States was not only excluded from the imperial court at Peking, but, practically, from personal intercourse with the high commissioner at Canton. He decided to go to Shanghai and secure, if possible, the transmittal of the President's letter through E-liang, the viceroy of that province, and, failing in that, to proceed to Tientsin in a man-of-war and demand an audience of the emperor from that point.
After some delay he was courteously received by E-liang, who undertook to send the President's letter to the emperor, but who said he was not authorized to transact business with him. In due course a reply came from the emperor, not in the form of a letter to the President, as courtesy required, but in a communication to the viceroy. The receipt of the President's letter was acknowledged, and the minister was informed that it was not necessary for him to come to Peking, as Commissioner Yeh was fully empowered to dispatch all public business with him. This reply made him the more desirous to proceed to the Peiho.
But another obstacle stood in the way of the execution of this plan; the commander of the American squadron on the Asiatic station seemed unwilling to support him. Commodore Aulick had not found it convenient to furnish Marshall with a naval vessel to transport him to Shanghai at the time desired, and when Commodore Perry, who succeeded Aulick, arrived at that place, he declined to yield to the minister's request for a ship to bear him to the Peiho, whence he proposed to make a demand backed by the presence of the man-of-war for an audience of his imperial majesty
