CONTENTS. 59 78 122 . 141 206 BELLION 531 ,,370, line 2 of 476, line 14. For bid read stake. note. For of the first month read or the first month. The Dawn of the Century." The Finest Country within an Imperial Ring-fence."-Kiaking on the Throne.-Symptoms of Disquiet. The Minister Hokwan.-Secure in the Affection of Keen Lung.-His Private Wealth.-Disgraced and then Executed.-Chinese Statistics.-What was done with his Treasure?-The Hoppo of Canton.-The First Edict against Opium. Various Shades of Public Opinion relative to Foreigners.-France and England.-Macao.-Its Occupation by the English.-Chinese Strength and Arrogance.-A Policy to be tested by its Success.-Plot against the Emperor.Attack in the Streets of Pekin.-Saved by Eunuch-guard.The Apathy of the People.-Secret Societies.-The Sect of the Water-lily.-The Society of Celestial Reason. Their Operations.-The Scope of these Associations.-Continuous Rioting, if not Fighting.-The Centre of the Rebellion.Second Attack on Emperor.-Valour of his Son.-Prince Meenning.-Kiaking's Edict.-The Secret Organisations.Their Modus Operandi in China.-The Secret of their Cohesion never fully ascertained.-A Rising in Annam.-Assertion of the Chinese Prerogative. -The Introduction of Vaccination.- Père Amiot expelled from Pekin. — Padre Serra.-Canton.-The Foreign Trade.-Its Importance to England. The East India Company's Monopoly.-Ships at first Unarmed and Unprotected.-Fighting Merchantmen.— The Attitude of the Chinese.-Their Claims.-The Question of Jurisdiction.-The Case of the "Poor Gunner."-" A Life for a Life."-Disputes.-The Distinction between the Crown and the Company.-A great Piratical Confederacy.—The Ladrones.-English Vessels attacked.-English Captives.-Their Narrative.-The Impotence of the Chinese Authorities. -Great Sea Fight.-Defeat of Imperial Fleet.-Portuguese Aid.-An English Vessel chartered.-Dissension in Band.— The Red and the Black.-Disbanded.-A Present to a Chinese Minister.-Kiaking's Letter to George III.—Second Occupation of Macao.-Resolute Opposition of Chinese.Suspension of Trade.-Admiral Drury's action.-A Game of Brag.-Irresolution and Retreat.-Triumph of Chinese.-A Chinese Letter.-Evacuation of Macao.-Imperial Edict.The Pagoda of Victory.-China's Foreign Policy.-A Russian Embassy.-Count Goloyken.-Stopped at the Great Wall.The Prostration Ceremony.-Its Return to Russia.-Krusenstern's Proposition.-Permission to trade at Canton refused to Russia.-English Relations.-An Embassy determined on. -Considerations as to its Advisability.-As to the Opposite. -Thomas Manning.-Tibet.-The Englishman at Lhasa.The Nepaulese War.-Defeat of Goorkhas.-Chinese Aid implored. Only Robbers. - Lord Amherst.-Arrival in China. Preliminary Difficulties.-Reaches Pekin.-The Minister Ho.-Kiaking commands immediate Audience.-Nemuntihlee, "your own Ceremony."-Lord Amherst's Excuses.— Sudden Departure.-Returns to Canton.-Embassy without Result.-Purchase of Singapore.-Chinese Ministers.-Ho Koong Yay. His Career and Disgrace.-Sung Tajin.-His Career. Long and Honourable.-Settles Question with Russia.-Banished to Ili.-Returns to Pekin.-Employed at Moukden. Kiaking's Last Years.-The Rebellion of the Yellow Girdles.-Voluntary Subscriptions.-Sale of Titles.— Death of Emperor.-His Will.-Concluding Reflections.The Chinese People. WHEN the aged Keen Lung passed from the hall of audience into the inner chamber of the palace, there were no symptoms that the power of the executive was on the wane, or that his successor would fail to maintain intact the legacy of Manchu authority which he had inherited from three vigorous predecessors. So far as external appearances went, China was, at the commencement of the present century, at the very height of her prosperity and renown. Never before had her Empire been recognised over a wider surface or by a greater number of subjects; and at no previous period had her Exchequer been so well replenished, or her commerce in a more flourishing condition. The dangers of national prejudice and hostility, which had long threatened to hurl the Tartar dynasty from its seat, were either obliterated, or at least thrust out of sight; and to the most critical examination the Celestial Empire presented the appearance of complete unanimity between the ruler and the ruled. Never before, and certainly never since, did the Chinese appear a greater and more powerful people to the eye of the European traveller than they did when the present century, big with the destiny of mighty things, began to dawn.* * Proof of this is furnished, not merely in the reports from the Canton agent of the East India Company-which it will be remembered possessed the monopoly of English trade with China until the year 1834-but also in the works of almost every traveller. Perhaps the following quotation from the journal of Mr. Henry Ellis, one of the commissioners sent under Lord Amherst to China in the year 1816, may give, from an exceptionally good source, some idea of this impression, which was naturally increased by the exclusive policy of the Pekin Government :"However absurd the pretensions of the Emperor of China may be to universal supremacy, it is impossible to travel through his dominions without feeling that he has the finest country within an Imperial ring-fence in the world," |