 Neither the Chinese nor the Europeans could have known that this would be the last appearance by any European ambassador at the Imperial court until after the First and Second Opium Wars of the next century.Titsingh is believed to have been the first Freemason in China, and the only to be received at the court of the Qianlong Emperor.On 1 March, 1796 the Dutch East India Company, already in decline, was nationalized by the new Batavian Republic.