An Authentic Account of the Embassy of the Dutch East-India Company, to the Court of the Emperor of China, in the Years 1974 and 1795/Dedication

by Andreas Everardus van Braam Houckgeest

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DEDICATION.

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TO

HIS EXCELLENCY

GEORGE WASHINGTON,

PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF
AMERICA.

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SIR,

TRAVELS among the most ancient people which now inhabits this globe, and which owes its long existence to the system that makes its Chief the Father of the National Family, cannot appear under better auspices than those of the Great Man who was elected, by the universal suffrage of a new nation, to preside at the conquest of liberty, and in the establishment of a government in which every thing bespeaks the love of the First Magistrate for the people.

Permit me then to address the homage of my veneration to the virtues which in your Excellency afford so striking a resemblance between Asia and America. I cannot shew myself more worthy of the title of Citizen of the United States, which is become my adopted Country, than by paying a just tribute to the Chief, whose principles and sentiments are calculated to procure them a duration equal to that of the Chinese Empire.

I am, with respect,

Sir,
Your Excellency's
Most humble,
And most obedient Servant,

A. E. Van-Braam Houckgeest.