By this means, the resolution of the English at the fire, and their trustiness and punctuality elsewhere, was the general subject of conversation amongst the Chinese:  And, the next morning, many of the principal inhabitants waited on the commodore to thank him for his assistance; frankly owning to him, that they could never have extinguished the fire of themselves, and that he had saved their city from being totally consumed.  And soon after a message came to the commodore from the viceroy, appointing the 30th of November for his audience; which sudden resolution of the viceroy, in a matter that had been so long agitated in vain, was also owing to the signal services performed by Mr Anson and his people at the fire, of which the viceroy himself had been in some measure an eye-witness.

The fixing this business of the audience, was, on all accounts, a circumstance which Mr Anson was much pleased with; as he was satisfied that the Chinese government would not have determined this point, without having agreed among themselves to give up their pretensions to the duties they claimed, and to grant him all he could reasonably ask; for as they well knew the commodore’s sentiments, it would have been a piece of imprudence, not consistent with the refined cunning of the Chinese, to have admitted him to an audience, only to have contested with him.  And therefore, being himself perfectly easy about the result of his visit, he made all necessary preparations against the day.  Mr Flint, whom he engaged to act as interpreter in the conference, acquitted himself much to the commodore’s satisfaction; repeating with great boldness; and doubtless with exactness, all that was given in charge, a part which no Chinese linguist would ever have performed with any tolerable fidelity.

At ten o’clock in the morning, on the day appointed, a mandarine came to the commodore, to let him know that the viceroy was ready to receive him; on which the commodore and his retinue immediately set out:  And as soon as he entered the outer gate of the city, he found a guard of two hundred soldiers drawn up ready to attend him; these conducted him to the great parade before the emperor’s palace, where the viceroy then resided.  In this parade, a body of troops, to the number of ten thousand, were drawn up under arms, and made a very fine appearance, being all of them new clothed for this ceremony:  And Mr Anson and his retinue having passed through the middle of them, he was then conducted to the great hall of audience, where he found the viceroy seated under a rich canopy in the emperor’s chair of state, with all his council of mandarines attending:  Here there was a vacant seat prepared for the commodore, in which he was placed on his arrival:  He was ranked the third it order from the viceroy, there being above him only the head of the law, and of the treasury, who in the Chinese government take place of all military officers.  When the commodore was seated, he addressed himself to the viceroy by