Edmund Roberts (diplomat)

Edmund Roberts (June 29, 1784 – June 12, 1836) was an American diplomat. Appointed by President Andrew Jackson, he served as the United States' first envoy to the Far East, and went on USS ''Peacock'' on non-resident diplomatic missions to the courts of Cochinchina, Thailand ("Siam") and Muscat and Oman during the years 1832–6.

Roberts concluded treaties with Thailand and Said bin Sultan, Sultan of Muscat and Oman, ratified in Washington, D.C. 30 June 1834. He returned in 1836 to exchange ratifications with Oman and Thailand and to the court of Minh Mạng in Vietnam for a second attempt at negotiation. He fell seriously ill with dysentery and died in Portuguese Macau, which precluded his becoming America's first envoy to Edo Japan.

Early life

Roberts was born 29 June 1784 to Sarah Griffiths of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and Royal Navy Captain Edmund Roberts, who died 15 November 1787 and was interred in North Cemetery leaving his son a half-orphan in his mother's care. Young Edmund at age 13 received through his congressman a Midshipman's warrant in the United States Navy, but waived the appointment at his mother's wish for him to remain at home while she lived.

Roberts set out to sea in 1800, eventually residing in London until age 24. Returning in 1808, he married Miss Catherine Whipple Langdon — daughter of Judge Woodbury Langdon and niece of Governor John Langdon, both of whom were engaged in the New England triangular trade between Portsmouth, the Caribbean and London; and among Portsmouth's wealthiest and most politically connected citizens. Of the couple's 11 children, 8 survived their parents.

New Hampshire (with only of coastline) and the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Maine are credited with shaping Roberts' character.

Roberts the merchant

Roberts entered the New England triangular trade as shipowner and his own supercargo, but never as a captain.

Robert Hopkins Miller says Roberts lost his accumulated wealth in a series of misfortunes, but succeeded in 1823 in being appointed US Consul at Demerara. However, Miller erroneously places Demerara on the east coast of Africa, and does not mention the Demerara rebellion of 1823.

"The 1823 revolt had a special significance... n that i attracted attention in Britain inside and outside Parliament to the terrible evil slavery and the need to abolish it."

Roberts' own account mentions neither Demerara nor the slave revolt but his palpable aversion to slavery colors his negotiating stance, where subjects act as slaves to the king). By 1827, nearly impoverished by depredations of French and Spanish privateers on his ships in the West Indies, he chartered ''Mary Ann'' to trade in the Indian Ocean. Roberts arrived in the port of Zanzibar in October 1827, and the next year, had an audience with the newly arrived Said bin Sultan, Sultan of Muscat and Oman, who was so anxious to counterbalance British influence that he asked Roberts to escort some vessels to the United States to petition for trade.

Roberts promised to bring the matter up with his Government. Upon returning, he wrote U.S. Senator Levi Woodbury, a personal friend, of the aggravations endured by American shipping, that might be alleviated by negotiating commercial treaties.

To the farthest port of the rich Indies

The stage was set for Roberts diplomatic career by Salem's trade with China and the East Indies. Pursuits of members of the East India Marine Society, established in 1799 and composed of those who had sailed beyond the Cape of Good Hope or Cape Horn as masters or supercargoes contributed to the beginnings of US international relations during the period of 1788 to 1845. From 1826 to 1832, John Shillaber, American consul in Batavia, sent a series of letters suggesting that he be empowered to negotiate trade treaties.

Martin van Buren replied in a letter dated 13 December 1830, sent over the signature of clerk Daniel Brent, requesting a more precise knowledge of the nature and character of the governments in question, and more details on difficulties encountered. Matters came to a head after Charles Moses Endicott, master of the merchantman ''Friendship'' of Salem, engaged in the spice trade on the Sumatran coast, returned to report the brig ''Governor Endicott'', also of Salem, and ''James Monroe'' of New York, had recaptured his ship from pirates who had plundered her, murdering several crewmen.

In the wake of public outcry, President Jackson ordered Commodore John Downes of the frigate , which had been preparing to sail for the west coast, to proceed instead on the first Sumatran expedition, departing New York harbor on 19 August 1831.

Subsequent events

Roberts’ friend Woodbury, who as senator had been pressing for increased naval appropriations when he received Robert's letter on the need for trade negotiations, had just become Jackson's Secretary of the Navy and saw an opportunity. As ''Potomac'' was departing the schooner was nearing commissioning; , outfitted for exploration but due to lack of funds diverted to duty in the West Indies, had returned for re-fit. Woodbury convinced Jackson to send both 10-gun ships to support ''Potomac'' – with Roberts as Jackson's "special agent". Secretary of State Edward Livingston's "Instructions to Special Agent Edmund Roberts" signed 27 January 1832, ordering him to embark upon ''Peacock'' in the guise of the captain's clerk, his mission's purpose concealed except from the captain and those with a need to know; while in passage he was to gather as much as possible of the knowledge previously requested of Shillaber; his duties as envoy would then begin at Cochin-China. Livingston added a postscript that Roberts is to receive $6 per diem. Jackson later explained to the Senate in his message of 30 May 1834, "The expenses of the agency have been defrayed out of the contingent fund for foreign intercourse".

In mid-February 1832, ''Boxer'' was dispatched to Liberia. with orders to join ''Peacock'' off the coast of Brazil, but the ships failed to rendezvous until 5 June 1834 – in the unhealthy roadstead of Batavia. In March 1832, ''Peacock'' sailed for Brazil under Commander David Geisinger, with Francis Baylies appointed chargé d'affaires to Buenos Aires and secret agent Roberts. His published account follows the general outline of that published two years previously of East India Company agent John Crawfurd's 1822 mission to Siam and Cochinchina. Roberts, in both his report to State and in his journal, cites page 269 of his copy of Mr. Crawford – page 414 in Crawfurd's second edition.Alt URL
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''Boxer'' having failed to show by the time appointed, orders were left at Montevideo for her to join up at Bencoolen. ''Peacock'' sailed by way of the Cape Horn and made Bencoolen on 23 August 1833; the Dutch Resident reported ''Potomac'' had completed her mission, thus freeing ''Peacock'' to continue Roberts' quest for intelligence.

Roberts' first mission

Pursuant to orders to gather information before going to Cochinchina, ''Peacock'' sailed for Manila by way of Long Island and Crokatoa, where hot springs found on the eastern side of the islands from the shore boiled furiously up, through many fathoms of water. ''Peacock''s marine chronometers proving useless, she threaded the Sunda Strait by dead reckoning. Diarrhea and dysentery were prevalent among the crew from Angier to Manila. After a fortnight there, cholera struck, despite the overall cleanliness of the ship. ''Peacock'' lost seven men; many who recovered died of other diseases. No new case of cholera occurred after she got under way 2 November 1833 for Macau. Within of Lamma Island or Wanshan Archipelago