Prince Kung to Anson Burlingame, April 9, 1863
Prince Kung to Mr. Burlingame
Prince Kung, chief secretary for foreign affairs, communicates a reply:
On the 18th of the present moon, April 5, I had the honor to receive a communication from your excellency, in which your excellency states that Burgevine’s trouble with Takee occurred after the money had been delivered; that no blame can be attached to Burgevine for not going to Nanking, but that he was in fault in striking Takee, for which he also tenders his regret, and is ready to make an apology. Your excellency also requests that Burgevine should be restored to the command of the “Ever-Conquering Legion,”
which your excellency says is equally the desire of the British and Russian ministers; and, furthermore, your excellency pledges himself that Burgevine will do all he can to make things go smooth, and to aid the governor in suppressing the rebellion.
On a former occasion I had the honor to receive a despatch from your excellency with reference to the same subject, in which your excellency states that it was you who recommended Burgevine, and you express a hope that such a brave and honest officer will be retained in the Chinese service; moreover, that Admiral Hope also recommended Burgevine. I carefully examined these statements and communicated a reply. But, truly, Burgevine having committed an assault upon Takee, if he had been a Chinese, he would long since have been apprehended and severely punished without any allowance being made; but the governor of Kiangsu, taking into consideration the fact of his being a foreigner, and not knowing [Chinese] manners, has, therefore, simply petitioned the imperial government to have him dismissed the service, to have his case examined into, and decided according to what is right. Furthermore, the Taoutai Wu and Takee, having gone security for Burgevine, were immediately after the occurrence of the difficulty degraded, and a fine of money imposed upon them, to the amount of cost, (through the difficulty.) Now, the individual who had gone security, and been, moreover, the assaulted party, was thus summarily punished; how, then, could Burgevine, who was the author of this whole trouble, be supposed to be let off altogether? And yet, without waiting for the decision of the governor of Kiangsu, he came up to the capital, which conduct of his not only rendered it impossible to decide impartially as to who is right and who wrong, but is also altogether contrary to right principles.
However, since your excellency explicitly states that you fully recognize the force Burgevine is to command as a Chinese force, and subject to its general directions, and since your excellency, moreover, guarantees that Burgevine will do all he can to make things go smooth, and that he desires to apologize; in short, since he repents, and your excellency vouches for him, it looks as if in the future no such acts will be repeated by Burgevine.
However, Governor Li has the command of that department, (Kiangsu;) he is the highest civil and military authority there; he alone exercises the power of punishing or rewarding officers; if, therefore, Burgevine, on returning to Shanghai, should indeed express his regret for what he has done, and promise in all things to obey the governor in the future, and no more commit anything unprincipled, I believe that Governor Li will certainly settle the matter in a special manner. As to restoring to Burgevine his former rank, I beg to state that in China, if any officer, civil or military, happens to be degraded, and if still desirous to serve, must first exert himself to accomplish something extraordinary, then his former delinquincy is pardoned and his rank restored to him. Should Burgevine, on being employed again, indeed succeed to annihilate rebels and retake many places, then his rank will be restored to him. If not, then of course the laws of China could not be disregarded in favor of Burgevine, and thereby afford to the military force of the country matter to complain of, and give occasion to others to imitate a bad example.