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 always free from mistakes in government, but they always studied the good of the people and the best interests of the king.

Much diversity of sentiment has been expressed by writers upon the effects of the labors of the Christian missionaries in the Orient, but the better judgment of candid observers is in favor of their beneficial influence on the rulers and the people, even aside from the religious considerations involved. Their useful service in connection with the diplomatic intercourse of the Western nations with the Far East has been especially conspicuous. Notice has already been taken of the valuable participation of the Catholic missionaries, both as interpreters and advisers, in the negotiation of the first treaty between China and Russia in 1689. It has also been seen that in other missions to Peking during the eighteenth century the Christian fathers were an indispensable part of all of them.

When the British government was making arrangements to send the Macartney embassy to Peking in 1792, search was made for a competent person to act as interpreter, and the secretary to the embassy records that "in all the British dominions not one person could be procured properly qualified," and that after much inquiry two Christian Chinese students were found in the mission college at Naples, Italy, who were engaged for that service.