Page:Christianity in China, Tartary, and Thibet Volume I.djvu/205

193 REMARKS ON THE LETTER OF ILTCH1KADAI. 193 the Tartars. There are in it formulas of respect and humility, such as at that period the most powerful monarch upon earth would hardly have obtained from the pettiest of the Tartar chiefs. It is to be observed, also, that while it contains little or nothing of what could be interesting to Mongols, it insists upon matters of which they had scarcely any cognizance, such as the differences of Christian sects, — Latins, Greeks, Arme- nians, Nestorians, and Jacobites. The request to the King of France, that he will make no difference between Roman Catholic and Oriental schismatics, looks very much more as if it came from the schismatics themselves than from a general, who, even supposing him to be converted, could know nothing of the dissensions that rent the Church, or could take no interest in them if he did. The accuracy, nevertheless, of some facts alluded to in this missive must be acknowledged — of those, for example, of the privileges granted to the Christians by the Mongols ; and the purpose of the embassy, as explained viva voce by the messenger, is not in itself improbable, as it agrees perfectly well with the poli- tical system that the Mongols had necessarily to main- tain in their relations with the Franks and Mussulmans. Their design was to attack the Caliph, and they begged the king to march upon Egypt, in order to prevent the Egyptians from coming to the aid of the enemy with whom they were engaged. Such a diversion would be in perfect accordance with their views and interests. It is also to be borne in mind that the chief of the embassy was a known man ; Andre de Lonfmmel had himself seen him with the Tartar ge- neral, and it does not appear very probable that this vol. i. o