The Last Embassy by Tonio Andrade

Author:Tonio Andrade [Andrade, Tonio]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780691177113
Publisher: Princeton UP
Published: 2021-03-16T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

By Land through Beizhili and Shandong

TITSINGH IS WORRIED about the journey, having heard that Lord Macartney had a “most distressing” time on the same route back to Canton. Apparently, his Lordship was “short of everything,” and people who saw him upon his return said he was so gaunt that he was almost unrecognizable, as though he’d aged ten years.1 But Qing officials promise that Titsingh and his companions will receive special treatment, including banquets in each of the provinces and sightseeing tours. No such favors were shown to Macartney, who was rushed back to Canton so fast that, in Van Braam’s words, he was “given no rest until such time that his escort had brought him back to his warship and seen him sail away.”2

They’re told that this journey will be very different from their trip to Beijing, because most of it will be by boat, with beds and servants and wine close at hand. They’ll pass through the wealthiest and most beautiful parts of China, and at a leisurely pace. Whereas their trip to Beijing covered 1,450 miles in fifty days, a grueling average of twenty-nine miles per day, the trip to Canton will cross 1,665 miles, but more slowly, at an average of twenty miles per day.3 They’ll also be traveling in the spring, when the land comes alive with wheat, mulberries, rice, and blossoming peaches.

It’s still wintry when they leave their compound on February 17, cold and gusty, but it’s a festive parade, with soldiers and music. Titsingh and Van Braam rattle painfully along the cobblestones in their carts. Guignes, keeping in mind Raux’s advice to stand firm, demanded a horse, but it reared as he tried to mount, knocking over a servant and galloping away, so he’s in a cart as well.4

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