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son to the conferences, having taken no part in the discussion, was, from age and inability, laid aside entirely. Soo and Kwang were punished with equal severity 'for having brought forward the embassy, notwithstanding the nonperformance of the Ko-tou, and having suffered the ships to depart. The former was dismissed from his situation of President of the Board of Works, reduced from his rank of general, ordered to pluck out his peacock's feather, and degraded to a button of the third rank. By special favour he was retained to superintend the imperial tea and provisions, and placed in charge of the gardens of Yuen-min-yuen. A proviso was inserted, that if he behaves well, in eight years he may be restored, but as he is at present upwards of seventy years old, this appears to be rather an insult than an indulgence. Kwang was deprived of a lucrative situation which he held in the salt department; he was reduced to a secretary of the eighth rank, and was to be sent to Manchow Tartary in the spring to discharge the duties of his office. Soo and Kwang appear also to have been held responsible to a certain degree for the expences incurred, in consequence of their having allowed the English to proceed forwards from Tien-sing.

the vaunts of the Chinese, was probably nearly on a par. The precedent of Lord Macartney in this, as in most other things, had been adhered to; and the presents were nearly the same with those bestowed upon that occasion.

The edict in favour of the embassy is so curious a document that we must give it to our readers entire. There can be no doubt that it was intended as a special act of favour, but in Europe we apprehend it would be considered in a very different light.

His Majesty's pleasure, as follows, has been received with feelings of respect.

On the day that the English Embassador came to the gate of the palace, he said he was sick, and could not attend an Im

perial audience. It was afterwards discovered, on an investigation being made, that the said Embassador had travelled during the night from Tong-chow to Pekin, and when he reached the gate of the palace, the court dresses which they brought with them were still on the road, and he dared not perform the ceremony in their ordinary clothes, and therefore sickness was affirmed. Ho-she-tay did not report clearly the fact, that the time appointed for the audience might be changed, and the ceremony performed; that was an error committed by Ho-shetay in a direct address to me, which led to sending back the Embassy on the same day.

I, considering that the said nation had sent a tribute of sincere and entire de

votedness from beyond a vast ocean of the distance of thousands of miles,† could not bear to reject the expression of veneration and obedience; hence again, I sent down my pleasure, requiring that the most trifling articles of the tribute should be presented, and the kindness conferred of receiving them. They were maps, painted likenesses, and prints, three articles. At the same time I conferred upon the King of the said country a white precious Joo-ee, sapphire court beads, and different sized purses, to manifest the idea of giving much and receiving little. The Embassador received them at Tongchow with extreme joy and gratitude, and also rather showed by his manner contrition and fear.

The embassy had quitted Pekin some time before the misrepresentations of Ho were discovered, and the dignity of the court would have been compromised by its recal. A special edict was however issued in its favour, and an interchange of presents was permitted. The pictures of the king and queen, a case of maps, and some coloured prints, were selected from the costly presents which had been prepared by the East-India Company; and a joo-yee or sceptre, a Mandarin's necklace, and a few embroidered purses were presented in return. The intrinsic value of the articles, notwithstanding writers,

Of late, within the limits of Che-le, or province of Pekin, he has walked about (or travelled) very peaceably and quietly; hereafter, when he shall enter the limits

In orig. plural.

+ Orig. 10,000 lees. A common expression, taken from ancient

of the Kiang, let the Viceroy enjoin all the officers who conduct the embassy still to behave with the civilities due to an Embassador; they must not allow them

selves to behave with insult or contempt.

The Embassador will in a few days arrive at the boundaries of the Kiang. The three provinces Kiang-soo, Gan-hwuy, and Kiang-see, are under the control of the appropriate Viceroy; let that Viceroy communicate information respecting this to the several Fou-yuens of these provinces. When the embassy enters the

limits of the province, let him select civil and military officers, who may take under their command soldiers and police runners to conduct safely the embassy. Do not cause the persons of the embassy to

land to make disturbance through the whole of the route. Let the military be all caused to have their armour fresh and shinning, and their weapons disposed in a commanding manner, to maintain an attitude formidable and dignified.

The said embassy came with the inten

tion of offering tribute; still treat it with civility, and silently cause it to feel gratitude and awe; then the right principles of soothing and controlling will be acted on.

Having detailed at length, without colour or disguise, the indignities to which our Embassador was subjected, we would take this opportunity of vindicating his conduct from the aspersions of misrepresentation and malevolence. He sustained throughout a firm and resolute demeanor, which effectually prevented insolent or unworthy treatment. The highest of the Chinese officers felt his superiority, and were anxious, at the expense of any concession, to avoid discussions with his Excellency, which never failed to ter minate in their discomfiture and disgrace. To his resolution and decision the gentlemen of his suite owed that freedom from restraint which they enjoyed during the greater part of the journey, in direct and open violation of the imperial edicts; and at Canton, an arrogant speech, which was expressly directed by the Emperor to be delivered to him, was checked before it was uttered by the dignified firmness of his behaviour. No encroachment, or failure in

the usual attentions, was suffered to pass unnoticed. Any attempt of this kind was invariably followed by a remonstrance, which never failed to produce an apology on the part of the Chinese, and the removal of the subject of complaint. In short, such was his jealousy of minute attentions, and so unwearied his apprehension of disrespect, that his conduct, though rendered necessary in the present case by the illiberal dispositions of the Chinese, would certainly, under any other circumstances, have been irritating and unjustifiable.

Nevertheless the author of the Delicate Enquiry has endeavoured to fix on the embassy the stigma of meanness and servility. Partly by insinuation, and partly by more open assertion, he has laboured to produce a conviction, that in both our missions to China the dignity of the country has been sacrificed to views of private emolument.* Careless of substantiating these allegations by proof, he endeavours to supply its place by general and unmeasured abuse. He charges the Court of Directors, who planned the expeditions, with having lent themselves to the interested views of individuals, and having concealed the real and mercenary designs of the measure, under the pretence of national objects. He attributes to the Supercargoes at Canton a low and groveling spirit, regardless of any indignities or insults, provided they lead the way to commercial gain. He charges Lord Macartney with base submission to humiliations which he did not dare to avow, and the late Sir G. Staunton with having disguised the truth and grossly misrepresented the facts of his reception. than insinuates that the late embassy has been conducted in an equally reprehensible spirit; and

He more

The author is singularly happy in his motto "Improbus extremos currit Mercator ad Indos, "Pauperiem fugiens; multùm vapulandus in Aulâ "Tartareâ,"

especially accuses Mr. Morrison of unfaithful interpretation, in concealing from Lord Amherst the insulting language of the Chinese commissioners; and Mr. Ellis of being influenced by motives of personal emolument in his opinion on the subject of the Kotou. These are serious allegations, and our readers will be anxious to know by what arguments they are supported. Argument is not the author's forte, and amid the multifarious matter of which the pamphlet consists, we have with some difficulty selected the following specimens.

The only testimony against Lord Macartney is Æneas Anderson ; who has stated, in his account of that expedition, that his Lordship was one day summoned at three o'clock in the morning to an audience with the Emperor, and that, after being exposed for some hours to the cold and piercing air of an autumnal morning, he became seriously indisposed. The event seems not unnatural, but our author was not to be deceived by appearances. From this simple anecdote he ingeniously discovers, that the illness was the effect of certain unheard-of outrages to which his Lordship was exposed, not mentioned in the narrative, because too gross to meet the ear of the British public. On this ground alone he charges Lord Macartney with abject meanness, and Sir G. Staunton with falsehood.

Mr. Morrison, with whose labours our readers are well acquainted, accompanied the Embassy in the capacity of interpreter. To an accurate acquaintance with the national customs, he added an intimate knowledge both of the spoken and written language, which, Mr. Ellis informs us, far beyond any idea he had formed of European acquirement in that most difficult language." He is indeed unquestionably the best Chinese scholar of his day, having

66 was

attained a proficiency in the language from his exclusive attention to it, which rivals that of the most learned Europeans of former ages. His motives for the study honor him yet more than his attainments, for he did not engage in it merely to satisfy curiosity, or indulge an appetite for literary pursuits, but with the nobler view of diffusing over the empire of China the blessings of Christianity and European civilization. But the extent of his acquirements and the sanctity of his occupation could not preserve him from the misrepresentation and abuse of the Delicate Enquiry. It is stated in the Journal, that on two occasions, when the Chinese commissioners employed language disrespectful to the King of England," Mr. Morrison, with his usual good sense, declined communicating it." By which is undoubtedly meant, not that he concealed from the knowledge of Lord Amherst the expressions which had been used, but that he acquainted the Chinese that their observation was highly offensive, and he should not disgrace himself, by being made the channel for conveying it. The author, however, contrary to the usual acceptation of the words, has chosen to understand them in the former sense; and has reduced himself to the singular dilemma, of supposing Mr. Ellis perfectly acquainted with a transaction, which he had means of learning but through the medium of Mr. Morrison, but which yet Mr. Morrison did not communicate. It is unnecessary to comment on the perverse ingenuity, which could thus convert a very spirited and meritorious proceeding, into a ground for the accusation of fear and pusilanimity.

no

The charge against Mr. Ellis

deserves more serious consideration. It is grounded on the following passage in the Journal.

* In one of the passages the expression is still refused to interpret it." less ambiguous: Mr. Morrison very properly

Commenting on an imperial edict which related to the causes of dismissal, he says:

It is still to be remarked, that no prospect whatever of the ceremony being dispensed with is held out, nor does such dispensation ever seem to have been contemplated; that must continue, therefore, to be considered the rock upon which the embassy was wrecked. The sudden gust at Yuen-min-yuen may have hastened our sinking, but the end must have been the same; and perhaps many of our crew rejoice that it occurred, as an opportunity was thereby given to display their daring energy and determination. For my part, as I undertook the

voyage to these distant seas more for profit than reputation, I cannot but regret that I have lost the opportunity of bring ing my venture into the market.

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"This indeed," says our author, "is candour with a witness, expressed as it ought to be, in its own pure native slip slop." And we have many scurrilous observations on Mr. Ellis's ulterior objects, which he insinuates to be objects of pecuniary advantage.

The passage is certainly obscure, but does not appear to us capable of misconstruction. It must be evident to every candid mind that the whole is metaphorical; that the embassy is compared to a mercantile voyage, and that the profit and reputation spoken of, are the profit and reputation of his employ ers. The meaning unquestionably is, that as England dispatched the embassy, not with the expectation of adding to her dignity or renown, but with the view of confirming and securing her present trade, and opening eventually new channels for her commerce, Mr. Ellis regretted, that questions of etiquette, which he regarded as of little importance, should keep out of view these important objects, and should preclude even the attempt to effect them by negotiation. A different signification would neither harmonize with the context, nor be consistent with the observations we have already quoted, concerning

the small chance of success which could be expected. Nor can we conceive how it would have been possible for Mr. Ellis to have derived pecuniary advantage from the most favorable reception which the most sanguine mind could have anticipated.

We will now take our leave of the Delicate Enquiry. We have selected these instances of misrepresentation, not because they are the most glaring, but because they bear the nearest resemblance to truth, and are therefore most likely to mislead The rest of the work contains little besides general invective, the violence of which will correct the effect which the misstatements of the author might have produced. We know not why the title of Delicate Enquiry was chosen, for one of the most indelicate and abusive pamphlets we have ever perused. If this was intended for wit, we confess we are too dull to understand its point.

The importance of the political branch of the subject has hitherto diverted our attention from the aspect of the country, and the character and customs of its inhabitants. Mr. Ellis has added so little to our knowledge on these points, that the information he conveys may be collected into a narrow compass. The embassy was reconducted in boats along the grand canal, which traverses China from north to south, and is the great medium of communication between Pekin and the Southern Provinces. This stupendous work, formed chiefly of natural streams, which have been rendered navigable in many places by labour, and connected where necessary by artificial cuts, meets with but one interruption; by the intervention of the Mee-ling mountain: and this passage has been so facilitated, and is of so short an extent, as scarcely to impede the readiness of commercial inter

course.

It communicates every where by cross canals, or by large navigable rivers, with the sea coast or the interior, and forms the centre of all the internal commerce of the country. The provinces through which it passes, afford, as might be expected, more than an average estimate of the general resources of the empire. They are the most productive in revenue, the most abundant in population, and the richest in all those works of architectural splendor, which dignify or adorn a nation. The course of Lord Amherst and his suite differed somewhat from that of Lord Macartney, inasmuch as they pursued the direct line to Canton, along the Yang-tse-kiang river, instead of deviating from the regular route to visit Chusan. The change was greatly to their advantage, and not only shortened their journey, but gave them an opportunity of witnessing some of the most beautiful scenery which is contained within the limits of China. The former part of the journey had been tedious and dull, from the sameness of the objects which it offered. In their passage through the provinces of Pe-tche-lee and Shantung, the face of the country presented a continued plain, chiefly cultivated with the millet, in which neither hill nor wood occurred to vary the uniformity of the prospect. As they approached the province of Kiang-nan, the view became still more uninteresting. The country through which they passed was suffering from a recent inundation, which extended in many places from the banks of the canal to the foot of the distant mountains, and left nothing visible amid the expanse, but the towers of the villages, and a few houses, whose situation, slightly elevated above the surrounding level, had protected them from the desolation of the waters. However, as they approached the Yellow River, the face of the country improved, and when they entered the Yang-tse

kiang, suddenly rose to all the magnificence of mountain-scenery. This mighty river, varying in breadth from one to four miles, rolled its waters between two elevated ridges; and in its depth, the agitation of its waves, and the marine animals which inhabit it, resembled an inland sea. The stream was frequently divided by large rocks, of the height of several hundred feet, decorated with Chinese gardens, the favorite abode of former Emperors, or with temples, which had been founded and supported by their munificence. The mountains rose from its banks in sublime grandeur, enriched by all the profusion of verdure, which the industry of an exuberant population, and the rapid vegetation of a climate bordering on the tropics, could bestow on a fertile soil. The farm-houses and villages, shaded by the rich foliage of the camphor and Yung-shoo trees, were scattered over them in situa tions, which always seemed to have been purposely selected, with a view to the romantic effect of the prospect. Even the peculiarities of Chinese architecture, however inelegant in themselves, were well suited to such a scene. The towering pagodas, conspicuous at a distance, showed to advantage when seated on the summit of the hills, or on the verge of precipitous cliffs. On the other hand, the busy population of the cities which crowded the banks, and the numerous vessels which were scattered over the water, gave life and activity to the view; and on more than one occasion drew from Mr. Ellis the exclamation, that "howver absurd the pretensions of the Emperor of China may be to universal supremacy, it is impossible to travel through his dominions, without feeling that he has the finest country, within an imperial ring-fence, in the world."

But amidst this profusion of natural beauties, the soul that should animate them was wanting.

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