224 



DICKENS, CHAELES. 



DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 



object, the hall was always thronged. It was 

 not until 1858 that he began to read regularly 

 for his own benefit. From that time until his 

 farewell to the rostrum a few months ago, 

 wherever he .went, in England and America, 

 he moved to laughter and to tears all who 

 could come within reach of his voice. Critics 

 differed about the merits of his performance, 

 as critics differ about the merits of his books, 

 but the people never tired of either the one or 

 the other. It was for the purpose of giving 

 readings that Mr. Dickens made his second 

 visit to the United States, in 186Y. He landed 

 at Boston, and gave his first reading there be- 

 fore a highly-distinguished audience on the 2d 

 of December. His visit was, in a much higher 

 and better sense, than his first, a great success. 

 Wherever he gave his readings they were at- 

 tended by very large and delighted audiences, 

 and the impression which he left of his own 

 character and worth, both as a man and an 

 author, was highly favorable. 



Of his private Jife at home, quiet and unevent- 

 ful as it was, there is not much to be told. In 

 town he had apartments in "Wellington Street, 

 Strand, over the office of All the Year Hound, 

 but lived chiefly at the Garrick Club. His 

 residence proper was at Gadshill in Kent, on 

 the road to Canterbury, and about an hour's 

 ride from London by railway, a spot celebrated 

 in Shakespeare as the scene of Jack Falstaff's 

 encounter with the men in buckram. That 

 his domestic relations were not altogether 

 happy, was perhaps more his misfortune than 

 his fault. In the unhappy separation from his 

 wife, in 1858, no stain rests upon the reputa- 

 tion of either. It was one of those cases of 

 complete incompatibility of temper, aggra- 

 vated, possibly, by mental disorder, where 

 both the parties were happier apart, under the 

 limited divorce, than they would have been 

 together. "He was a man of practical char- 

 ity," says one who knew him well both here 

 and abroad, " and gave large sums judiciously 

 every year. Indeed, he would get up in the 

 night and go ten miles to aid any one who was 

 suffering. The prevailing idea that he was ac- 

 customed to a very generous diet, which has 

 mainly arisen from the jovial tone of his writ- 

 ings, is incorrect, for he was very careful in 

 such matters." He was extremely popular in 

 the place where he lived, and when he re- 

 turned from America the neighboring farmers 

 draped their houses with flags to receive him. 

 Mr. Dickens was a great and original genius ; 

 he owed nothing to books, he borrowed from 

 no one, he imitated no one, he was as creative 

 as Homer ; and, though the subjects he em- 

 ployed were common and familiar, as humanity 

 is always common, yet his manner of treating 

 them was his own; and every one of his crea- 

 tions, which live in the memories of his readers 

 as real personages, had all the freshness of a 

 new vitality. He has peopled literature and 

 men's thoughts with characters as distinct as 

 any in history. 



DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE AND 

 FOREIGN RELATIONS. The correspond- 

 ence concerning the foreign relations of the 

 United States is contained in the various pa- 

 pers transmitted to the Houses of Congress in 

 the second session of the Forty-first Congress 

 and in the documents accompanying the an- 

 nual message at the opening of the third ses- 

 sion of that Congress. The latter documents 

 are arranged in one volume of 536 pages, en- 

 titled "Foreign Relations." 



CHINA. On the 31st of August, 1869, the 

 Department wrote to Mr. Bancroft (in reply to 

 his statement that Mr. Burlingame was com- 

 ing to Berlin, and that he desired the Depart- 

 ment to indicate what was the policy of this 

 Administration toward China) that, "unless it 

 shall appear that they have already decided 

 not to ratify the treaty of 1868, or unless you 

 shall be satisfied that such will be their deci- 

 sion, and that the policy inaugurated by Mr. 

 Burlingame is to be reversed, you will render 

 him and his associates whatever assistance 

 you can in securing the cooperation of North 

 Germany in the new Chinese policy. You 

 will also doubtless have an opportunity to im- 

 press upon Mr. Burlingame the importance to 

 China of an early ratification of the treaties. 

 I have stated already that the President has 

 no solicitude as to the purpose of the Em- 

 peror's advisers in that respect. But he thinks 

 it would be well to have defined in a perma- 

 nent law, as soon as possible, the relations 

 that are hereafter to exist between the United 

 States and China." 



The general policy of the United States tow- 

 ard China, as approved by the President, is 

 indicated in the following instructions of the 

 Secretary of State to Mr. Low, dated Decem- 

 ber 3, 1869 : 



You will observe that the President adheres to the 

 policy adopted in 1868, when the articles additional 

 to the treaty of 1858 (commonly known as the Bur- 

 lingame treaty) were concluded. You will, there- 

 fore, so shape your private as "well as your official 

 conversation as to demonstrate to Prince Kung the 

 sincerity of the United States in its wishes for the 

 maintenance of the authority of the central govern- 

 ment and for the peaceful spread of its influence. 

 You will make clear to the government to which you 

 are accredited the settled purpose of the President 

 to observe with fidelity all the treaty obligations of 

 the United States, and to respect the prejudices and 

 traditions of the people of China when they do not 

 interfere with rights which have been acquired to the 

 United States by treaty. On the other hand, you 

 will not fail to make it distinctly understood that he 

 will claim the full performance, by the Chinese Gov- 

 ernment, of all the promises and obligations which it 

 has assumed by treaties or conventions with the Uni- 

 ted States. On this point, and in the maintenance of 

 our existing rights to their full extent, you will be 

 always firm and decisive. "While you will put for- 

 ward these claims, where occasion requires, with pru- 

 dence and moderation, you will be unyielding in de- 

 manding the extreme protection to American citizens, 

 commerce, and property, which is conceded by the 

 treaties, and in requiring the full recognition of your 

 own official position to which you are entitled. 



Corea. Some time in 1868, a number of 

 French priests were murdered in Corea, and, 



