An Authentic Account of the Embassy of the Dutch East-India Company, to the Court of the Emperor of China, in the Years 1974 and 1795/Introduction
INTRODUCTION
A JOURNEY from Canton to the city of Pe-king, where the Imperial Court resides — a Journey made across parts of the Empire of China, which never yet were marked with the footstep of an European, and where his inquisitive eye never yet had an opportunity of making the smallest observation, cannot but be highly interesting to the Public, both in Europe, and throughout the United States of America; and will no doubt be received as an agreeable offering. In this hope it was that I undertook to write a relation of that Journey, and that I made a point with myself of commiting to paper, with the least possible delay, every thing I should see and observe, in order that I might give a faithful description of if to my countrymen.
Whenever I travelled by water, I had my Journal always on the table, that every thing be noted down in it at the very moment of its occurrence. Even night was not a reason for my dispensing with this rule. I thought it far better to lose a few hours rest, than to let a single remarkable Object escape me.
When our road was over-land, it was my invariable practice, let the time of night be what it might, to commit to my Journal, which I then carried in my palanquin, what-ever had appeared interesting to me during the day.
In returning from the Imperial Court to the hotel occupied by the Ambassador, at Pe-king, I never felt any care more urgent than that of noting down every thing I had seen.
By these means I suffered nothing to escape me, and an excellent memory constantly helped me to re-trace the most minute particulars, and to recollect even the most trifling step I had taken. It is in consequence of these continual precautions, that I am able to promise an exact narrative of the proceedings of the Embassy, extracted from my Journal; the constant depositary of facts, represented with the most strict regard to truth.
I may venture then to assert that a scrupulous precision will be found in the details I present to the Public, and that my Work will moreover have the merit of being entirely new, since there is not a single line borrowed from any traveller or writer what-ever. I should even think I offered an affront to every well informed Reader, if I Were not convinced of his easily perceiving it himself. It is with the sole view therefore of doing further homage to truth, that I declare that for twenty years I had read nothing on the subject of China. Although we had with us the work of Nieuhoff, concerning the first Dutch Embassy to Pe-king, I did not chuse to consult it, because I did not wish to enter into a refutation of its contents, a thing by no means impossible, and because it seemed, indubitable that a century and a half must have occasioned some change in the aspect of the towns and establishments, and in the face of the country.
One of our fellow-travellers, M. de Guignes, a Frenchman, who accompanied the Embassy in quality of Interpreter, noted down his observations also, with the intention of publishing them; but his projects which may even serve to shew the conformity of our remarks, was of no use to me, since neither I nor any other person attached to the Embassy, had any knowledge of his work. My Journal, on the contrary, was copied for the Ambassador, and lay open to the inspection of all the other Dutchmen who performed the journey.
On our return to Canton, I had the good fortune to meet with a very exact topographical chart of the city of Pe-king. The proprietor of that chart, which was already of very ancient date, would not part with it; but permitted me to take a copy. It is so particular, that every street is distinguished, and the elevation of every edifice delineated. I easily recognized those of such streets as I had passed through in a carriage, and found out also the four gates or triumphal arches which I had remarked in a cross-road on my return from Yuen-ming-yuen, as mentioned in my Journal under date of the sixth of February 1795. I was thereby convinced of its perfect accuracy.
The Imperial residence, however, was only, in a manner, indicated without any thing to mark its limits. This defect I remedied, as far as my own judgment authorized me to do it, after having seen and gone through more than three-fourths of the palace. The suburbs were also wanting, but I borrowed them from the work of Du Halde, in which the plan of the city is conformable to that of my great map.
Thus it was that I contrived to render my topography of Pe-king more exact than in the Chinese original. It was not, however possible to give the suburbs in the same detail as the city, because my knowledge of them was not equally correct. I have therefore contented myself with indicating the principal streets that lead and adjoin to the gates of the town, together with the two well-known edifices, the temple of Heaven, and that of the Earth. The rest of the suburbs, in fact, present nothing to the eye but a piece of ground very irregularly built upon, in which are plots of cultivated land, and empty spaces, so that one half of it is yet without buildings, as we had an opportunity of clearly perceiving on the fifteenth of February 1795, when we left Pe-king. It appeared to me better to, leave something imperfect in this respect, than to put errors in the place of things of which I was ignorant.
I hope, however, that this will be no reason why a map so interesting should be less agreeable to the curious than my relation itself; especially as I have also a number of other drawings and views, which by their conformity with the plan, bear witness to its accuracy. A part of them I sketched myself, and the remainder is in my collection of Chinese views, which are calculated still farther to prove the accuracy of what I say. I have no doubt of this kind of supplement fully satisfying the curiosity of my Readers.
I have written the names of the cities and other places, according to the orthography of the Chinese Mandarins, and with divisions. The hyphens signify that all which they do not separate, ought to be pronounced in a short and simple manner, as forming only one syllable, although there are some which, in European languages, would make two. Kiang, Liang, Hiang, must therefore be pronounced as a single syllable.
I thought it proper to give these previous explanations to my Readers, in hopes that my Work would not displease the Public, and if this expectation be not deceived, I shall obtain the only recompence I dare to ask for my labours and my care.
In magnis voluisse sat est.