The Sun.
London, England, 1827-10-09 00:00:00

RUSSIA AND CHINA,

,It is a fact, perhaps not generally known, that the
Russian Government has-had, for a century past, a
regularly established religious and scientific mission
at Pekin, not merely tolerated or connived at by the
Chinese Government, but openly existing under the
sanction of a formal treaty, roncluded in the year
1728, the fifth article of which is in the following
terms.:-L-" The Russians shall henceforth occupy at
Pekin the Konen or Court, which they now inhabit.
According to the desire of the Aussian Ambassador,
a church shall be built with the assistantb of the
Chinese Government. The Dtiest who now resides
there, and three others who ale expected, shall live
in the Kvatan above-mentioned. These three priests
shall be attached to the same church, and receive
the same provisions as the present priest. 'rite
Russians shall be permitted 'to worship their God,
according to the ritet or their religion. Four young
students, and two of a more advanced age, acquaint-
ed with the Russian and Latin languages, shall also
be received into this house, the Ambassador wish-
ing to leave them at Pekin to learn the languages of
the country.' They shall be maintained ei the ex-
pence of the Emperor, and shall be pertnittesl to re-
turn to their own country as soon as they have
finished their studies. The maintenance of the
mission' annually costs the Chinese Government
above 1,000 rubles, and 9,000 pounds of rice ;- and
the Russian Government 16,950 silver rubles :
of this last sum, 1,000 rubles are set apart for the
maintainance and instruction of the young Albazins
who live at Pekin, and who are descendants of the
Cossacks of Albaain. The .translator of alt interest-
ing account of.the travels of a Russian in China very
justly remarks, that it is natural to inquire what ad-
vantages lite.rature and science have derived froM
the Russians having thus possesSed, for a hundred
years, an opportunity which no'other Christian na-
tion has enjoy d, and• which; had it been allowed to
natives or tngland, France, or Germany, would
most probably have long since made us fully ac-
quainted with every thing relative tothe history, the '
institutioes, the Government, &c. of this great em-
pire and its extensive dependencies? To this no
answer of a satisfactory nature can be given.
Although the Russian, Government possess the
above-mentioned privilege,-the Celestial Empire gra-
tifies its vanity by retaining Russia in the lists of its
tributary states ; and in the Hoei-tian or fundamen-
tal code of the empire, where every thing relative to
the embassies from those countries which are ac-
counted tributaries is regulated, there is a chapter
treating of the manner of receiving the Russian Em-
bassies. It is there laid down, that the Ambassador
shall be daily supplied with a sheep, a vessel of wine,
a pound of tea, a pitcher of milk, two ounces of
butter, two fish, two cups of oil for the lamps, a
pound of salted cabbage, four ounces of soya, four
ounces of vinegar, and an ounce of salt. Every
ninth day he receives from the Emperor's own table,
as a mark of special favour, four dishes and ten tea-
pots' full of tea prepared in the Mantchoo fashion.
No other Ambassador is treated With so much at-
tention. The provisions furnished to the suite of the
Ambassador are also. specified in the Hoei-tian.
It is remarked by M. Klaproth, who has published
a' work on the subject of the last embassies from Eng-
land and Russia, that the former is much more fa-
vourably situated with respect to China than the
latter; and that the representative of the empire of
the Czars was called upon to submit to certain hu-
miliating formalities which were dispensed with as it
related to the British Ambassador : this difference is
accounted for, among other reasons, by Russia being
considered as a tributary state.

CORRESPONDENCE.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

SIR,—In an Evening Paper of Friday last ap-
peared an article commemorative of Dryden's juve-
nile days, of his careless disposition, of the preco-
cious brilliancy of his genius, and of a former usage
of Westminster School, which exacted from the head
boys daily comments on some passage in Scripture.
With the general truth conveyed in this paragraph
I was, long since, made acquainted by private tradi-
tion, passed down to me from my ancestor, Dr.
Richard Busby : but the transcriber of the youthful
poet's unrivalled, though extemporaneous couplet,
will allow me to correct his copy :

Instead of
" The modest water out'd his pow'r divine,
It saw its GNI, and blusli'd itself to wine ;"
Read—
" The modest water, aw'd by POIV'I
Cunfess'd the God, and blush'd itself to wine•"
I am, Sir, your humble Servant,
THOMAS BUSBY

[With all due respect for the authority of .eur gifted
Correspondent, we have seen somewhere (we believe in
Johnson's Life of Dryden) a different version of the matter,
and one more sublimely condensed. It was—
" The conscious water saw its God and blosh'd."—En. ]

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