The very different treatment which the English embassy received at the court of Pekin is easily explained. The Chinese are well informed of the superiority of the English over all other nations by sea; of the great extent of their commerce; of their vast possessions in India which they have long regarded with a jealous eye; and of the character and independent spirit of the nation. They perceived, in the manly and open conduct of Lord Macartney, the representative of a sovereign in no way inferior to the Emperor of China, and they felt the propriety, though they were unwilling to avow it, of exacting only the same token of respect from him towards their sovereign, that one of their own countrymen, of equal rank, should pay to the portrait of his Britannic majesty. It must, however, have been a hard struggle between personal pride, and national importance, before they resolved to reject so fair a proposal, and consent to wave a ceremony which had never, on any former occasion, been dispensed with. It is easy to conceive how strong an impression the refusal of an individual to comply with the ceremonies of the country was likely to make on the minds of the Emperor and his court; how much they must have suffered in their own opinion, and how greatly must their pride have been mortified, to find that by no trick, nor artifice, nor stretch of power, could they prevail on an English Embassador to forego the dignity and respect due to the situation he held at their court, whither they were now convinced he had not come, as was signified in painted letters on the colours of the ships that transported the embassy up the _Pei-ho_, "_to offer tribute to the Emperor of China_."
With regard to the intrigues of the Portugueze missionary, mentioned in Mr. Grammont's letter, Lord Macartney was sufficiently aware of them long before his arrival in the capital, and took such measures, in consequence of the information, as were most likely to be effectual in counteracting any influence that he might secretly exert, injurious to the interests of the British nation. But the intrigues of churchmen are not always easily obviated, especially where they are suspicious of their errors being exposed or their ignorance detected. It is a painful truth (and is noticed here with reluctance, on account of the many worthy members of the society) that the ministers of a certain branch of a religion whose distinguishing feature is meekness and forbearance, should have so far perverted the intention of its benevolent author, as to have produced more intrigues, cabals, and persecutions, than even the relentless Mahomedans, whose first article of faith inculcates merit in destroying those of a different persuasion. Their political intrigues and interference in state affairs, have done material injury to the cause of Christianity in almost every country into which their missions have extended.