home, the typical Chinese official blandly replied, as
the notorious Yeh did to United States Minister Marshall in
January, 1854,--``I avail myself of the occasion to present my
compliments, and trust that, of late, your blessings have been
increasingly tranquil.''[50]


[49] Foster, ``American Diplomacy in the Orient,'' p. 205,

[50] Foster, p. 213.



Scores of European and American diplomatic agents had
substantially the same experience. United States Minister
Reed, in 1858, truly said that the replies of the Chinese to the
memorials and letters of the foreign envoys were characterized
by ``the same unmeaning profession, the same dexterous
sophistry; and, what is more material, the same passive resistance;
the same stolid refusal to yield any point of substance.''[51]


[51] Foster, p. 236.


Nor can it be denied that the Chinese had some ground for
holding foreign nations at arms' length as long as they could,
for with a few exceptions, prominent among whom were some
American ministers, notably Mr. Burlingame, the foreign
envoys were far from being tactful and conciliatory in their