TUNG-CHOW. 
113 
reduced to a button of the third order ; Ho to relinquish his title of 
Kung-Yay or Duke, to be mulcted in a heavy penalty, and to lose 
his privilege of wearing a yellow riding-jacket : Muh to lose his Pre- 
sidency ; and Quang his situation of Salt Commissioner. After the 
interchange of presents, no doubt remained that our early departure 
was decided on. 
Having now given an account of the most interesting public 
transactions of the Embassy, as far as they fell under my own ob- 
servation, up to the period of its leaving Tung-Chow, I shall conclude 
this chapter with a few remarks on the environs of this place, and 
their inhabitants. 
It has been remarked, by the author of an Essay entitled, “ Idee 
generale de la Chine,” that it might be concluded, from the rela- 
tions of travellers who have only visited the sea-ports of China, that 
in this country, as in Lacedaemon, theft was permitted, if successfully 
practised. If giving false weight, charging centuple prices, and 
substituting bad articles for good, form a species of theft, it is not 
confined to the sea-coast, but is practised all over the empire of 
China, and is not only tolerated but applauded, especially when 
foreigners are its victims.* It was constantly practised upon us in the 
most barefaced manner at Tung-Chow, and indeed everywhere else in 
* I might readily show, that in this statement I only accord with the generality of 
writers who have had occasion to consider the general character of the Chinese. They 
are too numerous to be all quoted ; but the opinions of Le Comte and Du Halde, two 
writers best able to appreciate them, I cannot avoid giving: — “ Leur qualite essentielle 
c’est de tromper quand ils peuvent. Ils falsifient prcsque tout ce qu’ils vendent. II est 
sur qu’un etranger sera toujours trompe, s’il achete par lui-meme, quelque precaution 
qu’il prenne.” — Nouveaux Memoires sur la Chine, par Louis Le Comte, tom. i. p. 362. 
“ Quoique generalemcnt parlant, ils ne soient pas aussi fourbes et aussi trompeurs que 
le P. le Comte les depeint, il est neamoins vrai que la bonne foi n’est pas leur vertu 
favorite, sur tout lorsqu’ils ont a traiter avec les etrangers; ils ne manquent gueres de les 
tromper s’ils le peuvent, et ils s’en font un merite ; il y en a meme qui etant surpris en 
faute sont assez impudens pour s’excuser sur leur peu d’habilite. 
“ Cette adresse a tromper se remarque principalement parmi les gens du peuple, qui 
ont recours a mille ruses pour falsifier tout ce qu’ils vendent; il y en a qui ont le secret 
d’ouvrir l’estomac d’un chapon, et d’en tirer toute la chair, de remplir ensuite le vuide, 
et de fermer l’ouverture si adroitement, qu’on ne s’en apperqoit que dans le temps que 1’on 
veut le manger.” — From p. 77- tom. ii. par le P. du Halde. 
Q 
