CHINA. 
468 
their own. Their largeft fhips are not more than 250 or 
30,0 tons burthen-, and they have neither rnizen, bovv- 
iprit, nor top-malts, but only a main and a fore-maft, to 
which is fometimes added a fmail top-gallant-maft; this, 
however, can afford only a feeble afhfiance, The Chi- 
nefe fupply the place of fails with mats made of' bam¬ 
boo; they are ftrengthened by whole bamboos, equal in 
length to the breadth of the fail, and extended acrol's it, 
at the diftance of a foot one from another. They draw 
up the water from the hold with buckets, for they have 
not yet adopted the ufe of pumps an any of their veffels. 
They pretend to have been the firft inventors of the ma¬ 
riner’s compafs, yet feem to have little defire for improv¬ 
ing the interefting difcovery. 
The Chinefe have never been expofed to the neceffity of 
fighting their naval battles, except on the river Kiang, 
around and near their own coafts, or in the neighbour¬ 
hood of the ifles of Japan. They have, however, feveral 
diftinft kinds of veffels for warlike operations. Thofe 
belonging to the port of Canton are much larger than 
thole employed on the coafts of Fo-kien, and the latter 
are built only of fir, or common deal; whereas the vef- 
•i'els of Canton are moftly conftrudled of iron-wood. In 
naval battles they are found to be much ftronger, and 
more ufefui; but they are heavy, and far inferior to the 
ethers in point of failing. Tliefe veffels laft long, worms 
never pierce them, and fome of them are armed with 
cannon. 
Thus far we have endeavoured to give a conneffed de¬ 
tail of the Chinefe hiltory, fe!e<Sted from the mod authen¬ 
tic documents; as well thofe afforded by feveral of the 
Chriftian miffionaries, who fpent the principal part of 
theirlives in the country, as from the well-founded in¬ 
formation of feveral modern travellers. What more par¬ 
ticularly relates to the Chinefe commerce, to the prelent 
Hate of that country, and to the general views of the peo¬ 
ple, we have purpofely referved for the concluding arti¬ 
cle, in order to place on record the memorable and laud¬ 
able endeavour of the king of the united empire of Great 
Britain and Ireland, to open a commercial intercourfe 
between this country and China'; and although we have, 
in the preceding part of this narrative, been indebted to 
fir George Staunton for the elucidation of many contro¬ 
verted and interefting fails; yet, for the fake of unquef- 
,tionable certainty and truth, we are induced to give the 
■whole particulars of the embaffy from fir George’s own 
valuable and admired publication. 
BRITISH EMBASSY to CHINA. 
Of thofe nations diftinguifhed by the fpirit of enterprife 
for commercial views, the Portuguefe appear to have been 
the firft who had the honour of exploring the Chinefe 
coafts, and of opening an European intercourfe with that 
diftant country. This happened about two centuries ago, 
in the period of their molt brilliant exploits; at which 
time they rendered fuch fignal fervices to the empire of 
China, that, in return, lands for building the town of 
Macao, on the margin of a fafe harbour at the foutliern 
extremity of the country, with feveral collateral advan¬ 
tages, were granted to them; and, notwithftanding the 
decline of their power, and the intermediate lapfe of 
time, the recollection of their former fervices and long 
connexion, ltili continues to procure them, on the part 
of the Chinefe, a marked preference before all other Eu¬ 
ropeans. 
Next to thefe, the Dutch, in confequence of aflifting 
them againft the formidable rebel Co-fhing-ga, whole 
fleets infefted the eaftern coafts of China about the mid¬ 
dle of the feventeenth century, were careffed by the efta- 
blifhed government, and invited even to Pekin, where 
the firft emperor of theMan-choo Tartar race was then 
fitting on the throne. His fuccelfor, the great Kaung-hi, 
or, as more accurately pronounced, Caung-fhee, during 
a long and.profperous reign, received very favourably any 
foreigners, fkilled in fuch arts and fciences, and in fuch 
conveniencies of life, as were unknown to his own fub- 
jeifts. Fie admitted many foreigners into his fervice and 
confidence, and employed fome of them in political ne¬ 
gotiations. But in all thefe kindly offices we do not find 
that the emperors ever encouraged or permitted an inte¬ 
rior commerce, or fuffered the tranfaftions of the mer¬ 
cantile world to approach nearer to them than the river 
and city of Canton. With refpeft *0 commerce, the Chi¬ 
nefe really entertain an opinion, that it is ufefui only fo 
far as it eafes them of their fupei fluities, and procures 
them neceffaries ; on this account, they eonfider even that 
which they carry on at Canton, as prejudicial to the true 
interefts of the empire. “ They take from us, fay they, 
our filks, teas, and our porcelain : .the price of thefe ar¬ 
ticles is railed through ali the provinces; fuch a trade, 
therefore, cannot be beneficial. The money brought us 
by Europeans, and the high-priced baubles which ac¬ 
company it, are mere fuperfluities to fuch a ftate as ours. 
We have no occafion for more bullion than what may be 
neceffary to anfwer the exigencies of government, and to 
fupply the relative wants of individuals.” The only 
commerce which the Chinefe eonfider of any advantage, 
is that which they carry on with Tartary and Ruffia; as 
it furnifhes them, by barter, with thofe furs fo much ufed 
in all the northern provinces. 
The difputes between the Ruffians and Chinefe, con¬ 
cerning the limits of their refpedtive empires, feem to 
have firft paved the way for that commercial intercourfe 
which has fubfifted between them fince the peace con¬ 
cluded in 16F9. This treaty was figned on the 27th of 
Augult of the above year, under the reign of Ivan and 
Peter Alexiovitz. The chief of the embaffy on the part of 
Ruffia was Golovin, governor of Siberia. Two Jeluits, 
Pereiraand Gerbillon, (the former a native of Portugal, 
the latter of France,) were deputed by the emperor of 
China; and the conferences were held in Latin, with a 
German in the Ruffian ambalTador’s train, who was ac¬ 
quainted with that language. By this treaty the Ruffians 
loft a large territory, befides the navigation of the river 
Amoor, called by the Man-choo Tartars, Saghalien-oula j 
but, in return, they obtained what they had long defired, 
a regular and permanent trade with the Chinefe. Tiie 
advantages arifing from it were foori found to be fo con- 
fiderable, that Peter I. formed a defign of ftill farther en¬ 
larging it. For this purpofe, in 1692, he difpatched to 
Pekin, Ifbrand Ides, a native, of the duchy of Holftein, 
then in his fervice, who requeued, and obtained, that 
the liberty of trading to China, which, by the late treaty, 
had been granted to individuals, might be extended to 
caravans. 
After this arrangement, caravans went regularly from 
Ruffia to Pekin, where a caravanfary was allotted for 
their reception ; and all their expences, during their con¬ 
tinuance in that metropolis, were defrayed by the empe¬ 
ror of China. The right of fending thefe caravans, and 
the profits arifing from them, belonged to the crown of 
Ruffia. In the mean time, private merchants continued, 
as before, to carry on a feparate trade with the Chinefe, 
not only at Pekin, but alfo at the head quarters of the 
Moguls. The camp of tliefe roving Tartars was gene¬ 
rally Rationed near the confluence of the Orhon and 
Toula, between the fouthern frontiers of Siberia and the 
Mogul defert. A kind of annual fair was held at this 
fpot, by the Ruffian and Chinefe merchants, who brought 
their refpeftive commodities for fale. This rendezvous 
foon became a feene of riot and confufion; and repeated 
complaints of the drunkennef's and mifeonduft of the 
Ruffians were tranimitted to the emperor of China. 
Kaung-hi, exafperated by thefe complaints, and by the 
frequent reprefentations of his fubjedls, threatened to 
expel the Ruffians from his dominions, and to prohibit 
them from carrying on any commerce, either in China, 
or in the country of the Moguls. This circumftance 
occafioned another embalfy to Pekin in 1719. Captain 
Ifmailof, the ambaflador, who was deputed to accommo¬ 
date 
