as in the case of the Dutch, would only aggravate our ill-treatment), than by a manly appeal to the justice of the emperor against the insolence and extortions of his officers at Canton, and by a decent maintenance of our national independence. The Chinese are so ignorant of foreign nations, and therefore so illiberal, that their good opinion, and consequent good offices, are not to be gained by undue concessions in essential points. These they always regard as necessary acts of deference to their immense superiority, and therefore nothing extraordinary; while a contrary line of conduct, tending to dispel their absurd illusions, causes them to consider us on a footing of greater equality. At the same time, none but the most ignorant or wrongheaded would ever, in the first instance, withhold from them that conciliatory tone of demeanor and language, a failing in which lowers us to a level with the Chinese themselves." pp. 52-57.

"

Thus it was determined, "to consider the matter entirely as a question of expediency," to manage by hook or by crook,' as they best could. This they did; and thus, A. D. 1816, on the 28th of August, in the dead of night, the embassy found the gates of Peking shut against them; at dawn of day, on the 29th they had attained their destination;' and on the same day says our author, "" we set off on our return, at four in the afternoon, nearly in the same manner as we had come."

This was indeed the noble reward of expediency! No wonder the embassador and many of his companions became sick. Many of the party returned, as they went, in carts: "the motion was bearable till we came on the paved road, when the jolting became intolerable; it was a repeated dislocation of every part of the frame; each jolt seemed sufficient to have destroyed life, which yet remained to undergo the dreadful repetition. The elements combined with the imperial displeasure to annoy us; the rain fell in torrents; not, however, so violently as to deter the spectators from indulging their curiosity, by thrusting lanterns into the chairs and carts to have a full view of our persons. I certainly never felt so irritated in my life. To be exposed to such indecent curiosity, while suffering considerable pain from the jolting, was too much for the best tempers to hear patiently, and produced in me something not far removed from frenzy." Such were the feelings of Mr. (now the right honorable) Henry Ellis, as described in his Journal by himself at that time. "The pomp of imperial favor no longer attended us," says Mr. Abel; "the crowd of mandarins and soldiers, that had hitherto attended us, disappeared, and were not replaced by a single responsible person. * * * The carriage with the sick was obliged to stop all night on the road, near Peking, in consequence of not being supplied either with guides or

torch-bearers. Many casualties had occurred on the journey. Several of the baggage-wagons had been upset, and much of the baggage was injured. But this was a slight grievance. One of his lordship's servants was nearly killed by the overturning of his cart, through the carelessness of his driver; receiving in the fall a severe contusion of the brain, the effect of which still incapacitates him for his usual avocations. When we were somewhat recovered from our fatigues, and looked back on the occurrences of the last two days, we seemed rather to have awaked from a dream, than to have experienced any circumstances of real existence. It was impossible to link them together in any probable chain of cause and effect. We could only conjecture that we had been hurried to and from Yuenming Yuen, and subjected to all kinds of indignity and inconvenience, to suite the will of a capricious despot." pp. 112, 113.

Mr. Davis, writing five-and-twenty years subsequent to those occurrences, has told the story in a somewhat different mood-evidently showing that the scenes were not obliterated from his memory, and he has succeeded in giving to the descriptions something of that ridiculous air which characterized the movement to and from Peking. John Gilpin's race was nothing compared with this, and we are almost surprised that Mr. Davis did not throw his narrative into verse. Even in its present shape, it is worth reading, and we quote it entire.

“August 28th.—Great exertions were made in the morning to leave Tungchau as early as possible, after a delayed residence of eight days from our first arrival. The baggage and presents were sent off first, and at about halfpast four in the afternoon our party set out, being determined not to leave the impedimenta behind, as had been the case in coming up the Pei ho. As the two officers of the guard and myself were to ride, I had requested the mandarins overnight to let us be supplied with tolerable horses; but when these were produced, they turned out to be in a state of utter impossibility. I walked over to Kwáng, and remonstrated with him, upon which he affected not to know that the animals were so bad. Cháng tájin then kindly offered me his own horse, saying that he should go in his chair; and I gladly accepted it, as, though bad enough, this beast was greatly superior to the former tender. The Chinese breed of horses is confessedly one of the very worst, and the same may be said of all their domestic quadrupeds, excepting pigs and asses. Being kept alive on the smallest possible quantity of sustenance, they naturally degenerate in size; but the pig is the great saveall, and as he lives upon refuse, he pays well for his keeping about the house or cottage; while the ass likewise thrives upon what would starve a horse or COW. I seldom or never saw any donkeys in the south, but near Peking we remarked that they were a particularly fine variety, and perhaps might account for the goodness of the mules, which are also a superior breed.

"There was something diverting in the exclamation of despair with which the embassador's London coachman viewed the four Chinese Bucephali that were presented to him for the purpose of being harnessed to the carriage. He had prepared everything with as much care and pains as for a birthday at St. James's,—the horses only were wanting; and when they appeared in the shape of four snall rough ponies, he naturally cried out—“ Lord, sir, these cats will never do!' But they must do!' was the reply, for nothing better existed in the whole cinpire. The collars of the English harness hung down like mandarin necklaces, and the whole of the caparison sat like a loose gown. By dint of taking in' to an extent that had never been foreseen or provided for, this unworthy team were (no doubt very much to their own surprise) attached to the handsome barouche that was destined to roll on the granite road between Tungchau and Peking. An English carriage should never be sent to China without the horses to draw it. In our progress towards the great northern capital' (the literal meaning of Pe king) we first of all proceeded to the same gate of Tungchau that we had entered on the occasion of the earliest conference with duke Ho. Leaving this now upon our right without entering it, we skirted the high walls of the town, which were lined with spectators, and soon came to a broad road of hewn granite, which was evidently very old, and in so ruined a state that it might have been referred to the days of Yau and Shun. This road, or rather causeway over the low flats, extended to the gates of Peking, and though the embassador's carriage certainly did get on by dint of the coachInan's steadiness and skill, its strength and springs were greatly tried by the formidable cavities which the wheels occasionally encountered, and which gave it the motion of a ship in a heavy cross sea.

"A stone bridge of three arches, at the distance of rather more than a mile from Tungehau, crossed the Pei ho, or a river running into it, in this place a very inconsiderable stream. From the centre of this bridge I reconnoitered the country round Behind us was Tungchau, with its conspicuous pagoda, or Budhist steeple, and encircled hy its high and embattled wall. On each side lay a flat country, studded here and there with woody clumps, inclosing the low dwelling-houses of the Chinese, which are surrounded mostly by walls, and consist of houses of all ranks, from the mansion of the high official magnate, to the country-box of the Peking cockney. Before us, to the north-west, lay the imperial city, the residence of the absolute monarch of a third of the human race. It is situated very nearly under the fortieth parallel of north latitude, in common with Naples and Madrid in Europe, and Philadelphia in North America, which last it resembles in climate.

Peking has been the fixed capital of China ever since the reign of Yungló, of the Ming race, by whom the Mongols were expelled. Although situated on the northern confines of China Proper, it is centrical with reference to the whole empire, including Tartary. The tract in which it stands is sandy and barren, but the grand canal is admirably adapted to the purpose

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of feeding its vast population with the produce of more fertile provmices and districts. The most ancient portion of Peking is that area to the north which is now called the Tartar city, or city of nine gates, the actual number of its entrances. To the south is another inclosure, less strictly guarded, as it does not contain, like the other, the emperor's residence. The whole circumference of the two coinbined is not less than twenty-five miles within the walls and independently of suburbs. A very large portion of the centre of the northern city is occupied and monopolised by the emperor, with his palaces, gardens, &c., which are surrounded by their own wall, and form what is called 'the prohibited city.' What Rome was to Europe, Peking is, or has been, to the larger portion of Asia, especially when it became the seat of Zenghis and Kublai Khan, the masters of the eastern world. While the territory of Rome, however, has degenerated into the few square leagues that constitute the patrimony of St. Peter, Peking maintains the greater portion of its ancient sovereignty in an integral state. The former city has shrunk into a corner of the area comprised by its ancient wall; while Peking has doubled its original extent, within a new and additional wall, and possesses considerable suburbs without the walls. It was naturally with feelings of considerable interest that we approached this singular place.

"At the distance of about six miles from Tungchau, our cavalcade, which like most large bodies moved slowly, halted, as it was beginning to grow dark, for refreshment. The place at which we alighted was for all the world just like the stable-yard of an inn, and the knight of La Mancha himself would never have taken it for a castle. On a table in the middle of this yard stood a most uninviting repast, which some of our party very properly denominated a mess of broken victuals.' The principal part of the entertainment consisted of half-plucked, untrussed, fowls, in a boiled state, and altogether so nasty, that few, if any, of our party could be induced to touch them; and there was plenty of water to be had in wooden buckets. What seemed to make this unseemly treat the more inexcusable was the fact, that two of our principal conductors were with us, and therefore could not plead ignorance of its nature. Some of the Chinese, however, had such elevated notions of English refinement, that they supposed, or at least said, that it was in conformity with the customs of our country.'

"As the kinchái stated that we could not arrive at Yuenming yuen before the next morning, I felt no desire to pass the whole night in the saddle, and exchanged my horse for one of the wretched little Chinese tilted carts. But we had not proceeded half a mile before I had abundant reason to regret the choice, for the convulsive throes of this primitive machine, without springs, on the ruined granite road, produced an effect little short of lingering death; and the only remedy was to get out as often as possible and walk. Our expectations had been raised by Kwáng's assurance that the gates of Peking would be kept open beyond the usual hour for our reception; and when we had passed on for about half an hour through a handsome suburb, containing shops whose fronts were richly carved and gilded, we actually reached the

eastern gate towards midnight. But what was the disappointment and indignation of the whole party, when the cavalcade, instead of entering the gate, turned sharp round to the right, and began skirting the city wall on the outside! I was excessively irritated at this moment by the obtrusive curiosity of the people, who had provided themselves with multitudes of little paper lanterns, some of which were thrust forward very unceremoniously towards our persons. I was at length obliged to seize one or two of these and put them out, after which the annoyance in some degree ceased. The crowd, as might be expected, were by no means so orderly as at Tientsin, but partook of the licentious and blackguard character of the rabble of a great capital. The soldiers, however, treated them very cavalierly, and made good use of their staves, whips, and sheathed swords

After a tedious passage round the north side of Peking, we reached one of the western gates, and came upon the high road to Yuenming yuen. The distance was quite inconsiderable, but our average progress was a foot pace, and day began to dawn before we had attained our destination. During the darkness 1 and several others were separated from the embassador and commissioners; but after a wretched night we were glad to find ourselves about daybreak at Haitien, close to Yuenming yuen, in the extensive range of buildings intended for our residence.

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August 29th.-On issuing from my Scythian plaustrum, more dead than alive, I found two of the gentlemen of the embassy pacing up and down in the open court or inclosure before the building, while a number of mandarins were staring at them. Some of these at length showed us the range of apartments destined for us, and, tired with the night's journey, we threw ourselves down to sleep, as it happened, in the embassador's room. We were presently, however, awakened by the arrival of his lordship, accompanied by a number of the suite, and listened with surprise to the history of their most unexpected adventures at the emperor's palace. It had evidently been the intention of the mandarins to separate as many of the party as possible from the embassador and the commissioners, in order to effect what now, for the first time, appeared to be the object of hurrying us forward during the whole night. The carriage was conducted beyond Haitien to the immediate vicinity of the imperial residence, and, as soon as it stopped, (which was before five o'clock in the morning,) Kwáng tájin made his appearance and requested the inmates to alight. The embassador naturally desired to be conducted to his hotel, or lodging; but, to the astonishment of all the English assembled, several of whom had by this time collected round the carriage, the mandarins very earnestly urged their immediately proceeding, for a short time, to a conference with duke Ho. The party then were conducted to an apartment on the other side of the court before which the carriage had stopped. Here the whole truth broke upon them at once. From the great number of mandarins in their full dresses of ceremony, including princes of

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