which they are in the habit of applying to every other remarkable phenomenon, and we have little doubt of the result: but should it unfortunately happen that they, or any of them, should rise up from a careful perusal of the work before us without that conviction which, as we think, it might have brought to their minds, let them not impute their disappointment to the subject or to the evidence. As an advocate for the truth of the Christian revelation Dr. Chalmers cannot be placed in the first class. With all his demands for a spirit of severe ratiocination on the subject, he is himself no severe reasoner. His style, too diffuse and declamatory, is perceptibly tinctured by those habits of extemporaneous eloquence, which in his own church accomplish the speaker, while they often spoil the writer. Many strong and striking things indeed are said, but in a manner too desultory to produce the full effect to which they are entitled, and in an order too irregular and. inconsequent to concentrate all the rays of light in one focus. There are also many important omissions, the subject of prophecy in particular-but above all, we desiderate in the close of his book a clear and forcible summing up of the whole evidence, so as to bring it at once before the wavering and half-convinced mind, and by its irresistible effect to fix it in belief. But to these philosophers it is probably unknown (we fear it is but imperfectly known to our author himself) that the present and the last generation have produced from the English school of theology more than one work on the same important subject, by masters at once of reason and of style, accomplished in the laws of evidence, and skilled in all the art of lucid order and arrangement. To these we confidently remit the unconvinced, and unsatisfied readers of Dr. Chalmers, and if, after having taken up the works of Lyttleton and Jenyns, of Powell and Paley, they feel a disposition to lay them by half read, either their heads or their hearts must be in fault, they must be incapable of conviction on the most momentous of all subjects, or they must dread it; and they have reason to apprehend that the Being whom they do not choose to retain in their knowledge, hath given them a strong delusion if not that they should believe a lie,' what is at least equally pernicious, that they should disbelieve the truth.

ART. VIII.—1. Journal of the Proceedings of the late Embassy to China; comprising a correct Narrative of the Public Transactions of the Embassy, of the Voyage to and from China, and of the Journey from the Mouth of the Pei-ho to the Return to Canton, &c. Illustrated by Maps and Drawings. By Henry Ellis, Third Commissioner of the Embassy. 4to. pp. 526. London. 1817.

MH 3

2. Nur

2. Narrative of a Voyage in His Majesty's late Ship Alceste to the Yellow Sea, along the Coast of Corea and through its numerous hitherto undiscovered Islands to the Island of Lewchew, with an Account of her Shipwreck in the Straits of Gaspar. By John M'Leod, Surgeon of the Alceste. Svo. pp. 284.

London.

IT

1817.

T was said i'th' olden time,' (and the saying is not much the worse for the wear,) that the race is not always to the swift ;and, indeed, of all swift-paced animals, an author is not the least likely to break down, if pushed beyond his speed. Mr. Ellis has certainly taken the lead of about half a dozen competitors, who are said to have started along with him; but he may not, for all this, win the prize, though he has the advantage in starting, To speak plainly, we are of opinion that his book betrays too great haste; and are led to regret that he should not have taken more time, as well as counsel, before he published. Had this been done, we are pretty certain that he would not only have lopped off many redundancies, but have expunged some strange words, and still stranger figures of speech: we should not then have heard of the repose of putrifying garlic on a much worn blanket; nor of throwing a vacant countenance into laughter, by the expounded radiance of silliness;'-nor of comparing a muddy river to hasty-pudding,' which is not a very happy similitude, nor one, in fact, which Mr. Ellis had an interest in suggesting. These, and other phrases of the same kind, are not only examples of bad taste, but exhibit a degree of levity not altogether suited to the high official situation held by the writer.* Mr. Ellis had a model before him in Sir George Staunton's Authentic Account' of the former embassy; or, if he thought that was drawn up in too grave and sustained a style to be used in a diary,' there was that excellent book, The Travels of John Bell of Antermony,' the best model perhaps for travel-writing in the English language. The discussions too with the Chinese government are

given

He was secretary of embassy and third commissioner. Sir George Staunton was second commissioner, and to succeed, on the death or absence of the ambassador, as first commissioner, Mr. Ellis's dormant commission of minister plenipotentiary being merely provided for securing the delivery of the Regent's letter.

The history of this book is somewhat curious, and not generally known. For many years after Mr. Bell returned from his travels he used to amuse his friends with accounts of what he had seen, refreshing his recollection from a simple diary of occurrences and ●bservations. The Earl Granville, then president of the Council, on hearing some of his adventures, prevailed on him to throw his notes together into the form of a narrative, which, when done, pleased him so much that he sent the manuscript to Doctor Robertson, with a particular request that he would revise and put it in a fit state for the press. The literary avocations of the Scottish historian at that time not allowing him to undertake the task, he recommended Mr. Barrou, a professor in the University of Aberdeen; and on this gentleman consulting Doctor Robertson as to the style and the book of travels

given so much in detail as to divest them of all dignity, and to place the parties concerned in rather a disparaging if not a ludicrous point of view. A diplomatist is invested with a trust which he is bound to deposit in those hands from which he originally received it; he is not at liberty to lay before the public the details of his official employment; much less heedlessly to fling over them a cast of undue contempt.-With these drawbacks, which a conscientious discharge of our duty to the public has compelled us to notice, we have no hesitation in pronouncing the volume before us a valuable and interesting work. And one advantage, certainly, may be derived from Mr. Ellis's frankness. The paltry intrigues of this oriental negociation (thus unreservedly laid open) afford a practical illustration of the childish vanity, the insolence, the meanness, and the unblushing falsehood of the court of China; and they display, in its true light, the moral and political character of this government of sages, which Voltaire and his followers conspired to hold up as a pattern for all governments to follow, and an example for the general admiration of mankind.

Mr. Ellis's volume contains, in the form of a diary, an account of the transactions of the British embassy with the court of Pekin; a narrative of occurrences in a journey of thirteen or fourteen hundred miles through the heart of the Chinese empire; and a clear and, we doubt not, an accurate description of the various objects which presented themselves on the route. It is true that all which can be seen from the grand canal, and which is the usual track from Pekin to Canton, is now nearly as well known as the road from London to Edinburgh; and although the route of the present embassy deviated from that of Lord Macartney in taking the course of the great river, the Yang-tse-kiang, for two hundred and eighty niles, which afforded an opportunity of viewing the ancient capital of Nankin, and the fine scenery in the neighbourhood of the Po-yang lake, yet that sameness, which is characteristic of China, seems every where to have occurred in the constant repetition of the same kind of objects.

In a former Number* we traced the progress of the embassy to its embarkation on the barges of the Pei-ho; and formed a tolerable guess at the scenes which had been acted at the celestial residence;' this we were enabled to do (for we make no presensions to the gift of second sight) partly from some little knowledge of the

which he would recommend him to adopt for his guide, the historian replied, 'Take Gulliver's Travels for your model, and you cannot go wrong.' He did so, and Bell's Travels' has all the simplicity of Gulliver, with the advantage which truth always carries over fiction.

No. XXXII. pp. 412, 413.

Chinese, court, and partly from the imperial edicts, which were their in our hands. We must now return to our first statement, and take up the embassy at the Pei-ho. Even at this early period, it was thought by some that an unfavourable disposition had manifested itself towards the embassy, though nothing could be more civil and attentive than the conduct of the two mandarins Chang and Yin, and the imperial legate Quang. Conformably with the precedent of Lord Macartney's embassy, the two former had visited the ambassador on board, the latter received him on shore. After some trifling questions of routine, such as-what were the objects of the embassy? how many persons it consisted of? how they meant to return? &c. they adverted to the ko-tou or ceremony of prostration, and observed that previous practice would be required to secure the decorous performance of it in presence of the emperor; but Lord Amherst cut them short by observing that whatever was right and proper would be done. This early intimation, however, of what was almost certain to be demanded, induced his lordship to take the opinion of Sir George Staunton on the subject, who did not hesitate to declare, that the performance of the ceremony was not only incompatible with personal and national respectability, but that a compliance with it would be attended with the most injurious effects on the company's interests at Canton. In his mind, the mere reception of the embassy was not worth being purchased by the sacrifice.

The legate, who received the ambassador on shore, had previously informed Mr. Morrison, who acted as Lord Amherst's interpreter, that he should abstain from entering upon any discussion at his first interview, as his sole object was to pay his respects to the ambassador, and to become personally acquainted with him; and his lively and affable manners were considered as grounds of favourable augury for more important concerns. He repeated, what had before been said, that the emperor had particularly inquired about the age of Lord Amherst's son, and he himself seemed to wish to give a foretaste of the honours that awaited this young gentleman by the extreme attention which he paid him-but Mr. Ellis doubts whether this was in consequence of the imperial inquiries, or designed as an irresistible attack on Lord Amherst's good-will; they had all reason, however, to be satisfied with his conduct.

Nothing more was said at this interview; but something that fell from the legate, in the course of conversation, led Sir George Staunton to anticipate an imperial banquet at Tien-sing, where a ta-yin, or 'great man,' of the name of Soo, was to meet them; Sir George had also incidentally collected that, though it was now the 10th August, the audience was fixed for the 22d. On the 12th

they

they reached Tien-sing. Here the three attendant mandarins, with Soo, waited on the ambassador; and, after some general conversation and mutual compliments, asked for a copy of the Regent's letter; they also let him know that the emperor had been graciously pleased to order an entertainment to be given to his lordship, and that nine o'clock had been fixed on as the most conve nient hour. On taking leave, the imperial legate said he would furnish the ambassador with a written statement of every thing connected with his reception at Pekin, his stay there, (which it was hinted would be very short,) and the mode in which his time would be employed.

On the morning of the 13th the ambassador proceeded in state to the hall in which the banquet was prepared. On entering it,' the first object that met his eyes was a table placed before a skreen, with yellow silk hanging before it; the mandarins in attendance were all dressed in their robes of ceremony. The legate began by observing, that the entertainment of which they were about to partake was given by the emperor, and that therefore the same ceremonies would be required from all parties as if they' were in the imperial presence. Lord Amherst replied, that he was: prepared to approach his imperial Majesty with the same demonstrations of respect as his own sovereign. They said the ko-tou was the ceremony required; his lordship declared his intention of following, in every respect, the precedent established by Lord Macartney. They said that Lord Macartney had performed every ceremony and especially the ko-tou, not only in the presence of the emperor but at all other times; and Soo declared that himself remembered his having performed it at Canton; and they had the assurance to appeal to Sir George Staunton for the truth of what they asserted. This was not all; they even produced a paper, purporting to be an extract from the official records of the court of ceremonies, describing the whole ceremony which Lord Macartney performed in presence of the emperor; among which that of the ko-tou was specifically mentioned.

They now assumed a haughty tone; they supposed that it was the intention of the ambassador to please the emperor, and they did not think it becoming in him to refuse a ceremony which themselves must perform. Lord Amherst replied, that he would: follow the conduct of Lord Macartney, as instructed by his-sovereign to do. It was then hinted that the embassy might not be received; upon which Lord Amherst said, that however mortifying it might be to his feelings, he must decline the honour intended him by the entertainment, and that he should be prepared, ou his arrival at Pekin, to submit the reasons of his refusal, in writing, to his imperial Majesty. Finding the ambassador inflexible, an ap

peal