Mr. Williams to Mr. Seward
No. 18.]
Legation of the United
States,
July 31, 1868.
Sir: Referring to Mr. Burlingame’s despatch No.
124, of December 15, 1866, and others, relating to the fate of the
American schooner General Sherman in Corea, I have now the honor to
inclose a correspondence (inclosures A, B, C,) with the Chinese
government, which was commenced for the purpose of engaging its good
offices in ascertaining, by direct application to the King of Corea what
were the real circumstances connected with the loss of that vessel.
The reason why an earlier application was not made to Prince Kung, after
receiving your dispatch, was that it was deemed best to await the
arrival of the annual Corean embassy at Peking, when more direct
intercourse with the officials from that country could perhaps be
obtained. This embassy did not reach the capital till January, and at
that time the rumor mentioned in my note to Prince Kung had assumed so
much probability that I wished to learn what grounds there were for
believing it. This, unfortunately, could not be done till after the
Coreans had left for their country, but in any case I could not have
asked them directly, as the Chinese officials in this city are
particularly careful to keep these tributary nations confined to their
own quarters, and they themselves are shy of all intercourse.
I was, however, able to see one of the confidential members of the Corean
mission, and ascertained from him privately some particulars relating to
the attack on the schooner. He told me that he was not himself in that
part of the country at the time she was in the river Pingjang, but he
heard that, after the vessel had got ashore, she keeled over as the tide
receded, and her crew landed to guard or float her. The natives gathered
around the vessel, and ere long some altercation arose between the two
parties, which soon led to blows and bloodshed, and a general attack on
the foreigners, who were all killed on the spot by the mob of natives,
of whom fully 20 were killed. He understood that the vessel was French,
though he knew nothing of the flag which she bore, nor even of the
signification or distinction of foreign flags; but he was sure that all
her company were dead, and had moreover believed that the wreck still
remained in the Pingjang river.
Before the reply from the Corean authorities was received in Peking, the
United States corvette Shenandoah had returned from her visit to that
country, where Captain Febinger went in March to ascertain the [Page 545] truth of the same rumor that I
refer to in my note A. From what he learned, combined with the reply
given him, and apparently intended for the United States steamer
Wachusett, when she was there in 1866, there can remain no reasonable
doubt that the whole company on board the General Sherman were killed
about September, 1866, and the evidence goes to uphold the presumption
that they invoked their sad fate by some rash or violent acts towards
the natives.
I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.
A.
Mr. Williams to Prince Kung
Legation of the United
States, Peking,
March 3, 1868.
Sir: Referring to my note to the Foreign
Office of October 28, 1866, respecting an American merchant vessel,
the schooner General Sherman, which had been stranded in Corea in
August of that year at which time I was favored by a reply assuring
me that the military and civil authorities of Manchuria should
attend to the wants of such of the crew as might be handed over to
them, I have now the honor to bring the subject again before your
imperial highness, with the request that you would communicate upon
it with the Corean government.
It appears, from reports received after the date of my note of
October, 1866, that when the General Sherman got ashore in Corea the
natives of the country flocked about her, and that a quarrel arose
between them and the crew, resulting in injury and wounds to both
parties, and a fight, in which all the latter were ultimately
destroyed. In consequence of this report, the admiral commanding the
United States squadron in these seas last summer dispatched one of
his vessels to Corea to make inquiries into the matter, and
ascertain the real circumstances of the affair on the spot; but this
he was not able at the time to do in a satisfactory manner.
A day or two since I received from the United States consul at Chifu
the report of a pilot, named Yu Wautai, who last year returned from
Corea, and related to him “that he had gone up a stream called
Piyang river, and about 10 miles from the sea had seen a foreign
vessel lying on the southern bank, without masts or sails, and her
hull full of water. He had also met a Corean, named Kin Tsz’ping, a
native of an island called Tsioh Tau, or Sparrow island, who told
him that in March last he had himself seen two foreigners and two
Chinese at the magistrate’s office at the chief city of the district
of Piyang. The rest of the foreigners and Chinese had all been
killed by the farmers and people of the country, and not by the
Corean authorities or soldiers. He saw these two foreigners walking
in the streets without any instruments of torture upon them,
followed by policemen to see that they did not get away; but he
could not ascertain why the Corean magistrates detained them in this
manner.”
This report of the pilot Yu Wautai seems to me to possess a degree of
truth, and not to be a made-up story, and I therefore lose no time
in making it known to your imperial highness, to see whether some
plan cannot be carried into effect to secure the liberation of these
four men. I have myself also received directions from the government
of the United States, in consequence of the report having reached
Washington of the destruction of the General Sherman by the Coreans
two years ago, to ascertain the true facts of the case and report
upon them. This order, in connection with the unsuccessful visit for
that purpose of the United States man-of-war last year, leads me now
to make known these particulars to your imperial highness, and
respectfully request that a communication be sent by his Majesty’s
government to the Corean government for them to deliver over the two
foreigners and two Chinese to the Chinese authorities.
The government of the United States has no direct relations with that
of Corea, but there is something quite inexplicable in the fact that
when this American vessel went there her crew should be treated so
barbarously, and there must have been some causes for it, which the
American government cannot permit to pass by silently, and without
full investigation being made into all the circumstances.
The governments of China and the United States have long been on the
most friendly terms, and I therefore entertain the strongest
expectation that his Imperial Majesty [Page 546] will so represent this affair to the Corean
government that they will see the propriety of transmitting a
correct account of all the facts connected with the destruction of
this American schooner within their territory, in order that I may
report the same to the President. This act of courtesy will likewise
add another evidence of the friendly relations existing between our
respective governments, and will be duly appreciated.
I have the honor to be, with great respect, your imperial highness’s
obedient servant,
His Imperial Highness Prince Kung, Chief
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
[Translation.]
Prince Kung to Mr. Williams.
March 10, 1868,
(Tungchi, 7th
year, 2d moon, 18th day.)
Prince Kung, chief secretary of state for foreign affairs, herewith
sends a reply:
On the 2d instant I had the honor of receiving your excellency’s
dispatch, in which you inform me of the report that two foreigners
and two Chinese are now kept in durance by the Coreans, and request
that the Chinese government should demand of the Corean government
to hand them all over to the Chinese officers, &c.
On the same day that I received this communication the British
minister, Sir Rutherford Alcock, also sent a dispatch to the
following effect:
“Last year the French admiral took his squadron to Corea, where a
collision took place with the authorities; and it was after that
occurrence that an American vessel went to Corea with the intention
of trading, and was attacked in the Piyang river, which she had
entered, by the people. The report that came to me at the time was,
that her crew had been entirely cut off; but afterwards many persons
reported that some of them were yet alive, and detained in
confinement by the Coreans. Recently a Chinese pilot has informed
the United States consul at Chifu that he knows that two foreigners
and two Chinese belonging to this vessel are still alive in
Corea.”
On receiving these dispatches I have recurred to the note written by
your excellency on the 28th of October, 1866, in which you stated
that an American schooner had been wrecked in Corea, that the vessel
had been burned, and 24 of her crew carried off, concluding with the
request that directions might be sent to the authorities in Mukten
that if any of these men were handed over they might be carefully
cared for by those officials. The members of the Foreign Office
personally assured you at the time that if any persons were thus
delivered by the Coreans, those authorities should be directed to do
everything necessary for their comfort; and corresponding
instructions were immediately forwarded to the general in command at
Mukten, and to the collector at Ninchwang. In due course a reply was
received from the former officer, in which he stated that the Corean
authorities had previously given over to the district magistrate of
Ching-teh six distressed foreigners, saved from the wreck of [the
“Surprise,”] a vessel which had been driven ashore in their country;
that they had been already sent on to Yingtsz and handed over to Mr.
Knight, the United States consul at that port, since which time no
foreigners had been delivered to them.
Taking all these considerations together, and reflecting that an
American ship of war has already visited Corea, but was unable to
ascertain all the real facts about the matter, and that moreover the
French and Coreans seem likely to engage in hostilities, it must be
acknowledged that it will be rather difficult to learn the truth of
the case. In the dispatch under reply you propose that measures be
taken by this government to bring about the release of these men;
and if I delay a little, to consult as to the best mode of
procedure, it is that the affair may get the benefit of the best
deliberations we can give it. It really will not be best to
presently send off a mission to Corea asking about the surrender of
these prisoners, for it will probably be evasively excused, and the
probable success of the effort imperiled; or else, in our hurry, we
shall not get at the real and right beginning of the matter;
(referring probably to the misconception the Coreans would get of
the object of the demand thus suddenly made on them.)
I would further wish your excellency to reflect that, although Corea
is in one sense a dependency of China, her authorities are now
engaged in eradicating the religion and forbidding its exercise; and
their proceedings in this matter are carried on by themselves just
as they please, but in what manner his Majesty’s officials have not
heard. A moment’s reflection will no doubt enable you to see the
whole bearing of this suggestion.
I have, however, already sent orders to Mukten to require the
authorities in Manchuria to learn all they conveniently can upon
this matter, and meanwhile send a reply to the British minister and
to yourself in regard to it.
His Excellency S. Wells Williams, U. S. Chargé d’affaires ad interim.
[Page 547]
C.
Note from the Foreign Office.
When we received the dispatch [of March 3] from your excellency,
relating to the American schooner General Sherman, lost in Corea in
1866, concerning which an American man-of-war had gone to inquire
about and had not succeeded in her mission, so that you requested us
to communicate with the government of Corea to ascertain who were
the two foreigners reported to be held in confinement there, and
learn the reasons why they were so treated, that something might be
done for their welfare, we replied that measures would be taken to
further your wishes.
We accordingly presented a memorial to the throne, requesting that
orders might be transmitted to the board of rites, directing its
president to address the King of Corea and ask him to inquire
whether two foreigners were really detained in his country. We have
recently received a dispatch from the board of rites stating that a
reply had been received from the Bang to the following effect:
“A two-masted foreign vessel went ashore in the Ping-jang river, but
this government had no hand whatever in the disasters which happened
to her and her crew; nor has any envoy from the United States been
here to inquire respecting them. If you have any means of
communicating this to him, you can no doubt fully inform him of this
fact. It is a fixed rule of this country, moreover, that when
unfortunate men are cast ashore they must be rescued and treated
kindly, so that if there were at this time any such pitiable cases
here of persons who had drifted down upon us, how could we detain
them against their will? This rumor of two foreigners and two
Chinese being kept here has no foundation; and it is a point, too,
which can easily be ascertained. I shall be obliged if the officers
of the board of rites will make these explanations on my behalf to
those who may wish them.”
It appears to us from the above that the statement by the Corean
authorities that none of your countrymen are detained in their
borders has much to confirm it; and in sending this reply we avail
ourselves of the occasion to renew to you the expression of our best
wishes for your happiness.
Cards of
