that document on the table he was in a certain sense the agent of the foreign sovereign.
The American minister, Mr. Denby,—who had been in Peking more than five years before he was able to present the letter of the President accrediting him,—reported the audience of 1891 as a great triumph for Western diplomacy, and a long step in the direction of recognition of the absolute equality of nations. But it required the Japanese war of 1894 and the convulsion growing out of the Boxer outrages of 1900 to bring the "Son of Heaven" down from his platform, have him receive into his own hands the autograph letters of presidents and monarchs, and talk face to face with their representatives.[1]
Following the discussion of the audience question, another step was taken towards a more liberal policy. The American minister was informed that it had been determined to send a number of Chinese youths abroad to be educated at the public expense, and that they would be sent to the United States, if assurance could be had of a friendly reception, which was promptly given. The first detachment, consisting of thirty youths, was sent in 1872, and they were followed by thirty more in 1873. Homes were found for them in families in Massachusetts and Connecticut, and later others were sent, and a station was established at Hartford, under the direction of Yung Wing, a Chinese graduate of Yale College, which was maintained for a number of years, but it was finally abandoned and the young men
- ↑ U. S. For. Rel. 1891, pp. 355-385, 392, 455,456; 1892, p. 85; 1898, p. 223.
