The ashes extracted from the hole must be put in a vessel, and boiling water poured upon it, and then the water must be evaporated: for these two operations potatoe-tops may be used alone as firing in the furnace, and the ashes collected. There remains after the evaporation a dry saline red dish substance, known in commerce under the name of salin; the more the ashes are boiled, the greyer and more valuable the salin becomes.

The salin must then be calcined in a very hot oven, until the whole mass presents a uniform reddish brown. In cooling it remains dry, and in fragments-bluish within, and white on the surface; in which state it takes the name of potass.

The ashes, exhausted of their alkaline principle, afford excellent manure for land intended to be planted with potatoes.

The following is a table of the results obtained in France:

An acre planted with potatoes,
at one foot distance, gives 40,000

Journal of the Proceedings of the late Embassy to China; comprising a correct Narrative of the public Transactions of the Embassy, of the Voyage to and from China, and of the Journey from the Mouth of the Pei-Ho, to the Return to Canton: interspersed with Observations upon the Face of the Country, the Policy, the Moral Character, and Manners, of the Chinese Nation. In One Volume, 4to. uniformly with Sir George Staunton's Account of the former Embassy, illustrated with Maps, a Portrait of Lord Amherst, and Seven Coloured Plates of Views, &c. By Henry Ellis, Esq Secretary of Embassy.

THUS Voteresting details of every description; and we are persuaded that

THIS Volume contains an abundance

our readers will be gratified by our presenting them with some passages, illustrative of the nature of the Ebassy, and of the causes and mode of its failure. The Journal extends through a quarto volume of above five hundred pages, so that our extracts must necessarily be confined to the narrative of the public transactions of the Einbassy.

Mr. Ellis commences his Journal with the sailing of the Alceste from Spithead, on the 8th of February, 1816; and relates the various occurrences of the voyage to Madeira, thence to the Brazils, to the Cape of Good Hope, to Batavia, and to the place of ultimate destination. As they approach the scene of action, Mr. Ellis gives the following account of the origin and objects of the Embassy :

"Early in the year 1815, the increasing difficulties which the supercargoes at Canton represented themselves as experiencing in the conduct of the trade, from the oppressions of the local government, induced the Court of Directors to contemplate the measure of an embassy to China, and they accordingly submitted their views upon the subject to his Majesty's Ministers. The President of the Board of Control, to whom their communication was addressed, suggested the expediency of deferring the adoption of any specific measure until further and more detailed information had been received from the Committee of Supercargoe; for although an appeal to the Imperial Government might be recommended or resorted to by them, while suffering from actual oppression, it by no means followed that they would retain the same opinion, if measures of resistance, already pursued at Canton, should prove successful: in this reasoning the Directors concurred.

"Possessed of the requisite information, and supported by the renewed recommendation of their supercargoes, the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Court of Directors, in a letter dated the 28th July, 1815, solicited the aid of his Majesty's Ministers to the proposed measure, and the appointment, by the Prince Regent, of some person of high rank, as his Embassador to the Emperor

of China.

"It may not be inexpedient here to take a brief review of the nature of the altercation between the Chinese authorities at Canton, and the Committee of Supercargoes; and to clear the subject of violent feeling or prejudice, it is right, on the very outset, to recollect, that the British trade at Canton has never been guarded by rights or privileges publicly granted, or mutually stipulated, between the two nations. There are no capitulations, as in Turkey; nor commercial treaties, as amongst the civilized nations of Europe. Alterations of port duties, or of the number of Chinese allowed to trade with foreigners, may be injurious, but are not matters of complaint: upon these points we may solicit amelioration, but cannot demand redress.

"Guided, however, by these principles, we shall not hesitate to pronounce the interference of the Chinese authorities, in 1813, with the appointment of Mr. Roberts to the situation

of chief of the factory, to be unjus tifiable, and utterly inadmissible; not so the appointment sanctioned by the Emperor in the same year, of a cohong, or diminished number of Chinese security merchants. The right of the Chinese government to make the alteration is complete, and the only question for the consideration of the supercargoes and their employers at home is, the expediency of continuing the trade under such circumstances. Suc cessful resistance to both these attempts, and some minor circumstances, were considered, by the committee, as the remote causes of the disputes which assumed so serious an aspect in 1814.

"The immediate, and certainly not unreasonable, cause of the hostility of the Canton government, was the violation of the neutrality of the port by the seizure of an American ship within the undisputed limits of the Chinese dominions. This act was committed by the Captain of his Majesty's ship Doris. Other seizures of American ships by that officer, justified by the acknow ledged priuciples of maritime law in Europe, were also complained of by the Canton Government, who called upon the chief and select Committee of Supercargoes to exert their authority in redressing the injury, and preventing its recurrence. The mode insisted upon was, the immediate dispatch of his Majesty's ships to Europe; and to give weight to the demand, the supply of provisions was forbidden, and demonstrations were made of an intention to expel them by force.

In vain did the Committee represent that they had no control over his Majesty's ships, and that therefore they could not, and ought not, to be held responsible for the conduct of their commanders. The Viceroy of Canton, as might have been expected, refused to admit the separation of authority, naturally preferring, as bearers of the responsibility of all acts committed by British subjects, a body of merchants resident on the spot, and therefore tangible, to superior authorities placed at such a distance, that an appeal to them seemed almost nugatory.

It is perhaps to be regretted, that the Supercargoes were so tenacious of official forms, as to hesitate making an apology, in the name of their nation, for the acknowledged irregularity that had been committed, and immediately offering such explanations respecting

the other seizures, as were best calculated to remove the miapprehension, or to allay the increasing irritation, of the members of the Chinese Govern

ment.

"The Viceroy of Canton endeavoured to force compliance with his requisition for the removal of the men of war, by a series of acts all more or less embarPassing to the Supercargoes. Chinese of all descriptions were prohibited from serving in the English factory; the addresses of the select Cominittee were returned unopened; and the use of the Chinese character in such documents from which much advantage had been derived in the conduct of public business, was forbidden for the future. The Chinese linguist, Ayew, who had been employed by the factory to carry the portrait of the Prince Regent to the Minister Sung-to-jin, at Pekin, was seized, imprisoned, and beat, on the ground of his connexion with foreigners; and it was indirectly asserted, that he was engaged in treasonable practices with the same persons. This man was also accused of an illegal attempt to purchase rank, for which he was, by his former occupation of a servant, disqualified.

"Three of these acts, as involving the very existence of the trade, were certainly fair subjects of remonstrance to the local government, but with respect to the last, doubts may be entertained: unjust accusations preferred, and tyran, nical punishment inflicted upon a native of China, might be matter of private reprobation, or even abhorrence, but remonstrance upon such points approaches to the nature of interference with the judicial proceedings of an independent government. A different, and certainly a more generous view, was taken by the select Committee; and in the discussions which ensued, the alleged ground of the seizure of the linguist was made the principal head of complaint, and its retractation the sine qua non of amicable adjustment.

"The inflexible determination manifested by the Viceroy to persist in the acts just enumerated, compelled the Supercargoes to have recourse to the measure of stopping the trade; a measure pregnant with injury to both par ties, with an immediate loss of revenue to the local government, and with the greatest commercial and financial embarrassment to the East India Company, should it fail of success.

The very

desperation of the measure required the utmost firmness in carrying it into effect, and in this the Supercargoes were not wanting. A regular negociation upon the points at issue was allowed by the Viceroy. Mandarins of rank were appointed to meet Sir George Staunton (deputed from the select Committee for that purpose), on a footing of equality, and the result was the removal, and satisfactory explanation, of the subjects of complaint.

"In the course of their discussions with the local government, the select Committee had great reason to be dissatisfied with the conduct of the Houg merchants; the commercial interests of the chief merchant were deeply engaged in the security of the American ships, and the intrigues of another extending to Pekin, were supposed to have for their object the complete subjugation of the trade to Chinese control.

"The difficulties of the Supercargoes were naturally much increased by the failure of support where they bad inost right to expect it; and their success has completely established the vital importance of the British trade to the government and province of Canton. To that importance alone can be attributed the surrender, on this occasion, of national and personal prejudice to the demands of foreigners, however supported by reason, or justified by usage.

"The question of these disagreeable altercations might have been considered as set at rest, were it not for the knowledge subsequently obtained of the report addressed by the Viceroy to the Emperor, in which language similar in spirit to that complained of, and retracted, was renewed: this act of falsehood and treachery necessarily diminished, if not destroyed, confidence for the future.

"Although this last proceeding of the Viceroy was the limit of the infor mation possessed by the Directors when they came to the determination respecting the embassy, it will give more connexion to this narrative to anticipate their knowledge, by bringing under notice the imperial edicts relating to the occurrences at Canton, received subsequent to the termination of the discussions with the local government. Apprehensions are expressed in one edict of the designs of the Christians in different parts of the empire; full power is given to punish undue intercourse with foreigners, and a rigorous inquiry

is directed into their conduct. Another edict, addressed to the Viceroy, and founded upon a report transmitted from Canton, censures the mode in which the foreign trade is conducted; a removal of the junior merchants from the Hong, on the ground of their insufficiency of capital, is pointed out; and Sir George Staunton is personally mentioned and described, from his knowledge of the Chinese language and of the country, acquired during the former embassy, as a dangerous person, who ought to be placed under the jealous surveillance of the local authorities. One of the principal merchants was supposed to be the author of the report, and the principal mover of the intrigues at Pekin, for the establishment of the cohong. It would appear, that on a review of these several occurrences, the Supercargoes felt by no means secure of their continuing unmolested in the conduct of their commercial affairs; and the Directors represent them as stating their conviction, "that had they succeeded in avoiding the disputes of 1814. the strong measures they were then obliged to adopt must still have been recurred to, in a year or two more: and it was their decided opinion, repeatedly expressed in their minutes and letters, that it had become highly expedient to send a mission to the Emperor, either from Bengal or England, in order to obtain due protection and security for the British trade.

"The Directors themselves entertained an opinion that the truth was concealed from the Emperor, and therefore concluded that a redress of grievances might be expected from a direct application to his supreme authority. Much stress was laid, by the Directors, upon the indisputable importance of the British trade, not only to the province of Canton, but to the imperial revenues; and they thence inferred the certain disapprobation by the Emperor of any measures that endangered its regularity and continuance.

or by written addresses to some tribunal; a confirmation of the several points contended for and gained by the Supercargoes, in their recent ne gotiation with the Viceroy, embraced all the other expectations of the Directors from the proposed Embassy. They also suggested, that this opportunity might be taken to make suitable explanations respecting the seizure of American vessels by his Majesty's ship Doris.

"The Directors recommended that the Embassy or mission should consist of three members; the first, a person of rank, to be appointed by the Prince Regent; and the other two, to be Mr. Elphinstone, the chief of the factory at Canton, and Sir George Staunton, one of the members of the select Committee, distinguished by his abilities, and peculiarly qualified from his knowledge of the Chinese language. All expenses attending the Embassy were to be defrayed by the East India Company, for whose interest, and at whose solicitation, it was to be undertaken.

His Majesty's Ministers concurred generally in the propositions and views of the Directors; the only exception was the composition of the mission, to which they deemed it more advisable to give the external character of an Embassy Extraordinary, rather than that of a Commission of Embassy. Considerations of a general and special nature probably influenced his Majesty's Ministers in forming this opinion. Inpression was the great instrument by which the objects of the Embassy were to be obtained; this impression was to be produced by the eclat of an Embassy from the Crown of England, and it was to be apprehended that the introduction of persons, however respectable or qualified, but known only in China as servants of the East India Company, into the ceremonial branch of the Em bassy, might have an injurious tendency. It was also felt that a renewal of the discussions with the Canton Government, and their possible existence on the arrival of the intended mission, might, from the opposition to be apprehended under such circumstances by the local authorities, prove fatal even to the reception of the Embassy. At the same time the important benefits to be derived from the assistance of Mr. Elphinstone and Sir George Staunton, in all substantial intercourse with the Chinese, were Y y

fully appreciated. The appointment of an Embassador Extraordinary, furnished with general full powers to nego ciate separately or conjointly with one or both these gentlemen, seemed to meet the object of their selection by the Directors, and to guard against all general objections and possible embar

rassment.

"This modification of the original proposition being admitted by the Directors, Lord Amherst was appointed Embassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, by the Prince Regent, and I was named Secretary of Embassy, and furnished with dormant credentials as Minister Plenipotentiary, to be used only in the event of the death or absence of the Embassador. My name was also introduced into the instrument of full powers, and it was understood that in case of the absence of Mr. Elphinstone or Sir George Staunton, I was to suc ceed to the vacancy in the commission.

The principal objects of the Embassy have been already stated; and in the instructions to the Embassador, while they were detailed, and the relative importance assigned to each, much was necessarily left to his discretion and the judgment he might form of the aspect of affairs at the moment. Permission to trade with some port to the northward, favourable to the increased diffusion of English manufactures, was the only addition to the original views of the Directors.

"It was impossible, with a knowledge of the circumstances attending the dismissal of the Russian Embassy in 1805 from the Chinese territories, to overlook the possible contingency of a similar dispute, upon the extraordinary ceremonial of reception at the Chinese Court, occurring on the prescut occasion; for although the precedent of Lord Macartney's Embassy gave us in some degree a prescriptive right to require its reBewal, there was reason to apprehend that the more general usage of the empire, to which, in fact, Lord Macartney's Embassy formed an exception, might be enforced.

The ceremony, consisting of nine prostrations, though not formerly with out example in Europe, was certainly repugnant to individual feeling, and to the practice of modern European Courts; at the same time, viewed as an usage belonging to Oriental barbarism, it could scarcely be deemed advisable to

sacrifice the more important objects of the Embassy to any supposed main tenance of dignity, by resisting upon such a point of etiquette, in such a scene. But as this was a question most especially dependent upon the circum stances of the moment, and the disposition of the Chinese Court in other respects, it was left by his Majesty's Ministers to the discretion of the Erubassador, aided, as his judgment would be, by the opinion of Mr. Elphinstone and Sir George Staunton."

Mr. Ellis here expresses his own anticipation, derived from a consideration of the proceedings of the former Embassy to China, of an unfortunate result to the present. On the 10th of July, the Embassy is joined by Sir George Staunton, who also does not consider the period favourable to the objects of the Embassy, in consequence of the personal alarms of the Emperor of China, produced by a recent attempt to assassinate him, and an impression that some late disturbances in the coun try had been fomented by religious sectaries, among whom Christians were included. However, the Embassy proceed on their voyage. On the 4th of August, they receive a visit from Chang and Yin, two Mandarins appointed to accompany them; who, in the course of conversation, advert to the ceremony of ko-tou, or prostration, and observe that it must be decorously performed before the Emperor; to which it is replied, that every mark of respect would on the present, as on the former Embassy, be manifested towards bis Imperial Majesty.

Sir

Lord Amherst having requested the opinion of Sir George Staunton upon the subject of compliance with the Chinese ceremonial of ko-tou; George put a letter into his hands, declaring, in very distinct terms, his opinion of the injurious effects upon the Company's interests at Canton likely to arise from the performance of the ceremony; incompatible, as he verbally expressed himself, with personal and national respectability. Sir George was disposed to consider the mere recep tion of the Embassy as not worth being purchased by the sacrifice. He, however, adverted to the possibility of conditions being required by us, which, it complied with, would remove the objections; but such compliance ou the part of the Chinese, was, in his opinion, extremely improbable.”