“ 'in a few words. Thefe gentlemen, like all ftrangers, who
“ know China only from books, were ignorant o f the manner
“ o f proceeding, o f the cuftoms and the etiquette o f this court;
“ and, to add to their misfortune, they brought with them a
“ Chinefe interpreter ftill lefs informed than themfelves. T h e
“ confequence o f all which was that, in the firfl place, they
“ came without any prefents for the Minifter o f State, or for
“ the fons o f the Emperor. Secondly, they refufed to go
“ through the ufual ceremony o f faluting the Emperor, with-
“ out offering any fatisfa&ory reafon for fuch refufal. Thirdly,
“ T h e y prefented themfelves in clothes that were too plain,
“ and too common. Fourthly, T h e y did not ufe the precaution
“ to fee (graifler la patte) the feveral perfons appointed to the
“ fuperintendance o f their affairs. Fifthly, Their demands
“ were not made in the tone and ftyle o f the country. Ano-
« ther reafon o f their bad fuccefs, and, in my mind, the prin-
« cipal one, was owing to the intrigues o f a certain miffionary,
“ who, imagining that this embaffy might be injurious to the
“ interefts o f his own country, did not fail to excite unfavour-
“ able impreffions againft the Englifh nation.”
T he points o f failure enumerated in this letter o f Monfieur
Grammont, were fo many fpurs to the Dutch fa&ory to try
their fuccefs at the court o f Pekin the following year. No
fooner did Mr. Van Braam receive this difpatch, by the return
o f the Englifh embaffy to Canton, than he prepared a letter
for the Commiffaries General at Batavia, in which he informed
them, that as it was the intention o f the different nations who
had fadtories eftabliihed in Canton, to fend embaffadors to the
capital,
Capital, for the purpofe o f congratulating the Emperor on his
attaining the age o f eighty-four years, which would be in the
fixtieth year o f his reign, he had refolved to proceed on fuch
a miflion on the part o f the Batavian Republic, and requefted
that he might be furniihed, without delay, with fuitable credentials.
T o this application the Commiffaries General, who
had been fent out the fame year ,ta retrench the expences o f
the Company in their Indian fettlements, and to reform abufes,
returned for anfwer, That, “ however low and inadequate their
“ finances might be to admit o f extraordinary expences, yet
“ they deemed it expedient not to fhew any backwardnefs in
“ adopting fimilar meafures to thofe purfued by other Euro-
“ peans trading to C h in a ; and that they had, accordingly,
“ nominated Mr. Titfmgh as chief, and himfelf (Mr. Van
“ Braam) as fecond Embaffador to the Court o f China.”
Mr. Titfmgh loft no time in repairing to Canton, and thefe
two Embaffadors, determining to avail themfelves o f the hints
thrown out in Monfieur Grammont’ s letter, and thereby to
avoid fplitting on the fame rock which, they took for granted,
the Britifh Embaffador had done, cheerfully fubmitted to every
humiliating ceremony required from them by the Chinefe, who,
in return, treated them in the moft contemptuous and indignant
manner. A t Canton they were ordered to affift in a folemn
proceffion o f Mandarines to a. temple in the neigbourhood, and
there, before the Emperor’s name, painted on cloth, and fuf-
pended above the altar, to bow their heads nine times to the
ground, in token o f gratitude for his great condefcenfion in
permitting them to proceed to his prefence, in order to offer
c him