The Hawaiian gazette., 1873-10-15
HAWAIIANGAZETTE
A Great victory over Celestial Ex.
cIusiTencss.
Correspondence Of S. 2. Dullstln.I


ears, and the sight of official hats, official
ropes, official boots and officials generally,
is perpetually before your eyes. ss-e
All this has been heightened within the
past few months, for Peking has again
witnessed the pomp and pageantry Of q
Royal wedding and an Imperial corona,
lion. The particulars of the Emperor's
marriage, so far rs they are known, and
of the assumption of Imperial dignity
afterwards, have all been made known to
your readers. 4
Ever since the Emperor assembled the
throne, the attention of the whole civil
lied world has been attracted to this cap
ltal 1t has been known that
.- THE AUDIENCE QUESTION,
Which, for various reasons, has been SO
long in allegiance, would be reopencd on
the part of the foreign Ministers residing
here as soon as the regency Of the EN-
press should end by the assumption of the
affairs of government by the Emperor.
The question of a personal audience with
the Emperor by the ambassadors of West
ern nations 10 China has been denied by
the rulers of China from time inmemorial,
unless the ambassador perform
THE Kow.row.
The literal meaning of this word Kow-
Tow is, to knock the head upon the
ground. 1t is performed by all the man.
darins of China and its tributary States,
and others, when admitted into the pres
ence of the Emperor 1t consists in fall
ing upon the hands and knees upon the
ground, and knocking the head against
the ground three or nine times, according
to the rank OF the mandarin 1t takes
its rise in the belief that the Emperor of
China is the Son of Heaven, before whom
no man should presume to stand. The
Emperor being the Son of Heaven, is
commissioned by Heaven, Ruler of the
Central or Middle Kingdom, tChina) All
within the -Four Seas" are his, and to him
all other earthly potentates are inferior
and owe him reverence, obedience, al
legiance and flial respect. He is "Thc Son
of Heaven" high and mighty above all.
This is the theory of the Chinese Gov
ernmcnt. 1t is what the people believe,
and what they teach their children to be.
lieve. They regard foreigners as "out-
side barbarians," and when they speak of
us as foreign devils" they frequently do
so without the least thought that the cpl.
tibet is opProbrious. The Emperor himself
ofcourse thinks we are all a pack of uncivil-
lied barbarous creatures, living beyond
the confines of civilization. Why should
not the youthful Emperor think in this
way? Since he has come to the years of
discretion he has never been outside the
high walls which surround his palace, ex-
cept on two occasions, and no foreigner
has been allowed inside. So he only be-
lieves the stories told him by his nurse
The Emperor also believes that we are
his subjects His is the Middle King
dom;" the central, the great kingdom.
All other countries lying outside are tri-
butary states; and these Ambassadors
whom we send to Peking as the repre-
sentatives of "great, free, enlightened
and sovereign people," are, according to
the Chinese idea, "Tribute Bearers"-to
the capital of the "Central Flowery King
donl"-I know that people in the United
States, many of them at least. look upon
this as a pleasant joke, and many sensible
persons believe that the"kow-tow" is on
ly a simple question of court etiquette" |
and that all this Chinese idea Of suprerna-
cy is pleasant delusion of the Oricntals,
which it would be folly to combat. But
to any one that lived long in China, es-
pecially in Peking, and has studied the
Chinese character aud their system of
government, it is painfully apparent that
this delusion is dangerous one, and that
there is principle underlying it which,
if not combatted in proper way, must be
a continuous and ever recurring source of
trouble between China and the rest of the
world q 4J f1Haa4 fsi ~
This question of audience with the EN-
Peror of China obtains its Importance in
The political and diplomatic relations of
Western nations with China, because it
involves nothing less than the recognition
of the sOeseigntsI of all Western nations
by the Chinese Government. Shall this
ridiculous claim of China to sovereignty
md dominion over all nations be tolerated
onger by the great powers of Europe
and America. Re& gfF
Must the Ambassadors and Ministers
rom Western nations accredited to China
pc refused an audience with her Sovereign
simply because they will not acknowledge
lin as universal King, and fall down be.
ore him as the "Son Of Heaven?" As
matters are theysmust, or they may con.
ent themselves with coming to Peking,
md ,,-ifho,,f- av,xv raoor,n;,;o,,--,,, .l,. -.