They insisted, however, that a person who held such an important position under his government as he must have titles, and they were desirous to know them in order to ascertain if they were equal in number to those of the minister of state. Mr. Roberts concluded to humor them. The principal deputy, having prepared his Chinese pencil and a half sheet of paper, sat down to write. Mr. Roberts remarked that it would require a whole sheet, which surprised them, as their minister's titles would not require a half sheet. He thus began: Edmund Roberts, a special envoy from the United States, and a citizen of Portsmouth, in the State of New Hampshire. He then proceeded to add to his titles the names of all the counties in the State. The scribe's paper was full, but it had taken much time owing to the difficulty of translating the names into Chinese, and many counties yet remained. It was his purpose, when the list of counties was exhausted, to proceed with the names of the towns, mountains, rivers, and lakes of New Hampshire. Fresh paper was obtained, but the official said that the list already exceeded the titles of the highest person in the empire. The scribe looked weary, and, as the ship was rolling, he complained of a headache. Further record of the titles was postponed till the next day, and no more objection was made on the score of the American envoy's rank.[1]
Mr. Roberts met with a more favorable reception in Siam, where a fair degree of liberality towards foreigners had prevailed for two centuries. Within twenty-two days all the formalities of reception, giving of
- ↑ Roberts's Embassy, chap. xiii.
