Arizona citizen., 1877-06-30
THE CITIZEN.
.S4TUEDAY, JUNE 30. 1877.
Bret Harte's Mission.

A Washington dispatch says that Bret Harte wants a mission, and that he would prefer that of China No doubt a good many people would like "a mission, and even the Chinese mis- sion, but what special claims Mir. Harte has io that or any other diplo maIic position we really do not see. His contributions 10 the literature of tbe age-what are they? Perhaps the fact that he is best known by the yer ses entitled The Heather Chinee, g may have suggested his fitness for the Chinese Mission, hut we do not per- ceive that there is in that composition any particular indication of diplomatic skill, and besides, it does not seem tO be sufficiently recognized that the government of China might regard the appointment of the author of these lines in the light of an insult. For the Mongollan citizen is there libeled most alrociously. He is represented as being so saturated with deceit that he even cheats an experienced Ameri can card player, and as providing him. self with SD large quantity of lXira packs as to show d total absence of moral attributes. Moreover, the Heath len Chinee Is there represented as be- ing subjected 10 retributive justice of a frighttul, because vague, description. II is true the narrator (presumably MT Bret Harte) attempts to eXculpate him self by saying-
 "In the scene that ensued did not take
 hand"
 But there are dark InsinuatIons in the following lines:
 |" But the floor it was strewed, like the
 leaves on the strand
 With the cards that An Sin had been
 hiding,
 In the game he did not understand"
 It is obvious to the meanest intclli- gence that the poet here shrinks from finishing his description. He has brought us to the crisis. He has paint ed the exposure of An Sins chicanery. He has represented tine wrath of the unhappy Mongolian's Bartnor He has, finally, displayed scene in which articles admitted to have been recently upon the person of An Sin, are strew- ed over the floor like leaves on the strand" But from the final catastro- Phe he shrinks, as We have pointed out, and he has left the fate of the wTetched An Sin in darkness and un. certainty. It appears to us that this is quite sufficient to de bar the appointment of Mir Harte to lhe Chinese Mission. For what would be the humiliation of the United States if, upon the official presentation of the new Minister, the Emperor of China, his form agilated, and hIs imperial features quivering with emotion, should poIntedly inquire: " MT Harte, " we desire 10 know what became of |" An Sin?" Of course NIT. Harie could not answer. He would be liter ally overwhelmed; and in the confu- sIon and agony of guilty conscienceI II lS ih Sciblc tlldt Ht lllSIl SdS anu uOI things which would bring on war be- tween the two countries Noi It is perfectly clear that the man who stands for " The Heather Chinee"i can never represent the United States at the Court of Peking. And we may remark, en passant, that though this deed excludes him from competition, we could possibly find sufficient req sons for obiectng to his appointment. even if be had not written the fatal verses upon which-mOre than upon any other of his unequal and some what fragile produciions-his literary fame rests.-Record-U UnIon.