Perhaps, Jardine was not sorry that he should be introduced at once to the impossible methods of Chinese officialdom, for, the sooner he realized that force only could serve, the better it would be. Mr. Astell, duly primed and told to use the utmost tact, set out with a deputation of merchants. On their arrival at the Petition Gate, the soldier on guard sent a report of the circumstances to his superior. A quarter of an hour elapsed before a mandarin appeared. Mr. Astell offered him the letter for transmission to the Viceroy, but he excused himself on the ground that a superior officer was on the way.

With admirable patience the British waited an hour, when another mandarin arrived, followed in rapid succession by several others, to each of whom the letter was offered and by each declined, on the same plea that higher officers would shortly attend.

There followed a wait of another hour, during which the crowd, having become very thick, amused themselves by shouting opprobrious epithets and making opprobious signs. It was very unpleasant and humiliating to have to stand there and bear all this silently, but Mr. Astell and his companions, being resolved not to become involved in a free fight, than which nothing, they suspected, would have pleased the Chinese more, by a superhuman effort maintained their calm and continued to wait for someone who would take the letter.

As soon as the authorities inside, who, of course, were fully informed, considered that their importunate visitors had reached the degree of wretchedness when they would be ready to abate their claims to address the Viceroy direct, some of the Hong merchants were brought on the scene. They came forward smiling, wistful, charming, their hands hidden in their long sleeves and bowing-a disarming spectacle. Would not the gentlemen consent to intrust the letter to them? It would be immediately delivered; since His Excellency would have it forthwith, why make trouble over a mere formality? What did it matter who took it to him? But Mr. Astell hardened his heart to these blandishments. It was precisely to circumvent the Co-Hong that he had been sent to the gate. The new policy for which Lord Napier stood would be fatally prejudiced were he to cede the letter to these smirking seductors. He stoutly refused. The crowd hooted. The police made a show of using their whips.

Another mandarin was now seen approaching. From his retinue it seemed he was really of high rank or had been made to appear so by those who had sent him. Mr. Astell immediately offered him the letter. This notability went so far as to look at it, though he did not touch it. When he saw the character for "letter" written on the envelope, instead of that for "petition," he appeared quite astonished and assured Mr. Astell that on that ground alone, though without prejudice to other grounds, it was his duty to refuse to transmit it to the Viceroy. To do so would be a shocking indiscretion, and he was sure they had no desire to see him suffer for their error. Their best course, their only course, was to return at once, and he offered this advice with the friendliest feelings.

While this farcical palaver was in progress, the Tartar General's Adjutant put in an appearance. Among the men-of-straw mandarins who had been deputed to keep off the Barbarians, he seemed a person of exalted quality. At last, thought poor Astell, they are giving way; this

man will take the letter: and he confidently offered it to him. But the Adjutant pretended he had not understood. Whereupon Astell offered it a second time. The Adjutant declined it with such splendid politeness that Astell could not think he had seriously refused, and again, for the third time, pressed it upon him. Whereupon, with a perceptible stiffening of manner, he made his refusal unmistakably clear.

At this awkward moment Howqua-for the old fellow was among the Hong merchants present-Howqua, frail, delicate, smiling his whimsical smile, made a suggestion, after a whispered conversation with the Adjutant. "Gentlemen," he said, with all the insinuating charm of which he was master, "His Honour is infinitely distressed that you should have had to come all this distance in vain. There are obstacles-and I am sure you appreciate them as much as he doesin the way of him personally handling this petition. But I can take it from you and, together, he and I, we will lay it before the Viceroy." As he said this his face was as open as a child's. But we must remember that he was a very clever man.

However, the trap was sufficiently evident. After a moment's reflection Mr. Astell saw that the proposal was not the compromise it purported to be. If he handed the letter to Howqua in the presence of the mandarins and crowd, there would be a hundred witnesses to proclaim that the Barbarians had been brought to heel and forced to make their plaint through the Co-Hong. He declined the offer and the situation relapsed again into deadlock. The Adjutant was seen to whisper with the others and shortly afterwards they withdrew to confer, informing the British they would soon be back. They were not away very long and on return told Mr. Astell with finality that the letter could not be received. Three hours had now elapsed since the arrival at the gate. Astell had done his best. There was nothing more he could do. Formally offering the letter once more and being as formally refused, he wished the Adjutant good-day and returned to the factory.

The Chinese had won. They had made it clear in their manner that they had no intentions of submitting to the new order of things that the Barbarian Eye had attempted to spring on them. . .

THE VICTORY OF THE CHAIRS

Before the drama closed in, there was to be a short interval when Napier thought he had intimidated the Viceroy. Having come to believe that a show of force would suffice to humble his antagonists, he was now delighted to find himself unexpectedly able to dispose of two frigates; his spirits rose and he began to see his way. ...

On the evening of the next day, 22 August, he received news that led him to think that the presence of the frigates, though outside the Bogue, was having its effect. Howqua and Mowqua were announced. They came in smiling. His Excellency, they declared, had directed three mandarins of high rank to call the following morning at eleven o'clock. Would the Chief Superintendent agree to receive them? Napier was overjoyed. No mandarín of any kind had come near him so far. Of course, he told Howqua, and he would receive them in state in the main hall of the English factory....

The next morning at nine o'clock the Hong interpreters, a class of men known as linguists, arrived at the English factory with servants carrying ceremonial chairs. Before anyone noticed what they were doing, they took the chairs to the state reception-room, called the hall, and there arranged three of them facing south, the quarter of happy augury towards which authority always faces in China, with two rows of four chairs at right angles to them and facing east and west. When this was done, they announced that the three mandarins would take the chairs facing south and the Hong merchants the others. They were unable to answer the question where Lord Napier and his colleagues would sit, but presumed they would stand.

Mr. Astell, the secretary, hastened to inform His Lordship that a monstrous and calculated insult was intended. Napier immediately came to the hall, was astounded when he saw the chairs, and became incensed on noticing further that one row was so placed that its occupants would have their backs to the portrait of George IV. The late Governor Chu had so sat down, as was well known and remembered still with indignation, though he had later expressed regret, saying it was done inadvertently. How disingenuous had been his regret was now apparent. They were scheming to do it again.

Napier then gave his orders. A table was fetched. He would sit at it facing south with a mandarin on either hand. Mr. Astell would sit at the other side of it, facing north, with one mandarin on his right and the Second Superintendent on his left. The Hong merchants would sit in a row a little back from the table and directly face the portrait. By this arrangement no one had his back to King George. When the chairs were in their new position, Howqua, accompanied as usual by Mowqua, arrived and was shown up. As soon as he saw the chairs, he appeared much disturbed and intimated that, were the present arrangement retained, he and his fellow merchants would be blamed and squeezed. He was sure that for a trifling matter such as the position of a few chairs His Lordship would not see an old friend of British commerce victimized. Had he not said only the other day how much he disliked the Manchu domination and sympathized with His Lordship's aspirations for open trade? His Lordship was of placid temper and slow to wrath: the Viceroy himself had admitted as much. His Lordship would therefore hear him with patience when he urged that the chairs be restored to their original position. After all, His Lordship was now resident in China. By the usages of that country, mandaríns of his visitors' rank always sat facing south on such occasions as the present or else they would abdicate their rightful authority. The order of the chairs, no doubt, was what obtained in England when one official was receiving another, but here things were different, and he must ask His Lordship to consider again before he inflicted what would be taken for a deliberate affront, for which, he had already remarked, the Co-Hong would have to pay.

But Napier was not moved by this pleading to concede the smallest modification, and as it was by now eleven o'clock, the hour fixed for the visit, he took his seat at the table, being in full dress.

There followed a wait of two hours and a quarter, Napier becoming more and more impatient and angry. The mandarins were not late; throughout the East a personage of rank is never late; he just does not

arrive until two hours after the time fixed; for him to be punctual would be to compromise his dignity, though when visiting a superior in rank he must not be content with punctuality but arrive some hours early-in the case of Imperial audience, six hours early. That the mandarins should have kept Lord Napier waiting for two hours and a quarter was therefore in order, for they considered him their inferior. As the clocks were striking the quarter after one, the mandarins were ushered into the hall. The two Superintendents were seated, but rose, bowed, and requested their visitors to take the chairs set for them. It was an anxious moment. Would they do so or make objection? Whatever may be said against the Chinese senior official of that date, at least he had perfect manners when you met him and an instinctive feeling for the close connection between manners and dignity. For the mandarins when confronted with the chairs to have shown the smallest sign of surprise or vexation would have been a breach of manners, a blow to dignity and so a loss of face. With pleasant faces they seated themselves, smiling, and even protesting that the honour was too great. Lord Napier, however, ascribed their amenability to the frigates or the emissaries, the Viceroy's desire to settle or their own contemptible characters, and opened the proceedings by asking Howqua, through Dr. Morrison who was seated behind him, whether he had not been directed by them to give notice of their intention of calling at eleven o'clock. For once the millionaire was off his guard or perhaps he could not conceive of the rudeness behind the question. He replied without hesitation in the affirmative. On getting this answer, Lord Napier proceeded to rebuke the mandarins for having kept him waiting over two hours. "It is an insult to His Britannic Majesty," he said severely, glancing at the portrait of his late Majesty, George IV, "which cannot be overlooked a second time. Whereas on previous occasions you have had only to deal with the servants of a private company of merchants, you must understand henceforth that your communications will be held with the officers appointed by His Britannic Majesty, who are by no means inclined to submit to such indignities." In this last His Lordship was anticipating too hopefully, for, in fact, no further official communication was ever to be held with him.

To his reproof the mandarins made no reply. That they felt the occasion to be highly disagreeable cannot be doubted, but training and tradition enabled them to disguise their feelings and deprive him of the satisfaction of witnessing their upset.

Continuing to conduct the meeting, Lord Napier now asked the senior mandarin, who was Prefect of that quarter of the city in which the factories were situated, to be good enough to state the object of the visit. The Prefect replied that the Viceroy had ordered him to ascertain the cause of His Lordship's arrival, the nature of his business, and when he proposed to go.

In reply to the first question Napier drew their attention to the Edict of 16 January 1831, in which the then Viceroy had addressed the Select Committee of the Company through the Co-Hong and asked them, in view of their impending dissolution, to write to England and suggest that a competent head to the free merchants be appointed to manage the commerce as heretofore in conjunction with the Co-Hong. "In response to that request," said Napier, "I was appointed. Here is

the Sign Manual setting up my Commission. As to the nature of my duties, these are set out in my letter to the Viceroy, which his men refused to take delivery of at the gate and which I invite you now to deliver to His Excellency or open and read, if you prefer. The reply to the third question is that I shall go to Macao when it suits my convenience."

The Prefect replied that the late Viceroy's Edict had asked for a person of the status of merchant, so that the old system could be continued. Instead, the King of England had sent an official, granted him certain powers, and given him instructions to change the system. The system had been formulated by the Emperor. If the King of England desired to change it, he should have written to the Viceroy, explaining wherein he desired alteration, when His Imperial Majesty's orders would have been sought. Had he been bearer of such a letter, His Lordship would have been asked to remain at Macao pending instructions from the capital. If the Emperor had agreed to the proposed amendments, then he could have taken up his residence in Canton. As it was, the King of England through ignorance of the correct procedure had sent no letter but only His Lordship, who, with no less ignorance, had thought that by entering Canton without a pass and claiming as a right privileges that the Emperor, not only had not granted, but had never been asked to grant, he could change overnight regulations that had been in force for centuries.

To this lucid statement of the Chinese point of view, Lord Napier had no more convincing reply than that it would have been incompatible with his dignity for the King of England to address a letter to the Viceroy.

After some desultory argument the Prefect returned to his original point. He was not authorized to take delivery of the letter to the Viceroy, he said, for that would be contrary to the rules, but if His Lordship would inform him of its contents, he would be much obliged, for it was principally to obtain this information that the Viceroy had sent him. To this Napier replied that official matters of such importance could not be communicated by word of mouth.

This ended the call. The mandarins had been told not to take delivery of the letter and they had failed to obtain a statement of its contents; they had also failed to convince Lord Napier that his procedure was irregular and that he had no locus standi. But their manner showed no trace of annoyance or pique. They accepted Napier's invitation to partake of refreshments and over their wine appeared to be in high spirits. The noble Lord was surprised at their easy geniality and put it down to the firm line he had taken and not to their determination to maintain face to the end. When they hinted, still playing their role, that they might be waiting again on him shortly, he believed them, thinking that the Viceroy would yet yield to avoid resort to force, and, when they announced their departure, there was quite a little scene of compliments and farewells.

As soon as they were gone, Napier composed a memorandum, which he sent to London a few days later. The tone throughout is of a man who has gained a victory. If indeed he had, then this victory of the chairs was His Lordship's only victory in China.

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