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can be no question as to the propriety of the conduct of the Embassador. The circumstances under which the audience would have taken place, and the dishonourble treatment which preceded it, were ample reasons for its being declined; and even in the eyes of the Emperor, when he was afterwards made acquainted with the facts of the case, sufficiently excused the refusal. The event is to be mainly attributed to the weak and capricious character of the reigning sovereign, who was hasty and intemperate in his judgments, and employed individuals of a similar character to negotiate with the British. Mr. Ellis concludes with a hope, "that hereditary rank and official dignity might never again be placed at the mercy of the caprice of a despot, exasperated by resistance.' We would rather hope that England may never again be in such a situation as to be unable to punish the insults, which such a despot may throw on her embassa

dors.

Such was the termination of the embassy to China, and we are of opinion that the thanks of the English people are due to Lord Amherst and the other commissioners for the manner in which they conducted it. Their failure in its ultimate objects has indeed been complete, but they have preserved unstained the national honour; and have chosen to return home without accomplishing the views of the mission, rather than subject their country to a concession which would have been derogatory to its dignity. The pecuniary sacrifice has been great, and the mode of dismissal insulting, but these are more than compensated by that respect which the firm and dignified behaviour of

Asiatic Jour.-No. 29.

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the Embassador must universally procure for the nation. The Kotou, which is in itself a humiliating ceremony, must, in the manner in which the fair proposals of Lord Amherst were rejected, doubtless be considered as implying national inferiority; and under any circumstances it would be most questionable whether such a ceremony should be complied with by a people, who in Europe stand in the highest rank, whose Asiatic dominions are little less extensive than China itself, and who may look forward to the possession of an authority in the eastern seas which will fully counterbalance that of the Chinese empire. But in the present case there were other reasons for non-compliance more special and particular. The mode of Lord Macartney's reception was notorious throughout Europe, and whatever were the misrepresentations of the Chinese court, a considerable portion of the people were doubtless fully aware of the truth. After such an honorable exception had been made in our favor, to have relinquished the distinction we had obtained must assuredly have degraded us in the eyes of the world, and been as detrimental to our interests at Canton, as to our character as a powerful nation. Lord Amherst chose the only line of conduct which was compatible with honour, or with the principles of an enlightened policy; and he sustained it throughout with a firmness, a moderation, and an ability, which we are fident will be thought by all unprejudiced persons to reflect high credit on his diplomatic talents, as well as on his private character as a British nobleman.

(To be continued.),

VOL. V. 3 S

con

LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL
INTELLIGENCE.

AN expedition, consisting of suitable persons, was in March 1817 preparing to proceed from Sydney in New South Wales to explore to its mouth, or disembogue, a river lately discovered on the west side of the Blue Mountains, at about two hundred and sixty miles from the coast, which is about the utmost limit to which Europeans have hitherto penetrated.

The course of the river was supposed to be in a south west direction, and it is probable that it may flow into the ocean to the west of the western entrance of Bas's Straits, a line of coast never yet examined.

Conchology. We observe advertised for sale in one of the Daily Advertisers, some Dakshin Abert or Right-hand Shells, which have been sent to Calcutta on account of His Majesty's Ceylon Government. The fancied virtues, and consequent value, of these extraordinary specimens of conchology are thus described by the respectable agents: "These shells, from their peculiar structure, being formed in the opposite way to all other shells, and called from this circumstance, Dakshin Abert or Right-hand Shells, are held in the highest degree of estimation by the Natives of India, who attach to them a supernatural virtue, which insures to the fortunate possessor constant prosperity and exemption from all calamitous occurrences." talismanick power, devoutly believed in by the inhabitants of the Eastern World, has given to these shells a value almost incredible, being upwards of sixty times more than their weight in silver.

This

"To the more enlightened European they are also objects of interest in natural history, from their singular form and great scarcity; for the Dakshin Abert holds that place among shells, which the diamond does among stones."- -Calcutta Journal.

We are happy to find the Gorkhas and inhabitants of the hills on the northeastern frontier shew no less alacrity in adopting modern discoveries which tend to the preservation of mankind, than they were proved to have shewn in the late campaigns in adopting the latest improvements in the science of artillery. To one accustomed to the apathy of those who reside on the plains of Hindostan it must be quite delightful to come in contact with these Highlanders, who seem to possess all the qualities characteristic of the inha bitants of the mountainous regions of Europe. From a communication we have lately received, it appears that the prac

tice of vaccination has been very favourably received by them. Our correspondent remarks, "you will learn with much pleasure that inoculation, on a very extended scale, was kept up in the Deyrah Dhoon during the whole of the hot or rather dry season. The natives of the Dhoon, as well as the Goorkhas, have been long acquainted with the practice of inoculation for small pox. They were in the habit of noting with uncommon precision the force, crisis, &c. of this scourge of mankind. Their mode of inoculating is by making a puncture in the skin at the wrist."

A. I. Valpy, M. A. late Fellow of Pembroke College, Oxford, has issued proposals for publishing a new and corrected edition of the Delphin Classics, with the Variorum Notes, to be entitled "The Regent's Edition." The maps will be beautifully executed, and the wood-cuts will also be inserted.

The notes will be printed at the end of each author, and the various readings placed under the text. The indices will be carefully collated, the references being to book and chapter. The Delphin Interpretatio will be placed under the text. The Literaria Notitia from the Bipont edition will be added to each author.

The whole will be printed uniformly in 8vo. each six hundred and seventy-two pages. 18s. bds. to subscribers: and £1. Is. to non-subscribers. Copies on very fine thick royal paper to subscribers, £1. 16s.; to non-subscribers, £2. 2s.

The whole will make about one hundred and twenty, or one hundred and thirty parts. Twelve parts will be printed in the year. The work cannot be sold in separate parts.

Paris, March 30-M. Belzoni, charged by the British government to collect antiquities in Egypt for the British Museum, has addressed the following letter to M. Visconti, that it might be published in the Paris Journals. When this letter arrived in France, the illustrious writer

was no more.

The same vessel has brought intelligence of the Count de Forbin, who has left Cairo in good health. He had not long arrived from Jerusalem, and was ready to depart for Thebes. The Count de Forbin gives the assurance that the sands of Upper Egypt and of Nubia will no longer be barren for the Museum of France.

The following is M. Belzoni's letter, dated Cairo, Jan, 9, 1818.

"I have arrived from Upper Egypt, and am preparing to return to Nubia, for the third time.

"In my first journey to Thebes, in 1816, I had succeeded in embarking on the Nile the upper part of the famous statue of Memnon. This grand wreck, which had lain for so many centuries amidst the ruins of the palace destroyed by Cambyses, is now on its way to the British Museum. It is a colossal bust, of a single block of granite, ten feet in height from the breast to the top of the head, and twelve tons in weight. Other travellers before me had conceived the design of transporting it to Europe, and renounced only from not conceiving the means of effecting it. The great difficulty was in moving such a mass for the space of two miles, until its arrival at the Nile, whereby alone it could be conveyed to Alexandria. I succeeded in effecting it without the aid of any machine by the sole power of the arms of some Arabs; however ill qualified this people, now sunk into the indolence of savage life, may be for such rude labours. As such it has been the work of six months.

"From Thebes I went up towards Nubia, to examine the great temple of Ybsambul, which is buried more than double its height in the sands, near the second cataract. There I found the inhabitants very ill disposed towards my projects, and from whom I prepared to encounter some difficulties. However, the season being too advanced was my sole motive in deferring this enterprise to another time.

"In the mean time I returned to Thebes, where I occupied myself in new searches at the temple of Karnack. There I found, several feet under ground, a range of sphynxes surrounded by a wall. These sphynxes, with heads of lions on the busts of women, are of black granite, of the usual size, and for the most part of beautiful execution. There was in the same place a statue of Jupiter Ammon, in white marble. It was not until my second journey, in 1817, that I discovered the head of a colossus, much greater than that of Memnon. This head of granite, and of a single block, is by itself ten feet from the neck to the top of the mitre with which it is crowned. Nothing can be in better preservation. The polish is still as beautiful as if it had but just come from the hands of the statuary.

"After this I again took the road to Nubia, where some severe trials awaited me. The people of this country are quite savages, without any idea of hospitality. They refused us things the most necessary; entreaties and promises had no effect on them. We were reduced to live upon Turkish corn soaked in water. At length, by dint of patience and cou

rage, after twenty-two days persevering labour, I had the joy of finding myself in the temple of Ybsambul, where no European has ever before entered, and which presents the greatest excavation in Nubia or in Egypt, if we except the tombs which I have since discovered at Thebes.

"The temple of Ybsambul is one hundred and fifty-two feet long, and contains fourteen apartments and an immense court, where we discovered eight colossal figures, thirty feet high. The columns and the walls are covered with hieroglyphics and figures very well preserved. This temple has then been spared by Cambyses, and by the other ravagers who came after him. I brought some antiquities from thence, two lions with the heads of vultures, and a small statue of Jupiter Ammon,

"On returning again to Thebes, I applied myself once more to discover what has been, from time immemorial, the object of discovery for all travellers of every nation-I mean the tombs of the Kings of Egypt.

By

"It is known that, independent of those tombs which are open, there existed several under ground, but no person has yet discovered in what place. means of observations on the situation of Thebes, I at length found the index that should lead me on the way. After various excavations, I succeeded in discovering six of these tombs, one of which is that of Apis, as it seems to be pointed out by the mummy of an ox found there. This mummy is filled with asphaltes. For the rest, nothing that I can say could enable you to conceive the grandeur and magnificence of this tomb.

"This is undoubtedly the most curious and the most astonishing thing in Egypt, and which gives the highest idea of the labours of its ancient inhabitants. The interior, from one extremity to the other, is three hundred and nine feet, and contains a great number of chambers and corridors. The walls are entirely covered with hieroglyphics and bas-reliefs, painted in fresco. The colours are of a brightness to which nothing within our knowledge is to be compared, and are so well preserved, that they appear to have been but just laid on. But the most beautiful antiquity of this place, in the principal chamber, is a sarcophagus of a single piece of alabaster, nine feet seven inches long, by three feet nine inches wide, within and without equally covered with hieroglyphics and carved figures. This large vessel has the sound of a silver bell, and the transparency of glass. There can be no doubt that when I shall have transported it to England, as I hope to do, it will be esteemed one of the most pre

cious morceaux of our European Mu- Marsden, F.R.S. &c. With a Map. 4to.

seums."

ERRATUM.-Page 104, line 18, for Decanpoor, read Dereanpoor.

NEW LONDON PUBLICATIONS. A Journal of a Visit to South Africa in 1816, illustrated by Twelve colored Plates and a Map. By the Rev. C. J. Latrobe. 4to. £2. 2s. boards.

The Origin of the Pindaris. By an Officer in the Hon. East-India Company's Service. 8vo. 7s. 6d. boards.

The Testimony of Natural Theology to Christianity. By Thos. Gisborne, M. A. 12mo. 5s. boards.

Memoirs of the Court of Queen Elizabeth. With a Portrait. By Lucy Aikin. 2 vols. 8vo. £1. 5s. boards.

Memoirs of the late Mrs. Elizabeth Hamilton; with a Selection from her Correspondence, and other unpublished Writings. By Miss Benger. 2 vols. 8vo. £1. 1s. boards.

The Civil and Constitutional History of Rome, from its Foundation to the Age of Augustus. By Henry Bankes, Esq. M.P. 2 vols. 8vo. £1. 4s. boards.

a

Samor, Lord of the Bright City; Poem. By the Rev. H. H. Milman, M.A. &c. &c. 8vo. 12s. boards.

The Travels of Marco Polo, a Venetian, in the Thirteenth Century: being a Description, by that early Traveller, of remarkable Places and Things in the Eastern parts of the World. Translated from the Italian, with Notes, by William

£2. 12s. 6d. boards. Fine paper £4. 4s.

The Fourth and last Canto of Childe Harold, with other Poems and Notes. By the Right Hon. Lord Byron. 8vo. 12s. boards.

IN THE PRESS.

Indian Church History, or Notices relating to the first Planting of the Gospel in Syria, Mesopotamia, and India. By Mr. J. Yeates.

Historical Illustrations of the Fourth Canto of Childe Harold. By John Hobhouse, Esq. of Trinity College, Cambridge. A.M. F.R.S. 8vo. 9s. 6d. boards.

A General Description of, and Directions for, the Coasts of Brasil; from Maranham, in the north, to Rio de Janeiro and Santos, in the south; accompanied with three large Charts of the Coast and Harbours, from the Surveys of Lieut. Hewett, R. N. and others.

Travels in Egypt, Nubia, Holy Land, Mount Libanon and Cyprus, by Capt. Light, of the Royal Artillery, one volume quarto, with Plates, including a View of Jerusalem.

Facts and Observations on Liver Complaints, and those various and extensive derangements of the Constitution arising from Hepatic Obstruction; with practical Remarks on the Biliary Gastic Secretion, and upon other important points so essential to Health; pointing out a new and successful mode of Treatment, and illustrated by numerous cases. Third Edition, considerably enlarged. By John Faithhorn, formerly Surgeon in the Hon, East-India Company's Service.

The

ASIATIC INTELLIGENCE.

ACCOUNTS from India have reached us in rapid succession during the last month, but they add nothing very material to the important facts already before the public. The official details of the actions with the Peishwa will be found under the proper head; but these only confirm the intelligence which had preceded them, yet exciting at the same time a greater degree of interest by their minuteness and preci

sion.

India, which are so pregnant with momentous consequences.

CALCUTTA.

Nov. 12.-Letters have been received from the head-quarters of the grand army dated the 28th Oct. His excellency the commander in chief arrived at Sekundra, on the 20th ultimo, and on the 22d reviewed the troops, who stood on parade nearly ten thousand men. The army moved from Sekundra on the 25th, towards the banks of the Jumma, over which a bridge of boats was constructing. On the 26th head quarters were established at Sunkerpore, on the further bank of the river. The remainder of progress of these military operations in following day. On head quarters being the army with the artillery crossed on the

Being precluded by our limits from making separate or particular comments, we shall now subjoin the accounts themselves, leaving it to the judgment of our readers to form their own estimate of the

established at Sunkerpore the following orders were issued.

The commander in chief has lively satisfaction in expressing the sentiment excited in him this morning, on his viewing the bridge and the road leading through the ravine to it. What he examined was to him proof, not only of skill and energy, but of a zealous alacrity, which he had the highest pleasure in recognizing. His Lordship requests Capt. Swinton, of the pioneers, Lieutenant Franklin, of the quarter master general's department, and Mr. Conductor of ordnance Feldwicke, to accept for themselves, and to communicate to those under them respectively, his acknowledgement of the judgment and activity, by which the movements of the army have thus been so materially facilitated.'

The division of the army under the command of Brig. Gen. Hardyman is we understand intended to act on the defensive, and to guard the Mirzapore frontier and the country generally betwixt the rivers Tonsi and Soane from the incursions of the Pindaries. The camp of this division was at Amurperturm on the 31st ultimo, and letters of that day observe that accounts from Saugor this morning state that a Lac and a half of Pindaries are assembled with the fixed intention of striking a blow somewhere, but the combined movements of the British force have so distracted their councils, that they know not on what route to determine.

Our letters from the Dukhiu communicate the melancholy intelligence of the death of that gallant veteran of the Madras Army, Colonel Walker, who was advancing with his division to the Nerbudda. Colonel W. is stated to have died of apoplexy; he had been for ten days on the banks of the Poorna, which he had not the means of crossing: the anxiety thus occasioned to this gallant soldier is supposed to have accelerated his death. Sir John Malcolm reached Husseinabad on the 19th ultimo in high health and spirits. As we formerly mentioned, the Madras army had suffered much in its advance from the heavy falls of rain which impeded its progress. The light division, we learn, lost nearly all its camp equipage and baggage. Considerable sickness had prevailed in Sir John Malcolm's camp during the march from Nagpore. It was expected that notwithstanding all impediments, the whole of the Madras force would reach the banks of the Nerbudda by the 28th ultimo.'Hurkaru.

By accounts which reached us yes terday, we are concerned to learn that considerable sickness continues to prevail among the troops advancing to the Nerbudda. The Madras army had lost another valuable officer, in Lieut. Colo

nel Thompson, who commanded a brigade and who died on the march soon after Colonel Walker. The prevalence of fevers is attributed to the great vicissitudes of temperature; the thermometer varying twenty-two degrees in the course of the twenty-four hours. Sir John Malcolm intended marching from Husseinabad on the 24th ultimo, to join the first division of the Madras Army at Hurdah. The Nerbuddah had become fordable at the Petarah Ghaut, which is about fourteen miles north of Sohagpore, and forty-seven east of Husseinabad; at which latter place on the 22d, there was from twelve to thirteen feet of water at the shallowest places of the river. On the 14th ultimo. His Excellency Sir T. Hyslop had advanced about one hundred and twenty miles from Hydrabad and was proceeding to join the army.'-Hurkaru.

Extract of a letter, from Berhampore, dated 7th Nov. 1817.-Since the commencement of October, we have experienced a severe sickness at this station, upwards of thirty men of the regiment have been buried during that period, which out of nine hundred men, is certainly a great mortality, in consequence of. which, it is thought probable, that we shall soon move from this station; since the cold weather has set in, it has rather increased.

The following is an abstract, (taken from the returns made from the Adjutant General's office) of the strength of the army to the 1st January, 1817:

Cavalry.-1,386 officers, 1,698 serjeants, 317 trumpeters and drummers, 339 farriers, 20,477 rank and file, 17,417 troop horses.

Foot Guards.-348 officers, 382 serjeants, 161 trumpeters and drummers, 6,182 rank and file.

Infantry.-7,283 officers, 7,534 serjeants, 3,374 trumpeters and drummers, 116,820 rank and file.

General total, 9,017 officers, 9,614 serjeants, 3,852 trumpeters and drummers, 339 farriers, 143,479 rank and file, 17,417 troop horses.-Grand total, 166,301.

We learn with great concern that the cholera morbus has commenced its ravages in the province of Behar. A letter from Chuprah states that the most alarming mortality prevails at that place, and that Dinapore and Patna are also afflicted with the disorder. The casualties at Patna are stated to be from 50 to 100 daily, and the disease has also manifested itself at Hadgipore.

Extract of a letter, dated Par Doorgapore, district Nuddea, 25th Sept. 1817. "The under-mentioned distressful ac

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