In 1859, ratifications of the Reed treaty were exchanged by J. E Ward at Peht-ang on the coast, after .a fruitless attempt to have the ratifications exchanged at Peking as pro vided in the treaty. Although Ward reached the capital, and was entertained there with imperial munificence, he could obtain no audi ence with the Emperor without the humiliating kotow before the throne, and he refused to grovel, prostrate himself or kneel He was criticized for retiring from Peking, but was sustained by his government.
The United States had no share in the Anglo-French expedition of 1860, which ob tained the establishment of permanent lega tions. at Peking and resulted in the creation of a new Chinese board, the Tsung-li-yamen, or foreign office.
In turning the tide of war for the suppres sion of the Taiping insurrection which for ten years desolated the country, China recog nized the valuable services of an American, Frederick T. Ward (predecessor of Charles Gordon), who fell at the head of his men in 1862 and was awarded posthumous honors by the Emperor. Anson Burlingame, appointed minister in 1862, was the first American repre sentative to reside in Peking. He was success ful in a policy of peaceful forbearance and co operation in diplomatic action. By securing the co-operation of other diplomatic represen tatives, he aided in preserving the integrity of China in the final crisis of the Taiping revolt. He also aided China in the suppression of the coolie trade and negotiated with the Tsung-li yamen for a treaty requiring freedom of immi gration. After he left the American diplo matic service, in 1867, he was chosen by China as a representative to all the great foreign powers with which China had treaty relations, and especially to inaugurate diplomatic rela tions with the western world. In 1868, when California and other parts of the Pacific Coast still welcomed Chinese labor for the develop ment of resources, he negotiated with Secretary Seward at Washington the Burlingame treaty, which recognized the right of citizens to change their home and allegiance, and the mutual ad vantages of free migration and immigration, and guaranteed every privilege and complete protection to Americans in China and equal rights to Chinamen in the United States. In 1872, two years after a furious anti-foreign riot at Tientsin, China began a new policy by sending a number of young men to be educated in the United States, a policy which she later abandoned because of the danger of estrange ment from Chinese institutions. In 1876 China
sent her first resident ministers to the United States and other powers.
To meet objections to the immigration clauses of the Burlingame treaty—objections resulting from a reversal of feeling on the Pacific Coast after the completion (in 1869) of the first overland railroad (which brought laborers from the eastern States) and culminat ing in California during the disorder attend ing the railroad strike of 1877— the American government appointed the special Angell com mission of 1880 which negotiated the Peking treaty of November 1880, modifying the Bur lingame treaty by a clause providing for regu lation of the admission of Chinese laborers. This treaty began a policy of restriction and exclusion, to which Congress quickly responded by an act of 1832, suspending the admission of Chinese laborers for ten years and requiring certificates from other Chinese. The act of 1882 was amended in 1884 by more stringent provisions, and again in 1888 by the Scott act which was criticized as an abrogation of the Chinese immigration treaty of 1880 by indirect legislation, and also as a legislative intervention while a newly negotiated treaty to adjust the matter was pending ratification at Peking, The Chinese minister criticized the Scott act as a disregard of treaty obligations and later made a strong protest against the new act of 1892 ( the Geary law) which continued previous acts in force for ten years. By these acts American trade interests and opportunities were jeopard ized.
The American government later made amends for the Scott act by payment of long pending claims of Chinese laborers, and by the negotiation of the treaty of 1894 which accepted the main provisions of the abortive treaty of 1888 and reconciled the differences between the two governments. In 1904 China terminated the treaty of 1894, and soon there after Congress re-enacted without term all ex isting laws. Meantime relations improved. There were new sources and evidences of bet ter feeling. In 1895, at the dose of the Chinese-Japanese war, ex-Secretary J. W. Fos ter of Washington was appointed by China as counsel in the peace negotiations at Shimon oseki. In 1899, following the American acqui sition of the Philippines, Secretary Hay, re fusing to participate with other powers in the °sphere of influence° or partition policy in China, proposed the policy of the open door, equality of opportunity, maintenance of terri torial integrity and autonomy.