it was conclusive evidence of a penetrating judgment both of character and of events. They appointed Anson Burlingame ambassador to all the Treaty Powers without exception and returned him to Seward with even more extensive powers than those with which he came. The confidence placed in this Yankee's good will, ability, and understanding apparently had no limit. "Go forth," they said; "we place the fate of China in your hands."
Burlingame received this proposition in amazement, of course, but he accepted it at its face value. He wrote Seward:
"I may be permitted to add that when the oldest nation in the world, containing one-third of the human race, seeks, for the first time, to come into relations with the West and requests the youngest nation, through its representative, to act as the medium of such change, the mission is not one to be slighted or rejected."
Having concluded that Burlingame understood their situation and could be trusted to
