Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1859-12-01
MI. Ward in China, his reception at
PeKin.


| Our readers are no doubt posted with ref
ference to the existing difficulties betwe en
China and England and France. Mr.. Ware
was sent out as Minister from the United
States and the same difficulty was predicted
for him. But the gloomy predictions have
tot come to pass. MIR. Ward was received
;ourteously. and has succeeded in raIiiying
treaty, entirely satisfactory to alparties
concerned. He was conducted from the
cily of Pei-Starg to Pekin by "a Govern.
ment conway. One of his company, writes
10 the New York Journal of Commerce. q
lengthy account of the journey, and reeep.
ton at pekin. from whic i've extract as
follows:
The manner in which the first stages oi
the long march were performed, was nuvel,
indeed, to the Americans. Thirty chariots,
or rather carts, were drawn up in line,
besides half dozen wagons for the bag
gage, while twenty or thirty coolies carr ed
packages and boxes strung to the ends oi
bamboo poles, thrown over their shoulders.
In addition to these, there were abodt twen-
ty chariois occupied by Mandarin 8, while Of
number Of officials, pert lee the caravan
| end the remainder brought UP the rear
I Over the whole Train high dignity, whose
name was Tsung- -hau, and whose impor ant
office was tha; OF 'B.e'st s alt Commission
er,' exercised undisp4ted sway.
Thst his Office wes by no means a sine.
! cure, the strangers had everywhere ocular
proof, the salt. which is an Imrerial mon-
oPoly, beins piled up like hsystacks all
along the course o: the river Peiho.
The Carrier part of the ride was worse
inan uninteres,ing. The country was an
untnhsbited and uncultivated mud plain,
oeneaih the gelatinous surface of which the
Carriage wheels sank to the hubs. The whole
of the vast region from the coast to the
capi al, and fifty miles beyond, is only few
feet above the level Of the sea.
In the afternoon Of the second day, the
travellers reached large town situated on
the banks Of the Peihe, bearing the name
oi Peitsng, or the Northern granaries, given
it from the fact that large brick ttoreh ouses
are erected there Tor the grain which comes
up from the adjacent country for the use Of
the Emperor. Here, three large junks and
one smaller one, hardly bigger than boat. i.
were in readiness, the one designed for Mr.
Ward having been very handsome in its day
and being of the very respectable size OF
one hundred feet long by twenty-five wide.
1t was built hundred years ago, and was
occupied as house as we'll as mandarin
psssenger-boat, and had on board three gen.
erations Of owners, viz: the grandfather,
aged sixty, and his two wives. and the son
and his two wives and four children, his
own age being forty. The grandfather had
an older brother on board, aged sixty-four
years, aud fai.ly an aitache to the junk ,since
he was born in it. had lived in it, and had
never left it, and will not till his body is
borne from thence to the house of silence
instead Of The noisy Babel in which he has
lived so long. The junk was an heir loom
having belonged to :he family from the be-
ginning.
The fleet was propelled up the river, not
BY wind or steam, but by man power. Al
number OF men, called 'trackers,' waIked
along either bank, dragging the vessels by
means of ropes attached to the tops of the
masts.
Tine country was now becoming beautiful.
TIE correspondent thus describes it:
1T fulfilled all which has ever been said
in praise of Chinese agriculture, and ALL
which may fancy had ever pictured. Corn
millet was the principal article, rising to
twelve and fourteen feet, and making a |
forest OF green vegetation further than the
eye could reach, and the rows in drills SO
straight and at such regular distances, that
the most exact measurement mus, have
attended the planting, while the whole was
clearer OF weeds than any garden l ever
entered. Then came division os Indian
corn, but not as broad or as frequent; then
a breadth OF beans; then of an Jthcr kind of
millet, resembling oat in the stalk, and very
rank; and then breajth of sesame, or of
hemp, and SO ever alternating, proPably
from views of utility, though nothing could
be more tasteful and beautiful to the eye
Solitary trees, also, as the willow and the
elm, became frequent, while in the distance
could be seen thick rows covering three or
four acres, but no forests
Tne shores of the rive: were lnel with
villages containing thousands of inhabit-
ants, who rushed out to gaze at The strang-
ers. The fields seemed alive with spectators.
1t was estimated that 0,00l persons
crowded the banks, but. strange to say, not
a woman was among the lockers on.
AS the junks slowly moved up the wind.
ing steam, range of lofty mountains, rum
ing from the Northeast to the Soathwe est, ap-
peared in sight. They were the range that
separates China from Tartary, along which
the great Chinese wall stretches it's own
half ruinous rsmparts. After voyage Of
five days, the party reached Tuug- Chow. the
head of navigation, on Tuesday evening,
July 26. L, is a city of the second class,
100000 inhabitants, and the port
of the metropolist. II is surrounded by
high and thick wall Of brick and earth, and
by bastions. The streets are
paved with flat stones, which are, however,
SO much displaced as to make riding very
and unsafe. The amount OF
is great, being estimated at above
L. Al. IL