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Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 12120, 8 December 1894, Page 2

Whether or not the Chinese put a term insulting to Japan in their declaration o£ war against that country, they seem to bo, ijndcr ordinary circomstances, the politest people on earth. A German traveller who has just returned from Cliiua and who has bosn publishing his impressions of the Chinese people, declares that in writing a letter to a perfect stranger a Chinaman calls his correspondent "my ■ elder brother. " The letter begins with such a phrase as, " May all tho blessings of life be showered upon you ; such is the wish of your imbecile junior. " In speaking of his own family the writer says, "We ants. " Tho address on ttie top of the letter is, "Fi'ommy humble cabin to tho glorious Palace of Pearls 6f my elder brother, " and the preamble is, "To n)y excellent and benevolent elder brother who asoonds the staircase of honours. " At Mio end is the form, " The undersigned, your most obedient monkey, r&isos his hands In supplication to your Excellency in order that your Excellency may design to approach the miserable ruins of qw bouse, " Finally, aj a further token of humility, the signaturo of the writor is so smill as to be almost illegible,