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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A54677	The history of the conquest of China by the Tartars together with an account of several remarkable things concerning the religion, manners, and customes of both nations, but especially the latter / first writ in Spanish by Senõr Palafox ... and now rendred English.; Historia de la conquista de la China por el Tartaro. English. 1671	Palafox y Mendoza, Juan de, 1600-1659.	1671 (1671)	Wing P200; ESTC R33642	206,638	622

put them into other places not less honourable than their former And yet these have never ceased to complain that they had only the Name and Title of Mandorin left them They had reason to say so if they considered that they were now really obliged to gain and maintain at least a better Fame than they had before Nothing can better capacitate any publick Officer or Magistrate to serve his Prince in his Employment than to have the reputation of Merit and desert which may render him considerable in the esteem of the people But the Officers who did most murmur and complain were those who had the management of the Exchequer and the Revenues of the Emperour They were not satisfied that they could not enrich them by those vast Sums of Money which passed through their hands The Tartars derided them and scoffingly asked them if they were not called the Officers of the Emperour's Exchequer if they were so they must then acknowledge that the Exchequer was not theirs but the Emperours but if they appropriated it to themselves by enriching themselves thereby they were not then the Officers of the Emperours Exchequer but of their own that they should either be satisfied with the Pensions were allotted them or resign up their place●● to others That the Emperour would not want Officers to discharge those Employments and yet be well content with the same Pensions and Allowance they had who murmured and were so discontented at them After the Xunchi had strictly enjoyned his Officers not to sell Justice he punished very severely those Judges against whom it was proved that they had received any Bribes or Presents And he was the more vigilant to put a Check to this disorder knowing that the Ruine of China was at first occasioned by the Avarice and ●●orruption of the greatest part of the Judges and those who were i●● the most eminent Offices and Employments in that State For as for Pilfering Extortion and Bribery the Chinese Officers and Ministers of State were scarce to be parallell'd in the whole world And upon this very account long before the loss of that Empire they were so detested and abominated by all their Neighbours that by their Books and Writings it plainly appears they could neither speak nor write of the Mandorins without bitter expressions of indignation against them It was they who managed and disposed of all the Emperours of China's Revenue but in such a manner that the Emperour whose Revenue amounted yearly to more than thirty Millions sterling was ever in want and indigency At least in appearance he had not wherewith to supply the necessary Expences of his State which was occasioned by the fraud of the Mandorins who diverted to their own private occasions the greatest part of those Monies which should have been employed upon the publick account and never concerned themselves with thinking or contriving how the Souldiery should receive their pay and subsistance and less how to reward those who had faithfully served their Prince and Countrey And yet the people were compelled to pay Taxes Subsidies and Impositions to maintain the pride and grandeur of the Mandorins and other Officers who had advanced themselves by the decay of the State and yet they were so weak and cowardly that they durst not attempt to preserve either it or any part thereof from utter ruine and destruction Whereas before a Mandorin would have trampled upon and treated with scorn and contempt the most considerable Officers of the Army now on the contrary the sight of one poor Souldier would have made a great number of Mandorins run away and hide themselves Thus by the avarice of these Officers the Princes Guard was composed only of some poor distressed Souldiers who were both ill paid and maintain'd and being scorn'd and vilified to advance their Fortune and Condition sided with the Rebels Zunchin perceived but too late that Souldiers have a great share in the support and preservation of Empires and the greater by the impossibility there is that great Empires should not have potent Enemies In his greatest exigency and distress he found he had not any Souldiers whom he had by the least recompense engaged to stick firmly to the defence of his Person and State He then understood that his Treasure and Revenue had not been employed in those things which were necessary and important for his preservation He was fully convinced that his Imperial Grandeur was but ill supported when he saw his Royal person abandoned his Life and Empire reduced to its last period and that there was now no remedy left but that both he and the Empire must both perish together The Tartarian Emperour Zunchi saw clearly all these Disorders in the Government of China and judging by the actions of the Chineses that these ill Customs were strongly inrooted he judged it the more important utterly to extirpate them He therefore entred upon this Affair with that care and resolution that it was not his fault if afterwards Justice was not well regulated and executed in China His Ministers of State and the Officers whom he employed were likewise very diligent herein And certainly nothing could more effectually put a stop to these disorders than to see the prudence and fidelity of the Officers concur with the good intentions of their Master It wa●● a thing very extraodinary to see with what uprightness and integrity all the Officers both those who were really Tartars and those who desired to be thought so proceeded in the execution of their Charge Ly the famous Viceroy of Canton who boasted that he was a Tartar though he was believed to be a Chinese when he was Commander of the Army pillaged and plundered all places and persons yet after he was transformed to a very grave Magistrate and acted as a most incorruptible Judge in all Causes which were brought before him gained thereby a publick repute and esteem as a most zealous person for the due execution of Justice and Equity And as for the Plunder which he took in those Towns and Places which he had subdued he justified himself as well as he could by the Law of Arms which alwaies allows the General and Commanders in Chief a considerable part of the Booty because they have so great an one in the peril and danger And if the Souldiers under his Command took advantage of any opportunity to take what they could get it was to be considered that they had then no other way to subsist there coming no Money from the Court to pay them with Thus he endeavoured to put as fair a gloss as he could upon all his former actions and endeavoured to excuse all that was past and for the future he acted so uprightly and proceeded with so much honour and impartiality in the management of all Affairs and obliged all the Officers under him to demean themselves so plausibly towards the people that they willingly accepted of this fair Deportment in recompense of all those mischiefs he had formerly

therefore thought fit solely to honour and gratifie the Souldiery This was sufficient to enduce the Chineses to quit their Studies and turn Souldiers Let every one according to their reason and inclination pass their censure upon these two Professions yet this must be granted that all that can be said by those who by their manner of Life have declared themselves partial to Learning is only this that esteem and merit should equally be divided to persons of each of these Professions proportionable to their skill and industry in either of them But then this must be granted that Gown-men and Pen men who are freest from danger are in the readier way to Preferment Whereas a Souldier after he hath hazarded his Life in several Fights and Seiges usually hath no other recompense than to lose his Life at last in some other engagement Very many persons even those who for their eminent services have deserved to be highly recompensed have had no better fortune The Tartarian Emperour was of opinion that Military Employments were most meritorious because they were exposed to so great perils Therefore though he still encouraged Learning in China and sent into each Province thereof two Vice-roys as there was before the one a Gown-man to whom was entrusted the administration of Justice in Civil affairs the other a Souldier who had the direction of all Military concerns yet he manifested a greater esteem for those who embraced the Military Profession even so far as to make several Scholars whom he judged were fit to make Souldiers quit their Gowns and take up Arms. He was likewise very careful to reward his Souldiers if he knew they had merited it though they were in places very remote from his person yet when they least expected it he sent them Presents and Gratuities Upon this account in the year 1647. in the Month of August he commanded a very considerable Mandorin who was assistant to the royal Council at Peking to go from thence to Canton to carry Presents to the two Vice-roys thereof Though it was a thousa●●d Miles from one of these Cities to the other yet the Mandorin having no other business in obedience to his Order went so great a journey The Presents were two Gold Cups set with Precious stones and two very rich Suits of Clothes Xunchi knowing that the two Vice-roys had equally in the Reduction of that Province upon all occasions and in all engagements with the Enemy given great proofs of their Valour designed to give equal Honour to their persons and merits It is not therefore to be wondred at that that Prince had so many gallant and brave Souldiers since he was so careful and sollicitous to re●●ompense the services of his own Commanders that he sent such magnificent Presents to those who were at such a distance from his Court and for this intent alone he employed the principal persons in his State to go and acquaint them how satisfied His Majesty was with their Fidelity and Courage Princes can never want brave Souldiers if they carefully reward them but it will be difficult for them to retain such in their Services unless by their actions they shew that they know both how to value and reward them Several Gown-men even those who were in very considerable employments when they saw that it was not likely they should advance themselves if they applyed themselves solely to the study of their Laws presently put them selves into Military commands We have already seen the Conduct of the Lord Chief Justice of Canton or the Vice-roy in Civil affairs But that it may be known what opinion this Gown-man had at that time of his own Profession I shall relate how he expressed himself upon this Subject to a Friend of his This person though he was not very Learned was made Justice or Mandorin in Civil affairs in the City of Canton Every person in China who had but the least smattering in Learning yet he thought himself a great Doctor if he was advanced to the dignity of a Mandorin But this person shew'd he had more worth in him than the rest since he did so ingeniously acknowledg and allow his disability In all parts there are very few that pretend to be Scholars who will acknowledg a deficiency in Learning but there are fewer who will make a sincere Confession of their Ignorance Yet this man did very ingeniously tell the Vice-Roy that he had not Learning enough to qualify him to be a Mandorin and and therefore if his Excellency would please to give him an employment more proportionable to his capacity he should acknowledg himself the more obliged The Vice-Roy demanded of him wherein he thought himself insufficient he replyed that he could not write or form the Chineses Caracters fair enough Go saith the Vice-Roy you have but too much Learning for these times when all persons who hope to make themselves any ways considerable but leave their Books and turn Souldiers Do not believe or fancy that hereafter in all Suits or Trials at Law it will be thought necessary to write so much or examine so many Writings and Deeds You must only attentively hear both parties and give them a verbal dispatch be exact in this and resolve to do justice Truth and Iustice are not so concealed and hid from our knowledg and sight that we shouldsearch for them in places where they are scarce ●●ver to be ●●ound in the Whirle-pooles and bottoml●●ss pits of Law-suits The Mandorin understood full well the Vice Roys meaning and thanked his Excellency for the Charge he was pleased to bestow on him and the good Advice he gave him and taking leave of him he told him My Lord I am sufficiently qualified if diligence and good intentions do sufficiently capacitate me for the execution of my Charge Thus Xunchi very calmly and without any violence refo●●med the abuses and frauds of the Chinese Pen-men and Gown-men and was well enough pleased that the Souldiers and Officers did publickly deride and speak against that lazy and unnecessary Occupation Nothing did more advance than this did the alteration which that Prince designed to introduce And this occasioned several very pleasant passages Once a Chinese Mandorin was obliged to quarter in his house a Tartarian Captain a person highly considered amongst those of his own Nation and he had a very good lodging in the Mandorins house and all the accommodation he could wish for The Mandorin who was very ambitious of the fame and repute of a very learned man had a very fine Library which doubtless was furnished with more Learning than his head was The best and most Lightsome Rooms of his were filled with Books and he called those Lodgings Xufan which signifies a very airy place and it was in truth cooled with a very refreshing air which prevented dust and worms which spoyl Books When the Tartar saw this place he judged it a more convenient Lodging than those he had and that they made very ill use of it