976 ANNUAL REGISTER. 1804. 



and engaging ; and Chung-ia~gin^ the 

 new viceroy of Canton, was a plain, 

 unassuming, and good-natured man. 

 The prime minister llo-chang-toiig^ 

 the little Tartar legate, and the ex- 

 \iceroy of Canton, Avere the only 

 persons of rank, among the many 

 "vvc had occasion to converse with, 

 thatdiscovere4 the least ill humour, 

 distant hauteur, and want of com- 

 plaisance. All the rest with whom 

 wc had any concern, whether Tar- 

 tars or Chinese, when in our pri- 

 vate society, were easj-, affable, 

 and familiar ; extremely good hu- 

 moured, loquacious, communicative. 

 It Avas in public only, and toAvards 

 each other, that they assumed their 

 ceremonious gravity, and practised 

 all the tricks of demeanour which 

 custom requires of them. 



" The general charadter, how- 

 ever, of the nation is a strange com- 

 pound of pride and meanness, of 

 affedted gravity and real frivolous- 

 jiess, of refined civility and gross 

 indelicacy. With an appearance of 

 great simplicity and openness in con- 

 versation, they pradise a degree of 

 art and cunning against which an 

 European is but ill prepared. Their 

 manner of introducing the subjcdl 

 of the court ceremonies in conver- 

 sation Avith the embassador, is no 

 bad specimen of their sly address in 

 managing matters of this sort. Some 

 of them observed, by mere accident, 

 as it were, how curious it Avas to 

 see the diifercnt modes of dress that 

 prevailed among different nations : 

 this naturally brought on a compa- 

 rison between theirs and ours, the 

 latter of which they pretended to 

 examine m ith critical attention. Af- 

 ter a good deal of circumlocutory 

 observations, they thought their 

 OAvn entitled to the preference, be- 

 ing more convenient, on account of 



1 



it being made wide and loose, and 

 free from fight ligatures ; whereas 

 ours mnst be exceedingly uneasy and 

 troublesome in any other posture 

 than that of standing uprigl)t ; and 

 particularly so in making the gcnu- 

 iiledtions and prostrations which were 

 customary and indeed necessary to 

 be performed by all persons when- 

 ever the emperor appeared in pub- 

 lic. No notice being taken of this 

 broad hint, so artfully introduced, 

 they proceeded to compare their 

 wide petticoats with our breeches, 

 and to contrast the play and free- 

 dom of their knee joints with the 

 obstru6tion that our knee-bnckles 

 and garters must necessarily occa- 

 sion. This brought them dircdly 

 to the point, and they finished by 

 recommending, in the warmth of 

 their friendship, that we should dis- 

 encumber ourselves of our breeches, 

 as they wonld certainly be inconve- 

 nient to ajjpear in at court. 



" Of perseverance in ucgociatioti, 

 or more properly speaking in driv- 

 ing a bargain^ the Tartar legate 

 gave no bad specimen of his talent. 

 — Having in vain practised CM^ry 

 art to obtain from the embassador 

 an unconditional compliance Avith 

 the court ceremony, he Avas sent 

 at length by the prime minister 

 to inform liim, the important point 

 was finally decided, and that the 

 Knglish mode was to be adopted ; 

 but he observed, that as it was not 

 the custom of China to kiss the em- 

 peror's hand, he had something to 

 propose to Avhich there could be no 

 objection, and Avhich was, that in 

 lieu of that part of the English ce- 

 remony, he should put the second 

 knee u])on the ground, and instead 

 of bending one knee, to kneel on 

 both. In fact, they negociate on 

 the most trilling point with as much 



caution 



