CHAPTER IX
POSITION OF ENVOYS
It was a fixed rule in ancient China that envoys should be treated
with courtesy, and that their persons should be held sacred,
whether at residential courts, in durbar, or on the road through a
third state. During the wars of the sixth century B.C. between
Tsin in the north and Ts'u in the south, when these two powers
were rival aspirants to the Protectorate of the original and
orthodox group of principalities lying between them, and were
alternately imposing their will on the important and diplomatic
minor Chinese state of CHENG (still the name of a territory in Ho
Nan), there were furnished many illustrations of this recognized
rule. The chief reason for thus making a fighting-ground of the
old Chinese principalities was that it was almost impossible for
Ts'u to get conveniently at any of the three great northern
powers, and equally difficult for Ts'in, Tsin, and Ts'i to reach
Ts'u, without passing through one or more Chinese states, mostly
bearing the imperial clan name, and permission had to be asked for
an army to pass through, unless the said Chinese state was under
the predominancy of (for instance) Tsin or Ts'u.
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