The Imperial Commissioners fom China, The visit of your Highness and of your Excellencies to this country t of groat signifioanc nary Societies—ot! in Chins, unite very artily in the welcome extended to you. They express an earnest hope that Your enquiries and observations in the winds you are visiting, will be of groat service to your Government and people.
They avail themselves of the opportunity afforded by your presence in London to state the reasons why they send missionaries to Chins, and to mal clear the spirit in which their work is carried on. They thus approach you in the confidence of securing your apprecistion of their motives and aims; and in the hope that ea your return to China you will exert your powerful influence to prevent or dissipate those misunderstandings which from time to time cause anxiety to you and to them.
The object of their missionaries in China is distinct from that of reprosentatives of foreign Governments and of commercial enterprise. They ba nothing to do with the annexation territory, the morements of naval and
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.