2. Narrative of a Voyage in His Majesty's late Ship Alceste to the Yellow Sea, along the Coast of Corea and through its numerous hitherto undiscovered Islands to the Island of Lewchew, with an Account of her Shipwreck in the Straits of Gaspar. By John McLeod, Surgeon of the Alceste. Svo. pp. 284.

London.

IT

1817.

T was said i'th' olden time,' (and the saying is not much the worse for the wear,) that the race is not always to the swift;'and, indeed, of all swift-paced animals, an author is not the least likely to break down, if pushed beyond his speed. Mr. Ellis has certainly taken the lead of about half a dozen competitors, who are said to have started along with him; but he may not, for all this, win the prize, though he has the advantage in starting. To speak plainly, we are of opinion that his book betrays too great haste; and are led to regret that he should not have taken more time, as well as counsel, before he published. Had this been done, we are pretty certain that he would not only have lopped off many redundancies, but have expunged some strange words, and still stranger figures of speech: we should not then have heard of the repose of putrifying garlic on a much worn blanket;' nor of throwing a vacant countenance into laughter, by the expounded radiance of silliness;'-nor of comparing a muddy river to hasty-pudding,' which is not a very happy similitude, nor one, in fact, which Mr. Ellis had an interest in suggesting. These, and other phrases of the same kind, are not only examples of bad taste, but exhibit a degree of levity not altogether suited to the high official situation held by the writer.* Mr. Ellis had a model before him in Sir George Staunton's Authentic Account' of the former embassy; or, if he thought that was drawn up in too grave and sustained a style to be used in a 'diary,' there was that excellent book, The Travels of John Bell of Antermony,' the best model perhaps for travel-writing in the English language. The discussions too with the Chinese government are

given

*He was secretary of embassy and third commissioner. Sir George Staunton was second commissioner, and to succeed, on the death or absence of the ambassador, as first commissioner, Mr. Ellis's dormant commission of minister plenipotentiary being merely provided for securing the delivery of the Regent's letter.

The history of this book is somewhat curious, and not generally known. For many years after Mr. Bell returned from his travels he used to amuse his friends with accounts of what he had seen, refreshing his recollection from a simple diary of occurrences and observations. The Earl Granville, then president of the Council, on hearing some of his adventures, prevailed on him to throw his notes together into the form of a narrative, which, when done, pleased him so much that he sent the manuscript to Doctor Robertson, with a particular request that he would revise and put it in a fit state for the press. The literary avocations of the Scottish historian at that time not allowing him to undertake the task, he recommended Mr. Barron, a professor in the University of Aberdeen; and on this gentleman consulting Doctor Robertson as to the style and the book of travels

given so much in detail as to divest them of all dignity, and to place the parties concerned in rather a disparaging if not a ludicrous point of view. A diplomatist is invested with a trust which he is bound to deposit in those hands from 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.-With these drawbacks, which a conscientious discharge of our duty to the public has compelled us to notice, we have no hesitation in pronouncing the volume before us a valuable and interesting work. And one advantage, certainly, may be derived from Mr. Ellis's frankness. The paltry intrigues of this oriental negociation (thus unreservedly laid open) afford a practical illustration of the childish vanity, the insolence, the meanness, and the unblushing falsehood of the court of China; and they display, in its true light, the moral and political character of this government of sages, which Voltaire and his followers conspired to hold up as a pattern for all governments to follow, and an example for the general admiration of mankind.

Mr. Ellis's volume contains, in the form of a diary, an account of the transactions of the British embassy with the court of Pekin; a narrative of occurrences in a journey of thirteen or fourteen hundred miles through the heart of the Chinese empire; and a clear and, we doubt not, an accurate description of the various objects which presented themselves on the route. It is true that all which can be seen from the grand canal, and which is the usual track from Pekin to Canton, is now nearly as well known as the road from London to Edinburgh; and although the route of the present embassy deviated from that of Lord Macartney in taking the course of the great river, the Yang-tse-kiang, for two hundred and eighty aniles, which afforded an opportunity of viewing the ancient capital of Nankin, and the fine scenery in the neighbourhood of the Po-yang lake, yet that sameness, which is characteristic of China, seems every where to have occurred in the constant repetition of the same kind of objects.

In a former Number* we traced the progress of the embassy to its embarkation on the barges of the Pei-ho; and formed a tolerable guess at the scenes which had been acted at the celestial residence;' this we were enabled to do (for we make no presensions to the gift of second sight) partly from some little knowledge of the

which he would recommend him to adopt for his guide, the historian replied, 'Take Gulliver's Travels for your model, and you cannot go wrong.' He did so, and Bell's Travels' has all the simplicity of Gulliver, with the advantage which truth always carries over fiction.

*No. XXXII. pp. 412, 413.

HH 4

Chinese

Chinese court, and partly from the imperial edicts, which were then in our hands. We must now return to our first statement, and take up the embassy at the Pei-ho. Even at this early period, it was thought by some that an unfavourable disposition had manifested itself towards the embassy, though nothing could be more civil and. attentive than the conduct of the two mandarins Chang and Yin, and the imperial legate Quang. Conformably with the precedent of Lord Macartney's embassy, the two former had visited the ambassador on board, the latter received him on shore. After some trifling questions of routine, such as-what were the objects of the embassy? how many persons it consisted of? how they nieant to return? &c. they adverted to the ko-tou or ceremony of prostration, and observed that previous practice would be required to secure the decorous performance of it in presence of the emperor; but Lord Amherst cut them short by observing that whatever was right and proper would be done. This early intimation, however, of what was almost certain to be demanded, induced his lordship to take the opinion of Sir George Staunton on the subject, who did not hesitate to declare, that the performance of the ceremony was not only incompatible with personal and national respectability, but that a compliance with it would be attended with the most injurious effects on the company's interests at Canton. In his mind, the mere reception of the embassy was not worth being purchased by the sacrifice.

The legate, who received the ambassador on shore, had previously informed Mr. Morrison, who acted as Lord Amherst's interpreter, that he should abstain from entering upon any discussion at his first interview, as his sole object was to pay his respects to the ambassador, and to become' personally acquainted with him; and his lively and affable manners were considered as grounds of favourable augury for more important concerns. He repeated, what had before been said, that the emperor had particularly inquired about the age of Lord Amherst's son, and he himself seemed to wish to give a foretaste of the honours that awaited this young gentleman by the extreme attention which he paid him-but Mr. Ellis doubts whether this was in consequence of the imperial inquiries, or designed as an irresistible attack on Lord Amherst's good-will; they had all reason, however, to be satisfied with his conduct.

Nothing more was said at this interview; but something that fell from the legate, in the course of conversation, led Sir George Staunton to anticipate an imperial banquet at Tien-sing, where a ta-yin, or great man,' of the name of Soo, was to meet them; Sir George had also incidentally collected that, though it was now the 10th August, the audience was fixed for the 22d. On the 12th

they

they reached Tien-sing. Here the three attendant mandarins, with Soo, waited on the ambassador; and, after some general conversation and mutual compliments, asked for a copy of the Regent's letter; they also let him know that the emperor had been graciously pleased to order an entertainment to be given to his lordship, and that nine o'clock had been fixed on as the most convenient hour. On taking leave, the imperial legate said he would furnish the ambassador with a written statement of every thing connected with his reception at Pekin, his stay there, (which it was hinted would be very short,) and the mode in which his time would be employed.

On the morning of the 13th the ambassador proceeded in state to the hall in which the banquet was prepared. On entering it, the first object that met his eyes was a table placed before a skreen, with yellow silk hanging before it; the mandarins in attendance were all dressed in their robes of ceremony. The legate began by observing, that the entertainment of which they were. about to partake was given by the emperor, and that therefore the same ceremonies would be required from all parties as if they were in the imperial presence. Lord Amherst replied, that he was prepared to approach his imperial Majesty with the same demonstrations of respect as his own sovereign. They said the ko-tou was the ceremony required; his lordship declared his intention of following, in every respect, the precedent established by Lord Macartney. They said that Lord Macartney had performed every ceremony and especially the ko-tou, not only in the presence of the emperor but at all other times; and Soo declared that himself remembered his having performed it at Canton; and they had the assurance to appeal to Sir George Staunton for the truth of what they asserted. This was not all; they even produced a paper, purporting to be an extract from the official records of the court of ceremonies, describing the whole ceremony which Lord Macartney performed in presence of the emperor; among which that of the ko-tou was specifically mentioned.

They now assumed a haughty tone; they supposed that it was the intention of the ambassador to please the emperor, and they did not think it becoming in him to refuse a ceremony which themselves must perform. Lord Amherst replied, that he would follow the conduct of Lord Macartney, as instructed by his sovereign to do. It was then hinted that the embassy might not be received; upon which Lord Amherst said, that however mortifying it might be to his feelings, he must decline the honour intended him by the entertainment, and that he should be prepared, on his arrival at Pekin, to submit the reasons of his refusal, in writing, to his imperial Majesty. Finding the ambassador inflexible, an ap

peal

peal was made to his paternal feelings, and he was asked, whether he would be so wanting in natural affection as to deprive his son of the honour of seeing the emperor? They urged repeatedly the certain displeasure of the emperor and the actual compliance of Lord Macartney; but finding that nothing was to be gained, they began to shew some disposition to yield; and said that they would no longer insist on the performance of the ceremony, on the present occasion, but that the consequences must fall on Lord Amherst if, in punishment for his refusal, the embassy and the presents should not be received. Lord Amherst then observed that, although one bow was the honour that was paid by the members of the chief council of the nation, to which he belonged, before the vacant throne of the sovereign, he should not hesitate to make as many bows, on the present occasion, as they did prostrations: upon this voluntary concession, they endeavoured, with true characteristic illiberality, to graft a further demand that Lord Amherst should also kneel upon one knee, which was of course rejected. The point was then given up; and while the mandarins, on their knees and with outstretched arms, knocked their heads nine times on the ground, Lord Amherst with his party bowed nine times in unison with their prostrations. For this act of condescension Mr. Ellis has found a parallel case in that of the Chevalier Le Roque, the commander of the French frigate Amphitrite, who, at an imperial feast given by the Viceroy of Canton, in 1669, bowed profoundly while the mandarins performed the ko-tou. In both cases a dinner and a play followed the ceremony.

They were now anxious to know what ceremony the ambassador proposed to perform before the emperor; they were told, to kneel on one knee and make his obeisance in that posture; this they affected not to understand, and proposed that he should then go through it: this of course he refused; but, on their observing that they merely wished to see it, that they might more accurately describe it to the emperor, Lord Amherst's son, at the suggestion of Sir George Staunton, performed it before his father: they then inquired how often he was willing to bow; the answer was that, although he did not conceive the demonstration of respect to be increased by the repetition, he should not hesitate to repeat his bows as often as they did their prostrations—and here the discussion closed.

On the morning of the 14th the embassy left Tien-sing. The mandarins continued their friendly attentions; they visited the members in their barges; they requested Lord Amherst to shew them the splendid box containing the Regent's letter, and although they evinced all the outward signs of childish gratification at the sight of a splendid bauble, they did not commit themselves to any expression of admiration;' but contented themselves with a wish that the pre

sent