had not yet been named, and to speak of such things as might be necessary to decide in carrying out the arrangements. On the 26th of November the Yamen collectively replied (inclosure 7) that in every previous instance of an audience a day was appointed beforehand to “rehearse the ceremony;” that such rehearsal was necessary to the perfecting of orderly arrangements; and that they still desired I would come. Not wishing to provoke a tedious and unprofitable controversy, I replied on the same day (inclosed 8) that, while I thought unnecessary importance [Page 230] was attached to the matter I would meet them in the afternoou, “to consult together upon such points as may be requisite,” intending still to decline any literal “rehearsal.”
Accordingly, at 2 o’clock p.m. of the 20th, accompanied by Mr. Williams, I called at the foreign office, and was received very pleasantly by six of the ministers, Prince Kung alone, of those I had before exchanged calls with, being absent. While partaking of the usual refreshments we looked over a written order of ceremony, copied after the agreement for the collective audience, with only the necessary modifications, and examined the same colored plan or diagram of the grounds and buildings chosen for the reception which was used in 1873. Mr. Williams had with him and presented a Chinese version of the remarks I had prepared to address to the Emperor. We were about to retire, when Yanigiwara, the Japanese envoy, accompanied by his secretary and Chinese interpreter, arrived, evidently on the same errand as myself. Being urged, I delayed going for some time longer, while the same explanations were gone over with my colleagues. Finally we all rose to leave. Entering the court-yard for that purpose, the members of the Yamen conducted Yanigiwara through a side porch into a small room fitted up in rude imitation of the imperial audience-chamber, and there had him go through the forthcoming ceremony in dumb show.
Waiting outside to pay my parting respects, I witnessed this little episode involuntarily. When it was over, some of the Yamen motioned for me to go and do likewise, but I politely declined, rather to their surprise, notwithstanding all that had passed between us; and they, seeing me firm, gave up the point, and accompanied me to the gateway to see me off’ in their usual courteous manner, after promising to inform me by messenger of the hour for audience.
If these details seem wearisome, my excuse is that only by repeating them can the peculiarities of this people and the tenacity with which they cling to unessential forms, and seek still to make foreign powers appear inferior through their representatives, be clearly illustrated. It is only little by little, on such occasions as I have described, that the Chinese can be taught to adapt their modes of international intercourse to a standard of full equality and dignified simplicity.
On the evening of November 28 I was notified by an imperial messenger to leave the legation for audience at 7£ o’clock next morning. As the Emperor’s audiences with his own people are commonly held between 5 and 8 a. m., and as on the occasion of the collective audience, last year, the ministers were required to be at the site of the ceremonial building by 6 o’clock, the later hour fixed for my departure, as for that of Yanigiwara, is to be taken as another slight concession to foreign ideas. The Japanese envoy arrived at the west gate of the imperial city at the same time as myself, and our joint retinues of chair-carriers and outriders, numbering about fifty, passed through the streets together, making a cortége which attracted numerous spectators.
At the Fua Hua, or western gate, which is about three miles from our legation, as at several turning-points and arches on the route, were standing a number of civil and military officials, clad in distinctive garbs, and some bearing swords.
Leaving our retinue, except interpreters, behind, we were received by several ministers of the Tsung li Yamen, and conducted to an inner court adjoining certain temples, and near the park and lake surrounding the Tsj-kwang-Koh, or Pavilion of Purple Brightness, where we entered a small waiting-room and partook of refreshments, such as tea and [Page 231] sweetmeats. Here we were detained for an hour or more, awaiting the arrival of the Emperor. The members of the Yamen were exceedingly good natured and talkative. Finally we were escorted to a large tent of blue cotton, pitched within a few rods of the pavilion. Here we uncloaked, and learned that the Emperor had arrived on horseback, and was waiting to receive us. The Japanese envoy, attended by Mr. Tei, his interpreter, first went to audience, as was his right, he being my senior. Five minutes later I followed, meeting him on his return. The grounds between the tent and the marble terrace, or plinth, on which the pavilion stands, and the terrace itself, with the broad steps leading to its top, were occupied by many officials, civil and military, ranged in the most orderly manner and preserving a decorous silence. The pavilion is a large and showy gallery, or kiosk, entirely open to the south, and is said to be the building appropriated to feasting the Mongol princes and Corean ambassadors at the new year.
The throne was on a raised platform or dais, in the center at back, also facing the south, enabling the good influence which is supposed to radiate from the Emperor to issue forth over his whole people. That it might not be obstructed, I was conducted, with Mr. Williams as interpreter, by a side way into the pavilion, advancing thence to the front, and then, turning, approaching with three bows the long, low, yellow table facing the throne. The emperor sat à la tar que. At his left stood Prince Kung, and on his right and left other princes of the blood and high officials, stretching in circular lines down to the floor. The spectacle was not without considerable state and imposing effect. I addressed to the Emperor the remarks given in inclosure 9, which were next rendered in Chinese by Mr. Williams, and then deposited the President’s letter of credence on the table before me. The Emperor slightly inclined his head in a acknowledgment, when Prince Kung, kneeling, received his verbal command to say that he acknowledged the receipt of the President’s letter and wished me good health. Prince Kung descended from the dais, advanced to where I stood, repeated this laconic message, which Mr. Williams interpreted, returned, and kneeled again to the Emperor, and resumed his former position.
Bowing twice as I retired, à reculons, the ceremony ended, and I was escorted by the same members of the Yamen to the original waiting-room, where I soon took my leave of the ministers, with thanks for their courtesy and expressions of satisfaction at the decorous nature of the proceedings. The Japanese envoy and his interpreter remained to partake of a banquet furnished from the imperial table, in which I had previously declined to join, it being considered an act of condescension in His Majesty to accord this entertainment.
You will perceive that the ceremony conformed, in most particulars, to that prescribed for the collective audience in 1873, and which was full$ described by my predecessor. But it occurred to me that an independent account of the first separate audience to which an American representative has been admitted, with its circumstances of greater courtesy, would be desirable. I ought to add that the event was duly note d in the Official Gazette before and after its occurrence, but in a brief and formal manner.
The custom of receiving foreign envoys by the Emperor is now well established, and marks an era of decided advancement in diplomatic relations with this court.
The day following the foregoing ceremony, the Japanese envoy left Peking, en route for his own country, for the purpose of giving an account of his mission to the Mikado, intending to return next spring, [Page 232] and leaving here as chargé d’affaires ad interim Tei Nagayasa, who has heretofore acted as secretary and interpreter.
I have, &c.,