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Untitled Article
at a distance of many billions of miles . Whether you be the real unit ( J ,. e . identical } officer , by name Napier , as represented to the Hoppo ; or , in fact , the military unit commanding your island , as privately suspected , named Wild-duck , Will-in-town , or Will-go-down , I , the Governor , cannot determine ; nor is it of the briefest consequence either way . Moreover , it has been hinted that if not the said Commanding Chief , you are then , in all probability , the brother of your King , and called in
your own spot , Cumber-kuke , Covvcumber , or Cumbrous-earth . It does not concern us . But knowiner that the actual state of our Celestial
belief must be of portentous consequence and awful consideration to you , Barbarian Eye , and all your outside barbarian people , I , the Governor , will , in my feeling clemency , communicate to you my own opinion ; which is , that you are not the Lord or Kid Napier—for so the word " lord" has been translated and interpreted to me—that you represent yourself ; nor are you the King ' s barbarian brother , Cumbersome ; but the national commander , or First Cockt-hat of said island . '
Under a despotic government which has lasted so many centurics _ , it is no wonder that Loo , born and bred in the country , knowing nothing ' worth mentioning' beyond it , and being himself a man high in office , should consider such conduct as ' marvellous !' What should Loo know about the person called c William IV ?' The simple manifestation of his not having the pleasure of our monarch ' s acquaintance , however cavalier it may seem in the eye of the loyal , does not convey anything insulting . It is a fair
position , that Loo knows and cares as much about William IV ., as our gracious sovereign about governor Loo / As to our trade , the Hong merchants may find their interest in it , but the Chinese government cares not three sips of tea about the matter .
The shrewd supposition that our national representative is not the barbarian Cumbersome , but the Ducal Dictator , only shows that the fame of his arbitrary self-will has reached even the imperturbable indifference of China . But let us return to the speech of Loo .
1 shall now speak to you , Barbarian Eye , as though you were an equally reasonable man with myself . I , the Governor , have pity and care for all outside barbarians , and wish not their ruin and destruction so long as they behave themselves properly , or can be brought to do so by reason . The linguists , translators , and interpreters shall not deceive us into a greater or less degree of pity than is just ; neither shall their false counsels cause you and all your nation to be driven to the last stage of poverty and despair . '
Can anything be more rational and considerate than this , coming as it does from a celestial to an ' outside barbarian , ' to mention the com pliment with which it is introduced ? The next sentence * , however , gives us some idea of inside despotism , not quite so consistent with a heavenly nation . 4 With regard to about eighteen of said linguists , the laws have already been put in force ; whereby their heads are now in full bloom upon the points of tall spears ; and they will deceive no more /
Untitled Article
Chinese Politics . 277
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1835, page 277, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2644/page/53/
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