188 | 
pline; and those Europeans they 
supposed to be English. The new 
French principles, too, were no- 
where more detested and dreaded 
than in China. These-coming, as 
well as the embassy from the west, 
rendered the government averse to 
any extension of intercourse with 
that quarter of the world. In these 
circumstances, the allusions to the 
power of Great Britain, in the let- 
ter of his Britannic Majesty, and in 
the memorials and conferences be- 
tween the British Ambassador and 
the Chinese minister, as well as 
the samples exhibited of our mili- 
tary discipline and art, may be sup- 
posed to have contributed to the 
counteraction of the design they 
were intended to promote. 
Soon after the return of the 
court to Pekin, the Ambassador 
received an invitation from the 
Grand Colao to Yuen-min-yuen ; 
where he had a conversation with 
him on the subject of the embassy. 
The Colao being informed of the 
intended departure of the Lion, said 
“‘ He hoped that ship was not yet 
gone, but would wait to carry back 
the embassy :--that the Emperor 
upon first hearing of the Ambassa- 
dor’s illness, and the loss of some 
persons of his suite, by death, since 
his arrival in China, had remarked 
how much foreigners were liable to 
suffer from the severe winters of 
Pekin; and being apprehensive that 
the present visitors would run great 
risks of injuring their healths mate- 
rially by continuing there, thought 
it might be desirable for them to set 
out before the rivers and canals 
were frozen, which sometimes took 
place very early, and on a sudden; 
as the route by land was necessarily 
fatiguing and inconvenieyt.” The 
Colao added, on his part, ‘ that as 
to the feast of the new year, for 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1792. 
which he supposed his Excellency 
might wish to wait, it was nothing 
more than a repetition of what he 
had seen already at Zhe-hol.” 
If the real meaning of this af- 
fected solicitude for the health of 
the Ambassador could have been 
misunderstood, it would have been 
sufficiently illustrated by the inti- 
mation that the Emperor’s letter to 
the King of England would be pre- 
sented to the Ambassador next day; 
with a hint, at the same time, that 
this was a signal for departure. On 
the evening of the same day the 
Emperor's answer was brought in 
state te the Ambassador’s hotel. 
On the morning of the 7th of Octo- 
ber the prime minister, with other 
Colaos, came to a pavilion within 
the gates of Pekin, to go through 
the ceremonies of parting with the 
Ambassador. They communicated 
to him the most gracious expres- 
sions, and, together with a list of 
presents to the King of England, 
inclosed in a number of chests, an 
answer to the demands which had 
been lately made by the Ambassa- 
dor. The nature of this answer, 
though not announced by the Co- 
lao, was evident from his total. 
silence on the subject. Among the 
presents sent to the King of Eng- 
land, was a copy of verses com- 
posed by his Imperial Majesty, 
fraught with moral and political 
truths, and cenceived with much 
taste and fancy ; and some curious 
and precious gems, which he par- 
ticularly valued from their having 
been for eight centuries in his fa- 
mily; and which he now gave as an 
earnest of perpetual friendship. 
The Ambassador, after parting 
with the Emperor’s ministers, at- 
tended by his former retinue of 
English and Chinese, passed through 
one of the eastern gates of Pekin, 
: where 
x 
