It was a travelling commission,
not like that of 1905-06, to seek light, but to ascertain whether
the representative of a power so humbled and insulted would be
treated with common decency.
The old pundit was a poet. All Chinese pundits are poets; but Pinchun
had real gifts, and the flow of champagne kindled his inspiration.
Everywhere wined and dined, though accredited to no court, he was
in raptures at the magnificence of the nations of the West. He
lauded their wealth, culture, and scenery in faultless verse; and
if he indulged in satire,
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it was not for the public eye. He was attended by several of our
students, to whom the travelling commission was an education. They
were destined, after long waiting as I have said, to revisit the
Western world, clothed with higher powers.
The impression made on both sides was favourable, and the way was
prepared for a genuine embassy. The United States minister, Anson
Burlingame, a man of keen penetration and broad sympathies, had made
himself exceedingly acceptable to the Foreign Office at Peking. When
he was taking leave to return home, in 1867, the Chinese ministers
begged his good offices with the United States Government and with
other governments as occasion might offer--"In short, you will
be our ambassador," they said, with hearty good-will.
Burlingame, who grasped the possibilities of the situation, called at
the Customs on his way to the Legation.
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