Evening star., 1914-07-05

tiIES@3a4l&&H adviser at large by
l&;@as@&SCkM1 Yuan Shi-kai Pres
sN&6za2aSD ident OF china.
salary of 81 Loco a month will be paid
to ur Rockhill for his aid in moderniz-
ins Old Catnay. This is equa! to the pay
of the second gentleman OF our realm
the Vice President of the United States
As an erudite diplomatist. MI Eockhiil
carved out a career under Presidents Ar
thur. Cleveland. Mckinley. Roosevelt and
Taft Thus Yuan Shi-ka; will be the
sixth president of great republic whose
confidence ne has won.
He knows china from a 10 L. from tor
to bottom Undoubtedly he is the best
alI-round American authority on Things
oriental. Nearly his entire life has been
spent abroad He finished his education at
the military school at St. Cyr. in France,
and his diplomatic career began wnen
President Arthur sent him to Pekins as
oar second secretary OF legation Desiite
the fact that the democrats came lht"
mower in lSSI President Cleveland nor
only retained him in the diplomatic serv-
ice but raised him TO the rank OF hist
secretary. year later ne was haue
charge d 'afaires in Korea lhehce ne
r7o1;nted steadily In the service as tilei
clerk of the Department of State: thlrd
assistant and first assistant secretary OF
state: minister TO Greece. Roumania ana
Servia: director of the international ou-
-eau of American republics tnoW the ran
An,eriran J-nion1: minister to China. am
hassador to Russia and ambassador 10
TURKEY The last named commission ne
held when the Wilson regime came ili'o
power. 49,, v,-hi+a
House. prof Langley, head of the
Smithsonian institution. sent Mr, ~
axx.sa iF
explore China, Mongolia and Tibet
Tibet was then a land of mystery
Fer white man to cross ITS pouno,
Of sure death. But Rockhill was
fearless. and he unlocked for the world
many of the mysteries OF the 1orpiodeh
An incident of his expedition thither
was the collection Of testimony When whloh
rsgndatea rSas ID Tbet Mme and ta adspts
When events following the Boxer
troubles got badly tangled in China
pire as commissioner by President Nc
kinley and as plenipotentiary by
President Roosevelt. under whose com
Peking and signed the final protocol
which patched up the Boxer troubles.
His tongue is glb with the thinese
lingo. and he is the author of vari,
Gus authoritative works on oriental
subjects. He is ma tive of Philadel-
phia and. what is saying much In that
Town. ne is a scion of the proud Cad
waIlader family During recent years.
when in America. he has resided at
Litchheld. Conn, the home of his wifes
family Mrs. Rockhill was Miss Edith
Perkins of that town.
1t Is understood that large part of
NJ Rockhill's new duties viii be ex
ereised from this side of the water
that he will advise President Yuan
Shi-kai by mail and by cable, and that
at the same time he will! otherwise
serve Chinese interests in the United
States.
II is interesting 30 note the extent
70 which american geniuses, like Mr.
RoCkhill, have been relied upon of
late TO- help reshape the destinies of
NEST OF the governments of the far
east No. only China but Japan:
Korea. siam and even province OF
mighty Ecitail's india have depended
largely upon Yankee ingenuity to re
cohstrqot their laws or aid them.
through diplomacy, TO protect them
selves from the greed of Europe.
China began TO look 10 us for heip in
fighting her battles. half century ago.
NJ the time of the famous TAPPING re-
he'lion her emperor contracted with Fred
erick Townsend Ward of Salem. Mass
to suppress that native uprising. Ward.
who mad served in the French army dur
ing the Crimean war and VINO was a
shipbroker in New York at the time he
sailed for China. accepted the emperor's
offer upon condition that he was to be
paid $4,000 for each rebel stronghold
taken by his trusty blade But when,
after two years Of desperate lighting. he
presented his imperial ma jesty with A
bill for S1nu,om, the emperor replied
that this charge mad been fully offset
h} advances OF money made during the
campaign While the emperor and mis-
Yankee general were still squabbinK over
TINS debt cannon bail ended the latters
career. and his claim remained unsatis-
q NM ii f..Ut
Marchu dynasty allowed its payment 10
his heirs from the money which
We're then renting to hina out of the
excess Boxer indemnity. Counting up the
accrued interest, the heirs AT that oppor-
tune time put in 4 clam for four times
the original amount. or s4ooUn. and they
received it
Americans who have been subsequently
employed in helping the Ce!estials 10 put
their China in order appear to have re-
ceived their pay without difficulty or dis
pute.
During our civil war when the late Sir
Robert Hart was reorEanizing the Gus
toms service of China, ne sought a
bright. Young American to aid him and
applied TO Secretary Seward. who. in
turn. called upon President Woolsey of
Yale The last named recommended a
member of that years graduating class.
Francis Eben Woodruff of New York
who got the appointment. Woodruff en-
tered the chinese service a student
and clerk. but was soon promoted to the
office of secretary of the inspectorate
staff AT Peking. For twenty-five years
he served as commissioner of customs,
bur was forced by ill-health to resign in
1897. Al last accounts he was still iiv-
ing at his home in MorristoWn. y. J. As
sociated with him in his work in the
Chinese empire was a fellow-American.
E. C Tainter.
parallel case was that of a Vermont
Yankee. Henry Ferdinand Merrill. who