Grant and the Chinese
1884.Ⓐapparatus note
Early in this yearⒶapparatus note or late in 1883, if my memory serves me, I called on General Grant with YungⒶapparatus note Wing,Ⓐapparatus note late Chinese Minister at WashingtonⒺexplanatory note, to introduce Wing and let him lay before General Grant a proposition. Li-Hung-Chang, one of the greatest and most progressive men in China since the death of Prince KungⒺexplanatory note, had been trying to persuade the Imperial government to build a system of military railroads in ChinaⒺexplanatory note, and had so far succeeded in his persuasions that a majority of the government were willing to consider the matterⒶapparatus note—provided that money could be obtained for that purpose, outside of China—this money to be raised upon the customs of the country and by bonding the railway or some such way. YungⒶapparatus note Wing believed that if General Grant would take charge of the matter hereⒶapparatus note and create the syndicateⒶapparatus note the money would be easily forthcoming. He also knew that General Grant was better and more favorably known in China than any other foreigner in the world and was aware that if his name were associated with the enterprise—the syndicate—it would inspire the Chinese government and people and give them the greatest possible sense of security. We found the GeneralⒶapparatus note cooped up in his room with a severe rheumatismⒶapparatus note resulting from a fall on the ice, which he had got some months before. He would not undertake a syndicate, because times were so hardⒶapparatus note hereⒶapparatus note that people would be loathⒶapparatus note to invest money soⒶapparatus note far away. Of course YungⒶapparatus note Wing’sⒶapparatus note proposal included a liberal compensation for General Grant for his trouble, but that was a thing that the General would not listen to for a moment. HeⒶapparatus note said that easier times would come by and bye,Ⓐapparatus note and that the money couldⒶapparatus note then be raised, no doubt,Ⓐapparatus note and that he would enter into it cheerfully and with zeal and carry it through to the very best of his ability,Ⓐapparatus note but he must do it without compensation. In no case would he consent to take any money for it. HereⒶapparatus note againⒶapparatus note he manifested the very strongest interestⒶapparatus note in China, an interest which I hadⒶapparatus note seen him evince on previous occasions. He said he had urged a system of railways on Li-Hung-Chang when he was in ChinaⒶapparatus note and he now felt so sure that such a system would be a great salvation for the countryⒶapparatus note and also the beginning of the country’s liberation from the Tartar rule and thraldomⒶapparatus note that he would be quite willing at a favorable time to do everything he could toward carrying out that projectⒶapparatus note without other compensation than the pleasure he would derive from being useful to China.
This reminds me of one other circumstance.
About 1879 or 1880, the Chinese pupils in HartfordⒶapparatus note and other New England townsⒶapparatus note had been ordered home by the Chinese governmentⒺexplanatory note. ThereⒶapparatus note were two parties in the Chinese government: one headed by Li-Hung-Chang, the progressive party, which was striving to introduce Western arts and education into China,Ⓐapparatus note and the other was opposed to all progressive measures. Li-Hung-Chang and the progressive party kept the upper hand for some timeⒶapparatus note andⒶapparatus note during this periodⒶapparatus note the government had sent one hundred or moreⒶapparatus note of the country’s choicest youth over here [begin page 73] to be educated. But nowⒶapparatus note the other party had got the upperⒶapparatus note hand and had ordered these young people home. At this time an old Chinaman named WongⒶapparatus note, non-progressionist, was the chief China MinisterⒺexplanatory note at Washington and YungⒶapparatus note Wing was his assistant. The order disbanding the schools was a great blow to YungⒶapparatus note Wing, who had spent many years in working for their establishment. This order came upon him with the suddenness of a thunder clap. He did not know which way to turn.
First, he got a petition signedⒶapparatus note by the Presidents of variousⒶapparatus note American colleges setting forth the great progress that the Chinese pupils had made and offering arguments to show why the pupils should be allowed to remain to finish their education. This paper was to be conveyed to the Chinese government through the Minister at Pekin. But YungⒶapparatus note Wing felt the need of a more powerful voice in the matter and General Grant occurred to him. He thought that if he could get GeneralⒶapparatus note Grant’s great name added to that petition that that alone would outweigh the signaturesⒶapparatus note of a thousand college professors. So the Rev. Mr. TwichellⒶapparatus note Ⓔexplanatory note and I went down to New York to see the General. I introduced Mr. Twichell,Ⓐapparatus note who had come with a careful speech for the occasionⒶapparatus note in which he intended to load the General with information concerning the Chinese pupils and the Chinese question generally. But he never got the chance to deliver it. The General took the word out of his mouth and talked straight ahead andⒶapparatus note easily revealed to TwichellⒶapparatus note the fact that the General was master of the whole matter and needed no information from anybodyⒶapparatus note and also the fact that he was brimful of interest in the matter. Now as alwaysⒶapparatus note the General was not only ready to do what we asked of him but a hundred times more. He said yes, he would sign that paper if desired,Ⓐapparatus note but he would do better than that: he would write a personal letter to Li-Hung-ChangⒶapparatus note and do it immediatelyⒺexplanatory note. So TwichellⒶapparatus note and I went down stairs into the lobby of the FifthⒶapparatus note Avenue Hotel, a crowd of waiting and anxious visitors sitting in the anteroom,Ⓐapparatus note andⒶapparatus note in the course of half an hourⒶapparatus note he sent for us againⒶapparatus note and put into our hands his letter to Li-Hung-ChangⒶapparatus note to be sent directly and without the intervention of the American MinisterⒶapparatus note or any one else. It was a clear, compactⒶapparatus note and admirably written statement of the case of the Chinese pupilsⒶapparatus note with some equally clear arguments to show that the breaking up of the schools would be a mistake. We shipped the letter and prepared to wait a couple of months to see what the result would be.
But we had not to wait so long. The moment the General’s letter reached China a telegram came back from the Chinese governmentⒶapparatus note which was almost a copyⒶapparatus note in detailⒶapparatus note of General Grant’s letter and theⒶapparatus note cablegram ended with the peremptory command to old Minister WongⒶapparatus note toⒶapparatus note continue the Chinese schoolsⒺexplanatory note.
It was a marvelousⒶapparatus note exhibition of the influence of a private citizen of one country over the counsels of an empire situated on the other side of the globe. Such an influence could have been wielded by no other citizen in the world outside of that empire—in fact the policyⒶapparatus note of the Imperial government had been reversedⒶapparatus note Ⓔexplanatory note from room 45,Ⓐapparatus note Fifth Avenue Hotel, New York,Ⓐapparatus note by a private citizen of the UnitedⒶapparatus note States.
Yung Wing, late Chinese Minister at Washington] Yung Wing (1828–1912) was raised in a peasant family in southern China and learned to read and write English at a missionary [begin page 478] school. He came to the United States with his teacher in 1847 and graduated from Yale College in 1854. In 1876 he was appointed minister to Washington jointly with Chin Lan Pin, a position he declined, agreeing instead to serve as Chin’s assistant minister (1878–81). Clemens became acquainted with Yung through their mutual friend the Reverend Joseph Twichell (Yung 1909, 1, 3, 7, 13, 19–21, 27, 41, 173, 180–90, 197–200; New York Times: “The Chinese Ambassadors,” 29 Sept 1878, 1; “China’s Backward Step,” 2 Sept 1881, 5; 21 Feb 1875 to Sprague and others, L6, 393 n. 3).
Li-Hung-Chang . . . military railroads in China] Li Hung Chang (1823–1901), viceroy of the Chinese capital province of Zhili from 1870 to 1896, was, as Clemens claimed, a progressive politician who promoted modernization of the army and the building of railroads. Clemens first approached Grant about the railroad project in early 1881. Twichell described the circumstances in a journal entry for 25–28 March of that year:
Yung Wing arrives from Washington full of business. The Chinese Gov. (so he is advised) is soon to embark in a great Rail Road enterprize, and he wants the United States to get in ahead of England and all the world in furnishing the men and the capital involved in carrying out the project. . . . Accordingly M. T. is called on for counsel and aid. He writes to Gen. G. at once. Answer comes promptly that he is on the point of setting out for Mexico, but will be sure to seize an opportunity to write en route to Li Hung Chang making recommendations in the line of Y. W’s ideas. (Twichell 1874–1916)
Neither Clemens’s letter nor Grant’s reply is known to survive. On 1 April Grant wrote to Clemens while en route to Mexico, enclosing the promised letter to Li:
If you will show this letter to Yung Wing, and he approves of it, and then forward it to Li Hung Chang, I will be much obliged to you.
I regret much not reading your letter when it was received. Had I done so I would have arranged for a meeting with you and friends no matter what I had to do. (CU-MARK)
In a second letter of the same day he added, “On my return to New York I will be very glad to meet you with Yung Wing, and any others you, or he, choose to bring, to talk on this subject” (CU-MARK). Clemens wrote to thank Grant on 22 April: “Your letter to the viceroy has gone at a fortunate time, for it will strengthen his hands at a needed season” (quoted in Dawson 1902). Clemens’s recollection that he and Yung called on Grant three years later to discuss the project, in early 1884, is confirmed by his remark below about Grant’s “fall on the ice,” an accident that occurred in December 1883 (Badeau 1887, 416).
Prince Kung] Prince Gong (1833–98), as he is now more commonly known, was head of China’s Grand Council. As the most prominent statesman in China during the 1860s and 1870s, he pursued an agenda of modernization and cooperation with Western countries. Clemens had evidently read a false newspaper report that the prince had committed suicide after the emperor deposed him, but he had only retired from public life (“Prince Kung,” Chicago Tribune, 2 May 1884, 5).
About 1879 or 1880, the Chinese pupils . . . had been ordered home by the [begin page 479] Chinese government] Yung’s life work was to promote the education of Chinese students in the United States. As a result of his efforts, in 1872 the Chinese government established the Chinese Educational Commission, which brought more than a hundred boys to Hartford for a program of studies intended to prepare them for government service in their native country. Yung was appointed co-commissioner with Chin Lan Pin. Both Chin and Woo Tsze Tun, who became co-commissioner in 1876, were conservatives who feared that the mission was a threat to traditional Chinese culture. According to Yung, Woo’s “malicious misrepresentations and other falsehoods” ultimately persuaded the Chinese government, with the consent of Viceroy Li, to take steps to abolish the program in late 1880 (Yung 1909, 200–210).
Wong, non-progressionist, was the chief China Minister] Although Clemens did not correctly recall Minister Chin’s name, he did accurately describe his role in bringing about the end of the Chinese Mission (Yung 1909, 203).
Rev. Mr. Twichell] Joseph H. Twichell (1838–1918), the son of a tanner, was born in Connecticut. He graduated from Yale in 1859, but his studies at Union Seminary were interrupted by Civil War service as chaplain of the Seventy-first New York Volunteers. In 1865 he completed his divinity studies at Andover Seminary and accepted the pastorate of Asylum Hill Congregational Church (Hartford, Connecticut), where he would remain for the rest of his career. The same year, he married Julia Harmony Cushman (1843–1910); they had nine children. He struck up a friendship with Clemens in 1868, which deepened when the Clemenses moved to the Hartford neighborhood of Nook Farm, where the Twichells also lived. Twichell preached a “muscular Christianity” more concerned with social progress than with doctrine, and was broad-minded enough to be Clemens’s confidant and adviser. He accompanied Clemens to Bermuda in 1877 and to Europe in 1878; in A Tramp Abroad he is the model for the character of Harris. He was one of Clemens’s closest friends, presiding at both his wedding and his funeral.
went down to New York to see the General . . . do it immediately] Twichell, who had befriended Yung and strongly endorsed his work, asked Clemens to enlist Grant’s support. The two men called on Grant in New York on 21 December 1880. Clemens wrote Howells, “Grant took in the whole situation in a jiffy, & before Joe had more than fairly got started, the old man said: ‘I’ll write the Viceroy a letter—a separate letter—& bring strong reasons to bear upon him’ ” (24 Dec 1880 to Howells, Letters 1876–1880 ).
General Grant’s letter . . . peremptory command to old Minister Wong to continue the Chinese schools] In March 1881 Clemens wrote to thank Grant for his intervention, announcing that the “Mission in Hartford is saved. The order to take the students home to China was revoked by the Viceroy three days ago—by cable. This cablegram mentions the receipt of your letter” (15 Mar 1881 to Grant, OKeU).
policy of the Imperial government had been reversed] Ultimately, the efforts of Grant and others to continue the mission were futile. By July 1881 it had been abolished and the students recalled to China (New York Times: “China’s Educational Mission,” 16 July 1881, 5; “China’s Backward Step,” 2 Sept 1881, 5).
Grant and the Chinese ❉ Textual Commentary
On the verso of the TS Redpath wrote, ‘Autobiography of Mark Twain | Grant, the Chinese Pupils and the Chinese Government’. There are markings on the TS in pencil; most were made by Redpath, but a few are in Paine’s hand. There are also corrections in purple pencil, which could have been made either by Redpath or by Clemens; since their source is uncertain, they have been identified with the label “TS-Redpath/SLC.”