about ten miles to the north of Takoo; but this is mere conjecture, as I could not obtain any reliable information on the subject. From the different accounts one received in answer to geographical inquiries, it was evident how reluctant the people were to impart knowledge of their country to the barbarian.

If the climate of Tientsin was latterly somewhat oppressive, we could at all events luxuriate freely in that most powerful alleviation to the discomfort of intense heat-ice. The whole population could revel in it if they chose. Boat-loads of it traversed the river-coolies staggered under the refreshing burden along the broiling streets-beggars stood at corners and sold it for infinitesimal sums, and other beggars came and bought it. Food of all sorts was abundant, and our requisitions in this respect were promptly attended to; though it must be confessed that, in respect of beef, they were sometimes a little unreasonable, as all the cattle are used in these parts for draught purposes only, a fact which their wellshod hoofs undeniably attested. Coarse but not illflavoured apricots, and coarser peaches, with small marsh - melons and apples and pears, furnished us with dessert, and the sailors in the river with the maladies incidental to an indiscriminate use of fruit in a hot climate.

The courtyard of the yamun, roofed over with matting, always afforded us a cool and agreeable lounge. In its grateful shade we played quoits and

established a skittle alley,-a game which had the merit of being, at all events, as aristocratic in the eyes of the Chinese as any other, and of giving us exercise when it was impossible to face the rays of the sun, even as it was sinking below the horizon. Unlike the sun of the tropics, merciful during the final hour of his existence, the sun at Tientsin darted fiery rays at you up to the last moment of the long summer day.

On Sundays this sheltered court was turned into a place of worship. The pulpit was on one of the raised platforms containing the Emperor's handwriting, the roof adorned with dragons and the mystic signs of Confucian philosophy. Army, navy, and diplomacy seated themselves in the quoit-ground and skittle-alley, grouped themselves round the majestic old tree which stood in the centre, or took up a position beneath a collection of gods and goddesses, who gazed as imperturbably at the scene on one side as a group of Chinese did on the other. It was a picturesque, but at the same time an impressive ceremony, none the less suggestive in its simplicity because brought into such close and striking contrast with the mixed emblems of an obscure metaphysical system on the one hand, and a debasing superstition on the other.

After we had signed the treaty, and a proclamation had been issued by the Commissioners informing the Chinese public that the foreigners now in the river might shortly be expected to evacuate it, the

people began to regain their confidence; new shops were opening daily in the suburbs, and curiosityhunting commenced with that energy which seems to distinguish the "barbarian" of every "outside nation” when he visits the "Central Flowery Land.” The great inconvenience attending this amusement at Tientsin was in the medium of circulation. We had brought with us a quantity of sycee silver, but the weighing out of a mass of particles of silver for each purchase was a tiresome and uncertain operation. Mexican dollars were taken, but not very freely, and then for much less than their value, while the only small change current was copper cash, of which a dollar's worth weighs from ten to fifteen lb. The simplest plan of dividing a dollar was to cut it in halves with a chopper, and re-divide them if you wanted to purchase a shilling's worth of anything; but it was as inconvenient to carry a chopper in one's purse as ten pounds' weight of copper, or a pair of scales, which were the other alternatives. Moreover, there was very little worth buying, and I saw no good old china, enamel, bronzes, or any of those articles which form the staple of Chinese works of "virtu."

CHAPTER XX.

DUPLICITY OF THE COMMISSIONERS- —ARRIVAL OF THE EMPEROR'S ASSENT-ARRIVAL OF REINFORCEMENTS-ABANDONMENT OF VISIT TO PEKIN-CONSEQUENCES OF DELAY-STATE OF MATTERS IN THE SOUTH-FINAL VISIT TO COMMISSIONERS-DEATH OF THE

PRIME MINISTER, YU-HWASHANA'S POEMS-"OLD" CHANG:

HIS POETICAL EFFUSIONS

DEPARTURE FROM TIENTSIN-THE

GREAT WALL-STATE OF MATTERS IN THE SOUTH-APPOINTMENT
OF FIVE COMMISSIONERS-MILITARY GOVERNMENT OF CANTON-
LORD ELGIN'S DESPATCH
JAPAN.

TO THE GENERAL-DEPARTURE FOR

ALTHOUGH in the ordinary course of diplomatic routine it is considered unnecessary to procure, before ratification, the assent of the sovereign to a treaty negotiated between specially appointed plenipotentiaries, Lord Elgin decided upon adopting the course followed by Sir Henry Pottinger in the Treaty of Nankin, and obtaining the Imperial assent to the Treaty, the ratifications of which, it had been arranged, should be exchanged at Pekin within the period of a year from the date of its signature. His intention to this effect was expressed to the Commissioners, who, accordingly, four days after it was signed, forwarded to his Lordship a communication in which they

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DUPLICITY OF THE COMMISSIONERS.

stated that they had received an Imperial Autograph Rescript to the following effect :-" "We have perused your Memorial and know all. Respect this." As the fact of the Emperor's cognisance of "all" did not by any means imply his assent to it, the Ambassador replied that he "was still awaiting his Majesty's approval to the conditions of the Treaty." In answer to which the Commissioners stated, that as soon as we shall have in person presented the originals of the different nations' treaties, with the seals and signatures, to his Majesty at the capital, and received the ratification of them in the Imperial autograph, it shall be transmitted, with all speed, to Shanghai for the information of your Excellency."

66

Lord Elgin, in reply to the above communication, states that he cannot consider peace to be reestablished until he shall have been satisfied of the Emperor's entire acceptance of the conditions agreed to by the Commissioners as his Majesty's Plenipotentiaries. That the Undersigned is neither acting nor insisting upon more than is justified by the usage of the Empire, is shown by the decree of the late Emperor, a copy of which he has the honour to enclose. Within a few days of its arrival at Nankin, Sir H. Pottinger began to move his fleet down the Yang-tse-Kiang. The Undersigned is bound to require an assurance, similarly complete, of the purpose of his present Majesty to abide by the engagements entered into on his behalf. Without such an