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182 countries were like. What Mr. Pin Chun reported is not obtainable, but it hardly covered the exigencies of the occasion as an English account of his visit may explain. It says:

It is not my purpose to affect to patronize these people. A greater mistake could not be made. Keener, more capable, statesman than some of those consulted on this occasion could not be found from the time of Solomon to that of Jumbo. Li Hung Chang's report on the subject is on record, and, if they had seen it, would probably have caused the utmost astonishment to the self-satisfied critics of the "semi-barbarians."

The consequence of the decision reached by Prince Kung and his advisors was radical and