“I have been decorated by the President of France, by the Sultan of
Turkey, by the Queen of Spain, and by the King of Portugal, etc.”
“How did you come to be decorated by the Emperor of China, Mr. Maxim?”
“On one occasion, when there was great excitement in London about
a terrible massacre of missionaries in China, I attended a meeting
which, at the beginning, was very much in favor of the missionaries
and against the Chinese, but I made a speech from the Chinese
standpoint and succeeded in getting a resolution passed about as
follows: ‘This meeting regrets exceedingly that the American and
English Missionary Societies will persist in sending missionaries to
China to attack the ancient faith of the Chinese, and we are very
sorry that the missionaries will not remain in their own countries,
and allow the Chinese to enjoy their own religion in their own way in
their own country.’ My speech was taken down in shorthand and sent
to the Chinese Ambassador. He had it nicely written out in Chinese,
beautifully bound, and sent it to Li Hung Chang. The latter sent it to
the Emperor, and the Emperor gave me a decoration.”