December. mortification I felt at meeting with this unexpeited
fe— <■— ' delay, could only be equalled by the extreme impatience
with which we had fo long waited for an opportunity o f
receiving intelligence from Europe, It often happens, that
in the eager purfuit o f an objecSt, we overlook the eafieft and
xnoft obvious means o f attaining it. This was actually my
cafe at p refent; for I was returning under great dejeftion
to the ihip, when the Portugueze officer, who attended me,
aiked me, i f I did not mean to vifit the Engliffi gentlemen
at Macao. I need not add with what tranfport I received
the information this quellion conveyed to m e ; nor the
anxious hopes and fears, the con Hide between curiofity and
appreheniion, which palled in my mind, as we walked toward
ffie hpufe o f one o f our countrymen.
In this Hate o f agitation, it was not furprifing, that our
reception, though no w ay deficient in civility or kindnefs,
fliould appear cold and formal. In our inquiries, as far as
they related to objedls o f private concern, We met, as was
indeed to be expected, with little or no fadsfadtion ; but the
events o f a public nature, which had happened fince our,
departure, and now, for the firft time, burft all at once
upon us, overwhelmed every other feeling, and left us,
for fome time, almoll without the power o f refledtion. For
feveral days we continued queftioning each other about the'
truth o f what we had heard, as i f defirous o f ieeking, in
doubt and fufpence, for that re lief and eonfolation, which
the reality o f our calamities appeared totally to exclude.
Thefe fenfations were fucceeded by the- moil poignant
regret at finding ourfelves cut off, at fuch a diftance, from
the fcene, where, we imagined, the fate o f fleets and armies
was every moment-deciding.
The intelligence we had ju-ft received o f the Hare of. affairs
in Europe, made us the more exceedingly anxious to
Italien our departure aé much as poffible? and I, therefore,
renewed my attempt to procure a pillage to Canton, hue-
without e f f e f t i The difficulty arifing from the eftablilhed
policy o f the country, I was now told, would -probably be
much increaied by an incident that had happened a few
weeks before our arrival. Captain Pantora, in the. Seahorfe, a
ihip o f War o f twenty-five guns,- had been fent from Madras,
to urge the payment o f a debt owing by the Chinefe merchants
o f Carttôn to1 private Britilh fubjedls in the Eaffi
Indies and Europe, w hich, including the principal and compound
intereft, amounted, I underftood, to near a million
fterling. For this purpofe, -he had orders to infill on a il'
audience with the Viceroy o f Canton, which, after fome
delay, and not without recourfe being had to threats, was,
at length, obtained. The anfwer he received, on th e 'fu b -
jedt o f his million, was fair and fabsfadtory ; but, immediately
after his departure, an edidt was ituck up on the
houfes o f the Europeans, and in the public places o f the
city, forbidding all foreigners, on any pretence, to lend
money to the fubjedls o f the emperor.
This meafure had occafioned very ferious alarms at Canton.
The Chinefe merchants, who had incurred the debt,
contrary to the commercial laws o f their own country, and
denied, in part, the juftioe o f the demand, were afraid that
intelligence o f this would be carried to Pekin ; and that the
Emperor, who has the charadter o f a ju il and rigid prince,
might punilh them with the. lofs o f their fortunes, i f not
o f their lives. On the other hand, the Selecl Committee,
to whom the caufe o f the claimants was Itrongly recommended
b y the Prefidency o f Madras, were extremely ap-
-f prehenfive,