Edmund Roberts (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.

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.

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.

[14] 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.

[16]: p.121 In the wake of public outcry, President Jackson ordered Commodore John Downes of the frigate Potomac, 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.

As Potomac was departing the schooner Boxer was nearing commissioning; Peacock, outfitted for exploration but due to lack of funds diverted to duty in the West Indies, had returned for re-fit.

[19] 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.

Within two leagues (9.7 km) of Lamma Island or Wanshan Archipelago, she took aboard a maritime pilot after settling on a fee of thirteen dollars and a bottle of rum.

There is no indication that Finch's report was forwarded to State, or that Roberts had seen it, even though conditions were practically the same in all nearby "Sinicized" tributary kingdoms, i.e., conduct oneself circumspectly, with no guarantees one way or the other.

[26] Six weeks after arriving at Linting, and after enduring several days of rainy and squally weather, Peacock sailed for the bay of Turan (Da Nang) as the best point to communicate with Huế, about fifty miles distant, it being impossible to anchor off the bar of Hue due to the East Asian Monsoon.

Once it was learned that he was the principal person in the village, he was invited down to a seat on the gun-deck, where he was closely questioned as to just where the ship was and the extent of government and defenses.

[28] Miller says a modern Vietnamese suggests Roberts seemed to lack "diplomatic flexibility," and his descriptions of the people are "denuded of all goodwill and understanding.

I immediately observed to him, that it was necessary to commence with a whole sheet.... Having determined to give them, in the first place, the names of all the counties, and the two hundred and odd towns in my native state, as well as the mountains, rivers, and lakes, which would supply the places of titles, and then, if they were not satisfied, to proceed in the same manner with all the other states in the Union... &c., would probably occupy them for some days, if they had had sufficient perseverance to proceed to the end of what I intended should be endless.

I then proceeded with the counties of Rockingham, Strafford, Merrimack....[32] The opening line subsequently appears above his signature to the treaty he successfully negotiates with Thailand.

[35] A bill for the settlement of the accounts of Edmund Roberts, late diplomatic agent of the United States to Cochin China, Muscat, and Siam, proposed that his legal representatives be authorized to draw the salary of a chargé d'affaires, without the outfit, less the per diem already paid, from the time of his appointment January 27, 1832, until six months after his death June 13, 1836.

[38] His mission was commemorated in a historical perspective on gifts to the United States of America at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History.