Chinese etiquette all along the route. It is said that the expenditures of the imperial government alone for the entertainment of the embassy amounted to $850,000.[1]
One of the principal objects of the mission was to obtain the privilege to trade at Ningpo, Chusan, Tientsin, and other ports besides Canton. So far from granting this permission, no conference respecting it was held; but the emperor, in his letter of reply to the one from the king of England handed him by Lord Macartney, stated that the trade must be confined to the port of Canton. He adds: "You will not be able to complain that I had not clearly forewarned you. Let us therefore live in peace and friendship, and do not make light of my words." Notwithstanding this rebuff, the king of England sent return presents to the emperor in 1795, which were received at Canton and transferred overland to Peking, and it was recorded that tribute had been sent by the king of England to the "Son of Heaven." It is said that the English were henceforth registered among the nations who had sent tribute-bearers, and that the embassy was regarded by the Chinese as one of the most splendid testimonials of respect that a tributary nation had ever paid their court.[2]
The embarrassments to British trade at Canton did not cease; and the English government, not discouraged by the ill success of its last embassy, resolved to dispatch a second one, in the hope of securing the establishment of a permanent mission at Peking and the
