need for diplomacy. There was a strong party at the Siamese Court, determined to make no concessions to foreign commerce. Sir John, therefore, starting for Siam in February, 1855, with but two vessels of war, avoided all display and went to work with the utmost caution. But the promptitude with which every obstacle, that the opposition party placed in the way of the mission, was astutely brushed away, was partly owing to the resource and acumen displayed by Sir Harry Parkes. Within an unexpectedly short period all preliminaries were settled and an important commercial treaty solemnly concluded (April 18, 1855). Sir J. Bowring returned to Hongkong victorious (May 11, 1855) while Sir Harry Parkes proceeded to England to obtain Her Majesty's signature and a year later the ratified treaties were exchanged (April 5, 1856) and supplementary articles signed (May 13, 1856). The great progress which Siam thenceforth made in commerce and civilization and the annually increasing trade which at once sprang up between Siam and Hongkong, date from the conclusion of these treaties, the success of which is in the first instance due to Sir John Bowring.
During his brief tenure of the Superintendency of Trade, Sir John devised, and succeeded in persuading the Earl of Clarendon (in 1854) to adopt, a scheme which has not only endured to the present day but formed the model of Consular organization followed by other nations, and was finally introduced in Hongkong (by Sir H. Robinson) as a Cadet scheme. It was a scheme for supplying the British Consular Service in China with Student Interpreters who, while studying the Mandarin dialect and the written language of China, should make themselves acquainted with the routine of Consular business. In sanctioning the immediate adoption of Sir J. Bowring's plan, the Earl of Clarendon forthwith presented one nomination to King's College, London, and one to each of the three Queen's Colleges in Ireland.
In his relations with the Chinese Government the learned doctor was unfortunate. His experience in the negotiation and formulation of commercial treaties, which had proved so
