I40 Kenneth S. Latourette, 



condition which the other was most wilhng to grant, that if min- 

 isters of western nations were thereafter received at the capital 

 an American envoy would also be welcomed. ^^* Gushing asked 

 and obtained, however, permission to send through the Com- 

 missioner the President's letter to the Emperor/^^ Negotiations 

 proceeded without further incident, and on July 3d the treaty 

 was finished and signed. The next day Gushing issued a letter 

 to the American merchants announcing the treaty and on July 5th 

 Kiying returned to Ganton. 



The document so obtained was a credit to Gushing and 

 remained the standard for settling difficulties between Ghinese 

 and foreigners until the treaties of 1860/''*^ In general it pro- 

 vided for the things stipulated by the English treaty. ^^^ Ameri- 

 cans could reside for the purposes of commerce in the five ports 

 of Ganton, Amoy, Foochow, Ningpo, and Shanghai ; a definite 

 tariff was to be promulgated and annexed to the treaty; consuls 

 were to be allowed to reside in the open cities and communicate 

 with Ghinese officials on equal terms ; the old co-hong was to be 

 abolished ; no prohibitions were to be placed on trade in these 

 ports ; and the most-favored-nation clause was inserted. The 

 British treaty contained some clauses which the American docu- 

 ment did not have ; the cession of Hongkong, indemnity of debts 

 due British merchants by members of the co-hong, the release of 

 prisoners of war, and the gradual evacuation of Ghinese ports. 

 On the other hand, the American treaty was a much longer and 

 more carefully drawn instrument, and was superior to it in a num- 

 ber of important points. Gushing enumerated sixteen of these in a 

 letter to John Nelson, written on July 5th, 1844.^^* (i) The 

 tariff' was amended in favor of American articles, such as gin- 

 seng, contraband articles, and matters of government monopoly, 

 and could be changed only by mutual agreement. (2) By the 



"* Gushing to Sec. of State, July 8, 1844, Sen. Doc. 67, 28 Cong., 2 

 Sess., p. 38. 



^°^ The official reply to this letter was sent the following December in 

 due form, approving the treaty. Niles Reg., 68 : 253. June 28, 1845. 



^'"Williams, Aliddle Kingdom, 2:267. 



^" The English treaty is in Lewis Hertslet, A Complete Collection of the 

 Treaties and Reciprocal Regulations at Present Subsisting between Great 

 Britain and Foreign Powers, etc., London, 1845, 6 : 221-225. The Ameri- 

 can Treaty is in U. S. Statutes at Large, 8 : 592-605. 



^^* Sen. Doc. 67, 28 Cong., 2 Sess., p. 77. 



