Page:Journal Of The Indian Archipelago And Eastern Asia Series.i, Vol.4 (IA in.ernet.dli.2015.107697).pdf/255

 Then the Mandarin, minister of ceremonies, invited the king to approach, and the king came in front of the altar, and saluted by prostrating himself five times; while he remained on his knees the 1st ambassador took the diploma, and standing in the middle of the estrade, turned towards the king, he read it through, and then gave it to the king who holding it above his head prostrated himself once. The diploma was then delivered to one of the princes near him, and the king again saluted it by prostrating himself five times. This done the king conducted the ambassadors beyond the gate, and they returned in the same order in which they had set out.

On the next day, the 23rd of the moon, the ambassadors went to a kind of temple or pagoda, built in the exterior town in honor of Thien Tri, father and predecessor of Tu Duc, to offer a sacrifice to him and to raise him definitively to the rank of a god. Can- non again announced their departure and their arrival at the pagoda. The king had also repaired thither, and he came out to receive the ambassadors. When they had entered the pagoda, the ambassadors placed upon a kind of altar of perfumes, the rescript of the Emperor of China which elevated the defunct king to the rank of celestial spirits. The king Tu Duc then advanced and saluted the altar by prostrating himself five times. He then stepped a little aside, and left the ambassadors to offer the sacrifice. It was the Chinese only who offered this sacrifice, which consisted in making prostrations, burning incense, offering meats and other eatables, and there were amongst other things whole buffaloes and pigs. The ceremony which was performed on this day, is a sequel of that of the day before, because the old king in virtue of the investiture which he had formerly received, must necessarily become holy and god. When therefore he is replaced by another upon the earth, it is proper that he should be assigned a place in the superior regions.

Of such consists the ceremony of the investiture of the kings of Cochin-china, which has a religious rather than a political aspect; and it is probably a remnant of primitive traditions, greatly disfi- gured by the superstition and the passions of men. However in countries even the most barbarous an innate and natural sentiment seems to indicate that man cannot have power over other men, if it is not communicated to him by a superior order; and this is what the Christian doctrime expresses by these words of St. Paul —non est potestas nisi a Deo.

The ambassadors had sent presents to the king, who only accepted pencils, paper and ink. The king also offered to the 1st ambassador 10 bars of gold and fifty bars of silver, but he accepted nothing. The other ambassadors and the soldiers, however, took not only all that was given to them, but they even carried away everything that was of value in the houses which had been prepared for them both in the capital and on the road. They also required five thousand soldiers for the return, to carry their baggage and to