Embassies To China.
The Times, 1824-01-24T00:00:00

[h i'alUowing artiele lf Mr. laproth,. on emblasies to China, extru-ed from the 4siatie Journail of Decemnber last, seaficentlv ei 3ins the reasoni w1h Eura eahs have hitheeia failedjin thcir attempts to establish Eonoutrable ir,iLzatic relanions with the IC Celestial Empire." ' E;u- ccqluded,in 17?3,a treaty with Chirnn,by vwhichihe fron- tire tween the tm-o empires -as definitively fixed, annd their trade. rt&jrocally mtablishadan olid bases. After the reading of t'his t..-asy~ ch c. iins no hing hrnmiliatiag for-Russia, we shouldde. .c te carrllrm if nre should suppose that this Power was regarded La an el~l cby Chira. In the zame tretry, there is nothing which uld . ac-e to presume that Chida claims any supremacy R v_ia. b-at let any one reed the description o that empre I [ue cfidal Geopgrap of the landhou, aed lhe Will te thza the mor.:iiy of Czars is treated as a ttate subject- =4 W tSa Prince w'uo governs the " Empire of the Centre." The Moad evea by which the Russian ambassadors and the Ra.re.an fri. &zlae Mst 12 recerrlA is fLxed by a Chinese regulation. Some di- PIOZI.ti~st will, perhams, ansner, ttiatginc Chluna has never received ~ tanlles murk nf Enbmision from Rsissia, the ridiculous vanity o ~tmer cfigt to he treated with, that contempt which such an sasra-al pretensi on deaervae. These diplomatists, howevler, 'n-ill ~atsie wroingr in sha eys of the Chinese, and of the luro. ,es Araas caable of fim:rng a judg'ment on the subject. li credingto received ideas in Oina,eveiyforeig-nPo-cer awhich noc-u aa te the Eimperor ackswa'rledges 5Ps F.ACTO sub- X- to his Mlajest. In Chinese this act cf submission is wteesd by the wo (l 1ni*5e (to come to render tiomage). This ran is asppliEe generally only to the first =m4ssy of a nation O express the subsequent mis ions, the Chinevs use the words ala (tl=loc to poay nbate). If Ye openiCheannalsofChina, we hall sWc that in the yar 16 of our era, the Rdman Emperor iM ar- e-Is Aurelius) eennt an embassy to Offer 'ibtal to IlonoiW of thle B . xty ?tAe 'ao C'2, that in iI3l =olllr emlassy brought tribute to Ann, nnd thatthe same thing,ook place in 63 and 719. We shall r eti;s find, in the 55tOsamne t.'s, that Spain his submitted to the t7ip~ smnce lGi6, hlolland since 1I53, and the Pope since 1725. 'matho ap of the world, publisied at Pekin ~.bian-lonna L.., 13 fcdlQwmg observation :'- In the 513th year of Englishb, wyho inhabit the north-western ex- rc;rnitv af the pinb. and whlo in anciant times had rdever penetrated to China, tr~s n-vesc rn oreans td come and do homnage to the Esiivr.' The second English aeasion will be FBid in the annals of be e;Pire tO haze Cori e to payre2 's Thus we ree that the s:nding of an embassy is a mark of sub. M.saa0M, end that the presents vzluch it brings are regarded as things due to the Em' mr. Thus they are called Kozng (rrctl?us or trib.t).. Trhe word Koung expresses whatever 3n interior *ef'ers to his natutal superi6r. I am aware that oesal per=ec,s have thought that, for the promotion of political or eninmcrenI interests, Governments mnight sbtit their eyes to the ar- ro$at cataity of the Chinese, provided the embassy fulfilled its Rtst-3#1 object. To this opinion we might subscribe, if the fact - c.M established that any embacss into China cotild ever attain its 'bject; but the Chinese are so far from entering, into negotiations 'ithl the envoys ofiforeign Powars, that they look upon them only as agents sent on the part of the master lo pay tribute to his superior. "The fixed and invari2ble manner of treating ivth the Govern- ment of Cbina is, that of sending in writing thle requests to he rnade to the Governor of the province whose frontiers weappruach. Tire latter transmit them to the Li fan yozaon (or College of Foreign Affairs3) r hich never fails to ret-arn an answer. But there is no example of the Chinese having treated wvith an ambassador, unless heeame at the head of an army. The Mandchot have made tame concesions to Russia., because they feared her at zhe time, anti because they foresaw that the trade on the fronters of Siberia,and the tlussian caravans who might proceetd to Pekin, might benefit the Mlongois f'alka, ruined by their long wars with the Galdeo. of the 41l:icts. ' In other 'ircumintances, and at another time, the Court of Pekin would not Y,robably have been Ro tractable. To senlt ernbassies to China, is tierefore, the most useless and absurd labour that can be undereacen, both becautse they can lead to no intelligible result, and sere eticly to place European Governmenta in a humiliating position. Let the ambassadors fulfil or resist thte ceremenies presciibed by the la.'as ef the Celestial Empire, is a matter of no importance. The evil which they wish to avoid by refusing the nine genuflections, is al- cready committed by the very arrival of the mission." It is unf'ortunate that the British Governmellt had not the knowledge of these simple facts,or diid not pay attention to this t-ery aecessible information, beiore they sent the last mission so C(hina. SIPASSf s To Xmt -. .- :