ing character. Therefore I ask you all to join with me in drinking the health of General Grant and wishing him every blessing. When the King finished, Mr. Alabaster translated the speech into English, the company all the time remaining on their feet. Then the toast was drunk with cheers, the band playing the American national air. General Grant then arose, and in a low, but clear and perfectly distinct voice, said: YOUR MAJESTY, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN:-I am very much obliged to Your Majesty for the kind and complimentary manner in which you have welcomed me to Siam. I am glad that it has been my good fortune to visit this country, and to thank Your Majesty in person for your letters inviting me to Siam, and to see with my own eyes your country and your people. I feel that it would have been a misfortune if the programme of my journey had not included Siam. I have now been absent from home nearly two years, and during that time I have seen every capital and nearly every large city in Europe, as well as the principal cities in India, Burmah, and the Malay Peninsula. I have seen nothing that has interested me more than Siam, and every hour of my visit here has been agreeable and instructive. For the welcome I have received from Your Majesty, the princes and members of the Siamese government, and the people generally, I am very grateful. I accept it, not as personal to myself alone, but as a mark of the friendship felt for my country by Your Majesty and the people of Siam. I am glad to see that feeling, because I believe that the best interests of the two countries can be benefited by nothing as much as the establishment of the most cordial relations between them. On my return to America, I shall do what I can to cement those relations. I hope that in America we shall see more of the Siam that we shall have embassies and diplomatic relations; that our commerce and manufactures will increase with Siam; and that your young men will visit our country and attend our colleges, as they now go to colleges in Germany and England. I can assure them all a kind reception, and I feel that the visits would be interesting and advantageous. I again thank Your Majesty for the splendid hospitality which has been shown to myself and my party, and I trust that your reign will be happy and prosperous, and that Siam will continue to advance in the arts of civilization. General Grant, after a pause, then rose and said : I hope you will allow me to ask you to drink the health of His Majesty the King of Siam. I am honored by the opportu nity of proposing that toast in his own capital and his own palace, and of saying how much I have been impressed with his enlightened rule. I now ask you to drink the health of His Majesty the King, and prosperity and peace to the people of Siam. This toast was drunk with cheers, the company rising and the band playing the national air of Siam. The King then led the way to the upper audience-chamber, the saloon of the statues. Here ensued a long conversation between the King and the General and the various members of the party. Mrs. Grant, in the inner room, had a conversation with the Queen, who had not been at table. In conversing with the General, the King became warm and almost affectionate. He was proud of having made the acquaintance of the General, and he wanted to know more of the American people. He wished Americans to know that he was a friend of the country. As to the General himself, the King hoped when the General returned to the United States that he would write the King and allow the King to write to him, and always be his friend and correspondent. The General said he would always remember his visit to Siam; that it would afford him pleasure to know that he was the friend of the King; that he would write to the King and always be glad to hear from him, and if he ever could be of service to the King it would be a pleasure. With Mr. Borie the King had also a long conversation, and his manner towards the venerable ex-Secretary was especially kind and genial. It was midnight before the party came to an end. CHAPTER XXXV. EN ROUTE FOR CANTON-THE RECEPTION AT THE VICEREGAL PALACE - A CHINESE TEA-PARTY EATING WITH CHOPSTICKS THE VICEROY GIVES A DINNER TO CURIOUS CANTON Bidding Siam farewell, the party embarked for Canton on board the American man-of-war Ashuelot, on the 5th of May. After a short and pleasant voyage they reached the city about ten o'clock in the evening. As they entered the harbor, the booming of cannon announced their arrival. The visitors were received by the Consular officials and conducted to the Viceroy's yamen, three miles from the point of debarkation. At least one hundred thousand persons witnessed the little procession, and perfect order prevailed on all sides. Their reception at the Viceregal palace is thus described: The booming guns, which boom in a quick, angry fashion; the increasing crowds, the renewed lines of soldiery, now standing in double line, their guns at a present; the sons of mandarins, the Viceroy's guard, under trees, and the open, shaded enclosure into which we are borne by our staggering, panting chair-bearers, tell us that we are at our journey's end and at the palace of the Viceroy. We descend from our chairs and enter the open reception-room or audience-chamber. The Viceroy himself, surrounded by all the great officers of his court, is waiting at the door. As General Grant advances, accompanied by the Consul, the Viceroy steps forward and meets him with a gesture of welcome, which to our barbarian eyes looks like a gesture of adoration. He wears the mandarin's hat and the pink button and flowing robes of silk, the breast and back embroidered a good deal like the sacrificial robes of an archbishop at high mass. The Viceroy is a Chinaman, and not of the governing Tartar race. He has a thin, somewhat worn face, and is over fifty years of age. His manner was the perfection of courtesy and cordiality. He said he knew how unworthy he was of a visit from one so great as General Grant, but that this unworthiness only increased the honor. Then he presented the General to the members of his court-Chang Tsein, the Tartar General; Jen Chi, the Imperial Commissioner of Customs; Shan Chang Mow, the Deputy Tartar General, and Chi Hwo, the Assistant Tartar General. After General Grant had been presented we were each of us in turn welcomed by the Viceroy and presented to his suite. Mr. Holcombe and the Chinese interpreter of the Consul, a blue button mandarin, who speaks admirable English, were our interpreters. The Viceroy was cordial to Mr. Borie, asking him many questions about his journey, congratulating him upon his years, it being Chinese courtesy to especially salute age, and expressing his wonder that Mr. Borie should have taken so long a journey. Mr. Borie said to the Viceroy that he had always desired to see China. He had been for fifty years in business trading with China, and the result of that long experience had been to give him the highest opinion of the honesty, ability, and veracity of Chinese merchants. During this interchange of compliments, the receptionroom was filled with members and retainers of the court. Mandarins, aids, soldiers-all ranks were present. The whole scene was one of curiosity and excitement. The |