The Sun.
London, England, 1818-02-19 00:00:00

LITERARY REVIEW.

A DELICATE :NQUIRY into the E.:4IIIASSIES to CR NA',
• and.a Legitimate CO !I el csion fr;,n ttwlirent'fses.—Prited
for 'l'. and ITNDERWOOD; Fleet•atrert, and J. NI. RICII.
A-RDSON;

. . . .
This:amusing 'f ract seems to
,hate beeo.written
in a sportive mood, but it is fisportiveness Of
very sarcastic description., , It is: ascribed, hoar
justly
.we cannot say,,, to a Barrister well known
for works, of Humour ihol !canting, 'PO mho is
likely to make a diStinguished fin fire in'his pro-
fession, wheo Opport +mit y shall ate rd proper scope
for his talents. The Title of the %Volk, is cer-
tainly a misiminer',,for instead of a Delicate Inquiry
it is luenS e non lucendo„ as the Author is very
tree and very rough in his tootle of discussing the
asihiect. lle treats both
,of the
,Embassies to
China, that of Earl AIACARTNSCY in 1792, and the
last of Lord AM 41IST, with jocose but bitter re-
. Adverting to the Work, lately published
on this subject,
,writteu by HeNkY Ebbs, Esq.
Third Commissioner of the 'Embassy, he aniniad-
yetis, not without reason, on the imPropriety of
an avowal on the part of that Author, that " as
he undertook: the voyage to those distant seas
more for profit than reputation', he cannot but re-
gret that
,he has lost the opportunity -of bringing'
his rentureint the Mallet." That a Gentleman,
engaged in a Missioo of national honour, consti-
turinvpart of the representative dignity of his
Sovereign, should hare'Cornbined with it the spe-
culation of a Trader, seems rather extraordinary ;
'hut it seems still tom e extraordinary that he sitotild
have made no scruple to acknowledge such a pur-
pose, particularly as it had miscarried, and muse-
queotly'need not have been brought to light at all.
Oor P4icate laiptirer continents on a passage of
Mr. EL ers's book which states, chat when Ho; one
of the Chinese Ministers, had conveyed a threat in
an unddr tone, ". Mr. MoaßisoN , with his usual
good sense, declined communicating" the nature
of that threat. Surely this was a very improper
suppression, and Mr. MoutalsoN took a heavy re-
sponsibility upon himself by the concealment ;
for if he had communicated folly what had been
thus menaced, the Ambassador might have beers
better able to judge of the temper and expecta-
tion of the Court of China, otherwise he must
have wanted a sufficient due, and might indeed, as
Ho signified, have drawn himself " into an em-
barrassing situation," either from too confident a
hope of success, or too, apprehensive an expecta-
tion of conseqael.ces. Our author,. we conceive,
assumes too much in coucloding that the expense
attending both Embassies demonstrated improvi-
dence on the part of the East India Company, or
of the British Government, in hazarding a second
mission, after the failore of the first. Surely the
Directors of the East India Company must know
more than our author of their own affairs, pod of
the interests of the Corn; arty, than to incurs such
an expense, if the Company me to pay it, without
the hope or probability of deliving great advan-
tages front success. Jr is known that Eat I A-
KTN EN' did not in reality offend the late Empe-
ror, by rejecting the humiliating homage required
of rind that he excited the respect of the
Ciiinese people by his refusal. Nor is it to be
interred that the Earl, in propoiing to consent Lo.
the Kohut, the prost tations and the knockings of
the head on the pound, provided.that a Chinese
Nohleuifin, of 'equal rank with himself, would t'o
the sante before a whole-length portrait of his
Majesty, acted otherwise thaii as a skilful politi-
cian, for he had reason to believe that the cere-
monious pomp and haughty pride of the Chitiese
Emperor would at once reject the proposal, amid
consequently that he ran no risk of being exposed
to the degrading necessity. Now as to the vast
expense attending these Embassies, of wive') our
author complains, was not the money circulated
among ourselves, our artizans mployed, and an
opportunity afforded of shewing the ingenuity and
taste of our country It is no lona of wisdom to
judge merely by events. It is highly probable
that, the Bast India Directors and the British Go-
verment, in both cases, had a grek object in
.View, which might have produced consequences
emillently advantageous to our commercial inte-
rests. Recurring to Mr. Ews's work, Ave think,
with The Quarterly Review, which has given a ju-
dicious, candid, and elaborate account of that
work, that " a Diplomatist is invested with a
trust which he is bound to depiort in those hands
tram which he originally received it ; he is not at
'liberty to lay before the public the details of his
official employment ; much less heedlessly to fling
over them a cast of undue -contempt." As to the
author of this brochure, he is evidently'' a man of
wit and humour about town," and he has given
way to his facetious vein, without perhaps mean-
ing any thing more than to have a laugh at the late
Embassy.; and though he offers some sound argu-
ments, they are mixed with such a spirit of ban-
ter, that it is not at all times easy to ascertain his
meaning. He has introduced some historical
anecdotes, which render Ilk tract, upon the whole,
eutertainiog, if his reasoning is not altogether of
the most satisfactory -description.

FATAL BoxiNG.—On the evening of Satin-11a?
last, a battle .or fight took place, on board
his Majesty's frigate Ister, lying at present in
Leith Roads, between John Simpson and Jan.e,
Cunningham, two of the seamen ; in the course
of which, -after-fighting for a considerable time,
Cunningham fell and died instantaneously.--. 0
He was a fine looking young man, about twenty-
two years of age, very tall, and able-botlied.
Simpson is a little man, upw'ards of lot ty. They
had formerly lived together on the hest terms, hot
were intoxicated at the time. Simpson .was
good deal More so than the deceased. Simpson
was afterwards brought on shore, and a precog-
nition regarding the whole affair was (pike') before:
the Magist tale's of Leith. The holy of the ileceas.-
61 was also btoughtt on shore, anti inspected 1,1,
three ;medico) gendedien; and in conserinence of
their reporting, that atter the 'tnoel minute inspec-
tion of the hody, they had not, discovered any ap-
pearance of external violence, or internal di-or -
gavizati(4-, and that in their ophtioo, his dcatft
had not been occasioned by any blow or r.O he
-
bad received, 'Simpson has been litrerated from
prison, after receiving a solemn admonition from
the Magi3tratts.--(Edircbu-ei COW Wa, Feb. 14.)

PARLIA

H 01.1.4; OF 1,01(13:7., kS.t DNESDAY, ref/3. 18.

'j'••e j urge p;oceeded in Appeals. -
The Royal A.4sent %vas untified by Connnis.inn
to he Irish Gland Jury Presentnient Suspension
Bill.
Co-inn;lssioners were the Lord Chancellor,
the .‘4l,tictuisOt Cl►ulu►oncicley, and 4be Earl of

Shat r• 14116..
Hutchinson, ft 010•1 he Blnk of England,
Accounts of Bulk Notes. and Bank
••t Bills in-cirettlation ; the Account of 'Gold in
outrhased by the Bank ; the Course of Ex—
ch,n,.:e upon Patis, Harnborgh, and Lisbon;
'B‘. • -7—Ordeted to be printed.
The 30,000,000/. Exchequer• Bills Bill, and the
'7l At Duties Bill, were read a second tittle; and
c!Pirolttvd ,for to-tnorrovr.-.—Adjourtted till to-
'ffitkrrow (this day )