his prominence in domestic politics, having been a member of Congress for several years and speaker of the House. The concurrent testimony of contemporary writers is that he discharged his duties modestly and well, and left a reputation for intelligence, discretion, and devotion to duty. Upon the resignation of Mr. Davis, Dr. Parker, the secretary of legation, became chargé d'affaires.[1]
In 1852 Humphrey Marshall, of Kentucky, was commissioned and entered upon his duties as minister. The chief business which occupied his attention was in seeking to secure an interview with Yeh, who had been designated as high commissioner to transact affairs at Canton with the representatives of foreign governments. In answer to a request from Marshall for an interview, to place in his hands a letter from the President of the United States for transmission to the emperor, Yeh responded that he was too busy at that time to meet him, but that as soon as his pressing engagements would allow he would "select a felicitous day" on which to hold with the minister "a pleasant interview."
Mr. Marshall was quite indignant at the tone of Yeh's letter. He wrote the Secretary of State that "there was no probability that the 'felicitous day' will ever arrive;" that the French minister had been waiting at Macao fifteen months for a personal interview; and that he as the representative of the United
- ↑ MSS. Department of State, "China," 1848-50; S. Ex. Doc. 22, 35th Cong. 2d Sess. p. 299; N. A. Review, Oct. 1859, p. 482; Littell's Living Age, Oct. 1858, p. 384.
