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 The Tientsin riot of 1870, resulting in the murder of nineteen foreigners, mostly French missionaries, and the destruction of the French consulate, the cathedral and the mission property, was one of the most violent outbursts of Chinese antipathy to foreigners in the last century. Although the American minister reported that the French consul and missionaries had been imprudent in their conduct, he united with his diplomatic colleagues in a demand upon the authorities for the punishment of the guilty parties, and was active in bringing about a proper reparation and settlement.

From the first residence of the foreign ministers at Peking the empire had been ruled by a regency consisting of the two empress dowagers, but on February 23, 1873, the young emperor, having attained his majority, personally assumed the control of the government, and a notice to this effect was sent by Prince Kung to the chiefs of the diplomatic corps. Since 1860 the foreign representatives on their arrival at the capital had sent a copy of their credentials to the Tsung-li Yamen, but had retained the originals, the female regency holding no personal intercourse with them. Upon receipt of the notice of the emperor's assumption of the government, the ministers joined in a note requesting