The National Register. — London, England, 1817-10-13 00:00:00

:-/ - -- • -- - I,ihn de LONDON G.IZETTE, Oa 7. BANKRUPTCY ENLARGED. .T Icra B. ricrch.:nt. from Sept. 25. to Nov. SI7PERSILDED. .1); utts/s s D. ;.:n. ylytuoutli 14)4, grocer. • BANKRUI"rS. • rEnrsder A. Mancbe,ter. grocer. Oct. 18, 20, Nov. 18, at Man cheemr. Atm I I unl and Co. Temple. tat' TOR .T. Larwashire, publican, Oct. 20, : 7 1. No.:. IR, Maach.- , ter Att. Mr. Pnwnall, Staple-Inn. Clot Norte Falrn ..atll, inn-ke , ...rr. Oct. 30. Nw. 18 at Fal inlet-. Ate', Ilestt/oo arel Co. Corbet-court. Grace-church-Ur:et. FA": 11. IY. Rtuthill-row. linen-draper, Oct. 18, Nov. 48, at Gllllll3ll. Att. Mr. Wilson, Tetnil , .•. _ NOV. IR. at Throgalorton- hall. Ate. Mr. WY.t.s.: .1. Laudon, Tem a / a nt. Oct- 14, 23, Nov. 18, at Guildhall. Atr...Noy awl Co. B.:II-court, .‘Thicang.l aa s. jAI s s.solow.. s zreet, Prec checaemonger. Oct. 11. 25, I.lov. 13. at (34illhall. Att. Mr. I.94age,Castle-street, Leicester • .square. itaLwr.tys T. Church-stroct. Bethnal-green, checscnionger, Oct 4. 25, Nov. Is. at Guildhall. At. Mr. C..ocker, Cross-strect,Fins bury -sa;l111TC. DTRCHAI.I. S. R. Kinibury, nakslize. draer 11. , rFes, Om 25, Guildhall. Art. Mr. Sherwin, Urea , . lonei-strut, Bedford-row. • /28.80 ,- It. 1::.1.of Jam-sirs. merchant. Oct- 13, 25, Nov. 18, at Atts. Shaw trod Cu. New Bridge -street. DIVIDENDS. D. Fowler, and A. Anstic, Gra , .!•-church-street, merchants Nov. 8. B. Bray, Illturard. Essex, victualler. Oet. Garnett, Liverpool. mere:iant. Oct. 30. W. Wiifil,..,Ll:l. Lavenham, Sutibik. gmccr, Oct. 21. W. Atkin' on, Austin friars. merchant, Nov. s. . . ,•• M.Coltuan. Brittell-hme. Statro.:l,hirc, glass-manufacturer, Oaf. Ys. J. Parker, Chtracery-i: ine,.corton manufacturer, (let. SO. G. I,OIMS, D.V.Vg.ttc-1 till, merchant. Oct 30. J. Taylor, Haulegrove, Yorkshire. grocer. Nor. 1. T. Finn, and .I..lohnson, Nottingham. tailors, Nov. S. J. Kul. WcAtm3rOvid-1,140., City-road, and .1. Earl, jun. Pres . tau. Ilexclurdabire, beast-salesmen. Dec.:. J. Heath. East l'etqninouth, ILafon,hire, ship-builder, Oct. 28. W. Howley. Birmingham, glass-toy-maker. CERTIFICATES, OCT. 2R. S. I rigledcw, Woad-strcet, Cheapside. warehouseman—G. Tay- Joe, Gorton, Lanca.sitire, cotton-itrtantlicturer-...1. Harrison, slier g,fitu,a—W. Wise, Wail, booksuller—.l. IYtAstonerolt, - tialford, Lancashire, connunn-htEwer-It. and T. Mann, Liverpool, iron boop-tnakers--T. and 11. Witney, cotton-spinners. REVIEW OF LITERATURE. JOURNAL OF THE PROCEEDINGS 01I.THE LATE _ . ENiIIAsSI"ID CHINA. - Br..IIENRY Eau. Minn COMMISBIONCI or THL EMBASSY. The representations of the increasing difficulties which the supercargoes at Canton experienced, from the oppressions of the local government, in the con duct of the trade there, induced the Court of Directors of the East India Company, in IS t 5, to think of sending an Embassy .to Pekin, thr the purpose of en deavouring to obtain a redress of the grievances corn- Plained et; and of forming such arrangements as 'nigh be likely to prevent their recurrence; a reliamee to the :Emperor of China himself was deemed the more regal fite from a belief that the hostile proceedings of his 'ewers at Canton, were either unknown to him, or their cause misrepresented. There was another ols eet which the Directors had in view ; this was the es ., rablishment, in future, of a direct intercourse with Pekin, either by means of a resident Minister, or by written addtesses to sonic tribunal. The Directors having signified their wishes to his Majesty's Ministers, the plan of the mission, after some modifications was mail:, adopted, and Lord Amherst appointed Embus salor Extraordinary, and Plenipotentiary, by the Prince Regent. Though the subsequent failure of this embassy ex cited much public attention and apparent disappoint ment, this was by no means the case with those imme distely interested in it. The character of tile court of rain was too well• known to the Directors, to allow them to look forward to certain success ; and in addi tion t) national jealousies, and an aversion from ad thittlng strangers to a free intercourse with the inte rier of die empire, there were certain points of eti quette which presented serious difficulties in any at ternllt to ;fain access to the presence of' the Emperor.— The chief of these is the act of prostration nine times, on coming into the Imperial presence ; Lord Ilacart ney sceeeeded hi getting over this degrading ceremony, but nothing favourable was anticipated from this pre cedent, us there was now another Sovereign on the throee, and it was well known that a Russian Embas sador, in_lBos, had been sent away without an an for refusing to comply on this point. Having , 1 . - -even these preliminary explanations, we shall now en ueaveur to present our readers with a general view of :e contents of the volume before us. Excepting in that portion of it which relates immediately to the af fairs of embasaar, much new, or interesting mutter 4:1 a country like China, could hardly be expected, after the publications of Staunton and Vaii Braara. Mr. 'Ellis's Journal, however, will be reld with pl e asur e ; st is written in a perspieunits and pleasing manner ; Find the oeeurretwes are detailed in such a way often, Cant the reader almost thinks himself a- party in the transactions described. Enibuszy Railed from Spithead, in February, • , on homed H. M. Ship the Alccste, in company .'le Lyra, and the General flewittindiarrin, i n - .*Fre ;Jlippcd a pert the 5 :(:) . :1"5 r. 1 ,1 r:oscnts.. THE NATIONAL W.:MITI:It It touched at Madeira, Rio Janeiro, the Capes, and Ba tavia ; upon each of which places, Mr Ellis furnishes maoy interesting put ticulara, especially of .the • From Batavia, the vessels sailcstlirr4He Chineie sea, which they reached. in July, and after receiving on beard Sir 'George Stniniton, frotil Canton, who had hem appointed first Commissioner of the Embassy; and Mr. Morrison, and other gentlemen of the factory, to • act as interpreters, &c. the whole of the ships stood away flit. the Gulf of Petcheclee, into which the river Pciho, on which-the Embassy was to ascend in boats towards Pekin, tlischarges itself. After various com munications with .the Mandarins on shore, appointed to .take charge of the embassy, Lord Amherst, the Commissioners, Interprete . rs, . and suite, landed at Tung-koti, whence they proceeded in the boats to Tien-sing., where there is a summer palace, in which, it appeared, an entertainment, on the part of the Em peror, was to be given to the Embassador. From the enquiries of the Mandarins, in the interviews which had taken place previous to landing, and same expres sions respecting the ceremony ofprostration required in the Imperial presence, Lord Amherst anti Sir George Staunton had reason to expect t hat the subject would be lingually entered upon by the Mandarins at Tien sing. In this they were nut disappointed ; and as the discussions which there took place explain the nature of the demands made by the Chinese, the non-compliance which ultimately led to the failure of the embassy, we shall give the whole in Mr. Ellis's owe words : " tint of August.—At a quarter before ten we lett our boats and proceeded iu chairs to the Hull, where we were to be rixeivial. The band and the guard, with Lieutenants Cooke and SOlll:rset . preceded the Embassador's chair, Mr. Morrison and his Excellency's son fol lowed, then the Commissioners, and afterwards the other gentlemen; the order WILS most regularly kept, and we arrive 1 without interrup tion at the Hall, a long building supported by light wooden pillars. At about one-third of the wool, before a skrcen, a table with yellow silk hanging before it met our eyes, a symptom of the discussion that awaited us. The :Mandarins were all in their robes of ceremony, iirincipnlly of civil orders. 6 ' After a few polite expressions of their hope that we had met with no obstructs at on our way thither. Kwung-ta-jin opened the subject of the ceremony by saying, that the entertainment which we were that day to receive was expressly commanded, and indeed, given by the Emperor ; that, therethre, the same ceremonies would be pi:t hinned by them, and expected from us, as if we were in the impvriut pretence. Lord Amherst replic:4. that he was prepared to approach his Imperial Majesty with the same demonstration. of respect as his own sovereign. They then specifically mentioned the ko-taro as the ceremony that would be required. Lord Amherst declared his in teation of following, in every respect, the precedent established by Lord Macartney. The Caiachaes argued in reply, that in fact our former Embassa dor had 111:1e every thing in point of ceremony that had been re quired of him, and especially bad performed the ceremony of the ko-tou, as well in the presence of the Emperor as at other times; Soo ta-jirt said, lie himself rentendsered his hatiii4 performed it when at Canton; and they then both appealed to Sir George Staunton as having been present, and able to give evidence of the tarts which they had asserted. "To such a falselawal it would have been easy to have given a very short and decided answer t but as it WAS suflicimtly obvious that the question was nut pin to sir (:corge with any view of wally ascer taining Cie truth, hot evidzaitly ter Me purpose of making it a per- Whiell could only !load to mutusl it,iiation aim ot fence, it was deemed nio,t advisable, both by lord Amherst and my self, that Sir George should avoid the discussion into which they were desirous of drawing I • ,by ob.erving that the Einbassador's infor illation of wlisa had tsken pisecon the occasaion of the fernier Embassy was derived from the authentic records which, had been presented to our Sovereign by Lard Macartney on his return, and on which re cords our present instructions were also grounded ; but that as to his (Sir George's) opinion or evidence respecting a fact which had oc curred twenty three years ngo, when he was a Child of twelve years of age, it was quite improper and ah,uril poi ask it, or to suppose ht could )e of any weight in deciding a question already settled upon much higher authority. " A haughty tone was here assumed by the Mandarins, who said, that they supposed it was the intention of the EiliLlattor to please his Imperial Majesty, that the ceremony was never dispensed with, and that it was not becoming that they should perform a ceremony ea this otrosion %Inch the Embassador refused. Lord Amherst had no hesitation in expressing his anxiety to she's every respect, and give every satisfaction to his Imperial Majesty, consistent with his duty to his own Sovereign; and that from this feeling it was his inten tion to approach the Imperial presence with the same demonstrations of veneration as he would his Britannic Majesty; that such had been the conduct of I.enl Macartney, and such were the instructions of his Sovereign on the present riceasion. Some expression here fell from them, tending to convey that the Embassy would not he received. It was then said by Lord Amherst, that however mortifying it might be to his feelings, he must decline the honour intended hint by the entertainment, and that he should be prepared, on his arrival at Pekin, to submit the reasons of his refusal. in writing, to his Impe rial :Majesty. What! reject the Emperor's bounty? observed the Mandolins. His lordship again . iveated his regret and his last pro- I petition, which was positively rejected by them. " An appeal was then made to Lord A mherst's paternal feelings, and it was asked, whether he would be so wanting in affection, as to de- prive his son of the honour of swing the Emperor. Much of the same ground was repeatedly gone over on both sides. The certain displeasure of the Emperor, and the actual colny:tance of Lord Macartney, were repemedly urged by the Mandari n s; tile latter 1 , 0-sition sition was again strenuously denied by Lord Amherst, and the own minds of :as sovereign were plotaleci and press,sl as the ground of refusal. " Fueling that netbing was is be gained, a disposition to yield was manitived by the Mandarins, and they rested their case upon the great personal responsibility they should incur by acceding to the Enertsatdor's pmpw.al ; they nsikert:4l that they dared not report site: t circumstance to the Emperor. T.oed A mherst observed in reply, that he Gould not possibly anticipate the Emperor's being dissatisfied with the same demonstrations of respect that had been accepted by Kien lmng, his illustrious father. They then declared, that the Enmemr Kien-Lung had hen ints:h4ispleased. and that Me princes and no bles had eonsid2reti it most extraor,Liary that they should prostrate themselves. while the F.eglish rem:pied standing. His loolship tia:;worc‘l, tlsett his ott;ect W:tg to eo.;:i•ine a proper maitiftsitation of to his Chinese Majesty with the duty he owed his own So- Vereiga, and the poNtive mum:an& he had re;eived upon the parti tular point, that whatever tillght he the particular ceremony per fbrincd. the respect he felt in his hetrt for . hi Impend Majesty, mild rot he thereby augmented. The Mandarins observed, that the filings of the heart were best shorn be actions, and that lord Remora's refusal evinced a deficiency in proper sentiments of ve mration. " Soo•ta-jin, who had hitherto only interfered to assert poaitively from his own knowletlg , 2 the eornidiamso of 1..0rd Alaca:iney with the cere.tisocy boa at I%t o lciti and Ca: , ion. now entered fully into the obscrvin:: that rim. trade at Canton might materially 'a:L:lr trout the ditylcalure of a: g.ApCIOT wauthcr resnaik was OCT. 13. made respecting the possible angcr of his fmpieial .‘lajesty towards the *Ng of E!i±rilind; Waetirsuition M:::•;forrisan very meltsiti / refused to ire.srpret. At length they said, that off. v '..4elt! . not insiss upon the pertsorinance of the ceremony on the present occasion.' but that they threw the romoinibility of the consequences upon l.ord Athherst, and that they could not pretend to say whether the Em bassy o: presents would be received, adding, that it would be well to consider the discredit among other nations which such a dismissal would reflect upon our own country. Lord Amherst declared, that the copseioasnes of obeying his Sovereign's commands would relieve him from all uneasiness; that what he proposed to do. namely, to make a haw before the table, WAS the same honour that was paid by the members of the Chief Council of the nation, to which lie belong ed, before the vacant throne of the Sovereign, awl dim more ought, Lot to be espected from him. " The point was here finally given up, and Lord Amherst, in ex pies 'nig his seistherian, said, that to evince the sincerity of his di g. position to cam:dime. he would, although it was customary only to bow ono before the throne of his own Sovereign, not liesisate sy make :Is many - bows on the present ottmlon as they did preSdathets the Chinese, with characteristic endeavoured to graft upon this %admirery concession a demand that I .ord Amherst should kneel upon one knee; this proposition was, of course, resisted, aid the discussion seemed about to be renewed,' when they abandoned their position, and we proceedesl to the hall of reception, the conference having taken place imam inner apartment, Lord Amherst, his son, the Commissioners, and Mr. Morrison, being present. %Viten at 1:•.t door, Awing in a friendly manner entreated us to reconsider the eon sequences that might result. It was observed tit:ado...re was nu ne cessity fur reamsiderat ion or consultation, a: we had no option. " On entering the I I all we plaeed ourselves bethre the table, the fan.t • of which was covered wish yellow silk, and a lighted censer I.laced upon it. We bowed nine times, in unison with the pmstrations of the Manthirins Sou-ta s iin, Kwang-tasjin, and six others, went through the ceremony. The upper part of the Hall was raised step, and in this compartment the tw... chief Mandarins. Lonl Am. herst, his son, and the Commissioners seated themselves ; the two Mandarins being on the left, all the other Chinese were seated below them on the same side, and the gentlemen of the embassy opposite ; a handsome dinner in the Chincie style, was then served, aceumpa- Mel by a play ; hut of these hereafter. " When dinner was ewer we returned to the inner apartment. ,After taking our seats, liwang-ta r iin observed it was not well, acd declared his fear of the Emperor's displeasure. Lord Amherst again termed his conviction that the Emperor could not be dissatistiel with his having paid the saute homage that he addressed to the throne of his own Sovereign. The ceremony to be performed in the presence of the Emperor was now brouiht forward by the Mandarins; laird Amherst then distinctly stated his intention to kneel upon one kruy, and make his obeisance in that posture, he added, that the practice at the English court was to kiss the Sovereign's bend. At this lattet eircumsteacc, they, as was expected, shook their heads, and made some faint attempts to renew the general discussion; the determination that was manifested, however, induced them to desist, and they merely affected not to understand the ceremonial proposed by Lord Amherst, which was again explained, hat without effect. They then proposed that his Excellency should at the moment go through it ; he replied that it could not be perfi.rmed by hint before any other person but the Emperor, they observed...that their wish was not that he should then perform, it to any one, but merely that from seeing it actually gone through, they might be able to make a more acclimate report to his Imperial Majesty. Sir George Staunton then happily suggested, that Lord Amherst's son should penitent the proposed ceremony before his father. Chinese. usage was so com. Newly in accordance with this infinite:teams of respect from a.son us his father, that every difficulty or objection to any . previous practim by Lord Amherst was removed, and the proposition was instantly admitted. The Chinese did nut appear dissansti,sl with the appear ance of the ceremony thus pertionned, but said, that kissine the hand would not be allowed. land Amherst, of course, did nut ornect to the omission. The number of times was then discussed, and Lord Am herst stated that once was the usage of the English court; that he had been induced to bow nine times before the table from a feeling that his remaining standing, while they were in the :let of prostration would not have had a good appearance; but that his demonstration of respect was not in his opinion, increased by the repetition ; sh o uld however they, or other high officers of state, be present at the audi ence with the Emperor, he should not hesitate to meat his bnws as often as they did prestrations. The Mandarins said, Mut none but his Lordship, and the gentlemen then present, would be calks! upon to perfoun the ceremony at the audience, and that a repetition of nine times would he expected. lord Amherst replied, that to *hew his disposition to gratify the Emperor lie was ready to consent to his wishes in this respect ; although he must again repeat, that the res pectful character of the ceremony was not, to his feelings, in the least heightened. The Mandarins then proposed that Jeffery should practice the ceremony nine times before them ; to this Lord Amherst objected, amsideting it too serious a business to be trilled with : the precise mode of the ceremony having been again distinctly ituted. the discussion closed. Lord Amherst then took an opportunity expressing his satisfaction at its termination, and his personal gra tihcation at the kindness and attention they had shown hint. They replied, that they had merely obeyed the orders of his Imperial Majesty." Thus closed these two conferences ; that before dinner highly important in its immediate result, as we had the satisfaction of having successfully resisted the very demand which mainly eontributid to the failure of the Russian Embus:ll6r, and to his return front the frontier. Whatever might he the opinion entertained respecting the expediency of complying with the Chinese usage in the presence of the Emperor, either with, or even without equivalent, there could be none as to the ceremony this day proposed ; the only precedent of compliance was that of the last Dutch embassy; the treatment throughout experienced by the members of that missies and the innumerable causes of repetition, uuder the most degratlimfeircum stances, and on the most trifling occasions, that were devised by the Chinese, must sufficiently establish the expediency of resistance. With this view the minds of Lord Amherst and those who acted with him were made up, to have hazarded the reception of the embassy upon the point ; and the expression of inflexibility cenimuniceted by this previous resolution to theircountenances and manner, had, no doubt, considerable influence upon the Mandarius." The %%hole interior and axle' ior of the New Mint, together with' the military way and adjoining ethnics, hi.s been lighted. wills gas, by means of an apparatus erected by (Jos - eminent, within the walls of the Mint. The gas for illmnimaing this Establistmient is prepared, not by distilling coal in retorts, but by means of a 10 fi:et cylinder, si hieli revolves horizon tally round its axis, and produces every :1 hours a sufficient quantity of gas to light 1609 hour.. '1 he imritication of the trade gas is effected in its nascent stale by chlorine, instead of quicklime, and all the inlet stud outlet mains and braneir pil en are made to open and shut by self-arting um - enlist! valves.. The quantity of gas daily made, and I'olo4llllrd by the burners and lamps, is recorded in ulpeniCe of the ob server by it machine, hurdled and kept in 'notion by the elas ticity of the gas. The effect of the 1111Ult•l'ous fight, sea t e rrd upon so extensive a scale, over the beautiful machinery of ilia coining processed, is uncommonly striking, and the New Mint now exhibits the most elegant establishment of the kind in the world. Among die improvements making in tlydr-park, is a water fall Prom the East owl of the Serpentine River, %%Inch wdl descend between the willow. non tln• piers n deeie•lnw. Afrrei:ry says ' " The land sale; a hilt have taken place in this part of the country lately, have hevit upna terms which indi cate a returning regard to i cal prope:ty. It see la:: co linger difficult to sell. There Wi :ui auction in this town last Friday of estates in :Jere:al nti?,iilioaring parishes, anti the property in general a, thought to hats: svld