William Woodville Rockhill (April 1, 1854 – December 8, 1914) was a
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
diplomat
A diplomat (from grc, δίπλωμα; romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or internati ...
, best known as the author of the U.S.'s
Open Door Policy
The Open Door Policy () is the United States diplomatic policy established in the late 19th and early 20th century that called for a system of equal trade and investment and to guarantee the territorial integrity of Qing China. The policy wa ...
for
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
, the first American to learn to speak
Tibetan
Tibetan may mean:
* of, from, or related to Tibet
* Tibetan people, an ethnic group
* Tibetan language:
** Classical Tibetan, the classical language used also as a contemporary written standard
** Standard Tibetan, the most widely used spoken dial ...
, and one of the West's leading experts on the modern political history of China.
Life and career
Rockhill was born in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
, the son of Thomas Cadwalader Rockhill and Dorothea Anne Woodville (1823–1913). His father died when he was 13 years old and his mother relocated the family to
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
to escape the
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
.
While in his teens, Rockhill read
Abbé Huc's account of his 1844-46 voyage to
Lhasa
Lhasa (; Lhasa dialect: ; bo, text=ལྷ་ས, translation=Place of Gods) is the urban center of the prefecture-level city, prefecture-level Lhasa (prefecture-level city), Lhasa City and the administrative capital of Tibet Autonomous Regio ...
, which sparked young Rockhill's interest in
Tibet
Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...
.
Rockhill sought out the celebrated
Orientalist Léon Feer
Leon, Léon (French) or León (Spanish) may refer to:
Places
Europe
* León, Spain, capital city of the Province of León
* Province of León, Spain
* Kingdom of León, an independent state in the Iberian Peninsula from 910 to 1230 and again fro ...
of the ''
Bibliothèque Nationale
A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...
'', who guided Rockhill's learning about the
Far East
The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons.
The ter ...
.
[Obituary Notice, ''The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland'' (1915), p. 24.](_blank)
/ref> Rockhill attended the ''École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr
The École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr (ESM, literally the "Special Military School of Saint-Cyr") is a French military academy, and is often referred to as Saint-Cyr (). It is located in Coëtquidan in Guer, Morbihan, Brittany. Its motto is ...
'', where he studied Tibetan
Tibetan may mean:
* of, from, or related to Tibet
* Tibetan people, an ethnic group
* Tibetan language:
** Classical Tibetan, the classical language used also as a contemporary written standard
** Standard Tibetan, the most widely used spoken dial ...
. After graduation, Rockhill joined the French Foreign Legion
The French Foreign Legion (french: Légion étrangère) is a corps of the French Army which comprises several specialties: infantry, Armoured Cavalry Arm, cavalry, Military engineering, engineers, Airborne forces, airborne troops. It was created ...
, serving as an officer in Algiers
Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...
.
In 1876, Rockhill returned to the United States, and on December 14, 1876, he married his childhood sweetheart, Caroline Tyson, daughter of J. Washington Tyson and Marie Louise (Hewling) Tyson of Philadelphia. The couple purchased a cattle ranch in New Mexico
)
, population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano)
, seat = Santa Fe
, LargestCity = Albuquerque
, LargestMetro = Tiguex
, OfficialLang = None
, Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...
, but Rockhill concluded that ranching was not to his liking. By 1880, he had completed a French language
French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in Nor ...
translation of the Tibetan version of the ''Udanavarga
The ''Udānavarga'' is an early Buddhist collection of topically organized chapters ( sa, varga) of aphoristic verses or "utterances" (Sanskrit: ''udāna'') attributed to the Buddha and his disciples. While not part of the Pali Canon, the ''Ud ...
'', which was published in 1881.[Karl E. Meyer, "Close Encounters of an American Kind", ''World Policy Journal'' (Dec. 22, 1998)](_blank)
/ref>
The Rockhills sold the ranch in 1881 and moved to Montreux
Montreux (, , ; frp, Montrolx) is a Swiss municipality and town on the shoreline of Lake Geneva at the foot of the Alps. It belongs to the district of Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland, and has a population of approximat ...
, Switzerland, where William's mother lived. He spent the next three years in Europe studying Tibetan, Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
, and Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
. During this period, he co-authored a biography of the Buddha
Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism.
According to Buddhist tradition, he was ...
with Nanjo Bunyu
Nanjō Bun'yū (南条文雄) (1 July 1849 – 9 November 1927) was a Buddhist priest and one of the most important modern Japanese scholars of Buddhism. Nanjō was born to the abbot of Seiunji Temple (誓運寺), part of the Shinshu Ōtani-ha ...
and Ernst Leumann
Ernst Leumann (11 April 1859 – 24 April 1931) was a Swiss jainologist, pioneer of the research of Jainism and Turkestan languages whose work is in consideration even today.
Career
His studies on linguistics in Zürich and Geneva and of Sanskr ...
, and completed a French language
French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in Nor ...
translation of the Prātimokṣa sūtra
''Sutra'' ( sa, सूत्र, translit=sūtra, translit-std=IAST, translation=string, thread)Monier Williams, ''Sanskrit English Dictionary'', Oxford University Press, Entry fo''sutra'' page 1241 in Indian literary traditions refers to an aph ...
, published in 1884 under the title ''Prâtimoksha sutra; ou, Le traité d'émancipation selon la version tibétaine: avec notes et extraits du Dulva (Vinaya)''.
In 1883, Rockhill's wife came into a $70,000 inheritance on the death of a cousin, allowing Rockhill to take an unpaid position with the American Legation
A legation was a diplomatic representative office of lower rank than an embassy. Where an embassy was headed by an ambassador, a legation was headed by a Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, minister. Ambassadors diplomatic rank, out ...
in Peking
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
. After perfecting his language skills, he was upgraded to a paid position. In the 1880s, he made two extended expeditions into western China
Western China (, or rarely ) is the west of China. In the definition of the Chinese government, Western China covers one municipality (Chongqing), six provinces (Sichuan
Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively r ...
, Mongolia
Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...
and Tibet
Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...
. He sent an account of his travels to the Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...
for publication (as ''The Land of the Lamas'' (1891)), and in 1893, he was awarded the Patron's Medal
The Royal Geographical Society's Gold Medal consists of two separate awards: the Founder's Medal 1830 and the Patron's Medal 1838. Together they form the most prestigious of the society's awards. They are given for "the encouragement and promoti ...
of the Royal Geographical Society
The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...
. Artifacts from Rockhill's expeditions are in the collections of the Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History
The National Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. In 2021, with 7 ...
, Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...
, and archival materials are in their associated archives, the National Anthropological Archives
The National Anthropological Archives is a collection of historical and contemporary documents maintained by the Smithsonian Institution, which document the history of anthropology and the world's peoples and cultures. It is located in the Smi ...
.
Rockhill wrote a glossary of Salar in his 1894 book ''Diary of a Journey through Mongolia and Tibet in 1891 and 1892''.
During the administration of President of the United States
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...
Grover Cleveland
Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. Cleveland is the only president in American ...
, Rockhill served as Third Assistant Secretary of State Assistant Secretary of State (A/S) is a title used for many executive positions in the United States Department of State, ranking below the under secretaries. A set of six assistant secretaries reporting to the under secretary for political affairs ...
from April 17, 1894, until February 13, 1896. He then served as United States Assistant Secretary of State Assistant Secretary of State (A/S) is a title used for many executive positions in the United States Department of State, ranking below the under secretaries. A set of six assistant secretaries reporting to the under secretary for political affairs ...
under United States Secretary of State
The United States secretary of state is a member of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States and the head of the U.S. Department of State. The office holder is one of the highest ranking members of the president's Ca ...
Richard Olney
Richard Olney (September 15, 1835 – April 8, 1917) was an American statesman.
He served as United States Attorney General in the cabinet of Grover Cleveland and Secretary of State under Cleveland.
As attorney general, Olney used injunct ...
from February 14, 1896, until May 10, 1897.
In 1897, President William McKinley
William McKinley (January 29, 1843September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until his assassination in 1901. As a politician he led a realignment that made his Republican Party largely dominant in ...
named Rockhill U.S. Minister to Greece, a position he held from September 25, 1897, to April 27, 1899. He concurrently served as Minister to Serbia from May 7, 1898, to April 27, 1899, and as Minister to Romania from May 18, 1898, to April 27, 1899. From 1899 to 1905, he served as Director-General of the International Union of American Republics.
With the outbreak of the Boxer Rebellion
The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, the Boxer Insurrection, or the Yihetuan Movement, was an anti-foreign, anti-colonial, and anti-Christian uprising in China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by ...
, U.S. Secretary of State John Hay
John Milton Hay (October 8, 1838July 1, 1905) was an American statesman and official whose career in government stretched over almost half a century. Beginning as a private secretary and assistant to Abraham Lincoln, Hay's highest office was Un ...
, who knew little of the Far East, turned to Rockhill for guidance. As such, Rockhill drafted a memorandum that spelled out the famous Open Door Policy
The Open Door Policy () is the United States diplomatic policy established in the late 19th and early 20th century that called for a system of equal trade and investment and to guarantee the territorial integrity of Qing China. The policy wa ...
towards China; this memorandum was circulated to Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
, Britain
Britain most often refers to:
* The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands
* Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...
, Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
, France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
, Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
, and Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
and in March 1900, Secretary Hay announced that all the Great Powers
A great power is a sovereign state that is recognized as having the ability and expertise to exert its influence on a global scale. Great powers characteristically possess military and economic strength, as well as diplomatic and soft power in ...
had signed off on the Open Door Policy. Rockhill was then despatched as President McKinley's special envoy
Diplomatic rank is a system of professional and social rank used in the world of diplomacy and international relations. A diplomat's rank determines many ceremonial details, such as the order of precedence at official processions, table seating ...
, where he represented the U.S. in the Conference of Ministers that followed the ending of the Boxer Rebellion. During the negotiations surrounding the Boxer Protocol, Rockhill argued against full war reparations
War reparations are compensation payments made after a war by one side to the other. They are intended to cover damage or injury inflicted during a war.
History
Making one party pay a war indemnity is a common practice with a long history.
R ...
, instead encouraging the Great Powers to settle for a lump sum of $333 million in reparations to be divided amongst the Powers in proportion to their expenses incurred in intervening in China. At Rockhill's urging, the American share of war reparations was used to fund student exchanges between China and the U.S.(a program known as the Boxer Indemnity Scholarship Program
The Boxer Indemnity Scholarship Program () was a scholarship program for Chinese students to be educated in the United States, funded by the . In 1908, the U.S. Congress passed a bill to return to China the excess of Boxer Indemnity, amounting to ...
).
In 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...
appointed Rockhill U.S. Minister to China, a position he held from June 17, 1905, until June 1, 1909. This appointment came in the wake of the British Expedition to Tibet
The British expedition to Tibet, also known as the Younghusband expedition, began in December 1903 and lasted until September 1904. The expedition was effectively a temporary invasion by British Indian Armed Forces under the auspices of the T ...
(1903–1904) that had forced Thubten Gyatso, 13th Dalai Lama into isolation. Learning that Rockhill spoke Tibetan, the Dalai Lama entered into a correspondence that was to last until Rockhill's death. In June 1908, Rockhill made a five-day on-foot trek to Mount Wutai to meet the Dalai Lama and successfully convinced the Dalai Lama to seek peace with China and Britain.
In 1909, President William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) was the 27th president of the United States (1909–1913) and the tenth chief justice of the United States (1921–1930), the only person to have held both offices. Taft was elected pr ...
named Rockhill Minister to Russia and Rockhill held this post from January 11, 1910, until June 17, 1911. President Taft then named him Minister to the Ottoman Empire, and he held this post from August 28, 1911, until November 20, 1913.
Death
Appointed Advisor to the President of China, Yuan Shi Kai, in 1914, Rockhill sailed from San Francisco for China via Japan aboard the SS ''Chiyo Maru''.[''Sacramento Union'', No. 39, 9 Dec 1914.] Afflicted by a severe cold he contracted in San Francisco, he developed pleurisy
Pleurisy, also known as pleuritis, is inflammation of the membranes that surround the lungs and line the chest cavity (pleurae). This can result in a sharp chest pain while breathing. Occasionally the pain may be a constant dull ache. Other sy ...
on the voyage, and had to leave the ship on arrival at Honolulu
Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...
for treatment. Four days later, the pleurisy overcome, the ordeal occasioned him heart failure and he died in hospital on 8 December 1914, aged 60. Rockhill is buried in the East Cemetery in Litchfield, Connecticut
Litchfield is a town in and former county seat of Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 8,192 at the 2020 census. The boroughs of Bantam and Litchfield are located within the town. There are also three unincorporat ...
.
Selected works
''Udânavarga: A Collection of Verses from the Buddhist Canon''
(1883)
''Prâtimoksha sutra; ou, Le traité d'émancipation selon la version tibétaine: avec notes et extraits du Dulva (Vinaya)'
(1884)
* with Ernst Leumann
Ernst Leumann (11 April 1859 – 24 April 1931) was a Swiss jainologist, pioneer of the research of Jainism and Turkestan languages whose work is in consideration even today.
Career
His studies on linguistics in Zürich and Geneva and of Sanskr ...
and Nanjo Bunyu
Nanjō Bun'yū (南条文雄) (1 July 1849 – 9 November 1927) was a Buddhist priest and one of the most important modern Japanese scholars of Buddhism. Nanjō was born to the abbot of Seiunji Temple (誓運寺), part of the Shinshu Ōtani-ha ...
''The Life of the Buddha: And the Early History of His Order'
(1884)
''The Land of the Lamas: Notes of a Journey Through China, Mongolia and Tibet''
(1891
''Explorations in Mongolia and Tibet''
(1893)
''Diary of a Journey Through Mongolia and Thibet in 1891 and 1892''
(1894
''Journey through Mongolia and Tibet, 1891 and 1892''
(1894)
''Notes on the Ethnology of Tibet: Based on the Collections in the U.S. National Museum''
(1895)
''The Journey of William of Rubruck to the Eastern Parts of the World''
(1900
* with Sarat Chandra Das
Sarat Chandra Dash ( bn, শরৎচন্দ্র দাশ) (18 July 1849 – 5 January 1917) was an Indian scholar of Tibetan language and culture most noted for his two journeys to Tibet in 1879 and in 1881–1882.
Biography
Born in Chi ...
''Journey to Lhasa and Central Tibet''
(1902)
''China's Intercourse with Korea from the XVth Century To 1895''
(1905)
''Diplomatic Audiences at the Court of China''
(1905)
''The Dalai Lamas of Lhasa and Their Relations with the Manchu Emperors of China. 1644-1908''
(1910)
"Diplomatic Missions to the Court of China: The Kotow Question I,"
''The American Historical Review,'' Vol. 2, No. 3 (Apr., 1897), pp. 427–442.
"Diplomatic Missions to the Court of China: The Kotow Question II,"
''The American Historical Review,'' Vol. 2, No. 4 (Jul., 1897), pp. 627–643.
Edited works
''Journey to Lhasa and Central Tibet''
(1902)
References
Further reading
*
* Susan Meinheit,
A FINDING AID FOR THE ROCKHILL TIBETAN COLLECTION AT THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
- (Note: This finding aid is based on a paper presented at the 11th Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies, Konigswinter, Germany, August 2006.)
* Karl E. Meyer and Shareen Blair Brysac, ''Tournament of Shadows: the Great Game and the Race for Empire in Central Asia'' (Basic Books, 2006)
* Peter Stanley, "The Making of an American Sinologist: W. Rockhill and the Open Door," ''Perspectives in American History ''11 (1977-1978): 419-460.
* Paul A. Varg, ''Open Door Diplomat: The Life of W.W. Rockhill'' (University of Illinois Press, 1952)
* Kenneth Wimmell, ''William Woodville Rockhill: Scholar-Diplomat of the Tibetan Highlands'' (Orchid Press, 2003)
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rockhill, William Woodville
1854 births
1914 deaths
United States Assistant Secretaries of State
Officers of the French Foreign Legion
Tibetologists
Explorers of Tibet
Ambassadors of the United States to Greece
Ambassadors of the United States to Serbia
Ambassadors of the United States to Romania
Ambassadors of the United States to China
Ambassadors of the United States to Russia
Ambassadors of the United States to the Ottoman Empire
19th-century American writers
20th-century American writers
19th-century American diplomats
20th-century American diplomats