I resolved to apply for advice to my friend, the Jesuit;
but he increased instead of diminished our apprehensions;
he said that the affair was much talked of and misrepresented
at Jehol; and that the Chinese, naturally timid, and
suspicious of strangers, could not believe that no
injury was intended to them, and that the explosion
was accidental. A child had been wounded by the
fall of some of the ruins of the alcove, which were
thrown with great violence into a neighbouring house:
the butt end of one of my pistols was found in the
street, and had been carried to the magistrate by
the enraged populace, as evidence of our evil designs.
My Jesuit observed to me that there was no possibility
of reasoning with the prejudices of any nation; and
he confessed he expected that this unlucky accident
would have the most serious consequences. He
had told me in confidence a circumstance that tended
much to confirm this opinion: a few days before,
when the emperor went to examine the British presents
of artillery, and when the brass mortars were tried,
though he admired the ingenuity of these instruments
of destruction, yet he said that he deprecated the
spirit of the people who employed them, and could
not reconcile their improvements in the arts of war
with the mild precepts of the religion which they professed.
My friend, the mandarin, promised he would do all
in his power to make the exact truth known to the
emperor; and to prevent the evil impressions, which
the prejudices of the populace, and perhaps the designing
misrepresentations of the city mandarins, might tend
to create. I must suppose that the good offices
of my Jesuit were ineffectual, and that he either
received a positive order to interfere no more in
our affairs, or that he was afraid of being implicated
in our disgrace if he continued his intimacy with
me, for this was the last visit I ever received from
him.
CHAPTER II.
In a few days the embassy had orders to return to
Pekin. The ambassador’s palace was fitted
up for his winter’s residence; and, after our
arrival, he was arranging his establishment, when,
by a fresh mandate from the emperor, we were required
to prepare with all possible expedition for our departure
from the Chinese dominions. On Monday we received
an order to leave Pekin the ensuing Wednesday; and
all our remonstrances could procure only a delay of
two days. Various causes were assigned for this
peremptory order, and, among the rest, my unlucky
accident was mentioned. However improbable it
might seem that such a trifle could have had so great
an effect, the idea was credited by many of my companions;
and I saw that I was looked upon with an evil eye.
Copyrights
Tales and Novels — Volume 02 from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.
