c h : 
notice; they were inferted in tlie court gazette; they 
wpuid be recorded in the annals of the empire; and would 
find their way into Europe through the medium of the 
Ruffian refidents; and the millionaries in the capital. 
The ambaflador was therefore particularly on his guard 
with refpeft to any aft of his own, which might leflen 
the dignity of his l'overeign ; and he had the example of 
a Ruffian ambaflador who had refufed to comply with the 
ceremony in queftion, until a regular promife had been 
made for its return in like manner to his fovereign. The 
Dutch, who, in the feventeenth century, had meanly fub- 
mitted to every degrading ceremony in the hope of ob¬ 
taining profitable commercial advantages, complained af¬ 
terwards of being treated with negleft, and of being dif- 
miffied without experiencing the fmalleft mark of favour. 
In any point of view, therefore, it was mod likely that 
the difpofition of the Chinefe, at that time, would refufe 
a return of favours for any facrifice of dignity. The pre¬ 
judices imbibed againft the Engliffi on their firft appear¬ 
ance at Canton ; the effeft of fubiequent mifreprefenta- 
tions; and, to complete all, the recent circumltances of 
the Thibet war, notwithftanding the magnificence which 
every where accompanied the embafly, worked fo ftrongly 
upon the minds of every Tartar chief, as to excite a mif- 
trull that the Engliffi “ were come to fpy out the land,’*’ 
and intended ultimately to ffiare with the Tartars them- 
l'elves l'ome portion of their ruling power. 
The legate, who was not ignorant of the cafe of the 
Ruffian embafly, flattered himlelf of being more fuccefs- 
ful with the Britiffi ambaflador, from whofe kind difpo¬ 
fition be had built upon unconditional compliance; and 
to his own efforts he added thofe of the mandarins, who 
were intimate with his excellency. Thefe, however, were 
aftoniffied when they heard that, for a fimilar aft done by 
an European. Timagoras, in the charafter of ambaflador 
to a powerful monarch of Perfia, was condemned to fuf- 
fer death by his countrymen, the Athenians, as foon as 
he returned home, for having degraded the nation who 
deputed him; that lefs afts of humiliation had, in mo¬ 
dern times, been feverely cenfured; the aftions of men 
in a public capacity being looked upon as the afts of 
thofe whom they reprefent; and that ceremonies prac- 
tifed by l’ubjefts to their fovereigns, ought not to be ex- 
afted from the reprelentatives of foreign princes. The 
point in queftion being of the utmoft delicacy, the Bri¬ 
tiffi ambaffador was difpofed to gratify the declared willies 
of the emperor, as far as lay in his power, without infult 
to the dignity of his own lovereign. He did not, there¬ 
fore, refufe to accede to the ceremony of proftration, but 
offered to perform the whole, on a condition which, while 
it di4 «ot abftraft any perfonal refpeft from the emperor, 
removed the principal objeftion attached to it as an aft 
of homage or dependence in his reprel'entative charafter. 
This condition was, “ That a fubjeft of his imperial ma- 
jelty, of equal rank to his own, ffiould perform, before 
the pifture he had with him of his Britannic majelty, 
drefled in his robes of ftate, the fame ceremonies that the 
ambaflador fliould. be direfted to do before the Chinele 
throne.” It was of the utmoft moment that this propo- 
fal fliould be accurately tranflated and forwarded to the 
emperor, to avoid the poflibility of mifconception. The 
ambafladorial interpreter, though a native of China, was 
unacquainted with the language ufed at the court. The 
legate, taking advantage of this, and direfting his views 
to unconditional compliance, refilled any agreement in 
writing, and was unwilling to afford affiltance to the in¬ 
terpreter for that purpofe. After repeated applications, 
home of the miffionaries were introduced to his excel¬ 
lency, but with the utmoft circuml'peftion, and in pre¬ 
fence of the legate and Portuguefe jefuit, whom the em¬ 
peror had raifed to a higher dignity than any of his bre¬ 
thren. This man was inimical to the interefts of Great 
Britain, and encouraged the legate to refill the requeft 
which the ambaflador had made to remove to the capital, 
where he might more conveniently prepare for his jour- 
N A. ; 479 
ney to Zhe-hol; but the governor of the palace of Yuen- 
min-yuen, fuperior in power to the legate, interpofed on 
the occalion, and the embafly was irnmecjiately ordered 
to take refldence at a palace in the city of Pekin. Here, 
a Chinefe Chrillian, qualified in all refpefts for the office 
of tranflator, undertook, privately, to write very expli¬ 
citly the above conditions, though not without much 
rifk on his part, in cafe it ffiould be known to the legate; 
for it is a fail that a native of Canton had been formerly 
put to death, for only writing a petition for the Englifh. 
Care, however, was taken in this cafe to prevent detec¬ 
tion. The tranflation was copied fair, and the original 
rough draught deflxoyed in the tranllator’s prefence. 
This memorial of his excellency was addrefied to Ho- 
choong-taung, colao, firft miniller of the empire, and re- 
prefented, that “ his majefty the king of Great Britain, 
in lending an embafly to the emperor of China, fhlly 
intended to give the ftrongeft teltimony of particular 
efteem and veneration for his imperial majefty ; that the 
ambaffador entrulled to convey fuch fentiments, was 
earnellty defirous of fulfilling that objeft of his million 
with zeal and effeft; that he was ready, likewife, to con¬ 
form to every exterior ceremony praftifed by his impe¬ 
rial majelty’s fubjefts, and by the tributary princes at¬ 
tending at his court, not only to avoid the confufioii of 
novelty, but, in order to (hew, by his example in behalf 
of one of the greateft, as well as moll diltanr, nations on 
the globe, the high and jtift fenfe univerfally entertained 
of his imperial majefty’s dignity and tranfeendent vir¬ 
tues; that the ambaflador had determined to aft in that 
manner without helitation or difficulty, on this condition 
only, of which he flattered himlelf his imperial majefty 
would immediately perceive the neceffity, and have the 
goodnefs to accede to it, by giving fuch direftions as 
fliould be the means of preventing the ambaflador from 
fuffering by his devotion to his imperial majefty in this 
inllance; for the ambaflador would certainly fuffer hea¬ 
vily, if his conduft, on this occafion, could be conftrued 
as in any wile unbecoming the great and exalted rank 
which his mailer, whom he reprefented, held among the 
independent fovereigns of the world; and this danger 
could he eafily avoided, and the fatisfaftion be general 
on all Tides, by his imperial majefty’s order that one of 
the officers of his court, equal with the ambaffador in 
rank, fliould perform before his Britannic majelly’s pic¬ 
ture at large, in his royal robes, and then in the ambaf- 
fador’s poffeffion at Pekin, the fame ceremonies which 
fliould be performed by the ambaffador before the throne 
of his imperial majefty.” This paper was fhewn to the 
legate, who appeared to approve its contents, and under¬ 
took to forward it to the emperor, whofe acquiefcence 
was little doubted. In this perfuafion; the articles def- 
tined for Zhe-hol were brought back to Pekin, among 
which were fix neat brafs field-pieces, on light carriages. 
His excellency had them tried by the artillery men, pre¬ 
vious to their exhibiting before his imperial majefty, and 
they were fired feveral times in a minute. This celerity- 
in military manoeuvres was difrelifhed by the legate, who 
aftefted to fay, that the imperial army was equally as 
expert. He countermanded the orders refpefting thefe 
field-pieces, which before w-ere-deftined for Zhe-hol, but 
now to remain at Pekin. The few barrels of gunpowder, 
intended for falutes, and the mufquetry of the ambafla- 
dor’s guard, were both become objects of fufpicion, and 
were deiired to be given up. The requeft was immedi¬ 
ately Complied with as a matter of indifference. In ffiort, 
the whole tenor of the legate's conduft difplayed a mind 
agitated by alarm and diftrult, and left the Chinefe ffiould 
attribute fuperior prowel's to the Englifli nation. Even 
in a difplay of the prefents, to gratify curiofity, he was 
fo illiberal as to iupprefs the leall emotion of appro¬ 
bation. 
In the thirteenth century, the commencement of the 
firft Tartar dynafty, a new plan was laid down for di¬ 
viding the city of Pekin into two parts; when that de- 
