ificent banquet, at which was present
M. de Rosamel, the commander of the corvette _Danaide_, which had arrived
a few days before in the roads of Macao. Every one was enchanted with
the graceful and affable manners of the commissioner-general.

A few days only elapsed before the intrigues worked at Peking by the
former imperial commissioner, Lin, occasioned the disallowance by the
Emperor of the treaty that had just been concluded at Canton. Ki-Chan
was accused of having allowed himself to be corrupted by English gold,
and of having sold to the "sea devils" the territory of the Celestial
Empire. The Emperor sent him a furious letter, declaring him worthy of
death, and ordering him to repair to Peking forthwith. The poor imperial
commissioner had not his head cut off, as every one expected. The
Emperor, in his paternal mildness, gave him his life, and merely degraded
him from all his titles, withdrew all his decorations, confiscated his
property, razed his house, sold his wives by public auction, and banished
him to the depths of Tartary. The numerous and influential friends whom
Ki-Chan had at court, did not desert him in his reverses; they laboured
with courage and perseverance to reinstate him in the good graces of the
Emperor. In 1841, he was, at length, recalled, and sent to Lha-Ssa as
envoy-extraordinary in the matter of the Nomekhan. He departed,
decorated with the blue button, instead of the red one, which he wore
before his fall; they restored to him the peacock's feather, but the
privilege of wearing the yellow tunic was still withheld. His friends at
Peking clubbed together and built for him a magnificent house. The post
of Kin-Tchai, amid the mountains of Thibet, was still considered
banishment; but it was a step towards a glorious and complete
reinstatement. Immediately upon his arrival at Lha-Ssa, Ki-Chan
concerted with the Bandchan-Remboutchi, and had the Nomekhan arrested.
He then proceeded to examine all the persons attached to the service of
the accused, and, in order to facilitate their declaration of the truth,
he had long bamboo needles thrust under their nails; by this means, as
the Chinese phrase it, "truth was separated from falsehood," and the
conduct of the Nomekhan was brought to light. The wretched man avowed
his crimes voluntarily, in order to avoid the torture. He acknowledged
himself guilty of taking away three lives from the Tale-Lama; of having
used violent means to make him t