Page:American Diplomacy in the Orient - Foster (1903).djvu/118

 On August 27, 1844, just six months after his arrival, Mr. Cushing sailed from Macao, for San Blas, Mexico, whence he proceeded overland to Vera Cruz, and thence to Washington.

The man who so skillfully conducted the negotiations which initiated the diplomatic intercourse of the United States with the great empire of China calls for more than a passing notice. He was a unique figure in American political affairs, and occupied a prominent place before the public for more than forty years. After graduating at Harvard College he devoted himself to the law, and began public life as a Jeffersonian Democrat; he successively held the offices of member of the legislature, member of congress, and justice of the supreme court of Massachusetts; joined the Whig party in the campaign of 1840; transferred his party allegiance to Tyler on the death of Harrison as President; for many years was an ardent Democrat, strongly supporting the Mexican war, in which he was a general; a faithful adherent of the Southern wing of the party at the Charleston and Baltimore conventions, which nominated Breckinridge as the proslavery candidate for President in 1860; became a supporter of Lincoln and the Union cause; a follower of President Johnson, and again a Republican during the Grant administration. Thrice was he nominated by Tyler as Secretary of the Treasury and thrice rejected by the Senate; he held the post of Attorney-General under Pierce; and was three times minister to foreign countries; and his last public duty was as counsel, associated with Evarts and Waite, before the Geneva tribunal of arbitration.