The Sun.
London, England, 1817-09-17 00:00:00

EMBASSY TO CHINA.

EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM A GENTUENI x'N IN
THE .still'E OF THE LAD: EMBASSY TO CHINA.

On the oth of July; 1816, I embarked With se-
veral other English gentlemen, at Macoa ; and on
the [Oat, his Majesty's. ship Alceste, having on
board his Excellency the Right Hon. Lord Am-
berst,-ambassador from the Prince Regent to the
Emperor of China, arrived off .Lemma islands.
There I left the Honourable Company's cruiser
Discovery, in which I embarked, .: and WCIlt on
board the frigate.

VVehad a very favourable passage to the Gulp',
of Chih-le, by which latter, term the Chinese de-
nominate that province in which Peking is situ-
ated. On the 28th of July, the five vessels of
which the squadron was composed were safely an-
chored off the mouth of the river e.
' the North River,' on which, at the distance of
two days' journey'by water, the famous town called
Tecu-tsin, the heavenly confluence of streams,'
is situated.

'rite village that stands at the mouth of the river
is called.Ta-hoo. The laud all around is so low
as to be scarcely distinguishable from the anchor-
age, which, ()Wing to the.shallownessof the %vo-
ter, is 8 m 10 wiles frorwthe shore.

There-appeared here a want of civilized decency,
with which I was quite surprised. The fishermen
were either in a state of complete nudity, or wore
a jacket 00y thrown over their shoulders. 'rite
wen who tracked the boats against-the str,,am, af-
ter we landed, were also in sitnular circumstances.
Throughout the While or the province's of Chih-le
and of Alan-tong; boys, at the age of 12 or 14
years, went
At Ta-koo, there is a temple dedicated to Full,
or-BAR)°, whkh is the Chines'e pronunciation of
ButidalW 'They use commonly only the -first
syllable, Fuh ; and hence, according to the spel-
lin4 of the MS. dictionaries, Foe, which modern
%%liters hare abreviated to Fo.

On the Ist olAuguSt I %vela on shore, at the re 7.
quest of the Ambassador, to see Kinattg, aniniperial
commis,ionet there, appointed to receive the em-
bassy. In this temple I found an European print of
the head of our Saviour. lie- Was crowned vikh
thorns, and a reed in his hand. This print was pasted
on a latge scroll of pap•rr, which Was hung up in
one of the rooms of the priest;, and incense vessels
placed bLifore it. There was some Chinese writing
on the scroll, which I was anxioll3 to read. -The
priest, however, said that the picture was there
anti he could not take it down. Ile
showed me a book containing the service, which he,
said they read Whin they worshipped this picture.
The service was in au exceedingly mysterious
style. I could not that evening (it was now late,
an.l I left the place at day-break the next morn-
ing) make out the scope of-it.'
This picture, and the name Teen Cboo Redore
(by which the Mnis!' religion is known) were
the only vestiges of the Christian religion -that.
occ,irred to roe during the whole of our journey.

AUGUST l3.—We were entertained at a ban-
quet, given by two Impetial Commissioners, in
the name of the Emperor, at Teen-tsin. The
same principle which operated, when in Europe
inferior food and wine were placed at the bottom
of the table, manifested itself in a dill-clew way.
The Imperial Commissioners, the British Antbas-
Sador, and the CoMilliSSioners, Sir George Stalin-
ton and Mr. Ellis, sat on very low cushions, per-
haps six or eight inches from the ground, on
witch a red felt cloth was placed.
I am now writing; to you front a temple, in
which arc upwards of a hundred priests, and as
many idols. About 50 priests worship with Morn-
ing and evening prayers, titbit (WC nil nearly 40
minutes,- images of Buddah. 'Where are three
images placed on a line; before these the priests
born tapers, offer incense, and recite prayers,
sometimes kneeling and repeating over and over
tigain invocations, and sometimes potting the
forehead to the groom!, in token of adoration,
submission, and supplication. Day after day,
and year after year, this is gone through ; but
they never associate with the people of any rank
or age, to deliver instructions to them. Indeed,'
they are not qualified. They are generally •
terate and uninstructed themselves. They are
the mere performers of ceremonies, and should
never be denominated by the same name .that is
applied to the Mittisters of the Christian religion.
The multitudes of people in
_this country are, in
a moral and religious view, as sheep without a
shepherd. -
Here all cFscussion of the MeaStit•CS of Govern-
ment being entirely disallowed ; all associations
of
,the people for any purpose whatever being dis-
couraged ; and 11,1 interest taken in the acquire-
ment of science, or an .knowledge of the general
affaits of, mankind ; people possessing property.
and lektire want occupation ; and become cont-
moldy would not say al ways) either idle smokers
of opium, or active devotees of sensual pleasure.
20.—The embassy arrived at Sungchow,'
which is one day's journey front reking. titre

we-tern:lined eight Jays). di'scossing with a person
ot, the rank of a Duke, and,, others; a .4.l""ti°ll'
enllsidered of vital importance by both parties:
yet it all turned on a ceremony. High 011icers
of State in China, dependent Tartar Kings and
Ptioces, all perfo'rm to the. (treat Entretor of
China A ceremony whichis.the strongest external
exyreSsion of devotedness and submission, ‘vhich
this people, who abound in external forms of sob
misrsion, have been aide to invent. 'To kneel
down- on the 'ground, to place the !lauds when
boWing forward, on the floor, and to strike the
forehead tr;;liinit tire. 'earth once, seeps an abun-
dantly apparent Mark of veneration, devotion, or
submission. They; however, increase. thus, by
regoiring the ..person to strike, head against
thc earth titriee ; and they increase thiS, as we d(r-
three cheers, by three,times three. Between
each three, the worshipper rises and vands erect,
then kneels clown again. This ceremony is called.
I'au kives ken kow, which is rendered verbally,.
" three, kueelings and nine knocks." Some of
the God's are worshipped by three kopeks, some
by six, and Heaven by nine. This ceremony is
by tributary Princes and .Foreign Ambassadors
performed Co the Emperor, for its own sake, and
apart trout every other ceremony, as an expression
of homage. This is called by way of eminence
" The Ceremony,'" and this is what the Tartats
(for they were all Tartars who were sent tcrocgo-
ciate) rerrtired from the l3rtish Amba-seadbr.—
That be should hesitate, will not be wondered at
by many.

The Duke at last pretended to give Way, and
on the afternoon of the 28th, at fotir, p m, we
„
set off to the palace coemning-ynen, and after
travelling all night arrived at day-light the next
morning. The hour apvointeti by the Emperor
(or, as he is sometimes called, The Soo of
Heaven") for giving udience;had already elapsed.
The Tartars rise early \Ve were hurried, after
travelling al; night, unwashed and undressed, to
the door trt the palace., A Briti b Noblethan, re-
presenting
,his Sovereign, end tv ho had conic.
50,000 miles to the Court of China, detnurred, as
was natural, to enter thus into the Imperial pre-
sence, and ph-ailed with the Duke, who came out
tortr4e the Ambassador into the Hall of Audience,
that the tatigtiesof the night had residered hint Un-
well, and I herefore requested that the Duke would
beg his 11.lajes:y graciously to defer seeing him that
!limiting. To effect this with his capricious mas-
ter the Duke went, and said that the Ambassador
was so he could not stir a step. This produced
a gracious order, that the Ambassador should re-
tire'iti the' house provided for him, and his Ma-
jesty's physician would attend upon him. He did
attend. What report he made is not know-n:. Ile
could not in, truth report that the Ambassador was
exceedingly or dangeroutly ill. The Emperor
thotOtt he was imposed upon, and called a special
.meeting of his Cabinet; neither the Duke, nor
l'riuccs, nor ' the Courtiers, who kneW the fact
of our travelling all night, dared to tell him of
it ; his menial servants, who also liNew the fact,
ilia not tell him till two or three days alter‘rards,
when it was too li!e ; and his Imperial.Mjesty,
in a fit of, anger (in the presence of those Cour-
tiers who knew the real state of the case, 1..,r,d
could by stating it appease him, hut did not) de-
creed, that the Ambassador should be required to
depart immediately. This decree was Carried 11W4
eireet t lie same day. At four, -p. m. rve left Yuen-
ming-yuen, and after travelling all night It second
time, arrived at Tung-ChoW by break of day 'on
the morning of'the 10th.

The Etniteror foutul out afterwards the real
state of the case, and degraded the Duke by re-
moving him front sitviarions of high trust which
he' held. The 'Duke-is' brdther to the Empress.
Three other persons of the first rank were also
removed from their offices, and an edict pnblish-
ed, 'chiding his courtiers for their hateful indiffer-
ence to the, publ.c Welfare, and lamenting that
selfishness should be carried to such a degree—a
thing, he said, which he-did not believe to be pus;
sihle. The Duke's most iut,miAte'friends, as his
Majesty stated it himself, who in ordinary cases
professed the utmost attachment and cornialitv,
smiling and fawniog nputrivirn, when they saw hint
perplexed and4inbarrassed by the Emperor's
questions.put to him, would not, though fully in
their power, set lino right, to state the truth for
him. Every one said, " It is not my business."—
" Alas," said the Emperor -iri his Edict, " oit
what a dangerous rOcky eminence does a 6tates-
man tread." And in the next line adds, "If
you had no retard for the Duke, had you•none-for
your country r' -
Notwithstanding all this, his pride and notions
of divity would not allow him to. give act expla-
nation .to the Ambassador.. Ile,• however, or-
dered his own officer's to treat him with vlite-
IYCSS, as he passed through the country. The
night utter the expulsion (for such our departure
was) Ice sent three artiCle3 as a present, or in
.their, phraseology, " a donation" to the King of
'Etigtatitl,—arid took three articles from our pig.;
seats, or, as they called them, " tribute." One
article was the portraits of our beloved' and la-
• went ed Sovereign and his Queen./
SEPT. 2.—We COLIIIIIVIICed our return from
Tung,chow. Time dues not permit me to descriiie
any part of the country through which we passed ;
Lutist of it, indeed, was travelled over by the Eng-
lish and Thtch Embassies in the reign of the la!e
Emperor Keenliug, and is described in the hooks
published on those occasions.
Just before entering. on the Yang-tze-Keang,
we stopped! at hives-Chow,, where. 1 conversed.
with a Mahoustnedati gentleman, in one of the
Temples of Buddalt, where be was lodging, for a
day Or two, Temples ill China, like religions
houses on the Continent, are often employed as
tempos ary inns by ttavellers. Government also
torn them to this purpose ; hence. it is the tem-
ple front, which I address you is wade the dwelling
of thc 13ritish Amibassador.

IllAllomme(l,,ns ale found in considerable nnni-

hers in scverai pa:tsot (Thitin, They are allowed

the exercise of their ,and admitte'd into
the serf ice of the tiover:nnient. Tht— ntienixo

I have now meptioticd.waan Officer of Guverit-

ment, and another, with whom I eonverNei at the
,capital cif Keang•se, was•in the army. . I was in-
.formed by these persons, that in k(-nu;;...N;,:i 1'0(1
have 36 mosques, but .unlike the temples of the
'idolaters in Ct)ina ; they are genertOly locked up,
except on their S.Abath, v,hich occurs on our

. .
Fridm
sere.ce
repeut tlie set vice, but do not i.m!erstatrd
.;„
informant said, that neither the service tier t!..1
doctrines were Ifatlslate,d into the Chinese i
should think h`e was incorrect. I WiS lied bin, yo
inqui,re amongst his friends, and procot ,
book ; but he persisted, that no book in stye
nese cxist ; f,:
I emieavoured from these two
.personS,3ll`",
an old shopman. in the north, whose
or rather lantern, which served the "1:1)("-°!'
a sign.boatti, caught anefition. Ile hail writ
I'l IP'
ten on it, " flivity liwny h.lon Veen,- an 6;l' '
nonnuedan Jhop.. I wished to ascertain frc'is
these persons-, hy wh.ac %void in i tic Chlue!ii
they expressed tire_ city. 'I c tdi agrecd
samethe stoly, -that it was. t
Choo, " Master, Lot d, or !..io\
the word'' -Shin," a spirit or Itru6Sateri-,1
being, because,said the gentleman, at .Kiva C.
"Shin she tsae tsaoub wa the tiny."
" gods or spiiits," were included in ..the
created. • " We," said he, the priest of Baddalt:
sitting by We King Ch 00,." yeuergte the ja"3,1"0
.‘ -Who is Woo,- yew Chin .Chtior clivvang, l'ut)
Wan with ? the " trite .Lord Of non-esisterW;',
and of whatever exists; the Cre ttor of all titiss'l
'He- is ‘Voo-szeseang woo. pe •seang, 1"1) Y";
chin
.Cho. " There is neithing Can be lilt enc,li
him, -nothing cotnpared to hitri..; he is the 004'
the true Lord."
To the•tvord Tern, as'ttsed 'foi- the deity'thty' ,3
other person ohjecte.l,' bv'sayis,g, " Veil W'
created by the Lord and the G‘)ds also." 1.3(
By the person first allUd(d o, 101(1t•
at Kae7fung-100, in the pr trace of Horton. ',1":r;
were a few families denominated' the 'redo++ P-'l'!is
Keeton,. " The religion or sect which plucks
the sinews" from all the meat which ti!ev 4.7't a
They also (tad Temple of \Valli?!
and obServed the eigih day as a sabhath. sets
Titis statement correspond • s withta t is rt.--
-
in Grosier,respecting the persons con.siderc'd
and I think the account heyc giveo
the probability that they. are so. The 1114"-be
median gentleman said, be thought they vtcreIt
same:as the,Teenchuo Kedou, i.e. as the It'fin
s.
Catholic ..Christiaus..
on'o
A copy of a letter sent out in Hebrew by 5
Jewish Gentleman in London was 1 tst seasosi Ito;
‘,,•arded by a native to Hunan, frith a .pron'is;
11
if he could find any person that could semi
answer the letter in the same.latiguage
be rewarded for itis.trouble._He went
fang-foo, and, as be said, found a man %vb('
read, and -said. he understood the letter, and 012('1,0
took to procure an answer in afe days ;1"1 0
times were so troublesome, from vari,,us
of rebellion, that the ntesSenger beetnue
sive, and left before the persou too,' 'r,
Hebrew letter from .him brongirt him any "5'‘..1.01
OCT. 19.—We left Kiva .chou and th'e beatttt
o,
prospects seen from it. .Opposite to it there-ord
mit of Yang-ts.ze Keang .conical island, C3l lA'
Kirshan, " The Golden Hill." It wa.. visitc(' -I;;I
some
,of the I..:'inper)rs of the 11-test:tit
is ornamentedstith temples up its sidts• aria 4't
gotta. at its santa,:t. • •r
From rapidity of the current, tI!C
lion Of the Keang, as it is called for tlie-sj.
brevity, is diffictilt and dangerous, Vire
-on the. wind; and We never ;ailed at iti4ht,
Occasioihqi our stopping Whale (.1,3.,..s at ooe
in t
And at other tithes bringing to very early
day. This continued the I 9 2,:0ven."4,
when we left the-Poiatry-lake, and-changedl).l°4;p
at the capital- of Keaug-se. TiAts for
month we had delightful walks of miles ia"1,104
country.. The climate Wai cool and plea,o'' -00
the scenery .greatly Varied The; lraolz ().1
Yang-tsze-Keang, diver,;ified bJ
clothed With wood, exhibiting Prer)7fortn,"
ed foila.ee of every hue, were heauttint• (tit
On the Po-yang Lake I visited a'niost 1.0,0;14
spot ; it, Shang-tang we passed not far 14-01T!(1,4'
birth-place of Confucius; and at • tbe
.mention thereis a college at wh )
ich Cho° 14' 'W
the mosi esteemed commentator on the lour b°
.i'
taught. about PO years ago. The colleg-e 'afesf
tuated at the top of a glen, through WhiCli a C,e4(1,,
StYtt'all) itS Way .over a rocky bottom -;'• or
the stream are cultivated spots and up tiie.sid°,i
the hills a variety of timber grows. At tl'e "ij';
the glvti the •Lenshati, 'fflo,intain of, l'e!,e jcf..:l
lifts its dark rocky summit, and defends the tlr
lege of the -White. Stag Valley" from th.e uorf'l`„•st
blast. Here Choo.4oo„.tsze taught. TlicY
the rock. Ott whieh he sat to angle, and
bearing flowers, which he platit'ed 'with 1" I t$
band; to pluck the leavesotf is by the hoc"'
gistratcs strictly forbidden.
Dec. 20.-,—We passed the inouiltai„
ling, which divides the prlovinces. t.f Kealq.46el,:ell
.Canton. render it more e..sily pans :tl,
cut .was made tht °ugh the solid rock,•iit it. blifell
mit, by the liberality of.an individual who
from the Court of the...tyiy.,siv Yang,. afionot--*--0,0 0
.
sand years ago. tits linage is now
temple on the Canton site. of the hill, and.: tai':
honours paid to it. But du; who;e of tit ct
is lull of. idols, :11n7 Wor,hip the work theti.
finzyrs have made.'—lshm.,„l, ii. S.
tuts
JAN• I 8 I Ettibassv attived at C 3 00.
Neody six moorlis bar! elapsed from the
1 embarked at Alacoa.' Dnrin2; the cootsc,
sited a great litany temp!cs
iii lad re Pair', sun sometimes ruins. TI"r:110,
lig:ous structures, son,,,r,i.ei,:jBr To the"'
llt~ilt at LondOn-brio;t4e, e,lled by its PoV`rditr;
.byJhe Chinese Ya, were many of di f:"1' hs'(
IhrY were built chielly (biting theod
t
`11.""tY• Pilests -do.uot live in them, , it'i
are priced in'the t! irete.nt stories, a n
nd fr,,'.:re„,
scription•l s'iw gists, I judge that Ole
.11e eve
lil't'ing the ithil ocAr Hea VC:I po's1 est ktr.,'"l
part of the motive kor !)ifilding; Tic 11X'
nine s;orics ; sonie are `e vein, some five,„,t;el4
Ore (then built on the tops of mountains, 0r.,,
the kbour anti exptince of erecting then) Intiv `
beer very • .r
.

A rrcht nunuber ot vebst;3 Are daily 371.
rvlrit htfrrill4s, from iliffo.elit rifts
(hat- ti.dli;ig is gvnei;iliy sticcesJi_ttiz

LONDON : Print e,(l i)y .1..11.:C.i::,..‘7,1'..‘1i1ti, ,sf X,' T.I; 1' i. • ,' J
0r1p,,,d-st:Ter, Qt)coi-A.iwire; ;,,,:i vivo dhoti '..;ie ,l
scßir,,, of No. 7, So4;ttl Mu1t,,,,-s!,-,,t,' at ovie'
et.i'it.A.', No. 114,
LeCit. Ts, .S.::: (p:.,it-pai‘.;) aluit bc,3•.l.,drusscd.