ordes a few years later, he won renown
by recapturing its principal cities, by the aid of such men as the
American Ward and the English Gordon. His success as a general made him
governor of Kiangsu, and his success as governor raised him to the rank
of viceroy, holding for many years a post at one or other of the foci of
foreign trade north or south.

Beyond the borders of China he was twice sent on special embassies, and
once he made the tour of the globe; but his most brilliant achievement
was in twice making peace on honorable terms, when his country was lying
prostrate before a victorious enemy.

It remains to expand this incomparable catalogue; but to make
intelligible that remarkable series of events in which he bore such a
conspicuous part, we must first invite our readers to accompany us in a
historical retrospect in which we shall point out the opening and growth
of foreign intercourse.

I.

INTERCOURSE WITH CHINA BY LAND.

Of the nature of that intercourse in its earlier period, there exists a
monument that speaks volumes. That is no other than the Great Wall;
which, hugest of the works of man, stretches along the northern frontier
of China proper for one thousand five hundred miles from the sea to the
desert of Gobi. Erected 255 B.C. it shows that even at that early date
the enemies most dreaded by the Chinese were on the north. Yet how
signally it failed to effect its purpose! For since that epoch the
provinces of Northern China have passed no fewer than seven centuries
under Tartar sway. Two Tartar dynasties have succeeded in subjugating
the whole empire, and they have transmitted beyond the seas a reputation
which quite eclipses the fame of China's ancient sovereigns.

In fact, that which first made China known to the western world was its
conquest by the Mongols in the thirteenth century. Barbarous nomads,
with longing eyes forever directed to the sunny plains of the south,
they also conquered India, bringing under their sceptre the two richest
regions of the globe. Of Genghis and Kubla, it may be asserted that they
realized a more extended dominion than Alexander, Caesar, or Napoleon
ever dreamed of. But

"Extended empire, like expanded gold,
Exchanges solid strength for feeble splendor."

Their tenure of China was of short duration,--less than a century. In
India, however, their successors, the great Moguls, continued to
maintain a semblance of sovereignty even down to our own t