80 NAMES AND NICKNAMES OF THE 



then between London and Washington, neither of which 

 wanted to be bothered with what was to them so petty a 

 matter, and thus, in 1854 new regulations were draw T n up 

 and agreed to by the Chinese Government, after which the 

 British Settlement blossomed forth in correspondence as the 

 International Settlement which it has been ever since. 



In common talk it was still the English Settlement. 

 Turning our attention to the so-called American Settlement 

 here, Hongkew, we are at once impressed with the per- 

 sistence of tradition. Falsehood once upon a time, so the 

 story tells us caught Truth bathing, stole her clothes and ran 

 off with them. Truth has never yet caught up, and so we 

 are still regaled with such old world stories as those of an 

 Opium War in China, and an official American Settlement in 

 Shanghai. According to present day definitions there was 

 an lAonerican Settlement here, but that definition was 

 belated. The only kind of settlement known in the begin- 

 ning was that defined by Dr. Tyau in his book on The Legal 

 Obligations arising out of Treaty Relations between China 

 and other States as "a site selected for the residence of all 

 foreigners, within which they may organize themselves into 

 a municipality for certain purposes and be governed by their 

 elected representatives." 



In the very early days of modern Shanghai, certain 

 American missionaries settled in Hongkew and began the 

 work which has had such splendid results in St. John's 

 University and elsewhere. In time, laymen followed them. 

 The Old Dock, as we now know it, is the modern represen- 

 tative of an original mud dock dug there by an American, 

 a Mr. Dewsnap. For many years it was under American 

 control. American consulates have, not altogether but as a 

 rule, been in Hongkew. But all this was by sufferance. 

 No American official ever claimed such a right over Hongkew 

 as the British Consul down to 1854 claimed over the English 

 Settlement. The American Government has to this day 

 set its face against either settlements or concessions under 

 the Stars and Stripes. There has at various times been a 

 good deal of discussion on this point, but the main facts are 

 plain. Hongkew, then, was a settlement by sufferance and 

 no more. Chefoo is usually pointed to 1 as the classic example 

 of this type, but Chefoo has a Consul of its own, which 

 Hongkew never had. 



Hongkew was found to be too far removed from the city 

 for American merchants to be willing to settle there. There 

 was no bridge over the Soochow Creek till 1857, and as the 

 American residents had no treaty standing there, there was 

 no law. Taverns and Seamen's boarding houses, with the 



