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 larity, he resorted to compromise, with the result that throughout his reign corruption in government remained unchecked. Another measure taken to relieve the drain on the treasury was to revive the practice of selling official posts and titles. But the purchasers of such posts extracted from the people with interest what they had paid to obtain them.

In the Chia-ch'ing reign-period English trade at Canton far exceeded in value that of all other countries combined—accounting for about seventy to eighty percent of the annual foreign customs' receipts of 1,200,000 to 1,600,000 taels. The Macartney Embassy of 1793 (see under ) had tried in vain to get the tariff reduced, to obtain better trading conditions at Canton, and to open other Chinese ports to foreign commerce. In 1816 a second Mission, that of William Pitt, Earl Amherst 阿美士德 (1773–1857), came to Peking with the same objectives, though according to a letter addressed to the Chinese authorities at Canton before the mission arrived, the purpose was to bring greetings from the Regent of England (later George IV) and to inform the Chinese Court of the victory over Napoleon. Other Westerners in the suite of Amherst were Sir George Thomas Staunton (1781–1859) who had been with his father, Sir George Leonard Staunton (1737–1801), in the Macartney mission, and Henry Ellis (1777–1855)—the second and third commissioners respectively. Robert Morrison (see under ), the pioneer Protestant missionary to China, was one of the interpreters. The envoys sailed on five ships to Ta-ku at the mouth of the Pei Ho and proceeded to Tientsin on river boats. They were met on August 12 at Tientsin and were entertained the following day by Su-têng-ê 蘇楞額 (d. 1827, age over 80), who as Hoppo, or customs' commissioner at Canton, had received the Macartney mission, and who was now deputed to escort the Amherst mission to Peking. Su-têng-ê was instructed to detain the mission at Tientsin until the performance of the ceremony of kowtow 磕頭 had been agreed to, and to hold the British ships at Taku for the return voyage so that the government might be relieved of the trouble and expense of escorting the envoys back to Canton. He and his associate, Kuang-hui 廣惠, failed in both these objectives. The embassy set out for Peking before an agreement concerning the kotow was reached, and the British ships left Taku for Macao on August 12 or 13. The Emperor, now thoroughly angered, ordered the mission to be detained at Tungchow to "practice the ceremony [of kotow]". Su-têng-ê and Kuang-hui were degraded and replaced by two others, one of whom was Duke Ho-shih-t'ai 和世泰, a descendant of and a brother-in-law of Yung-yen. After eight days (August 20 to 28) of fruitless conference, Ho-shih-t'ai, who had made himself responsible for the conduct of the envoys, persuaded the Emperor to grant an audience. On the afternoon of the 28th the mission was hastily escorted from Tungchow and arrived at the Summer Palace, Yuan-ming Yüan (see under ), early the morning of the 29th. Ho-shih-t'ai had arranged to present Amherst that very morning, but the British envoy refused to comply, since he was tired, and his uniforms, presents, etc. had not yet arrived. On the other hand, the Court was assembled and the Emperor was ready to receive him. Ho-shih-t'ai, having urged Amherst to comply, begged the Emperor to wait a while, but finally had to invent the fiction that the envoy had suddenly become ill. When Yung-yen expressed a willingness to receive the second commissioner he was told that that official, too, was ill. Meanwhile the Emperor was probably informed that there was no illness. Infuriated, he bluntly commanded that the entire mission be sent back to Canton immediately. However, when he found out that Amherst was truly exhausted, he blamed Ho-shih-t'ai for concealing the truth and announced that, had he been properly informed, he would have postponed the audience. He immediately issued a statement that the British mission was not to blame and therefore should be accorded due consideration by the local officials on the return journey. A reply and some presents to the English Prince Regent were dispatched to Canton to be handed to the mission. Thus failed the second attempt of England to better trade and living conditions of her merchants in China—leaving the issues to be settled by force twenty-six years later.

Yung-yen was of medium height, stout and well-proportioned. He was fond of hunting and shooting and excelled in archery. He was diligent, rose early, and attended conscientiously to affairs of state. He enjoyed good health almost to the end of his life. On August 26, 1820, he left Peking for the summer palace at Jehol. During the journey the weather was hot and when he arrived at Jehol on September 1 he was stricken, probably with apoplexy, and died the evening of the following day. Before his death he designated, his 967