The Sun.
London, England, 1818-12-11 00:00:00

LI i'Eft An V REVIEW.

Is:ArPATIVE of a JOURNEY in the INTERIOR, of CHINA,
an:l of a Voyage to and from that Country, in the Years
la Ili and 1817; containing an Account of the most inte-
resting Transactions of Lord Amherst's Embassy to the
'Court of Pekin, and Observations 'on the Countries which_.
It visited. By CIARKE ABEL, F.L.S. and Member of the
Geological Society, Chief Medical Officer and Naturaliit
to the Embassy. In 410. illustrated by Maps and other
Engravings.

[Continued from yesterslay's SUN.)

- -
On the arrival of the Embassy at Tong CltoW,'
the mometoons question of prostration was
again .aotfted, and requisition enforced by the
menaces of a very in-11)00mo personage, who was
a, brother-in-law to the' Emperor, and is desiu-
sated by Mr. Abel by the title of Doke, to denote
his superior dignity. The firmness of Lord Am-
herst again prevailed, and the Embassy were per-
mitted to proceed to Pekin, which, though scarcely
twelve miles distant, proved not only a most fa-
tiguing but even -a tedious journey.
"The morning was fine, and opened to us a scene of no-
velty and beauty. After travelling, since leaving 'l'a-koo,
througlyan uninterrupted flat of 200 miles, remarkable nei-
ther for its prodections or cultivation, we beheld unusual
charms in the hills, trees, and flowers which surrounded us.
'Fields of nelumbo rearing high its glossy leaves and gor-
geous (lovers, edged by trees with the foliage of the cassia,
spread at our ft:et, whilst the Tartar mountains, approximat-
ed by the haze of the morning, rose in the distance. All the
descriptions which I had ever read of the paradisiacal delight
of Chinese gardens Occurred to my imagination ; but in ima-
gination only was I allowed to enjoy them. Acts-of fraud,
tyranny, and violence speedily effaced the first rising of
pleasurable emotion:
" Arrived within a short distance of the imperial palace,
the Ambassedor's carriage was stopped by some Mandarins in
their dresses of ceremony, who front a crowd of others ad-
s-Am-ea to meet it. Several of 'these, amongst whom were
Soo-ta-iii and our conductor Quaug, Immediately requested
his Excellency to eater the imam-hit His Lordship at
first eefused, pleading fatigue and illness, and begging to be
led to the quarters prepared fur him; .but atter repeated so-
licitations and assurances that he would only be detained to
partake of refreshment, he alighted; and, accompanied by
his son, Sir G. Stahnton, Mr. Ellis, and a few of the Gtl.4-
t 1 em en of his suite svho chanced to be about his person, pass-.
eel thrhugh a multitude of Mandarins -to the palace. Re-
peated attempts appeared now to
.be made to separate his
Lordship front his attendants, by carrying him rapidly for-
ward ; them to use considerable exertion to keep tip
with him, by pressing thtongh a host of opposing Chinese.
At length tine whole party reached the palace, and .were
- pushed into a room, which, if it fair specimen of other parts,
alight induce the supposition that his Chinese Majesty was
king of the beggars. On enteriag,lt was impossible not to
'be reminded of Van Braam's exclamation under similar cir-
cumstances, Noes voila elope a ootre arrive dans la ci,lehre
reside:nee imperiale logic dans one espelce d'ecurne. Nous se-
rions nous anemias a one pareilte aventure."Phis room was
perhaps twelve feet in length and seven in breadth, and was
surrounded on all sides by windows, or rather openings fur-
nished with shutters 'in the same manner as the port-holes of
a. ship. Its roof -was a tattered paper skyslight. Tine shat-
ters were thrown open, to gratify the curiosity of the lower
class of Chinese, whilst- clowde of Mandarins and Princes of
the blood satisfied their's by filling the room alMost to suffo-
cation. As soon as his Excellency entered, he threw him-
self upon a beach, much exhausted by fatigue, watching,
and agitation of florid. All followed his example, and pre-.
tended to ::leap in the hope of avoiding the ceaseless impor-
tunity of the Chinese. But they seoteld iu 119 respect- suffer
our repose. In a few minutes after our arrival, .came Soo-
ta-jia, stating to the Ambassador the desire of tire Emperor
to see hint and tire other Commissioners. Lou'i) Amherst re-
plied, that fatigue, illness, and the want of the necessary
attire, rendered hiS compliance with the Emperor's desire al-
most impoesituie; and regtiested that his Majesty would al-
low him that day to recover himself, begging at the same
time to he conducted to the dwelling appointed for him. Ills
Lordship's excuses were not received. • The- Emperor's wish
was again and again urged, as not to he rejected; but his
Excellency adhered to his farmer remonstrance. Soo-ta-jig
was strongly supported in his solicitations by the legate,
Quang. Finding, however, that. their entreaties were un-
availing, they retired; but were immediately succeeded by
the Duke, who entered the room with a determined air; and
.-critig up to the Ambassador, repeated the 'Emperor's desire
to see the Commissioners; adding, that they would only be
required to- perform the English ceremony, On receiving
the same answer that had been given to Sin and taming, he
Caughthis Lordship rudely by the arm, beckoning at the same
time to; some szirrounditig, Mandarins to.assist him. They
obeyed the signal, and stepped forward; but before they
reached the Ainhassadiur, we started up, and advanced to-
wards him; when in the act-of shaking off his unmannerly as-
sailant. This sudden movement stopped the Duke, and
alarmed his attendants; the former quitted his hold, and the
latter tell iMck, with countenances full of astonishment. His
Lordship, freed from the grasp of the Duke, protested, with
great firmness aad dignity of manner. against the . insult
which be bad received, and claimed 'to be treated asthere-
presentative of a great and independent Sovereign ; declar-
ing that- force alone should carry hiM into the Imperial pre-
sence. The Duke at once altered his tone, endeavouring to
make it appear, that what we had considered as an attempt
iss force the Ambassador front the rocim,'was only the Chinese
mode of assisting, a person unable to walk;- adding, that a
sick man had no will of his own ; and in the.most persuasive
manner entreated his Lordship to wait on the Emperor, who,
be said, merely wished to see hint on his arrival, and would
not detain him. Persuasion, if . it could -have availed at
first, was now too late. Defeated in his purpose, the Duke
left the room in-high displeasure.
" 'lt-was ruse that his Exceneney appealed to us, as wit-
nesses, of the virulence which he bad suffered; and looking te
the probability of its recurrence, cautioned those who were
rimmed, agaiast nsing their weapans it; resisting it. Our re-
flections at thiS pe'riOd were not of the intrust pleasing nature.
We could not but be sensible that we were in the hands of a
despotic and capricious Government, whose Ministers had
teen repulsed in se attempt tri carry a 'point of tine deepest'in.-
terest to themselVes, end•Whoevere:obvionety free front the
restreint 'of courteous feeling. Indignation, however, was
urn' predeptinnutt emotion ;.and was in • no small deg'-ae in-
creased by thu annoyance that we experience:l from the num-
ber of eunuchs,'lnatidarins, and princes, who infested the
silent meat. Notwithstanding the strougest appeals made
by
Mr. Morrison) to their *muse of propriety and civility, they
continually pressed upon us, 'examining our persons with the
Most naceremonismi- closeness. They even wished the Am-
bassador,- who was reclined on •the bench, to rise, that they
Aright the better view hie person. It was plain that they looked
mom us as a strange species of animal, whom it was
curious to observe, -hut as helloes withont the pale of civi-
lised treatment. They also seemed:to suspect that we might
nut he perfectly harmless. Had :they again
,attempted to
carrY their first terention into 'effect; they wonld erottably
have discovered that Englishmen had torit been trained in the
habits of non-resistance to tyrannical insult.
_ " Our speculations were soon interrupted by the, arrival of
a messenger feau the Duke: who acquainted his Lordship,
that his visit -to tire Emperor would be dispensed with, and
invited him to the Duke's apartments, that he alight be free
froth the pressare of the crowd. His Lordship, :ooking at
this invitation as a mere feint to draw him into the Impe-
rial preSeece, at onee'refueed it observing, that if he were
well enough to visit the Duke,• he could have no reason
far refusing to see the Emperor. On 'receiving this reply,
1-1,, became again impatient, and again waited on Iris Excel-
lency. In this visit he was all civility, and used every motive
that he could Mee: rue to induce the Ambassador to meet his
wishes. His impuFteonty being too,. suspicious to be com-
plied with, he again left the ;teen without attaining his ob-
ject ; hut only to harass his Excellency with Message after
message, to which he always-received the answer, that the
-Ambassador wished to he led to the house prepared for him.'
After some time the messages became less frequent, and awn
altogether ceased. Mandarins. and- soldiers, wino had been
drawn up in the front of the palace, were observed to dis-
perse ; and intelligence was soon after brought to the Am-
bassador, that he was at liberty to go to his own apart-
ments, and that' he would be attended by the Emperor's
physician.
't His Lordship immediately quitted the palace,and endea-
voured to reach the -carriage, which had remained in -the
place where we had left it. At first, great didiculty was ex-
perienced in getting through the Chinese •who surrounded
us. :several soleiers, armed with whips, attempted to open
a ?as,!,a:ze;' hunt as they only struck the ground,, their efforts
wee e unaruilieng. ' W hag, however, more effectual aid at

hand. The Duke, who had followed us closely, seeing our
impediment, seized a whip, and striking furiously all the
Chinese who did not fly befire him, speedily cleared our
path; the nobles of all ranks, in their dresses of ceremony,
sprawling over each other in their efforts to escape him We
now soon reached the quarters prepared for the Embassy, in
the village of Hai-teen, and found our companions, wisp bad
been p'urposely separated from us, perplexed at our absence,
and overcome with fatigue. ,

" The Ambassador was immediately:visited by the pro-
mised physician. This gentleman, who appeared to be some-
thins beyond the middle age. was dressed as a Mandarin. He
felt his Lordship's pulse in both wrists ; and having observed
that his stomach was probably disordered from the use of a
Chinese diet, recoannendwl repose and an emetic, and re-
tired. Time report of this person to the Emperor materially
influenced, as it afterwards appeared, our subsequent treat-
ment."

LONDON JOURNALS.

[FROM THE MORNING PAPERS OF THIS DAY.]

[Morning Post.)
AN ACTION AT SEA.

BALTIMORE, Nov. 12.-=-Arrived yesterday af-
ternoon the Buenos Ayrian National brig, hide-
pendenCe, from a cruise off Cadiz, put in to refit,
having taken five prizes, one of . which was of
great value ; in her voyage she fell in with
Spatijah sloop of war (formerly the British man
of wat Alert), Came out to give battle, an action
commenced, and in
,40 minutes completely silen-
ced her, and she struck. It blowing a heavy gale
•at the end Of the action, rendered it difficult to
take. possession of her, and she bore up and got
safe back, with the loss (as it was afterwards
ascertained) of seven kilicd, fourteen wounded,
and several much cut. The independent had two
killed and three wounded. On euteriug the har-
bour of Baltimore, the Indepeudent .saluted,
which was returned from the tort.—The Buenos
Ayres privateer Fortuna, formerly the pilot yes•
set Leda, or New York, had captured a Spanish
ship, from Cadiz to. HavannAh, on the 10th of
October, having 35,000 dollars on board ; and
after taking out .the specie and cargo, destroyed
the ves,el, took thee'rew on board the Fortuoa,
and landed --them at FlaVannati Ae Cuba. The
.privateer is arrived at Baltimore.—The ship Ha-
lifax packet,. from Londonderry, arrived .at Saint
John's (N. B ) on the 21st of October, with 313
settlers, all in the. most distressed state. •