182] 
race.” That his Britannic. Majes- 
ty, “impressed with such sentiments 
from the very beginning of his 
reign, when he found his people en- 
gaged in war, had granted to his 
enemies, after obtaining victories 
over them in the four quarters of 
the world, the blessings of peace, 
upon the most equitable condi- 
tions ;”’ that, ‘‘ since that period, 
not satisfied with promoting the 
prosperity of his own subjects, in 
every respect, and beyond the ex- 
ample of all former times, he had 
taken various opportunities of 
fitting out ships, and sending in 
them some of the most wise and 
learned of his own people, for the 
discovery of distant and unknown 
regions: not for the purpose of 
conquest, or of enlarging his domi- 
nions, which were already sufh- 
ciently extensive for all his wishes, 
nor for the purpose of acquiring 
wealth, nor even for favouring the 
commerce of lis subjects,—but for 
the sake of increasing the know- 
ledge of the habitable globe, of 
finding out the various productions 
of the earth, and for communicat- 
ing the arts and comforts of life to 
these parts where they had hither- 
to been little known; and” that 
**he had since sent vessels, with 
animals and vegetables most useful 
to man, to islands and places where, 
it appeared, they had been want- 
ing;”? that “he had _ been still 
more anxious to enquire into the 
arts and manners of countries 
where civilization had been im- 
proved by the wise ordinances and 
virtuous examples of their sove- 
reigns, through a long series of 
ages ; and felt, above all, an ardent 
wish to become acquainted with 
those celebrated institutions of his 
(Chinese) Majesty’s populous and 
-on the Ist of October. 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1792. 
extensive empire, which had car- 
ried its prosperity to sucha height, 
as to be the admiration of all sur- 
rounding nations.” That 
Britannic Majesty being then at 
peace with all the world, no time 
could be so propitious for extend- 
ing the bounds of friendship and 
benevolence, and for proposing to 
communicate and receive the bene- 
fits which much result from an un- 
reserved and amicable intercourse 
between such great and civilized 
nations as China and Great Bri- 
tain.” 
The Lion and Hindostan, having 
on board the Ambassador and his 
suite, with the Jackal! tender, set 
sail from Portsmouth on the 26th 
of September, 1792;—and took 
their last departure out of England 
In May 
1793, the ships moored in ‘Turon- 
Bay, in Cochin China, where the 
company met with great hospitali- 
ty, and received various proofs of 
kindness and friendship from the 
sovereign of Turon. The squa- 
dron sailed from Turon on the 16th 
of June, for Tien-sing, on the 
Pei-ho river, that falls into the 
Gulf of Pekin; but touched at one 
of the Ladrone islands, opposite to 
Macao, for the purpose of sending 
letters to Europe, by any convey- 
ance from that settlement at Can- 
ton; but more particularly to re- 
ceive any intelligence that might be 
interesting to the embassy. Through 
the English East India Company’s 
commissioners, the Ambassador had 
information that his Imperial Ma- 
jesty’s disposition to afford a recep- 
tion to the embassy suitable to its 
dignity, had been testified by his re- 
peated instructions on that subject | 
to the different governments on the 
coast. He had given orders to man- 
darins 
“ his 
