William Woodville Rockhill's Influence on the Boxer Negotiations

Abstract

WHEN THE BOXER REVOLT broke out in China in June, 1900oo, William Woodville Rockhill was adviser to the Department of State on Far Eastern affairs. In the negotiations following the upheaval Rockhill played a major role as Commissioner of the United States. His friendship with Secretary Hay, his close acquaintance with China, and his long experience as a diplomat led to his appointment as the chief United States representative at the international conference on problems raised by the uprising. Rockhill was born in Philadelphia on April 1, 1853. His career carried him far beyond the narrow sphere in which the typical American of his time moved. At the age of eleven his mother took him to Paris. After studying at the College of France, he graduated from St. Cyr, the French equivalent of West Point, and served with the Foreign Legion in Algeria. Nothwithstanding his military education, the most important influence of his student days was the philosopher, Ernest Renan, whose lectures gave him an interest in Oriental languages that shaped his future. In a career about as remote from the dull routine of Solomon Grundy as one can imagine, Rockhill managed to spend three years on the cattleman's frontier in New Mexico, riding the range, throwing steers, castrating calves, and studying Chinese and Sanskrit. He made further studies in ancient Buddhist scriptures before he was appointed, in 1883, assistant secretary of the American legation in Peking. In 1889 and again in 1891 he explored Mongolia and Tibet. In 1893 his Tibetan studies earned him the gold medal award of the Royal Geographical Society. From 1893 to 1897 he served in the Department of State, the last year as Assistant Secretary. With the election of William McKinley to the Presidency, Rockhill was appointed Minister to Greece, Rumania, and Serbia. He accepted the appointment only because of financial necessity, and he hated Greece from the day he landed in it, referring to it as damned country. He refused to travel: although he had been compelled to come to this awful country, at least he did not have to see it. In 1899 he returned