Other works again, ſuch as the Chineſe preſs abudantly affords, concerning the preſent ſtate of the empire, its civil, political, and legal inſtitutions, they have, it muſt be acknowledged, in great meaſure neglected, either as comparatively unimportant in their eſtimation, or as inſufficident and ill-ſuited for conveying thoſe highly favourable ideas, with which they ſeem themſelves to have been impreſſed, of the character of the Chineſe people, and the principles of the Chineſe government.
By the foregoing obſervations, it is by no means intended to detract from the real merits of the learned and pious writers of this claſs, either by denying, that they have afforded to the European world a vaſt collection of uſeful and intereſting information, or by aſſerting, that they have, in any particular inſtances, been guilty of wilful deception or miſrepreſentation. It is merely wiſhed to point out ſome of the cauſes which render it unſafe to rely implicitly on their authority, to ſtate the particular bias under which they wrote, and to notice ſome of the effects of which that bias was neceſſarily productive.
The communications between European ſtates and the dominions of China, which a ſpirit of commercial enterprize gave riſe to, although they have been, at times, of conſiderable importance to ſeveral of the Continental nations, and are at preſent, with reſpect to Great Britain, of ſuch a nature and extent, as to be very eſſentially contribute to her national proſperity, yet they did not, until a very late period, produce any fruits deſerving of particular notice, either to ſcience or literature.
With the exceptions of the Travels of Mr. Bell of Antermony, and the Tranſlation of a Chineſe Novel, by an obſcure hand, but illuſtrated by the name of its Editor, ſcarcely anything of importance reſpecting China, derived from a commercial origin, appeared in England until the period of the Embaſſy of the late Earl of Macartney. His Lordſhip's miſſion was certainly an important ſtep towards obtaining a more accurate and
