TUNG-CHOW. 
93 
not last ten minutes ; and at its termination, the Mandarins were 
dismissed with every mark of contempt. The band was silenced ; 
and the guard, which had been drawn out, was ordered to withhold 
the intended salute on their return. The despicable presumption of 
these men gave a foretaste of the treatment that His British Majesty’s 
Representative afterwards experienced from their superiors. 
The Imperial Commissioners proved to be very exalted personages : 
their names Ho * and Muh. Ho was brother-in-law to the Emperor, 
had distinguished himself by his personal bravery in a late rebellion 
which had shaken the Chinese throne, was now one of the chief 
ministers of state, and might be considered in rank equal to a Duke, 
by which title he was usually distinguished in the Embassy. Muh 
was the President f of the Le-poo, or Tribunal of Rites and Cere- 
monies. They differed from each other in age, person, and manners, 
but were both Tartars. Ho, in appearance between thirty and forty 
years of age, was in stature about the middle height, of a robust form, 
and dark ruddy complexion. In his deportment he was strikingly 
frank, but impetuous and overbearing. Muh, on the contrary, 
venerable in years and in person, was gentle in manner, and chiefly 
remarkable for unyielding taciturnity. These men had come to 
instruct the Ambassador in the correct mode of performing the Tartar 
ceremony, not only in the presence of the Emperor, but before every 
piece of yellow rag which they might choose to consider as emble- 
matical of the presence of His Chinese Majesty. The Duke seemed 
disposed to carry his point by a violent and threatening manner ; the 
* Ho’s name at full length, according to Mr. Morrison, was Ho-she-tae; which trans- 
lated is “ Ho great in his generation.” He held several important situations, the prin- 
cipal of which was the Presidency of the Board of Foreign Affairs. 
+ Mr. Morrison has observed, that in China there are only seven persons who hold 
the office of Shang-Shoo, or Presidents Three of these were now with the Embassy : 
Ho, le-far-yuen shang-shoo, President of the Board for Foreign Affairs ; Muh, le-poo 
shang-shoo, President of the Board of Rites ; and Soo, (who had met the Ambassador 
at Tien-sing,) kung-poo shang-shoo, President of the Board of Public Works. 
