Anson's Voyage Round the World Part 9

And now the Commodore learned from some of these prisoners that the other ship, which he had kept in the port of Acapulco the preceding year, instead of returning in company with the present prize, as was expected, had set sail from Acapulco alone much sooner than usual, and had in all probability got into the port of Manila long before the Centurion arrived off Cape Espiritu Santo, so that Mr. Anson, notwithstanding his present success, had great reason to regret his loss of time at Macao, which prevented him from taking two rich prizes instead of one.

CHAPTER 35.

SECURING THE PRISONERS--MACAO AGAIN--AMOUNT OF THE TREASURE.

The Commodore, when the action was ended, resolved to make the best of his way with his prize for the river of Canton, being in the meantime fully employed in securing his prisoners, and in removing the treasure from on board the galleon into the Centurion. The last of these operations was too important to be postponed, for as the navigation to Canton was through seas but little known, and where, from the season of the year, much bad weather might be expected, it was of great consequence that the treasure should be sent on board the Centurion, which ship, by the presence of the Commander-in-chief, the greater number of her hands, and her other advantages, was doubtless much safer against all the casualties of winds and seas than the galleon; and the securing the prisoners was a matter of still more consequence, as not only the possession of the treasure, but the lives of the captors depended thereon. This was indeed an article which gave the Commodore much trouble and disquietude, for they were above double the number of his own people, and some of them, when they were brought on board the Centurion and had observed how slenderly she was manned, and the large proportion which the striplings bore to the rest, could not help expressing themselves with great indignation to be thus beaten by a handful of boys.

THE SUFFERINGS OF THE PRISONERS.

The method which was taken to hinder them from rising was by placing all but the officers and the wounded in the hold, where to give them as much air as possible, two hatchways were left open; but then (to avoid all danger whilst the Centurion's people should be employed upon the deck) there was a square part.i.tion of thick planks, made in the shape of a funnel, which enclosed each hatchway on the lower deck and reached to that directly over it on the upper deck. These funnels served to communicate the air to the hold better than could have been done without them, and at the same time added greatly to the security of the ship, for they being seven or eight feet high, it would have been extremely difficult for the Spaniards to have clambered up, and, still to augment that difficulty, four swivel-guns loaded with musket bullets were planted at the mouth of each funnel, and a sentinel with lighted match constantly attended, prepared to fire into the hold amongst them in case of any disturbance. Their officers, who amounted to seventeen or eighteen, were all lodged in the first lieutenant's cabin, under a constant guard of six men, and the General, as he was wounded, lay in the Commodore's cabin with a sentinel always with him, and they were all informed that any violence or disturbance would be punished with instant death; and that the Centurion's people might be at all times prepared, if notwithstanding these regulations any tumult should arise, the small arms were constantly kept loaded in a proper place, whilst all the men went armed with cutla.s.ses and pistols, and no officer ever pulled off his clothes, and when he slept had always his arms lying ready by him.

These measures were obviously necessary, considering the hazards to which the Commodore and his people would have been exposed had they been less careful. Indeed, the sufferings of the poor prisoners though impossible to be alleviated, were much to be commiserated, for the weather was extremely hot, the stench of the hold loathsome beyond all conception, and their allowance of water but just sufficient to keep them alive, it not being practicable to spare them more than at the rate of a pint a day for each, the crew themselves having only an allowance of a pint and a half. All this considered, it was wonderful that not a man of them died during their long confinement, except three of the wounded, who died the same night they were taken; though it must be confessed that the greatest part of them were strangely metamorphosed by the heat of the hold, for when they were first taken they were sightly, robust fellows, but when, after above a month's imprisonment, they were discharged in the river of Canton, they were reduced to mere skeletons, and their air and looks corresponded much more to the conception formed of ghosts and spectres than to the figure and appearance of real men.

Thus employed in securing the treasure and the prisoners, the Commodore, as has been said, stood for the river of Canton, and on the 30th of June, at six in the evening, got sight of Cape Delangano, which then bore west ten leagues distant, and the next day he made the Bashee Islands, and the wind being so far to the northward that it was difficult to weather them, it was resolved to stand through between Grafton and Monmouth Islands, where the pa.s.sage seemed to be clear; but in getting through the sea had a very dangerous aspect, for it rippled and foamed as if it had been full of breakers, which was still more terrible as it was then night. But the ships got through very safe, the prize always keeping ahead, and it was found that the appearance which had alarmed them had been occasioned only by a strong tide, and on the 11th of July, having taken on board two Chinese pilots, one for the Centurion and the other for the prize, they came to an anchor off the city of Macao.

By this time the particulars of the cargo of the galleon were well ascertained, and it was found that she had on board 1,313,843 pieces of eight and 35,682 ounces of virgin silver, besides some cochineal and a few other commodities, which, however, were but of small account in comparison of the specie. And this being the Commodore's last prize, it hence appears that all the treasure taken by the Centurion was not much short of 400,000 pounds independent of the ships and merchandise which she either burnt or destroyed, and which by the most reasonable estimation could not amount to so little as 600,000 more; so that the whole loss of the enemy by our squadron did doubtless exceed a million sterling. To which, if there be added the great expense of the court of Spain in fitting out Pizarro, and in paying the additional charges in America incurred on our account, together with the loss of their men-of-war, the total of all these articles will be a most exorbitant sum, and is the strongest conviction of the utility of this expedition, which, with all its numerous disadvantages, did yet prove so extremely prejudicial to the enemy.

CHAPTER 36.

THE CANTON RIVER--NEGOTIATING WITH THE CHINESE--PRISONERS RELEASED.

The Commodore, having taken pilots on board, proceeded with his prize for the river of Canton, and on the 14th of July came to an anchor short of the Bocca Tigris, which is a narrow pa.s.sage forming the mouth of that river. This entrance he proposed to stand through the next day, and to run up as far as Tiger Island, which is a very safe road, secured from all winds.

CHINESE INQUIRIES.

But whilst the Centurion and her prize were thus at anchor, a boat with an officer came off from the mandarin commanding the forts at Bocca Tigris to examine what the ships were and whence they came. Mr. Anson informed the officer that his ship was a ship of war, belonging to the King of Great Britain, and that the other in company with him was a prize he had taken; that he was going into Canton River to shelter himself against the hurricanes which were then coming on; and that as soon as the monsoon shifted he should proceed for England. The officer then desired an account of what men, guns, and ammunition were on board, a list of all which, he said, was to be sent to the Government of Canton. But when these articles were repeated to him, particularly when he was told that there were in the Centurion four hundred fire locks and between three hundred and four hundred barrels of powder, he shrugged up his shoulders and seemed to be terrified with the bare recital, saying that no ships ever came into Canton River armed in that manner; adding that he durst not set down the whole of this force, lest it should too much alarm the Regency. After he had finished his enquiries, and was preparing to depart, he desired to leave the two custom-house officers behind him, on which the Commodore told him that though as a man-of-war he was prohibited from trading, and had nothing to do with customs or duties of any kind, yet for the satisfaction of the Chinese he would permit two of their people to be left on board, who might themselves be witnesses how punctually he should comply with his instructions. The officer seemed amazed when Mr. Anson mentioned being exempted from all duties, and told him that the Emperor's duty must be paid by all ships that came into his ports.

On the 16th of July the Commodore sent his second lieutenant to Canton with a letter to the Viceroy, informing him of the reason of the Centurion's putting into that port, and that the Commodore himself soon proposed to repair to Canton to pay a visit to the Viceroy. The lieutenant was very civilly received, and was promised that an answer should be sent to the Commodore the next day. In the meantime Mr. Anson gave leave to several of the officers of the galleon to go to Canton, they engaging their parole to return in two days. When these prisoners got to Canton the Regency sent for them and examined them, enquiring particularly by what means they had fallen into Mr. Anson's power. And on this occasion the prisoners were honest enough to declare that as the Kings of Great Britain and Spain were at war, they had proposed to themselves the taking of the Centurion, and had bore down upon her with that view, but that the event had been contrary to their hopes. However, they acknowledged that they had been treated by the Commodore much better than they believed they should have treated him had he fallen into their hands. This confession from an enemy had great weight with the Chinese, who till then, though they had revered the Commodore's power, had yet suspected his morals, and had considered him rather as a lawless free booter than as one commissioned by the State for revenge of public injuries. But they now changed their opinion, and regarded him as a more important person, to which perhaps the vast treasure of his prize might not a little contribute, the acquisition of wealth being a matter greatly adapted to the estimation and reverence of the Chinese nation.

In this examination of the Spanish prisoners, though the Chinese had no reason in the main to doubt the account which was given them, yet there were two circ.u.mstances which appeared to them so singular as to deserve a more ample explanation. One of them was the great disproportion of men between the Centurion and the galleon, the other was the humanity with which the people of the galleon were treated after they were taken. The mandarins therefore asked the Spaniards how they came to be overpowered by so inferior a force, and how it happened, since the two nations were at war, that they were not put to death when they came into the hands of the English. To the first of these enquiries the Spanish replied that though they had more hands than the Centurion, yet she, being intended solely for war, had a great superiority in the size of her guns, and in many other articles, over the galleon, which was a vessel fitted out princ.i.p.ally for traffic. And as to the second question, they told the Chinese that amongst the nations of Europe it was not customary to put to death those who submitted, though they readily owned that the Commodore, from the natural bias of his temper, had treated both them and their countrymen, who had formerly been in his power, with very unusual courtesy, much beyond what they could have expected, or than was required by the customs established between nations at war with each other. These replies fully satisfied the Chinese, and at the same time wrought very powerfully in the Commodore's favour.

A MESSAGE FROM THE VICEROY.

On the 20th of July, in the morning, three mandarins, with a great number of boats and a vast retinue, came on board the Centurion and delivered to the Commodore the Viceroy of Canton's order for a daily supply of provisions, and for pilots to carry the ships up the river as far as the second bar; and at the same time they delivered him a message from the Viceroy in answer to the letter sent to Canton. The substance of the message was that the Viceroy desired to be excused from receiving the Commodore's visit during the then excessive hot weather, because the a.s.sembling the mandarins and soldiers necessary to that ceremony would prove extremely inconvenient and fatiguing; but that in September, when the weather would be more temperate, he should be glad to see both the Commodore himself and the English captain of the other ship that was with him. As Mr. Anson knew that an express had been dispatched to the court at Peking with an account of the Centurion and her prize being arrived in the river of Canton, he had no doubt but the princ.i.p.al motive for putting off this visit was that the regency at Canton might gain time to receive the Emperor's instructions about their behaviour on this unusual affair.

When the mandarins had delivered their message they began to talk to the Commodore about the duties to be paid by his ships, but he immediately told them that he would never submit to any demand of that kind, adding that no duties were ever demanded of men-of-war by nations accustomed to their reception, and that his master's orders expressly forbade him from paying any acknowledgment for his ships anchoring in any port whatever.

The mandarins being thus cut short on the subject of the duty, they said they had another matter to mention, which was the only remaining one they had in charge. This was a request to the Commodore that he would release the prisoners he had taken on board the galleon, for that the Viceroy of Canton apprehended the Emperor, his master, might be displeased if he should be informed that persons who were his allies, and carried on a great commerce with his subjects, were under confinement in his dominions. Mr. Anson was himself extremely desirous to get rid of the Spaniards, having on his first arrival sent about one hundred of them to Macao, and those who remained, which were near four hundred more, were on many accounts a great enc.u.mbrance to him. However, to enhance the favour, he at first raised some difficulties; but, permitting himself to be prevailed on, he at last told the mandarins that to show his readiness to oblige the Viceroy he would release the prisoners whenever they (the Chinese) would send boats to fetch them off. This matter being adjusted, the mandarins departed; and on the 28th of July two Chinese junks were sent from Canton to take on board the prisoners, and to carry them to Macao. And the Commodore, agreeable to his promise, dismissed them all, and ordered his purser to send with them eight days' provision for their subsistence during their sailing down the river. This being despatched, the Centurion and her prize came to her moorings above the second bar, where they proposed to continue till the monsoon shifted.

CHAPTER 37.

CHINESE TRICKERY.

Though the ships, in consequence of the Viceroy's permit, found no difficulty in purchasing provisions for their daily consumption, yet it was impossible for the Commodore to proceed to England without laying in a large quant.i.ty both of provisions and stores for his use during the voyage. The procuring this supply was attended with much embarra.s.sment, for there were people at Canton who had undertaken to furnish him with biscuit and whatever else he wanted, and his linguist, towards the middle of September, had a.s.sured him from day to day that all was ready and would be sent on board him immediately. But a fortnight being elapsed, and nothing being brought, the Commodore sent to Canton to enquire more particularly into the reasons of this disappointment, and he had soon the vexation to be informed that the whole was an illusion; that no order had been procured from the Viceroy to furnish him with his sea stores, as had been pretended; that there was no biscuit baked, nor any one of the articles in readiness which had been promised him; nor did it appear that the contractors had taken the least step to comply with their agreement.

This was most disagreeable news, and made it suspected that the furnishing the Centurion for her return to Great Britain might prove a more troublesome matter than had been hitherto imagined; especially, too, as the month of September was nearly elapsed without Mr. Anson's having received any message from the Viceroy of Canton.

It were endless to recount all the artifices, extortions, and frauds, which were practised on the Commodore and his people by the Chinese. The method of buying all things in China being by weight, the tricks made use of by them to increase the weight of the provision they sold to the Centurion were almost incredible. One time, a large quant.i.ty of fowls and ducks being brought for the ship's use, the greatest part of them presently died. This alarmed the people on board with the apprehension that they had been killed by poison, but on examination it appeared that it was only owing to their being crammed with stones and gravel to increase their weight, the quant.i.ty thus forced into most of the ducks being found to amount to ten ounces in each. The hogs, too, which were bought ready killed of the Chinese butchers, had water injected into them for the same purpose, so that a carcase hung up all night for the water to drain from it has lost above a stone of its weight, and when, to avoid this cheat, the hogs were bought alive, it was found that the Chinese gave them salt to increase their thirst, and having by this means excited them to drink great quant.i.ties of water, they then took measures to prevent them from discharging it again, and sold the tortured animal in this inflated state. When the Commodore first put to sea from Macao, they practised an artifice of another kind, for as the Chinese never object to the eating of any food that dies of itself, they took care, by some secret practises, that great part of his live sea-store should die in a short time after it was put on board, hoping to make a second profit of the dead carcases which they expected would be thrown overboard, and two-thirds of the hogs dying before the Centurion was out of sight of land, many of the Chinese boats followed her only to pick up the carrion.

These instances may serve as a specimen of the manners of this celebrated nation, which is often recommended to the rest of the world as a pattern of all kinds of laudable qualities.

CHAPTER 38.

PREPARATIONS FOR A VISIT TO CANTON.

The Commodore, towards the end of September, having found out (as has been said) that those who had contracted to supply him with sea provisions and stores had deceived him, and that the Viceroy had not sent to him according to his promise, he saw it would be impossible for him to surmount the embarra.s.sment he was under without going himself to Canton, and visiting the Viceroy. And therefore, on the 27th of September, he sent a message to the mandarin who attended the Centurion to inform him that he, the Commodore, intended on the 1st of October to proceed in his boat to Canton, adding that the day after he got there he should notify his arrival to the Viceroy, and should desire him to fix a time for his audience; to which the mandarin returned no other answer than that he would acquaint the Viceroy with the Commodore's intentions. In the meantime all things were prepared for this expedition, and the boat's crew in particular which Mr. Anson proposed to take with him, were clothed in a uniform dress resembling that of the watermen on the Thames.

They were in number eighteen and a c.o.xswain. They had scarlet jackets and blue silk waistcoats, the whole trimmed with silver b.u.t.tons, and with silver badges on their jackets and caps.

A WISE PRECAUTION.

As it was apprehended, and even a.s.serted, that the payment of the customary duties for the Centurion and her prize would be demanded by the Regency of Canton, and would be insisted on previous to the granting a permission for victualling the ship for her future voyage, the Commodore, who was resolved never to establish so dishonourable a precedent, took all possible precautions to prevent the Chinese from facilitating the success of their unreasonable pretentions by having him in their power at Canton. And, therefore, for the security of his ship and the great treasure on board her, he appointed his first lieutenant, Mr. Brett, to be captain of the Centurion under him, giving him proper instructions for his conduct, directing him particularly, if he, the Commodore, should be detained at Canton on account of the duties in dispute, to take out the men from the Centurion's prize and to destroy her, and then to proceed down the river through the Bocca Tigris with the Centurion alone, and to remain without that entrance till he received further orders from Mr.

Anson.

These necessary steps being taken, which were not unknown to the Chinese, it should seem as if their deliberations were in some sort embarra.s.sed thereby. It is reasonable to imagine that they were in general very desirous of getting the duties to be paid them, not perhaps solely in consideration of the amount of those dues, but to keep up their reputation for address and subtlety, and to avoid the imputation of receding from claims on which they had already so frequently insisted.

However, as they now foresaw that they had no other method of succeeding than by violence, and that even against this the Commodore was prepared, they were at last disposed, I conceive, to let the affair drop, rather than entangle themselves in a hostile measure which they found would only expose them to the risk of having the whole navigation of their port destroyed, without any certain prospect of gaining their favourite point thereby.

CHAPTER 39.

STORES AND PROVISIONS--A FIRE IN CANTON--SAILORS AS FIREMEN--THE VICEROY'S GRAt.i.tUDE.

BARGAINING.

When the Commodore arrived at Canton he was visited by the princ.i.p.al Chinese merchants, who affected to appear very much pleased that he had met with no obstruction in getting thither. They added that, as soon as the Viceroy should be informed that Mr. Anson was at Canton, they were persuaded a day would be immediately appointed for the visit, which was the princ.i.p.al business that had brought the Commodore thither.

The next day the merchants returned to Mr. Anson, and told him that the Viceroy was then so fully employed in preparing his despatches for Pekin, that there was no getting admittance to him for some days; but that they had engaged one of the officers of his court to give them information as soon as he should be at leisure when they proposed to notify Mr. Anson's arrival, and to endeavour to fix the day of audience. The Commodore was by this time too well acquainted with their artifices not to perceive that this was a falsehood, and had he consulted only his own judgment he would have applied directly to the Viceroy by other hands. But the Chinese merchants had so far prepossessed the supercargoes of our ships with chimerical fears, that they were extremely apprehensive of being embroiled with the government and of suffering in their interest, if those measures were taken which appeared to Mr. Anson at that time to be the most prudential; and therefore, lest the malice and double-dealing of the Chinese might have given rise to some sinister incident which would be afterwards laid at his door, he resolved to continue pa.s.sive as long as it should appear that he lost no time by thus suspending his own opinion. With this view he promised not to take any immediate step himself for getting admittance to the Viceroy, provided the Chinese with whom he contracted for provisions would let him see that his bread was baked, his meat salted, and his stores prepared with the utmost despatch.

But if, by the time when all was in readiness to be shipped off (which it was supposed would be in about forty days), the merchants should not have procured the Viceroy's permission, then the Commodore proposed to apply for it himself. These were the terms Mr. Anson thought proper to offer to quiet the uneasiness of the supercargoes; and notwithstanding the apparent equity of the conditions, many difficulties and objections were urged, nor would the Chinese agree to them till the Commodore had consented to pay for every article he bespoke before it was put in hand.

However, at last the contract being pa.s.sed, it was some satisfaction to the Commodore to be certain that his preparations were now going on, and being himself on the spot, he took care to hasten them as much as possible.

During this interval, in which the stores and provisions were getting ready, the merchants continually entertained Mr. Anson with accounts of their various endeavours to get a licence from the Viceroy, and their frequent disappointments, which to him was now a matter of amus.e.m.e.nt, as he was fully satisfied there was not one word of truth in anything they said. But when all was completed, and wanted only to be shipped, which was about the 24th of November, at which time, too, the north-east monsoon was set in, he then resolved to apply himself to the Viceroy to demand an audience, as he was persuaded that without this ceremony the procuring a permission to send his stores on board would meet with great difficulty. On the 24th of November, therefore, Mr. Anson sent one of his officers to the mandarin who commanded the guard of the princ.i.p.al gate of the city of Canton with a letter directed to the Viceroy. When this letter was delivered to the mandarin, he received the officer who brought it very civilly, and took down the contents of it in Chinese, and promised that the Viceroy should be immediately acquainted with it, but told the officer it was not necessary for him to wait for an answer, because a message would be sent to the Commodore himself.

A FIRE AT CANTON.

Two days after the sending the above-mentioned letter a fire broke out in the suburbs of Canton. On the first alarm Mr. Anson went thither with his officers and his boat's crew to a.s.sist the Chinese. When he came there he found that it had begun in a sailor's shed, and that by the slightness of the buildings and the awkwardness of the Chinese it was getting head apace. But he perceived that by pulling down some of the adjacent sheds it might easily be extinguished; and particularly observing that it was running along a wooden cornice which would soon communicate it to a great distance, he ordered his people to begin with tearing away that cornice.

This was presently attempted, and would have been soon executed, but in the meantime he was told that, as there was no mandarin there to direct what was to be done, the Chinese would make him (the Commodore) answerable for whatever should be pulled down by his orders. On this his people desisted, and he sent them to the English factory to a.s.sist in securing the Company's treasure and effects, as it was easy to foresee that no distance was a protection against the rage of such a fire, where so little was done to put a stop to it; for all this time the Chinese contented themselves with viewing it and now and then holding one of their idols near it, which they seemed to expect should check its progress. However, at last a mandarin came out of the city, attended by four or five hundred firemen. These made some feeble efforts to pull down the neighbouring houses, but by this time the fire had greatly extended itself, and was got amongst the merchants' warehouses, and the Chinese firemen, wanting both skill and spirit, were incapable of checking its violence, so that its fury increased upon them, and it was feared the whole city would be destroyed. In this general confusion the Viceroy himself came thither, and the Commodore was sent to and was entreated to afford his a.s.sistance, being told that he might take any measures he should think most prudent in the present emergency. And now he went thither a second time, carrying with him about forty of his people, who upon this occasion exerted themselves in such a manner as in that country was altogether without example. For they were rather animated than deterred by the flames and falling buildings amongst which they wrought, so that it was not uncommon to see the most forward of them tumble to the ground on the roofs and amidst the ruins of houses which their own efforts brought down with them. By their boldness and activity the fire was soon extinguished, to the amazement of the Chinese, and the building being all on one floor, and the materials slight, the seamen, notwithstanding their daring behaviour, happily escaped with no other injuries than some considerable bruises. The fire, though at last thus luckily extinguished, did great mischief during the time it continued, for it consumed an hundred shops and eleven streets full of warehouses, so that the damage amounted to an immense sum. It raged, indeed, with unusual violence, for in many of the warehouses there were large quant.i.ties of camphor, which greatly added to its fury, and produced a column of exceeding white flame, which shot up into the air to such a prodigious height that the flame itself was plainly seen on board the Centurion, though she was thirty miles distant.

Whilst the Commodore and his people were labouring at the fire, and the terror of its becoming general still possessed the whole city, several of the most considerable Chinese merchants came to Mr. Anson to desire that he would let each of them have one of his soldiers (for such they styled his boat's crew from the uniformity of their dress) to guard their warehouses and dwelling-houses, which, from the known dishonesty of the populace, they feared would be pillaged in the tumult. Mr. Anson granted them this request, and all the men that he thus furnished to the Chinese behaved greatly to the satisfaction of their employers, who afterwards highly applauded their great diligence and fidelity. By this means the resolution of the English at the fire, and their trustiness and punctuality elsewhere, was the subject of general conversation amongst the Chinese, and the next morning many of the princ.i.p.al inhabitants waited on the Commodore to thank him for his a.s.sistance, frankly owning to him that they could never have extinguished the fire of themselves, and that he had saved their city from being totally consumed. And soon after a message came to the Commodore from the Viceroy, appointing the 30th of November for his audience, which sudden resolution of the Viceroy, in a matter that had been so long agitated in vain, was also owing to the signal services performed by Mr. Anson and his people at the fire, of which the Viceroy himself had been in some measure an eye-witness. The fixing this business of the audience was, on all accounts, a circ.u.mstance which Mr. Anson was much pleased with, as he was satisfied that the Chinese Government would not have determined this point without having agreed among themselves to give up their pretensions to the duties they claimed, and to grant him all he could reasonably ask; for, as they well knew the Commodore's sentiments, it would have been a piece of imprudence not consistent with the refined cunning of the Chinese to have admitted him to an audience only to have contested with him.

CHAPTER 40.

ANSON RECEIVED BY THE VICEROY--CENTURION SETS SAIL--TABLE BAY--SPITHEAD.

THE VICEROY.

At ten o'clock in the morning, on the day appointed, a mandarin came to the Commodore to let him know that the Viceroy was ready to receive him, on which the Commodore and his retinue immediately set out. And as soon as he entered the outer gate of the city, he found a guard of two hundred soldiers drawn up ready to attend him; these conducted him to the great parade before the Emperor's palace, where the Viceroy then resided. In this parade a body of troops, to the number of ten thousand, were drawn up under arms, and made a very fine appearance, being all of them new clothed for this ceremony, and Mr. Anson and his retinue having pa.s.sed through the middle of them, he was then conducted to the great hall of audience, where he found the Viceroy seated under a rich canopy in the Emperor's chair of state, with all his Council of Mandarins attending.

Here there was a vacant seat prepared for the Commodore, in which he was placed on his arrival. He was ranked the third in order from the Viceroy, there being above him only the head of the law and of the treasury, who in the Chinese Government take place of all military officers. When the Commodore was seated he addressed himself to the Viceroy by his interpreter, and began with reciting the various methods he had formerly taken to get an audience, adding that he imputed the delays he had met with to the insincerity of those he had employed, and that he had therefore no other means left than to send, as he had done, his own officer with a letter to the gate. On the mention of this the Viceroy stopped the interpreter, and bid him a.s.sure Mr. Anson that the first knowledge they had of his being at Canton was from the letter. Mr. Anson then proceeded, acquainting the Viceroy that the proper season was now set in for returning to Europe, and that he waited only for a license to ship off his provisions and stores, which were all ready, and that, as soon as this should be granted to him, and he should have got his necessaries on board, he intended to leave the river of Canton and to make the best of his way to England. The Viceroy replied to this that the license should be immediately issued, and that everything should be ordered on board the following day. The Viceroy continued the conversation for some time, acknowledging in very civil terms how much the Chinese were obliged to him for his signal services at the fire, and owning that he had saved the city from being destroyed; and then, observing that the Centurion had been a good while on their coast, he closed his discourse by wishing the Commodore a good voyage to Europe.

After which, the Commodore thanking him for his civility and a.s.sistance, took his leave.

Thus the Commodore, to his great joy, at last finished this troublesome affair, which for the preceding four months had given him great disquietude. Indeed, he was highly pleased with procuring a licence for the shipping his stores and provisions; for thereby he was enabled to return to Great Britain with the first of the monsoon, and to prevent all intelligence of his being expected. But this, though a very important point, was not the circ.u.mstance which gave him the greatest satisfaction, for he was more particularly attentive to the authentic precedent established on this occasion, by which His Majesty's ships of war are for the future exempted from all demands of duty in any of the ports of China.

HOMEWARD BOUND.