“No,” they replied, “but the case is not parallel. Your envoy is like one standing at the door of a house.”
“Admitting that, suppose me coming to the door of your house, on business with you, should I have to inform your servants what my business was before I could enter?”
The quick little interpreter, Miguel, said that this was agreeable to reason, a point which the deputies were less ready to admit. They could not allow the comparison. “Such,” said they, “are our laws. They must be implicitly obeyed.”
“Had there been an imperial order,” it was resumed, “or a written answer from the minister, then the business of the mission might be communicated to you; but how can it be communicated to persons of whose names and rank we are ignorant? The objects of the mission have, therefore, been stated in the letter, which it will be well for you to forward. This obstinacy in requiring to know our objects is insulting.”
Mr. Morrison was now pressed to return to the ship, to receive the envoy’s permission for them to see the contents of the packet, and correct the phraseology of the letters. Finding them determined not to receive it as it was, he accordingly left, after having repeated the necessity of paying for their presents, should their continual opposition cause the failure of the mission. They appeared personally desirous of conciliation, though their national vanity and prejudices would not suffer them to see any thing absurd or improper in the conduct which their orders obliged them to adopt.
In the evening Mr. Morrison again went on shore, with Chinese copies of the President’s letter to the emperor, and the envoy’s letter to the minister. Having required that the crowd of attendants, who usually stood round, listening to the conversation, should be dismissed, the envoy’s letter was shown to the deputies. They immediately proceeded to criticise every word and sentence, making several alterations and corrections, which, though of small importance, and generally unobjectionable, occupied considerable time. During the conversation, which the remarks, made on various parts of the letter, occasioned, the interpreter Miguel, apparently of his own accord, though probably prompted by his employers, remarked, that the President was equal to a king; but that the emperor was superior to a king. The natural inference, that the emperor of Cochin-China is superior to the President of the United States, he left to be deduced by others. The remark arose from an endeavour, on the part of the deputies, to have the President’s title placed lower than that of the emperor; not, they would have it believed, from an idea of inequality, but on account of the humbler style, which they insisted, the writing party must adopt in speaking of themselves. The envoy, it was answered, had taken that station, which courtesy to the person he addressed, required; but to place the President lower than the emperor, was a point of a different nature—a point which courtesy did not require, and which, the President and emperor being in every respect equal in rank, could never be complied with. Having at length concluded with the letter to the minister, every correction which could be considered derogatory or mean having been rejected, the deputies now desired to see a copy of the President’s letter. This was for some time objected to; and the impropriety of the demand, as well as the unpleasantness of compliance pointed out. They were resolved, however, to see it, and at length it was shown to them; but as they were proceeding to make alterations in it also, they were stopped, and told that the President’s letter could not be altered. Without making alterations in it, they insisted that the letter could not be forwarded; nor would they consent to receive it at all, unless, after seeing every correction made in both letters that they wished, the packet should be sealed before their eyes. They were told this want of confidence was offensive, and required a similar discredit of their authority, as their names and rank were unknown, and they had shown no credentials. They thereupon stated their names and rank, said they had no credentials; and argued that they too had been shown no credentials by the envoy. The envoy, it was replied, would show his powers to the proper individuals in fit time and place.
They still insisted on correcting the President’s letter. Mr. Morrison therefore returned, about nine, P. M., leaving the sealed package, addressed to the minister, in charge of the deputies.
REMONSTRANCE.
January thirty-first. Mr. Morrison, having made a copy of the envoy’s letter to the minister, with the corrections which were last night agreed to, as being immaterial, repaired on shore, in the forenoon, with authority to make such trivial alterations, in the translation of the President’s letter, as the deputies might desire. He first inquired if the packet that was left on shore had been sent to the minister; and was answered, that, not being corrected, it could not be forwarded. The deputies then repeated their unchanging expressions of a desire, on the part of the minister who had sent them, to arrange matters speedily, and on a friendly footing. Such conversation being little likely to lead to any good result, it was avoided; and they were requested, as they would not forward the packet, to return it. This was accordingly done; and the envelope being removed, the translation of the President’s letter was laid before them, accompanied with a remonstrance against their conduct, in insisting that it should be altered before they would forward it. About two hours were now spent in objecting to particular words and sentences, either as being improper and contrary to etiquette, or as being unintelligible. They also made particular inquiries respecting the original letter, whether it was sealed or not, and whether the Chinese translation was signed by the President. They put some questions, also, respecting the signature of the Secretary of State, what was his rank, &c.; and asked if the original letter was kept on board; and if the one shown to them was only a copy. When told, “of course,” they said, “that is right.”