On the arrival of the envoys at the mouth of the Peiho, they found no one authorized to open negotiations, and the four ministers sent identic notes to Peking, asking for the appointment within six days of plenipotentiaries. Before the expiration of the period named, a notice was received by all the envoys that a special commissioner had been appointed by the emperor to open negotiations and that he was ready to meet them. The communications were not properly addressed, and the British and French refused to receive them, but the American minister, treating the one received by him as a clerical error, sent it back for correction, which was readily made. He and the Russian minister proceeded to open negotiations with the Chinese commissioner, but the British and French, finding that he did not possess "full powers" to make a treaty, but only to negotiate and report the result of his action to Peking, declined to treat with him. They maintained that the appointment was in line with the past policy of evasion and delay, and the documents which had been captured at Canton seemed to warrant their conclusion. At a later date, Mr. Reed, after being made fully acquainted with the tenor of these documents, said they justified the coercive policy pursued by the allies at the Peiho and Tientsin.
The commissioner's powers not being enlarged, the British and French allies decided to proceed to Tientsin and there renew their request for a commissioner with full powers. Accordingly a demand was made for the surrender of the Taku forts, at the mouth of the Peiho, in order that a secure passage might be had to Tientsin.
