Letter of the Emperor of China to the Prince Regent: "A Curious Document" Recalled Taken from "The Times" of about 1816, the following comment on and translations of a letter by the Emperor of Ching, Kia King, dated the lst year, Tib moon, 2000, nakes tic resting reading. Much hes happened no, September i, 165, o the Prine Regent of Grevt Britain, since that time and the insularity this country has broken down considerably although the process on Not Vet reperded ae complete. It should be noted that the article in "The Timeg vous Moded, "The Chinese Embassy" and has been copied exactly except that Gross-heads have been inserted.
Our readers will peruse the following curious document with some interest, more especially as it has not been published in any of the several quarios relating to the Chinese embassy lately undertaken and completed by Lord Amherst and others.
The arrogance and self-importance of the Chinese are proverbial; they think there is no such nation in the world as. themselves; and, in some respects, they are right; they hold all mankind their inferiors and tributary Jes: in this light they view Great Britain, and consider her composition for Canton a3 a tribute. The Prince Regent, to whom the subsequent loiter addressed, is considered merely as "favoured dependent Sovereign, whose Envoys, have, however, been guilty of a high offence, in not knock-Ing their heads nine times against the ground, The subsequent is the Chinese account of the causes of the failure of the late mission to Peking; it is original epistle in all senses of the word, and must have produced great merriment at our Court. The writer Is no less than the Emperor of China, and the translation was made by Sir George Staunton, by order of the Prince Regent, The Letter Lerren rnomt mur Exstor or Cinva Tur Pace Recrwr, "The Supreme Sovereign of the Earth, who has received it from Heaven and revolving time, issues this Imperial Mandate to the King of! England, with the purport of which him be most fully acquainted.
"Your country, O King, is situated at an Immense distance Beyond a vast ocean; yet you send to me, in the sincerity of your heart, an offering of devotedness, and turn with a zea-Tous affection to the transforming. In-nonces which emanate from' the middle kingdom (China), On a former occasion, in the fifty eight' year of Kien-lung, at a. time when the reign of the exalted, the honourable, and the immaculate' Em-error was approaching towards its lose, you sent-an Ambassador across the seas to the residence.
"At that time, your Ambassador, approaching the throne with ven= teration and respect, performed the accustomed ceremony without exceeding or falling short of what is required, and duly observed all the forms with proper decorum: and was then enabled to look up, and to receive the favour and affection of the son of Heaven, to see his Majesty's celestial face, fo be entertained at a rand banquet, and: valuable him.
In this present year, you, O King, have thought fit "again. to. send an Ambassader to our Court, with a written representation, and with orders to present me with the pro-uctions of your country, on his being. introduced to my presence.
"I, the Emperor, having reflected that' you, O King, had done so. Sincerity of heart, and from feelings of respect and obedience, rejoiced ex-/ceedingly, at this intelligence: 1 caused forthwith the former records be examined; and 1 ordered the proper number of officers of State Await the arrival of your Ambassador, that, on the very day of his approach he Palace, he might, in all due respect, behold the Imperial person, and then be entertained with a grand festival, according to all things, and with "exactly the same ceremonies which were observed in the preceding reign.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.