of the Portuguese, induced the emperor to appoint a court to examine whether the ambassy was legitimate or spurious, and Pires and his companions were adjudged to be spies, and sent back to Canton to be detained till Malacca was restored. This not being done, he and others suffered death in September, 1523; other accounts lead to the inference that he died in prison. Thus the innocent were made to suffer for the guilty. The next ambassy was undertaken in 1552 at the suggestion of Xavier, by the viceroy of Goa, but the mission proceeded no further than Malacca, the governor of that place refusing to allow it to leave the place a significant intimation of the degree of subordination and order maintained by the Portuguese in the administration of their new colonies. The third was also sent from Goa in 1667, in the name of Alfonso VI., on occasion of the suspension of the trade of Macao by Kanghí; the expense was defrayed by that colony, about $40,000, and "the result of it so little answered their expectations, that the senate solicited his majesty not to intercede in behalf of his vassals at Macao with the government of China, were it not in an imperious and cogent case.'

A good opportunity and necessity for this it was thought presented itself in 1723, when Magaillans returned to China carrying the answer of the pope to Kanghí, to send an envoy, Alexander Metello, along with him to Peking. He arrived at court in May, 1727, and had his audience of leave in July, receiving in exchange for the thirty chests of presents which he offered, and which Yungching received with pleasure "as evidences of the affection of the king of Portugal," as many for his master, besides a cup of wine and some dishes for himself sent from the emperor's table, and other presents for himself and his retinue, which were "valuable solely because they were the gifts of a monarch.” No more advantage resulted from this than the ambassy sent a century previous, though it cost the inhabitants of Macao a like heavy sum. Another and last Portuguese ambassy reached Peking in 1753, conducted and ended in much the same manner as its predecessors; all of them exhibiting, in a greater or less degree, the spectacle of humiliating submission of independent nations through their envoys to a court which took pleasure in arrogantly exalting itself on the homage it received, and studiously avoided all reference to the real business of the ambassy, that it might neither give nor deny anything.

SPANISH TRADE WITH CHINA.

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The influence and wealth of the Portuguese in China for the last century and a half have gradually decreased, and in consequence of the shortsighted policy of its authorities, the trade of Macao has been so far driven away from the settlement, that it is hardly able to support itself. In 1820, the opium trade was removed on board ship, and that being the principal source of income, the commerce of the place for many years was at a low ebb. The events which followed the proceedings of the English at Canton in 1839, in concentrating for a year or two nearly all the foreign community at Macao, caused a sudden expansion of trade, and growth in prosperity at that time, which the government has since endeavored to keep up by making it a free port, and depending upon taxes on real estate and other sources for the necessary outlays of the administration. The imperial commissioner Kíying, granted some additional privileges to the settlement in 1844, among others, permitting the inhabitants to build and repair new houses, churches, and ships without a license, and to trade at the five ports open to foreign commerce on the same terms as other nations; it was just three centuries before this that the Portuguese were driven away from Ningpo. The anchorage of the Typa was included in the jurisdiction of Macao, but the application of the Portuguese commissioner respecting the non-payment of the annual ground rent of 500 taels to the Chinese met with a decided refusal. To have granted this would have been to give up their lien upon the place, for the Chinese have always regarded Macao as a part of the empire, and maintained jurisdiction over their own subjects residing there, while they permit the Portuguese to make such regulations and exercise such authority over their own people and other foreigners as they choose.

The trade between the Spaniards and Chinese has been smaller, and their relations less important than most other European nations. The Spanish admiral Legaspi conquered Manila and the Philippines in 1543, and Chinese merchants soon began to trade with that city; but the first attempt of the Spaniards to enter China, according to Mendoza, was not made till 1575 by two Augustine friars, who accompanied a Chinese naval officer on his return home, from the pursuit of a famous pirate named Li-mahon, whom the Spaniards had driven away from their new colony. The missionaries landed at Tansuso, a place somewhere on the

coast of Kwangtung, and went up to the departmental city, where they were courteously received and entertained. The prefect of this place, after learning their wishes, sent them to the governor at Shauking fu, by whom they were examined; they stated that their chief object was to form a close alliance between the two nations for their mutual benefit, stating at the same time what their countrymen had done against Limahon; they added, that a second object was their wish to learn the language of China and teach its inhabitants their religion. The governor kept them in a sort of honorable bondage several weeks, and at last sent them back to Manila, doubtless by orders from court, though he alleged as a reason, that the pirate Limahon was still at large. After the return of this mission, the governor of the Philippines deemed it advisable to let the trade take its own course, and therefore refused his countenance to the proposal of a body of Franciscans to enter the country. They however made the attempt in a small native vessel, and passed up the river to Tsiuenchau fu, where they were seized and examined as to their designs. Not being acquainted with the language, they were deluded themselves, and misrepresented to the prefect by a professed native friend who understood Portuguese; and after many months' delay were mortified to learn that no permission to remain would be given; they returned to Manila in 1580, not at all disposed to renew the enterprise. The king himself, Philip II., however, having received the suggestion made by the Chinese admiral to the former party, that their sovereign should send an ambassy to Peking, had already ordered the governor to undertake such an enterprise. He fitted out a mission therefore, in 1580, though much against his judgment, at the head of which was Martin Ignatius, and associated six others with him, and a small suite. It gives one a low idea of the skill of navigators at that day to learn that in this short trip, the vessel being carried up the coast northward of Canton, the party thought it better to land than to try to beat back to their destination. The envoy and all with him were brought before the Chinese officers, who probably, entirely misunderstanding their object, imprisoned them; after considerable delay, they were brought before a higher officer, and sent on to Canton, where they were again imprisoned; the Portuguese governor of Macao subsequently obtained their liberation, and they mostly returned to Manila. This unlucky attempt, if Men

ARRIVAL OF THE DUTCH IN CHINA.

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doza is right in calling it an ambassy, was the only one ever made by the Spanish government to communicate with the court of Peking..

The Chinese have carried on a valuable trade with Luçonia, at Manila, but the Spaniards have treated them with peculiar severity. They are burdened with taxes, which the people of no other nation are subjected to, and their immigration is rather restrained than encouraged. The harsh treatment of the Chinese settlers in Manila excited the attention and indignation of one of their countrymen many years ago, and on his return to Canton, he exercised all his influence with the officers of his own government, making what he had seen the model and the motive to induce them to treat all foreigners at Canton in the same way, and succeeded in perfecting the principal features of the system of espionage and restriction of the co-hong which existed for nearly a century, until the treaty of 1842;-another instance of the treatment justly requited upon foreigners for their own acts. The Spaniards had permission to trade at Amoy after all other nations had been restricted to Canton, but owing to the heavy port-charges and small market there, they never availed of the privilege. The same regulations were extended to Spanish vessels and commerce in 1843, which had been obtained by other powers, and the trade between Manila and the ports of China has greatly increased within the few last years, especially in the article of rice.

The Dutch commerce with the East did not of course, commence until after their successful struggle against the Spanish yoke, and as soon after completing their independence as they had the means, they turned their arms against the oriental possessions of their enemies, capturing Malacca, the Spice Islands, and other places, and attacking Macao. They appeared before this place in 1622, with a squadron of seventeen vessels, but being repulsed with the loss of their admiral and about 300 men, they retired, and established themselves on the Panghu, or Pescadores, in 1624. Their occupation of this position was a source of great annoyance to the Chinese authorities in Fuhkien, and to the Portuguese and Spaniards. According to the custom of those days, they began to build a fort, and forced the native Chinese to do their work, treating them with great severity. Many of the laborers were prisoners, whom the Dutch had taken in their attacks

upon the Chinese. Alternate hostilities and parleys succeeded, the Chinese declaring that the Dutch must send an envoy to the authorities on the mainland; they accordingly dispatched Von Mildert to Amoy, whom the sub-prefect there forwarded to Fuhchau, to the governor. He decided to send a messenger to the Dutch, to state to them that trade would be allowed if they would remove to Formosa, but this proposition was refused. However, after a series of attacks and negotiations, the Chinese constantly increasing their forces, and the Dutch diminishing in their supplies, the latter acceded to the proposition, and removed to the western shore of Formosa, where they erected Fort Zealandia in 1624. It is recorded that the Chinese landed five thousand troops on one of the islands in the group; and their determined efforts in repelling the aggressions or occupation of their soil by the Dutch, probably raised their reputation for courage, and prevented the repetition of similar acts by others. It was doubtless a good stroke of policy on the part of the Chinese to propose the occupation of the island of Formosa to the Dutch, in exchange for the Pescadores, for they had not the least title to it themselves, and hardly knew its exact size, or the character of the inhabitants. The Dutch endeavored to extend their power over it, yet with only partial success; in the villages around Ft. Zealandia, they introduced new laws among the inhabitants, and instead of their councils of elders, constituted one of their chief men supervisor in every village, to administer justice, and report his acts to the governor of the island.

The moral interests of the natives were not neglected, and in 1626, George Candidius, a Protestant minister, was appointed to labor among them, and took great pains to introduce Christianity. The natives were ignorant of letters, their superstitions rested only on tradition or customs, which were of recent origin, and the prospects of teaching them a better religion were favorable. In sixteen months, he had instructed over a hundred in the leading truths of Christianity. The work was progressing favorably, churches and schools were multiplying, the intermarriages of the colonists and natives were bringing them into closer relationship with each other, and many thousands of the islanders had been baptized, when the Dutch governors in India, fearful of offending the Japanese, who were then persecuting the Christians in Japan, and apprehensive of losing the trade with that country themselves,