108 



CHINA. 



The value of the principal articles of imports and exports, in 1874 and 1875, was as fol- 

 lows (in taels) : 



The movement of shipping in the Chinese 

 ports for 1874 and 1875 was as follows, en- 

 trances and clearances combined : 



The negotiations with England about the 

 Margary murder continued during the year, 

 and at one time threatened to end in war. 

 The commission under the command of Colonel 

 Grosvenor, sent out in 1875 to Yunnan, to in- 

 vestigate the case, arrived in that province on 

 March 6th. As fears were entertained for its 

 safety, the Indian Government sent forward a 

 military escort consisting of two companies of 

 the Sixty-seventh Regiment and a detachment 

 of the Sixth Regiment, to proceed through Bur- 

 mah and conduct the commission home. Every 

 attention was shown both to the troops and the 

 commission by the King of Burmah on their 

 passage through his territory, and they were 

 everywhere received by the population with 

 the signs of the greatest friendship. On June 

 2d, the commission, together with the troops, 

 arrived at Rangoon, Messrs. Baker and Gros- 

 venor arriving a few days later. On the 18th 

 the commission returned directly to China. 

 "When it arrived in Manwyne, the inhabitants 

 decidedly denied that Mr. Margary had ever 

 been there, but a guide showed to the officers 

 of the escort the place where he was murdered, 

 and the tree to which his head had been affixed. 

 In Bhamo, the wife of General Lisitahi, who 

 had been imprisoned on a suspicion of com- 

 plicity in the murder, came to the commission 

 to assure the English of the innocence of her 

 husband. In the mean while the relations be- 

 tween the Chinese Government and Sir Thomas 



Wade, the British embassador, were of a very 

 delicate nature. In June Sir Thomas left Pe- 

 king with his secretary, after having presented 

 to the Chinese Government demands approach- 

 ing an ultimatum, and went to Shanghai, where 

 he intended to await the arrival of Mr. Gros- 

 venor, who reached there on July 6th. The de- 

 parture of the British embassador from Peking 

 and the establishment of the legation at Shang- 

 hai greatly startled the Chinese authorities, 

 who first made efforts to persuade him to re- 

 turn, and afterward proposed to send the Vice- 

 roy of Nanking to reopen negotiations with 

 him, but Wade rejected all overtures. In Au- 

 gust, the Chinese Government appointed Li- 

 Hung-Chang, Viceroy of Chihli Province, spe- 

 cial commissioner to treat with Minister Wade. 

 The viceroy tried every means to induce th 

 minister to come to Tientsin, but all in vain. 

 The British embassador went to Cheefoo, ac- 

 companied by Admiral Ryder and several ves- 

 sels of the squadron. During this time consid- 

 erable excitement prevailed among the foreign- 

 ers as well as among the natives of Tientsin. 

 The Chinese were decidedly opposed to the 

 plan that the viceroy should go to Cheefoo, 

 claiming that, if he did, Sir Thomas Wade 

 would secure his person; they consequently 

 assumed a hostile attitude toward foreign- 

 ers ; the excitement at one time running so 

 high that the German residents asked their 

 consul, Herr von Bismark, who was also tem- 

 porarily at Cheefoo, for protection. But as 

 all these manifestations did not move Sir 

 Thomas Wade, the viceroy finally consented to 

 go to Cheefoo, where he met the British min- 

 ister on August 21st. The minister demanded 

 that Tsen-yu-ying, ex-Governor of Yunnan, and 

 other officers and gentry, should be summoned 

 to Peking for examination. The viceroy re- 

 plied that, if sufficient grounds for such action 

 were advanced in support of charges against 

 Tsen and others their production at Peking 

 would be possible; .but that mere suspicions 

 and non-supported charges would not author- 

 ize recourse to such procedure, especially as 

 the Chinese Government, desiring continuance 

 of peaceful relations, had no reason to disbe- 

 lieve the final report of the imperial commis- 

 sioner sent specially to Yunnan to investigate. 

 The negotiations came to an end on Septem- 

 ber 13th, by the signature of a convention in 

 which all the questions arising out of the Yun- 

 nan outrage were satisfactorily settled. The 



