| The Commissioners recently sent to China by the United States government are charged with the important duty of negotiating a new treaty with the empire. The Commission consists of Dr. James B. Angell, of Michigan, who is also clothed with the powers of Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, John F. Swift, of California, and William H. Trescott, of South Carolina. Mr. Angell is a gentleman of rare accomplishments. He was formerly Professor of Modern Languages in Brown University, afterward President of the University of Vermont, and is now President of the University of Michigan. In politics he is a Republican, and so likewise is Mr. Swift, an eminent lawyer, and a Missourian by birth, who has lived for thirty years past in California. Mr. Rescott is a Democrat, and is well known as one of the ablest diplomatists in the country. He is the author of a history of American diplomacy, which is highly valued in Europe as well as here. |
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| The instructions to the Commissioners from the State Department are secret, and will only be divulged during the negotiations with the representatives of the Chinese government. It will take some time to get down to actual work. The party were to land at Yokohama, and go thence to Shanghai in one of the ships of the United States navy cruising in Japanese waters. From Shanghai they must go to Peking, a journey of nine hundred miles, and before anything can be done the present American Minister must be relieved and the new Minister installed. When this is done, the Commissioners will be introduced to the Emperor, and will present their letters from President Hayes. Then they must await the appointment of the representatives on behalf of the Chinese Empire. It is not likely, therefore, that anything will be done before December or January next. The portraits of the Commissioners on this page are made from photographs by Bradley and Rulofson, of San Francisco. |
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