and that a reference of the case to Washington was, under the circumstances, the preferable course to take. I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C. [Enclosure A.] S. WELLS WILLIAMS. Mr. Burlingame to Prince Kung. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, SIR: On the 3d of May last I had the honor to inform you that the United States consul general at Shanghai had reported his action in ordering General Burgevine to leave the country, and that he had already sailed, but, greatly to my surprise, I received a letter two days ago from the same officer, dated the 13th instant, in which he informs me that he had heard it reported that General Burgevine, in defiance of the laws of his country, had stealthily returned to China, acting most audaciously in so doing, but that he (the consul general) was using every effort to apprehend him and deal with him severely. It certainly shows a reckless disregard of all honor and propriety for this man thus to steal back into the country after having left it as he did, and I have this day written to the consul general at Shanghai, urging him to adopt every possible means to have General Burgevine arrested and dealt with severely. It is for this purpose that I have made this communication; and have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, His Imperial Highness PRINCE KUNG, &c., &c. B. Prince Kung to Mr. Burlingame. [Translation.] ANSON BURLINGAME. JUNE 27, 1865. (Tungchi, 3d year, 5th moon, 24th day.) » Prince Kung, chief secretary for foreign affairs, herewith makes a communication in reply: I have received your excellency's despatch of the 23d instant, in which you inform me that General Burgevine, though he had been ordered to leave the country, had returned here in a stealthy manner, audaciously setting the laws of his country at defiance by so doing, but that you had at that moment sent instructions to the consul at Shanghai to take every measure to seize and punish him severely. This man deserves the severest punishment by the laws of China for the injury he has done to her; and both your excellency and myself have repeatedly treated him with leniency, even beyond the limits of law, by ordering him to depart the country and never return to stir up confusion. Our consideration towards him has been great, but he has no sentiment of regret for his misdeeds, and this contemptuous disregard for the laws of his own country, in stealing back to China, shows how unmindful he is of the singular kindness we have both shown him. His offences are such that it will be nearly impossible for him again to escape a merited end. As your excellency has already sent orders to the consul general at Shanghai to exert himself to seize and punish General Burgevine, so have I also issued injunctions to the local authorities at every port to immediately co-operate and do what they can' speedily to seize him, which is the purpose of this communication in reply. His Excellency ANSON BURLINGAME, United States Minister. C. Prince Kung to Mr. Williams. [Translation.] JUNE 16, 1865. (Tungchi, 4th year, 5th moon, 23d day.) Prince Kung, chief secretary of state for foreign affairs, herewith makes a communication: On the 13th instant a despatch was received from Li, the superintendent of commerce at Shanghai, enclosing the following report from Kwoh, acting commander-in-chief in Fuhkien: "Mr. Stanley, a foreigner who is engaged in drilling the troops, while off the port of Amoy. on the 13th ultimo, happened to observe Burgevine and an Englishman named Kihling (Culling) on board of a schooner, and learned that they intended to go to Chang-chan-fu to join the rebels. He also ascertained afterwards that they had embarked for the city in a small boat, and stopped at a place called Chin-mun, about a league distant. Stanley thereupon sent a letter to the commissioner of customs at Amoy, who had himself just received a communication from the customs office in Formosa, stating that Burgevine had gone over to Amoy to join the rebels at Chang-chan, and he immediately despatched some of the foreign tide-waiters to go out in search of the two men. They were taken and carried prisoners to the camp of the commander-in-chief, and on being questioned by officers there, confessed that they intended to join the rebels, and so were sent on directly to his excellency Tso, the governor general of Fuhkien and Chehkiang, with the request that we would take the case in hand, execute Burgevine as a felon, justly obnoxious to the laws, and hand over the other man to his own consul for punishment." The above, and another report which has been received from Mr. Hart, the inspector general, having reached me, (Prince Kung,) I find that this man Burgevine has broken the laws a great many times and ways. He has struck our officers and robbed our money. In 1864 he skulked off to Su-chan to join the Taiping insurgents, and help them with arms and supplies, &c. He committed piracy by seizing a steamer with which to resist his Majesty's forces. Now, for one who, like him, had taken an official salary from China, to voluntarily join the rebels was an act in violation of our laws, and it was a great disgrace to the fair fame of the United States also, and he well deserved to have been executed when he was arrested, or if he had been shot down by our troops it would have been no more than his crimes deserved. This was stated formerly in one of our despatches to Mr. Burlingame. But seeing that Colonel Gordon interceded for him at the time, and he himself expressed regret for his misdeeds and intended to reform, they were mildly inquired into, and I agreed with Mr. Burlingame to let him off from further inquiry, if he would leave China, never more to return. But in May, last year, it having been reported that Burgevine, utterly despising the laws of his own country, had stealthily returned to China, and proved in doing so that he had no regard for anything, Mr. Burlingame informed me that he had ordered the consul to seize and punish him, and I also enjoined our officers to take him wherever he could be found. He being set in his evil courses, has now tried to get into Amoy, and secretly join the insurgents in that region. His object from first to last is to injure China as much as he possibly can. He has neither respect nor dread of the laws and penalties of either his own country or of this, and is, as your excellency has truly observed, no longer to be regarded as an American who deserves to be protected. Such While, therefore, the three criminals, Ward, Butler, and Carter, who were arrested at Chang-chan for aiding the rebels, shall be handed over to their consul, and the Englishman Culling will be delivered to the British consul, for the purpose of each of them being examined and punished as their cases deserve, Burgevine, who has been arrested as he was on his way to join the rebels, should be treated as before decided, and be now executed a course would please the minds of all, and deter other wicked men from similar conduct. If hereafter other Americans should follow the same lawless course, and join the insurgents, I confidently trust that your excellency will give such orders to the United States consuls on the coast to exert themselves in assisting to arrest them as will strengthen the amicable relations now existing between our countries. I shall expect a reply to this despatch. His Excellency S. WELLS WILLIAMS, United States Chargé d'Affaires. [Enclosure D.] Mr. Williams to Prince Kung. PEKING, June 21, 1865. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Highness's despatch of the 16th instant, informing me that Burgevine, while on his way to join the insurgents at Changchan, had been seen by Stanley, and reported to the commissioner of customs at Amoy, who had immediately sent tide-waiters to search for him; and that they had arrested him and another foreigner, who had been given over to the charge of Kwoh, the commander-in-chief, and by him sent from the camp to the office of his excellency Tso, the governor general of Fuhkien and Chelkiang, to be immediately examined, requesting, at the same time, that he would carry out the law upon Burgevine in conformity to previous agreement, &c. Since the receipt of your Highness's despatch of June 27, 1864, in which you stated that you had also issued injunctions to the local authorities in every port to co-operate in trying to seize him, that he might be severely punished, I have heard no tidings of Burgevine until this time, when his arrest is reported in the present despatch. He having now been arrested as a criminal, it is required by the eleventh article of the treaty that he should be given up to the American consul, to be tried and punished; but when his repeated offences, and contemptuous disregard of the laws, both of the United States and China, are considered, all proving that he is reprobate to all good things, it is diffi cult to extenuate them. I therefore request your Highness to detain this man in confinement in the country a few months, while I refer his case to my own government for instructions, stipulating in the distinctest manner that the officers in whose hands he is placed shall not injure or insult him in any way. In so doing, I will inform them of his whole conduct, especially that he has been in the service of the imperial government, but, by deserting and joining rebels in arms against it, he has lost his position, and forfeited all respect; and still more, by stealthily returning to China, the question arises whether his own authorities are bound any longer to protect him, and whether he should not be given up to be tried by Chinese laws As soon as I receive instructions how to dispose of this unusual case I will inform you; but this arrangement appears likely to uphold treaty stipulations, and, at the same time, afford security that the guilty shall not escape. I have the honor to be, sir, your Highness's obedient servant, His Imperial Highness PRINCE Kung, &c., &c., &c. [Enclosure E.-Translation.] Prince Kung to Mr. Burlingame. S. WELLS WILLIAMS. MAY 4, 1865. (Tangchi, 4th year, 4th moon, 4th day.) Prince Kung, chief secretary of state for foreign affairs, herewith makes a communication: I yesterday received a despatch from Li, the imperial commissioner and governor of Kiang-su, at Shanghai, which contained the following extract from the report of Tsang, the intendant of the Hinghwa and Tsiuenchau circuit, then in charge of the military operations at Amoy : "I have lately captured an insurgent, named Sie Ying-lung, and three foreigners, whom I have fully examined, and now forward their depositions, requesting you to look at them and furnish me with instructions how to act.' The governor then says: "I learn from the papers that one of these men named Hwarh (Ward) produced a passport which the American consul had furnished him, to go to Suchan, in Kiangsu. They further state that this man is an American, and in company with others named Puh-ti-iih, (Butler,) and Koh-teh-lih, (Carter,) had gone to Changchan, (a city near Amoy,) for the purpose of selling foreign arms [to the insurgents.] It was affirmed that the last two were also Americans, and they all confessed that they had gone to Changchan to sell foreign arms. I therefore forward the whole case to you.' I cannot but recall to mind the severe prohibitions existing against foreigners supplying rebels with arms, or assisting them at all, and that the same rule has long been embodied in the regulations for trade on the Yangtsz; and, furthermore, that in consequence of my reporting to your excellency that an American steamer had gone up to Nanking, in the winter of 1862, you replied, "The violation of treaty stipulations by this steamer is to be much regretted, and I shall carefully ascertain the facts, and punish her according to law. If others of my countrymen violate the rules and break the laws in this respect, I wish you to inform me at the time, and I will take due measures for their punishment." In a case like this, where traders violate the rules, there is no need of you and I issuing one order after another about it; so if Hwarh (Ward) and the others have had the audacity to avail themselves of a passport for Kiangsee to slyly go on to Fuhkien and sell their arms to rebels in actual insurrection, it is plain that they intended to break the treaty and all the prohibitions which you have issued. The intendant of circuit Tsang examined them all in company with the two commissioners, Messrs. Meritens and Hughes, and there is no kind of doubt of the fact that these men did sell foreign arms to the rebels and assist them by so doing, and should, therefore, be punished as the treaty requires, in order to deter others in future. I have given directions to the local authorities to deal with the rebel Sie Ying-lung according to law, and now also inform your excellency of the circumstances connected with the charges against these three Americans of aiding rebels by selling them arms, to the end that you may send such instructions to the United States Consul Seward, to judge and punish them by American law, as are necessary. When the case is finished I wish you would inform me of the results. His Excellency ANSON BURLINGAME, United States Minister to China. [Enclosure F.] Mr. Burlingame to Prince Kung. LEGATION OF the United States, Peking, May 5, 1865. SIR: Last month I was informed by Mr. Seward, United States consul general, that the Chinese officers had seized some native rebels and foreigners who had been found illegally selling foreign arms to the people, and that the American consul at Amoy was about sending the foreigners to him to be tried before he had himself examined them. I have now the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch of yesterday, informing me of the arrest of the three Americans who were found selling arms to the rebels, and I shall direct the consul general to deal with them as the treaty requires, and punish them. As soon as I learn his action in the case, I shall inform your Highness of the same. I have the honor to be, sir, your Highness's obedient servant, His Imperial Highness PRINCE Kung, &c., &c., &c. [Enclosure G.] Mr. Williams to Prince Kung. [Extracts.] ANSON BURLINGAME. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, Peking, June 21, 1865. SIR Referring to his excellency Mr. Burlingame's despatch of the 5th ultimo, informing you that he would take the earliest day after learning the particulars of the case of Ward and others, who had been charged with selling arms to the rebels, to acquaint you with what had been done, I now have the honor to inform your Imperial Highness that Mr. Seward, United States consul general at Shanghai, has sent me the following report: "In March last three Americans were arrested near Amoy, whose names were Edward E. Ward, John W. Butler and John Carter, and on April 1st a fourth, named Hillman, all of whom were forwarded to me by Mr. Irwin, United States consul at Amoy, for trial. On the passage up from Amoy, Butler was wounded on board ship and died from the effects of the wound at Ningpo. The other three on examination confessed that they had gone to Changchan, not to join the rebels, but only to help them as agents to purchase arms. They have all been straitly warned, and required to give bonds with sureties that they would leave the country, not again to come back, which they have done." In communicating this information of the proceedings taken respecting these three men, it is proper to observe, that from it your Highness will see that the United States consuls at the ports are exerting themselves as far as possible to aid in arresting and punishing criminals, and thereby preserve the peace. I have the honor to be your Imperial Highness's obedient servant, His Imperial Highness PRINCE KUNG, &c., &c., &c. Mr. Williams to Mr. Seward. [Extracts.] No. 4.] LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of several despatches addressed to Mr. Burlingame, among them Nos. 123, 126, and 128, enclosing military circulars to the United States ministers in London and Paris; of No. 121, acknowledging receipt of rules for consular courts in China; of No. 125, referring to Mr. Walsh's notes upon steam communication between China and California; and of No. 127, being Mr. F. W. Seward's circular of April 10 respecting the sad accident which happened to you a few days previous, and from which I am happy to learn that you are likely to recover. Since my last the mail has brought full accounts of the lamentable assassination of our beloved President, and I have taken the telegraphic despatch of the Secretary of War, of April 16, to Mr. C. F. Adams, at London, which appeared in the English papers, as containing the principal facts, and have notified the Chinese government of this sad event. Prince Kung responded in a friendly spirit, (enclosures A and B.) Previous to this I had informed the Chinese officials of all the details then known respecting the occurrence. The telegraph brought the first notice to Peking via Russia in forty days, but nearly a fortnight elapsed before further news arrived to induce us to believe that such a horrid deed could have been committed in the United States. The contentment and joy caused by the previous news of the fall of Richmond and the surrender of Lee's army, foretokening the cessation of arms and final suppression of the rebellion and restoration of the Union, were turned into grief and indignation at learning that the President had been thus removed. All the Americans in Peking alike mourned his death, and all we could do was to pray that God, who had brought the nation to see the triumph of its arms against treason, would strengthen the national cause by leading to the adoption of those plans which would best uphold justice and best promote union. The limits of a despatch will hardly allow me more than to add my tribute of admiration to the character of Mr. Lincoln. His firm and consistent maintenance of the national cause, his clear understanding of the great questions at issue, and his unwearied efforts while enforcing the laws to deprive the conflict of all bitterness, were all so happily blended with a reliance on Divine guidance as to elevate him to a high rank among successful statesmen. His name is hereafter identified with the cause of emancipation, while his patriotism, integrity, and other virtues, and his untimely death, render him not unworthy of mention with William of Orange and Washington. I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, S. WELLS WILLIAMS. Secretary of State, Washington. A. Mr. Williams to Prince Kung. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, During the present month I have received despatches from the government of the United States informing me that, "on the evening of the 14th of April, a man approached one of the attendants upon the President, pretending that he had important despatches to deliver from the army, which he wished to do personally. He was accordingly admitted, and going directly up to the President, fired a pistol at him, whose shot struck him in the brain; he never spoke after, and died early the next morning. On that day the Vice-President quietly succeeded to the vacant office. The assassin was arrested a few days after." This startling intelligence has filled me with amazement and profound grief, and the sorrow it causes is the greater from the contrast with the gratifying tidings received only a few days before of the capitulation of the so-called capital of the southern confederacy, and the surrender of its principal general with over twenty thousand men to the victorious arms of the government. Mindful of the amicable relations subsisting between the governments of the United States and China, which cause all events, whether they be sad or joyful, to possess a common interest, I have the melancholy duty to state these circumstances of the death of the Presi dent to your Imperial Highness for the information of his Majesty the Emperor in such a manner as may be suitable. S. WELLS WILLIAMS. I have the honor to be, sir, your Highness's obedient servant, His Imperial Highness PRINCE KUNG, &c., &c., &c. B. JULY 8, 1865, (Tungchi, 4th year intercalary, 5th moon, 17th day. Prince Kung, chief secretary of state for foreign affairs, herewith sends, in reply: I had the honor yesterday to receive your excellency's communication informing me that the President of the United States had been removed by death, an announcement that inexpressibly shocked and startled me. But, as you add that on the same day the Vice-Presi |