Atterwords other Powers followed suit, until by the Nineties " eleven countries had representatives in king, AN these Legations, with the exception of the Belgian, were situated In the neighbourhood of the British, Lord Elgin, the British plenipotentiary at the peace negotiations of 1861" probably' selected this articular district, because it was less than halt mile away from the chiot government ofcies, the Six Boards, Where he doubtless expected to find the Foreign Oflce establishes But, although they had hed to allow the despised foreign barbarians to keep representatives in Peiping, the Chinese" Government attempted to maintain the pretence that it was merely a temporary measure, No Foreign Ofice was, therefore, est ablished, at least not in our sense of the form. In the first year of their residence, the British and French envoys, when they had any oficial matters to discuss with the Chinese Government, used to call on Prince Kung at his palace right Away in the north part of the city. The prince was at that time head of the Grand Council and looked after the affairs of the foreign barbarians, in addition to his other multifarious But finding this tod much of a ood thing, as in his own palace he could scarcely avoid meeting the foreign envoys, a special bureau was created for the purpose. It did not, however, rank with one of the great Boards, but was quite a subordinate office, a mere Yamen, called Tsung Li Ko Kuo Shih Wu Ya Men (Board for the Management of the Affairs of other Nations), commonly known as the sungli Yamen. And even then, it was not attached to any' of the Six Bonrds, but was placed right away in a side street in the eastern part of the city, about two miles from the Legations. "Tt was here that for the next forly years the foreign ministers met Chinese oftieialdem, until the grand smash of the Boxer year (1900). afler' which a. proper Foreign Office ranking equal with the other Board was at last establi-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.