A voyage round the world in the years MDCCXL, I, II, III, IV

by Baron George Anson Anson

Though the ships, in consequence of the viceroy's permit, found no difficulty in purchasing provisions for their daily consumption, yet it was impossible that the commodore could proceed to England without laying in a large quantity both of provisions and naval stores for his use during the voyage. The procuring this supply was attended with much perplexity; 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 assured him from day to day that all was ready and would be sent on board him immediately. But a fortnight being elapsed, and nothing 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 ended without Mr. Anson's having received any message from the Viceroy of Canton.

And here perhaps it might be expected that a satisfactory account should be given of the motives of the Chinese for this faithless procedure. However, as I have already, in a former chapter, made some kind of conjectures about a similar event, I shall not repeat them again in this place; but shall content myself with observing that after all it may perhaps be impossible for an European, ignorant of the customs and manners of that nation, to be fully apprized of the real incitements to this behaviour. Indeed, thus much may undoubtedly be asserted, that in artifice, falsehood, and an attachment to all kinds of lucre many of the Chinese are difficult to be paralleled by any other people. But then the particular application of these talents, and the manner in which they operate on every emergency, are often beyond the reach of a foreigner's penetration: so that though it may be surely concluded that the Chinese had some interest in thus amusing the commodore, yet it may not be easy to assign the individual views by which they were influenced. And that I may not be thought too severe in ascribing to this nation a fraudulent and selfish turn of temper, so contradictory to the character given of them in the legendary accounts of the Romish missionaries, I shall here mention an extraordinary transaction or two which I conceive will be some kind of confirmation of what I have advanced.

When the commodore lay first at Macao, one of his officers, who had been extremely ill, desired leave of him to go on shore every day on a neighbouring island, imagining that a walk upon the land would contribute greatly to the restoring of his health. The commodore would have dissuaded him from it, suspecting the tricks of the Chinese, but the officer continued importunate, in the end the boat was ordered to carry him thither. The first day he was put on shore he took his exercise and returned without receiving any molestation or even seeing any of the inhabitants; but the second day he was assaulted just after his arrival by a great number of Chinese who had been hoeing rice in the neighbourhood, and who beat him so violently with the handles of their hoes that they soon laid him on the ground incapable of resistance; after which they robbed him, taking from him his sword, the hilt of which was silver, his money, his watch, gold-headed cane, snuff-box, sleeve buttons, and hat, with several other trinkets. In the meantime, the boat's crew, who were at a little distance and had no arms of any kind with them, were incapable of giving him any relief; till at last one of them flew on the fellow who had the sword in his possession, and wresting it out of his hands, drew it, and with it was preparing to fall on the Chinese, some of whom he could not have failed of killing. But the officer, perceiving what he was about, immediately ordered him to desist, thinking it more prudent to submit to the present violence than to embroil his commander in an inextricable squabble with the Chinese Government by the death of their subjects: which calmness in this gentleman was the more meritorious as he was known to be a person of an uncommon spirit and of a somewhat hasty temper. By this means the Chinese speedily recovered the possession of the sword, when they perceived it was prohibited to be made use of against them, and carried off their whole booty unmolested. No sooner were they gone than a Chinese on horseback, very well dressed, and who had the air and appearance of a gentleman, came down to the seaside and, as far as could be understood by his signs, seemed to censure the conduct of his countrymen and to commiserate the officer, being wonderfully officious to assist in getting him on board the boat: but notwithstanding this behaviour, it was shrewdly suspected that he was an accomplice in the theft, and time fully made out the justice of those suspicions.

When the boat returned on board, and the officer reported what had passed to the commodore, he immediately complained of it to the mandarine who attended to see his ship supplied; but the mandarine coolly observed that the boat ought not to have gone on shore, promising, however, that if the thieves could be found they should be punished: though it appeared plain enough by his manner of answering that he would never give himself any trouble in searching them out. However, a considerable time afterwards, when some Chinese boats were selling provisions to the Centurion, the person who had wrested the sword from the Chinese came with eagerness to the commodore to assure him that one of the principal thieves was then in a provision boat alongside the ship; and the officer who had been robbed, viewing the fellow on this report, and well remembering his face, orders were immediately given to seize him; and he was accordingly secured on board the ship where strange discoveries were now made.

This thief on his being first apprehended expressed so much fright in his countenance that it was feared he would have died on the spot; the mandarine too who attended the ship had visibly no small share of concern on the occasion. Indeed he had reason enough to be alarmed, since it was soon apparent that he had been privy to the whole robbery; for the commodore declaring that he would not deliver up the thief, but would himself order him to be shot, the mandarine immediately put off the magisterial air, with which he had at first pretended to demand him, and begged his release in the most abject manner. But the commodore seeming to be inflexible, there came on board, in less than two hours' time, five or six of the neighbouring mandarines, who all joined in the same entreaty, and with a view of facilitating their suit, offered a large sum of money for the fellow's liberty. Whilst they were thus soliciting it was discovered that the mandarine, the most active amongst them, and who was thence presumed to be most interested in the event, was the very gentleman who rode up to the officer just after the robbery and who pretended to be so much displeased with the villainy of his countrymen. On further inquiry it was also found that he was the mandarine of the island, and that he had by the authority of his office ordered the peasants to commit that infamous action. This easily accounted for his extraordinary vigilance in the present conjuncture; since, as far as could be collected from the broken hints which were casually thrown out, it seemed that he and his brethren, who were every one privy to the transaction, were terrified with the fear of being called before the tribunal at Canton, where the first article of their punishment would be the stripping them of all they were worth; though their judges (however fond of inflicting a chastisement so lucrative to themselves) were perhaps of as tainted a complexion as the delinquents. Mr. Anson was not displeased to have caught the Chinese in this dilemma; he entertained himself for some time with their perplexity, rejecting their money with scorn, appearing inexorable to their prayers, and giving out that the thief should certainly be shot; but as he then foresaw that he should be forced to take shelter in their ports a second time, when the influence he might hereby acquire over the magistrates would be of great service to him, he at length permitted himself to be persuaded, and as a favour released his prisoner; though not till the mandarine had collected and returned all that had been stolen from the officer, even to the minutest trifle.

But notwithstanding this instance of the good intelligence between the magistrates and criminals, the strong addiction of the Chinese to lucre often prompts them to break through this awful confederacy, and puts them on defrauding the authority that protects them of its proper quota of the pillage. For not long after the above-mentioned transaction (the former mandarine, attendant on the ship, being in the meantime relieved by another) the commodore lost a top-mast from his stern, which, on the most diligent enquiry, could not be traced out. As it was not his own, but had been borrowed at Macao to heave down by, and was not to be replaced in that part of the world, he was extremely desirous to recover it, and published a considerable reward to any who would bring it him again. There were suspicions from the first of its being stolen, which made him conclude a reward was the likeliest method of getting it back. Hereupon, soon after, the mandarine informed him that some of his, the mandarine's, attendants had found the top-mast, desiring the commodore to send his boats to fetch it, which, being done, the mandarine's people received the promised reward. It seems the commodore had told the mandarine that he would make him a present besides on account of the care he had taken in directing it to be searched for; and accordingly Mr. Anson gave a sum of money to his linguist to be delivered to the mandarine; but the linguist knowing that the Chinese had been paid, and ignorant that a further present had been promised, kept the money himself. However, the mandarine fully confiding in Mr. Anson's word, and suspecting the linguist, he took occasion, one morning, to admire the size of the Centurion's masts, and thence on a pretended sudden recollection he made a digression to the top-mast which had been lost, and asked Mr. Anson if he had not got it again. Mr. Anson presently perceived the bent of this conversation, and enquired of him if he had not received the money from the linguist, and finding he had not, he offered to pay him upon the spot. But this the mandarine refused, having now somewhat more in view than the sum which had been detained. For the next day the linguist was seized, and was doubtless mulcted of whatever he had gotten in the commodore's service, which was supposed to be little less than two thousand dollars; being besides so severely bastinadoed that it was wonderful he escaped with his life. And when he was upbraided by the commodore (to whom he afterwards came a-begging) with his folly in risquing this severe chastisement, and the loss of all he was worth, for the lucre of fifty dollars, the present of which he defrauded the mandarine, he had no other excuse to make than the strong bias of his nation to dishonesty, replying in his broken jargon, "Chinese man very great rogue truly, but have fashion, no can help."

It were endless to recount all the artifices, extortions, and frauds which were practised on the commodore and his people by this interested race. The method of buying provisions in China being by weight, the tricks the Chinese made use of to augment the weight of what they sold to the Centurion were almost incredible. One time a large quantity of fouls and ducks being bought for the ship's store, the greatest part of them presently died. This spread a general alarm on board, it being apprehended 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 quantity 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 carcass hung up all night that the water might drain from it, had lost above a stone of its weight. And when, to avoid this cheat, the hogs were bought alive, it was discovered that the Chinese gave them salt to increase their thirst, and having thus excited them to drink great quantities of water, they then took measures to prevent them from discharging it again by urine, 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 scruple eating any food that dies of itself, they contrived by some secret practices 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 carcasses 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. But to return.

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 invited him to an interview according to his promise, he saw it would be impossible for him to surmount the difficulties he was under without going to Canton and visiting the viceroy. And therefore, on the 27th of September, he sent a message to the mandarine 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. This message being delivered to the mandarine, he 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 which Mr. Anson proposed to take with him were cloathed in an uniform dress, resembling that of the watermen on the Thames; they were in number eighteen and a coxswain; they had scarlet jackets and blue silk waistcoats, the whole trimmed with silver buttons, besides silver badges on their jackets and caps. As it was apprehended, and even asserted, 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 their granting a permission to victual the ship for her future voyage, the commodore, who was resolved never to establish so dishonourable a precedent, took all possible precaution to prevent the Chinese from facilitating the success of their unseasonable pretensions by having him in their power at Canton. And therefore the better to secure his ship and the great treasure on board her against their projects, 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 perplexed 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 an hostile measure which they found would only expose them to the risque of having the whole navigation of their port destroyed without any certain prospect of gaining their favourite point.

But though there is reason to conclude that these were their thoughts at that time, yet they could not depart at once from the evasive conduct to which they had hitherto adhered. Since when the commodore, on the morning of the 1st of October, was preparing to set out for Canton, his linguist came to him from the mandarine who attended the ship, to tell him that a letter had been received from the Viceroy of Canton, desiring the commodore to put off his going thither for two or three days. The reality of this message was not then questioned; but in the afternoon of the same day, another linguist came on board, who with much seeming fright told Mr. Anson that the viceroy had expected him up that day; that the council was assembled, and the troops had been under arms to receive him; and that the viceroy was highly offended at the disappointment, and had sent the commodore's linguist to prison, chained, supposing that the whole had been owing to the linguist's negligence. This plausible tale gave the commodore great concern, and made him apprehend that there was some treachery designed him which he could not yet fathom. And though it afterwards appeared that the whole was a fiction, not one article of it having the least foundation, yet for reasons best known to themselves this falshood was so well supported by the artifices of the Chinese merchants at Canton, that three days afterwards the commodore received a letter signed by all the supercargoes of the English ships then at that place, expressing their great uneasiness about what had happened, and intimating their fears that some insult would be offered to his boat if he came thither before the viceroy was fully satisfied of the mistake. To this letter Mr. Anson replied that he did not believe there had been a mistake; but was persuaded it was a forgery of the Chinese to prevent his visiting the viceroy; that therefore he would certainly come up to Canton on the 13th of October, confident that the Chinese would not dare to offer him any insult, as well knowing he should want neither power nor inclination to make them a proper return.