Page:Diplomacy and the Study of International Relations (1919).djvu/62

 in 1843, when he approached the Chinese for the making of a treaty and for the same privileges as had just been accorded to the British in the Treaty of Nanking. The letter was the first communication addressed by Washington to Peking:

'I, John Tyler, President of the United States of America—which States are: Maine, … Michigan—send you this letter of peace and friendship, signed by my own hand.

'I hope your health is good. China is a great Empire, extending over a great part of the world. The Chinese are numerous, You have millions and millions of subjects. The twenty-six United States are as large as China, though our people are not as numerous, The rising sun looks upon the great mountains and rivers of China, when he sets upon rivers and mountains equally large in the United States. Our territories extend from one great ocean to the other; and on the west we are divided from your dominions only by the sea. Leaving the mouth of one of our great rivers and going constantly towards the setting sun, we sail to Japan and the Yellow Sea.

'Now, my words are that the Governments of two such great countries should be at peace. It is proper and according to the rule of Heaven that they should respect one another and act wisely. I, therefore, send to your Court Caleb Cushing, one of the wise and learned men of this country. On his first arrival in China he will inquire for your health. He has strict orders to go to your great city of Peking, and there deliver this letter. He will have with him secretaries and interpreters.

'The Chinese love to trade with our people and to sell them tea and silk, for which our people pay silver, and sometimes other articles. But if the Chinese and the Americans