dous forics that appear in the pyramids and the pillars of the ancien Egyptians; the beautiful and symmetrical works of art displayed in the temples of the Greeks; the grand and magnificent remains of Roman architecture; or that combination of convenience and elegance of design which characterize the modern buildings of Europe. In China every city is nearly the same: a quadrangular space of ground is enclosed with walls of stone, of brick, or of earth, all built upon the same. plan; the houses within them of the same construction; and the streets, except the principal ones that run from gate to gate, invariably narrow. The temples are, nearly, all alike, of the same awkward design as the dwelling-houses, but on a larger scale; and the objects that are known in Europe by the name of pagodas, are of the same inelegant kind of architecture, from one extremity of the empire to the other, differing only in the number of rounds or stories, and in the materials of which they are constructed. The manners, the dress, the amusements of the people, are nearly the same. Even the surface of the country, as far as regards the fifteen ancient provinces, is subject to little variation, and especially those parts over which the grand inland navigation is carried; the only parts, in fact, that foreigners travelling in China have any chance of visiting.

In this route no very great variety nor number of subjects occur in the department of natural history. Few native plants, and still fewer wild animals, are to be expected in those parts of a country that are populous and well cultivated. Indeed the rapid manner in which the present journey was made, was ill suited for collecting and examining specimens even of those few that did occur.

On these considerations it is hoped that the indulgence of the reader will not be withheld, where information on such points may appear to be defective. A French critic* (perhaps without doing him injustice he may be called a hypercritic) who happened to visit Canton for a few months, some fifty years ago, has, with that happy confidence peculiar to his nation, not only pointed out the errors and defects of the information communicated to the world by the English and the Dutch embassies, but has laid down a syllabus of the subjects they ought to have made themselves completely acquainted

* Monsieur (I beg his pardon) Citoyen Charpentier Cossigny.

with, which, instead of seven months, would seem to require a residence of seven years in the country. But the author of the present work rests his confidence in the English critics being less unreasonable in their demands; and that their indulgences will be proportioned to the difficulties that occurred in collecting accurate information. With this reliance, the descriptions, observations, and comparisons, such as they are, he presents to the public, candidly acknowledging that he is actuated rather by the hope of meeting its forbearance than by the confidence of deserving its approbation.

Perhaps it may not be thought amiss, before he enters on the more immediate subject of the work, to correct, in this place, a very mistaken notion that prevailed on the return of the embassy; which was, that an unconditional compliance of Lord Macartney, with all the humiliating ceremonies which the Chinese might have thought proper to exact from him, would have been productive of results more favourable to the views of the embassy. Assertions of such a general nature are more easily made than refuted, and are, indeed, unworthy of attention; but a letter of a French missionary, at Pekin, to the chief of the Dutch factory at Canton, is deserving of some notice, because it specifies the reasons to which, according to the writer's opinion, was owing the supposed failure of the British embassy. In speaking of this subject he observes, "Never was an embassy deserving of better suc"cess! whether it be considered on account of the experience, the wisdom, and the amiable qualities of Lord Ma"cartney and Sir George Staunton; or of the talents, the knowledge, and the circumspect behaviour of the gentle"men who composed their suit; or of the valuable and cu"rious presents intended for the emperor;-and yet, strange "to tell, never was there an embassy that succeeded so ill!

"You may be curious, perhaps, to know the reason of an ❝event so unfavourable and so extraordinary. I will tell you, " in a few words. These gentlemen, like all strangers, who "know China only from books, were ignorant of the manner "of proceeding, of the customs and the etiquette of this "court; and to add to their misfortune, they brought with "them a Chinese interpreter still less informed than them"selves. The consequence of all which was, that in the first place, they came without any presents for the minister of state, or for the sons of the emperor. Secondly, They re

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"fused to go through the usual ceremony of saluting the emperor, without offering any satisfactory reason for such re"fusal. Thirdly, They presented themselves in clothes that "were too plain, and too common. Fourthly, They did not "use the precaution to fee (graisser la patte) the several persons appointed to the superintendence of their affairs. Fifthly, Their demands were not made in the tone and style "of the country. Another reason of their bad success, and, "in my mind, the principal one, was owing to the intrigues of a certain missionary, who, 'imagining that this embassy "might be injurious to the interests of his own country, did "not fail to excite unfavourable impressions against the English nation."

The points of failure, enumerated in this letter of M. Grammont, were so many spurs to the Dutch factory, to try their success at the court of Pekin, the following year. No sooner did Mr. Van Braam receive this dispatch, by the return of the English embassy to Canton, than he prepared a letter for the commissaries general at Batavia, in which he informed them, that as it was the intention of the different nations who had factories established in Canton, to send embassadors to the capital, for the purpose of congratulating the Emperor on his attaining the age of eighty-four years, which would be in the sixtieth year of his reign, he had resolved to proceed on such a mission, on the part of the Batavian Republic; and requested that he might be furnished, without delay, with suitable credentials. To this application the commissaries general, who had been sent out, the same year, to retrench the expences of the company in their Indian settlements, and to reform abuses, returned for answer, That, however low and inadequate their finances might be, to admit of extraordinary expences, yet they deemed it expedient not to shew any backwardness in adopting similar measures to those pursued by other Europeans trading to China; and that they had, accordingly, nominated Mr. Titsingh as chief, and himself (Mr. Van Braam) as second embassador to the Court of China.

Mr. Titsingh lost no time in repairing to Canton; and these two embassadors, determining to avail themselves of the hints thrown out in M. Grammont's letter, and thereby to avoid splitting on the same rock which, they took for granted, the British embassador had done, cheerfully submitted to every humiliating ceremony required from them by the Chinese,

who, in return, treated them in the most contemptuous and indignant manner. At Canton they were ordered to assist in a solemn procession of Mandarines, to a temple in the neighbourhood, and there, before the emperor's name, painted on cloth, and suspended above the altar, to bow their heads nine times to the ground, in token of gratitude for his great condescension in permitting them to proceed to his presence, in order to offer him tribute. They submitted even to the demands of the state officers of Canton, that the letter, written by the commissaries general at Batavia, to the Emperor of China, and translated there into the Chinese language, should be broke open, and the contents read by them; and that they should further be allowed to make therein such alterations and additions as they might think proper. The embassador, resolving not to be wanting in any point of civility, requested to know when he might have the honour of paying his respects to the viceroy; and received for answer, that the customs of the country did not allow a person, in his situation, to come within the walls of the viceroy's palace; but that one of his officers should receive his visit at the gate; which visit to the gate was literally made. Mr. Van Braam, in relating this circumstance in his journal, observes, that the viceroy "assured his excellency, he ought not to take his refusal amiss; as the same terms had been prescribed to Lord Macartney, the preceding year." Mr. Van Braam knew very well that Lord Macartney never subjected himself to any such refusal; and he knew, too, that the same viceroy accompanied his Lordship, in a great part of his journey from the capital; that he partook of a repast, on the invitation of Lord Macartney, at the British factory; when, for the first time, Mr. Van Braam, and the supercargoes of all the European nations, had been permitted to sit down in the presence of one of his rank.

At Pekin they were required to humiliate themselves at least thirty different times; at each of which they were obliged, on their knees, to knock their heads nine times against the ground, which Mr. Van Braam, in his journal, very coolly calls, performing the salute of honour, "faire le salut d'honneur." And they were finally dismissed, with a few paltry pieces of silk, without having once been allowed to open their lips on any kind of business; and without being permitted to see either their friend Grammont, or any other European missionary, except one, who had special leave to make

them a visit of half an hour, the day before their departure, in presence of ten or twelve officers of government. On their arrival in this capital, they were lodged, literally, in a stable; under the same cover, and in the same apartment, with a parcel of cart horses. Mr. Van Braam's own words are, Nous voilà donc, à notre arrivée, dans la celebre resi"dence impèriale, logés dans une espéce d'écurié. Nous "serions nous attendus à une pareille avanture!"

After such a vile reception and degrading treatment of the Dutch embassy, what advantages can reasonably be expected to accrue from a servile and unconditional compliance with the submissions required by this haughty government? It would rather seem that their exactions are proportioned to the complying temper of the persons with whom they have to treat. For it appears, not only from Mr. Van Braams's own account of the embassy, but also from two manuscript journals in the author's possession, one kept by a Dutch gentleman in the suite, and the other by a native Chinese, that the embassadors from the Batavian Republic were fully prepared -to obviate every difficulty that might arise from the supposed points of failure in the British embassy, as directed to their notice by Mr. Grammont. In the first place, they not only. carried presents for the ministers of state, but they calmly suffered these gentlemen to trick them out of the only curious and valuable articles among the presents intended for the emperor, and to substitute others, of a mean and common nature, in their place. Secondly, they not only complied with going through the usual ceremony of saluting the emperor, but also of saluting the emperor's name, painted on a piece of silk, at least fifty times on their journey to and from the capital which degrading ceremony they even condescended to perform before the person of the prime minister. With regard to the third point, it certainly appears that no expence had been spared in providing themselves with splendid robes for the occasion; but, unfortunately, they had but few opportunities of making use of them, their baggage not arriving at the capital till many days after they had been there. Nor does it seem that the dress of a foreign embassador is considered of much consequence in the eyes of the Chinese; for, when these gentlemen wished to excuse themselves from going to court, on account of their dusty and tattered clothes, in which they had performed a most painful journey, the master of the