vs BAKRO:irS 'ffiiVEIS IN CHIM'' LNVESTIGATED ■'>:-., WUAAAM J AllDIRE PROdDFOOT. m vai ii 'To attempt the discovery of truth is the noblest performance of duty in all men." BARROW'S TRAVELS IN CHINA. " AN INVESTIGATION ISTO THE (Origin ul lnt|jratiriti[ nf tljc " Mi^ nnli (DhscrnatinEs" RELATED IN A WOBK ENTITLED "TRAVELS IN CHINA3 BY JOHN BARROW, F.KS." (AFTERWAEDS SIE J. BAEROW, BAET.) PRECEDED BY A PRELIMINARY INQUIRY INTO THE NATURE OF THE "POWERFUL MOTIVE" OF THE SAME AUTHOR, ITS INFLUENCE ON HIS DUTIES AT THE CHINESE CAPITAL, AS COMPTROLLER TO THE BRITISH EMBASSY, IN 1793. WILLIAM JARDINE PROUDFOOT. LONDON: GEORGE PHILIP AND SON, 32, FLEET STREET; LIVERPOOL : CAXTON BUILDINGS, SOUTH JOHN STREET, AND 51, SOUTH CASTLE STREET. 1861. DS PREFACE. It may seem a perfect supererogation, at this period, to undertake the review of a work published more than half a century ago; a work which was not only noticed by the reviews of the day, but escaped with much honor — in some instances with flying colors. It underwent two successive editions ; was printed and circulated in various forms ; often largely quoted, and always looked upon as high authority. The author of it ranked among "individuals of acknowledged eminence in science and literature;" and acquired the distinc- tion of a "celebrity of the Georgian era." His devotion to the progress of truth became a universal theme. To this reputation alone the present small volume owes its existence. The writer of it, being in possession of the manuscript journal of a gentleman in the suite of Lord McCartney, ambassador to China, was, unexpectedly, led to look into the work now under notice, when certain strange revelations arrested his attention. This induced him to enter into the histoiy of the information furnished by that mission, and more particularly to an examination of those incidents and occurrences recorded in the Travels as "facts and observations," and upon which, as a basis, Chinese society is made to rest. After long and careful application, he has arrived at conclusions widely different from -^ /T' O «^ O' '"*' jT* general repute ; iu a word, he has risen from the task in disgust, and, at once, obeys the call of duty to place the reasons at the bar of public opinion. The object is twofold: justice to the memory of the comptroller's colleagues, on whom the rod of contumely has been laid with an ill grace; and caution to commentators on China respecting the utter folly of adopting the Travels as an authority in any case whatever. These objects are to be accomplished by unmasking the hideous forms now covered with the mantle of truth, of which the judges shall decide ; and the reviewer rests with confidence on their approval to justify his endeavors. "We pay tnith (observes Sir T. Brown) a very easy compliment when we content ourselves with despising her adversaries. The duty we owe her is of a more manly kind : it is to gird ourselves for the battle, to fit us for overcoming those adversaries whenever they shall present themselves in array." ERRATA. Page 45, line 28, for Judaes Apelles, read Judmus Apella. „ 93, , 25, „ cereal. „ 101, , 1, ,y pellate. „ 125, , 7, „ Auto, „ 139, , 5, „ so, „ 164, , 32, ., unpractical serial. peltate. Auto. to be. unpractised. IV. PREFACE. general repute ; iu a word, he tas risen from the task in disgust, and, at once, obeys the call of duty to place the reasons at the bar of public opinion. The object is twofold: justice to the memory of the comptroller's colleagues, on whom the rod of contumely has been laid with an ill grace; and caution to commentators on China respecting the utter folly of adopting the Travels as an authoiity in any case whatever. These objects are to be accomplished by unmasking the hideous forms CONTENTS, PRELIMINARY INQUIRY. " Powerful Motive." — Its nature and mode of operation inquired into— illustrated by Lunardi's ascent from Liverpool— truth not its object— ever was at work 13 Claims to Science. — Foundations examined — no early opportunities for infor- mation — little progress at the age of 23 — science on the embassy not difficult to estimate 16 Do-NoTHiNGS OP THE EMBASSY. — Contempt manifested for the ambassador's suite — unfit for their duties — execute nothing on the embassy— abilities of the comptroller — his charge of the presents — "large quarto" — great desire of fame 18 " Lot of few to go to Pekin." — Remarkable consequence of this uncommon lot — in two places at the same time — the work of the " powerful motive" — for a purpose 21 Palace of Yden - min - tuen. — Opening of the drama — highly seasoned with incident — unpacking the px-esents — illustrations of the " motive" . 23 DiODATi, interpreter at the palace — his handsome introduction — remarkable disclosure— Latin prohibited to be spoken — ridiculous consequences — ignored by Barrow 25 " Serious Charge." — Ability with which it is conducted — natives astonished at the operations of the " motive" — its nnheard-of discoveries — some light thrown on the matter by the erection of the planetarium — residence at the palace not very enviable — only three weeks 26 ■VI. CONTENTS. Emperor's Birth-Day. — Celebration at the palace — incongruous statements of Barrow and Staunton — the former on the horns of a dilemma — statements contrasted with tlioso of Dr. Dinwiddle— begin to look with doubt on the official volumes 29 Old Euncch. — Outburst of ill-fooling — consternation at the palace — reason — Lord McCartney's refusal to perform the Kotoo — contrasted with Dr. Dinwiddle's remarks — the object of the motive — second fiddle . . 31 Old Eonuch. — Alteration of the presents — contradictory statements of Barrow and Staunton — no dependence to be placed on the "Authentic Account." S2 October Ist. — The emperor and the presents— racy extract from the Auto— an improvement upon the Travels — extracts from Lord McCartney and Dr. Dinwiddio — scientific capacity of the comptroller illustrated by Parker's lens — reasons for supposing the extract from his lordship spurious — desire of the comptroller to get into the presence of the emperor — a cariosity — illustration of the artifice of Sir George Staunton . . 34 Parodies on Lord McCartney — illustrating the true character and subsequent success of the comptroller . . . , 40 Dismissal op toe Embassy.— Comptroller left behind to settle accounts where none existed — the Aato an improvement upon the Travels — illustrations of the restraint put upon the embassy — inexplicable movements of the comptroller — despicable account of his farewell ride through the capital — ignores the confusion in being thrust out — concluding remarks . 41 INVESTIGATION OF "FACTS AND OBSERVATIONS." Sentuients on the " facts and observations" extracted from the TravcU . 47 Eclipse at Tonchoo. — First subject of investigation — proved never to have happened — origm of it — an outrageous plagiarism from the Dutch embassy — the key to unlock the " facts and observations" — little said about the eclipse — reason — the ceremonial of the eclipse compared with the real events of the day — {lom. tho Travels 48 Scorpions at Tonchoo. — Gross exaggeration to blacken the character of the priests — no dependence on the official details 52 "Canton Ulcer." — Disgraceful fabrication — proved so from the Travels — reproduced from Sir George Staunton — observations on reviews . 54 " Foreign Devils." — Worthless contradictions — proved so from the facts them- selves — origin of the incident £i(J " Want of Fellow-Feelino." — ^Accident at Linsin— grossly misrepresented — CONTENTS. VU. proved so — disgraceful plea put into the mouths of Chinese boatmen — connected with another fallacious occuiTence — altogether a texture of inconsistencies 58 Inhumanity, 1st Illustration.— Punishment of insolent soldier — contradictory- statements of Barrow and Staunton — an undoubted fabrication— remarks on reviews 62 Inhcmanitt, 2nd Illustration.— Cruel and disgraceful treatment of traclters — contradictory statements — not borne out by contemporary witnesses — the whole a detestable whim gi Inhumanity, 3rd Illustration. — Boatmen on the Pyho unmercifully flogged and cashiered — want of collateral testimony — suspicious extract from Lord McCartney's journal — full of inconsistencies — remarks ... 68 Ill-treatment of Women. — Common to see them yolked to a plough — seen only by our author, who knows nothing about it after all — illustrative of disgraceful feelings 70 Vessel Upset on Eice Mill.— Enormous flood— result left to conjecture — ignored and rendered impossible by every other witness — a wanton desire to impose on mankind 72 Specimens of Exaggeration illustrating the capabilities of the " motive" — usually carried to extravagance 74 Rash Assertions good enough for " facts"— examplified in describing a typhoon- origin of the " fact" eventually laughed at — no apology for using it 75 PoYANG Lake and Baerow Swamps. — Picture of inconceivable desolation— not quite so bad as painted — confuted by subsequent English embassy — the BaiTow swamps not confined to the vicinity of the lake — of indefinite extent — houseless deserts occur where other witnesses see a beautiful cultivated country — Latin and mathematics not necessaiy to judge of a swamp — accounted for on the principle of astonishing the natives — an improvement upon Su- George Staunton— beauties of the official account in describing these swamps 76 Sandy Islands op the Poyang. — Only seen by Sir George Staunton — reasons to doubt his ability, and inquiry into the "fact" — confuted by De Guignes — the islands sailed past by Dr. Milne, and described as hilly and picturesque SO " Sink op China." — Name given to the Poyang lake and surrounding swamps — • an improvement upon the " Authentic Account " — beautifully illustrating the Barrow-forte 81 Lake Cinino. — Two absurdities— a country beyond the reach of sight — another with two surfaces — the result of reckless folly — trashy nature of the narrative — observations on Barrow's telescope 82 viii. CONTENTS. Baiiuow SwAirPS OF SnANTONG.— Equally extensive aud dreary witli tliose of the Poyaug— without cultivation and without inhabitants— denied by other witnesses, even by the discoverer himself— jottings from Dr. Dinwiddle's journal respecting the ewumps **•! " Immense AQUEDtTCT." — Official and non-official accounts based on the same piinciple — often wild speculations, never acquired on the embassy — illustrated by the " immense aqueduct" — confuted by the official maj) — by contemporary and subsequent travellers — by common sense — another marvel amplified from Sir George Staunton «0 Grand Canal. — "All the Talents" — accounts furnished by tlie McCartney embassy, deplorable nonsense — proved so by comparing one writer with the other— illustrations of the school in which Barrow was trained . 89 Grand Canal — The CoiiPTnoLLER's " Endeavor." — Elegance and accuracy of a Barrow sentence — of Chinese geography — wisdom of the "immense aqueduct — looked upon and circulated as " good sense" ... 91 Uniform of Kiangnan. — Illustrating the miserable shifts of the McCartney embassy— BaiTow-mode of reasoning 9i SoocHoo Beauties.- Speculations on the ferry girls at Chauchoo, and the ladies at Soochoo — contradictions — further i>roperties of the telescope — elegance of the Barrow-style — drag upon the speculations — rendered impossible by Lord McCartney and other witnesses — Sir George Staunton equally bewildered — reason — bird of paradise 95 Lake Taihoo— also rcsei-ved for a shot— additional specimens of Sir George Staunton's powers of vision — missionaries and other wTiters the source of these speculations— disgraceful to the embassy— more reliable information in Andei-son than the two able writers .98 Trifling Notabilia.— Instances overlooked by Sir George Staunton picked np by Barrow— illustrating the grounds where the " facts and observations" were collected . . ^9 Shingmoo confoimded with Poosa— further proofs of a disregard of truth- Lord McCartney's observations on Poosa totally destructive of those of Barrow 100 Parker's Lens. — Vacillating statements of Barrow -artifice of Sir George Staunton 10'2 Gardens of Ycen-otn-yuen.— Widely difl'erent estimates of their content furnished by the " powerful motive"— reason— another plagiarism from the Dutch- splendid illustrations— climax of sophistry- peculiarities of the "facts" IW Pedestrian Feat. — Explanatory of contradictions— a thousand miles not less tliiui one-tenth of thirteen hundred miles 106 CONTENTS. II. Glacis on Grand Canal. — Better views acquii-ed e,a the distance in time increases — a structure is seen where it never existed — remarkable effort of the " powerful motive" — reflections thereon 107 Accommodation Bay. — Another beautiful conception of the ^«to— illustrating ungovernable folly in search of " facts" 108 Chinese Roads. — Singular infatuation— the experience of 1793 always improved by subsequent information — no roads iu China beyond a foot path — specimen of Barrow reasoning 110 Specimens op Remaekable Observations.— No part of the empire safe from Barrow's telescope 112 Cannon. — All that were seen in China — a few contradictions— Barrow able to form an opinion of their caliber 113 Whims on Pechelee. — Poverty of the soil and peasantry — worst specimens of humanity seen in all China — remarkable self-contradictions — peasantry happy but not extraordinary happy — reasons — proofs from the Dutch — " interesting remarks" sold at a low figure 114 Waste Lands. — Chinese ignorant of reclaiming — richest lands in low, sour, swampy ground — one-foui-th part of China lakes and swamps — interior of China not deserts 116 Civilities to the Embassy. — Cooking in English style — a reproduction from the official volumes — viceroy of Canton travelling post from Pekin — a striking contradiction to Sir George Staunton — tacitly acknowledged by reviewers 117 Barrow's Journal — a myth — official extracts evidently the work of Sir George Staunton though fathered on Barrow — the Yangtsekiang a reckless mis- calculation 119 Engraved Repbesentation of Lion — referred to before it was known it would exist 120 AmusingJAnecdotes of the "Authentic Account" improved on and rendered worthless by Barrow — all evidently fabrications 121 Unassailable Incidents — demolished by Barrow himself — illustrated by " evening entertainment" on river at Canton — the Auto totally demolishes the Travels 123 Mysterious Adventures — illustrated by Linsin pagoda — the Barrow visit demolished by subsequent English embassy — Abel's unable attempt to reconcile the Barrow and Ellis visits 125 Palatial Incidents. — Difficult to rebut by external testimony — their incredibility ~ illustrated by the in8tance~of the emperor's favorite draughtsman . 12S X. CONTENTS. BARROW vcrsm STAUNTON. Official Volumes. — Flattering sentiments tliereon— detailed with elegance and accuracy — Idle to recapitulate — nevertheless recapitulated and improved on by our author 131 Keeto Whirlpool, — Staunton and Barrow comiiarod— clashing facts— Burrow's account proved a forgery by the official maps — another reproduction, embellished by fabrications 13'i Choleha Morbus.— Case at Chusan— BaiTow claims to be the victim— remarkable contradictions, Barrow versu.t Staunton, imd vcmus himself— case decided by a few facts— Barrow in a ridiculous position— liars and good memories 13 j Visit to Tinghai — a texture of inconsistencies — one gentleman Ignorant he was stopped every moment to be laughed at— the other that a violent wind nearly upset his palanquin and drove him into a monastery . 137 Chinese Pilots.— Each brought a small marine compass according to Staunton — flatly confuted by Barrow — reasons 138 First Impressions.— The "unkindest cut"— Barrow persuaded his amiable patron is not telling the truth 13!) Country on the Ptho— flat, or not flat — not a hillock to be seen, according to Sir George — broken into hiU and dale, according to Barrow — the latter confuted by himself — greater probability and consistency always on the oflicial side 139 Soil around Pekin — rich or sterile- rich and highly cultivated, according to Sir George — sterile and unproductive, according to Barrow— the latter again confutes himself- observations on the empty, servile flourishes of the pupil and his contradictious 140 BARROW versus THE OFFICIAL MAPS. Geographical and Statistical Contradictions.- Testimony of the maps- stamped with the name of Barrow — frequently opposed to the Travels — instances previously pointed out — additional instances — all illustrative of the Barrow-school 143 Mlunderino in Dates — proof of recklessness and disregard of truth — various instances— remarkable oversight respecting the Cape colony — our author travels all over that colony before ho sot foot in it .... 147 BuNoi.iNo.— Interesting specimen from the Trn ivM— ships sailing over mountains on dry land ^^ CONTENTS. xi. LORD MCCARTNEY'S JOURNAL. Bears marks of having been improperly dealt -n-lth— various entries pointed out with observations — Parker's lens — boat stranded in the Pyho — illimitable sv/amps at Cining— dense fog and dismal night on the Lonshiaton — un- civilised people to the southward of Nanyang — this last an anachronism — impossible to have been written by Lord McCartney— peculiarity of the entries — all tending to give a color for certain Barrow whims — his lordship's journal published by Barrow 150 OPPORTUNITIES FOR INFORMATION. Comptroller never at a loss — quite at home among the Chinese — understands their language, and enjoys a greater share of liberty than his colleagues — real state of things pointed out by extracts from Sir Geo. Staunton and Dr. Dinwiddle — on their amval, the gentlemen could not understand a word — were afterwards prisoners — passed through the country like so many dumb persons, unable to ask a single question — Ban-ow's knowledge of the Chinese character a subsequent acquirement .... 154 RETROSPECT. Inquiry Finished — black catalogue — their author nevertheless undertakes to correct the errors of other writers — indignation poured out upon Anderson — comparison of the writers — infinitely to the advantage of the humbler individual — list of " vampings" from the Travels — second list from do. — challenged to be matched or confuted — a proof of executing something on the embassy — honors in consequence — Edinburgh literati — surprise of the judges — our advice 158 CONCLUSION. Imconsistencies of the " interesting episode" inexhaustible — idle waste of time to investigate all — observations on the origin of the " Travels in China" — mode of collecting information — introduced in the form of incidents, " facts and observations" — baseless and slippery foundations of some — significance of aU — never without a drag — nothing added to the stock of knowledge — summing up of radical and obvious defects — blunders, contradictions, and other fraternities — all pointing to a disregard of truth, and to the animus of the " Travels in China" — opinion of the work by various reviews— our own opinion — conclusion 162 PEELIMINAKY INQUIEY. "PO^VERFUL MOTIVE." *' It may naturally be supposed," observes Sir Johu Barrow, in the Preface to the Autohiograj)hy, " that he who can sit down, in his eighty-third year, to write a volume of five hundred pages, must have been urged on by some powerful motive to under- take such a task, at so advanced a period of life." Although unwilling to confess what this "powerful motive" was, he entertained a pretty clear idea that it would not escape the attention of his readers ; for he observes again, " no man can, with justice, lay vanity to my charge." It would be difficult, indeed, to find another to whom it could with greater justice be applied. If this, however, had been the only cause of com- plaint silence would have answered eveiy purpose for which this inquiry has been carried out ; but the same " powerful motive," which compelled him to rush into print, has betrayed him into far other improprieties, disgraceful alike to his rank and reputation. Facts fabricated, or misrepresented, admit of no palliation. While we are admonished that the remi- niscences of early life are " entirely from memory," we are promised that the record shall be a "true and faithful" one. Let an instance show what reliance is to be placed on this assertion. 14 PHELnriNARY INQUIRY. Immediately on completing bis foiu-teentli year, lie entered npon a situation as clerk in an iron-founcby, in Livei-pool. "We then read : " Not long after my arrival, among the visitors to the manufactoiy was an Italian, from Naples, of the name of Leonardi, whose business in Livcii)ool, be told me, was to ascend in a balloon, the first be believed that had been sent up in England, at least with any person in it ; and as his was intended to be inflated with inflammable gas, he wished to know if he could be supplied with iron filings to produce it." (p. 13.) Now, the first ascent of Lunardi, (or Leonardi, as Barrow WTites it) from Liveqiool, is a historical event, recorded in the annals of the town, and took place July 20th, 1785. As Mr. Bairow was born June 19th, 1764, he had then entered upon his twenty-second year, instead of being a "youth of fourteen," or, at most, fifteen years. Here then is a material difl'erence which no sophism will reconcile. If our author remembered the event, with the clearness it is attempted to be described, he must have remem- bered that he had come to manhood, and that he was not the mere boy he endeavors to represent himself. But supposing the panorama of his past existence to have started ever so irregularly into view, it was not only in his power but a very easy matter to have corrected the mistake ; and failing to do so accords ill with a desire to write a " tnic and faithful" review. It is, at once, a proof that truth was not his object. An honest, and particularly a wise man, would bo careful about such matters, even if ho had to put himself to trouble, and certainly no less careful when he had no trouble to contend with. Ambition to have bis name, however remote the distance, and however inapplicable, connected with great events seems to have been the sole motive for introducing the story of the balloon, which, unfortunately, introduces too much. When the lady from Liverpool first mentioned the subject of the situation, the mcmoiy of our author makes her to say, " From the character I have heard of you, and from age and appearance "powerful Moxn-E." 15 (perhaps a little too young) I think you would answer our purpose." How is it possible that the lady, who was in search of a youth only, could entertain such an idea, as " perhaps a little too young," when Barrow, at the moment, was not less than twenty years of age. Again : Sir John's mode of diction would impute to Lunardi much uncertainty on the subject of balloons in England. The very first aeronaut that ever ascended in this country is made to be so far in doubt as to believe it was the " first that had been sent up in England, at least with any person in it." Can any man, conversant with the matter, believe that the adven- turous Italian was either in doubt, or made use of such language ? But the whole episode about the balloon is a tissue of egre- gious falsehoods, among which the would-be aeronaut flounders like a fish on dry laud. The ascent from Liverpool is made to follow close upon the declaration of war with France and Spain, and, to keep up appearances, he coolly tells us, " We were, just now, boring up old guns for the merchants, and there were plenty of borings to spare." But what is the fact ? Lunardi's arrival in Liveqiool, instead of being near the com- mencement of the war, was fully two and a half years after peace had been restored. Such, then, is the manner in which this apostle of truth and faithfulness unfolds the particulars of his early life. Historical events are confounded, observations are made, and expressions are put into the mouths of individuals which never could have been entertained, nor uttered, under the circumstances alleged. If events which are really on record be thus treated, what credit can be attached to events and assertions existing only in the autobiographer's memory ? When Sir John sat down to write his memoirs, he fore- warned his readers that he was in his eighty-third year, from which it might be fairly presumed that his faculties were not so clear and vigorous as in the prime of life. The presumption is but reasonable : unfortunately, however, in the course of 16 PKF.LIMINARY INQUIRY. this investigation, it will be shown that the same " powerful motive " ever iras at work, and that the same disgraceful results are as conspicuous in the " Travels in China," as they are in the pet production of his ripe years. Even these memoirs, tliough published at so late a period of life, bear internal evidence of having been long ■nritton, but, no doubt, with occasional improvements, purposely kept back to the last. FOUNDATION OF CLAIMS TO SCIENCE. We do not mean to enter minutely into the early life of the future baronet, but as he, subsequently, takes much credit to himself for scientific knowledge, it will be found not unprofitable to glance at the foundation of these claims. From the very first, we find him studiously underrating his age, evidently to make his boyhood appear to advantage ; and, to assist his pui-pose, a few flourishes arc introduced which we leave to biographical compilers, and others who possess sufficient pene- tration to see their merits. The school which supplied the rudiments of mathematics was given up at thirteen, and beyond the little experience gained in the suiTey of the Priory estate, and working a few nautical problems, during a voyage to Cireenland, no where do we find this youthful genius engaged in practical applications of Science, or even cultivating it abstractedly. He was, in fact, without the books for making nmch progress. Still, it is true, he had paid some three or four visits to the self-taught mathematician of the hills, and got iufonuation on certain points that had " floundered him." With all this, however, and the oft-repeated assertions about an inherent and inveterate hatred of idleness, what are we to think of his acquiroinonts in malluinatical science only when, at the age of twenty-three, he had just learned how to work the problem of the latitude, and was still ignorant of that of the longitude : when, moreover, he had but an imperfect know- FOUNDATION OF CLAIMS TO SCIENCE. 17 ledge of the use of a common set of mathematical drawing instruments. That the few years he shortly afterwards spent in, or near, the metropolis were devoted to good purpose there is reason to believe ; hut, even then, he was only improving himself as a teacher, and like most other teachers his studies partook of the speculative ; for in no one instance do we find him in practical investigations, or applying theory to the common purposes of life. An estimate, then, may reasonably be formed respecting Mr. Barrow's scientific knowledge at the fortunate period he became the tutor to Sir George Staunton's son, and, through the interest of his patron, placed on the suite of Lord McCartney, ambassador to China. The merit which he assumes to himself in this embassy, and chiefly as a man of science and literature, is the subject of this review : hence our concern for his previous education, of which our readers will be better able to form an opinion from the specimens to be produced, just as they would judge of a tree from the fruit it bears. After making some inquiries into the duties of the comptroUership at the Chinese capital, we will proceed to the investigation of the origin of the numerous incidents, anecdotes, and observations, on the credi- bility of which a nation's character has been staked. The " Travels in China" are again to be put upon their trial, not in the superficial manner when they first appeared, and by their boldness silenced public opinion into consent; but with a determination to " test rigidly, by weight and measure," the real value of the "facts and observations," which, unfortunately, were too favorably received, and which still continue to exer- cise their pernicious influence with commentators on the middle kingdom. The witnesses in the case are the manuscript journal alluded to in the Preface, the official and other published accounts of the embassy, including the culprit himself; others occasionally shall be introduced, but only when competent, and such as dare not be disputed. Face to face with these accusers, the Travels shall be confronted, and the public, as judge, shall decide whether they stand or fall. 18 PRELnnNARY INQUIRY. DO-XOTHIXGS OF THE EMBASSY. In pursuing the first part of the inquiry, wc shall avail our- selves not only of the Travels, but also of the Autobiorirajiln/, which, besides occasionally clearing away the fog, supplies some important omissions, which prudence had dictated in the elder brother. We shall also curtail the name of the younger brother to its first component, as being less burdensome to the tongue and ear. As related in the Auto, then, the histoiy of the mission commences with a rcgulai onslaught on the gentlemen composing the suite of Lord McCartney, all of whom, with barely an exception, are deemed unworthy of the duties to which they were appointed. A little courtesy, surely, would not have detracted from the merits of the baronet, who names his col- leagues with seeming contempt. Instead of giving each his pi-opcr designation in the embassy, he has boiTowed the idea of the " Authentic Account," upon which a sig:iificant improve- ment is made. The Physician to the embassy is turned into a "Scotch physician;" the Surgeon to the embassy, into a " naval surgeon ; " and so forth ; but speaking of himself — he is " Comptroller of the Household." Consistency is a jewel which the author of the Trarcls never lays claim to, otherwise he would have styled himself " an English schoolmaster," or " a mathematician from Lancashire." But his vanity does not stop here : he must needs be " John Barrow, Esq.," while other gentlemen, as respectable in their profession, and their standing in society, are introduced with the common prefix, Mr. {a) One gentleman, we arc moreover told, " executed nothing whatever on the embassy ; " another — " contributed nothing ; " a third — " supplied a few remarks on the chemistiy and medi- cine of the Chinese ; " a fourth — " was expected to instnict the Chinese in electricity, and in flying balloons, but it all ended in smoke." Dr. Dinwiddle, the gentleman last alluded to, was the most popular lecturer on Natural Philosophy at the period, and owed his appointment in the embassy — not to patronage, DO-NOTHINGS OF THE EMBASSY. 19 but to his reputation. He was judged to be well qualified to exhibit before the imperial court all the wonders of European science ; but other expectations were formed besides these. He had already spent the greater part of thirty years in close connexion with the arts, manufactures, and machinery of the United Kingdom ; and had the mission been successful — had opportunities oifered for examining those of China, his services were more likely to have been beneficial to the public, at large, than those of the teacher, with all the Latin and mathematics he was master of. (b) While chastising his colleagues for their remissness, or inability on the embassy, the only really qualified gentleman introduces his own claims to notice with much modesty, thus : " Mr. Barrow, as Comptroller of the Household, resided five or six weeks at Yuen-min-yueu, to take charge of the valuable presents and see them put in order by the two mechanics, to be presented to the emperor on his return from Tartary, where Lord McCartney had his audience. Mr. Barrow occasionally rode from Yuen-miu-yuen to Pekin to look after the property of the embassy left in the large house appropriated to the ambas- sador and suite in the capital ; and on the homeward journey he travelled several hundred miles through the heart of the country, and published a large quarto volume of more than six hundred pages ten years after his return to England." The value of this " large quarto " will be attended to in good time; in passing, however, we may observe how ready its author is to impress the reader with an idea of its magnitude — " more than six hundred pages ! " The quality, no doubt, is to be presumed from the quantity, which exhibits an approach to the truth never found in the volume itself; even the bulk of the Auto, another object of self-congratulation, is stated within its trae limits. As to the other something, however, taking " charge of the valuable presents " — it is a disingenuous flourish. The comptroller here arrogates to himself the entire merit of a transaction which, in its most favorable aspect, was only a part- nership : that is — the fitting up of the presents in the palace 20 PRELIMINARY INQUIRY, of Yuen-min-yuen. He and the two mechanics did it! not a word of Dr. Dinwiddie, who nevertheless can be shown not only to have had somcthmg to do in the matter, hut to have spent more time attending to it than any other person. These presents, it will be remembered, consisted of two classes : one, beautiful specimens of English art and manufacture ; the other, costly scientific machines : the foimer fell to the charge of the comptroller; the latter to that of Dr. Dinwiddie, who was tho only gentleman competent. Some light will be thrown on this by and bye; in the meantime, his designation, "Machinist to the embassy," is significant enough; while Anderson, who could only reflect the sentiments of the period, and particularly those around him, adds *' Conductor of mathematical and astro- nomical presents," all of which is fully borne out by the doctor's journal, now in the reviewer's possession. Sir George Staunton, in his usual sophisticated style, instead of giving a proper list of the gentlemen, names only a part, and seems more desirous of confounding than explaining the designation by which each was attached to the embassy. But to be brief with this fitting up business : on the 23rd August, the second day after the arrival of the embassy at head quarters, and before a single article was unpacked. Dr. Dinwiddie (not Mr. Barrow) accom- panied Lord McCartney and Sir George Staunton, on their very first visit, to tho palace, expressly to attend the consultation about the disposal of these machines and the other presents. The business was settled there and then, in the absence of the comptroller. If he had been the person ho represents himself he would, on this occasion, have been consulted in preference to Dr. Dinwiddie, who, it is evident, was the principal in the business. Our readers, we trust, will pardon this digression in a matter of no other importance beyond interposing a check to the insatiable consequence of tho comptroller, who is not over scnipulous as to how he cams his meed of praise. Not content with squeezing merit out of a transaction that had little to boast of, he is oven willing to take the entii-e responsibility upon " LOT OF FEW TO GO TO PEKIN." 21 himself, to show that he executed something on the embassy. This desire of praise is truly manifest throughout the Auto, where, from beginning to end, the pile acquires such gigantic proportions as to stagger the beholder in looking up at it. Not one iota of merit is wasted, and no Australian digger was ever half so anxious of the shining, scattered spangles, as the successful baronet about his future fame. We sincerely con- gratulate him on so laudable an ambition, and, while we do so, promise that no exertions on our part shall be wanting to render it as perfect as possible. " LOT OF FEW TO GO TO PEKIN." From the title page of the Travels, we learn " It is the lot of few to go to Pekin," and truly the motto has been turned to good account. Sheltered behind its ample shield, such unwarranted liberties have been taken with the proceedings of the embassy, that we look in vain for even one circumstance being related as it reaily happened. Confusion is made the order of the day, and the narrative, in consequence, to ignore, misrepresent, and confound. No sooner is the uncommon lot accomplished, and our enviable traveller safe at the further end of his memorable journey, than he commits himself, so far as to occupy two distant places at the same time. After a short- lived residence of five days at the villa of Hung-ya-yuen, the embassy was removed to more spacious apartments in the capital, and our author endeavors to place himself in the return- ing cavalcade, on this occasion, when he had taken up his abode, and was assisting at the palace of Yuen-min-yuen. At page 103 of the Travels, we read: "On returning to the capital, we passed through the great street of a town called Hatien," &c., giving the particulars of the journey. Now, Mr. Barrow could not have disputed the edition he published of Lord McCartney's journal, wherein it is stated, " August 24, Sir George Staunton went to Yuen-min-yuen, and took with 22 PRELDHNARY INQUIRY. him Mr. Barrow, Dr. Dinwiddic, Thibault, and Petit-Pierre, to give them instructions about arranging the machinery," &c. " These gentlemen are to remain, for this purpose, at Yuen- min-)Ticn." Again : neither could Mr, Barrow dispute his own Travels, wherein ho tells us : " The three first days, while the articles were unpacking and assorting, we remained tolerably quiet," &c. Now, it so happens, it was during these three first days that the embassy moved from Hung-ya-}-uen into Pekin, Thus John Barrow, Esq., a fellow of the lloyal Society, has the assurance to place himself in the returning cavalcade, at the same time he knew he was, and admits being busy at the imperial palace. To attend personally on two distant duties is laying claim to an important oiiice, and shows a veiy willing disposition to execute something on the embassy. But that our readers may not have the shadow of a doubt in this matter, we find the two extracts, last quoted, positively confirmed by our manuscript journal, " August 25. All the suite, except Mr. Barrow and myself, and two workmen, set out to-morrow morning for Pekin ; we are to lodge in the palace, and to remain here till all be finished." The same authority also informs us that Mr. Barrow made his first return visit to Pekin on the 28th ; and this is confirmed, to the very letter, by his lordship observing, " August 28, Mr. Ban'ow returned from the palace, and said they had put up Parker's two lustres," &c., all this demonstrating, in the most conclusive manner, that the comp- troller was at the palace on the 26th August, and not with the embassy returning to Pekin. The Auto has already informed us that its author writes partly from mcmoiy, and partly from *' loose notes," written fifty years ago. This doubtless is the truth, and seems about the only sentence, in these volumes, on which we can with confidence rely. Lord ^McCartney, speaking of notes written on the ground of rocolloctiou, observes : " They are apt to vary their hue considerably." Mr. IJarrow's notes illustrates this in a peculiar manner ; not only has the hue varied considerably, but the very objects, themselves, have changed into totally PAIACE OF YUEN-MIN-YUEN. 23 different shapes. It was, however, out of his power, in this instance, either from "loose notes," or from recollection, to have penned the paragraph at page 103 of the Travels. To some, the circumstance may seem immaterial, but it is not so ; because it is the work of the " powerful motive" — it is a fabri- cation, and there was a purpose for it. By this ridiculous arrangement of the narrative, our author contrives to make it appear he only went to the palace at the same time the ambas- sador started for Tartary. To use one of his favorite quota- tions, he had too many "fantastic tricks to play" at Yuen- min-yuen to admit any other to share in the glory, and, of course, he is careful to have his superiors out of the way before he begins. Had he acknowledged his introduction by Sir George Staunton and the interpreter, his cap would have lost some of its brightest feathers, and to preserve these feathers he ignores their assistance, and endeavors to mislead his readers by appearing in the cavalcade, on its return to Pekin. PALACE AT YUEN-MIN-YUEN.— Opening of the Drama. In this manner, then, the ^mcommon lot of going to Pekin begins to unfold itself, presenting a foretaste of the disorder into which the proceedings must, of necessity, be thrown. We have, however, traced the enviable gentleman to the imperial palace, where a few weeks residence is magnified into a momentous concern. As a correct statement of the transac- tions there would be " flat, stale, and unprofitable," he has, by the aid of the " powerful motive," contrived to season it with innumerable incidents, and other particulars, by which, as a matter of course, he appears a very important personage ; in short, as the only entity about Yueu-min-yuen. At the risk of being deemed prolix and devoid of interest, we proceed to overhaul some of these pretensions, believing it to be of importance to be able to form a just estimate of any statement advanced by an author of reputation. 24 PRELIMIN.VRY rS'QLTRY. As already sliowu, by the qulciatiou from bis b)i\lsbip, Mr, Barrow, on his first arrival at the palace, was accompanied not only by Dr. Dinwidtlic and the workmen, but also by Sir George Staunton and the intcii)retcr, who came expressly to see the work begun, and to make the necessary arrangements for those who were to remain. Resolved on having nothing to do with such an introduction, the comptroller, like a hero alone in his gloiy, makes his debut in the grand drama he is about to perform, and finds, to his great alanu, "a number of Chinese workmen busily employed in breaking open the packages, some in one place and some in another, to the no little danger of the globes, clocks, glass lustres, and such like frangible articles," &c. (p. 10(5.) Instead of our hero. Lord McCartney mentions the iutciiireter detecting some such intermeddling ; it cannot, however, be gathered from Dr. Dinwiddle's journal that there was any such danger on the part of the Chinese, altliough there was on the part of the minister-plenipotentiary himself, who did not think it beneath his dignity to dash at the contents of a case, which he opened with "impatience." Mr. Barrow, who is ignorant of such a gentleman being present, would never see his patron engaged in such a pastime, although he was shai-p enough to see the Chinese. He is equally sharp in ascertaining "that not a single article was either missing or injured," notwithstanding a pane of curved glass, in the dome of the planetarium, was rendered useless by a crack. This injured pane figures con- spicuously in the illustrations, not only of Sir George Staunton and Lord McCartney, but of the very individual who now denies that such an injury existed ; (p. 30G) and trifling as the circumstance may appear, it is exactly cliaracteristic of our author, who risks assertions regardless of their foundations, or the consequences to which they lead. Such trifles, too, arc scattered so profusely throughout the *' large quarto" that, to borrow an idea from a celebrated artist, they accumulate till they become no trijle. DIODATI. 25 DIODATI AND THE LATIN LANGUAGE. Having despatched a multiplicity of business, a gentleman appeared, "who, notwithstanding his Chinese dress, I soon perceived to be an European. He introduced himself by saying, in the Latin language, that his name was Deodato, a Neapolitan missionary, and that the court had appointed him to act as interpreter ; hoped he might be useful to us, and offered his services in the most handsome manner," &c., (p. 107.) This missionaiy had already been seen by the gentlemen of the embassy, having, on the previous day, been to the ambas- sador's lodgings, and also the interpreter when the consultation was held about fitting up the presents. He had now come to meet Sir George Staunton and Mr. Plumb, the intei-preter to the embassy, respecting the accommodations at the palace, as already stated. To suppose, then, that it required any intuitive faculty in the comptroller to " perceive" that Diodati was "an European," or that Diodati would introduce himself in the " most handsome manner," is simply ridiculous. But our hero of the palace, who is never at a loss for noble qualities in his chiefs, never lets a syllable with an opposite tendency escape him ; of course, he studiously avoids mention of every thing upon which they had set their veto. It so happens, then, that a most remarkable circumstance, bearing upon this pretended interview with Diodati, remains to be told. However ignored by the comptroller, it is, nevertheless, a fact that the gentle- men of the embassy, for a length of time, were not allowed to hold any conversation whatever with the missionaries : Latin, being the only medium of discourse, was strictly forbidden to be spoken at all. Whether the policy was good or bad is, at present, immaterial ; it is enough that the prohibition existed, and, in consequence, some scenes bordering on the ridiculous took place. " One father addressed Dr. Gillan, ' Tu loquaris Latinum, Domine ? ' Mum ! Learned Doctors not speak Latin ! " exclaims our infonnant, startled, no doubt, at the ideas the missionaries would naturally conjure up. Even Sir 26 PRELIMINARY ENQUIRY. George Staunton once, in the presence of Diodati, so far forgot himself as to make use of a Latin quotation to some of the gentlemen. The prohihition was eventually removed, and the gentlemen allowed to converse with the missionaries in a lan- guage which they (the gentlemen) did not previously under- stand ; it was not, however, till the ambassador started for Tartaiy. Only the day before, and eight days after the party had been set to work, Dr. Dinwiddle, at the palace, received from Sir George Staunton, in Pekin, a letter strictly forbidding any one at the palace to speak Latin, even to Diodati, the very man v.ho brought the letter, and who handed it to the doctor, with a significant glance at the seal, bearing the motto, Fiat Respoimo. After this, a tolerable idea may be conceived of the " most handsome manner" in which Diodati introduced himself: indeed, it might seem superfluous to waste any further time on the palatial drama of the comptroller, as the position in which he was placed, by the prohibition, rendered any attempts at consequence an absurdity. However, we do not rely on this circumstance alone, and the reader will find that though ignored both by Sir George Staunton and his pupil they do not always show the same wisdom. Each is too eager, by half, to encourage the growth of his own favorite offspring, scai-cely stopping short of any thing in the shape of food ; and where- cver the former clears the way the latter is sure to rush after, splashing the mud about, even in his master's face. TRANSACTIONS AT YUEN-]\nN-YUEN. Serious Charge. At the palace, wc find the comptroller settling, in dashing style, the matter of the lodgings, notwithstanding it had been done by the interpreter. We find his charge became ' ' serious " when " suiTounded by the Tribunal of Muthciiiatics, and other learned persons, all asking questions concerning astronomy and mathematics ;" attending, curiously enough, to certain duties TRANSACTIONS AT YUEN-MIN-YUEN. 27 that also fell to the lot of Dr. Dinwiddie. We again find some of these persons so stupid as to fancy a man with such a charge could not "possibly have any knowledge of the astronomical instruments, after professing his ignorance in casting a nativity.'" But more remarkable, we find the emperor's favorite draughts- man, an individual only known to Mr. Barrow, employed in executing drawings of the "grand machines;" and that the attempts of such an eminent personage proved " preposterous," till our superintendent took the pencil in hand, and rendered them ship-shape. Equally mysterious, we find our hero in the presence of a " great number of Tartar generals, and military officers," who are struck with amazement at beholding solid bars of iron cut asunder by the blade of a sword, without injuring its edge. We, moreover, find him exhuming an " enormous large scorpion," which had found its way, through impossibihties, into the middle of a case of Biimingham ware. Thus, ever and anon, the "powerful motive" is astonishing the natives by its superior force ; or it finds itself astonished in return by wonderful discoveries, which never reached the ears of another individual on the embassy. In short, the responsibility of the charge, and the ability with which it was conducted, can only be appreciated by a thorough investigation of the overgrown " quarto," and such of our readers as have not paid attention to this, will form but a feeble outline of the eventful histoiy now transpiring at Yuen-min-yuen. Some of the most curious of these adventures are with the old eunuch, the keeper of the palace, respecting whom, and his train, we have some observations to ofter, as they throw a little light upon the proceedings at this imperial residence. In accom- plishing their task, the fitting-up party experienced the greatest annoyance from these characters, although Sir John asserts he " soon put a stop to their ofiicious intermeddling in matters that did not concern them." Among other entries on this subject, our journal furnishes the following, when about to remove into Pekin. " September 14. This day, finished the planetarium. It 28 PRELIOTNAJRY INQUIRY. has been a troublesome job, not owing to any difficulty in the work, but the inconvenience arising from a number of imper- tinent eunuchs, keepers of the palace, who made so much noise, and what they thought fun, that it was frequently impossible to attend to the business. The planetarium will, by this mode of erecting, lose much of its effect. An ignorant people should be taken by surprise. When a grand machine is sho^NTi all at once, and the principles of motion concealed, it seldom fails in its effect ; but when it is shown piecemeal, when the various detac-hed parts arc exliibited, and put together in their sight ; in short, when the machine is built from its foundation before them, the time seems long ; they impute eveiy trifling mistake, or hesitation of the workman about placing this or that part, which can be kno\vn, most frequently, only by trial, to a want of knowledge in the machine, and want of ability in the pro- fession. For example : when the platfonn was laying, and it became necessaiy to select such and such pieces, as belonged to such and such parts, which, together with making all fast and level, took up a good deal of time — the men were told, they labored much and did nothing. From all which, I am of opinion that the machine is much lowered in the estimation of the people about the palace ; and that the prejudices enter- tained by the Chinese, respecting the ingenuity and address of oui- workmen, will be confirmed. I gave it as my opinion, long before our arrival in the countiy, that not only the planetarium, but all the other presents, should be properly titted up before they were seen by any one, even by the man- darines, if possible, and experience has now convinced me of the propriety of that opinion." This presents no veiy pleasing picture of the residence enjoyed by the gentlemen at Yuen-min-yuen. If the hero of a thousand adventures ever " put a stop " to the officious intermeddling of the eunuchs, it must have been of very short duration, no longer than his back Avas turned ; for we have the same proof it continued, more or less, from first to last. But what occasion is there for proof? Is it reasonable to suppose emperor's birthday. 29 that John Barrow, Esq., though dignified by the appellation of a comptroller, in the British embassy, could exercise any con- trol over those who held him in honorable imprisonment ? It is not reasonable, and his own whims will yet bear witness against him. But besides being annoyed and laughed at, his residence turns out to have been of much shorter duration than asserted by the Auto, which fixes the period at five or six weeks, as if there could be any room for a doubt. We have already shown that the party took up their abode on the 24th of August, and we quote again : " Sunday, September 15. This day, at 11, Mr. Barrow, Thibault, and Petit-Pierre, set olf, with their and my baggage, to Pekin." Nothing can be more satisfactoiy than this, which fixes, to a day, the period of the comptroller's residence. Including his visits to Pekin, once or twice a week, it amounts only to three weeks. After the fitting-up party had removed into the capital. Dr. Dinwiddle's attendance was still necessary at the palace, which he visited almost daily, chiefiy on account of the planetarium, whose complicated motions had to be regulated to a great nicety. The three weeks, then, together with two or three visits about the time of the emperor's return from Tartaiy, constitute the sum total of the comptrol- ler's residence at this imperial palace ; however, as he positively refuses to give up possession, till compelled by the dismissal of the embassy, we intend humouring him to satisfy our readers whether it redounds to his credit. EMPEROR'S BIRTH-DAY. " On the 17th, being the emperor's birth-day, all the princes and officers about the palace assembled in their robes of cere- mony, to make their obeisance to the throne in the great hall of audience." And further on, " The old eunuch told me that I might remain in the hall during the ceremony, if I would consent to perform it with them, and offered to instruct me in it." (p. 116. G 80 PRELIMINARY INQUIRY. On certain conditions, the comptroller is here allowed to witness a certain ceremony, hut, strangely enough, does not say that he accepted of those conditions, or even that he was present, and witnessed the ceremony ; still, ho is desirous to impress his readers with the idea that he was present, and saw all that went on. This ambiguous style is one of the most remarkable peculiarities of our author, who is continually thrusting iii a stoiy, about something or other, without finish- ing it. Sir George Staunton, however, clears up the matter so fai' as to affirm that Mr. BaiTow was present on the occasion. (11, p. 303.) In consequence, the comptroller is placed on the horns of a dilemma ; for, according to his own words, the price of his admission was the perfomiance of the very prostrations he takes such credit to himself for indignantly refusing on all other occasions. The position is most ridiculous ; if he remained in the hall, he perfomied the conditions ; if he did not remain in, he makes Sir George Staunton an}'thing but a gentleman. The author of the Travels is welcome to either honi. Such disingenuous notices of a transaction that involved no cause for it, would disgust any man of veracity, but it is the predominant feature of the school to which the ' ' two able writers " belong. A few general observations, picked up anyhow, are moulded anew, so as to assume the appearance of a reality actually transpiring before their eyes ; but unable to give a proper account, the transaction naturally becomes involved in a mist. But, in this instance, we are in possession of a mode of clearing away the mist, and proving the whole aflair a tnimped up story, from the first, to assist in embellishing the " Au- thentic Account," the details of which are so elegant and so accurate. It shows how difficult it is to steer clear of rocks when tnith is thro^vn overboard ; and furnishes a beautiful illustration of the maxim, " Truth tells best." All this is manifest from the writers themselves, but confirmed from Pr. DinwidiUe's jounial, which shows that none of the gentle- men had that day (Sept. 17) been to the palace. Mr. Barrow OLD EUNUCH. 31 and the workmen had removed, with their baggage, on the 15th ; the doctor followed the next day, and on the 17th they are all immured in the ambassador's hotel, in Pekin, each attending to his own private aflairs. There is not the shadow of a doubt that the ceremony, here alluded to, is fabricated from a similar occurrence on the 8th, the occasion of the new moon. This also took place before the throne ; and so far from either joining therein, or being shut out, the gentlemen, in the hall, looked on, or pursued their work unmolested all the time. Whatever the man of the uncommon lot is interested in, must naturally have a corresponding character — tremendous, terrific, bold, grand, or stately — none of your common affairs ; and so the mere occasion of the new moon would not, in such chivalrous eyes, appear of equal importance with the birth-day of the emperor. From this circumstance, we begin to look with dis- trust on the veracity even of the " Authentic Account." OLD EUNUCH— OUTBURST OF ILL-HUMOUR. This birth-day is a period of stirring events. Only two days after, September 19, " On going as usual in the morning to the hall of audience, I found the doors shut, and the old eunuch, who kept the keys, walking about in so sullen a mood that I could not get from him a single word. Different groups of officers were assembled in the court-yard, all looking as if something very dreadful either had occurred, or was about to happen. Nobody would speak to me, nor could I get the least explanation of this extraordinary conduct, till at length our frisnd Deodato appeared with a countenance no less woful than those of the officers of government, and the old eunuch. 1 asked him what was the matter ? His answer was, we are all lost, ruined, and undone ! " (p. 117.) The missionary, here, explains how Lord McCartney had refused to comply with the usual ceremony of prostration, and ihat direful consequences were likely to be the result. All :^2 Pr.ELIMTN'ARY INQflKY. this, ai:(l a groat deal more, we leaiii from the keen ohserver of passing events ; but there is great room to doubt if any of the gentlemen visited the palace on this day, September 19. Dr. Dinwiddle did not, and the others had no duties to attend to. One thing, however, is certain, Diodati was not there : he had gone to his imperial majesty, in Tartarj, with a descrip- tion of the ori'eiy, so as to compare it with another machine in the royal residence, at Gehol. And further, Diodati did not make his appearance again at the palace of Yuen-min-yuen till the emperor's return. So much for the missionary. But this l)lazing fit of ill-humour is entirely unknown to the gentleman who, of all others, was the most likely to have experienced its effects, as none spent so much time at the palace, and none was more alive to the news from Gehol. A keen penetration is not necessary to reach the bottom of this speculation. The comptroller looks upon himself as a little ambassador, and, in consequence, is encountering the same trials, and the same successes of his lordship, to whom he is actually paying his compliments in the character of second fiddle. This will appear more evident in the course of a few pages. In passing, we may observe that it is the Travels which fixes this event on the 19th September, but that the Auto fixes it on the l()th, showing, among other matters, the blundering stupidity in arranging dates. OLD EUNUCH AND THE PRESENTS. Still haq^ing on the vicious conduct of the old eunuch, on this occasion, we learn that he "conceived, as he thought, a notable piece of revenge. Some pains liad been taken to arrange the presents in such a manner in the great hall as to fill the room well, and set them oil" to the best advantage. The old creature, determined to give us additional trouble, and to break through the arrangement that had been nuide, desired that the whole might be placed at one cud of the room. On OLD EUNUCH. 33 my objecting to this he pretended to have received the emperor's order, and that at all events it must be obeyed." (p. 233.) What an idea of revenge ! because his lordship, at Gehol, refuses to comply with the ceremony of the Ko-too, the old eunuch, at Yuen-min-yuen, orders the machines to be shifted about. Whether does this circumstance prove the eunuch, or the comptroller, to have been the master at the palace ? We believe the latter gentleman has signally committed himself in asserting he "put a stop" to the old creature's officiousness. Surely, if the comptroller exercised any control now was his opportunity ; and possibly he did, only. Barrow-like, he leaves us to infer : it would be making his readers too wise to let them know if the alteration ever took place. Sir George Staunton, however, again steps in, and puts the matter beyond a doubt, in the affirmative : " Three days before, and three days after, the emperor's birth-day," being devoted to this purpose, according to the official account. (II, p. 820.) Now, mark the clash of assertion ! If the " Authentic Account" deserves the credit of Authentic, the change must have been conceived on, or before, the 14th September, and, therefore, could not be a " notable piece of revenge" resulting from the news of the 19th. It is quite evident. Sir George Staunton had no idea that the alteration at Yuen-min-yuen resulted from his lordship's refusal at Gehol ; and, we believe, no other writer but the author of the Travels could have hit on such a cause for it. However, it is one of the numerous instances where we find the pupil following in the wake of his master, and dashing, with impatience, to the same feast, which he looks upon as common property ; but, while gorging his oicn beauty, he seems unconscious, or rather reckless, that he is, at the same time, bespattering the beauty of /it's benefactor. But again : the period devoted by Sir George Staunton, to this alteration, turns out to be preposterous when tested by the journal of Dr. Dinwiddle, who knew all that was transpiring at the palace, as well as Mr. Barrow, and who could not, pos- sibly, have avoided mention of a circumstance in which he was o4 PRELIMINAEY INQUIRY. SO inucli mixed np. Instead of shifting the planetarium, he was all the while regulating its movements. Still, without assigning any reason, he simply observes that the orreiy, the globes, the clocks, and the lustres, were " moved ; " an opera- tion that did not require even one whole day, instead of the six or seven mentioned by the minister-plenipotentiary'. This circumstance is indicative of the comptroller's charge being an easy matter after all. OCTOBER FIRST— EMPEROR AND THE PRESENTS — PARICER'S LENS, &c. From first to last, Mr. Barrow desers-es credit for his stniggles in supporting the character he has chosen at Yuon- min-yuen, and at no period is it better represented than on the emperor's return from Tartary. He is not only face to face, when the emperor inspected the presents, but has the singular felicity to find his labours approved of, and himself the object of the emperor's munificence. The whole paragraph is so racy that we give it entire, from the Aiito, only intimating that, with one exception, it is substantially a re-print from the Travels. " The following day, the 1st October, the emperor, attended by a Tartar prince, inspected the presents in the hall of audi- ence, and examined many of them more attentively than I could have imagined. He desired the Tartar prince to tell us, through Deodato, that the accounts he had received of our good conduct at Yuen-min-yuen had given him great pleasure, and that he had ordered a present to be made to each of us as a proof of his entire satisfaction. The present consisted of rolls of silk, and pieces of silver cast in the fonn of a Tartar shoe, each being about an ounce in weight. They were delivered by the old eunuch, who wished to exact from us the usual prostrations, even after the emperor had departed ; but I only laughed at him, and asked him where the bamboos were OCTOBER FIRST. 85 kept ; he understood me, gave a grin and a growl, and walked away. I thought it right, however, to desire Deodato to explain to the Tartar prince, who remained, that we had no objection to do as the ambassador had done at G-ehol, and which had been repeated by us on meeting the emperor ; and he immediately said nothing more was required. Accord- ingly, on receiving the presents, we each placed one knee on the lowest step leading to the throne. I told Lord McCartney what we had done, and he said it was perfectly correct." (p. 84.) The exception alluded to, just previous to commencing the extract, is when the old eunuch wished to exact the usual prostrations. In the Travels, our author "made him no answer," and, of course, never " asked him where the bamboos were kept." (p. 121.) This incident, then, suggested itself some forty years afterwards, and was, no doubt, considered as an improvement, worthy the last edition of so " interesting an episode" as the Chinese mission. But we will undertake to show that not only this exception, but the whole paragraph is a perfect rodomontade, disgraceful to its author. However, before we proceed further, we shall introduce another extract, this time from Lord McCartney's journal, premising that it was published by Mr. Barrow, who wrote his lordship's life. "Tuesday, October 1. The gentlemen and artists, at Yuen-min-yuen, returned to finish that business, and put up Parker's great lens, which I had procured from Captain Mcintosh, and which seemed to strike the Chinese in a peculiar manner ; and yet so ignorant are they, in matters of this kind, that they asked Mr. Barrow whether he could not make such another for them, and when he told them, it was made by the artist who had executed the lustres, and whose sole profession was to compose works of glass and crystal, and that there was not such another lens in the world besides, they shook their heads as if they doubted his veracity ; but having asked Dr. Gillan the same question apart, and receiving a similar answer, they appeared to be somewhat satisfied. They, however, requested that it might be fixed in its place 36 PEELIMINAEY INQUIRY. immediatdij ; and when they were informed that it woukl require some time, they expressed the utmost astonishment, and were scarcely made to comprehend how it could admit of any delay, as they said it was the emperor's order to have it done instantly, for he was impatient to see it, and our gentlemen might have 100, 200, or any number of hands that they choose to call for to assist them. The legate indeed, testified no less surjiriso, on a former occasion, on being told that it would take several weeks to combine all the several movements of the planetarium, imagining that labor, not skill, was the only thing necessary, and that putting together so complicated a machine, as a system of the universe, was an operation as easy and simple as the winding-up of a jack.'' Now, with perhaps the sentiment embodied in the fii-st four lines, or so, the whole of the foregoing paragraph will be shown to cany the stamp of a forgery, foisted into his lordship's journal; in the mean time, it is evidence of Messrs*. Gillan and Barrow hanng something to do with the great lens, upon this day, in proof of which we are about to place another gentleman in the witness box. Mr. BaiTow, who scatters his dates about, sometimes at random, and sometimes as he finds convenient, is at least correct in naming October 1st, as the day following the emperor's return from Tartary. To show, therefore, what was really transpiring on that day, as well as to show how competent the comptroller was to take charge of the scientific instruments he makes so much parade about, we subjoin another extract from the manuscript journal already frequently quoted. It will, however, be well to acquaint the reader that a portion of the presents, including Parker's lens, Herschell's telescope, the air pump, and the mechanical powers, were sent from Pekin to the palace only two days before the oniperor's arrival ; and that these maeliiues were not placed in the hall of audience, but in a different hall, entirely separated from it. The lens at the time was still unpacked, although we are told "they were all perfectly ready." By publishing the journal of his lordship, the comptroller has, in OCTOBER FIRST. 37 reality, committed himself on this point : but to our private record. "Tuesday, October 1. Dr. Gillan, Mr. Barrow, and the workmen, set off for Yuen-min-yuen, as they said, to pack up the carriages ; I learned it was to put up the lens. Sir George, on my application, procured a carriage, and Lord McCartney, Sir George, Mi-. Plumb, and I, set out for the palace. My lord's object was to get some letters, which the colao had received from Chusan. The letters had been opened, and Diodati called on to read one, but being in English, he could not. I went to the hall, where I found Gillan and Barrov/ in a great bustle, attempting to erect the house for the lens. Dr. Gillan, who undertook the business, did not remember a single circumstance respecting the putting up of the house. He and Barrow went to town: I remained with the workmen." Here, then, Dr. Dinwiddle, who had eveiy opportunity of knowing v/hat was transpiring, never alludes to a single circumstance as related by the comptroller on this eventful October 1st ; and he must have gone immeasurably out of his way, forming, as he did, one of the party at the palace whose good conduct had so pleased the emperor. Instead of these nonsensical flourishes, other circumstances had been transpiring, not very creditable to the scientific knowledge of Mr. Barrow, who keeps ringing the changes in our ears. Under cover of another object, he and Dr. Gillan started to "astonish the natives," but, finding themselves astonished, had to back out of their indiscretion, and return to town. The main features, indeed, are substantially borne out by the suspicious extract from Lord McCartney : it confirms the visit of the two gentlemen to Yuen-min-ynen, their object, and the difficulties attending their ofiicious endeavours to erect the house. On comparing the extracts, the reader must be forcibly struck with the ostentation assumed in that from his lordship; of the introduction of the names of Barrow and Gillan, and the total silence of the only individual who could, and did exhibit the powers of this wonderful apparatus. Nothing short of 38 PKELIMINAKY INQUIRY. unblushing impudence could have dictated the paragraph in question, whether entered with his lordship's consent or not. It is not, however, in his lordship's style, which is always clear, and free from hobbling periods; but in the intermmable, ambiguous, and self-conceited style of the gentleman who gave it to the world. If there were no other proof, the round-about answer, to the plain question of the Chinese, would be enough ; but it is also curious that the entry should wind up with a simile on the planetarium in nearly the same observations furnished by the Travels on the same machine ; a co-incidence curious indeed. It is still further curious that the visit of his lordship, to Yuen-min-yuen, for the Chusan letters, and which should have been inserted on this day, is postponed to the day following; no doubt to make room for the ostentatious paragraph under notice. But a still stronger suspicion is to be found in the fact that his lordship, at Pekin, should the first thing this day enter into his journal a transaction occurring some seven or eight miles away. If he could, possibly, have made the entry upon the very day, it must have been by Gillan and Barrow returning with the news, and, consequently, adding another confirmation to the truth from our manuscript. Beyond all doubt, the entry is an after consideration, whether sanctioned by authority or not. But other considerations militate against the disputed extract, which reads with an ill grace after the spicy pro- ceedings in the hall of audience, where the fitting-up party were so highly complimented for good conduct. If the presents were all perfectly ready, how is it that the lens-house was still unpacked, and " that it would require some time" to be fixed in its place ? The truth is, Sir John is too hun-icd to bring himself into contact with the Chinese potentate, and, this eventful day being the first opportunity, his impatience becomes ungovernable ; he rushes into the hall of audience, meets his majesty, and presents the world with his version of "Much ado about nothing." An cxplain- ation of all this may be derived from the fact that, on his OCTOBER FIRST. 39 return to Ulverstone, they looked upon him, ^\•ho hail been to Pekin and seen the emperor, as a great cunosity, "which, indeed, I seemed to be," he adds, innocently enough. But it is extremely doubtful if he ever saw the emperor beyond a mere glance into a sedan chair, when the embassy met the imperial procession returning from Tartary. Not a single circumstance favors the idea that he did. It appears evident, the fitting -up party were not admitted into the hall of audience after the emperor's return ; and as to the inspection of the presents there, his majesty was impatient to see them, and his curiosity was satisfied immediately on his anival, when every individual of the embassy, without exception, was either on the way to, or already safely immured in the ambassador's lodgings in Pekin. For the three following days, to the evening of October 3rd, Dr. Diuwiddie and the workmen remained at the palace, but confined to that hall where the lens, telescope, air-pumps, and mechanical powers were set up ; on all of which he wrought the only experiments, and delivered the only lectures, that were attempted. These were attended by the state ministers, and Diodati, as inter- preter. When properly adjusted, the lens-house was honored by a royal visit ; but, so far from being examined with minute attention, his imperial majesty looked at the apparatus not more than tivo minutes, and retired. This was on the 2nd, apparently in the comptroller's absence ; at all events, the party present, including the doctor and workmen, were con- ducted to a private corner to be out of the way. Eegarding the emperor's inspection of the presents, Sir George Staunton, himself, labours to convey a very erroneous impression. Assuming a little of the Gibbonian style, he writes, " Several of the instruments and machines were tried in his presence ; distant objects were observed through the telescopes ; and metals melted in the focus of Parker's great lens." (II, p. 324.) In this showy manner, the emperor, on the very day of his return, is welcomed to Yuen-min-yuen, although there was not a single gentleman of the embassy 40 PHELIMINARY INQUIRY. present to perform expcrimcuts. Parker's lens, as shown, was not even unpackeil ; but after it was put up, the emperor yit'ver saw it tried. The experiment of melting the Chinese cash was done by Dr. Dinwiddie, on the 3rd, in presence of the state officers, including the prime minister, who lighted his pipe at the focus of the lens, in derision of its usefulness. He wished, indeed, to know how an enemy's town could be set on fire by it, and how it was to act in a cloudy day. But this and other experiments were accompanied by such contempt and ill-humour, that the party were glad, that evening, to get away to their prison -home in Pekin. To confirm the state of feeling manifested by the Chinese, at this juncture, it was discovered next morning, (October 4th,) that the glass lustres had been taken down and moved away ; that the lens-house, too, was in pieces, and the two lenses lying on the pavement ; besides other of the instruments thrown aside in disorder as useless ; all hi/ the emperor s comrnand. This was the last day any of the suite saw the palace. Such, then, was the real opinion of the Chinese court respecting this great instrument, which was never tried in his majesty's presence. This Sir George Staunton well knew. PARODIES ON LORD McCARTNEY. The same motive that ushered the comptroller into the presence of his majesty, would naturally squeeze some parade out of the presents, which were neither delivered in the hall of audience, nor particularly for the puqwse stated : the royal munificence, indeed, extended to the whole train, even to the meanest servant. The ceremonial in which the old eunuch is threatened with the bamboo, is evidently a play upon his lordship's success at Gehol : the ambassador would not succumb to the prime minister ; neither would the comptroller to the old eunuch. It is worthy of remark that even the trick of starving his excellency into compliance is also played oil' DIS1IISS.4L OF THE EMBASSY. 41 upon oar author at his enviable residence. " The only visible result upon us, at Yuen-min-yuen, was the abridgment of our table in the number and quality of our dishes, the usual mode among the Chinese of manifesting their displeasure." But these are not the only instances of aping his superiors. When Lord McCartney rejected his first apartments, at Hung-ya-yuen, as altogether unfit for his retinue, he was removed to more spacious lodgings at a palace in Pekin, and which belonged to the hoopo of Canton. This circumstance, also, is seized on for a parody. " At Yuen-min-joien," says our hero, " after rejecting a set of mean apartments, and very dirty withal, I succeeded in obtaining some that were larger and more decent, which, our attendant mandarin took care to tell me, belonged to one of the ministers of state." (p. 76.) Now, it is singular that Dr. Dinwiddle, who was equally interested in all these matters, takes no notice, whatever, of the threatened bamboo, the abridged table, or the change of lodgings. The parodies are too palpable to be mistaken, and others could be produced, all embodying a feeling which, in a great measure, reveals the true character of the future baronet, and the secret of his success. DISMISSAL OF THE EIVIBASSY. Returning to the object more immediately under consideration, we find the comptroller still impressing on his readers that he is residing at the palace, where he becomes even more bold as the pretended hour of his removal approaches. After delivering up all the valuable presents, which he was " not a little delighted to do," he adds "I gave notice to our small party to be ready on the following morning to depart for Pekin," (p. 88.) as if he was not already there, shut up in the ambassador's hotel. It requires no ordinary amount of patience to put up with such trashy inventions, but, as we have undertaken to humour him, he must be allowed to tell his own tale. Two hours after his arrival in the capital the ambassador and train started on the 42 PRELIMINARY ENQUIRY. homeward jouracy, leaving our cavalier, and one of hi^ colleagues, behind, to settle accounts at the hotel, as if they had been living at their owti expense, or had any accounts to settle. Having settled these accounts, we read : "Mr Maxwell and I, in the evening of the 7th Oct. rode through the streets of Pekin for the last time. We were quite alone, not a single Chinese servant, soldier, nor officer to conduct us ; but I had no difficulty in finding the way to and from our hotel to the broad streets, and along which wc now proceeded without the least molestation, or indeed I may say without notice." After informing us that the gates are shut at 8, he adds, "We had not much time to spare to save us from being locked within the city walls, and it was at a late hour that we joined the rest of the party in the suburbs of Tong-choo." (p. 89.) The paragraph, from which the above extracts are taken, is substantially copied from the Travels, with, however, one significant attempt at improvement, as sho\\Ti in the case of the eunuch and the bamboo. The Travels does not say for what purpose the comptroller was left in Pekin, after the departure of the embassy, only he was there — mysterious as usual. However, some forty years subsequent to the publication of that "valuable work," this naturally occurred to its author to be an omission, and, in his usual happy humour, he has supplied it by the unaccountable purpose of settling accounts where no accounts existed. From first to last, the expenses of the embassy were defrayed by the emperor; even the smallest article was not allowed to be paid for by the English ; nor were the officers and servants suffered to accept of gratuities. In Mr. Barrow's own words: "Under the generous idea of being the emperor's guests, we were not Jillowed to purchase anjiihiug. He alone was to supply our wants, but the officers took the liberty of judging what those wants should consist in." (p. 391.) Where were there any accounts to settle? and what a deplorable excuse for being in Pekin, after the embassy had left ! Nor was this all : the restraint put upon their liberties was equally stringent. In short, the gentlemen DISMISSAL OF THE EMBASSY. 43 of the embassy were iu a state of little better than actual captivity during their whole stay iu China, but particularly so at the capital. "Here," observes Anderson, "we continued to be guarded with the same suspicious vigilance as in our late residence. On no pretence whatever was any one permitted to pass the gates, and every accessible part of the place was under the active care of military power." All this is confirmed to the very letter by Dr. Dinwiddle, who informs us a tent of soldiers constantly guarded the palace, from which there was no egress, but to be again immured in the hotel at Pekin. If the comptroller had a small covered cart always at his disposal it was not to move about, but only as a go-between on this journey of some seven or eight miles ; and even then he was no less a prisoner, being constantly under the eye of the official conductor, who was ready to check every step venturing on forbidden ground.(c) Sir George Staunton labors hard to smooth down the asperities of this treatment, but he could not altogether do so. Nor was Mr. Barrow, himself, insensible to this extreme jealousy and watchfulness when he penned the following paragraph : " The morning being very cold, we were desirous to get home as fast as we could; and accordingly galloped along with some of the Tartar cavalry. When we arrived under the walls of Pekin, we turned our horses towards a different gate to that through which we were accustomed to pass, in order to see a little more of the city.(cZ) But one of our conductors, who had thought it his duty not to lose sight of us, in perceiving us making a wrong turn, hollowed out with all his might. We pushed forward, however, and got through the gate, but we were pursued with such a hue and cry, that we were glad to escape through one of the cross streets leading to our hotel, where we arrived with at least a hundred soldiers at our heels." (p. 120.) At the palace, too, he observes : " If I attempted to move ever so little beyond the court of our apartments, I was sure of being watched and pursued by some of them : to persist in my walk would have thrown the whole palace into an uproar." (p. 233.) 44 PEELmiNARY INQUIRY. Surrounded by such restraints, this remai'kable man, never- theless, enjoys a freedom of motion that is perfectly staggering. At the palace, he is so watched that he cannot move beyond the court of his apartments ; yet he travels a great deal over the forbidden gardens of Yueu-niiu-yiicn. Between that palace and Pekin, he is frequently suflered to go alone ; yet he always travelled by the same gate, though anxious to see a little more of the city. Wlicn making the attempt to enter by another gate, he is pursued by a troop of soldiers ; and yet he is allowed to ride all over the capital, hnmolested and unnoticed. To make comments, or to seem surprised at such incompatible movements, is evidently foreign from the purpose of Mr. Barrow, although any honest man, with a reasonable share of common sense, would be trampling on nettles till he had done so. Having laid claim to a greater share of liberty than is usually permitted to strangers in the countrj', our author has, evidently, applied it to the purpose of creating surprise, by his unac- countable movements, which is left to the reader to unravel, or rather, like the child at the peep show, to take his choice. The extract relating to the soldiers at his heels, although an evident fabrication, proves to be of considerable use. It not only confinns, up to that late period, how little he had seen of the Chinese capital ; but also that he had been accustomed to pass through one gate only, showing, plainly, he was not alone, nor at liberty to travel as he pleased. It also falsifies the assertion, in the Auto, which fixes the palace as his place of residence from first to last. He here admits his home was the ambassador's lodgings, in Pekin, which he was so glad to reach from the hue and ci-y of his pursuers. With regard to his farewell excursion upon the streets of Pekin, it would, in compiling the Travels, naturally appear a desideratum not to show some personal acquaintance with a famous city where ho had resided several weeks ; and the morning's ramble througli the streets of London, by Sir K. Curtis, has, evidently, originated a hint where(m to engraft a few general remarks. These remarks, however, are so despic- DISMISSAL OF THE EMBASSY. 45 ?iL)le that the comptroller would have shown greater sense to have kept the adventure to himself, if it could possibly have happened, and turned out so fruitless. The abrupt dismissal of the embassy was a pill which the minister-plenipotentiary and his comptroller only could swallow ; the former — after much sweetening ; the latter — apparently in his sleep ; for had he never left England he could not have shown greater ignorance of the indescribable confusion into which the whole train was thrown by only one day's positive notice to remove. While pages are written on what never occurred, not a syllable escapes where pages ought to have been written. Anderson, however, to his credit, has rescued the "sfCTifs" from oblivion. Dr. Dinwiddle, too, observes — ■ " so imperative was the command, that many things had to be sent ojff unpacked." " I was up the greater part of the night, and slept none during the short time I was in bed, owing to the disturbance occasioned by preparing the things for packing." In the midst of this bustle, too, we read " Improper saying of Barrow — King of England!'' We can guess, but cannot confirm, that allusion was made to his Britannic Majesty demanding some satisfaction for this shameful treatment of his embassy ; but whatever was the meaning, the entry is signi- ficant — the comptroller was at his post, amidst the very bustle and noise over which he has thrown an impenetrable veil. The Auto, for sure, would fain persuade us he was in a state of happy ignorance, at Yuen-min-yuen, from whence he arrived only two hours previous to the ambassador's departure from Pekin. Cr eclat Judaes Appelles ! Such is a glimpse of the complexion which this enviable residence, at the Chinese capital, is likely to assume before the statements of the witnesses. We admit it is of little interest, and certainly of no consequence, excepting always the confidence to be reposed in the dicta of reputed authority. 40 PRELEMINARY INQUIEY, Our private journal could "a tale unfold," proving, to the satisfaction of every reasonable man, that the entire history of the comptroller, atYuen-min-}Tien, is neither more nor less than the detestable vaporings of unbridled vanity, with scarcely the shadow of a foundation to work upon ; but the proof would rest upon a solitary individual showing the most inconceivable ignorance of, or substituting stubborn facts in the place of others blazoned forth in the name of trath. It happens, well, that there is a better mode of testing the validity of our author's statements, and we now proceed to the second part of our engagement, the Investigation of the origin of those incidents and other occurrences, so profusely scattered throughout the body of the mis-named " Travels in China." That it is a mis- nomer we expect to satisfy the most scrupulous inquirer, if only possessed of common honesty. (( INVESTIGATION OP THE FACTS AND OBSERVATIONS" OF THE "TRAVELS IN CHINA," OTHERWISE THE "LARGE QUARTO." SENTIMENTS ON THE FACTS AND OBSERVATIONS. Speaking of the sentiments advanced in these Traveh, our author, in his advertisement, declares " they are the unbiassed conclusions of his own mind, founded altogether on his own observations." When about to commence the narrative, he also declares, ' ' The opinions they contain are drawn from such incidents and anecdotes as occurred in the course of an eight months' visit, and from such as seemed best calculated to illustrate the con- dition of the people, the national character, and the nature of the government. A short residence in the imperial palace of Yuen-min-yuen, a greater share of liberty than is usually permitted to strangers in this country, with the assistance of some little knowledge of the language, aflorded me the means of collecting the facts and observations which I now lay before the public," (p. 31.) 48 INVESTIGATION, ETC. Having commenced the narrative, our author once more declares — " Had we returned to Europe, without proceeding farther in the country than Tieiuing, a most lively impression would always have remained on my mind in favor of the Chinese. But a variety of incidents that afterwards occurred, and a more intimate acquaintance with their manners and hahits, produced a woeful change of sentiment in this respect. Of such incidents, as may tend to illustrate the moral character of this extraordinary people, I shall relate a few that were the most striking, in taking a general view of their state of society, to which, and to the nature of the executive government, all their moral actions may be referred." (p. 82.) Kespecting the incidents here alluded to, or by whatever name the " facts and observations" are known, we intend to show that, instead of the character being deduced from the incident, the case is exactlj the reverse : the incident is deduced fi'om the character. The explanation will be more complete by observing — the incidents, and other occurrences, brought forward as illustrations, are, themselves, concocted for the sole puii)osc of bolstering up prejudices, and preconceived notions about China and the Chinese. And we further believe, numerous though they be, every incident, " fact, or observa- tion," without exception, is more or leas subject to this rule. The first instance we shall adduce is the ECLIPSE AT TONCHOO. " A rude projection of a lunar eclipse, that happened whilst we were at Tongchoo, was stuck up in the corners of the streets ; all the officers were in mourning, and all business was suspended for that day." (p. 287.) A circumstance exercising such an influence on the embassy could not have been overlooked by the two chiefs ; in verity, we deny the possibility of their doing so : nowhere, however, ii» this day of rest and mourning alluded to, either at Tonchoo, ECLIPSE AT TONCHOO. 49 or any other place. On the contrary, every account confirms that both the government ofiicials, and the gentlemen of the embassy, continued, all the time, unceasing with their prepara- tions for the journey. (t?) It is, nevertheless, true that the projection of an eclipse was seen in the streets, but it was only "to happen soon afterwards;" and, unfortunately for Mr. Barrow's " observations," did not happen while the embassy remained at Tonchoo. Instead thereof, it was at Hun-ya-yuen, some seven miles on the other side of Pekin. In short, the eclipse occurred late at night, commencing at a quarter-past nine, August 21,(/) the most bustling day of all others, when the embassy passed through the capital ; and when the ofiicers were neither in mourning, nor was business suspended. Dr. Dinwiddle, perhaps the only individual of the embassy who took an active interest in the matter, had calculated and projected the eclipse, during the passage up the Pyho. At Tonchoo, he presented Lord McCartney with a type and all particulars ; and at Hung-ya-yuen, anxious to know the result of his calculations, he watched the progress of the event, when every other person of the train was either locked in the embrace of Morpheus, or resting from the fatigues of the day. To the origin of this incident, or occurrence, then, our author, grasping at every suitable bit of infonnation on China, reads in the accounts of the Dutch embassy of a solar and also a lunar eclipse, and the influence which these events exercised on that mission. This was something worth knowing, and, accordingly, the eager gentleman draws a parallel to show that it was nothing new to him ; but, unhappily, he has shown what never happened. He has brought forward a certain event, and a certain consequence of that event ; but as the event did not take place, the consequence did not follow ; confirming, what the history of the mission proves, there was no day of mourning and rest at Tonchoo. This is the first specimen selected from the " facts and observations" upon which the " unbiassed conclusions have been founded," and we fancy our readers will agree with 50 INA'ESTIGATION, ETC. US, they are founded with a vengeance. The "motive" is evidently worthy of its attribute — it is "powerful." Fortunately, for the cause of truth, the occurrence is one that does not depend upon an eye-witness ; it is open to all men, and all times, and demands a careful consideration, furnishing, as it does, the key to unlock the histoiy of eveiy incident, anecdote, or occurrence brought fonvard as illustrations in the " Travels in China." A piece of acceptable information is picked up from reading or conversation, or it may be the result of prejudice, or an unintelligible whim ; but from whatever source, an incident of some kind or other is invented, by which it may appear as an " observation" of our author himself. To give it weight, some colorable pretext is usually iixed upon, as in the case of this eclipse, which was " to happen soon afterwards." Upon such facts, and such o /;///, have the " Travels in China" been reared. It will be well to notice how little Mr. Barrow has to say about this day of mourning and rest at Tonchoo. He knew he was treading on ground too dangerous to enter into particu- lars, and consequently we have not a syllable beyond that it happened, as stated in the extract : even the veiy day is kept out of sight. He has, however, besides pointing out the days, many particulars to tell us respecting the two occasions men- tioned by the Dutch, showing, conclusively, that he relied upon their experience to supply the information which should have been furnished by his own. But we shall now prove from Mr. Barrow, himself, the imposition he has practised on mankind, yes ! in the face of the honoraiy initials united to his name. Unable, with all his cunning, to bury it in oblivion, the eventful day oozes out, and it happens to be the most unfortunate one that could have been selected for his purpose. Had the eclipse occurred a day earlier, or a day later, a doubt might possibly have remained in the minds of some, but cannot now, as will be shown from the Travels, which, of their own accord, scatter to the winds the devotional purposes of the 21st August. EOIiIPSE AT TONCHOO. 51 " According to the arrangement, on the 21st of August, ahout three o'clock in the morning, we were prepared to set out, but could scarcely be said to be fairly in motion till five, and before we had cleared the city of Tongchoo, it was past six o'clock. From this city to the capital, I may venture to say, the road never before exhibited so motley a group. In front marched about three thousand porters, carrying sis hundred packages ; some of which were so large and heavj-, as to require thirty-two bearers : with these were mixed a proportionate number of inferior officers, each having the charge and superintendence of a division. Next followed eighty -five waggons, and thirty -nine hand-carts, each with one wheel, loaded with wine, porter, and other European provisions, ammunitions, and such heavy articles as were not liable to be broken. Eight light field pieces, which were among the presents for the emperor, closed this part of the procession. After these paraded the Tartar legate, and several officers from court, with their numerous attendants ; some on horseback, some in chairs, and others on foot. Then followed the ambassador's guards in waggons, the servants, musicians, and mechanics, also in waggons ; the gentlemen of the suite on horseback, the ambassador, the minister plenipo- tentiary, his son, and the interpreter, in four ornamented chairs ; the rest of the suite in small covered carriages on two wheels, not unlike in appearance to our funeral hearses, but only half the length ; and last of all Van and Chou, with their attendants, closed this motley procession."(^) (p. 88.) Let the reader now turn to the extract at page 48 ; let him look on this picture, and then on that, and mark the extra- ordinary purposes to which the same day is devoted by the same author. Let him fancy he sees the Chinese officers robed in their mourning habiliments, and withdrawn from all business to their private devotions, leaving the embassy itself to peace and quietness, in the temple of Tonchoo. Let him again revert to the bustling cavalcade, and the exciting scenes on the road to Pekin ; let him gaze on the two pictures, if he can, without 52 im'ESTIGATION, ETC. amazement, and ask himself if accident, or any kind of over- sight, exercised the remotest influence in producing this con- trast. Let him ask again if the devotional ceremonies of the Chinese officers are not rather the result of a deep laid scheme. But lest some mode of explanation might j>ossihly yet remain ; lest some redeeming quality might possibly yet apologise for a solitary breach of faith, let him withhold that answer till he has followed us to the end of this inquiiy. Before quitting this example, we have yet another observatioa to make. It will be found that J\Ir. Barrow not uufrequently produces these pai'allcls, i.e. corroborating his own experience by the experience of others ; but our eyes once opened, we scan with suspicion what otherwise might have passed unnoticed. On a close inspection, the peculiarities of the eclipse is, more or less, detected in other cases ; and, at all events, this out- rageous plagiarism is })riina. facie evidence of the worthlessness of such corroborations. SCORPIONS AT TONCHOO. Our next illustration is also at Tonchoo, where the embassy was lodged in a temple, " among the gods of the nation." From Sir George Staunton, we learn — " In some of the rooms the priests had sufi"ered scorpions and scolopendras to harbour througli neglect." On this hint, the comptroller enlai'ges in the following manner : " The room, in which some of us should have slept, was so full of scorpions and scolopendras, and these animals crept in such numbers into our beds, that we were fairly driven out, and obliged to swing our cots in the open air, between two trees." (p. 487.) This circumstance is calculated to arouse attention in the most insensate of individuals, and particularly in those who had never experienced the like ; yet, strange enough, both Lord McCartney and Anderson are unconscious that "these animals" were creeping about the temple at all. Surely, in SCORPIONS AT TONCHOO. 5S such a nursery, tliey could not all be confined to one room ; still these journalists are as silent on their second, as on their first arrival. Dr. Dinwiddle, however, takes notice of a solitary scorpion being seen the first night they lodged in the temple, and, as he happened to be one of the gentlemen in the room, so frightfully infested, we give his evidence entire. " After a day of great fatigue, we returned to the temple to supper, and went to bed at eight o'clock. Eight gentlemen were to have slept in one apartment, but Captain Mcintosh and Mr. Maxwell preferred the portico ; and, in consequence of the scori)ion, Dr. Gillan followed." Thus, the frightful phantom, conjured up by the " large quarto," all but vanishes, throwing completely into shade the story of the three black crows. From this incident our author deduces the want of cleanliness in the persons and apartments of the priests, in all the principal temples. How was he to know that this temple was a type of all the others ? the information could not be derived from his own " facts and observations ; " it could only be second hand, at best. Apparently through prejudice, but from whatever cause, the "unbiassed" gentleman has come to the conclusion that the priests, in all the principal temples of China, are a dirty set of men ; and this is proved by " such numbers" of scorpions at Tonchoo, nowhere else. But we have shown that even the solitary incident, at Tonchoo, with all the importance given to it by Sir George Staunton, is an outrageous exag- geration, all but a fiction. A most insignificant occurrence is purposely magnified to blacken the character of the priests, previously decided on. The principle is exactly the same as in the last example ; a single scorpion appeared and gave the color for the incident. The reader has already had evidence, and will have more, that much dependance is not always to be placed in the elegant and accurate details of the oflicial account, the author of which was not a lodger in the vicious room. It will be seen, too, that the we this and the we that of the comptroller carries no definite or intelligible meaning. Of three gentlemen who left 54 INVESTIGATION, ETC. the room, only one was driven out ; the other two haAing, previously, preferred the open portico, to the close air of the chamber. Mr. Barrow was not even one of the three ; it is doubtful if he even saw the " animal." In the two illustrations, now adduced, a single allusion to the subject only is made, in each case ; but whenever an incident comes twice under the notice of our author, he seldom, if ever, fails to commit himself, and the following is a most flagrant proof. " CANTON ULCER." " On arriving at the northern extremity of the province of Canton, one of our conductors had imprudently passed the night in one of those houses where, by the license of govern- ment, females arc allowed to prostitute their persons in order to gain a livelihood. Here, it seems, he had caught the infection, and after suffering a considerable degree of pain, and no less alarm, he communicated to our physician the symptoms of his complaint, of the nature and cause of which he was entirely ignorant." (p. 352.) Turning to the narrative, we find Nanyang (h) the first station in the province of Canton w'here the embassy passed the night. Wo also find, upon the morning following their arrival — " The officers, assembled here from diflerent parts of the countiy, detained us a whole day in order to have an opportunity of laying their several complaints before our physician, at the recommendation of Vautagiu, who had felt the good effects of his practice." (p. 593.) So it appears that Vantagin, the conductor alluded to in the first extract, must have caught the infection, the disease must have ripened, and it must have been cured, all in the space of one night ! Nay, the cure must have been instant- aneous on the following morning ; and as the officers were on the spot, ready with their diseases, how else but on lightning " CANTON ULCER." 55 wings could the news have si^ed to the different parts of the country ! Perfect as we consider our system of railway and telegraphic communication, it would seem but a mere mock in comparison of the appliances of China, at the period in question. That Van should have recommended the practice of such a physician is no wonder ; but how was he, novice as he was, to know and take such an interest in his fellow officers, scattered abroad in the province, and to whom he must have been a total stranger ? But this is not all : instead of being detained here " a whole day," for this truly patriotic purpose, we have the most conclusive evidence that the barges sailed that venj morning, so soon as the baggage was got aboard, (t) Even this is confirmed by Mr. Barrow, himself, in a " carefully constmcted" map, (accompanying the official account,) which shows upon that veiy day the embassy, instead of being at a stand still, made its usual progress. In Canton, where time and other circumstances rendered the matter a probability. Sir George Staunton mentions some mandarins deriving such a benefit from the physician. This, no doubt, originated the illucidating incident of the truly observant Mr. Barrow, who, to be first in the field with his information, has transferred the particulars to the northern extremity of the province. In doing so, he has trumped up a most disgusting impossibility, for what he ostensibly calls ' ' an instance of usurped superiority condescending to ask advice of barbarians ;" but which, in reality, is to show his own knowledge of the influences which the contact with Europeans have exercised on this part of the empire. Here, again, the same principle is at work to produce a piece of information which, in this instance, is picked out of the official volumes. Turning the author of his good fortune to every possible advantage, these volumes have been carefully overhauled for suitable subjects to be repeated in the Travels ; and as a general rule, the particulars of the information have been removed to another locality, and so as to happen under different circumstances. A new occurrence is thus contrived 56 INVESTIGATION, ETC. ami blazoned forth among the "facts and observations," which have been hazarded ^\'ith a degree of boldness chal- lenging competition. If the features attending the eclipse, at Tonchoo, might reasonably have escaped the attention of the critics, we think the incident of the " Canton ulcer" ought to have drawn their attention. They had not to travel from the volume where a manifest impossibility was staring them in the face. Instead of pointing out such disgusting trumpeiy, in forcible terms, the author of it is congratulated on his " good sense," and his faithful record. All this, however, only proves how super- ficially the Travels have been read, and the little dependence that can be placed on reviews, in general. Mr. Barrow, him- self, as a reviewer, makes a merit of his connexion with the Quarterly, the editor of which thought the man who could write the Embassy to China was a fit and proper person to review the works of other men. The few specimens we have produced, from that embassy, are not very creditable to the acumen of the great critic ; they show either his ignorance of the atmosphere in which he moved, or that he sought the assistance of Mr. Barrow on the principle of set a rogue. "FOREIGN DEVILS." Nanyang is also the scene of another adventure, which, though not improbable in itself, is perfectly worthless for the purpose it is told. "Hitherto the embassy had met with the greatest respect and civility from all classes of the natives, but now even the peasantry ran out of their houses, as we passed, and bawled after us opprobrious and contemptuous expressions, signifying foreign devils.'' " The further we advanced the more rude and insolent they became." (p. 591.) To this it may be replied that, unless two abrupt suspicious lines in Lord McCartney's journal, no other person takes the " FOREIGN DEVILS." 57 least notice of such insolence, which they must have done, if it increased in proportion as the embassy advanced. Of this the insulted gentleman, himself, gives no further proof than the instance just quoted, and yet we are forced to the conclusion that, by the time he reached Canton, the insolence of the Chinese would have acquired an impetus that would have forced him to some further comments upon it. But is it true that they had, previously to their arrival at Nanyang, met with the greatest respect and civility from all classes of the natives ? Did the crowd at Tinghai show the greatest respect and civility in stopping his palanquin every moment, that eveiy one might thrust in his head at the window, exclaiming with a grin, " Hungmau, Redpatc V Did the soldier, who interrupted the gentlemen in their walks, and whose ears were bored for his ''insolence,'' behave with the greatest respect and civility ? Did his commanding officer, who was bambooed and stripped of his authority for the same offence, behave with the greatest respect and civility ? Did the men of Kanchoo, who furnished the rootless varnish plants, play a trick iipon strangers in the true spirit of the nation ? Did the prime minister, the Tartar legate, and the ex-viceroy of Canton show any hauteur and ivant of complaisance ? In short: was the suspicions and tvatchful conduct of the govern- ment to strangers suited to the free and independent spirit of Britons ? Let the man who had hitherto ' ' met with the greatest respect and civility, from all classes of the natives," answer ; and he does so, in every instance, against himself. A single circumstance will often decide a question which a thousand testimonies would only tend to confirm ; and, again, fortunately for the cause of truth, our author, himself, furnishes that circumstance. " It is due to the inhabitants to declare that I never met with the slightest insult, nor interruption from any class of the Chinese population, whether official or plebian ; but on the contrary, the most civil and courteous conduct, from the highest to the lowest, with a willing dispo. sition always to oblige." (p. 115.) 58 INVESTIGATION, ETC. Language could not furnish a flatter denial than the last quotation does to the first, respecting the " foreign devils," as well as to the various insults, tricks and interruptions, asserted to have been met with on the embassy, and which are turned to good advantage, when necessary, in elucidating Chinese character. But to the origin of this outburst of popular con- tempt : there is good reason to believe that most of the general information picked up by the embassy occurred at the journey's end, where the only opportunities presented themselves. The influences resulting from the contact with foreigners, as annun- ciated in the " Canton ulcer," and the " foreign devils," -were undoubtedly acquired here, if acquired in China ; the comp- troller, however, in hot haste to point out his knowledge of these influences, has thrust them forward, in their most aggra- vated forms, at the vei7 threshold of the province. In our opinion, this is not very consistent with "good sense;" particularly since we have shown the one to be an impossibility, and the other valueless. They are thus proved from our author, himself, and consequently occurrences contrived for their respective pux-poses. WANT OF FELLOW-FEELING. — Accident at Linsin. The mode by which the reader of the Travels is made acquainted with the illucidating incidents has something remarkable about it : they arc introduced almost universally in a solitary state, each for its particular object ; a small proportion only being noticed in the course of the narrative. In this peculiar way, abstracted from their connecting links in the embassy, the greatest scope is presented for the exercise of predilections, while it becomes a very difficult matter for a reader to detect discrepancies, which would be seen at a glance if attempted to be joined to the regular chain of occurrences. A striking illustration of this is furnished in an accident on the homeward journey. Introduced in this disguise, we road : WANT OF FELLOW-FEELING. 59 "In the course of our journey down the gi'and canal we had occasion to witness a scene, which was considered as a remarkable example of a want of fellow-feeling. Of the number of persons who had crov/ded down to the banks of the canal several had posted themselves upon the high projecting stern of an old vessel which, unfortunately, breaking down with the weight, the whole group tumbled with the wreck into the canal, just at the moment when the yachts of the embassy were pass- ing. Although numbers of boats were sailing about the place, none were perceived to go to the assistance of those that were struggling in the water. They even seemed not to know that such an accident had happened, nor could the shrieks of the boys, floating on pieces of the wreck, attract their atten- tion. One fellow was observed veiw busily employed in picking up, -nith his boathook, the hat of a drowning man. It was in vain we endeavored to prevail on the people of our vessel to heave-to and send the boat to their assistance. It is true, we were then going at the rate of seven miles an hour, which was the plea they made for not stopping. I have no doubt that several of these unfortunaate people must inevitably have perished." (p. 166.) Any person reading the foregoing paragraph would naturally conclude that the embassy had been some days, at least, in the canal, and was dashing along, in broad day-Hght, with the wind and current in their favor. From Sir George Staunton, how- ever, we find the fleet entered the canal at Linsin, not far from which the accident happened ; and from Lord McCai^tney, that they passed Linsin at 4 p.m., and before dark got into a narrow canal. Here, then, from the talents just mentioned, it is evident the accident — if occurring in the canal — must have been immediately on their entrance, because it was near Linsin, and while there was yet light, circumstances which never afterwards occurred in conjunction. A numerous fleet, then, entering a narrow canal, with a strong opposing current, and the shades of even descending, does not appear quite con- sistent with the description, and with so rapid a rate as affirmed. 60 rNVESTIGATION, ETC. But, to all this, we have the most satisfactoiy testimony, from our manuscript authority, that the fleet — on entering the canal — came to rest, which was the only stopping of the yachts before Linsin. We have, moreover, the same satisfactory testimony that the accident occurred in the river, some five or six miles back ; even the very hour of the day is specified. But whether in the river, or in the canal, the yachts were contending with a current of some three miles an hour. It commenced at Tiensing, on entering the Euho river, and did not cease till reaching the summit level of the canal, four days after passing Linsin. All along, too, the breeze was more or less baffling, never propitious ; while the trackers, eighteen to twenty to each vessel, to use Barrow's formula, "were fitter for an hospital than performing any kind of labor." In short, the united testimony of Lord McCartney, Sir George Staunton, Dr. Dinwiddle, and even of our author himself, confirm how slow their progress was all along this stage of the journey ; that it seldom, or never, exceeded two miles an hour, instead of seven, and consequently the Chinese boatmen never made use of such a "plea" to avoid going to the rescue. At the very moment of the accident, the rate, singularly enough, is indisputably fixed under two miles an hour. This is one of the very few real incidents occurring on the embassy, and the simple narrative of it, by Dr. Dinwiddle, is sufficiently afiecting, without any attempt at extraneous color- ing. " At two, just as we were sitting down to dinner, part of the stem of a junk, lying in the river, yielded to the weight of spectators, when a number were thrown into the river, and some in great danger. The spectators seemed but little aS"ected by the accident." Now this observation implies a termination of the accident, although our unbiassed author struggles to persuade his readers that some of the unfortunate people perished. A single minute, however, at the dashinrf rate, would have put it out of his power to have formed any idea as to the ultimate result, even in day ligbt, and much less if evening had set in, which must have been the case had the WANT OF FELLOW-FEELING. 61 accident happened in the canal. The real circumstances attending this casualty are so distorted that the casualty itself is all but invented ; and it is quite clear the gentleman in search of facts has been spurred on to make the most of it, not to be outdone by another instance of indifference to human suffering, recorded in the Dutch embassy. The history of that mission will be found to have supplied many of the subsequent views, or " woful change," he now straggles to maintain. Connected with this event is another flagrant fallacy. The embassy passed the pagoda of Linsin at one o'clock ; the accident occurred at two, just within the north wall of the city ; and between these points, distant from one to two miles, the barges never stopped, nor even that day, until they rested within the first floodgate of the canal. If Mr. Barrow, therefore, had been ashore, at the pagoda, as insinuated in the narrative, (p. 503) he could not have seen the accident from his barge ; but the probability is he was aboard, and that the visit to the pagoda is only another instance of squeezing in a whim, or bit of information, so as to appear emanating from himself. In this Ms forte lay. We shall yet have occasion to speak of the pagoda of Linsin. To establish the position adverted to at the commencement of the example, we add the following observation : In its abstracted view, the incident exhibits nothing improbable in its proportions, unless the rapid rate might induce a momentary suspicion, otherwise it could not but pass current ; but when its place is sought for, in the embassy, how clumsy every circumstance appears. In the first place : the accident did not occur in the canal, but in the river, nearly opposite the north wall of the city of Linsin, where the current, instead of favoring a seven miles rate, was so strong against them that their real progress was under two miles. Again : our ubiqui- tous author is not only aboard at the time of the accident, but also ashore at the pagoda, less than two miles distant, and between which places the vessels never stopped. The stubborn 62 INVESTIGATION, ETC. fact of the acciilcnt occurring in tlio river, with the exact locality and the hour of the clay, pointed out, exhibit, in all their defoimity, the detestable details of the comptroller, and particularly the disgraceful " plea" put into the mouths of the Chinese boatmen. INHUMANITY.— FiKST Illustration. The "want of fellow-feeling," like nearly every subject, is dismissed by a single instance ; but the next one, however, " inhumanity," is fertile of incidents, and a deal of capital is forced out of it, evidently to counteract the statements of Anderson, who has recorded the particulars of an English soldier, at Gehol, undergoing the lash to the disgust of the Chinese spectators. In support of his predilections, our author relates an incident in such a manner as to make the "Authentic Account" of Sir George Staunton unworthy of the name, and perfectly meagre. " One day an officer of high rank took it into his head to interrupt the gentlemen in their usual walk, and for this purpose dispatched after them nine or ten of his soldiers, who forced them in a rude manner to return to the vessels. Our two conductors Van and Chou, being made acquainted with the circumstance, gave to each of the soldiers a most severe Hogging. One of these, who had been particularly insolent, had his ears bored through with iron wire, and his hands bound to them for several days. The viceroy of Canton was at this time with the embassy, and being in rank superior to the offending officer, he ordered the latter to appear before him, gave him a severe reprimand, and sentenced him to receive forty strokes of the bamboo as a gentle correction. Our two Chinese friends were particulai'ly pressing that the gentlemen insulted should bo present at the punishment of the officer, and it was not without difficulty they could be persuaded that such a scene would not afford them any gratification." (p. 163.) INHUMANITY. 63 On the same occasion, Sir George Staunton observes, " Cliou- tazin and Vantazin had the soldiers laid flat on the floor and held by some of the military attendants, while others were ordered to strike them with a piece of slit bamboo ; but the persons who were ill-treated succeeded in obtaining for the soldiers a remission of that sentence." (II. p. 488.) Can both accounts be true ? or rather is not an imposition stamped upon the very face of the statements '? No sane man will think a "remission of the sentence" compatible with a "most severe flogging." But how could Sir George Staunton ignore the most extraordinary part of the punishment, the boring of the soldier's ears, to which his hands were tied, for several days, with iron wire ? Was he not in possession of Mr Barrow's journal and all his " loose notes ? " If the chief co-adjutor to the great compilation has not hood-winked his patron, by systematically keeping back the most wonderful of these "notes," we are forced to the alternative, which is likely, that the information about ear-horinrj was a subsequent discovery, and, no doubt, thinking it a valuable addition to the incident, he has dove-tailed it in, regardless of the perspective in which it places the " Authentic Account." An argument with Mr. Barrow, evidently, possesses force in proportion to its extravagance, and he has, here, proved himself a match for the " livery servant ; " still, we are lost in amazement that he should thus triumph at the expense of his benefactor. Of the numerous contradictions, indirectly it is true, heaped, by the publication of the Travels, upon the ofiicial volumes, the reviewers, mentioned in this work, have never fallen on a single instance ; and this is the more remarkable as Mr. Bari'ow, having pledged himself for the accuracy of these volumes, is answerable for both accounts. The case on hand was surely one to have called for some comments, carrying as it does the stamp of an imposition in its very face. To allow an author of "growing reputation," thus, to trifle with public sentiment seems strange indeed. A certain occurrenco we are assured has been " detailed with equal elegance and accuracy ; " never- 64 INVESTIGATION, ETC. theless, the assurer produces another set of details, totally at variance with the fonner, and, without assigning any reason, bids the puhlic swallow hoth. If tliis is not humbug the world may be safely challenged to produce an instance. The impo- sition is too bare-faced ; and how has it been allowed with impunity ? An implicit reliance on the dlcUi of authority often serves to confirm and propagate a belief in the grossest errors. Every anecdote, or occurrence of any interest, related by Sir George Staunton, has re-appeared in the Travels; and it is a remarkable fact that they are always in a more hmnoiiwus or more marvellous dress — in some instances to such an extent as to render the original worthless. The present is an example, and beyond doubt a pure invention from its very foundation. (j) But even admitting the most trifling consideration could be raked up for the incident, even that would not acquit it of imposition, and nobody seems to be aware of such trashy inventions staining the records of an important national event. On the contrary, the two historians have been flattered as "able writers," and the improved version as a "valuable addition" to the " splendid account" previously detailed. INHUMANITY.— Second Illustration. Also on Chinese inhumanity, a subject our author is bent on upholding, at whatever cost, we read : " Whenever it was found necessaiy to track the vessels against the stream, a number of men were always pressed into this disagreeable and laborious service, for which they were to receive about sixpence a day so long as they tracked, without any allowance being made to them for returning to the place from whence they were forced. These people knowing the difiiculty there was of getting others to supply their places, and that their services would be reijuircd until such should be pro- cured, generally deserted by night, disregarding their pay. In order to procure others, the officers dispatched their soldiers to INHUMANITY. 65 the nearest village, taking the inhabitants by surprise, and forcing them out of their beds to join the yachts. Scarcely a night occurred in which some poor wretches did not suffer the lashes of the soldiers for attempting to escape, or for pleading the excuse of old age, or infirmity. It was painful to behold the deplorable coudition of some of these creatures. Several ■were half naked, and appeared to be wasting and languishing for want of food. Yet the task of dragging along the vessels was far from being light. Sometimes they were under the necessity of wading to the middle in mud ; sometimes to swim across creeks, and immediately afterwards to expose their naked bodies to a scorching sun ; and they were always driven by a soldier or the lictor of some petty police officer carrying in his hand an enormous whip, with which he lashed them with as little reluctance as if they had been a team of horses." (p.m.) After this, Anderson might as well give in : however, it is vain that we search the records of all the other witnesses for a confirmation of this unprecedented string of brutalities. On the first arrival of the embassy, even then, it was found neces- sary to track the vessels up the Pyho, where the tracksmen were sometimes wading to the middle in mud ; sometimes swimming across creeks, and immediately afterwards exposing their naked bodies to a scorching sun. All this is susceptible of the strongest proof ; but it was only on this occasion — not afterwards. An August sun and a constant cloudless sky were overhead ; but on their return these features were very different, and the people, instead of being half naked, eveiywhere had assumed their winter habits. So far, however, from wasting and languishing for want of food, all accounts mention the trackers on the P3ho in the most praiseworthy terms, not only for ability, but also for cheerfulness and willingness. Our private record sums up thus : "In perpetually tracking against the current of a strong stream, without the least aid from the wind, the men were sometimes up to the middle in water and mud ; at other times obliged to swim across rivulets, entering G6 INVESTIGATION, ETC. the Pyho — all this with great cheerfulness — no mumiuring'. Nor does it seem to proceed so much from the commands of the mandarine as from a natural willingness to do their duty. The men who transhipped our luggage, under a most exces- sively hot sun, neither asked money nor drink, though they do not dislike samsu — even get tipsy with it. Their dexterity, in hoisting up, and, still more, in carrying the heaviest boxes, appeared to me superior to any thing I had seen in Europe." Sir George Staunton, too, repeating the observations of Lord McCartney, says, " They were well made, muscular men, but remarkably round shouldered ;" and Mr. Barrow, whose nar- rative endorses the veiy sentiments of Dr. Dinwiddle, admits " the same cheerful and willing mind had constantly shown itself on all occasions, by all those who were employed in the service of the embassy." (p. 80.) Again: " Eveiything here, in fact, seems to be at the instant command of the state ; and the most laborious tasks are undertaken and executed with a readiness, and even a chearfulness, which one could scarcely expect to meet with in so despotic a government." (p. 88.) The men, then, w^ere not only ahle and willinf/ to do their duty, but (lid do it, with a cheerfulness remai-kable even to that authority which affirms they were almtys pressed into the disagreeable service, and lashed, by the lictor of a petty police officer, as if they had been a team of horses. Where could the lictor find excuse for such a wanton abuse of authority ? and how is it that the colleagues of our author, evidently more interested than himself in this laborious dragging, never once detects the lashes of this "enormous whip," though always at its hellish work. Strange enough, on other occasions, from our author too, we leavn that the soldiers, though active and noisy in brandishing their whips, never let tlieui fall upon the people. A careful review of all the circumstances exposes a mad determination to uphold his detestable whims on inhumanity, with the merits of which, as a question, we have nothing to do ; our sole object being to expose the baseless foundations upon INHUMANITY. 67 which the comptroller has built his whims. A one-sided view of a case, however correctly detailed, is evidence of dishonesty, and it is still more so if invention, or exaggeration, is resorted to to carry conviction. How significantly is every circumstance colored to give effect to this display of- inhumanity ! The dragging is laborious and disagreeable; the tracksmen are wasting and languishing for want of food ; always pressed into the service, and lashed like a team of horses, notwithstanding their deplorable condition of body. Even age and inftrmity afford no protection from the enormous whip, whose proprietor is also a clutracter the most unlikely to let it remain idle. To crown all, a paltry recompense is the only reward of these ill- fated wretches. The argument would have lost nothing had one or two of them expired beneath the load. This, indeed, only was wanting to put the last stroke to a picture already all but perfect, and it may appear curious how a prolific genius overlooked such a self-evident feature, particularly when he had the experience of the Dutch to furnish him with another parallel. It was, however, colored enough to have driven the most sanguine abolitionist to despair, had there not been the means of detecting the imposture, and restoring consolation. (/t) If there is one thing more conspicuous than another, in these Travels, the statements which, everywhere, start up opposing force to force may justly claim this pre-eminence. It is scarcely possible to point out a whim, or speculation, that is not, more or less, confuted on another page. Any subject indeed, the "facts and observations," themselves, if twice under notice, exposes some contradiction or other ; and this arises, in a great measure, from mingling together a mass of information picked up from numerous conflicting sources ; but still more from a ready acquiescence to ignore the obligations of truth. The traveller, who gathers interest- ing " facts and observations" from other travellers, and who stores remarkable sentiments and ideas from other writers, will find it nice work, even with an honest intention, to keep within the pale of consistency ; and it requires little penetration CS INVESTIGATION, ETC. to perceive the consequences of filling a " large quarto," solely to produce a flourish. Whatever conclusions a writer may come to on any subject, whether well investigated or not, even if it is a whim, it behoves him, above all things, to be con- sistent with himself. INHUMANITY.— Third Illustration. We introduce another illustration of the same detestable whim ; one, indeed, that cauuot be quite so flatly confuted, but nevei-theless involved in mystery, and sufficiently ex- planatory of the difficulties besetting our author's most unassailable observations. " In our return down the Pcilw, the water being considerably shallower than when we first sailed up this river, one of our accommodation barges got aground in the middle of the night. The air was piercing cold, and the poor creatures belonging to the vessel were busy until sunrise, in the midst of the river, using their endeavours to get her off". The rest of the fleet had proceeded, and the patience of the superintending officer at length being exhausted, he ordered his soldiers to flog the captain and the whole crew ; which was accordingly done in a most unmerciful manner : and this was their only reward for the use of the yacht, their time and labour for two days." (p. 161.) Here we have a boat stranded, aud the boatmen brutally treated for what they could not help. What sort of a joui-nalist must he be who could overlook such a circumstance ? Both Sir George Staunton and ])r. Dinwiddle are attentive to the tedious drawbacks in descending the river, yet they ignore this untoward event, in toto ; and this is veiy remarkable in regard to the baronet, who was in possession of all the " loose notes." Lord McCartney, however, is made to obseiTe, "One of the yachts being somewhat larger than the others, and more heavily laden, was not able to proceed, and Mr. 3\Iaxwell, INHUMANITY. 69 Captain Mcintosh, and Dr. Gillan, &c., were obliged to remove into smaller boats, and divide tbe baggage." This ia the only sentiment tending to support the incident. But if his lordship knew the boat stuck fast, surely he knew the unmerited treatment of the men ; yet he ignores it. Nay ! it is unaccountable he should allow it to stick fast at all, without some comment, as he affirms the men could not only drag, but lift the vessels over such obstacles. " It is quite wonderful to see the strength and expertness of the Chinese boatmen, who, by main bodily might, often dragged and lifted over sands and gravel, almost dry, the yachts we travelled in, some of which were heavy laden, and seventy feet in length by twelve in the beam, and drew not more than ten inches water." Is it likely his lordship would write two such antagonistic statements without some explanation ? Though cloaked with his name, the first has every characteristic of another forgery, of which W3 shall yet have occasion to speak, being satisfied that shameless liberties have been taken with his lordship's journal. At present there is something striking in the mode of introducing the gentlemen by name, while it is curious that the place of Mr. Barrow is supplied by an &c., although on all other occasions this honorable personage is so conspicuously stuck in the front as to be remarkable, even to a child. But there is sufficient evidence, from the comptroller himself, to show that the fleet continued of the same number of vessels from Tonchoo to Hanchoo, and that he had the same fellow-companions throughout this journey, proving the separa- tion, mentioned by Lord McCartney, did not take place. And to this, the united testimony of the witnesses prove the vessels were all alike, of the lightest construction, admitted very little luggafje, drew only ten inches water, and the dragging, though attended with trouble and delay, was not an impossibility. The Chinese authorities, also, were too wide awake ; they knew every difficulty, and how to provide against it. However, beyond the mere fact that one of the boats stuck fast, and could not be got otf, we only learn the following traits of 70 INVESTIGATION, ETC. inhumanity, and they are bad. Tlio piercimj cold air ; the /ruitless endeavors of the j)oor people in the midst of the river ; and the most unmerciful flogging, the onhj reicard for two days use of the yacht, time, and labor. But the entiy in Lord McCartney's journal proves there were four days use of the yacht, time, and labor, which, besides making the case worse for the poor boatmen, makes it even so for the comptroller. Another circumstance, while mitigating the miseries of the ill-used men, only adds to the difficulties of the champion of humanity. The thennometer, in the open air, that morning, at sun rise, was no less than 52^, and the water, being little more than ankle deep, scarcely indicates a degree of "piercing cold," or that the situation of the poor creatures was so very deplorable. From this circumstance, alone, it may fairly be inferred that the "unmerciful flogging" was not so unmerciful after all. We are persuaded, indeed, that the incident is, altogether, one of the most disgraceful fiibrications of which an author was ever suspected ; and for no other purpose but upholding an execrable whim, in opposition to the flogging at Gehol. It may be equalled, but not outdone, by any other incident in the Travels. ILL-TREAT:\IENT of W0:MEN.— Yolked to a Plough. Commenting on the ill-treatment of women, our author informs us, "I have frequently seen women assisting to drag a sort of light plough." Again : "In the province of Kiangsee nothing is more common than to see a woman drawing a kind of light plough." (p. 141.) Now, during the progress of the embassy, through Kiangsee, Mr. BaiTow sums up these extraordinary sights to a solitary instance, thus : "It was here that we saw a woman yolked literally by traces to a plough." But even this solitai-y instance is a mere stretch of fancy, founded, as usual, on second-hand information, which is also alluded to by Sir George Staunton, ILL-TREATMENT OF WOMEN. 71 as follows : "A farmer in that province has been seen to drive, with one hand, a plough, to which his wife was yolked, while he sowed the seeds with the other hand." (11., p. 505.) How could Sir George Staunton have expressed himself in this manner if he, or an]j of the gentlemen, had witnessed such a sight ? And how could they have missed it, if it had been so common as the fact collector avers ? What looks rather ominous, Sir George, though treating of their progress through Kiangsee, does not say it was here, or in this province, but in "that" province, clearly indicating he was far away when the idea entered his head. Nothing more common than to see a woman yolked to the plough ! And yet this common, and, it well may be said, uncommon sight, is passed over, unnoticed, by Sir George Staunton, by Lord McCartney, and even by Anderson, whose sole object was collecting novelties. Wher- ever the plough drew their attention, bullocks and asses were seen yolked to it, but not a single woman. Even the subse- quent English, and, still more, the Dutch embassy, which travelled twice through the famous province, and saw more of it than ever fell to the lot of Adire Pekiimm, never witnessed such a spectacle. What judges of a popular appetite ! Nay ! had the subject matter been totally ignored a doubt might have remained, in the minds of interested sycophants, upon the ground that what was not seen by one aflbrded no proof that it was not seen by another. The passing observation of Sir George Staunton, however, destroys every vestige of this forlorn hope : it does more — it marshals whence the information originated. This happens to be one of those illustrative incidents to which the individual of " acknowledged literary eminence" finds a parallel, or points to other authority to clinch his own ; unfortunately, as showTi in the case of the eclipse at Tonchoo, to which the present has striking points of resemblance. At some former period, a farmer had been seen ! and this is all the English historians know about the matter. Nevertheless, not only the Dutch embassy of one hundred and thirty years stand- 72 INVESTIGATION. ETC. ing, but ancient Rome, itself, is raked up to assist in corro- borating the "common" yet wonderful spectacle of 1793. Strange and inscrutable, indeed, are some of the operations of nature. The viper, for instance, irresistibly betrays itself by its own slime. Eciually irresistible are the clinching authorities left upon the track which climbs the literaiy eminence, there to remain a lasting memorial how the overgrown volume wa3 gorged. We wish it to be borne in mind that we hold, or rather advocate, no opinion as to the subject matter of the information ; our object being simply to "test rigidly, by weight and measm-e," the assertions so boldly put forth as the expe- rience of the British embassy. That women were not seen " yolked literally by traces to a i^lough" is beyond doubt ; and it is equally beyond doubt that some antiquated source originated the hint, which, eventually, luxuriated in a spectacle than which "nothing was more common." The idea was mar- vellous, and, of course, worthy the kindest regards of an author standing ready, with outstretched arms, to welcome such jtretty liltle dears. Uncviable, indeed, must be the feelings of that man who can ratify the marvellous statements of others, with- out the shadow of an evidence. VESSEL UPSET OX RICE MILL. However open or accessible the countiy might be to the visual organs of all the imprisoned travellers, the fact collector, every now and then, contrives to see something which the others do not; and, it may seem over careful in us to observe what must be self-evident, these somethings are wonderfully strange. No doubt, he is alive to the responsibilities of his situation, and particularly his obligations to the British public, to whom he must give a good account of the comptrollership. He drops down the river Lougshiaton, "which by the rains was swelled to an enormous size, and in some places had overflowed its banks, though in general high and rocky. Several rice mills were so ■vt;ssel upset on rice mill. 73 completely inundated, that their thatched roofs were but just visible above the surface of the water; others were entirely- washed away; and the wrecks of them scattered about the banks of the river. A vessel of our squadron was upset upon the roof of one of these mills." (p. 532.) Thus much we are informed, but not a word more : we are left in total ignorance as to the result of this " upset." In the name of goodness ! what became of the people and property on board ? Were they hurled into the raging element, and left to their fate ; or what ? Did our philanthropist, as on a former occasion, (/) exert his humanity, and insist upon the men of his barge going to the rescue ? We ask these questions in vain ! John Barrow, F.R.S., has introduced the catastrophe, and the reader must finish it. It is equally in vain that we call upon the other historians of the embassy : they know nothing of it — ^not even the "enormous flood" upon which they had embarked. (»i) But, besides ignoring such an untoward occur- rence, their statements show the utter impossibility of its ever happening. The " enormous flood" only floated with satisfaction the shallow water barges, which were changed for others of larger capacity, so soon as the water became deep enough : the overflowed banks was merely the water let in upon the rice fields ; and instead of the rice mills being washed away, or just peeping above the surface of the flood, they were busy at work, and presented a very interesting sight. As no inference is attempted, or, indeed, could be drawn from this event, unless to show the stupidity of the Chinese erecting their mills in such exposed situations, we believe it is simply a jeu desjrrit, but a most disgraceful one, founded on the rise of the river — the mere color of a pretext being enough for the "powerful motive" to rush into the marvellous. If, instead of an "upset," however, the junk had cut a summerset, {n) on the centrifugal principle, it would have been quite as true, quite as marvellous, and saved our feelings from painful associations. To be serious, the reader has another excellent specimen of the " facts" published under the mask of " Travels 74 IN^-ESTIGATION, ETC. in China." An accident is alleged to Lave happened under circumstances that must have resulted in the most distressing consequences; yet these consequences are Avholly left to conjecture. This, alone, would hlast its reputation had the other narratives not rendered it an absurdity. In our humblo opinion, the historian who could either invent, or ignore, such an occurrence deserves to be branded with the blackest indignation. SPECIMENS OF EXAGGERATION. In like manner, the Shepatan, or Eighteen cataracts, is not only the scene of numerous shipwrecks, but two or three vessels are perceived lying against the rocks, with their flat bottoms uppermost, a sight entirely unnoticed by the other journalists, who are, nevertheless, alive to the shoals and obstructions encountered in this part of the channel. (o) Altogether, our traveller is too fond of the marvellous. Besides delighting in such themes, he discovers an unconquerable disposition to run to extremes whatever he has got to work upon. A common superlative is, in general, too weak for his etforts, which must be supported on tenns expressive of the most extravagant amplification. "The whirlpool, at Charybdis, could not pos- sibly be more tcmfic than the tumultuous eddies boiling around Keeto point," and yet no alarm was taken. In the gulf of Pecheli, the number of small sandy islands are " prodigious,"(/?) though none were seen or heard of in the track of the ships, except at the bai* where they finally cast anchor. The scor- pions, at Tonchoo, " crept into our beds in such numbers," though only one ventured to take a peep at the strangers, who had so unceremoniously disturbed them. " The old viceroy of Pechelee's visiting ticket contained as much crimson-colored paper as would be sufficient to cover the walls of a moderate- sized room." In the crowd at Tinghai "nothing scarcely was heard but the words Tairhmtgtee and Hungmau, the emperor KASH ASSERTIONS. 75 and the Englishman;" and the pilots of the same place were " the most miserable wretches" he ever beheld. All this is outrageous exaggeration, and examples may he found in nearly every page of the so-called Travels. If instead of collecting "facts" the author of them had said marvels, the nail would have been hit upon the head, to the greatest nicety. RASH ASSERTIONS GOOD ENOUGH FOR "FACTS." No sort of marvel seemingly comes amiss : it is immaterial what, or whence ; even an unguarded expression is laid hold of, if only sufficiently extravagant, and capable of fusion in the general scheme. Of this Last circumstance there is a remarkable instance, rendered still more remarkable as being the only specimen of his own folly over which the disciple of truth has subsequently cast a slur. Anxious to acquaint his readers that he encountered one of those " tremendous gales" known by the name of typhoon, the heroic adventurer observes : " These hurricanes sometimes blowwi.th such strength that, according to the assertion of an experienced and intelligent commander of one of the East India Company's ships, ' Were it possible to blow ten thousand trumpets, and beat as many drums, on the forecastle of an Indiaman, in the height of a Tafung, neither the sound of the one nor the other would be heard by a person on the quarter-deck of the same ship.' In fact, vast numbers of Chinese vessels are lost in these heavy gales of wind ; and ten or twelve thousand subjects from the port of Canton alone are reckoned to perish annually by shipwreck." (p. 41.) The assertion of an experienced and intelligent commander is thus set forth, not only without comment, but as a forcible illustration of "these heavy gales of wind:" it is, in fine, information deserving of public confidence. In the long run, however, forth comes the darling Auto, tuning the gigantic merits of its illustrious parent, and, in a fit of happy humour, 76 INVESTIGATION, ETC. falls foul, not of the Travels, he it remembered, but of the experienced and intelligent commander wbo risked the rash assertion. That officer, on being doubted and questioned by our trath-dovoted traveller, would not, on second thoughts, endorse what he had just uttered : nevertheless, with the knowledge of this fact, that rash assertion, in all its integrity, is deemed icorthy of the Travels, and is spread as the experi- ence of an intelligent commander to illustrate those tremendous gales, so fatal to Chinese seamen. Noble Mr. Barrow ! exquisite collector of fticts ! thus did thy reputation grow ; and thus didst thou take thy stand amongst " individuals of acknow- ledged eminence in science and literature:" thus, in short, didst thou open the eyes of thy benighted countrymen, who, in gratitude for the great boon, were ready to cover thee with imperishable renown ! Who, then, did not envy the planet that presided at thy birth ! Yet, stay ! Ambition, which made Napoleon the terror of a continent, carried him on till he finished that terror on a lonely rock : even so, the same " powerful motive," which stamped the Travels " in a nation's eyes," hath ceased not till those Travels have become a proverb — a reproach ! In taking his laugh out of the captain of the Hindostan, the old fool shuts his eyes to the fact that he is laughing at his own expense. (5) POYANG LAKE— BARRdW SWAMPS. This disposiiion for the extravagant is also well illustrated in describing the desolation surrounding the Poyaug lake, from which no inference is drawn, but seemingly to combat the smiling plains mentioned in Anderson's Account, a publication which has been a thom in official quarters. The comptroller's description of the countiy is not veiy diflerent from that of Sir George Staunton, only the desolation is of greater extent. Whenever the " two able historians" enter the same arena the former is, generally, well ahead, sometimes far; but in this instance. Jack barely beats his master. POYANG LAKE. 77 " Tlie nearer we approached the great lake Poyang, the more dreary was the appearance of the country ; and for the distance of ten miles around it, or at least on the south and west sides, was a wild waste of reeds and rank grasses, inter- rupted only hy stagnant pools of water. Not a human dwelling of any description was to be seen. This place may justly be considered as the sink of China, into which rivers fall from every point of the compass. It is scarcely possible for the imagination to form to itself an idea of a more desolate region than that which surrounds the Poyang lake. The temperature was so reduced, by the circumambient waters, that on the 27th November, with drizzling showers, the thermometer was down to 48° in the forenoon. We sailed near four whole days over the same kind of country, and came towards the evening of the last, to the city of Nanchangfoo." (p. 533.) The picture, in its present colors, is dismal, indeed ; but no sooner is the official map referred to than our wonted serenity begins to return. Upon that map, delineated by the same artist who painted the above shuddering picture, what do we find during these four memorable days ? Why ! three cities of the third class, three considerable towns, and a village ; all close upon the route, and so situated that a single day did not transpire without one or other being in sight : some of them even lay between the route and the dismal lake. But does the comptroller not assume a very great responsibility in attempt- ing, from his own observations, to describe the country sur- rounding a lake of such magnitude as the Poyang ? That he is determined to collect "facts" we have here the amplest evidence, and no mistake. While confident the desolation extended all round, to the distance of ten miles, he knew it was particularly so on the south, and on the west, because he had experience of it. Nevertheless, the lake was not approached nearer than ten miles, on the south only; on the west side — not at all ! It lay quite beyond the visible horizon, and yet we are assured it was a " wild waste of reeds and rank grasses, where not a human dwelling of any description was to be seen." 78 I>rV"ESTIGATION, ETC. To test tlie value of this " fact," we call upon a witness who, although not in the McCartney embassy, dare not bo disputed at the present issue. The witness, now introduced, examined with his own eyes, and described with his own pen, the country all along, and close to the western shore of the Poyang lake ; and as opposite as night is to day is his testimony to the "facts and obseiTations " of the culprit. Instead of dismal swamps, " the scenery has, contraiy to my anticipations, been moun- tainous and highly picturesque." By placing an implicit con- fidence in the detestable accounts of the first English embassy, the historian of the second was thus led astray. The testimony just given is, by cotemporar}', and subsequent travellers, rendered an undoubted fact. Again : had the comptroller been a merchant, and had he dealt out his commodities with the same unsparing hand, with which he measures his whims, he would not only have desers'ed well of the community, but been fully entitled to a niche in the temple of fame. Instead of confining his houseless desert to the vicinity of the lake, it commences while he is yet some seventy miles away. Even at this distance his eyes are stretching over the same wild waste, where not a human dwelling, of any description, was to be seen. Upon the liGth November, the first of the four memorable days, while Mr. Barrow is yearning over this awful picture of desolation, what is Lord McCartney thinking of ? Why ! he is so enrap- tured, at the beautifully cultivated fields, as to call out " The Chinese are surely the best husbandmen in the world." The same prospect is before both, and both are laying in their *' facts" to enlighten the British public on this distant and hitherto unkno'svn region of the world ; and what a contrast ! But has not the biographer of Lord McCartney pledged him- self to the accuracy of his lordship's statements, that they were written on the ground of reality, and never afterwards interfered with on the ground of recollection ? He has done so ; and, again, we call attention to this disgusting contrast. We are almost sick of the frequency of such conflicting statements to POYANG LAKE. 79 remark that a region so inconceivably desolate should have appeared thus different to other eyes. Even Anderson, at this juncture, is as enthusiastic as his lordship, and were he alone we should prefer his statements to those of the comptroller, well satisfied that any man, even if he had not received a scholastic education, may, in a case of this nature, be quite as good a judge as the ablest linguist or mathematician. The origin of some of the adire Pekinum whims is involved in considerable mystery, and their object seems inexplicable on any other ground but that of "astonishing the natives:" something marvellous must be told of the country it was the lot of few to visit. Of this class are the Barrow Swamjjs, which are always in the extreme of dismalness, without cultivation and without inhabitants. No monomaniac ever gazed with more concern on his peculiar phantasy than our author on the face of his great discoveiy. Not content with outraging the country that really passed in review, whole regions, lying beyond the reach of sight, must feel the weight of his desolating ven- geance. Sir George Staunton, himself, though usually exer- cising a greater amount of caution, is not in a much better position respecting the swamps in question. He has, indeed, the assurance to tell us that the maps of the embassy " convey a faithful picture of the country, through interesting remarks made every day upon the spot." (II, p. 523.) As a specimen of these remarks the following description of the Poyang shall speak for itself. " The whole country around this lake is nothing but a swamp for many leagues, and will admit of no kind of culti- vation notwithstanding it is very populous, every dry patch of ground having a village upon it." The school in which the comptroller was taught is here examplified to a nicety ; but let us compare this " faithful picture" of the map with the faithful picture of the official volumes. "For the distance of some miles, indeed, on every side of it, the face of the country is one wild and morassy waste, covered with reeds and rushes, and entirely inundated for a part of the year. Not a village is 80 IN\T.STIGATION, ETC. to be seen ; nor any traces of habitation visible, except now and then a mean and solitary hut for the residence of a fisher- man, so situated sometimes as to be approached only by a boat." (II, p. 497.) Who, on comparing these "faithful pictures," could have suspected the author of the official volumes guilty of such abominable inconsistencies. By the " interesting remark," made upon the spot, the morassy waste extends to "many leagues ; " by the " Authentic Account," it dwindles down to the modest distance of *' some miles." By the former — the same waste is crowded with population and villages ; by the latter — " not a village is to be seen," and scarcely the trace of a human habitation. It is not often we find the learned gentleman committing himself in this manner ; it, however, only proves that the greatest caution will sometimes oven-each itself. But had Sir George Staunton confined his interesting remarks to what really passed before his eyes, they are still a gross imposition on public opinion ; because cotcmporary as well as subsequent testimony prove that no such swamps were encountered here, or indeed anywhere on the route. The country was flat and cultivated, and, though tame or poor in the eyes of some, was beautiful and fertile in the eyes of others ; but, in every instance, vastly different to the abhorrent colors of the " faithful pictures." It even appears, the Jaou country, on the south-east side of the lake, is the subject of a Chinese proverb, which observes " The habits and temper of the people are remarkable for openness and generosity, as the soil is for its productiveness, and the higher classes for education and refinement." SANDY ISLANDS OF THE POYANG. We are not yet done with the learned baronet, "In the JUke," he tells us, "were scattered small sandy islands just SANDY ISLANDS OF THE POYANG, 81 peeping above the surface of the water, and covered with humble dwellings, the abodes of fishermen." (II, p. 498.) As no other gentleman of the embassy assumes the responsi- bility of having seen this lake, and being fully persuaded they could not, we are tempted to ask a very simple question : At what distance, along a flat surface, could such islands be seen by a human eye ? Without putting our readers to the incon- venience of a calculation, the traveller shall be allowed to answer for himself. Approaching the mouth of the Pyho, " the coast is so very low as to be scarce discoverable, at two miles distance, but by means of the buildings erected on it." If such was the effect at two miles distance, what must have been the appearance of the small sandy islands of the Poyang, the verge of which was scarcely approached within ten miles ? Is it likely the islands, or lake, were seen at all ? But De Guignes, who soon followed in the same line, expressly states that the lake was impossible to be discovered; and Dr. Milne, who long afterwards actually entered the lake, and sailed past these islands, describes them as hilly and picturesque. Thus every circumstance tends to confirm the disreputable basis upon which the historians of the McCartney embassy have founded their descriptions of China. We have introduced the small sandy islands of the Poyang as a good elucidating example of the school which picks up an idea anyhow, and then contrives to work it in as derived from personal observation. In this case, as in many others, it proves exceedingly unfortunate — in a word, the fact over- reaches itself by seeing what was impossible to be seen. SINK OF CHINA. Returning to the comptroller, we find he has no desire to let anything in the shape of a remarkable idea or expression pass him, when it can be dragged in ; it is, therefore, no wonder the " large quarto" should be inflated by so many of 82 INVESTIGATIOX, ETC. the observations already suflSciently circulated by the authentic volumes. Of course, it was not enough that Sir George Staunton should call the Poyang the " common sewer of China," iuto which rivers flow from " most points of the compass" — it must re-appear as the " sink of China," into which rivers fall from " eveiy point of the compass." This is not exactly a plagiarism, but an improvement upon an original idea ; and although a mere trifle, it is a perfect illustration oi the forte of John Barrow, F.R.S. — the " common sewer" being changed into the "sink," and " most points," iuto " eveiy point." Awkwardly enough, the lake is situated immediately on the south side of the great river Yangtse- kiang, into which it flows. Rivei-s entering the lake from the north would, of course, have to cross the Yangtse-kiang, by an aqueduct or tunnel, we presume, but are not informed which. Calling the lake or swamp, however, that receives only the drainage of a single province, the " sink of China," is but a puerile idea at the best. LAKE CINING — Country with two Surfaces. The lakes and swamps of Cining, besides a picture of scarce less desolation, present others of a still more extra- ordinary character. " Having passed on the 2Gth October the walls of the city Ciniivj, where a multitude of small craft wore lying at anchor, we came to an extensive lake of the same name, navigated by a great number of sailing boats. From the cast side of this lake the canal was separated only by an immense mound of earth. To the westward the whole countrj-, beyond the reach of sight, was one continued swamp or morass, upon which were interspersed pools or ponds of water abounding with the nelumbium, at this time in full flower." (p. 505.) No less than two glaring absurdities are embodied in this single extract: "The whole country, heijond (lie reach of sight, was LAKE CINING. 83 one continued swamp or morass ;" wtile an "extensive lake, navigated by a great number of sailing boats," occupies the same local position that is also occupied by " a continued swamp or morass, interspersed with pools of water." Dismis- sing for a moment these abominations, we have proof, from Sir George Staunton and the map, that the canal did not pass along the east side of this lake, but along the east side of another lake, approached two days afterwards. Tossing these authorities aside, and placing greater confidence in his own "loose notes," the would-be traveller seems to have jumbled them together to bring out a new idea, for he is evidently con- founding the two situations. He has, however, overreached himself, and placed a continued swamp upon an extensive lake, an absurdity from which no consideration will relieve him. If he has mistaken the east for the west he has also mistaken the lakes and their adjoining peculiarities ; and to thrust forward such trumpery as " Travels in China" is, to say the least of it, the height of impertinence. But there cannot be any mistake in the matter seeing the descriptions are faithfully transferred from one edition to another. It would be ridiculous to call it by any other name but ungovernable folly struggling to write a narrative, which, while pressing upon its whims like an incubus, is contemptible from first to last, even if blunders and absurdities had found no portion in it. The whole countiy, where the eye could not reach, is actually described as a continued swamp abounding with the nelumbium, then "wasting its sweetness on the desert air." Nothing short of an able match for the gun that could shoot about corners must have reached and collected this observation. What an enviable telescope !(/•) Who, after this, can doubt that the comptroller, on leaving England, had screwed up his determination to a pitch that would not only scour the country, but leave to future travellers the collecting of facts a hopeless case. Till, however, we have had ocular demonstration of this wonderful piece of mechanism we shall doubt its ability, and protest against the " long range." If allowed, the combat 84 INVESTIGATION, ETC. would be too unequal, and we submit at once. As far as the eye can reach we hold to be a range sufficiently ample for the most clear-sighted to describe with any pretensions to accuracy. Did Mr. Barrow mean what he says ? Ho did : he has only enforced, by another satisfactory example, the same incompre- hensible faculty that saw and described the houseless swamps of the " sink of China." BARROW SWAMPS OF SHANTONG. During three days journey, or about eighty miles from Cining, the country, indeed, consisted in nothing else but lakes or swampy ground half covered with water ; and, except on the water and the islands, the whole of it may be said to be unin- habited, and totally devoid of any kind of cultivation. " Some- times, indeed, a few miserable huts appeared on the small hillocks that here and there raised their heads out of the dreary waste of morass ; but the chief inhabitants were cranes, herons, guillemots, and a vast variety of other kinds of birds that frequent the waters and swamps. "(.s) (p. 507.) By this time, we fancy our readers will not turn pale at a Barrow swamp: as usual, however, he reckons without his host ; for it can be shown, from authority which dare not be disputed, that even these eighty miles were not quite so dreary as they are painted. The "elegant and accui-ate" details, themselves, while doing eveiy justice to the swamps, arc not unmindful of the population and culture, abundance of both presenting th cmsclves all along. The view, itself, never ceased to be bounded by a range of highly interesting hills. It is true, some twenty years afterwards an extensive inundation had overspread this part of the countiy, and laid a great portion of it under water ; but the most smiling plains have suflered from such calamities, and independent of the many towns and vil- lages all along the canal — the trees, the picturesque situations, and traces of cultivation, proved the country as a whole to have BABROW SWA5IPS OF SHANTONG. 85 been anything but a dismal swamp. It is further remarkable that the authority now relied upon, when coasting the great Paoying lake, south of the Yellow river, observes " On the right bank, for the first time, since leaving the country of Tongcoo, was a tract of uncultivated ground, abandoned to rushes and briars." Mr. Ellis, who followed in the identical footsteps of Mr. Barrow, denies seeing a tract of uncultivated ground from the mouth of the Pyho till south of the Yellow river. But to show the state of the country during the three dreary days of the McCartney embassy, and, of course, to show the basis upon which the " fact collector" has reared his dreams of desolation, we transcribe a few jottings from our private journal. " October 27. At 11, passed a flood gate. The current, forward, has through the two or three last gates been rapid. Lake — vast number of villages on its borders. Extensive level fields — cutting down a tall grass or grain — short scythe — rake of a peculiar construction. At 12, a flood gate. Long village. Three ploughs in a field, each drawn by a bullock and two asses ; one of the asses was sucked by a young colt. The plough has only one handle, held by the right hand, and the reins or halter in the left ; the share appeared broad and thin, and the whole very light, but at too great a distance for accurate inspection. Soil seems light and easy. At 1, a flood gate. Three wheelbarrows with each a sail. At 2, a flood gate. Large village. At 4, a town with 17 square towers : I counted that number. It is situated at the bottom of a range of hills, extending from north to south. Canal, here, broader than formerly. Another flood gate. At 5, a flood gate, and a long town, but contrived, as usual, that we should pass through it in the dark. The town we have just passed is very large. " October 28. At day-light, passed a very long range of shipping : several boats loaded with coal. Rice grounds — fields under water. At 1, a flood gate, and a large walled city, the largest we have seen since leaving Tonchoo. Ships built 86 INVESTIGATION, ETC. here. At 4^, a narrow and shallow part of the canal. Little sprigs, some with red flags placed in the water to warn us of the shallows. The saud has made encroachments. A cross- cut ; open to the left, hut a bank cuts off the communication to the right. " October 29. On our right, a long wall separating the canal from an extensive lake. The wall is about five feet high, built either of marble or granite : Dr. Gillan thinks marble. There is a space of fifty feet of earth between the waters of the canal and this lake. Several openings — sluices commu- nicating with the lake, over one of which the water fell into the canal, from a height of thi-ee to four feet. Several nets hanging with the crown downwards. At 12, current strong in our favor. Canal very shallow ; touching the bottom fre- quently, this morning — sudden turnings — seems to have been a river, which, laying in the direction, was taken advantage of." Such are some of the features of this dreary waste of morass, sketched whUe they were in sight, and consequently free from the distortions which a medium of ten years is so likely to produce, even upon a conscientious mind. From all this, sup- ported by cotemporary and subsequent accounts, we are fully persuaded that, instead of a boundless dreary waste of morass, Mr. Barrow saw an extensive plain, occasionally varied with wood and water, swamps and cultivation, towns and vUlages, and always terminated by lofty picturesque mountains. We are also persuaded that he saw abundance of people jmrsuing their various emplonncnts, and that the " cranes, herons, and guillemots," sprung into existence exactly on the same principle that adorned the "sink of China" with "bulrushes," and other varieties of "rank grasses." Being the natural concomi- tants of such situations it is immaterial to our author whether they were seen or not.(/) BHVIENSE AQUEDUCT. It is certainly foreign from cm* pui-jiose to enter into an IMMENSE AQUEDUCT. 87 examination of the official account beyond the influence it exercises on that of the comptroller, as a check upon his asser- tions, or illustrative of the school in which he was trained. The same inaccuracy of detail ; and the same disposition to invent and ignore, to generalize and confound, characterize the " splendid work " equally with its " valuable addition ; " only the present baronet exercises great caution, and usually keeps within reasonable limits, with which the future baronet disdains to be trammelled. In both, much of the information respect- ing the Grand canal is either wild speculation, or derived from sources that never occurred on the embassy. On this point, a careful comparison of the map with the descriptions will of itself be satisfactoiy. In its progress through that part of the country now on hand, Sir George Staunton observes : " It was a curious spectacle, though not wdthout modern examples upon a smaller scale, to see a vast body of water, forced up by human skill and industry, into a narrow channel several yards above its former bed, and flowing along in that airy state, till it finds a corresponding level at a considerable distance." (n, p. 392.) The distance surely was considerable, not less than eighty miles, if any reliance is to be placed upon the veracity of Mr. Barrow, who is equally anxious with his master to bear- testimony to this great undertaking. " To the southward, or descending part of the countiy, the projectors have been obliged to force up the water between immense banks of earth and stone, far above the level of the flat surface ; consisting almost entirely of lakes, swamps, and morass. The quantity of human labour that must have been employed, in amassing together the difi"erent materials that compose this immense aqueduct, could not have been supplied, in any reasonable length of time, except in a country where millions could be set to work at the nod of a despot." (p. 511.) In tracing upon the map this work of next to superhuman skill and industry certain exceedingly awkward features present themselves at the first glance. High and airy as the vast body of water glides along, it is, nevertheless, the receptacle of 88 INVESTIGATION, ETC. numerous streams, which flow into it from both sides. It was certainly worth tho attention of such acute observers to have explained how these feeders discharged themselves into a channel so far above the common level. Whether the accurate draughtsman copied from the maps of the Jesuits, or whether he threw the streams in at r;uuloni, as embellishments to his own, is immaterial : he straddles the horns of a dilemma, and there he must remain. In a countiy " flat beyond the reach of sight," these streams and their tributaries must, necessarily, have been banked up to the "airy" height, presenting, altogether, an accumulation of embankments still more "gigantic" than the canal itself, which only has found favor in his eyes. In vain, however, did the subsequent English embassy look for the u7cZe valley, to bridge which, these "gigantic" embank- ments were "forced up;" a flat surface only met their eyes.(M) The canal, itself, for certain, was fed by numerous streams, which fell into it as they passed along, proving to a demonstration that it was not elevated above the level of the country. In vain, too, did they look for the massive walls of coarse grey marble supporting this high embankment, and well they might, as no such walls or embankment were ever seen in the position fixed by the "Authentic Account" of the first English embassy. All this is satisfactorily corroborated by the memoraudmns last quoted from Dr. Dinwiddle's journal, which, apparently, never fails to notice any remarkable em- bankment or excavation ; yet, on this occasion, it is silent and significantly so. The canal had all the appearance of a river ; had sudden turnings, varied greatly in width, was very shallow, and full of sand banks, indicated by little red flags. Instead of sluices letting do\vn the water upon the adjacent country, the only sluices taken notice of are those that came from the lakes to supply the canal, into which the water fell some three or four feet. The truth of this last assertion cames its own evidence in the nets which were seen hanging at these sluices. It is worthy of remark that these hanging nets, as well as the little red flags, are ignored by the "two able historians ;" GRAND CANAIi. 89 this much is certain — they were not very agreeahle companions of an "airy" height. Neither were the cross-cut canals. Even the ignored villages and walled towns, and particularly the one with the ship-builder's yards, were unlikely spectacles on the brink of a high and narrow aqueduct. Whatever amount of strength or solidity may have been given to the banks it could only have been to resist, and not to elevate, the waters in the channel, which certainly was not higher than the adja- cent country. The " immense aqueduct" is clearly a creature of the brain — another marvel ; first experimented on by Sir G-eorge Staunton, and finally, by his pupil, amplified to the extravagant standard of the Travels. GRAND CANAL.— "All the Talents." It seems doubtful if the public, even yet, possesses much reliable information respecting the details of the Grand canal, and the topography of the countiy through which it stretches ; but whether now, or whether hereafter, the virtuoso, who may feel so interested, will find a most deplorable accumulation of nonsense in the map and descriptions furnished by the three chief writers of the British embassy. If these gentlemen were qualified they were dishonest journalists. Instead of using their pencils while moving on, they have left their observations to be decided by future reflections, based on memory and their kind friends, the Jesuits. Nothing else can account for the matchless absurdities they have committed. Confused notions of lakes and swamps, excavations and embankments, levels and currents, floodgates, sluices, and equilibrium ditches, have settled upon the brains of all ; and these ideas, after being pounded in a common mass, are moulded anew, each to his taste, but no two alike. " When rogues fall out, honest men get their own," and truth, perhaps, has no reason to grumble at the dissonance of such a triumvirate. Whatever is asserted by one is almost sure to be confuted by another, while they 90 INVESTIGATION, ETC. have brushed up an old map setting themselves, one and all, at defiance. If his lordship traces the canal in the winding bed of an ancient river, the comptroller gets immediately to work, and digs down to the depth of thirty to seventy feet. If the minister plenipotentiary tries his hand at digging, then, to prove his " inveterate hatred of idleness," I\Ir. BaiTow employs all the barrows of the empire in raising up his "gigantic embankments." If the same "inveterate" gentleman, to improve upon the missionaries, lays the countiy out into bound- less, uninhabitable swamps. Sir George and his lordship, nevertheless, reserve each a favourite, though different portion, adorned with wood, water, and every feature to render a landscape beautiful. If Sir George, with the eye of genius, brings a feeder from his favored lake, his lordship immediately sinks that lake deep beneath the level of the canal ; but, on the other hand, if he attempts to feed the canal from the lake he is admiring. Sir George and his pupil put their shoulders together, and up goes the " immense aqueduct" to that " airy" height which confounds his lordship, and renders his feeder unavailing. If, again, to enjoy the prospect of a boundless rushy swamp, occupying the position that is also occupied by an extensive navigable lake — if, we repeat it, to enjoy and collect this astounding "fact," the comptroller conducts the canal along the east side of lake Cining, then the ambassador, assisted by the next in command, gives a strong pull, and a " pull all together," and back it comes to its proper position on the west. Such is a feeble outline of the abominations attending an attempt to harmonize the observations before us ; but when the map is brought into play, the shock, at once, becomes ovci-whclming, and the task has to be given up in despair. But this jumbling is susceptible of elucidation by a much easier process — easier to be understood. When descending from the summit level, the canal passed a lake, on the left band, and the situation, altogether, reminded Lord McCartney of the canal at Lake Lagoda, in Russia. The observations of GRAND CANAL. 91 his lordsliip on this occasion are faithfully transferred by Sir George Staunton to another lake passed some days afterwards, and which lay on the contraiy, ox right side of the canal. (11, p. 398) The descriptions in our manuscript journal, while giving every countenance to those of his lordship, show the scenery of the two situations to have been very different : nevertheless, the author of the Authentic Account has thought proper to elucidate the one locality by observations wiitten expressly for the other. How, after this, is it possible to expect correct information flowing from such contaminated sources ! On a certain occasion, the comptroller mentions with -seeming regret his ignorance of the school to which one of his colleagues belonged. Verily ! we have not much reason to congratulate him on the school of Sir Greorge Staunton. Little, indeed, did the master think he was teaching the yoimg idea that was, one day, destined to far outshoot his own cautious calculations, and be the means of laying the whole imposture bare. GRAND CANAL.— Mr. Barrow's "Endeavor." Having seen the consequences resulting from the combined efforts of " all the talents," let the reader revert to the comp- troller alone, and take a peep at his " endeavor." " I shall endeavor to convey, in a few words, a general idea of the principles on which this grand undertaking has been carried on. All the rivers of note in China fall from the high lands of Tartary, which lie to the northward of Thibet, crossing the plains of this empire in their descent to the sea from west to east. The inland navigation being carried from north to south cuts these rivers at right angles, the smaller streams of which terminating in it afford a constant supply of water ; and the three great rivers, the Euhc{v) to the north, the Yellow river towards the middle, and the Yangtsekiang to the south, intersecting the canal, cany off the superfluous water to the 92 INVESTIGATION, ETC. sea. The former, therefore, are the feeders, and the latter the dinchargers of the great trunk of the canal. A number of difficulties must have arisen in accommodating the general level of the canal to the several levels of the feeding streams ; for notwithstanding all the favorable circumstances of the face of the country, it has been found necessaiy in many places to cut down to the depth of sixty or seventy feet below the sur- face ; and in others, to raise mounds of earth upon lakes and swamps and marshy grounds, of such a length and magnitude that nothing short of the absolute command over multitudes could have accomplished an undertaking, whose i m mensity is only exceeded by the great wall." (p. 33G.) Unable to resist the propensity to sweeping assertions, all the rivers of note in China must fall from the high lands of Tartary, notwithstanding the Sekiang and many others do not make the slightest approach to that central part of the conti- nent : even the Euho, one of the notables mentioned by name, lies wholly within the ancient provinces, to one of which it is all but confined. But the Yellow and Blue rivers, themselves, though twisted to our author's pui-pose, have their sources more properly in Thibet, and the 07ily " river of note," that really satisfies the assumptions of the " endeavor," is the Amour ; but so far from cutting this, or even the Sekiang, at right angles, the canal claims no connexion with either by many hundreds of miles. Admitting, however, all this to have been described with "equal elegance and accuracy" — that even/ river of note," in China, tnily descended from the Tartarian bulges, and was actually cut at right angles by the inland navigation — admitting all this — Where do the "smaller streams" come from ; or to what are they allied ? If they are not the relatives of the " right angles," what are they ? What is the meaning of the " which ; " or to what has that pronoun reference? But, again; admitting the "smaller streams" also to have been described with "equal elegance and accuracy," and eveiy particular rendered as clear as a noon-day sun, — how is it that, in order to accommodate the level to these GRAND CANAL. 93 feeders, the Chinese have been obliged to " force up " the canal between gigantic embankments of such length and mag- nitude that their immensity is exceeded only by the great wall ? Is it a necessary consequence, in levelling, that the recipient should thus be elevated above its feeders, according to the philosophy of the uncommon lot. From its commencement at Cining, till it merges in the Yellow river, the "immense aque- duct," whether " several feet above," — " considerably above," — or " far above," never once subsides to the general level of the country, nor gives a single feeder an opportunity of dis- charging itself, unless on some hydrodynamic principle peculiar to the region of marvels. But the difficulties do not end here : every feature, attempted to be explained, is either enveloped in mystery, — attended with inconsistency, — or it is opposed to well-ascertained facts ; and yet, we are assured, all this is an "endeavor to convey, in a few words, a general idea of the principle on which this grand undertaking has been carried on." The "endeavor," truly, is a remarkable one, embodying as it does a greater amount of insipid nonsense than, perhaps, is to be found anywhere else, in the same number of lines. Nevertheless, the review, which pronounced the ablest sentence on the Travels, stamped the descriptions of the Grand canal as "faithfully recorded," — as the "best part of the work;" and, still later, one of our most entertaining cereals laid hold of the "endeavor" to illustrate the canals of China. Praiseworthy as many of these attempts are in giving a wide berth to the knowledge and experience of able and interesting writers, it surely, neverthe- less, becomes the duty of those who are thus engaged to know the meaning of the borrowed language, and its applicability to the purpose on hand. The " endeavor, " being the sentiments of an author of reputation, is, evidently, taken for granted as having some meaning, and, as a matter of consequence, a reader with ample brains is supposed to find it out. 94 INVESTIGATION, ETC. UNrFORM OF KIANGNAN. The sliifls to which the historians of tho McCartney emhassy have been driven for materials, sometimes, seem miserable indeed. " As soon as the yachts had entered into the province of Kiangnan, a mark of attention was paid to the embassy by the viceroy there, which had not been thought of before. The trackers employed upon the Pciho, at the entrance of the ambassador into China, and hitherto on his retmn, were clad in tho plain blue cotton gannents, and sometimes indeed in the tattered remnants of the poorest peasantry. They now appeared in a new and regular uniform, edged with red, and a smart bonnet with a flat red button on the top of it, all of which passed from one set of trackers to another." (II, p. 415.) So says the master, and wherever he luxui-iates the pupil dashes to the same feast as common property ; but either through ignorance, or recklessness, he applies the food to a very dilferent puqwse : thus — " The greater the distance from the capital, tho better was the apparent condition of the people. The viceroy, when he received his excellency on tho entry of the embassy into this province, happened to cast his eye upon tho half stai'vcd and half naked trackers of tho boats ; and being either ashamed of their miserable appearance, or feeling compassion for their situation, he ordered every man immediately a suit of new deaths." (p. 5G2.) Thus, the pupil would persuade us the " suit of new cloaths" was the gift of compassion, when his master aflirmed it was to honor the embassy, and that the uniform passed from one set of trackers to another. It happens well that the " lot of going to Pekin" has not been confined to the Stauntons and the Barrows alone : the coy dame has also smiled on others of an opposite school, and it appears that the uniform of Kiangnan is an " immemorial usage" of the province, on state occasions. On entering the province tlio trackers were robed in their insignia ; and again disrobed at the other threshold, of all SOOCHOO BEAUTIES. 95 whicii we should have been left in ignorance, but for the accounts of the Amherst embassy. Thus an ancient custom, thi'ough ignorance and artifice, is twisted by the two authors to very different purposes. By one — it is a mark of respect to the embassy ; by the other — a mark of compassion for the miserable wretches, and in which the author of it sees a proof of the progressive improvement of the condition of the people. The reasoning is Barrow-like. " The greater the distance from the capital the better was the apparent condition of the people," and this is proved by the viceroy's compassion for the half starved, half naked trackers, presenting them with a uniform, which nevertheless, is asserted to have passed from one set of trackers to another. SOOCHOO BEAUTIES. The observations and whims on woman alone have assisted materially in swelling out the "large quarto," and this is rather extraordinary considering the want of opportunities ; but even with this exuberance we should not have quarrelled had the subject been conducted with consistency, a quality only found in our author in connection with his constancy to contradiction. In this respect he is uniformly consistent. But to our purpose : when the embassy was drawing to a close, and had reached Chauchoo, in the province of Canton, some ferry girls arrested attention in the travellers, and we have the following remarkable confession. " Having for so great a length of time scarcely ever set our eyes upon a female, except the heads of some at a distance, peeping from behind the mud walls that surround the houses, or laboring in the grounds of Kianrjsee, the feriy girls, though in reality very plain and coarse featured, were considered as the most beautiful objects that had occurred in the whole journey." (p. 595.) When tested by other accounts, there is some truth in the 96 INVESTIGATION, ETC. foregoing extract, viz : few women, comparatively, were seen, and these generally at a distance. But after such an admis- sion, what are we to make of the same author's observations at Saupoo and Soochoo, the latter place in particular, where *' the numerous inhabitants that appeared upon and without the walls of this extensive city, were better dressed and said to be more contented and cheerful, than we had yet observed them in any other place. For the most part they were cloathed in silk. The ladies were here dressed in petticoats, and not in trowsers, as they had hitherto appeared to the northward. The general fashion of the head dress was a black satin cap with a trian- gular peak, the point descending to the root of the nose, in the middle of which, or about the centre of the forehead, («•) was a crystal button. The whole face and neck were washed with a preparation of white lead, and the cheeks highly rouged ; and two vermillion spots, like wafers, were particularly con- spicuous, one on the centre of the under lip, and the other on the chin. Their feet were universally squeezed down to an unnatural size. Few females were seen among the immense crowds that the novelty of the sight had brought together, but great numbers had assembled in the houses, and particularly on board the pleasure and passage yachts, with the intention of satisfying their curiosity. The superior stylo of dress and the appearance of the women in public at this place, so differ- ent from the general custom of the countiy, could only be explained by the writings of the missionaries." (p. 517.) Surely such an assemblage of well dressed, handsome ladies, gratifying curiosity at the passing strangers, was a far more beautiful sight than the plain, coarse featured fcriy girls of Chauchoo. How, then, has the Soochoo beauties been so soon forgotten ? Nay ! our author distinctly denies seeing them, the only exceptions to the feny girls being the laboring women of Kiangsee, and those peeping from behind the mud walls, in the northern districts. These, we are assured, were the onlij exceptions in the whole journey. Alas ! we find the comp- troller has been taking another lesson from the missionaries, SOOCHOO BEAUTIES. 97 '•vhose writings only could explain the cause of so interesting an improvement at Soochoo, where, we fear, this great con- course of female beauties has been, purposely, contrived to bear out those veiy explanations. And we fear also the writings of the missionaries only can explain the phenomena of the telescope, to the powers of which there seem to have been no limits. Nothing, in fact, was safe from its penetrating search ; even brick and mortar afforded no security. "Whether the women were peeping from behind mud walls, at a distance, or looking out from the windows, our admirable traveller could see " their feet were universally squeezed down to an unnatural size." The speculations of the comptroller, like the children of iniquity, are bom to trouble : some drag or other always hangs upon them, and there is rather a remarkable one in the present case. Lord McCartney informs us the embassy passed through Soochoo in the evening, and this is confirmed by Dr. Dinwid- dle's journal; it is even countenanced by the "faithful pictures" of the official map. It appears the embassy approached the suburbs of the famous city at 4 p.m. If then the sun set that evening directly after five, as it did, and if the yachts took three and a half hours in reaching the city walls, as the comptroller affirms, a tolei'able estimate may be formed of the light whose benign influence was shed on this interesting occasion. The moon was too young to be of any service, but, to give the culprit every due advantage, it must be borne in mind that a " feast of lanterns" always attended the embassy when passing a city after the shades of evening had descended. Illuminated by such a feast only could the walls of Soochoo be crowded by its well-to-do inhabitants, and the windows and pleasure yachts be thronged by its female beauties ; and by such a feast only could our author scrutinize the " superior style of dress," the "rouged cheeks," and the "cheerful countenances," all of which cut so deep that he was enabled to paint the charming picture after ten long years. Here is a "fact" for England! but — tell it not in Gath ! publish it 98 IN\'ESTIGATION, ETC. not in the streets of Ascalon the awkward hour when all this happened ! an hour which at once explains and corroborates the observations on the Chauchoo ferry girls. But this highly-favored city has even bewildered Sir George Staunton, who, accoi'ding to the regime of his school, has, here, reproduced the identical observations of Lord McCartney written for the city of Chanchoo, which, with other places of a similar character, was passed in broad day-light. Though rustling in silks, and adorned with fair complexions, these cities, unfortunately, had not been rendered famous ; and instead of spending their powder on such small game the wily travellers reserved it for the " bird of paradise," which was at hand. LAKE TAIHOO. From exactly the same sources is Lake Taihoo discovered to be celebrated for its fish and picturesque scenciy, and our diligent traveller, wishing to add to his " facts," naturally enough proposes a party to so desirable a retreat ; but the good-natured Van would not, on this occasion, consent. Granting such an outrageous proposal to have been made, how could the conductor consent to it, if the lake was at the distance represented on the carefully constructed map, not less than ten miles ? And wh.at a keen obseiTer must the minister plenipotontiaiy have been ? In direct violation of the laws of nature, the distance, intervening objects, and the shadows of night, he undertakes to describe the pleasure barges sailing upon the lake, and the interesting accom- modations aflorded by the female rowers : his penetration even reached the picturesque beauties on the opposite shore some thirty miles away, according to the map, whose accuracy was beyond all doiibt. The observations, indeed, are an insult to common sense, even if it had been broad day-light, and the shores of the lake at no greater distance than a mile. But it LAKE TAIHOO. 99 cannot be discovered that the lake was seen at all, either on the present, or on the Dutch embassy, which possessed infinitely better opportunities. No individual takes it upon him to say he saw it in reality ; it is only, like the Poyang, discernible through a Staunton-Barrow mist as lying to the west, and at a short distance from Soochoo. These short distances may, however, be estimated from the circumstance of Kintechin, the famous porcelain manufactoiy, when over a hundred and thirty miles from the travellers' route, was considered as " not very far" : a willing eye will indeed reach to great distances. The whole drift of all this lies in a nut shell. The missionaries, and other writers on China, were ransacked, either before, or during the compilation of the ofiicial account, and every place of note, lying in or near the route of the embassy, has been carefully stored to render the narrative entertaining, and give it a " wise-like" appearance. (a;) It is immaterial whether these places were, or were not, accessible to the reach of sight ; they must appear so, and something must be said about them. This is the sole found- ation of the Soochoo and many other speculations ; it is nevertheless disgraceful to find information thus picked up repeated as the experience of the embassy. However barren of interest, a candid narrative would have reflected greater honor than such repetitions, which offer a poor apology for the paucity of materials. When, indeed, the detestable whims and speculations have been thoroughly sifted, we believe there is more reliable information of the state of the country, as seen on the journey, to be found in the unpretending and much abused octavo of Anderson, than in the ponderous quartos of the minister plenipotentiar3% with that of his pupil thrown into the same scale. TRIFLING NOTABILIA. In ferreting out Notabilia, the comptroller has alighted on some two or three spots seemingly overlooked by Sir George 100 INVESTIGATION, ETC, Staunton, or, perhaps, deemed beneath his notice. Thus the embassy is made to stop at Nanchang, where the anxious traveller, in the prosecution of his inquiries, is " told" there is a famous temple associated with a strange well. Of course, instead of giving us some correct and useful information of this large city, and the country in which it stands, he nishes, at once, to the temple, and its marvellous associations, as being of more importance. As usual, we find the embassy did not stop at Nanchang, but passed on to a village, four miles from it. In a similar way, when approaching the Yellow River, the village of Senmeo is " pointed out" to him, in connexion with a curious tradition of the Astronomer Heu. If it was worth our author's consideration to notice such a place in the Travels, it was equally worth pointing out on the " faithful" map, but neglecting to do so leaves room for doubt as to when he acquired the knowledge of Senmee and its traditionary associations. In this manner, the fact collector, instead of collecting facts, will shirk the objects before him, and fly off to wherever notahilia or marvellous associations present themselves. Consequently, we have whole treatises on ancient rebellions, inundations, famines, pestilence, and such like, occupying the records which should have been devoted to passing events and surrounding objects : all clearly demon- strating the missionaries and other wi-iters were the grounds he travelled over, and not the country itself, which, in truth, was a sealed letter, notwithstanding it was his lot to go to Pekin. SHINGMOO. Among the numerous lucubrations on Chinese theology, occurs the following notice of Shingmoo, styled the goddess of intelligence : " In China, few temples are without some representation of the nclumbium ; sometimes the Shingmoo is painted as standing upon its leaves in the midst of a lake. In one temple SHINGMOO. 101 I observed the intelligent mother sitting upon the broad pellate leaf of this plant, which had been hewn out of the living rock." (p, 474.) Besides concealing the name of the temple, our author would lead his readers to believe that visiting temples was an ordinary occurrence ; he has, however, mentioned the where- abouts in the narrative, that inscrutable check upon his speculations. At the rock of Quansin, on the Pekiang river, the embassy halted to explore an excavated temple of Poosa. " In the centre of this apartment sat the goddess Poosa upon a kind of altar, constituting a part of the rock, and hewn into the shape of the lienwha or nelumbium." (p. 696.) Instead of the Shingmoo, then, it was Poosa, a very different deity, even according to our author's interpretation ; adding another to the many proofs that the same circumstance twice alluded to exposes some reckless disregard of truth. (y) So far for Barrow versus Barrow : but his lordship, who also inspected this souterrain, paints the deity in vastly different colors. " Here the god Pusa is displayed in all his glory, a gigantic image with a Saracen face grinning horribly from a double row of gilded fangs, a crown upon his head, a naked cimetar in one hand, and a firebrand in the other." Is not this remarkable ? Both call the excavation a temple of Poosa (or Pusa,) and both describe the deity from which the temple takes its name ; yet mark the contrast ! the one — a terrible gigantic male ; the other — a gentle female deity. It is true, the comptroller makes an attempt at reconciliation, by enveloping the place in one of his mysterious fogs, in which he cunningly contrives to introduce the shadow of another deity to bear out his lordship's descriptions. But it is in vain : there were only two stories, and Lord McCartney, who minutely inspected all the apartments, leaves not a spot for Mr. Barrow to place his " intelligent mother" either sitting or standing. It is, moreover, as clear as the sun at noon day that she is made to occupy the centre of the very hall that was already occupied by the terrible god.{z) 1U2 lN\'ESTIGATION, ETC. PARKER'S LENS. In the fonner part of this inquiry we had occasion to speak of Parker's great lens, and we now recur to the subject for some further comment. The Travels observes : " The only inquiry they made about it was, whether the substance was crystal ; but being informed it was glass, they turned away with a sort of disdain, as if they would say. Is a lump of glass a proper present to offer to our great Whanrjtee ? " (p. 342.) Let the reader compare this extract with its dubious brother from Lord McCartney's journal, already quoted in this inquiry, (p. 35) and mark the discrepancies in detailing a transaction that involved no cause for discrepancies. If the Chinese turned away in disdain on learning to their only inquiry that the lens was a lump of glass, why should they manifest such anxiety to see it fixed and tested ? How is it they also asked Mr. Barrow whether he could not make such another for them ? And again : mark the voluminous, equivocal answer returned to the plain question of the Chinese ! "It was made by the artist who had executed the lustres, and whose sole profession was to compose works of glass and ciystal, and that there was not such another lens in the world besides." He would not commit himself by saying whether he could, or could not. The same question is also put to Dr. Gillan, and, moved by the same spirit, he returns a similar answer, "There was not such another in the world besides." He likewise did not commit himself; and, surprisingly enough, this absurd answer seemed to satisfy the Chinese. Satisfy them of what ! whether Mr. Barrow could, or could not, make them such another lens. Most assuredly, it would not have satisfied us. It is a bombastic evasion of a simple question, and involves no little amount of self-consequence, because the glaring fact was staring him in the face that he could not erect the lens, much less manufacture one. What a figure must he have assumed when Dr. Dinwiddle stepped in upon his futile attempts ! So far from putting such questions, we fancy the Chinese, observ- Parker's lens. 103 ing tlie bustle he was in, looked upon him in ca very different light ; and if they offered a hundred or two hundred hands to assist him — it must have been ironically so. We have proof they were not insensible to fun when, at the erection of the planetarium, " the men were told they labored much and did nothing." Truth occasionally ooses out from among these abominable speculations, only it is not self-evident till the proper test be applied. For instance : it is true the Chinese had a poor opinion of works in glass, as the lustres and lens equally testified. In the last extract, from the Travels, this is fully substantiated by the comptroller observing, " Is a lump of glass a proper present to offer to our great Whangtee ?" Notwith- standing, the same comptroller, whose consistency consists in being inconsistent, never once alludes to the fate of these remarkable works of English art. Neither does Sir George Staunton, who is so illiberal as to try his best to create a different impression from the truth. While informing us that the beautiful lustres were shifted with great adroitness by Chinese workmen, we are left in total darkness that they were stowed away in an outside apartment, as useless. The same "two able writers" are no less silent on the fate of the lens' house, which, no doubt, with equal adroitness, was taken to pieces, and the two lenses laid upon the pavement of the court. These facts were patent both to Mr. Barrow and Sir George Staunton; yet mark their disingenuous attempts at con- cealment. The former, indeed, admits the lens " excited no admiration," while the latter was of opinion, *' It could scarcely escape the philosopical mind of his imperial majesty, that the same material, glass, was made to operate, by European ingenuity, such various and extraordinary pui-poses." (II, p. 324.) Writing in this shameless manner, when he knew that the emperor had treated the instruments as we have shown, is enough to throw the odium of disgrace upon the whole narrative. How different is the sentiments of Dr. Dinwiddle at this unfortunate issue. " That lens, of which 104 INVESTIGATION, ETC. there is not an equal in the world, is consigned to everlasting oblivion." GARDENS OF YUEN-MIN-YUEN. Occasionally scattered in the official volumes, the " facts and observations," of the " interesting episode," may be picked up ; and when confronted with the Travels, the same contradictory consequences follow, confirming the baseless foundations of the "unbiassed conclusions," Thus: the gardens of Yuen-min-yuen are the subject of great eulogy in the " Splendid Account," which quotes from Mr. Barrow, who " thought it a delightful place." (II, p. 306.) This idea is much dwelt upon in a generalized description of the various beauties composing the imperial paradise. In the Travels, however, the same Mr. Barrow is not quite so enthusiastic as he was when drawing up, or rather endorsing, the flattering paragraph just alluded to, and he sums up his opinion thus : " They fall veiy short of the fanciful and extravagant descriptions that Sir William Chambers has given of Chinese gardening. Much, however, has been done, and nothing that I saw could be considered as an offence to nature." (p. 123.) Certainly not ! a blind man, who had never been in China, could have unbosomed his sentiments with equal propriety. Instead of the allusions to Sir William Chambers, it would have been quite as near to the purpose to have remarked that they fall very short of the fanciful and extravagant descriptions that I gave to Sir George Staunton ; for it is certainly throwing cold water on the place previously considered " delightful." A glimmering of shame seems to pervade this acknowledgment ; at all events, it is another instance of the change of sentiment brought about by the light which the Dutch embassy threw upon the subject. This is the more apparent from the remarkable discrepancy respecting the extent of these gardens as furnished by our author on the two occasions. When the GARDENS OF YUEN-MIN-YUEN. 105 paragraph was concocted for Sir George Staunton, " the circuit is not less than twelve miles," but when the Travels made their appearance, the same ground is inflated to "at least ten miles in diameter;" (p. 122) or, being square, to something like forty miles in circuit ; in short, to more than nine times its former extent. (aa) The proprietor could have had no reason to grumble at such an increase in ten years. But how signi- ficant ! the proceedings of the Dutch embassy appeared in the mean time, and, while moderating their beauties, amplified the extent of these gardens beyond anything ever dreamed of in the philosophy of the fact collector. Aware the Dutch pos- sessed some opportunities for judging, which he never did, he has judiciously, or it may be injudiciously, (we scarce know which) assimilated his views to theirs. Like himself, however, he neither acknowledges it, nor explains how he insulted the world by two such widely difibrent estimates. The comptroller's readiness to describe these gardens, while combining some attempts at absurdity, discloses the very feel- ings of a disappointed candidate ; but it is unnecessary. No reasonable man would blame him for not effecting what was beyond his control. How was it possible for a prisoner, who could not stir a foot without being pursued, to form any idea either as to beauty 'or extent. But he knew, or, more probably, learned afterwards, that they were famous, and, con- sequently, something must be said about them. We thus find this paradise summed up to certain features peculiar to all Chinese gardening, which, coupled with conjecture, formed the only opportunity, and the fact collector might well say, "nothing that I saw could be considered as an offence to nature." It is truly ridiculous to find Sir George Staunton, from his own experience, looking with something like step-dame eye upon the imperial gardens at Gehol, and, on the authority of Mr. Barrow, praising those of Yuen-min-yuen as " delightful ;" while the veritable Mr. Barrow, having thrown cold water on his experience at Yuen-min-yuen, extols the gardens of Gehol, lOG IimiSTIGATION, ETC. on the authority of those who saw them, " as almost unrivalleci for beauty, sublimity, and amenity." In himself, the fact collector has here caught a fact which evidently proves a Tartar ; and, altogether, this sweet morsel looks like an able attempt to place the capstone on the climax of sophistiy. But these gardens are brimful of edification. " Unrivalled" as those of Gehol were for " beauty and sublimity," they appear, after all, to have dwindled down into insignificance when compared with the " natural and artificial beauties " of lake Seho, which, we are assured, "far exceeded anything we had hitherto "had an opportunity of seeing in China." (p. 521.) Some of tlie " fiicts and observations" have indeed this very remarkable peculiarity, viz : however high or extraordinary in degree the first specimen may appear, it will be sui-passed by the next sui f/eneris. Thus the gardens of Yuen-min-yuen, although a " delightful place," grows pale before the " unri- valled beauties" of Gehol; which, in their turn, must hide their diminished heads in presence of the " far exceeding " beauties of lake Seho. At Tiensin, too, the feast provided by the governor of Pechelee was " most magnificent," for richness and variety, and yet inferior to the dinner on lake Seho which "consisted of at least a hundred dishes in succession." But all this again yields to the private entertainment on the river at Canton, where the supper, "for number and variety of dishes, exceeded anything I had hitherto met with in the countiy." (p. 192.) Equally so ; districts were traversed where the population was found to bo "excessive" — "vast" — and " immense ; " nevertheless, another turned up putting them all to the route, as it proved to be " by far the most populous seen on the whole joumey."(/'i) (p. 583.) PEDESTRIAN FEAT. In speaking of contradictions we trast our readers under- stand the matter clearly. The contradiction is not always GLACIS ON THE GRAND C.\N.VL, 107 direct, but sometimes implied ; as in the Gardens of Yuen- min-yuen. But we shall illustrate it again by another morsel picked up at random from the Auto. We there read, " Having now in my remarks gone rapidly and slightly over a long journey by water and land of some twelve or thirteen hundi^ed miles through the heart of the Chinese empire ; and havinc^ walked from curiosity, as well as for the sake of makin*? observations, not less certainly than one-tenth part of that distance," &c. (p. 115.) Having written the above, and before he was many days older (judging from the number of pages) our author writes again of this performance ; " As a pedestrian, I travelled a full thousand miles in China." Now the reader will see it is not a contradiction in teiTus : a thousand miles, most assuredly, is not less than a tenth-part of thirteen hundred miles. Still a contradiction is implied, and a veiy remarkable one too. But even on another occasion this same pedestrian feat is set down at " several hundred miles;" and there is little doubt that a hundred different editions would have produced exactly a hundred different results. GLACIS ON THE GRAND CANAL. As the Gardens of Yuen-min-yuen illustrate the improve- ment which the Travels have made upon the "Authentic Account," just so, other examples illustrate the improvement which the AiUo has made upon the Travels ; all clearly demons- trating that better views are acquired as the distance in time increases. But to prevent anything in the shape of a doubt remaining on the mind of even one reader we select another specimen which will scatter that doubt in all directions. " But to take a glance at the construction of the canal between the two mighty rivers of China : — Here, and in other places where the varied surface of the country required great changes in the levels of the canal, a succession of dams separates the 108 INVESTIGATION, ETC. two levels in the form of a glacis, of which the following sketch may serve to give an idea."((x') (p. 100.) By the above extract, the fact collector, to prove his " effective zeal in promoting the progress of science," places upon the Grand canal a mode of navigation that did not exist thereon ; neither between the two mighty rivers, nor in any other part. The introduction of the glacis on canals was experienced only by the party who separated fi'om the embassy at Hanchoo, and travelled to Chusan : nowhere else. The comptroller was not of that party, and never saw such a con- trivance ; and but for the Chusan travellers the glacis would have been a sealed letter. The " powerful motive," however, in one of its ablest efforts, has whipped up the contrivance and characteristically thrust it do^\^l upon the Grand canal. By so doing a double faux pas is committed : the glacis is placed where it did not exist ; and it is brought forward as a " fact" collected by our author, himself. To such ridiculous points of view does ungoveniablo vanity sometimes carry its owner. Some account of the glacis also occurs in the T raids, where our author is a little more cautious of his sentiments, but equally unwilling to say how he came by the knowledge. This trifle, itself, is indicative of the selfishness of the traveller, and of his ambition to spread the iufonnation of others as his own. However, as might have been expected, the "faithful record" in the Travels gives a flat denial to the record, equally faithful we presume, in the Auto, respecting the glacis; for it says " There is not a lock, nor, except these, (floodgates) a single interniption to a continued navigation of six hundred miles," (p. 337) embracing of course the space between the two mighty rivers. ACCOmiODATION BAY. Another improvement upon the grand inland navigation of China, quite as able as tho last, but involving a principle peculiar to itself, is also brought to light by the Auto, thus : ACCOMMODATION BAY. 109 " In one place the projectors of the canal had apparently deviated from the direct line to obtain an immediate commijni- eation with an extensive lake, the object of which was, as we soon found, to give to the canal the advantage of a large bay for the accommodation of shipping requiring to pass and re- pass its mouth at the junction of the Yellow river." (p. 96.) The deviation alluded to is anything but apparent on the map, and we are sure that those only who possess the eyes of a Barrow could make it out. However, if there is any meaning in the above extract it is this : the canal, for commercial purposes, communicated with a lake, which, in its turn, com- municated with the Yellow river. Whether the latter part of the sentence be satisfactoiy or not the former is so, without doubt. How, or when, our author acquired this idea may be useless to discuss ; it v/as not, however, tiU long after the return of the embassy: even the last edition of the " large quarto" repudiates all knowledge of it. So does the official and other accounts of the McCartney and Amherst missions ; and if it is to be found in any writer on this great inland navi- gation — it could only be as an idea, not as an established fact. It appears to us " an original," picked up from studying the geographical position of the lake, the canal, and the Yellow river. Their connexion might seem a natural one, and, in all probability, has been pondered over till the " powerful motive" has not only reduced it to a reality, but added it to the " facts" collected on the British mission. But the Travels, again, are inexorable, and this noble "fact," of after years, is crushed beneath the weight of other facts that are piled upon it. Although unnamed, there is no mis- taking the position of the lake amid the di-eary swamps where the Travels have " forced up" that immense aqueduct which puts human comprehension to a stretch. From this " airy" situation, so " far above the level of the flat sui-face," the ship- ping at once is launched down upon the accommodation bay, with what wisdom our readers must judge for themselves : they must even guess if recourse is had to the glacis, so H 110 INVESTIGATION, ETC. injudiciously fixed where it was not required. Altogether this beautiful conception is worth the attention of x-irtuosi interested in litcrai-y curiosities. An idea, some fifty years before it was bom, is, at an opportune moment, made to flash upon the minds of the British travellers, who, nevertheless, move on, unconscious of the illumination ; and having executed its mission, the same idea plunges back into the bosom of forgetfulncss, which, in reality, it has never left, there to remain in its primeval nonentity till fate assigns an existence to it in the Auto. A single step, it has been said, leads from the sublime to the ridiculous: in other words, from "an eminence in literature, to a gulf in absurdity." Mounted on unbridled vanity, with the cautious precepts of the master flying in the winds, the reckless pupil scales the "literary eminence," notwithstanding ; but, unwilling to remain there, while " facts" are in request, and while the " progress of science can be promoted," he, again, dashes forward into the most benighted regions of speculation, and thus eventually plunges headlong into the worst kind of Barrow swamps. CHINESE ROADS. That Mr. BaiTow did possess " an inveterate hatred of idleness," is, at least, justified by the diligence he ha.-i bestowed on the improvement of his " facts and observations." The greatest attention, undeniably, has been given to this object, and the experience of 1793 has accordingly vai'ied its colors as subsequent whims or information could be united to it. Several of the latest examples illustrate this " inveterate " assiduity : equally so do the roads adjoining Pekin, to which we now draw attention. At the period of the McCartney embassy, these roads were found in such good condition as to draw the attention of every one, the comptroller not excepted. Absurdly enough, it is tme, while speaking with contempt of Chinese roads, generally, the Travels admit those in the CHINESE ROADS. Ill environs of Pekin as " good." Nevertheless, the Auto, in flat contradiction, affirms tliey found the roads " bad," both before and after passing through the capital. The same irresistible motive which induced the collector of facts to corroborate his eclipse at Tonchoo, by the experience of the Dutch embassy, has induced him to try a similar experiment respecting the roads, the bad state of which is clinched by the experience of Lord Amherst's mission. The infatuation is truly wonderful ! Our traveller will not confirm the simple and well known fact that Lord McCartney found these roads in good condition, although they were in a state of ruin at the arrival of Lord Amherst. Instead of admitting so obvious a consequence, the author of the Travels sees what he fancies a little assistance to his detestable whims on the roads of China, and hence the experience of 1793 is made to square with future discoveries, which can never come too late ; they will be tacked to, some how or other. A wise man, unquestionably, will look out for improvements, but a fool only will apply them where they are evidently worthless. As a whole, the whims on Chinese roads are hardly inferior to the swamps. " Except near the capital, and in some few places where the junction of the grand canal with navigable rivers is interrupted by mountainous ground, there is scarcely a road in the whole country that can be ranked beyond a foot- path." (p. 513.) Here, again, the incomprehensible telescope is at work, not only sweeping the country, but detecting obstructions from mountainous ground that was never seen by any other traveller. The only interruptions between the Grand canal and a navigable river, was the few miles of flat country through the suburbs of Hanchoo. Afterwards, two interruptions did occur from moun- tainous ground between one navigable river and another, but never with the canal. However, with the little experience our enviable traveller had of the roads of this vast empire he rushes to one of the most insane conclusions that ever entered the head of a man pretending to common sense. If his conclusions 112 IirVESTIGATION, ETC. are altogether fouucied on his own observations, how dares he to interfere with tlie rest of China '? But if he will do so, how could he ai-rive at such a conclusion ? His experience, such as it was, was fertile of good roads, and reasoning from analogy, was presumptive of good roads in other districts ; but instead of this he arrives, or pretends to arrive, at the conclusion that beyond what he saw there was not another road, in all China, that could be " ranked beyond a footpath." Exquisite reason- ing ! beautiful support of unbiassed conclusions ! It is incon- ceivable how the idea got into his head at all, unless he picked it up from the Dutch, who give a rather unfavorable account of some of the roads, over which they travelled. This only seems to account for another brainless whim ; and, then, it is upon the Dutch experience, and not his own, that the " unbiassed conclusions are founded." But the more we investigate the more are we satisfied that our author was not quite such a fool as he would lead us to believe ; it is, indeed, impossible he could have arrived at, or have put the slightest faith in any such conclusions. Whatever may have given the hint for the swamps, roads, and other whims, carried to such extravagance, it is beyond doubt that a delight of imposing on mankind is at the bottom of them. China had been the theme of many marvellous relations ; it was then, and was likely to continue in a great measure inaccessible to Europeans ; and these inducements, operating on a load of vanity, has resulted in the " phantastic tricks" we are now exposing to the light. SPECIMENS OF REMARIL^BLE OBSERYATION. Most other travellers, prejudiced, splenetic, accommodating, or whatever their dispositions, usually confine their " facts and observations" to the reach of sight, or the vicinity of their travels ; but it is otherwise with the Barrow-school. ((W) Of course, the same faculties which could see no roads beyond a £<:>otpath in the " whole country " would not be at a loss to see SPECIMENS OF REMARKABLE OBSERVATION. 113 anything that was desirable to be seen. In consequence, we find, " There are no inns in any part of this vast empire." — " Not a decent place of retirement in all China." — " Not a vestige of a carriage to be found amongst them." — "Nor a statue, a pillar, nor a column, in the whole empire." — " In fact there are no great farms in all China," — "and terrace culti- vation is on so small a scale as not to deserve notice." — *' Horses, too, scarce, small, and miserable, a remark which applies to every province of the empire." All these, and a thousand similar discoveries, swept from the length and breadth of the land, are collected during a flying journey from Pekiu to Canton, and while the/f happiness.'\ interested in the past tliaii in the present; wandering among what lias been, instead of what is now. But the attempts at describing the Yangtsekiang and Hohangho rivers could at best be but a subsequent addition to a journal when revised for a particular object. Whoever may have furnished the infonnatiou, the para- gi-aphs themselves, are evidently the work of the author of the "Authentic Account." But, laying all this aside for the present, let us investigate the description of the Yangtsekiang. After a southerly course of seventy miles, the two branches unite and flow to the north-east, six hundred miles ; thence east- wardly to the sea, eight hundred miles more ; and these three sums we are told, innocently enough, amount to two thousand, two hundred miles, the total length of the river from its source to the sea. (II, p. 422.) The distances are all in words, correctly spelt, and of a nature to exonerate the printer — even to preclude the idea of an accidental mistake, or seemingly anything else but reckless miscalculation. We have the authority of Sir George Staunton that Mr. Barrow made it so ; and we have the authority of Mr. Barrow, that whatever Sir George says — is right. BRONZE LION — Engraved Representation of. Another of these pretended quotations descril)es two bronze lions at Yueu-min-j-uen, thus : " So totally unlike are thcv to what they were intended to represent, as appears by the annexed engraving of one of them, that they might almost be mistaken for knights in annour, with periwigs such as were worn iu the time of King Charles." (II, p. 811.) To have entered the above in his journal, Mr. Barrow must have had before him a copy of the official account, with the engraved figure of the lion, and, as a necessaiy consequence, containing the very paragraph he was then taking notes of. Sir George Staunton is also placed iu the ridiculous position BRONZE LIO>f. 121 of quoting an illustration wliich was already in his own " splendid work." Such would be the conclusion of a hyper- critic, and not without reason. All these pretended extracts, in short, convey internal evidence of so many separate para- graphs, or papers, drawn up after the return of the embassy, to assist in swelling the great compilation to its wise-like pro- portions.' As already shown, they read, one and all, clearly the offspring of Sir George Staunton, but for particular reasons fathered, clumsily enough, upon his pupil, who, it is evident, never kept a journal in the proper sense of the word. His subsequent writings bear testimony against him ; and in every instance, the official extracts are more or less inconsistent with the Travels. But besides all this, we have our author's express acknowledgment that he only took " loose notes," and "various and miscellaneous memoranda." « * * * * Turn to whatever subject we will, we thus find some mani- festations of extravagance, some clashing whims, some reckless blundering, or, still worse,cfetestedinventions,ever accompany- ing the "unbiassed conclusions" of the great fact collector. Whoever undertakes to explore the intricacies of the "large quarto" enters, indeed, upon a Herculean task, where, like the spontaneous productions of a native wilderness, every species of iniquity thickens as he proceeds. It is by no means neces- sary to look about for examples : eveiy page is teeming ; but we have been guided in selecting some of the most prominent to illustrate the ever-varying tints employed upon this gigantic imposture. By far the greater number of incidents, " facts and observations," are such that it would be idle and endless to waste time in examining them, and these we mean to dismiss somewhat summarily, or in groups, in the following manner : AMUSING ANECDOTES. The amusing anecdotes, which occasionally help to enliven the tedium of the official volumes, would evidently not be 122 IK^-ESTIGATION, ETC. allowed to " waste their sweetness " on that atmosphere alone : accordingly we find them diifusing their fragrance also in the Travels. Belonging to this class of "pretty little dears" are the "Duke of Bedford's picture " — the "Coachman's seat on the emperor's cai'riage" — and the "Guards in their scarlet plumes" — all of which no doubt passed, and might have con- tinued to pass current had not the " powerful motive " fashioned them to its own standard. No sooner, indeed, are they sent forth a la Barrow when their significance becomes apparent — when they assume that " questionable shape" that eventually leads to their destruction. We do not enter into particulai's beyond observing that the alterations and discrepancies, not to speak of contradictions, are such that the improved version renders the original worthless, and at best to have been con- cocted from the most paltiy considerations. Had Sir George Staunton lived he would have had little reason to thank his pupil for the " valuable addition" to his own " splendid work." These anecdotes would cither have been in better keeping, or what is more likely, the world would never have been troubled with the " Travels in China:" theii* author, surely, could not have braved the master to his face. But great as the discrepancies are in some of these anecdotes just named — they are even more so in that of the " Three English creating alarm in one of the strongest cities of China." Unwilling to let well-enough alone, materials are here piled on materials till the stnicture totters by its own weight, as testi- fied by a simple comparison of the two accounts. Besides a tissue of contradictions from first to last, the nature of some of the statements cany the infamous stamp in their very fixce. For instance, Sir George Staunton, in introducing the anec- dote, observes — "it happened about this time." If it happened at all, it must have happened during the three days the embassy lay before Hanchoo, and nothing could be more stupid than to gay — " about this time." While this shows the baronet's caution in iguoring dates, and other dcnuitc particulars, ho has absolutely committed himself while trjiug to avoid it. AilUSING ANECDOTES. 123 The expression is such as could only have been used at a distant period, when writing without notes or a distinct know- ledge of the affixir ; or, what amounts to the same thing, concocting it. Even in that case the expression, like too many others, is stupid. But the commotion aroused in every part of the city is still more glaring : this would inevitably have reached eveiy ear — have startled the whole embassy, and been a topic of general conversation, which was not the case. And, besides, we have the fullest assurance, from Anderson, that no remarkable event occun-ed during their short stay at Hanchoo. It is impossible for this journalist to have made use of such an expression had the "commotion" taken place. All the observations — recorded in our manuscript — only tend to confirm this statement ; and while destroying our belief in this they do so in every anecdote related by Sir George Staunton, and particularly when accompanied by the "valuable" improve- ments of his pupil. UNASSAILABLE INCIDENTS— Evening Enteetainment. Many of the incidental occurrences of the Travels are of a nature that, beyond their own suspicious dress, it would be impossible, we believe, to confute them had the Auto not come to our assistance. This garrulous pet seldom fails to give a version materially different from its elder brother ; and as an illustration of the credit to be reposed in even these occur- rences, we produce the Evening entertainment at Canton. As related in the prime of life, we read : " Our two worthy conductors met at Canton an old acquaintance who was governor of a city in Fokien. He gave them an evening entertainment on the river in a splendid yacht to which I was privately invited. On entering the great cabin I found the three gentlemen with each a young girl by his side very richly dressed, the cheeks, lips, and chin highly rouged, the rest of the face and neck whitened with a preparation of ceruse. I was welcomed by a 124 INVESTIGATION, ETC. cup of hot wine from each of the ladies, who first sipped by way of pledging me. During supper, which for number and variety of dishes exceeded anything I had hitherto met with in the countiy, the girls played upon the flute and sung several airs, but there was nothing very captivating either in the vocal or instrumental part of the music. We passed a most con- vivial evening fi'ce from any reseiTe or restraint, but on going away, I was particularly desired by Van not to take any notice of what I had seen, apprehensive, I suppose, that their brother officers might condemn their want of prudence in admitting a barbarian to witness this occasional relaxation from good morals. The yacht and the ladies it seemed were hired for the occasion." (p. 192.) In the fulness of years the same entertainment assumes this shape. " One evening Lee came to me with a message from Van requesting me to return with him to his yacht to join a small party of his friends, apologising for not sending the usual card of invitation. I returned with Lee in his boat to Van's yacht, and was introduced to a handsome apartment, and severally to three elegant well-dressed ladies each of whom I was desired to salute. Next I was presented to a third gentleman the new governor of Canton. The ladies were much amused at my clumsy attempts to speak their language, but being prompted by Van to ask them to favor me with some music and singing, they readily let me know by their com- pliance that they had none of that vice which Horace ascribes to all singers, for all three struck up forthwith accompanied by an instrament of the same nature as the guitar. The ladies conducted themselves with great decorum, yet I felt anxious to know who and what they were, but the question was not to be asked ; and after taking a cup of tea with some fruit and cakes in about an hour Lee came for me in our bt)at. I asked him if he knew anything of these ladies, but he said he had been so long out of his own country that he had almost forgotten the manners of his countrymen. He did not know whether Van and Chuu had their first or second wives in their own barges UNASSAILABLE INCIDENTS, 125 with tliem ; but he believed one of the three to be the wife of the governor of Canton, and the other two her friends." (p. 114.) Now, beyond being at such a party, no two statements are alike. By the Travels, — the third gentleman was governor of a city in Fokien : by the Auto, — the new governor of Canton. By the Travels, — the ladies were hired for the occasion : by the Anto, — one was understood to be the wife of the governor of Canton, and the other two her friends. By the Travels,- — • the supper, for number and variety of dishes, exceeded anything met with in the country : by the Auto, — it amounted to a cup of tea, some frait, and cakes. By the Travels, — the ladies sung and played upon the flute : by the Aitto, — they sung and played upon the guitar. By the Travels, — the author spent a most convivial evening : by the Auto, — he was called away in about an hour. By the Travels, — he was free from all restraint : by the Auto, — he could not pop the question. In short, the inconsistencies of this entertainment will only cease when every comparison has been made. Here, then, is a circumstance, so far as the matter of fact is concerned, free from eveiy attack of collateral testimony, and yet, in an instant, it is demolished by the author of it himself. If he takes such liberties ■with his own private matters, it may easily be conceived that the anecdotes of Sir George Staunton would not be spared. It is not a little remarkable that the last version of this affair shews a great improvement in the feelings of our author, whose disposition to indulge in subjects of lax morality and filthiness is not the least offensive part of the Travels, and for all of which he has never offered a good apology. Having, however, in his mellow age, destroyed this sweet production of the prime of life, it adds another to the many proofs of the disgraceful materials employed upon the " large quarto." MYSTERIOUS ADYENTURES— Visit to Linsin Pagoda. A very considerable proportion of the comptroller's adven- i 126 TN-\'ESTIGATION, ETC. tures are presented in an unfinished state : they have cither no beginning or no termination. Indeed, in some instances, both the extremes are wanting, as examplified in his visits to the pagoda at Linsin, and the cemetery at Tiensing. On these occasions he becomes manifest, the reader knows not how, or why ; and, after cutting a few dashes, he vanishes in the same mysterious manner, to become visible again, on some other occasion. We have, elsewhere, (p. 59) given good reasons for pronouncing the visit to the pagoda, now named, a scandalous imposition, but we are enabled to call in another witness to confirm it ; and, as a general illustration of mysterious mani- festations, we bring the parties face to face, allowing the culprit to speak first. " The pagoda of Lintsin, an octagonal pyramid, was erected, perhaps, as a monument of this great and useful undertaking, which, however, in its present state, apparently had not stood many ages. In the hope of finding within it some inscription, that might point out its designation, we mounted with some difficulty upon the first of its nine stages or roofs, (for the little door on a level with the ground was walled up with bricks,) but it contained only the bare walls, not even a stair- case remained, nor any possible means of ascending to the top, and the lower part was choaked up with rubbish." (p. 503.) Such are the sentiments of the compti'oller on his visit to the pagoda at Linsin, but we are entirely left to conjecture how he appeared on the spot ; because he was on board his barge an hour aftei-wards, and there was no stoppage to render such a visit possible. However, we introduce a witness whose visit labors under no difliculty, and who examined and described this pagoda in a manner consistent with human comprehension. " At the nearest angle of the bank some others and myself landed, and found no difficulty in entering and ascending to the top of the building. It is of an octagonal fonu of nine stories diminishing to the summit : the foundation and nearly the whole of the first story are of stone or poi-phoritic granite, the remainder is of brick glazed on the suiface. Four Chinese MYSTEEIOUS ADVENTURES. 127 words are inscribed on the outside signifying the relics of Fo : the building is, therefore, a temple to that god and is called Shayli Pata. We ascended by a winding staircase of one hundred and eighty-three steps — the steps and curves of the walls are of porphoritic granite highly polished. There are several slabs of the same stone, which by some has been called marble. The glazed bricks have been also described as porce- laine. With the exception of the landing place the building is in good repair, and is certainly an interesting specimen of this style of architecture. The roof of the stoiy projects nearly two feet and is highly decorated with carved work. The whole is covered in with cast-iron or bell metal. I estimated the height at one hundred and forty feet. We had a good view of the city of Liusin from the top. There are so many gardens within the walls that no buildings are to be distinguished. A miao, near the pagoda, with a gilt colossal idol, would, unless eclipsed by its neighbor, deserve a visit. There are two idols in the Pagoda itself— ^one on the first, the other on the highest stoiy : the latter is of baked clay. The walls of the city, seen from the top, appeared about two miles distant." Who, after this, could hesitate to pronounce the Barrow- visit a bare-faced forgery. Unless in the character of the architecture, and the number of its stories — to ascertain which it was not necessary to land — every other feature is incon- sistent with the straightforward description. Covering with a veil the deplorable rubbish which the comptroller has thrown inside the building, we find his ignorance of the outside, itself, only what could have been expected from a passing gaze, at a distance. Neither the porphoritic basement, nor the glazed bricks, nor the carved roof, he pretends to have scaled with difiiculty, arrested his attention: nay! more — the veiy "inscription" he was in search of! Shayli Pata, was there, staring him in the very face, and yet, alas ! Mr. Barrow, with all the liberty he enjoyed, and with all the language he had acquired, collected not this "fact." Truly, it was " the lot of few to go to Pekin ! " but thouoh our favored traveller 128 INVESTIGATION, ETC. knew this, he did not perceive ho was, ere long, to be I'ollowed by one who would expose such shameless impositions, if the author of the Travels possessed a spark of contrition, it must have pricked his conscience on reading the journal of Mr. Ellis, even after the healing virtues of the Quarterly had been poured out in mitigation of the pain. We wonder if it ever occurred to Mr. Barrow, as a reviewer, to try his pen upon his own Travels ; or those of his amiable patron : we are well assured that great fault would be found with the works of other waiters who injinitehj less deserved it. {hh) PALATIAL INCIDENTS— Empekor's favorite Draughtsman. The numei-ous incidents said to have transpired at the palace of Yuen-min-yuen rank among the most difficult to rebut by external testimony. In no one instance is the subject twice mentioned, and the only person who could be supposed to throw any light thereon is entirely silent ; but even this silence is not without its meaning, as the following instance will testify. According to the comptroller, the emperor sends his fiivorite draughtsman to Yuen-min-yuen, to make drawings of the principal presents to carry to his master, in Tartary, as eluci- dations of the descriptive catalogue. " Eveiy part of the machines, except the naked figures which supported the time- piece and a barometer, he drew with neatness and accuracy, but all his attempts to copy these were imsuccessful. Whether it was owing to any real difficulty that exists in the nice turns and proportions of the human figure, or that by being hotter acquainted with it we more readily perceive the defects in the imitation of it, or from the circumstance of the human form being concealed in this country in loose folding robes, that caused the Chinese draughtsman so completely to fail, I leave to the ai'tists of our own couutiy to determine : but the fact was as I state it ; all his attempts to draw these figures were meposterous." (p. 32G.) PALATIAL INCIDENTS. 129 Attention has already been drawn to the suspicious dress in which the collector of facts clothes his elucidating incidents. The draughtsman must, in consequence, be the emperor's favorite : if he could not draw it would be idle to look for one that could. This dignified personage, however, is totally unknown to Dr. Dinwiddle, who was more interested in these machines than any other person ; and who was not even a single hour absent from the palace for the space of three weeks, during the first of which the draughtsman must have been at the work that was to elucidate the descriptive catalogue. Eunuchs, princes, mandarines, private citizens, French, Italian, and Portuguese missionaries, the gentlemen of the mathematical tribunal, and even gentlemen of the English embassy — all are noticed at the palace, but not a word of this favorite draughtsman, than whom none was more likely to have drawn the doctor's attention. But, what is still more extraordinary, we are informed that Mr. Alexander, the draughtsman to the embassy, came to the palace and took sketches of the principal machines ; and these sketches were carried into Tartary along with the descriptive catalogue. The circumstance of the English draughtsman, then, smacks strongly of having given the hint by which our author might introduce a piece of information previously detailed in the olficial volumes. When at Gehol, Sir George Staunton took notice of some pictures in which the artist failed to draw the human figure, though able in other respects ; and this inform- ation is exactly reproduced by the incident of the " Favorite draughtsman." The particular circumstance — which caused this draughtsman " so completely to fail" — Mr. Barrow leaves to the decision of English artists, and we are perfectly satisfied to follow the example. At Gehol, too, in the emperor's villa, were certain works of art which the legate asserted to be the productions of China, but was answered by the gentlemen who informed him that the works in question came from England. Exactly in a similar manner, the comptroller, at Yuen-min-yuen, discovers some 130 INVESTIGATION, ETC. pictures to have been executed by an Italian, named Castagli- oue, althouGjb the old eunuch endeavored to persuade him (our author) that they were the work of Chinese artists. Even a musical clock, with the name of Clarke, Leadenhall Street, was asserted, by the same capxicious old gentleman, to be a piece of Chinese mechanism. Such are specimens of the palatial anecdotes, which are numerous, and, had they been true, interesting ; but we now leave them, observing only that in nearly every instance a prototype can be produced. INVESTIGATION CONTINUED. BARROW versus STAUNTON. OFFICIAL VOLUMES. Hitherto, we have been chiefly interested in the cause of Barrow versus Barrow, with only occasional allusions to that of Barrow versus Staunton, a matter of equal importance, and which demands some further examination. The official narra- tive of the embassy is always mentioned in flattering terms. It is the "Authentic Account;" the "valuable work;" to sum up, " It would be an idle, and, indeed, a superfluous undertaking, in any other person who accompanied the embassy, to dwell on those subjects which have been treated by him in so masterly a manner ; or to recapitulate those incidents and transactions, which he has detailed with equal elegance and accuracy." (p. 1.) By the Auto, our author even assumes no small merit in this matchless compilation : he is, in some measure, a junior editor, or co-partner in the concern. Not- withstanding his connexion with the work ; and notwithstanding the praise he has bestowed upon it, he, the comptroller, has undertaken to recapitulate, and to correct the very incidents he holds up to the mirror as specimens of " elegance and accuracy." He has, in fine, written not only in violation of the work itself, but in violation of his own sentiments of that work. It would be idle to expect the name of Sir George Staunton associated 132 INVESTIGATION CONTINUED. witli even the smallest oversight ; the very thought would be too bare-faced an insult to the author of so much good fortune. Correct ad libitum, mangle and disfigure as it may seem proper, but keep the name of the amiable and liberal gentleman out of sight — rather, if possible, point in an opposite direction. This is the principle upon which the submissive pupil sets to work, and, of course, a single statement is never called in (piestion — directhj. That it has been done so — indirectly — we have already given proof, and shall now confinn it by the amplest evidence. Before proceeding further, however, we have to observe that ignoring a matter of fact by the introduction of another is tantamount to a denial of the former. KEETO WHIRLPOOL. When the squadron anchored off Chusan, the Clarence biig, with Sir George Staunton and Mr. BaiTow aboard, was dispatched thither to procure pilots. The whole history of this short expedition is a texture of outrageous contradictions, against which the patience of Job would not suffice. It is not merely discrepancies arising from difference of opinion, or defective memory, but the clashing of facts, which the ablest advocacy of sophism can never reconcile. In the dusk of the evening, according to the official account, they approached the projecting promontaiy called Kccto. " Round this point the tide ran in whirling eddies, with a rapidity that would force into its vortex a ship of the largest size, unless a strong breeze enabled her to sail past it. Within a hundred yards of the point, the mud is brought up from the bottom in such quantities as to excite alarm, least the ship should strike the ground, in those who are not aware of the vast depth of water in this spot, which exceeds one hundred fathoms. A little to the southward of the point the Clarence found good anchorage, in seventeen fathoms, where it was thought prudent to remain that night." With the early morning tide, accompanied by a KEETO WHIRLPOOL. 133 Chinese juuk, slie proceeded into the harhour of Chusan. (I, p. 413.) It is impossible to mistake the language just quoted — that the brig anchored to the south of Keeto, where it was deemed prudent to remain for the night, rather than encounter the peculiarities of the point, at such an hour. Ignoring this anchorage, however, and the reasons for it, Mr. BaiTow writes "As we approached, in the Clarence brig, the high rocky point of the continent called Keeto, which juts into the midst of the cluster of islands, the wind suddenly failed us ; and the current hurried us with such velocity directly towai'ds the point, that we expected momentarily to be dashed to pieces." His pro- tecting deity, however, reserved him for a letter fate. " On coming within twice the length of the ship of the perpendicular precipice, which was some hundred feet high, the eddy swept her round three several times with great rapidity," the last whirl sending her into a smooth uniform current, along with which she moved rapidly on the voyage, till stopped and brought to anchor by a Chinese junk. (p. 53.) Both accounts are not true. The brig did not both 2'>(iss and not pass the point that evening, and the obligations of truth demanded from Mr. Barrow an explanation of this manifest impossibility. The details of the official account were acknow- ledged to be " elegant and accurate," and as such had been established for years ; yet, in an instant, an attempt is made to smash them without any reason being assigned, or even an allusion made to them. Singularly enough, the wouid-be smasher, himself, has foi'nished the means of setting the difficulty at rest. The track of the Clarence, on this occasion, is laid down upon the chart of the Chusan islands, and the spot where she anchored pointed out, according to Sir George Staunton, and in direct violation of Mr. Barrow, who claims to be the author of the chart. Again : on the return voyage, four days afterwards. Sir George Staunton acquaints us the Clarence passed close to Sarah Galley island, where, "the wind dying away, she 134 IirVESTIGATION CONTINUED. drifted into an eddy, in which she was whirled round, as upon a centre, several times, with much impetuosity. At every revolution the bowsprit was within a few feet of striking against a steep rock that rose pei-pondicularly out of the sea." (I, p. 43G.) Here arc all the main features of the former occasion repeated four days afterwards, close to an island, opposite, and at least two miles from the promontary. Respecting this outward occurrence — the Travels are as mute as the grave. All this smacks of a disgraceful imposition somewhere : one autlior — ignoring the terrific encounter at Keeto point, but giving good reasons for it ; the other author — ignoring the second encounter off Sarah Galley, without any reason whatever. As Mr. Barrow has committed himself on the anchorage, it is easy to see upon whose shoulders the responsibility of the imposition lies. In short, it is beyond the possibility of a doubt that the occurrence off Sarah Galley Island has been reproduced, " according to the custom of the manor," which shifts the particulars as far as time and situation admits. When steering clear of his patron — the man in search of facts knew there was greater scope for embellishment, and hence the anecdote of the priest and sailor. Magnificent facts ! England ! how fortunate was thy lot in selecting at least one right man for the right place ! With an assurance that is tnily lamentable, the Auto endorses the encounter oft" Keeto point, which both Sir George Staunton and the chart prove to be an impudent invention ; it even adds to the infamy by endeavoring to give a color for the return occasion, which was the only eddy the brig whirled in. It is lamentable, we repeat, to find the hoary sinner heaping the coals about his own head when he should have been attending to his quietus. (//) It is even significant that the "Lion" and " Hindostan," while working their way to and from Chusan harbor, found nothing worthy of their logs arising from the " tumultuous eddies, boiling around Keeto point," and to paint which the CHOLERA MORBUS. 135 disciple of truth had to draw so largely on the Messinian fraternity. He relies greatly for aid on such comparisons, or on a poetic distich, aids which truth never require, hut without which romance would languish for want of food till it assumed the appearance of the " half-naked, half-starved wretches " that so reluctantly dragged him through the scenes of his Travels. CHOLERA MORBUS. Another circumstance, quite as irreconcileahle, is thus intro- duced by Sir George Staunton. "During the stay of the Clarence in Chusan harbor, one of the persons who came in her was seized with a violent cholera morbus, in consequence of eating too freely of some acid fruit he had found on shore." Inquiries were immediately made for a Chinese physician ; such a physician soon arrived and relieved the patient. (I, p. 435.) Whenever Sir George Staunton alludes to a gentleman in connexion with any particular transaction or occurrence, without mentioning the party by name, Mr. Barrow almost always steps in as the hero of the occasion ; and in consequence we find him cutting the most conspicuous figure throughout the whole embassy. For this reason, we are not at all surprised to find him laying claims to have been the victim of the cholera morbus ; but with what credibility our readers shall have an opportunity of judging. By the language of Sir George Staunton, it is very clear that the party, whoever it was, had found the fruit on shore. Nevertheless, the willing victim assures us the sickness arose from eating " sea blubber," or frait, while at anchor off Keeto point, upwards often miles from the harbor, and at least thirty hours before one of the gentle- men had been ashore, (p. 55.) It was then not only dark, but an intricate channel rendered the immediate arrival of a physician an impossibility, and particularly one sent by the governor, who, according to our author, had reported himself 136 INVESTIGATION CONTINUED. in a distant part of the island. On auotbor paf,'o of the Travels (345) their Avise author does acknowledge the sickness to have occurred at Chusan, from " eating too freely of unripe fruit" — not a word of the " sea blubber." But occur where, or how, it is, with the Travels, "a severe sickness for several days," although Sir George Staunton says the patient was soon relieved. By bringing in another witness, the Auto, the governor's physician changes into a venerable gentleman practising in the city of Tinghai, and who made Mr. Barrow " himself again after twenty-four hours of severe suflfering." (p. 62.) We shall not make an effort to pluck a single well-earned loaf from the laurel which adorns the brow of Mr. Ban-ow ; neither shall we flinch a step to protect those that are unmerited. Amidst all this rubbish, a few facts are discovered sufficient to set the matter at rest. The brig lay a whole day and part of two others in the harbor ; and during the last two days only were the gentlemen on shore. The first of these two days was entirely spent on shore, and the evening con- siderably advanced before the party got on board. If Mr. Barrow, then, was seized with cholera morbus it must have been in the night time, or on the following morning ; but, instead of twisting and writhing in the agonies of death, he is again early ashore, attending to the business of the pilots, who are "the most miserable wretches he ever beheld." If he was the victim, the pilots have been shamefully traduced : if he was not the victim, he has shamefully disgraced himself. From cither point of viuw the " facts" are presented in their true colours — they are disresent the gentlemen, in question, and, answering for himself in the extract above, he gives a flat denial by afiirming that we were accustomed to pass through one gate only. Again: "The gentlemen were very handsomely treated in the palace." (II. p. 319.) If so, one of the handsomely treated gentlemen replies " The keeper of lOS NOTES. the hall of audience was the most capricious creature in the world ; being some- times extremely civil and communicative; sometimes sullen, and not deigniuj^ to open his lips: and whenever he took it into his head to be offended, ho was sure to practice some little revenge. The quality, and quantity of our dinner generally depended on the state of his humour." " The great number of these creatures about the palace made my residence there extremely disagreeable." (p. 232.) What mnst Sir George Staunton have thonght of the Travels had he been spared to read such contradictions ? To be thus continually opposed to the daggers of all other witnesses is bad enough ; but to find the well-bclovcd, the kiudly-treatcd whom he had raised from obscurity among the conspirators, might justly \»Tiug from his bleeding bosom, Et tu Brute ! (<■) The reader has only to refer to Lord McCartney's journal in proof of this. (/) The date of this eclipse is taken from Dr. D"s journal, and is confirmed to a minute by the highest authority in the land, thus : Royal Observatory, Greenwich, London, S. E. 1860, August 14. Sir, The times of the lunar eclipse of 1793, August 21. (a partial eclipse of 8i| digits on the S. limb), in Greenwich mean solar time, were as follows : • h. m. Beginning 1. 29. Middle 2. 52. End 4. 16. Adopting 7h. 47m. as the eastern longitude of Pekin, the Pekin times arc: h. m. Beginning 9. 16. Middle 10. S9. End 12. 3. I am. Sir, your obedient servant, G. B. Airy. W. J. Proudfoot, Esq. {g) The procession to Pekin here so pompously sot forfh. though equally answerable for our puri)ose, is a gross misrepresentation of the fact, and shows the little reliance that is to be placed on oven one statement : there was. in fact, no order of procession aiTangcd, or at least adhered to, as the various parties pushed ahead, or lingered behind, as they thought proper. But respecting the heavy articles that paraded in front — they were not in the disorderly procession at all. They were -marched off by degrees on the previous day; and by degrees reached their destination, at Hungyayuen, the day after the arrival of the embassy, apparently travelling through Pekin by a different route. (/() The orthography of Cliinese names is deplorable ; we have, however, sub- stituted Nanyang for tlie Nansheun of tlie Travels, and for the Nanchoo of Lord McCartney's journal, believing it to be more appropriate. NOTES. 169 (i) j" At an early hour of the morniug," observes Anderson, " The boggage was put on board the junks, with a regularity, as well as despatch, that cannot well be described. There was a sufficient depth of water in this river to bring the junks close to the quay ; so that the coolies, of which there were a great number, acting under the orders of the mandarine and his servants, and guarded by soldiers, soon transferred evei-y article that belonged to the embassy on board the vessels to which it was si)ecifically assigned." " About eleven o'clock the suite were all on board, and the whole fleet ready for sailing. We accordingly renewed our voyage, and began it by passing under a wooden bridge of seven arches," &c. ,(p. 2-tO.) The sailing of the vessels on December 11, and the objects seen that day, as described by Anderson, is quite corroborated by Lord McCartney's journal, which carries the additional importance of having been published under the authority of Barrow. ( j) That it is a fabrication is evident from the clashing statements, and-it is all but confirmed from the following admission : " When the new viceroy of Canton understood from our conductors that the English found great pleasure in walking and looking about them, he immediately gave orders that the gentlemen in the train of the ambassador should walk whenever they pleased without any molestation." (p. 527.) We are assured this order was issued previous to the occurrence in question . how, then, would any officer dare to disobey such authority, or lay himself open to punishment and degradation ? But every inquiry into its place on the journey only tends to strengthen the same belief. Speaking of the incident, Sir George Staunton observes the gentlemen were "once" rudely ihteiTupted; and Mr. Barrow, "thatthe viceroy of Canton was then with the embassy :" such is the scope carved out by the incident-mongers. It appears from the former, however, that exercises on the banks took place only when the embassy was retarded ; and the incident in question is introduced to the reader's notice when descending the Lonshiaton, as near as possible after passing the city of Quangsin. At that juncture, the barges were carried forward with a full flowing tide in their favor, and where no shallows impeded their progi-ess : At that juncture, too, Mr. Barrow, after opening the floodgates of heaven, has swelled the river to an " enormous size," scattering destruction in all dh-ections. Whatever opportunities may have occurred in other places for such exercises, none presented themselves on the downward passage of this river, which was too accommodating for the journey, while the weather was too gloomy to step ashore. A distinguishing feature of the Staunton-Barrow school is to keep dates and localities of incidents carefully out of sight, and every attempt to fix on either only clashes with some other details. No person, notwithstanding, ever studied to better purpose the art of generalizing and confounding than Sir George Staunton, who, with the skill of a master, could avoid seeing what was before his eyes without exciting suspicion ; or see what was impossible to be seen, without committing himself. His incidents and anecdotes, as a whole, are so well arranged that it is only through the ungovernable pupil, vaunting his own prowess, that the weak point is ascer- tained, and the stronghold rendered pregnable. (fc) The hint for the present illustration is, like the last, borrowed from the official volumes, and is merely the following paragraph dressed up in our author's best style : , " A sufficient number of men were impressed by the mandarines to track the 170 NOTES, boats ; but the pay allowed by govomment was not adequate to the labor, aud many of them withdrew from the task whenever they found an opportunity of escaping unpercciveJ. It often happened that a set of trackers were exchanged in the night, that fresh might be surprised and forced into tho service. A superintendent, like a negro driver in the West Indies, marches generally behind them with a whip, to quicken then- pace and prevent their desertion." (II, p. 379.) Thus, occurrences said to have transpired on the Euho, after being outrageously overdrawn and improved by every circumstance that could be thrust into them, are presented as a universal illustration of the miserable condition of the boat- men, and the inhumanity with which they were treated. Believing inhumanity to be the offspring of every country it is quite probable that some instances occun-ed duiing the long journey ; and it is equally probable that the oflScershad occasion to keep a shai-p look out, as testified by the following example at the period in question : " One of the trackmen had been intrusted with money to buy some articles at the last village. He went off with some clothes belonging to his companions. A person was sent after him : he was foimd drinldug soochoo ; was taken before a mandarine, and committed to prison." (Dr. D.) (l) Drowning Chinese at Linsin. (m) In Lord McCai-tney's joui-nal there is an entrj- about a dismal midnight fog, at this junctm-e, but not a word of the upset. This entry shall yet be commented on. (n) Or, if it be more agreeable to orthography, a summersault. (o) Neither did the Dutch, nor subsequent English embassy take any notice of such wrecks. (p) As a collector of amusing varieties, Mr. Barrow is very ready to let his readers know that Mai-co Polo received the epithet of Mr. Mark Million, from the sentiments he used in dictating his travels. FeeUug confident the association of ideas was strongly developed in our author, it appears to us impossible for him to have overlooked the glaring fact— with how much greater propriety ho might have been linked to one of his own favorite amplifications, such as " prodigious" — " enormous"—" vast." Sir John Prodigious would, to the eye and ear, be quite as agreeable, and certainly more appropriate than "Mr. Mark Million;" because we are in a position to test the statements of the Englishman, which was not the case with those who dubbed the Venetian traveller. (9) Om- author's mode of taking his laugh out of the Captain of the Hindostan is as follows : Mr. B. " Captain, would you put into a book what you have just told me ?" Capt. M. " Perhaps not exactly in the same words." Mr. B. "No! I am suie you would make a great reduction to the number of your drums and trumpets." Nevertheless, without any reductiontothcdnimsand trumpets, Mr.B. actually did what he was xure Capt. M. could not have the face to do — ho put the extrava- gant assertion " into a book," in order to enlighten mankind on the fury of a t)-phoon. And, how sunn-ising 1 these palpable and aboniiuablo exaggerations, as Bpecimeus of travel, hold the veiy " first rank in exocllence." (r) Confined as the gentlemen were to the boats in which they travelled — their only opportunities of " striking across the countrj*," to examine objects, was by means of tho telescope, which was in constant requisition, and the cause of occasional terror to spectators. " On presenting tho three-foot telescope to a crowd, on the left bank, they all ran off, supposing it to bo a gun, and being NOTES. 171 •persuaded tlie English, the most ferocious people in the world, think nothing of killing any person they meet." (Dr. D.) This incident occurs upon the very day when the " long range" must have been sweeping the inhospitable swamps, and making the incomprehensible discoveries. (s) In the "Preliminary Matter," our traveller apologises for his barrenness as a natural historian. " In the route of the grand inland navigation no very great variety nor number of subjects occur" — " few native plants and still fewer wild animals." (p. 6.) Nevertheless, he found the swamps and lakes absolutely teeming with subjects : in birds alone the numbers were not only " great," but the variety itself was " vast." It is presumed the missionaries were not naturalists, othen^^se there would have been no dearth of subjects. Possibly, gentlemen of the Barrow-school may object to the feathered races being described as " animals ;" if so, we object to " scorpions and scolopendras" being thrown into the same category. (t) Dreary as it appeared when enveloped in its atmosphere, the land of swamps assumed a very different aspect from the summit of Mount Melin, where our traveller, while enjoying a little fresh air, was enabled to take a retrospective view of his past journey, embracing the whole at one glance of his mind's eye. Possibly the elevated position dispelled the fogs by which he had been sm-rounded, at all events, the country, instead of being abandoned to " cranes, herons, and guillemots," was swarming with human life ; and " so great were the numbers engaged in fishing who lived entu-ely in floating vessels, that we judged the waters to be fully as populous as the land." (p. 557.) But this picture is repainted on another occasion in even more forcible colors. " That part of the country over which the grand communication is effected between the two extremities of the empire, abounds with swamps and morasses where population is excessive, and where the multitudes of shipping that pass and repass create a never-failing demand for grain and other vegetable products." (p. 567.) In forming a just estimate of a BaiTow-swamp our readers will, after all, have some difficulty to contend with. Whether the population was " excessive," or whether abandoned to " cranes, herons, and guillemots," will necessarily depend upon the mode of interpreting the various aspects in which these swamps were seen by their great discoverer. (u) Dr. Abel decidedly states that the canal was neither cari'ied through any hill, nor over any valley. (i') According to this description there are only three rivers of note in all China. Of these the Euho, itself, although a " great river " on the present, is but a " small river" on another occasion. Camelion-like, the " facts and observations" will change their colors agreeably to the whim floating uppermost in the brains of their author. But the details of the Authentic Account, which B. informs us are " so elegant and so accurate " that it would be idle in any one to attempt improving thereon, aflirm that " many and great rivers run through the several provinces of China." It even invests the Chentang with this attribute. (w) Among the abominations of the Travels the sheer nonsense, arising from an ignorance of grammatical construction, is not the least remarkable. However learned in the Latin and Chinese languages, the " able scholar " has made sad havoc with his own ; but as this arises from other causes than the " powerful motive," it does not properly come within the sphere of this investigation. Nevertheless, having just quoted a sentence to the purpose, the following speci- 172 NOTES. men will suffice : Describing the Chinese beauties, the " loiirncil Unguibt" places the nose on the viidtUe of the forehead ! (x) It was once our lot to visit the town of Dundee where — inquiring for a certain gentleman — we were civilly asked, in retirni, if he was a " teUe-Uke vian." Confounded for a moment at such an unexpected Yankceism, wo begged an explanation of the expression, which proved to be in very general use for a stout, well-fed looking person. Amused at the idea, we have, often since, pointed out to ourselves «'is«-l!fec men, and wise-like things, and among others the official volumes of the McCartney embassj', to which the expression applies with great justice. (;;) It is not a little remarkable that, while attempting to assimilate his Poosa of the Quangsin souteiTuin to his " intelligent mother," the author of the Travel* Fhould, in reality, admit Poosa to be the most monstrous divinity in all China. This he illustrates from the specimen seen by Van Braam which was " ninety feet high, ha\dng four lieads and forty-four arms." (p. 471.) If Mr. B. was desirous to clothe his Shingmoo in the garb of a Poosa, why not do it in a business-like manner? (z) The subsequent English embassy, which found the deity removed, proved, both by their drawings and descriptions of the temple, that there were only two stories. (aa) Recent wi-itcrs on China have generally looked upon the rrarf/s as valuable authority, and, among others, Sir John Davis, while acknowledging their assist- ance in this respect, regards them as holding the first rank in " date and excel- lence." In his work, " The Chinese," the gardens of Yueu-min-yuen are whoUy elucidated from the experience of Mr. Barrow, who is said to estimate their con- tents at " about twelve squai'C miles," notwithstanding the Travels have fixed them at something like a hundred square miles, or about sixty thousand acres. Kow, the author of " The Chinese " either did not comprehend the meaning of the boiTowcd language, or ho does Mr. Barrow great injustice. He knew Mr. Ban'ow had given in two estimates, the first a hasty one, no doubt, before it could be tested by the experience of subsequent travellers ; and if Sir John Davis has adopted that one, he has not only imposed upon his readers, but, as observed, done gi-cat injustice to the comptroller, who con'ected the rough draught at the first opportunity. The pertinacity, indeed, with which some commentators cling to Barrow as an authority, even when the particuliir fact has been exploded, is not a little rcmari;- able. The same learned author of" The Chinese" continues to adopt, in all their integrity, the Barrow-swamps of the Poyang, although ho had occular demonstra- tion to the contrary on the west side of the lake, where, besides the picturesque mountains, the very shores, instead of reeds and rank gi-asses, were, like those of the sea, covered with " shingles." Entering the lake from the south-east, the Rev. Dr. Milne found the country not only under cultivation, but the lake itself so well defined as to be fifteen feet deep at the very edge. (66) "While pouring out his rancour upon "one Eneas Anderson " om- author generally spills the greater part upon himself, though affecting not to see it. For instance— he looks with astonishment on the " exaggerated accounts" wliich the " vamped up " volume gives of the population, and yet he, himself, more than confirms those exaggerated accounts— the population being " excessive, " " vast," or " immense," as occasion requires. But let us see the result of a little reason- ing on the matter. If the population of the swamps was eventually found to be " excessive ; *' and if the population of every part of the province of liiangnuu NOTES. 173 was " vast ; " and, further, if the population of every part of the province Chekiang was " immense " — What, intelligent reader I must have been the state of that part of the country between Hanchoo and Nimpo, a distance of some hundred and thirty miles, which was "by far the most populous iu the whole "journey?'' Would anjrthing short of " a country full of houses," (the Irishman's definition of London) satisfy the conditions ? Is there anything in Eneas Anderson to match this? {cc) The Auto accompanies its description of the glacis with a profile or section of the contrivance, as it appeared on the Grand canal ; so anxious is the " powerful motive," to elucidate one of its most important facts. It may possibly interest some of our readers to learn that the owner of the " motive," which manufactured the glacis for the Grand canal, took credit to himself for being " father of the Royal Society." Something more than ordinary^ it is true, might have been expected from such a personage, but who, in the name of goodness, could have calculated on such a specimen of engineering skill ? Shade of Sir H. Davy, and other illustrious confederates ! have your brilliant investigations then fraternized with those of a " motive" which discovered a glacis where none existed; which witnessed an eclipse that never happened; and which illustrated a typhoon by the rash assertion of an individual who did not believe in his own words ? Is it come to this— is the author of such unearthly discoveries— of such disreputable illustrations, allowed to subscribe himself a " fellow"— yea I the " father" of a society which unfui'led the banners of truth, and gathered immortal honors in her name ? (dd) Even Dr. Abel is unwilling to wander from his path in search of " facts and observations," and yet it appears to us that he undertook his work expressly to depreciate the Chinese. His disappointments and sufferings in the country. and no less the 'svTeck of the Alceste, had their due influence upon a temperament easily offended, and induced him to retaliate upon unoffending and even inanimate objects. (ee) The late Daniel O'Connell, Esq., used to consider his own countrjrmen as forming the finest peasantry in the world. ( ff ) The disposition to ignore information, in its legitimate place, on pm-pose to produce it on some prior or subsequent occasion, may not always excite suspicion when it is merely an incidental occuiTcnce which could happen at one place or time as well as another ; but the effect is sometimes rather awkward v.hen it has relation to fixed periods, or immovable objects. For instance, the embassy, on its amval at Hungyayuen, passed through a town called Hatien. No sensible traveller, who had the use of his eyes, and wished to see the town, would have shut his eyes on such an occasion; nevertheless Mr. Barrow wanted to see it, and yet he passed through without seeing it. However, exactly five days afterwards, when the embassy returned to Peldn, and passed again through this town, we find Mr. BaiTOW, notwithstanding he is several miles away, attending to other duties, has contrived not only to appear in the procession, but with open eyes, he there and then discovers that he " passed through the gi-eat street of a to^TO called Hatien," and in consequence introduces it to edify his readers. igg) It is inconceivable how Sir George Staimton, who was iu hot pm-suit of attentions to the embassy, on the part of his imperial majesty, should overlook the " Card of happiness," the strongest mark of friendship and affection which the Chinese potentate could send to the King ot England. The baronet knew the nature of a " eujoy," and admits, though in a suspicious manner, that the ambassador received something of the kind ; but nothing more. On what gi-ound M 174 NOTES. then can his silence of the emperor's regard for the King of England be defended '/ Is the sniuU of the great manufactory not palpable ? {Ml) Since writing the above, we have seen an account of th.0 Amherst embassy by Dr. Abel, who reconciles the inconsistencicB of tlio Barrow and Ellis \'isit8 on the fcTound that the pagoda liad been repaired in the mean time. Dr. Abel, however, with all Uie prestige of his name, has not made a very (ihk upoliiRy for such palpable contradictions. With equal propriety might he have accounted for the alterations ou the west side of the Poyang lake, which, at the time i>f the Barrow-visit, was ver>- different from what the subsequent travellers found it. If any reliance is to be placed on tlie '• facts and observations" of Mr. Barrow ; and if the Chinese improved tlie pagoda at Linsin, after his visit, by the introduction of a staircase and deities, there is no rule in reason to prevent the Chinese improving the scenery of the Poyang, by the introduc- tion of highly picturesque mountains. (ii) Amidst a flourish of biblical quotations, with now and then a thrust at irreligion, our author holds up to sweet contemplation the picture of a laboring peasant discharg- ing his Sunday duties to his God, and " rubbing of the dust of the week." In doing so, he exultingly inquires Into the feelings of that miui who could not participate in the peasant's serenity of mind. This is excellent, Mr. Barrow ! but in return let us inquire into the feelings of that man who, while paintuig this pious picture, nevertlieless. dips his pencil in the impious colors so profusely spread not only throughout the entire Travels, but the Auto itself— the sweet child of his gray hairs. ijj) In describing the Grand canal, the reader has already seen some of the beauties resulting from the combined eiTorts of " All the talents : " when apphed to measure the length of this great work, the same efforts produce results no less exquisite. His lord- ship and the comptr(dler have tUscovered that the distance from tlie Euho to the Yellow river is two hundred miles, or thereabouts, notwithstanding Sir George Staunton " put it into a booii" that it was two hundred miles to the summit level only, which a glance at the map shows is not one-tliird of the distance to the Yellow river. Thus the same two points, which are fixed, by the former, at two hundred miles apart, would, by the proportion of the latter, exceed six hundred miles. And what is no less edifying, the baronet, after measuring the total lengtli of the Canal from the Euho to Hanchoo, thids it is no more than live hundred miles, or thereabouts, a distance which would neither bring him to the Yellow river, nor half way along the Canal. Mr. B., himself, is in no betters "fix" although, by a different scale we presume, he finds the canal between the same extreme points to be six hundred miles long— a hun(h-ed more than the baronet found it. The Yellow river divides the canal somewhere towai-ds the middle, but makes the southern division rather shorter than the northern one. In defiance of this fact, Mr. B. estimates tlie southern tUvision at four hundred miles, and the northern, or larger one, at no more than two hundred miles— the lesser distance just double the Ic igth of the grealer. Wlio could believe that the author of a treatise on a ease of mathematical drawing instruments could make such a use of a scale and a pair of c impasses. (kk) If the pilots really committed a great blunder in mistaking one bay for another it should be borne in mind that the place was miuiy hundred miles away, and that they had not seen it for many years ; and besides they were forced upon a serv-iee which they did not undertake to accomplish. Bemembering all this, their ignorance of the coast may partly be apologised for ; but what is to apologise forim author who, sitting quietly at ease, with Ume and every opportunity to write an intelligible narrative, nevertheless, beats the pilots on their own ground-stupidity I Those who cast refle cUong should talco cure that they aie not in the position of the man in the glass house NOTES. 175 (Uj The Auto, which is generally the most honest of the two, conflrms the account of the elder brother, in language that leaves no room for a doubt: " It occupied us seven days against the stream to reach its source, not far from the only city on its banks of the third rank, called Tchantangahieii." (mm) The ^uio, while repeating, renders the blunder more appai-ent by specif j-ing the month. (nn) It is surprising that this, with a long array of kindred nonsense, escaped the critical acumen of the lady who so kindly undertook to revise and correct the Aiito : it certainly does not give us a very favoui'able opinion of her abilities for such a task. We even find the Atlienmum recommending a book teeming with such trash as " a pleasant addition to the Englishman's libraxy." ioo) If instead of liis "servants" our author had substituted his keepers ihe naU would have been hit on the head to the greatest nicety. ipp] Twice does Mr. Barrow inform us that he has called thePoyang the " sink of China." If, instead of outraging a beautiful lake that so ill deserved it, he had stored up the euphonious sentiment as the TITLE to his Travels, he would for once have told the truth, and in some measure have redeemed his credit by thus acknowledging he was romancing after all. (qq) In his eagerness to depreciate the labors of Anderson, the giant in reputa- tion is careful to tell us it " was a work vamped up by a London bookseller as a speculation that could not fail," and disdainfully asks, "What dependence can be placed on the information of an author who states as a fact, that he saw tea and rice growing on the banks of the Peiho, two articles of the culture of which, in the whole province of Pechelee, they know no more than we do in England," (p. 579.) Perhaps so ; but if Anderson was in error, it was an error of judgment^ an error, that, in the case of rice at least, extended to every individual of the embassy at the time. It will only be necessary to instance Captain Parish, and the super-excellent the minister plenipotentiary himself, who tells us, on the banks of the Peiho, "wheat in dry, and rice in moist, situations, were said to be cultivated to advantage." (II, p. 45.) We will not stay now to inquire " what dependence can be placed on this infoi-mation," of his super-excellency, but, allowing the " dressed up " volume to fight its battles alone, shall leave in the hands of our readers the decision of this important question : the vampings of BaiTOw versus the vampings of Anderson. Take a solitary example of the former, such as the Eclipse at Tonchoo, — the Canton Ulcer, — the Glacis on the Grand Canal, — or the Keeto whirlpool, and we shall stake it agahist every eiTor and defect, in globo, that can be brought against the Narrative of Eneas Anderson. (rr) The reader is requested to look back to the observations and notes, respecting the do-nothings, at page 18 of this inquiry. (ss) That every one of our i-eaders may be assured there is no mistake in regard to the high estimation in which the author of the Travels was held by learned men, and par- ticularly by the Uterati of Edinburgh on coufeiTing their honorary degree of LL.D. we subjoin the announcement of Principal Baird, as published in the Auto. " College, Edinburgh, January 22, 1821. "Sir, " I have the honor to inform you, by the command of the Senatus Academicus of the university, that, at their meeting on Saturday last, they conferred on you the honorary degi-ee of LL.D., and they request you to believe that they have conferred the degree as a proof of their respect for your literary talents, and for your effective zeal in promoting the progress of Science. Allow me to add that in this case 1 I o NOTES. fie graduation wns moved by Professor Jomicson, and carried by the unanimous, warm approbation of the nieetinK. " To myself, personally, I beg leave to assure you that the motion, and the mode of its receptauce, afforded gi-eat pleasure. " May you long live to enjoy these tokens of esteem, which every enlightened friend of science and of his country's honor is disposed to offer you. " I remain. Sir, -John Barrow, Esq." "GEO. U. BAIRD." The compliment hereby paid to the "powerful motive" would not have been un- worthy of the discoverer of the laws of gra\ntation ; although the motive to the laws is like tlie murkiness of midnight compared to the effulgence of noon day. (tt) Had the Travels existed in the time of Bums, we should have sworn that he had just risen from their ponisal when he penned the sentiment, " Some books are lies frao end \t end." But from whatever source the poet drew his Inspiration— of tliis we are sure — he never read, nor ever heard of a work (Pinto, the accredited prince of liars, not excepted) that more fully confirms the justness of his observation than the subject of this review. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. It/^. "''"i-LJi. .V LIOAMS 1986 APR 8 DUE IWO WEEKS FRo4 1>AIE OE 8ECEIEI WTO ^Mi^^' T03 2MO Form L9-50m-4,'61(B899484)444 3 1158 00642 3437 ■n' V i i.i, Hi iiiii