at Amoy as interpreter he was transferred in the same capacity to Canton. In May 1854 he was promoted to be consul at Amoy, and in 1855 was chosen as secretary to the mission to Bangkok, being largely instrumental in negotiating the first European treaty with Siam. In June 1856 he returned to Canton as acting consul, a position which brought him into renewed contact with Commissioner Yeh, whose insolence and obstinacy led to the second China War. Yeh had now met a man of even greater power and determination than himself, and when, in October 1856, as a climax to many outrages, Yeh seized the British lorcha “Arrow” and made prisoners of her crew, Parkes at once closed with his enemy. In response to a strongly worded despatch from Parkes, Sir John Bowring, governor of Hong-Kong, placed matters in the hands of Admiral Sir M. Seymour, who took Canton at the close of the same month but had not a sufficient force to hold it. In December 1857 Canton was again bombarded by Admiral Seymour. Parkes, who was attached to the admiral’s staff, was the first man to enter the city, and himself tracked down and arrested Commissioner Yeh. As the city was to be held, an allied commission was appointed to govern it, consisting of two Englishmen, of whom one was Parkes, and a French naval officer. Parkes virtually governed this city of a million inhabitants for three years. Meanwhile the treacherous attack at Taku upon Sir Frederick Bruce led to a renewal of hostilities in the north, and Parkes was ordered up to serve as interpreter and adviser to Lord Elgin (July, 1860). In pursuance of these duties he went in advance of the army to the city of Tungchow, near Peking, to arrange a meeting between Lord Elgin and the Chinese commissioners who had been appointed to draw up the preliminaries of peace. While thus engaged he, Mr (afterwards Lord) Loch, Mr de Norman, Lord Elgin’s secretary of legation, Mr Bowlby, the Times correspondent, and others, were treacherously taken prisoners (Sept. 18, 1860). Parkes and Loch were carried off to the prison of the board of punishments at Peking, where they were separately herded with the lowest class of criminals. After ten days' confinement in this den of iniquity they were removed to a temple in the city, where they were comfortably housed and fed, and from which, after a further detention, they were granted their liberty. For this signal instance of treachery Lord Elgin burned down the Summer Palace of the emperor. Towards the end of 1860 Parkes returned to his post at Canton. On the restoration (Oct. 1861) of the city to the Chinese he returned to England on leave, when he was made K.C.B. for his services; he had received the companionship of the order in 1860. On his return to China he served for a short time as consul at Shanghai, and was then appointed minister in Japan (1865). For eighteen years he held this post, and throughout that time he strenuously used his influence in support of the Liberal party of Japan. So earnestly did he throw in his lot with these reformers that he became a marked man, and incurred the bitter hostihty of the reactionaries, who on three separate occasions attempted to assassinate him. In 1882 he was transferred to Peking. While in Peking his health failed, and he died of malarial fever on the 21st of March 1885. In 1856 Sir H. (then Mr) Parkes married Miss Fanny Plumer, who died in 1879.
The standard Life is by Stanley Lane-Poole (1894). (R. K. D.)
PARKES, SIR HENRY (1815–1896), Australian statesman, was born at Stoneleigh, in Warwickshire, on the 27th of May 1815. The son of parents in very humble circumstances, he received only a rudimentary education, and at an early age was obliged to earn his living as a common labourer. Failing to make his way in England, he emigrated to Australia in 1839, and after a time settled in Sydney as an ivory-turner. Conscious
of his great powers, he worked unremittingly to repair the
deficiencies of his education, and developed a genuine taste for
literature, and a gift for versification which won the approval
of so severe a judge as Tennyson. His first volume of poems
was published in 1842, under the title of Stolen Moments. He
now began to take an active part in politics, and soon showed
himself the wielder of an incisive style as a leader-writer, and a
popular orator of unrivalled influence. He took a prominent
part in the movement against the transportation of convicts,
and in 1849 started the Empire newspaper to inculcate his policy
of attacking abuses while remaining loyal to the Crown. The
paper at once made its mark, but owing to financial difficulties
ceased to appear in 1858. One of the reforms for which Parkes
fought most strenuously was the full introduction of responsible
government. He was returned to the legislative council under
the old constitution as member for Sydney, and on the establishment
of a legislative assembly in 1856 was elected for
East Sydney. His parliamentary career was twice interrupted
by pecuniary embarrassments; indeed, he never acquired the
art of making money, and in spite of a public subscription raised
in 1887 died in absolute penury. He was elected for East
Sydney in 1859 at the first general election under the new
electoral act, and sat till 1861, when he was sent to England
as a commissioner for promoting emigration. He made a
prolonged stay in England, and described his impressions in a
series of letters to the Sydney Morning Herald, some of which
were reprinted in 1869 under the title of Australian Views of
England. He returned to Australia in 1863, and, re-entering
the Assembly, became colonial secretary in the Martin ministry
from 1866 to 1868. He succeeded in passing the Public Schools
Act of 1866, which for the first time instituted an efficient
system of primary education in the colony. His great chance
came in 1872, when the Martin ministry resigned on the question
of the sum payable by Victoria in lieu of border duties. Parkes
had for several years persistently advocated free imports as
a remedy for the financial distress of the colony. He now
became prime minister and colonial secretary; and rising to
the height of his opportunity, he removed the cause of dispute
by throwing the colony open to trade. He held office till 1875,
and on the fall of the Robertson ministry again became premier
and colonial secretary from March till August 1877. At the
end of this year he was made K.C.M.G. Finding that the state
of parties did not allow of the existence of a stable ministry,
he formed a coalition with Sir John Robertson, and became
premier and colonial secretary for the third time from December
1878 to January 1883. In 1882 and in 1883–1884 he paid
prolonged visits to England. Already distinguished among
Australian statesmen for breadth of outlook and passionate devotion
to the Empire, he returned with those qualities enhanced.
For a time he found himself almost in a position of isolation, but
in 1887 the policy of protection adopted by his successors
brought him again into office. His free trade policy was once
more successful. Other important measures of his administration
were the reform of the civil service, the prohibition of Chinese
immigration, and the railways and public works acts. He
fell from office in January 1889, but in the following March
became for the fifth time premier and colonial secretary. The
remainder of his life was chiefly devoted to the question of
Australian federation. The Federal Convention at Melbourne
in 1890 was mainly his work; and he presided over the convention
at Sydney in 1891, and was chiefly responsible for the draft
constitution there carried. Defeated in October 1891 on his
refusal to accept an eight hours’ day for coal-miners, he remained
in opposition for the rest of his career, sacrificing even free trade
in the hope of smoothing the path of federation. He died at
Sydney on the 27th of April 1896; but though he did not live
to see the realization of his efforts, he may justly be called the
Father of the Australian Commonwealth.
He published, in addition to the works already named and numerous volumes of verse, a collection of speeches on the Federal Government of Australia (1890), and an autobiography. Fifty Years in the making of Australian History (1892).
PARKIN, GEORGE ROBERT (1846–), British Canadian educationist, was born at Salisbury, New Brunswick, on the 8th of February 1846. His father had gone to Canada from Yorkshire. Parkin was the youngest of a family of thirteen, and after attending the local schools he started at an early age as a teacher. Bent on improving his own education, he then entered the university of New Brunswick, where he carried off high honours in 1866–1868. From 1868 to 1872 he was head master
