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EXPEDITION OF ADMIRAL DRURY.

The Portuguese Governor of Macao, with his two or three hundred starved blacks, could of course pretend to offer no opposition; he in fact soon received an order from Goa to admit the troops; but, under a thin veil of compliance and affected friendship, it soon appeared that the Portuguese were doing everything in secret to misrepresent the designs of the English to their Chinese masters, by whom they were forbidden to admit any force into Macao, without permission previously obtained. It being determined, however, by the President of the committee, and by Admiral Drury, who commanded the naval force, that the troops should land, a convention was signed on the 21st of September, and they were disembarked quietly on the same day. An order soon came from the Viceroy for the troops to depart; and, when this was not complied with, the trade at Canton was stopped, and provisions denied both to the Indiamen and to the squadron of his Majesty's ships. An edict of the Chinese observed, "Knowing, as you ought to know, that the Portuguese inhabit a territory belong to the celestial empire, how could you suppose that the French would ever venture to molest them: if they dared, our warlike troops should attack, defeat, and chase them from the face of the country."

The Admiral proposed to the Viceroy by letter, that they should have an audience at Canton to accommodate matters, but no answer whatever was returned. All British subjects were soon after ordered to join their respective vessels, and his Majesty's ships were moved higher up the river. As the Viceroy still refused an audience to Admiral Drury, and declared that he knew no English anthority but the Company's chief, the Admiral proceeded to Canton in person, and insisted on an interview, saying, he would be in the city in the course of half an hour. The Viceroy persisted in declining the visit, and the Admiral, instead of persevering in his intentions, returned to his ship.

Some time after this, the boats of all the men-of-war and Indiamen were manned and armed, for the purpose of proceeding on a second visit to Canton, and forcing a way through the line of Chinese vessels which

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were moored across the river, and filled with soldiers, in order to prevent the Admiral's approach. On reaching the line, he pulled up in his own boat to address the principal mandarin, through the medium of a Portuguese priest who acted as interpreter; no parley, however, was admitted, and after being fired at for some time, one of the Admiral's men was wounded, when he ordered the signal to be made for attack. "The signal was not observed, and ordered not to be repeated. The Admiral then declared his intention not to force the Chinese line, and returned with the boats to the fleet. Though a man of undisputed courage, (as observed in the evidence before the Commons in 1830,) Admiral Drury seems not to have possessed that cool and deliberate judgment which was essential to the success of the business he had been engaged in."1 attempt to proceed to Canton in the boats ought either never to have been made, or it should have been carried through. A pagoda was built by the Chinese near the spot, to commemorate their victory over the English.

The

The trade still continued at a stand, and the Viceroy issued an edict to repeat, that, while a single soldier remained at Macao, no commerce could be allowed. On the 8th of December, it was therefore determined to act on a document lately received from the Emperor, which afforded a fair pretext for relinquishing the point in debate. A convention was concluded in a few days after at Macao, the troops were embarked, and Admiral Drury sailed away in the Russell for Bengal, on the 22nd December. Thus, after a fruitless discussion of three months, the Chinese ended in gaining their point,the withdrawal of the troops; and their succes was calculated to increase the arrogance by which they had always been sufficiently distinguished. The Viceroy of Canton, however, was disgraced and removed by the Emperor.

The line of measures pursued by the President in China in concert with the Admiral, on the occasion of the expedition, being disapproved in England, he was superseded by a fresh appointment from home. The Chinese,

1 Parliamentary Evidence, 1830.

however, did not forget their grudge against Mr. Roberts, and they were encouraged by finding that he had been censured by the Company; while the Portuguese, at the same time, with their usual servility, suggested complaints against him. Soon after he had again succeeded to a seat in the committee, and returned from a visit to England, the Hoppo in 1813 issued an edict against that gentleman, expressly on account of his measures five years before, and it was declared that he was not permitted to proceed to Canton. Indisposition, it so happened, actually detained him at Macao on that occasion; but the committe were determined to deny the right of Chinese interference in the appointments of the English authorities; and, although the Factory reached Canton at the end of September, they would not permit the ships to unload until the interdict against Mr. Roberts should have been withdrawn. On the 22d November, the President addressed a strong remonstrance to the Viceroy on the subject, but before an answer could be returned, the gentleman who was the subject of discussion died at Macao of his illness. The President then declared that

the principle on which the committee acted was in nowise altered by that circumstance; and as the Hoppo issued a paper, in which the local government disclaimed the right of interfering in the Company's appointments, the trade was resumed.

The jealous and suspicious character of the Chinese Government was eminently displayed in the year 1813, on the occasion of some presents from England being conveyed to a minister at Pekin. Soong-tajin, a mandarin of high rank, who had acted as conductor to Lord Macartney's mission, and whose kind and conciliatory conduct to the English on that occasion, as well as when he afterwards filled the office of Viceroy at Canton, had made some of them his warm friends, became at length elevated to the rank of one of the Emperor's Council. It was therefore resolved in England that, both as an acknowledgment of past good offices, and an earnest of future ones, a letter and presents should be conveyed to the minister: the person selected for the performance of this service was a Chinese named Ayew, for some time linguist

at Canton, and by him the gold box and letter were safely conveyed to their destination. He returned on the 25th August, with a card of acknowledgment from Soongtajin; but not long after his arrival the linguist was seized by order of the Government, and after a summary trial banished to Tartary, for the crime of illicit dealings with foreign barbarians! It was soon after learned that the unfortunate minister had been disgraced, and the present sent back; and it has been since remarked that the unguarded mandarin, whose amiable character distinguished him above the generality of his countrymen, never afterwards regained his former power, or favour with the Emperor.

In

The foregoing circumstances came subsequently, in the year 1814, to be mixed up with discussions in which the select commitee were involved with the local government, partly in consequence of the proceedings of his Majesty's ship Doris, which was then exercising a very active blockade against the American merchantmen in the Canton river. the month of April, the Doris being on a cruise near Macao, captured the American ship Hunter, off the Ladrone Islands, and brought her in. The Chinese Government immediately issued an edict, desiring the committee to send the Doris away, which they of course answered by stating their inability to perform what was demanded. In May following, the Doris's boats chased an American schooner from the neighbourhood of Macao up to Whampoa, within ten miles of Canton, where they took her; but, before she could be carried out of the river, the Americans at Whampoa armed their boats and retook their schooner. This event with the capture of the Hunter previously, commenced the troubles of 1814. The Chinese hereupon entered upon a course of aggressive measurses, not against the frigate but against the factory, which soon became intolerable. The local government first prohibited the employment of native servants; they then sent persons to enter the factory, and seize upon such Chinese as they found there. The boats of the Indiamen were molested while peaceably proceeding on their business on the river; and every attempt was made to prevent communication with our men-of

war.

EMBASSY OF LORD AMHERST.

The committee, seeing the hostile disposition of the Government, determined on the bold measure of stopping the trade, as the only means of arriving at a remedy. The Chinese somewhat startled at their old weapon being turned against themselves, began to display a more conciliatory temper, and, after some debate, a mandarin was appointed to meet Sir George Staunton, who was deputed to conduct the negotiation on the part of the committee. Accordingly, on the 20th of October, Sir George proceeded to Canton, accompanied by Sir Theophilus Metcalfe and Mr. Davis. The first subject of complaint was the arrest of the linguist Ayew, for performing a service which was merely complimentary on the part of the English, and expressive of their respect for a dignified officer of Government, who had conducted the first embassy through China, and been on friendly terms with its members. It was immediately replied, that his seizure was on account of a totally different affair, and that there was no intention of condemning the proceeding. Several meetings took place with the principal mandarins and one or two assessors, but little progress was made towards an adjustment; when the Viceroy suddenly determined on breaking off the negotiation. The committee upon this, resolved on issuing a notice to all British subjects to quit Canton: Sir George Staunton and the gentlemen with him embarked in the Wexford, and the whole fleet proceeded down the river.

This step had the effect of completely curing the obstinacy of the Viceroy. A deputation of Hong merchants was sent down to the ships, with authority to state that mandarins would be sent to discuss the remaining points in dispute if Sir George would return. On his reaching Canton, an attempt was made to retract the pledge, but this could not be persisted in; and, after several long and tedious audiences with the mandarins, the principal points in dispute were gained, and incorporated in an official paper from the Viceroy, as the only security against a breach of faith on the part of the Chinese. The privilege of corresponding with the Government under seal, and in the native character was now for the first time established; an assurance was given that no Chinese officer should ever enter the British factory without leave previously obtained; and license

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was given to native servants to enter into the service of the English without molestation from the petty mandarins; together with some other points.

The measures above detailed were highly approved in England; but the conduct and disposition of the Chinese Government for some time past had been such, as to prove that the commercial interests of the nation in China were exposed to the utmost hazard from the chance of perpetual interruption at the will of a capricious and despotic set of delegates, who kept the court of Peking in profound ignorance of their own oppressive and arbitrary conduct towards the Company's trade. To these circumstances are to be attributed the embassy of Lord Amherst in 1816, of which the object was to secure, if possible, the commerce of Great Britain upon a solid and equitable footing under the cognizance of the Emperor, and with the advantage of a ready appeal to him in case of need. The design of a mission to Peking had been for some time entertained by his Majesty's Ministers and the Court of Directors, when the arrival from China of the despatches of 1815 confirmed them in the resolution.

It was hoped, as a collateral object, and one within the range of possibility, that an English resident might be admitted at the capital, or permission be obtained for trading to some of the ports on the north-east coast.

The embassy left England in the Alceste frigate on the 10th of February, attended by the Lyra brig, and the General Hewett, a Company's ship, and arrived off Macao on the 12th of July, when it was joined by Sir George Staunton, the first commissioner, as well as by the Chinese secretaries, and the other gentlemen who were appointed from England to accompany it to Peking. The ships reached the gulf of Pechelee on the 28th of July, but the ambassador did not land until the 9th of August. On the 12th the mission reached Tien-tsin, where a feast was conferred on the part of the Emperor, and an attempt made to bring about the practice of the ko-tow, or prostration, before a yellow screen, preparatory to the grand performance of it before the Emperor himself. This, however, was successfully avoided, on the plea that Earl Macartney had not been required to execute that act of fealty and vassalage.

As some uninformed persons have, without sufficient consideration or knowledge of the subject, ventured to argue that the non-performance of the ko-tow was too strict an adherence to punctilio on the part of both our ambassadors, it may be as well to show, that, putting (with them) all considerations of national honour and dignity entirely out of the question as mere vanities, and viewing the matter simply as one of commercial profit or loss, there is nothing to be gained by it, but the reverse. It was observed in the narrative of Lord Macartney's mission, "The Dutch, who in the last century submitted at once to every ceremony prescribed to them, in the hope of obtaining in return some lucrative advantages, complained of being treated with neglect, and of being dismissed without the smallest promise of any favour." The fate of a later Dutch embassy was still worse; but it is fair to state their gains against their losses on the occasion. In return for beating their heads nine times against the ground before the throne, they certainly had some broken victuals sent them, as from the Emperor. Of these, however, Van Braam observes, that they were principally sheep's trotters, "which appeared to have been already gnawed clean. This disgusting mess,' he adds." was upon a dirty plate, and appeared rather destined to feed a dog than to form the repast of a human creature." As this was the only public advantage they gained by their painful corporeal exertions upon the ground, it may next be observed that the whole course of their treatment on the journey back was of the most mortifying and degrading character. This embassy occurred in 1795, during the era of small-clothes, and before liberal principles had been generally established in dress, as in other matters; and these hapless Dutchmen were made on the most trivial occasions of ceremony, to perform their evolutions, while the wicked mandarins stood by and laughed and who would not?-at what has been diplomatically styled, "the embarrass ment of a Duch-built stern in tight inexpressibles."

Sir John Malcolm, who understood, if any ever did, the Asiatic character, has

man

1 Vol. ii. p. 131.

Our

observed in one of his works :-" From the hour the first mission reached Persia, servants, merchants, governors of towns, chiefs, and high public officers, presuming upon ignorance, made constant attempts to trespass upon our dignity; and, though repelled at all points, they continued their efforts, till a battle royal at Shiraz put the question to rest, by establishing our reputation, as to a just sense of our own pretensions, upon a basis which was never afterwards shaken." Russia, whose ambassadors, like our own, have refused to perform the Chinese act of vassalage, has a residency at Peking, which may at least (as an advantage) be set against "les pattes d'un mouton," and "les ossemens rongés," which the Dutchmen gained by performing it. Admitting, however, that the balance was in favour of the latter, it may reasonably be questioned whether it is wise, on such occasions, to sink all considerations of national respectability. The Athenians were a politic as well as brave people; and when Timagoras, who was sent by them as ambassador to the King of Persia, had the imprudence to degrade his country by the act of prostration, he was condemned to die on his

return.

But let us only do as the Chinese themselves have always done. Gerbillon tells us, that when an officer of the Emperor Kang-hy was taken by the king of the Eluths, the latter insisted on his speaking on his knees; but the Chinese refused, saying he was not his vassal, but his own Emperor's. A Chinese account of Japan expressly states that an ambassador from Peking to that country refused the prostration, and, rather than compromise the honour of his nation, returned without communicating the orders of his court. But it has been mere ignorance to consider the kotow as nothing but a ceremony. The unthinking majority is led by names, and it is important to know that the prostration is the solemn rite by which the King of CochinChina, and the rulers of the petty kingdoms of Corea and Loo-choo, do homage by their emissaries upon being confirmed by the Chinese emperor in the succession. The spirit and import of the ko-tow is that of the form by which the feudal tenant in capite did homage to his liege lord; and every country

CAUSE OF EMBASSY'S FAILURE.

that, like Japan, has professed to be independent, has declined performing it.

However oddly it may sound to us, at the distance of more than 12,000 miles, the aspirations, with which the court of Peking aims at universal supremacy, are best expressed in the words of the old secular hymn

"Alme sol, possis nihil urbe Româ
Visere majus!"

All countries that send tribute, while their ambassadors go through the forms of allegiance, constitute a part of the empire, and their respective kings reign under the sanction of the "Son of heaven." This of course signifies little enough at a distance, but the effect is felt in China; for any remonstrance against oppression, on the part of a subject of one of these states, must be stopped by such an unanswerable argument, which proves at once his relative inferiority and worthlessness; and what had heen merely the rights of independence in another, become, in his case, rebellion. Mr. Barrow, who had really studied China, and understood it well, observed that "a tame and passive obedience to the degrading demands of this haughty court serves only to feed its pride, and add to the absurd notions of its own vast importance." A Jesuit at Peking, quoted by Du Halde, remarked, as long ago as 1687, that the princes of Europe should be cautious how they send letters and presents to China, lest "their kingdoms be registered among the tributaries."

As this is rather an important subject, and may become a question of expediency at some future time, it is as well to add Dr. Morrison's observations :-" "There is a difference of submission and devotedness expressed by different postures of the body, and some nations feel an almost instinctive reluctance to the stronger expression of submission. As for instance, standing and bending the head is less than kneeling on one knee; as that is less than kneeling on two knees; and that less, again, than kneeling on two knees, and putting the hands and forehead to the ground; and doing this once is, in the apprehension of the Chinese, less than doing it three times, or six times, or nine times. Waving the question whether it be proper for one human

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being to use such strong expressions of submission to another or not, when any (even the strongest) of these forms are reciprocal, they do not interfere with the idea of equality, or of mutual independence. If they are not reciprocally performed, the last of the forms expresses in the strongest manner the submission and homage of one person or state to another and in this light the Tartar family now on the throne of China consider the sunkwei kew-kow, thrice kneeling and nine times beating the head against the ground. Those nations of Europe who consider themselves tributary and yielding homage to China should perform the Tartar ceremony; those who do not consider themselves so should not perform the ceremony.

"The English ambassador, Lord Macartney, appears to have understood correctly the meaning of the ceremony, and proposed the only condition which could enable him to perform it, viz., a Chinese of equal rank performing it to the King of England's picture; or perhaps a promise from the Chinese court that should an ambassador ever go from thence to England, he would perform it in the King's presence, might have enabled him to do it. These remarks will probably convince the reader that the English Government acts as every civilised Government ought to do, when she endeavours to cultivate a good understanding and liberal intercourse with China. But since, while using these endeavours, she never contemplates yielding homage to China, she still wisely refuses to perform by her ambassador that ceremony which is the expression of homage." argument takes the question upon a higher ground than that sordid one, of a mere commercial profit or loss; but even according to that, we think it has been shown to be a losing speculation to kiss the dust before the Chinese Emperor. The performance of the prostration by its ambassador, places a country on a level with Loo-choo, and those tributary states whose kings reign by the sanction of the court of Peking. The non-perfomance of it (which has been the uniform course pursued by every Chinese ambassador sent to a foreign country) proves the independent sovereignty of a state, and gains for its ambassador a far more respectful treatment than the contrary

This

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