was ready, he set out for Peking by way of the Peiho, without waiting for his British and French colleagues.
Hearing, however, that the Chinese commissioners who had negotiated the treaties of Tientsin were at Shanghai, he called at that port to confer with them. He learned from them that they had been designated to exchange ratifications, and they desired him to await the arrival of the other ministers and proceed with the latter to Peking, where all the treaties would be exchanged at the same time. No place had been named in the American treaty for its exchange, but Peking was fixed in the other three. As the treaties were at Peking, and the time within which the American treaty was to be exchanged was about to expire, Mr. Ward was forced to comply with the commissioners' request.
The three envoys reached the mouth of the Peiho about the same time, the British and French being escorted by a considerable naval force, the American only having the vessel, which brought him, and a light-draught chartered steamer, with which to cross the bar and ascend the Peiho. The Russian treaty had already been exchanged and its minister established at Peking. The mouth of the Peiho was found to be closed by obstructions, and orders were given to allow no foreign vessel to enter the river or ascend to Tientsin. The commander of the British squadron informed Mr. Ward that unless the obstructions were removed he would proceed to destroy them and the Taku forts, and open by force the way for his minister to Peking. Mr. Ward, desiring to communicate with the authorities,
