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 Bowring of sixteen. Lord Palmerston appealed to the country, and in the elections that ensued the chief movers against Sir John Bowring lost their seats, while the ministry came back greatly strengthened. Lord Elgin, who succeeded Bowring as English plenipotentiary in China, endorsed and carried out his predecessor's policy.

During the hostilities with China the mandarins put a price on Sir John Bowring's head. He had a narrow escape of his life in January 1857, when the colony of Hong Kong was startled by a diabolical attempt to poison the residents by putting arsenic into their bread. The governor's family suffered severely, and the constitution of Lady Bowring was so undermined that in the ensuing year she was obliged to leave for England, where she died soon after her arrival.

Towards the close of 1858 Sir John Bowring proceeded to Manila, on a visit to the Philippine islands, chiefly with a view to the extension of the trade of the islands with Great Britain. Manila had been the only port accessible to foreigners, but the more liberal policy of the Spaniards had opened the harbours of Sual, Iloilo, and Zamboanga, which Bowring visited in H.M.S. Magicienne. As the representative of free trade he was everywhere welcomed, and on the completion of the tour he published his 'Visit to the Philippine Islands.' Sir John returned to China in January 1859, and in the following May resigned his office, after more than nine years of unusually harassing and active service. On leaving China he received from the Chinese people several characteristic marks of their appreciation of his government.

On the voyage home the Alma, in which he sailed, struck upon a sunken rock in the Red Sea. The passengers were compelled to remain for three days upon a coral reef, where they suffered greatly before relief arrived. The remainder of Bowring's life was passed in comparative quiet. In 1860 he was deputed by the English government to inquire into the state of our commercial relations with the newly formed kingdom of Italy. He had interviews with Count Cavour; but at Rome he was seized with illness, the attack being aggravated by the effects of the arsenical poisoning at Hong Kong three years before. He was not fully restored to health until 1862. In addition to Bowring's labours in connection with commercial treaties with various European and Asiatic powers, at home 'he was an active member of the British Association, the Social Science Association, the Devonshire Association, and other institutions, often contributing papers to their proceedings and taking a prominent part in their discussions.' He was a constant contributor o the leading reviews and magazines, and delivered many public lectures on oriental topics and the social questions of the day. Bowring was the writer of many poems and hymns, one at least of which, 'In the cross of Christ I glory,' has acquired universal fame. Early in his career he conceived an extensive scheme in connection with the poetic literatures of the continent. Enjoying the advantage of personal acquaintance with most of the eminent authors and poets of his time, he secured their assistance in his purpose (never fully carried out) of writing the history and giving translated specimens of the popular poetry, not only of the western, but of the oriental world. He was promised the co-operation of Rask and Finn Magnusen (Icelandic), Oehlenschlager and Munter (Danish), Franzén (Swedish), in the Scandinavian field ; of Karamsin and Kriulov (Russian), Niemcewicz and Mickiewicz (Polish), Wuk (Servian), Hanka and Celakowsky (Bohemian), Talvj (von Jakob), and many coadjutors in the Moravian, Illyrian, and other branches of the Slavonic stem ; while in the Magyar, Toldy and Kertbeny lent him their aid ; Fauriel in Romaic, and Tengstrom in Finnish. In the various kingdoms of southern Europe he gathered together extensive materials for a work which might well have occupied a lifetime. His scattered translations from the Chinese, Sanskrit, Cingalese, and other oriental languages, and his Spanish, Servian, Magyar, Cheskian, Russian, and other poetical selections, amply attest that he never relinquished his scheme, though the comprehensive and exhaustive plan he originally formed was found to be impossible of execution.

In the closing years of his life Bowring's mental and physical faculties were strong and apparently unimpaired. When verging upon eighty years of age he addressed an assemblage of three thousand persons at Plymouth with all the energy of youth. After a very brief illness he died at Exeter on 23 Nov. 1872, almost within a stone's-throw of the house where he was born. Bowring was a fellow of the Royal Society, a knight commander of the Belgian order of Leopold, and a knight commander of the order of Christ of Portugal with the star; he had the grand cordon of the Spanish order of Isabella the Catholic, and of the order of Kamehameha I ; he was a noble of the first class of Siam, with the insignia of the White Elephant, a knight commander with the star of the Austrian order of Francis Joseph, and of the Swedish order of the Northern Star,