in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Eastern District of

Pennsylvania.

ta

be

THE
NEW YORK
PUBLIC LIBRARY

92기
Astor, Lenox and Tilden
Foundations.

1896

TO

HIS MOST CELESTIAL MAJESTY KIANG-FOO,

EMPEROR OF CHINA,

AND BROTHER TO THE SUN AND MOON.

DEEPLY sensible of the favours it has pleased your Celestial Majesty at divers and sundry times to bestow, and grateful for the distinguished facilities afforded me in the early publication of some of your mighty proclamations—with all respect, I dedicate the following pages to your Imperial Majesty.

I do so, with a belief, that your Serenity will not only be amused by them at your autumnal palace of Yuenmin-Yuen, upon the banks of the sparkling Taie-ho; but that they will give your Majesty some insight into the mysteries of barbaric diplomacy, which, it has pleased your Majesty:privatelj. to inform; mey, owing to some late incidents, you were anxious, to comprehend. Amongst so many sovereigns to be selected by your Imperial Majesty as worthy:df:ynür.confidence

, I esteem a most signal mark of fávóúr; and with no disposition to overrate my literary effusions, yet I feel confident your Majesty will derive quite as much instruction, if not more, than any other reader from my little volume.