the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, the rules and regulations governing the light-house keepers, and the laws enacted by Congress creating and defining the duties of the Light-house Board; to the screw-pile sea coast light-houses in sandy foundations in latitudes free from ice, and for similar iron structures in harbors; to the stone and brick towers for light-houses on the main land; to the designs for light-houses combined with keepers' houses for localities adapted thereto; the plans for light-ships and their moorings for the open sea and bays, and to the plans of beacons and buoys of various descriptions; which references, it is hoped will make the system of this country fully understood, and enable the inspector general of customs to adopt any parts thereof that to him may appear advantageous for the coast of China. 5th. That the chairman of the Light-house Board cause a copy of Mr. Hart's communication, with its accompanying papers, to be placed on the files of the board. 6th. That a copy of this report be submitted to the Secretary of the Treasury in reply to his reference to the Light-house Board of the communication to him from the Secretary of State of the 25th July, 1867. All of which is respectfully submitted, by RICHARD DELAFIELD, Brevet Major General, Corps of Engineers, U. S. A., WASHINGTON, D. C., September 2, 1867. Mr. McCulloch to Mr. Seward. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, September 24, 1867. SIR At the instance of the Light-house Board I have the honor to request that our minister to China be desired to obtain such data in reference to existing aids to navigation on that coast as will enable that board to publish the usual and necessary notices to mariners, and that he also communicate the number of Americans appointed to carry out the cosmopolitan system of Mr. Hart, inspector general of customs. I am, very respectfully, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, H. MCCULLOCH, Secretary of State. Mr. Seward to Mr. Burlingame. No. 224.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, SIR: Your despatch, No. 145, of the 17th of July last, upon the subject of a modification of the treaty between the United States and China, has been received. The department sees no objection to the proposed modification, but, before it can be formally accepted by the President, it must be approved by the Senate. That body will be consulted upon the subject early in the next session, and their decision will be made known to you. I am, sir, your obedient servant, SIR: I have the honor to inform you that on the 21st of October last I presented the portrait of Washington, sent by the government to Sen-ki-yu, in the presence of the members of the Tsung-li-yamun. Dr. S. Wells Williams and Dr. W. A. P. Martin acted as interpreters. The ceremonies were impressive, and are well described in the memorandum, marked A, kindly prepared by Dr. Martin. Please find also, marked B and C, the address of presentation, with Sen's reply. I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C. ANSON BURLINGAME. [Enclosure A.] Memorandum of an interview between Mr. Burlingame and the Council for Foreign Affairs, at the Foreign Office, October 21, 1867. The occasion was the presentation, by order of the Department of State, of a portrait of Washington to Sen-ki-yu, a member of the council, in recognition of an eloquent tribute which he has paid, in a published work, to the character of Washington and the institutions. of America. On account of the liberal sentiments expressed in that work he was dismissed from office in the former reign, and retiring from the high post of provincial governor, spent nearly eighteen years in comparative obscurity. Recalled to the public service and made a member of the council for foreign affairs, he has lately received the additional honor of being appointed to the presidency of a new college which has been established by imperial order for the express object of cultivating the languages and sciences of the west-a sufficient proof that the liberal views of which he has been such a distinguished advocate are regarded with favor by the more enlightened policy of the present administration. The presentation of the portrait was accompanied by a complimentary address from Mr. Burlingame, a written translation of which was placed in the hands of the old minister. After the reading of the address a conversation took place, an outline of which is here furnished from memory. Mr. BURLINGAME. The presentation of this picture indicates a commerce of thought. We have borrowed many useful ideas from you. Some of our arts were originally derived from China, and, perhaps, we may have some things to offer in exchange, industrial arts, physical sciences, and religious truth. WEN-SIANG. Our maxim is, in everything, to inquire for the best method and to adopt it for our own, no matter where it may originate. Mr. BURLINGAME. The institutions of our country present many points of resemblance to your own; e. g., the elective principle which prevails with us is quite analogous to your practice of admitting all honest citizens to the privilege of a fair competition for the honors and emoluments of office. WEN-SIANG. With you that excellent system descends from Washington, who refused to transmit to his successor a legacy of hereditary power, but preferred to leave it in the hands of the people. Mr. BURLINGAME. Like your ancient sovereigns, Washington honored agriculture by himself holding the plough, and, like them, he inculcated the doctrine that rulers should employ moral influence in preference to physical force. TAN. Nothing is more desirable than that nations should conform, in their practice, to a principle which is at once so just and so humane. TUNG. That is the surest way to conciliate the love and respect of other nations, for our sacred books lay down the principle that "those who respect others will be respected, and those who love others will be loved." Mr. BURLINGAME. Washington cautioned his countrymen against unjust encroachments on other nations, or violent interferences with their policy. In conformity with his teachings we systematically abstain from foreign wars. WEN-SIANG. Is all interference so far out of the question that you cannot even lend a helping hand to your friends when they are in need? Mr. BURLINGAME. We can and do afford them our moral support, as we have recently done in the case of Mexico, relieving the people of that country from the yoke of a foreign oppressor and leaving them free to choose their own rulers. To this the Chinese ministers all replied by expressing their gratification at the manner in which we had enforced a policy of non-intervention, and Tung went on to remind Mr. Burlingame that America has formally accepted the position of a mediator in the difficulties of China. Mr. BURLINGAME. Not only shall we ever be ready to give you our countenance and support in cases where you suffer wrong, but other great powers will do so likewise, if you frankly Îay your grievances before their representatives, and through them before the eyes of the world. Instances are not wanting to show how promptly you may obtain redress by this method; alluding to the recall of a chargé d'affaires by France, last year, who had insulted and bullied the Chinese government in the matter of Corea. Our government, proceeded Mr. Burlingame, instead of adopting a violent course in connection with that unhappy affair, has such confidence in the justice and good will of China, that I am instructed to say that we shall solicit your good offices in re-establishing friendly relations with the Coreans. This was received with evident satisfaction, but elicited no remark from the cautious mandarins; and Mr. Burlingame proceeded to inform them that our Senate has also instructed him to exert all his influence for the suppression of the traffic in coolies. TUNG. The Spanish minister, on the contrary, is urging us to alter our existing regula tions and remove all restrictions which lie in the way of that traffic. Mr. BURLINGAME. Against Mr. De Mas I have nothing to say; but the whole coolie system is vicious. The most objectionable point, and that which allies it most closely with the slave-trade, being the fact, that men make a contract in one country, by which their bodies are placed at the disposal of persons in another country, where no protection can be extended by the authorities of their native land. TUNG. When the Spanish minister objected that a term of five years is too short, and wished to stipulate for an extension of the time, we replied that we could listen to no proposals on that subject; that it rests wholly with ourselves to regulate the emigration of our own people, and that he should consider whether, if we wished to hire Spanish subjects for laborers, Spain would feel pleased to have her own emigration laws set aside and new ones dictated by us. Mr. BURLINGAME. The best substitute for such a traffic is the encouragement of free emigration, such as that which is flowing towards the shores of America. The Chinese who go there are at liberty to reside in permanence and enjoy the rights of citizenship. But, in fact, most of them return to their fatherland, not a few laden with the gold of California. Every steamer of the new line carries out several hundreds, and brings back nearly as many. TUNG spoke of it as an interesting fact that the new work places America on the east, and they all express interest in learning that the Pacific line is already a commercial success. Mr. BURLINGAME. The success of that line, by throwing commerce into a new channel, promises to remedy another evil. At present you take opium in payment for your tea and silk, but as specie comes in from California, the amount of the drug imported from abroad will be reduced. TAN. Anything would be desirable that might check the trade in opium. A remark in reference to the new college here led Mr. Burlingame to speak of Mr. Hart, inspector general of maritime customs, who has taken a leading part in its organization. He warned the mandarins not to allow their confidence in Mr. Hart to be shaken by the misrepresentations of interested parties. WEN-SIANG. Such parties are actuated by malice and envy; the rats are of course not over-friendly to the cat; but we are not inclined to listen to the rats. Mr. BURLINGAME. Though Mr. Hart is not a countryman of mine, I assure you that he is thoroughly honest, and a man of rare ability-one whom it would be difficult, if not impossible, for you to replace. WEN-SIANG. Mr. Hart was originally recommended by your excellency, and if he were removed we should look to you to nominate a successor. But we know the value of Mr. Hart too thoroughly to think of superseding him. Fidelity always makes enemies. W. A. P. MARTIN. B. ADDRESS. SIR: It is now nearly twenty years since you published a geographical history of those countries lying beyond the boundaries of China. You brought to the work great labor and sound judgment, and the marvellous scholarship of your native land. You passed in review the great men of the countries of which you wrote, and placed Washington before all the rest. You not only did this, but you placed him above the statesmen and warriors of your own country, and declared that he recalled the three dynasties whose serene virtues had shed their light along the ages for four thousand years. These words have been translated and read by the grateful countrymen of Washington. To show their appreciation of them, the President has caused the Secretary of State to have made by a distinguished artist* this portrait, and to send it over land and sea to be placed in your hands. When you look upon its benignant features do not recall with sorrow the eighteen years of retirement endured by you on account of your efforts to make Washington and the countries of the west better known, but rather exult with us that an enlightened government has for the same reason placed you near the head of the state to aid in conducting the affairs of four hundred millions of people, and, what is better, that by a kind of poetic justice you have been placed at the head of an institution whose purpose is to advance the views for which you were censured, and to instruct your people in the language and principles of Washington. By doing this you *H. G. Pratt, esq., Boston. will please all the nations, for Washington belonged not to us alone, but to the world. His life and character were such as to peculiarly commend him to your countrymen. Like them he honored agriculture; like them he was for peace, and only fought in defence of his country; like them he believed that every man is entitled to the inspiration of fair opportunity; and like them he held to the great doctrine of Confucius, spoken twenty-three hundred years ago, that "we should not do to others what we would not that others should do to us.' This great rule came to Washington not negatively but positively from the lips of Divinity itself, as a command unto him, "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you," and so he would have it taught to others. Why should we not exchange our thoughts? Why should we not have the maxims of Confucius and Mencius, and you the sublime doctrines of Christianity? Why should we not take your charming manners, your temperance, your habits of scholarship, your improvements in agriculture, and your high culture of tea and silk, and you our modern science, our steamboats, our railroads and telegraphs? Why should not this great nation, the mother of inventions, whence came paper printing, porcelain, the compass, gunpowder, and the great doctrine that the people are the source of power, follow up those inventions and principles, and enjoy them in all their development? Why should not the discoverers of coal have the wealth and strength derived from its use, and those who made the first water-tight vessel, guided by a compass, use the great steamers whose swiftness makes us your nearest neighbors, and which carry a thousand men on their decks? I present this portrait with all good will in the name of the people of the United States, hoping it may ever recall to you and yours their enduring friendship for your country, and their love and regard for you, its worthy representative. C. Sen-ki-yu to Mr. Burlingame. SIR: I yesterday perused your highly-prized address, in which you have bestowed upon me such high commendation in presenting me the painting of the portrait of Washington, the founder of your honorable country. As I and my associates again and again looked at this beautiful and elegant gift our pleasure and admiration increased, and we could all only the more value and appreciate this worthy remembrance of you. Among all the great men of your land I think that Washington stands first for his surprising capacity. He founded and planned its enduring institutions as a pattern for all ages, and his merit makes him a perfect link to connect the great men of antiquity with those who will come in all time, so that his name will surely be honored by mankind through all cycles. I beg to renew my thanks in sending you this answer, and avail myself of the opportunity to offer my wishes for your highest happiness. His Excellency Hon. ANSON BURLINGAME, SEN-KI-YU. United States Minister. SPAIN. No. 65.1 Mr. Hale to Mr. Seward. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: On the 3d instant our consul at Valencia informed me that an American vessel had been ordered from that port into quarantine at Vigo, the voyage from Valencia to Vigo requiring about three months, whilst there were quarantine stations in the Mediterranean, at Port Mahon and Carthagena. He also stated that an English and a Russian vessel had received similar orders at Valencia. I addressed a note to Sir John Crampton on this subject, and his reply confirmed our consul's report in regard to the English vessel, and informed me that he (Sir John) had addressed a note to the Spanish minister of state on the subject. I also addressed a note to that minister and have the honor to enclose a copy of my note, and of the reply of the minister of state with translation. On the 13th instant Mr. Andrews apprised me, from Valencia, that the affair seemed to have been satisfactorily arranged, as the vessels had all gone to Port Mahon for quarantine instead of to Vigo. I have the honor to be, with the highest respect, sir, your obedient servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C. JOHN P. HALE. Mr. Hale to General Calonge. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: I desire to call the attention of your excellency to the case of the American vessel I. F. Chapman, recently arrived at the port of Valencia, which has been ordered to go to Vigo to perform quarantine. I trust I need not say to your excellency that this is a very injurious and ruinous proceeding for the owners of the vessel, and I am sure that if the same end can be obtained by another course less burdensome to the owners of the vessel, which will subserve the public interest quite as well, the government of her Catholic Majesty will not object to adopting it. Therefore, I most respectfully, but urgently, request that if it be compatible with what the government of her Catholic Majesty thinks the public interest may require, said vessel may be ordered to some more convenient port for the purpose of performing quarantine. The undersigned avails himself of the present opportunity of renewing to the minister of state the assurance of his most distinguished consideration. His Excellency the MINISTER OF STATE. JOHN P. HALE. General Calonge to Mr. Hale. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Palace, November 12, 1866. SIR: I have the honor to inform you that under date of to-day I have transmitted to the minister of the interior government of the kingdom the contents of your note of the 9th |