"the President does not propose to subject him to your control, but he expects that you and he will coöperate together whenever, in the judgment of both, the interests of the United States indicate the necessity or the advantage of such coöperation." This in substance has been embodied in the instructions to diplomatic and naval officers, and this well-defined relation has in recent years prevented trouble and misunderstanding.
Mr. Marshall spent some time at Shanghai, where he found abundant occupation in the commercial troubles growing out of what is known as the Taiping Rebellion, in restraining Americans from taking part in it by rendering personal service or material aid to one or the other of the belligerents, and in repressing the lawlessness of deserting American seamen and adventurers. During his mission this revolt against the imperial government reached its highest point. Beginning in 1850, it had by 1853 swept over and occupied the provinces south of the Yang-tse-Kiang, except the open ports, had captured the Chinese city of Shanghai and the ancient capital Nankin, had crossed the great river, was threatening Tientsin, and even Peking was in danger of falling into rebel hands. It constitutes one of the most extensive, bloody, and curious insurrections in the annals of time. It threatened the existence of the oldest and most populous empire of the world; it is estimated that twenty millions of lives were sacrificed by it; and it had its origin in the vagaries of a dreaming enthusiast who claimed to base his movement upon the principles of Christianity.
A narrative of its events does not fall within the
