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strations, and McClary kept the stolen property. Such were the happenings that furnished to the two peoples material for mutual appreciation.

The British Government now began to think that the time had come to introduce some element of order into its relations with China, instead of leaving everything in the hands of a company whose powers were limited to remonstrance and deportation. In 1792 the Earl of Macartney, with a numerous suite and a costly array of presents, was sent as ambassador to the Chinese Court. From the Government of the Middle Kingdom he received a brilliant welcome. They spent $850,000 on his entertainment; he walked in "the magnificent garden of the Son of Heaven," made a romantic voyage down the Grand Canal, and carried away a vivid impression of the grandeur and extent of the Chinese Empire. But he did no business. The Chinese took clever care that his embassy should retain the unimpaired attributes of tribute-bearing. Any discussion of affairs would have been inconsistent with that character; therefore the whole time was devoted to interchanges of courtesy. But the Earl received a letter for his sovereign in which the latter was informed by the now aged Emperor Chienlung that British commerce must be strictly limited to Canton. "You will not be able to complain that I have not clearly forewarned you. Let us therefore live in peace and friendship, and do not make light of