A correspondent of the Standard published on Wednesday a most
picturesque account of the audience granted by the Emperor of China to the European Ambassadors. The Emperor, who has never before been seen by a European, is a young and slight man, with a thin, pale face, full of intelli- gence and melancholy, with a long narrow chin, thin nervous lips, large mournful eyes, broad forehead, and head above average size,—a description which may be that of a weakling, or of a man of genius of the Shelley typo. His reply to the formal addres:iresented to him was of the most formal kind,
and although the Ambassadors were treated with respect, no effort was wanting to create an impression among the Chinese, that they were received as envoys from feudatory States would have been. The ice has, however, been broken, and if the Emperor persists in his innovation, it will now be difficult to prevent his speaking to an Ambassador. He may not learn much by that, but the point is, that if on such a question he has his own way, he will show himself the ruler, and not the mere puppet of the group who for twenty years have governed China. Their object has been that there should be no real Emperor ; but they are being successfully resisted now, either by the young Sovereign himself, who may have the knack of reigning, as the present Sultan has, and yet be a nervous man, or by some new group with full access to his ear.
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