UCSB LIBRARY 
 
 3-7 

 
 A. D D R E S S 
 
 DELIYEKED BY 
 
 A. A. LOW, ESQ., 
 
 BEFOKE MEMBERS OF THE 
 
 FIFTH AVENUE HOTEL, NEW-YORK, 
 
 OCTOBEB 8TH, 1867. 
 
 PEESS OF THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. 
 
 1867.
 
 r W. AMERMAN. Printer. No. 47 Cedar-street. >"e\v-York.
 
 A D D K E S S 
 
 DELIVERED BT 
 
 . LOW, Esq., 
 
 BEFORE MEMBERS OP THE 
 
 of <&0tnm*m, 
 
 AT THE FIFTH AVEXUE HOTEL, NEW-YORK, OCTOBER STH, 1867. 
 
 Mr. PRESIDE XT : 
 
 Gentlemen and friends : Since accepting your polite invitation to 
 meet you, it has troubled me somewhat to think how much might 
 be expected of one who returns from a voyage round the world 
 and how much more interest you have manifested in my going out 
 and coming in, than is due to the motives that prompted my 
 journey, or to the manner in which it has been performed. A 
 consent to appear before you, in answer to such a call, implies a 
 willingness to speak and a trust in your willingness to hear ; and 
 none can feel more than I do the want of the observing eye and 
 receptive ear of the traveller who returns from far off lands, expect- 
 ing to edify others. If, in responding to the cordiality of your 
 greeting, I have yielded too readily to my own desire to see so 
 many friends from whom I have been so long separated, charge it 
 to my weakness, if you please ; or, to my belief, that every occasion 
 which brings together so intelligent a body of men as I see before 
 me, may be made profitable to all present, and influential for good 
 in a still wider circle. 
 
 It is a source of satisfaction and pleasure, then, to find myself
 
 surrounded and supported by gifted gentlemen, whom it is al- 
 ways profitable to hear ; whose eloquent voices are at ready com- 
 mand. 
 
 To correct misapprehension to moderate expectation, and to 
 satisfy the wish of any who would be informed on these points, let 
 me briefly sketch the story of my journey, and show how much 
 time was spent on the sea, how much on the land, and how much 
 in passing from place to place, in a hurried tour of five months 
 prior to my landing in Sicily. With your permission I w T ill speak 
 in the plural number as I may properly do for my wife and son 
 were my companions during the whole journey ; the other members 
 of my family meeting us in Europe, and all returning home 
 together. 
 
 On the first of December last, we embarked in the " Ocean 
 Queen," Captain GKEY, and after eight days passage, landed at 
 Aspinwall on the ninth. There we spent the night, being hospitably 
 entertained by Mr. PARKER, Superintendent of the Panama Rail- 
 Road Company. From Aspinwall to Panama we were five hours, 
 arriving at 12 M. Our stay in this ancient city was short, but long 
 enough ; and, at three o'clock, we were on our way to the " Golden 
 Age," Captain LAPIDGE, which sailed at six P. M. of the tenth for 
 San Francisco. 
 
 After touching at Acapulco and Manzanilla, and putting into 
 Monterey because of bad weather, we entered the " Golden Gate" on 
 Christmas day ; our whole voyage from New- York thus occupying 
 twenty-four days. It was made in twenty by the " Henry Chaun- 
 cey" and " Golden City," with the passengers for the " Colorado," 
 that left New-York on the eleventh. In sailing ten days earlier, 
 we had hoped for an opportunity to see something of California 
 possibly to reach " the great trees," to look upon one or more of its 
 inland towns and rich valleys and to obtain a glance of its 
 auriferous mountains. But all access to the interior was denied us 
 by the heavy rains which had flooded the country seven inches of 
 water falling in a single day just before our arrival. "We had time, 
 however, to see the great city of the West, with its doors wide open 
 to the vast population of China and Japan ; as, on the Eastern sea- 
 board, our own are to the teeming millions of Europe. 
 
 Conjecture is lost in the attempt to estimate the effect Chinese 
 emigration is destined to exert on the growth of this flourishing 
 State. At the time of our visit a more just and liberal sentiment 
 obtained than had previously governed legislative action, and the
 
 Chinese were regarded with greater favor than before. As gleaners 
 in the gold fields which our own people had deserted ; as agricul- 
 turists and horticulturists ; as handy workmen in the woollen mills, 
 and as laborers on the great line of rail-road that is to connect the 
 East with the West to the number of twelve or fifteen thousand 
 they were proving their value and importance to the development 
 of the country. 
 
 "With such an abundant supply of cheap manual labor as the 
 Empires of the East can pour into California, what a boundless 
 opportunity is opened to the enterprising people of that vigorous 
 State to advance in the useful arts in manufactures of cotton as 
 well as of wool. 
 
 I do not propose to dwell on these things, or upon aught that 
 relates to the present or future of California, for you are all familiar 
 with the rapid strides the State has made, or have access to better 
 sources of information. I have barely alluded to one element of 
 great importance to the industries of the State, because the success 
 of the new line of steamers to Japan and China depends largely on 
 the passenger traffic referred to, and it was because of the interest 
 I have felt in the establishment of the line that my steps were 
 turned, for a time, from home and kindred, and all the numerous 
 cares of business life. To witness the inauguration of mail communi- 
 cation with the East to take passage in the pioneer ship may be 
 fairly stated as the one motive that led and combined all others into 
 a firm and settled purpose. 
 
 On the last day of the year 1866, a grand banquet was given by 
 the citizens of San Francisco, at the Occidental Hotel, of which full 
 particulars were published in the papers of the following morning. 
 Some of the better class of Chinese merchants were invited to join 
 in the celebration, and speeches were pronounced by several in the 
 English language, imparting a novel and interesting feature to the 
 occasion. 
 
 These men, with their aptitude for business and inexpensive 
 habits, are likely to prove keen competitors for the opening trade 
 with our vigilant, active and more accomplished brethren of the 
 Pacific coast. 
 
 The first day of January last, at noon, was the time appointed 
 for the departure of the " Colorado." One hundred and sixty 
 thousand dollars in gold had been expended in strengthening and 
 equipping her for the new voyage, and there seemed to be no reason 
 to distrust her thorough adaptation to it. Punctually to the minute
 
 her fasts were cast loose, and, gliding from the Company's newly 
 constructed pier, seven hundred feet in length and one hundred and 
 fifty in breadth, the noble ship left her dock, followed by the cheers 
 of thousands who had assembled to witness her departure. Passing 
 rapidly through the fleet, amid the noise of cannon reverberating 
 from shore to shore, and out of the " Golden Gate," our steamer 
 bent her bows gracefully to the swell of the sea, and commenced 
 her career across the broad Pacific. Soon the " Farralones" were 
 left behind, and the sun went serenely down, lighting up the fleecy 
 clouds from horizon to zenith with all the varied colors of the rain- 
 bow, and presenting a scene of glory and of beauty ever to be 
 remembered by those who beheld it. It seemed to be an omen of 
 success. Five thousand two hundred and fifty miles of ocean were 
 to be traversed ere we could hope to see land or friendly sail ; and 
 a rough encounter with strong westerly gales and turbulent seas 
 was not long to be delayed. With every successive trial, (and in 
 latitude 29 to 31 north, we had heavy weather,) the sea-going 
 qualities of our steamer gained upon the confidence of all on board. 
 On the morning of the twenty-fourth of January, (at the longitude 
 of 180 we had dropped a day,) the land was again in sight. 
 
 Entering the Bay of Yedo, Captain BRADBURY steered for 
 the anchorage at Yokohama, with all the confidence of an expe- 
 rienced pilot. A gun from the United States steamer " Wyoming" 
 announced our approach ; and, as the " Colorado " passed under the 
 stern of the French frigate " Guerriere," her band struck up " Hail 
 Columbia," a salutation as unexpected as it was graceful. The 
 morning of our advent to the bay was wintry cold, and our 
 eyes were turned with surprise to a native boat approaching the 
 ship with a crew of a dozen men plying big sculls, with their bodies 
 bared to the waist. Our vessel was soon surrounded by boats from 
 the men of war in the bay, and others from the shore ; and she con- 
 tinued an object of attraction during the twenty-four hours she re- 
 mained in port. 
 
 From Yokohama, the " Colorado " went directly to Hong Kong, 
 making the distance sixteen hundred miles with a fair mon- 
 soon, in about five days. 
 
 We remained in Japan three weeks, and then took the Penin- 
 sula and Oriental steamer " Ganges," Captain BERNHARD, for 
 Shanghac ; and from there, after three days stop, the P. and O. 
 steamer "Aden," Captain ANDREWS, for Hong Kong the two pas- 
 sages occupying four and three days, respectively. A mouth in the
 
 south of China completed the time to which our stay in the East 
 was limited ; and a large portion of this was occupied with matters 
 of personal concern. 
 
 On the morning of the 27th of March, we embarked in the Messa- 
 geries Imperiale steamer " Tigre," Captain BOILBAII, for Suez, with a 
 limited number of passengers, to which large accessions were made, 
 as we proceeded on our voyage. Our first stopping place was Saigon, 
 in Cochin China, or Anam, about fifty miles from the mouth of the 
 " Donai." This is a deep and tortuous river, reminding me, in its 
 numerous windings, of the "Big Muddy" in Southern Illinois, 
 which was described by a Mississippi boatman, a year or two since, 
 as so crooked, that after sailing upon it all day, the traveller had to 
 walk but one hundred yards to get his supper where he breakfasted 
 in the morning. In all other respects the resemblance fails ; for the 
 " Tigre," drawing twenty-one feet of water, in making the turns, was 
 frequently within a few feet of the shore, without touching bottom. 
 The country through which the river flows is generally flat, and 
 covered with a rich tropical growth to the water's edge. Saigon 
 is a naval and military station, commanding the various provinces 
 over which the French have recently acquired control. 
 
 A million of piculs of rice is annually sent from this port to 
 China, and the quantity will probably be much larger this year. 
 This digression cost us two days, and the voyage thence to Singa- 
 pore took two more. There we remained twenty-four hours, re- 
 ceiving a large number of passengers from the straits, from Siam 
 and from the Island of Java. The distance from Singapore to 
 Galle, in Ceylon, is about the same as that from Hong Kong to 
 Singapore 1,500 miles and it was made in just five days, over a 
 perfectly smooth sea. Here the connecting steamer from Calcutta 
 arrived the morning after we anchored completely filling all 
 available space in our ship, increasing our passenger list to two 
 hundred, (of whom about forty were children.) At this point, the 
 detention was thirty-six hours ; and here we received, on landing, 
 letters from home, and a telegram bearing date the first of April ! 
 Our arrival was announced in return, and the dispatch reached 
 New-York on the eighteenth of the same month. The route through 
 which the wires is passed is a circuitous one, and there is much de- 
 lay in the transmission of messages. Weighing anchor on the 
 morning of April llth, the " Tigre" steamed away for Aden, two 
 thousand and fifty-two miles distant. In five days we made the 
 Island of Socotra, at the entrance of the Straits of Bab-el Mandeb,
 
 I - 8 
 
 and, passing on, two days later, the coaling station above named. 
 A more desolate, sun-burned place is rarely met with : its barren, 
 sandy cliffs repel the eye that would gaze on them refusing sup- 
 port to all vegetable life. 
 
 A run of five days took us to Suez, and half way up the Red 
 Sea we obtained relief for the first time from the great heat we 
 experienced throughout the tropical region traversed. In the sum- 
 mer and early autumn, it becomes extremely oppressive. Horeb 
 and Sinai were passed in full view. Tradition has marked the spot 
 on the Egyptian coast where the Israelites crossed ; and this was 
 pointed out to us. At Suez our attention was called to the exten- 
 sive docks and outworks completed and in course of construction 
 at the mouth of the Canal. 
 
 At this point, it seems to me proper to acknowledge the good 
 ofiices of our Consul General at Alexandria, Mr. HALE, whose fore- 
 thought prompted the American Consul at Suez to visit us while 
 yet on board ship, attend us to the shore, and communicate by 
 telegraph our coming to the hotel at Cairo. There was much delay 
 in landing passengers and luggage, and the train did not move till 
 eight o'clock, P. M., nor reach Cairo till two in the morning, whence 
 it proceeded directly on to Alexandria. Refreshed by two or three 
 hours of sleep, my own party, accompanied by an English gentle- 
 man, from Shanghae, our " compagnon de voyage" started at seven 
 A. M., for the Nile, crossing the river, with Dragoman and donkeys, 
 this friend had secured for our service ; and, after riding about six 
 miles, ascended the pyramid " Cheops." The mid-day sun, return- 
 ing, was very hot, but owing to the freshness and purity of the 
 breeze, it was not oppressive. We still had time to visit the citadel, 
 and look down upon the numerous pinnacles and domes of this 
 truly Oriental city. 
 
 Leaving Cairo the next morning by train, and passing over the 
 rich valley of the Nile, whose fields of ripe grain were ripe for the 
 sickle, we arrived in Alexandria, too late to partake of the repast 
 our Consul General had provided for us, but in season for the letters 
 that were awaiting us at the station, and for the " Said," that was to 
 take vis on to Messina. In another hour she was under way, and, 
 at the end of three days we were landed on the shores of Sicily. 
 Two more would have taken us to Marseilles. Pending the depar- 
 ture of the fiteamer for Naples, a pleasant excursion by rail to 
 Catania, which lies at the foot of Mount JEtna, was determined on, 
 ixnd proved quite interesting.
 
 It is not necessary to recite the steps of our further progress, for, 
 once landed in Italy, we were on ground that is familiar to all. The 
 unvarying kindness and courtesy that attended us from the first, 
 has led me to mention, by name, the worthy gentlemen in command 
 of the several steamers in which our fortunes were cast ; and, in 
 this connection, I would not forget Captain COOK, of the steamship 
 " Russia," which brought us in safety and comfort to the home and 
 the land we love. 
 
 I have tried your patience with a very dry statement, because I 
 have thought it might be useful to any who are contemplating what 
 is now a novel, but will soon become a common tour ; and will only 
 add that, including the necessary stops, the whole distance which 
 occupied us ninety-eight days, may be performed, when the Pacific 
 Rail-Road is done, with favorable monsoons, in seventy-five days, 
 or less. 
 
 It would not be possible, within the limits of an address like this, 
 to notice, except in the most general way, the places not to speak 
 of empires and peoples visited in so hurried a manner. Fortu- 
 nately, the photograph of the artist and the " pen of the ready 
 writer " have left little to be desired in respect to the remotest coun- 
 tries upon which my eyes have for a brief time rested. The Mis- 
 sionary and the scholar, and the Foreign Minister, after years of 
 study and closest inquiry, have given to the world the results of 
 their literary labors ; and it is not for me to attempt to throw any 
 light on themes frequently and fully treated. 
 
 Upon the commercial aspects of the Oriental world, at the several 
 points to which I have conducted you, a few words may not be out 
 of place ; and, having passed in a zig-zag way over three great 
 oceans and many seas, I may be allowed, in what I have to say, a 
 little latitude, if I do not take 360 of longitude. 
 
 Our visit to Japan was ill-timed. The winter was far advanced, 
 and the rainy season had set in. Earlier or later on, the country 
 would have presented a more inviting appearance. 
 
 Two months before our arrival Yokohama had been devastated 
 by a great conflagration, which swept away two-thirds of the native 
 settlement and one-third of the foreign. The loss was stated at 
 several millions of dollars. Nevertheless, the work of reconstruc- 
 tion was proceeding vigorously in both sections. Fires are of fre- 
 quent occurrence, owing to the combustible character of the Japan- 
 ese buildings. During our stay the residence of the British Minis- 
 ter was burned to the ground in ten or fifteen minutes, although 
 
 2
 
 10 
 
 situated within two hundred feet of the waters of the bay. Many 
 of the houses are built without chimneys, and ignite from the stove 
 pipes carried up through the roof. Experience is proving that there 
 is a greater risk than that of earthquakes, and will dictate a change 
 in the method of construction. 
 
 The Japanese Government has made liberal concessions of land 
 to foreigners, which is held under perpetual lease and subject to a 
 moderate ground rent. At the period of our arrival the foreign 
 ministers were contemplating a visit to " Osaca," by invitation of 
 the Taicoon, to arrange for the opening of new ports. The death 
 of the " Mikado " caused a delay ; but the meeting, as you are 
 aware, has since taken place, with satisfactory results. There ap- 
 peared to be a good deal of indifference, if not positive objection to 
 this fulfillment of the treaty stipulation, on the part of the mer- 
 chants of Yokohama, because of the amount of money invested in 
 houses, " go downs," and other buildings at that place. 
 
 If the trade was to be divided between two ports, without being 
 materially increased, two establishments would be necessary instead 
 of one, and without a corresponding benefit. 
 
 The bay of Tedo affords excellent anchorage and is easily ac- 
 cessible, while Hiogo, on the inland sea, the port of Osaca, is difficult 
 of approach, on account of strong currents whether more or less 
 exposed I am unable to say. The necessity of sustaining numerous 
 branches at different places on the coast of China, by houses origi- 
 nally established at Canton, has contributed directly or incident- 
 ally to the commercial disasters which have occurred during late 
 yeai's, and similar consequences are naturally apprehended in Japan, 
 if the trade is divided. Transportation by coasting vessels between 
 the two ports is very cheap. 
 
 The New Year holidays were at hand when we arrived, and 
 much of the time during our stay was given up to native festivities. 
 A partial failure of the rice crop and of the sugar cane was causing 
 a somewhat extensive demand for both staples, increasing traffic 
 with China, and producing an important change in the value of the 
 native currency. The balance of trade is against Japan; and 
 " boos," the coin in which transactions with the merchants of the 
 interior are carried on, had much depreciated. Consequently, 
 foreign officials who, by courtesy or by treaty, had enjoyed the 
 privilege of exchanging Mexican dollars at the Mint, at the rate of 
 311 " boos " for one hundred dollars, found their incomes diminished, 
 when, in the open market, 100 dollars would bring 320 to 330 in-
 
 11 
 
 stead of 220 to 250 " boos," as before. If generally known that 
 this source of profit is cut off, there may be fewer applications for 
 appointments to Japan than now. 
 
 It is not to be understood, however, that the change referred to 
 was effected solely by the extraordinary demand for rice and sugar, 
 or by this and the added cost of other imports. 
 
 The Daimois have been indulging themselves for years in the 
 purchase of steamers, and some three millions of dollars were in 
 course of payment by the government in adjustment of recent dis- 
 putes with foreign powers. There were other reasons, which need 
 not be mentioned here. The press of Yokohama was full of com- 
 plaint that extensive contracts had been entered into by the Tai- 
 coon, with one of the foreign ministers, for saddles and clothing for 
 the native troops, to the prejudice of the merchant, who thus lost 
 a market for his goods. And it may not be amiss to say, that much 
 fault was found with the manner in which an order sent to this 
 country several years ago, for one or more ships of war, was exe- 
 cuted ; there being none to defend our good name, whether justly 
 or unjustly assailed. It was understood the Japanese Commission, 
 then on the point of leaving for the United States, would investi- 
 gate the facts. 
 
 A letter just received per " Colorado" says : " We, American re- 
 sidents, were all made very glad by hearing of a settlement of their 
 
 claims on Mr. , in a manner entirely satisfactory." Merchants 
 
 are naturally jealous if ministers supersede them in transactions of 
 such a nature, and if any thing goes wrong it brings reproach on 
 our government and country. 
 
 Silk and tea are the principal articles of export from Japan ; fif- 
 teen or twenty thousand bales of the one going to France and Eng- 
 land, and six or seven million pounds of the other being taken 
 chiefly to our own country. The silk will most naturally find its 
 way to market by the Messageries Imperialis and Peninsular and 
 Oriental lines of steamers. 
 
 The method of preparing teas for shipment in Japan differs from that 
 of China. In the latter country it is fired and packed by the native 
 dealer. While, in Japan, the uncolored leaf is brought to the ware- 
 house of the foreign merchant, and, under his supervision, fired, put in 
 boxes, matted, strapped and marked, ready to go on board ship. Being 
 entirely free from dye, it preserves remarkable purity and delicacy 
 of flavor. Extensive premises are necessary for convenient prepara-
 
 12 
 
 tion of a large cargo. In the first instance, Chinese were employed 
 to perform the work, but the Japanese are becoming expert in it. 
 
 Others must tell of Yedo, with its parks and palaces, and 
 thickly clustered millions a city extending twenty or twenty-five 
 miles in one direction by ten or fifteen in the other. 
 
 We spent three days there, enjoying the generous hospitality of 
 General VAN VALKENBURGH, whose " bungalow," a dwelling of one 
 story, aifords shelter to all visitors. His heart is warmer than his 
 house ; a sash, covered with thin paper, for the admission of light, 
 affording the only means of excluding the cold night air. In the 
 cities of the East, as in the capitals of Europe, our " Envoys Ex- 
 traordinary and Ministers Plenipotentiary " are left to shift for 
 themselves, and their influence abroad is impaired by the little re- 
 gard manifested for their well being by those in authority at home, 
 who neglect to provide establishments becoming the representatives 
 of our great republic. 
 
 Yedo is distant some eighteen miles from Yokohama, by the 
 grand " Tokaido," or national road ; and over this we were driven 
 in a wagonette, by one CORXELIUS GEORGE, a negro, from New- 
 Haven, who keeps a livery stable at Yokohama. Cracking his 
 whip and vociferating in Japanese, " clear the way," our enterpris- 
 ing black man " was the observed of all observers," as we subse- 
 quently drove around the Tycoon's palace, making a circuit of eight 
 or ten miles. 
 
 On our way home, the district was pointed out where a fire in 
 December had destroyed sixteen thousand buildings ; and Sin-a-ga- 
 wa, a bad suburb of the city, three miles in length, was swept clean 
 the day after we passed through it on our return. It is computed 
 that a space equal to the whole of Yedo is burned over every seven 
 years. Substantial " fire proofs," of mud, are used by the natives 
 to protect their valuables ; their houses, costing but little, are inex- 
 pensively furnished, and the loss is not as great as at first might 
 appear. 
 
 But it is time to leave Japan her " peerless " mountain covered 
 with snow ; her beautiful gardens and nicely tilled fields, so rudely 
 trampled down, at times, by the hoof of the " Barbarian's " horse 
 and, in fancy, to bid good-by once more to the friends that wel- 
 comed our coming, and made our stay so pleasant. 
 
 Our voyage to China was a rough one. Shanghae, on the left 
 bank of the Woosung, presents an imposing front. A noble prom- 
 enade or road runs the whole length of the settlement, affording
 
 19 
 
 erery facility for the landing and shipment of goods. Like the 
 " Bund " at Yokohama, and the " Bund " at Hong Kong, it compels 
 a mortifying contrast with the dilapidated wooden cribs, called 
 piers, in the City of New- York ; and yet, all these places have been 
 ceded to the use of foreigners since the date of my residence in 
 China, twenty-seven years ago. Even this short period has wit- 
 nessed many changes in the fortunes of men and of the place. 
 
 When the Taeping rebellion was rife, a large native population 
 surged in upon Shanghae, from the desolated or threatened cities, 
 advancing rents and causing wild speculations in land. With the 
 receding wave, hastily constructed houses were vacated, a general 
 collapse ensued, and evtsry description of real estate felt the change, 
 and the population of the valley of the Yangtse is supposed to have 
 been diminished, since the breaking out of the rebellion, some twenty 
 millions. At Hankow, Kieu-Kiang, and other inland cities on the 
 Yangtse-Kiang, costly buildings were erected for the use of foreigners ; 
 and it was soon found that great economy was necessary, if com- 
 petition was to be maintained with the close-calculating Chinaman, 
 and all this property declined in value. Numerous banks had been 
 established, (not, be it observed, under our National Banking Law,) 
 and some of these, being rashly conducted, fostered injudicious 
 operations in merchandise, as they had already in land, and disas- 
 trous losses were the result, involving merchant and banker in a 
 common ruin. 
 
 These events culminated in a period of great mercantile depres- 
 sion, out of which the injudicious operations of the present season 
 in silk and tea are not likely to lift a community that has commit- 
 ted its fortunes to chance rather than to sound calculation. 
 
 Speaking thus, I do not mean that there are not prudent, saga- 
 cious and successful houses of the first respectability, and of various 
 nationalities, but only that these are powerless to control the dispo- 
 sition for rash adventure, which is encouraged in the East, as with 
 us, by free banking facilities. 
 
 The American firms in China and Japan are not numerous ; dis- 
 ciplined by an unsympathizing coldness during the war, these 
 have come out of war's trials, renovated in spirit, respected by 
 their peers, and with unimpaired credit. 
 
 It is, perhaps, worthy of inquiry, whether the practice of betting, 
 so common to the race-course, does not tend to encourage in a com- 
 munity of young men, a spirit of gambling, and to extend this spirit 
 to the counting-room, and into the transactions of business. If so,
 
 14 
 
 an institution greatly prized in the East had better be abolished, 
 and give way to harmless recreation in the saddle or on foot. 
 
 Amid all the signs of mercantile prostration that surrounded me 
 in China, there was, at least, one evidence of American vitality to 
 arouse a feeling of pride and pleasure. For .years a contest had 
 been going on for the river trade to Hankow and the other interior 
 cities below a route of more than seven hundred miles in length. 
 Capacious boats of American build, and others built after the Ameri- 
 can model, were run by English and American houses ; but, at last, 
 the business proving profitless, all had been sold to the Steamship 
 Navigation Company, and the control rested with the American 
 house at its head. 
 
 Nine steamers are employed, six of which, carrying 2,000 tons 
 each, are at present sufficient for the work. 
 
 In like manner the navigation of the river from Canton to Macao, 
 and from Canton to Hong Kong, was in undisputed possession of 
 our countrymen. 
 
 In his special field of effort, the American missionary was at 
 work ; and I was gratified to learn that Dr. HEPBURN had in the 
 press an English, Chinese and Japanese dictionary, the result of 
 seven years of labor, and that throughout he had not lacked en- 
 couragement from friends possessed of means and the disposition to 
 aid him. 
 
 It is to this body of self-denying men the missionaries of China 
 and Japan that our country is indebted for its linguists, for a 
 former minister to China, and for our present Secretary of Legation 
 at Pekin. 
 
 I have never had much faith in the conversion of the Chinese by 
 the promulgation of the Christian doctrine ; but the command that 
 sends them forth still abides, and it behooves the church to keep its 
 sleepless sentinels at the door of every foreign settlement for the 
 sake of the small community, if not of the large. 
 
 Shanghae is the great mart for the sale of British goods ; cotton 
 yarns, cotton piece goods, woollen and other wares, to the value of 
 several millions sterling, which find their way to the interior by the 
 waters of the Yangtse-Kiang. Through this channel, and others 
 along the coast, three hundred millions of people are to be reached. 
 "With her ships, her looms, and her diversified industry, Great 
 Britain will undertake to supply the wants of this vast population, 
 and the thirty millions in Japan, and the three hundred millions of 
 India, more or less, now and for all time to come, without any aid
 
 15 
 
 from the United States, if we will but follow the disinterested 
 counsel of our great commercial rival ; and, on the same easy condi- 
 tions, she will, perhaps, undertake our own market also. 
 
 Prior to our domestic war we were competing successfully in 
 drills and sheetings, and are once more in a fair way to regain the 
 market for these heavy fabrics. 
 
 In return for foreign commodities, Shanghae exports forty to fifty 
 thousand bales of raw silk, twenty to twenty-five million pounds 
 of green tea, and fifty million pounds of black, and there is an 
 important coastwise traffic. 
 
 Nearly one hundred ships and steamers were at anchor abreast 
 of the city, and the number was less than usual. 
 
 On our way down the coast, passing Foo-Chow-Foo and Amoy, 
 whence about seventy-five million pounds of black tea are ex- 
 ported annually, we arrived, on the last of February, at Hong Kong, 
 or " Victoria," now a colonial possession of Great Britain. This 
 place has a foreign population of two thousand or more, and of Chi- 
 nese, variously estimated, at sixty to one hundred thousand. Hun- 
 dreds of the latter were seen constantly at work in chain gangs on 
 the roads and thoroughfares, with the brand " Victoria Gaol" on 
 their backs ; and the people of Victoria rejoice, as we do not, in per- 
 fectly clean streets. 
 
 Built on the hill-side, the houses are carried by means of terraces 
 to the height of four or five hundred feet, and command a charming 
 view of the bay, which is encircled on all sides with lofty hills, 
 Victoria Peak, the signal station, being eighteen hundred feet above 
 the level of the sea. At Aberdeen, on the south shore, spacious 
 stone docks, cut out of the solid rock, and faced with granite, offer 
 facilities for the repair of ships of the largest size. Native mechan- 
 ics are employed at sixty to seventy cents per day, and there is 
 no reason why these repairs should not be effected very cheaply. 
 
 We passed a week at Canton, where less than thirty years ago 
 all the foreign trade was transacted. Here great changes were 
 noticed. The old Hongs are in ruins ; every vestige of the foreign 
 factories, once the scene of so much commercial activity, has disap- 
 peared. The French and English flags were flying over Shaming, 
 opposite the Macao passage. A sea-wall of cut granite, half a mile 
 in length, protected the face of this new settlement ; and a stone 
 church stood out, an interesting feature among the scattered houses 
 of the merchants. Fine walks and pretty lawns imparted to the 
 whole a most inviting appearance. Nevertheless, a movement was
 
 16 
 
 inaugurated during our stay by a few Americans, who carry the 
 love of their own flag to the ends of the earth, to build once more 
 on the old site, that they might live again under the stars and 
 stripes. This work is now in progress. 
 
 But other changes have taken place. The gates of the old city, 
 that so recently denied ingress to foreign barbarians, are now wide 
 open, and " Fan-qui" and native enter them side by side. The tem- 
 ples of Canton are thronged with idolaters, but the Christian chapel 
 is near by, and every day or two its seats are filled with interested 
 listeners, who seek instruction, it is to be hoped, in the better way. 
 And, ere long, a noble cathedral, whose foundations are already 
 laid in the heart of the imperial city, will stand, with columns and 
 arches of cut stone, an imposing monument of French prowess and 
 of the Romish faith. 
 
 Of the Great Exposition at Paris, which it was our privilege to 
 visit, you have heard enough, if, perchance, all of you were not 
 there ; and I will neither speak of that, nor of other topics that agi- 
 tated the public mind during the summer months. 
 
 There are matters of vital concern to the American people, in re- 
 gard to which, you will, perhaps, permit me to say a few words. 
 
 Retiirning from the East, frequent opportunities offered for an in- 
 terchange of opinion with intelligent men from all quarters of the 
 globe. 
 
 None were ignorant of the great events of our domestic war, 
 and not a few were ready to admit how much they had been mis- 
 taken in regard to its issue. A new and wide-spread interest has 
 been awakened in the future of the United States. Questions are 
 asked, which should be answered not by the politician from the 
 stump but by men who are competent to give an answer that is 
 worthy of respect and will command attention. The time has fully 
 come when the voices of the wise and the good, if such we have 
 among us, should be heard above the din of party, proclaiming just 
 sentiments, and thus guiding the common thought. 
 
 And I do not refer now to reconstruction, universal suffrage, 
 or kindred measures ; these demand the consideration of statesmen. 
 I allude more particularly to the financial concerns of the country, 
 and to the method of solving problems that affect the national 
 honor. It is in the right solution of these that Chambers of Com- 
 merce and Boards of Trade are mainly interested ; and why should 
 they not speak about them in a way to be heard and heeded ? 
 Who doubts that the great popular heart of our country will re-
 
 17 
 
 spond to sound views of finance if once understood, or fears that 
 Congress will fail to be governed by the popular will when it is 
 fully known ? The danger is, that designing men will make the 
 worse appear the better way, and that the judgment of the fair 
 minded will be perplexed by the varying views, honestly or dishon- 
 estly promulgated. 
 
 When hundreds of millions of the public debt have been trans- 
 ferred from this to the other side, and capitalists stand ready to 
 take hundreds of millions more, who but ourselves are the sufferers, 
 if any obscurity is left as to the medium in which the debt is finally 
 to be paid, whether in currency or gold ? The question so fre- 
 quently put in regard to this, has been answered by our honorable 
 Secretary of the Treasury in a public letter that reflects the public 
 will, and by every act of his administration that looks towards the 
 resumption of specie payments. Congress should be required to do 
 its part and repair an omission to express in terms what is implied 
 in the spirit of the law, and accepted by our own people as an un- 
 alterable purpose. But were it at once determined that in a given 
 time specie payments shall be resumed, whether in one, two or three 
 years, the business of the country would be regulated accordingly, 
 and all Congressional action. 
 
 Surely, measures that were justified by the urgencies of war will 
 not be tolerated now that peace is restored. 
 
 Who that understands and deprecates the evils of a depreciated 
 currency, would perpetuate and enlarge the issue of legal tender, 
 or increase the volume of circulating notes ? Is the country to be 
 seduced, and Congress led into the folly, of offering promises to 
 pay, without interest, for any portion of the public debt that now 
 bears interest ? 
 
 And are the holders of national bank notes to be cajoled into the 
 belief that " legal tender," w r hen its character has been vitiated by 
 successive and excessive issues, is to be desired above notes secured 
 by government bonds, and by the added responsibility of stock- 
 holders for double the amount of their stock ? 
 
 And are we to be led into distrust of our national banking sys- 
 tem because certain institiitions, through fraud or bad management, 
 or a general decline in the value of property, have become 
 bankrupt ? Do not these institutions pay for the privileges they 
 enjoy; and are they not needful to the transaction of business? 
 And are not the stockholders justly held accountable for the ca- 
 
 3
 
 18 
 
 pacity and integrity of the men to whom they entrust the charge of 
 their moneyed interests ? 
 
 Was there ever a time in the histoiy of our own country, or in 
 the history of any country, when banks did not fail '? Out of six- 
 teen hundred, spread over our vast domain, unchecked in the issue 
 of credits by the necessity of redeeming in specie, or till recently by 
 any apprehension whatever, is it strange that some, or that many 
 should fail ? Is the proportion as large as in India and China, 
 where a moiety, or more than half, of all that Avere established 
 under the " limited liability" laws of England within a -few years, 
 have gone by the board ? As many as eight or nine out of thirteen 
 or fourteen. 
 
 Are we prepared to abandon our system of government because 
 corruption, iniquity and crime are unrestrained by its laws, and too 
 often go unpunished ? 
 
 "When questions are asked abroad as to the ability of the Ameri- 
 can people to pay principal and interest of the public debt, and as 
 to their willingness to bear the burden of taxation that is upon 
 them, loyal men are not at a loss for an answer. 
 
 Turning to the record, they show what was done before the war, 
 and what has been effected since : that the last of the old debt was 
 paid before it came due, with a premium of twenty per cent., and 
 that two hundred and fifty millions of the new have already been 
 extinguished ; and they declare that all things are possible to a 
 republic that increases thirty-five per cent, in population every ten 
 years; that if the burden is heavy now, it will be growing lighter 
 with every recurring day. 
 
 And they are enabled to appeal from the ic'tll to the interest of 
 the people, proving that if there Avere any disposition to abandon to> 
 dishonor Avhat has been saved at so great a cost of life, the pecu- 
 niary sacrifice Avould be too great. For it is Avell understood that 
 the savings banks, insurance companies and other moneyed institu- 
 tions of the country h;iA*e a large portion of their iirvestments in 
 bonds of the United States Government, and that the hard earnings 
 of the laboring classes are largely embarked in all of these. The 
 savings banks of XeAV-York State alone have in their charge upAvards 
 of one hundred millions of dollars. 
 
 If it be asked at Avhat time the country Avill be likely to return to 
 specie payments, a satisfactory ansAver is not so readily given ; and 
 yet those Avho have Avatched Avith care the gradual AvithdraAval of 
 lecral tender notes and the steady conA'ersion of temporary debt into
 
 19 
 
 5-20 bonds, believe that it need not be much delayed. When the 
 process of contraction has been continued a little longer, and it is 
 seen that the floating debt, which in September, 1865, was one 
 thousand seven hundred and fifteen millions, had been reduced to 
 eight hundred and thirty millions in September, 186 7, it Avould seem 
 as if the final step need not be put off to a distant day. 
 
 Should our representatives in Congress, at its next session, have 
 the courage to enact that five or ten per cent, of the import duties 
 may be paid in " greenbacks," and that these shall be cancelled 
 forthwith, the difference in the value of gold and of" legal tender" 
 notes will gradually disappear. 
 
 It is not to be disguised that the most trusting and hopeful who 
 would uphold the character of our people, and sustain the honor of 
 their intent whether abroad or at home have to contend against 
 a serious difficulty when the columns of a portion of the public press 
 are loaded from day to day with unreasonable complaint of men 
 who in private life have been respected and honored ; when indi- 
 viduals, filling the most important offices in the State, are subjected 
 to systematic, unjust and indecent attack. The character of the 
 whole people is thus assailed in the persons of its representative 
 men. 
 
 A few words on one other topic and I shall have done. After 
 making the circuit of the world, and conversing with many who 
 are interested in our maritime commerce, the contrast of its past 
 with the present leads the mind to painful contemplation and to 
 gloomy conclusions. 
 
 The carrying trade on all the short ocean routes has passed from 
 the sailing vessel to the fleet steamer ; and ships have been driven 
 to the more distant markets in such numbers as to reduce the rates 
 of freight to unremunerating figures. 
 
 Even on the coast of China, three-fourths of the transport traffic 
 is done by steamers. In the present condition of our currency, and 
 with all the disabilities resulting from our internal and external 
 revenue laws, we can neither build nor sail ships or steamers in com- 
 petition with other nations that command cheap labor and ma- 
 terial. 
 
 If we are to retain our skilled mechanics and raise up sailors for 
 the emergencies of war, and not to abandon the ocean to other 
 nations, one of three things seems to be necessary, viz. : 
 
 1st. The taxes on material which enters into the construction of
 
 '20 
 
 vessels intended for the foreign trade must be returned in some way 
 so as to reduce the cost ; or, 
 
 2d. The law must be so changed as to permit of vessels purchased 
 abroad, either in payment of duty or without duty, being put under 
 the American flag ; or, 
 
 3d. Such liberal subsidies must be allowed as will encourage the 
 building of steamers of wood or of iron, as may seem best Avhat- 
 ever.the disadvantages under which the war has placed us. 
 
 It is cheering to think what a magnificent line of vessels unsur- 
 passed, if equalled in all the world the action of Congress has 
 called into being on the Pacific Ocean ; and how insignificant the 
 subsidy. I cannot doubt it were wiser and better to devote some 
 of the millions that are annually paid for the maintenance of our 
 Xavy, in ways that would foster commerce, rather than give so 
 much for protection where there is so little to preserve and so little 
 to defend. And none can hold in higher admiration than myself the 
 gallant officers of our navy, or dwell with greater pride upon its 
 glorious achievements in the past. 
 
 Let me thank you, gentlemen, once more for all your kindness 
 and for your patient attention.
 
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