r of Canton, and had immediately applied
himself to the mandarines, who are the chief officers of state,
instead of employing the merchants to apply for him, he would, in all
probability, have had all his requests granted, and would have been
soon dispatched. He had already lost a month by the wrong measures
he had been put upon, but he resolved to lose as little more time as
possible; and, therefore, the 17th of December, being the next day
after his return from Canton, he wrote a letter to the viceroy of that
place, acquainting him that he was commander-in-chief of a squadron of
his Britannic majesty's ships of war which had been cruising for two
years past in the South Seas against the Spaniards, who were at war
with the king his master; that, in his way back to England, he had put
into the port of Macao, having a considerable leak in his ship, and
being in great want of provisions, so that it was impossible for
him to proceed on his voyage till his ship was repaired, and he was
supplied with the necessaries he wanted; that he had been at Canton,
in hopes of being admitted to a personal audience of his excellency,
but being a stranger to the customs of the country, he had not been
able to inform himself what steps were necessary to be taken to
procure such an audience, and therefore was obliged to apply to him
in this manner, to desire his excellency to give orders for his being
permitted to employ carpenters and proper workmen to refit his ship,
and to furnish himself with provisions and stores, thereby to enable
him to pursue his voyage to Great Britain with this monsoon, hoping,
at the same time, that these orders would be issued with as little
delay as possible, lest it might occasion his loss of the season, and
he might be prevented, from departing till the next winter.

This letter was translated into the Chinese language, and the
commodore delivered it himself to the hoppo, or chief officer of the
emperor's customs at Macao, desiring him to forward it to the viceroy
of Canton with as much expedition as he could. The officer at first
seemed unwilling to take charge of it, and raised many difficulties
about it, so that Mr Anson suspected him of being in league with the
merchants of Canton, who had always shown a great apprehension of
the commodore's having any immediate intercourse with the viceroy or
mandarines; and, therefore, the commodore, with some resentment, took
back his letter from the hoppo, and told h