386 
CHINESE OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS. 
and had come direct to the Palace gate without stopping by the way at their 
appointed residence, and their dresses of ceremony not having arrived, they 
could not present themselves before me : If at that time Ho-she-tae had ad- 
dressed to me a true report, I, the Emperor, would certainly have issued 
my commands, and have changed the period of the audience, in order to 
correspond with their intentions, in thus coming ten thousand miles to my 
Court. On the contrary, he addressed to me repeated reports, expressed in 
disrespectful language, in consequence of which the Envoys were sent bach, 
and the ceremonial not completed. The error and mismanagement of Ho- 
she-tae in this affair is a fault really inexcusable. 
But the arrangements for the business of the day were already made, ex- 
cepting the minister Fo-tsin, who was absent from illness, and Tong-kao and 
Lea-yin-po, whose attendance had not been required. All the assisting Princes, 
Dukes, and great officers of the palace, were in waiting in the anti-chamber. 
Many of them must have been eye-witnesses of the whole affair, and must have 
known in their hearts that it was their duty to have made a true report of it 
to me, and to have solicited me to alter the period of the audience ; yet they 
sat immovable while the affair was thus going wrong ; though Ho-she-tae 
was visibly alarmed, and in error, no one stood forward to set him right. 
Afterwards when the Imperial audience took place, some persons who 
knew the truth disclosed Ho-she-tae’s errors and irresolutions ; but why did 
they not address me at the time in his stead ? — or if they dared not go that 
length, why did they not at least awaken Ho-she-tae, and cause him to re- 
port the truth ? Thus it is that their countenances are indeed always placid 
and composed, but when public business occurs they sit unmoved, and see 
the failure with indifference. Such conduct, whenever placed in any situation 
of hazard or difficulty, one cannot behold without sighing deeply. 
The affair in which Ho-she-tae has erred is itself a very small one, yet 
even in this the officers of the court have been destitute of any expedient for 
the service of their country. For the future let them eradicate all selfish 
principles, whenever there is any defect of fidelity or public spirit, let no one 
plead that it is an affair which does not individually concern him. Let all look 
up, and diligently regulate their conduct according to the true spirit of the 
admonitions I have repeatedly given them. 
Respect this. 
N. B. In the latter part of this there are some ambiguous expressions in 
the original. 
