c h : 
the emperor the very final] fpace which England occu¬ 
pies in the map of the, world, particularly when com¬ 
pared with the more extenlive traits of their own coun¬ 
try, or with the magnitude of the Chinef'e empire, the 
Engl fill were reprefented as of no importance in the fcale 
of nations ; a feeble race, circumfcribed in riches, in po¬ 
pulation, and in territory ! Yet the more fedate and 
thoughtful of the (ages in China, are faid to have made 
many fenfible remarks, in con trading' the fuperior num¬ 
ber and neatnefs of the Englifh fhips in the river of Can¬ 
ton, and the irrimenfity of their returns for teas, iiiks, 
and porcelain, over and above thofe of all other trading 
nations. Teas were unknown in Europe, before the 
commencement of the feventeenth century, when they 
w?re hrft introduced by the Dutch. At the beginning 
of the eighteenth century, the whole of the annual pub¬ 
lic Tales of teas by our Ealt India company, did not 
much exceed fifty thoufand pounds weight; but for fe- 
veral years pad, the company’s annual Tales have ap¬ 
proached to twenty millions of pounds,-being an increafe 
of four hundred fold, in lefs than One hundred years ! 
This adonifhing demand by the Englifh merchants alone, 
the vaft increafe of their flopping, and the eclat of their 
victories in Hindoodan, as well as their conqued of the 
Philippine Iflands in the Chinefe Teas, could not but at- 
traft the notice of the emperor; yet it is a faft, that re-, 
prefentations inimical to Great Britain were uniformly 
kept up at the court of Pekin ; whereby the Englifh at 
Canton, thus denied the privilege of ad'erting their own 
caufeon the l'pot, and deftitute of fupport at the capital, 
were dill conlfahtly fubje&ed to oppredions in their deal¬ 
ings, and inl'uits upon their perfons. The reprelenta- 
tion of thefefafts by the Ealt India company ; the necedity 
there appeared to be of fecuring, if pofiible, a preference 
in proportion to our fuperior demand in the market,for 
teas, which can be had in^no other part of the world; 
and the mutual advantages that might accrue from bar¬ 
tering Englifh manufactures for the produce of China, 
under a fair and honourable- commercial treaty between 
the two nations; are the circufnftances on Which was 
founded the propriety, or rather neceffity-, of a diploma¬ 
tic einbafl'y to the court of Pekin: of which intention 
official notice having been forwarded to the Chinefe em¬ 
peror, it received the previous approbation and fandtion 
of that prince. 
For this arduous negociation, earl Macartney was 
named the ambaflador, and fir George Staunton, bart. 
fecretary to the enthalpy ; with a fuite, which in every 
refpedf did honour to the appointment. The Lion man 
of war, of fixty-four guns, commanded by fir Erafmus 
Gower; the Hindooftan Ealt Indiaman, commanded by 
captain Mackintofh ; and the Jackall brig, were the fhips 
deftined to convey the embaffy with the rich and valu¬ 
able prefents fent by his Britannic majefty to the em¬ 
peror of China. A military guard, under the command 
of major, now colonel, Benfon, was alfo ordered to at¬ 
tend on the perl'on of the ambaflador. Every neceflary 
arrangement being made, tliefe fhips fet fail from Portf- 
mouth on the 26th of September 1792, and arrived lafe 
©n the coafl of China, oppoflte the iflands of Chu-fan, on 
the 30th of June 1793. Earl Macartney, for further affift- 
ancein the voyage, had been obliged to purcliafe another 
veflel at Batavia, which he named the Clarence; fo that 
the fquadron now confined of four fhips. On the 2d of 
July, they fell in with a l'mall clufter of iflands, called 
Qu.ee-fan, where they came to anchor in nine fathoms wa¬ 
ter. The higheft and mod foutherly of thefe, called by 
the Englifh, Patchcock, bore north by weft four miles. 
Ou the third of July the lquadron weighed, and flood 
in, not without difficulty, nearer to Chu-fan, by reafon of' 
a multiplicity of boats around them. There were fome 
thoufands in light. Three hundred crouded about the Li¬ 
on, from one of which a pilot was procured by the Hin¬ 
dooftan. He condufted her oft' Tree-a-top ifland, and an¬ 
chored her four miles to the fouthward of it; but the 
N A. 471 
Lion and Jackall flood in, and came' to between the 
Ploughman and Buffalo’s Nofe. From hence iome of 
the gentlemen, with the interpreter, were difpatched, in 
the Clarence, to Chu-fan, to bring down the pilots who 
had been previou fly .ordered by the Chinefe government, 
to carry the fhips fafe to Tien-fing. 'I*he Clarence, in 
her paflage to Chu-fan harbour, anchored the firft even.- 
•jng a kttle to the fouthward of Kee-to-point, in feven- 
•teen fathoms water ; and fo good a look-out was kept, 
that intelligence of her approach had already been re¬ 
ceived at Chu-fan. An officer, from a Chinefe veflel, paid 
a vilit on-board, who, purfuant to inftubtions, condufted 
the Clarence, with his boat, the next morning fafe into 
the harbour. Three hundred iflands are faid to be com- 
prifed between the Qitee-fan and Chu-fan harbour ; a 
fpace of about fixty miles in length and thirty in width ; 
among which there are many valuable and. commodious 
harbours, fit for fhips of the greateft burden. This ad¬ 
vantage, added to its central fituation with regard to the 
eaftern coaft of China,.and its contiguity to Corea, Japan, 
Leoo-keoo, andFormofa, make'it a place of great trade, 
particularly at Ning-poo, a great commercial city, bor- 
■dering on the province of Tche-tchiang, to which are 
annexed all the Chu-fan iflands.. Twelve yeflels are dif- 
•pat-ched annually for copper, from one of its ports to- 
Japan. 
As foon as the governor had information .that the Cla¬ 
rence belonged to the embafly, lie-ordered provifions of 
every kind-on-board. He alio politely received the gen- 
tlemen'on-fhore the next morning, and invited them to 
partake of fome refrefhments.. The governor had pro¬ 
vided pilots who were capable only Of carrying them to 
the next port, at which others were fucceflively to be pro¬ 
cured, till they fhp'uld arrive, at Tien-fing. He obferved, 
thatdt had long-been the cuftom of the Chinefe to navi¬ 
gate along the coaft front province to province, and that 
that mode in the prelent inltance mu'ft be the molt eligi¬ 
ble ; that the port of Chu-fan was only an auxiliary port 
to the greater one of Ning-poo, and not able to'furnilh. 
fuch pilots as were required. To this it was anfwered ; 
that as the Englillr fliips were much larger than the Chi-- 
nefe, and of a different conltrubfion, they required a 
mode to be followed different from their ulual paflice 
and that, as Ning-poo might fupply fuch pilots as- could 
not be met with at Cliu-lkn, they would immediately go 
thither in fearch of them. The governor inftqntly took, 
the alarm. Their departure for Ning-poo,be laid, would 
be conftrued by the emperor as proceeding from an im¬ 
proper or cool.reception, and that he might not only be 
diliniffed from his office, but be divelted of his honours. 
To avert the danger, he undertook to find pilots capable 
of taking the fquadron to the defired place. Qpdeis 
were therefore inftantly difpatched, commanding alTper- 
fons who had ever been at Tien-fing, to repair forflvivith 
to the hall of audience. Several came, and underwent 
examinations ; and at laft two w r ere found who had often 
traded to that port, and who laid, the fquadron might 
be carried to a fafe and cpmmodious harbour, under the 
ifland of Mi-a-tau, within a day or two’s (ail of Tien- 
fing. The pilots being brought on-board, the Clarence 
got under way, and the next day rejoined the Lion. 
Before the lquadron could arrive at the gulf of Pekin, 
they had to fail about ten degrees of latitude and fix of 
longitude, through the Yellow Sea, in which no Euro¬ 
pean had before penetrated, Chu-fan having been the ut- 
moft boundary of their nautical refearches. The Yellow 
Sea is bounded by China, Tartary, and the peninfula of 
Corea. The great Hoang-ho, Whang-ho, or Yeilow Ri¬ 
ver,. difembogues into this fea ; carrying with it, in its 
circuition, a vaft quantity of yellowilh mud, from vyhicli 
circumftance the fea, as well as the river, derived its 
name. The Chinefe pilots, being upon deck, looked with 
aftonifhment at the manoeuvres of the Lion, and the ala¬ 
crity of the feamen in preparing her for fea. They had 
brought with them a compals, but no chart, nor any in- 
ftrument 
