the Generals Souldiers THE Corsairs hereafter never left the General in quiet It was in vain to hope to conquer them for his abominable Cruelties made them ever return both more potent and more numerous for one Bark which he destroyed there returned thirty and for one man a hundred or two These are the very Terms of the Relation which remarks that the Sea and Rivers were covered with ships and men as if it had rained armed men from Heaven Some fled to the Pyrates for refuge not being able to be longer spectators of the Cruelties which were exercised upon their Countrey-men others came to avenge if they could the death of their Fathers their Children and other near Relations the loss of their Estates and the honour of their Wives Daughters or Sisters And innumerable other persons came in to them who knew not how to put a more acceptable period to their burdensome Lives and consolated themselves that they should there meet with a death more desirable or a life less miserable They hoped at least whilst they were at Sea they should be at liberty for some time to take breath and they did not despair but they should be able to do some eminent exploit whereby at last they might aveâ—â—ge themselves on the Tartars The Viceroy likewise seemed as if he designed to give these miserable people no respite He presently put out to Sea as if he was resolved not to let one escape him and being informed that they were betwixt Lautao which is a little Isle just opposite to Mâ—â—cao and the City of Anslan in one week he thrice went into this Road in search of them but still returned without meeting them It is believed he had no great mind to meet with them though he went to seek them out This is a Stratagem often practised by Politicians There was a great report that the Pyrates were extraordinary powerful that they had a well regulated Army that their Vessels were filled with desperate men who were resolved either to conquer or perish after they had sold their Lives at a dear rate therefore the Viceroy not thinking it would be for his advantage to have such a rencounter he returned thrice without finding them or rather without seeking for what he had no mind to meet wit Once at last when he was just ready to enter into the City of Canton he had intelligence that the Corsairs had possessed themselves of a place distant some two days journey from that City Then being necessitated to put out to Sea he returned at that very instant with a great many Vessels and Men and presented himself before that Town There he found that the Alarm which had been given him was false therefore he returned highly displeased as he said that he had found no Enemy to fight with but perhaps he was not so much afflicted at it as he pretended This was only the subtilty of the man who was willing to disguise his fear The Number and Forces of the Pyrates encreased daily and the Relation saith that they were almost as innumerable as the Sand of the Sea These terrible Armies did incessantly rove about and infest all parts of the Province of Canton and gave the Viceroy more business than he desired Now he is not so hot and resolute as he was before He learnt by experience that he must be necessitated to change his conduct to which he was inclined by the advice of the Viceroy in Civil Affairs who was a prudent person and understood better than he to deal with the Pyrates These two Chiefs concluded that it would be more available to be less fierce and hot and more circumspect and prudent in the manageing of the War They placed Guards at the Gates of all the Towns in the Province where there were none before there they examin'd all who came in or went out for they knew that the Corsairs had Intelligence in all the Towns and that their Confederates were busily employed in hatching some great Conspiracy Thus the Tartars who before made a mock at all the Chineses could do were not now so confident and couragious as they had been They had reason not to be so for the League and Combination of these Corsairs was like a terrible Hydra which instead of seven heads had more than seven hundred thousand They judged it likewise convenient to make a new renumeration of people in all the Towns but especially in Canton that they might see if there was more or fewer than in their first Registers After which they made an Order that no Master of a Family should retain any more Domesticks than what they should allow of and whose Names were registred and these were no more than were precisely necessary for each Family This War of the Pyrates had brought most miserable calamities upon the whole Countrey in which the Tartars as well as others had their share for the Land lay waste and uncultivated and there was none in the Countrey who durst venture to carry that small Crop they had into the Towns for let them go which way they would they could not avoid meeting either with the Tartars by Land or the Pyrates by Water The Countrey-men therefore would not carry any provisions into the City which occasioned great want and scarcity there The Souldiers by the General 's permission were scattered and dispersed all over the Countrey and seized upon all the provisions they could meet with This compleated the ruine of that Province And if at any time some of the Countrey people to preserve any thing from those which persecuted them at home run the hazard to carry it into the Towns they were no sooner entred having escaped all the dangers of the ways but they were seized upon to row in the Navy and many times before they could reach the City the Corsairs had apprehended them upon the same account for on both sides there was a prodigious number of Vessels which both sailed and rowed and for this they stood in need of a great number of men to tug at the Oars These Outrages could not be committed without very frequent Murders and Massacres throughout the whole Countrey and these were so numerous that the description of the desolation of this Province would require a whole History The putrid bodies did so infect the Air that it occasioned a cruel Plague Thus these miserable people were afflicted with War Pestilence and Famine all these calamities came upon them at the same time each of which would have been sufficient to have ruined this once flourishing Province so that the richest plentifullest and most delicious of all the Provinces in China lay most dismally ruined in comparison of what it was formerly and so it remains to this very day and it is said all this mischief arose only from the ill conduct of the General for this rash man by his cruelty drove the people to despair and he was not only content to give an ill example but he gave
relation makes no mention how many years Zunchin reigned And whoever reads these Tragical Events hath reason to desire that his just Curiosity might be satisfied herein But all that can be gathered of a certainty both from the Printed Relations in China and those in Manuscript is that in the last 22 years which preceded the Revolution of this Empire there were four or five Kings and absolute Monarchs who successively ruled this great State Vanliè Grandfather to Zunchin the last King had in 1618. ruled 46 years and continued his Reign some years more After the Death of Vanliè his Son Thaicam succeeded him but he only reigned some Moneths Thaicam had for his Successor his eldest Son Thienchi this Thienchi was succeeded by his Brother Zunchin the last Emperour of this Race whom the Spanish Relation calls the Don Rodrigue of China By this it is manifest that this unfortunate Prince cannot be said to have reigned many years though it be uncertain when he began his Reign for the Relations only take notice that he reigned in the year 1634. After him it cannot be said that there was ever any other Soveraign Monarch in China but the Cham of Tartary for as for Ly neither the detestable crime of his Treason and Rebellion nor the short space of his Usurpation could give him any right to take upon him the Title of King of China Thus this great Monarchy in a few years hath had many Kings but this doth not add to the felicity of a State nor are the people the more happy who have experimented the Rule of so many Masters but the contrary For it is Experience and the Art of Governing which makes Kings deservedly to be esteemed of as excellent Princes and their Government happy Therefore those Nations ought to bless the King of Heaven whom he blesses in blâ—â—ssing their Kings with long Reigns Although it may be said that the Emperour and the Empire did both at the same time expire in the person of Zunchin yet it is certain that the overthrow and revolution of this great Monarchy did not happen on such a sudden as it appeared For several years before the Symptomes of a mortal Distemper manifested themselves in the Body Politick of this State and the dangerous Illness thereof was sufficiciently known to cause a general dread of the Consequences but no care for the Remedy so remiss and imprudent a negligence was there which served only palpably to discover the weakness of the Government The State of China resembled a sick person who feels an Illness fears the Effects but neglects his Cure And it may be said to have been seiz'd upon by Death when it was too late to act or do any thinâ—â— but to behold the inevitable ruine and destruction thereof The least Aches if neglected often prove mortal But here the fatal Effects were manifest and therefore it was the more important to have remedied the causes The Empire of China cannot therefore be said to have been lost by an incurable Illness but by an Illness to which due and timely Remedies were not applied and it will always be to be feared that that State which is governed with such a supine remissness will often be in danger to fall under the like calamities The Report of the Emperours death was quickly spread over all the Town And then those Loyal Subjects who yet disputed the Tyrants Entrance into the Palace hearing of the death of their Prince for whom they fought abandoned their Resolution And now the Usurpers who were the more animated meeting with no opposition pursued their Victory which they secuâ—â—ed in all parts Thus Ly presently making himself Master of both the City and Court took up his Quarters 〈◊〉 the Imperial Palace where he saw himself possessed of all the prodigious Treasures of this vast State and in general of all things which contributed either to the Magnificence or Pleasure of Zunchin The Relations made no mention what became of the three Royal Corps They only say that the Tyrant losing no time caused himself to be Crowned in the Court at Pequin and to be proclaimed the Soveraign Emperour of China After his Coronation he issued out a Proclamation enjoyning all the Mandorins to give in their Names and Qualities that in his new Goverâ—â—ment he might bestow amongst them such Employments as he judged requisite Whereunto several of the Mandorins gave Obedience but divers others of the most considerable in the whole State that they might though it was too late manifest the Allegiance which they owed to their Lawful Prince entred into a very barbarous and unprofitable resolution by death to follow him By which they thought they should appear very Loyal to him whom they had most treacherously served in his Life-time and Reign All these persons who were the most eminent of the whole Empire acting like so many Barbarians and desperate men who saw themselves surrounded with so many inevitable Calamities which would render their Lives both disgraceful and burdensom to them did without any hesitation destroy themselves by divers sorts of violent Deaths Some cut their own Throats others strangled themselves and others praecipitated and drowned themselves in Wells and Holes As for those Lords and other Officers of the Court who attended on the Emperour and the Empress into the Garden though there be no certain information of their death yet probably they either all or the greatest part of them died with their Master and by the same kind of Death that those persons had made choice of for whom they had so great a veneration for divers others who had never declared so great Constancy and Courage did not forbear to give this testimony of their Loyalty when the Tyrant required their Names The rest of the Mandorins who were not minded to shew themselves so zealous for the memory of their Prince according to the Tyrants Orders delivered in their Names perswading themselves that by this ready Obedience they should make themselves very considerable in this new upstart Court But they found themselves much frustrated in their expectations for so far were they from being thereby the more considered by the Usurper that on the contrary assoon as he had received their Names and Qualities resolving to take an advantage of their base unworthiness he condemned them in the payment of several great Sums of Money in proportion to the Estates and Offices every one of them were posâ—essed of pretending that they ought to make restitution to him of all which they had defrauded their Lawful Soveraign of And upon this pretension whoever either would not or could not pay his Fine within the prefixed time was instantly condemned to Death and no day passed in which some or other of these wretched persons did not by cruel Torments lose their Lives Nor did the Tyrant stay here but published new Declarations that those pretended Debts Fines and Taxes which the Fathers had refused to pay were payable by the
entire possession of the heart of this poor Prince that it had stopped all passages to relief And it waâ—â— requisite for him to retain all his Spirits lest he should expire under the weight of his Afflictions Zunchin was a young Prince endowed with all the qualities that might render him amiable to his people His Royal Spouse the Empress loved him with so tender an affection that to testifie the sincerity of her passion to him she resolved to die either with or before him It could not certainly but be an aggravation to the Afflictions of this distressed Prince to hear the Cries and Acclamations of those who fought for and against him the one side invoking the Emperour the other the Tyrant It was like so many Stabs to his very heart as oft as he heard himself who was descended from sixteen Emperours his Ancestors and Progenitors brought in competition with an infamous Villain These Disgraces pierced the deeper the more he perceived his own party to decline that of the Usurper to be exalted to the very Heavens The Stars of which unfortunate Zunchin execrated that they were so propitious to a perfidious Varlet who so little merited the Fate of a Soveraign And being by his direful Calamaties driven to this Despair and Fury he poured out more bitter Imprecations against those cruel and fatal Stars which presided at his disasterous Birth This Prince being very pensive and solicitous how to prevent greater Disgraces yet went together with those who accompanied him towards a little Grove at the Entrance of which he stopp'd and then the Empress guessing at his Design approached to him and giving him her last Embraces she parted from that person which was the dearest to her of all things upon Earth with all the grief and sorrow that Humane Nature is capable of She left the greatest felicity of this life to go to the greatest of Miseries she quit for ever an Empire and an Emperour an Husband sincerely beloved by her and who was but now entring into the prime of his Age and in whom she solely possessed all that she esteemed or loved upon Earth and she departed from him that she might go and by violence take away her own Life desiring no other satisfaction to her mind but to have in her power the choice of her Death and to die the Murderer of her self Thus she took leave of the Emperour not being able to express the passion of her Soul otherwise than with her Eyes for all Commerce and Communication was ceased between her Heart and Tongue And then she entred all alone into the Grove and with a Cord hanged her self upon one of the Trees A dreadful Spectacle which might make even those who were more senseless than the Trees lament so direful a death of so great an Empress Presently after the Emperour went and placed himself near his Wife whom he saw hanging upon a Tree having finished her Life by a Death as violent as that which he had inflicted upon his Daughter Then poor Prince he asked a little Wine of one of the Lords which attended him not that he was a Lover of Wine for on the contrary he was the most sober and moderate in his pleasures of all the Princes which ever governed that Empire And as for Women he was so chaste towards them that he never frequented his Seralio which gave occasion to all his Subjects to give him a Title which signifies The Chaste Prince or one who never goes to the Seralio It was not therefore for the love he had to Wine that he asked for it but he only desired a little to refresh and revive his Spirits which were sunk and oppressed And doubtless he had need of great Vigour to put in execution the Action he designed When the Wine was presented to him he sipped a little of it and then biting with violence one of his Fingers and squeezing out the Blood he wrote therewith these following Words The Mandorins are all Villains they have perfidiously betrayed their Prince they all deserve to be hanged and it will be a Laudable Act of Iustice to execute this Sentence upon them It is fit they should all suffer Death that thereby they might instruct those who succeed them to serve their Prince more loyally As â—â—or the People they are not Criminal and deserve not to be punished and therefore to use them ill will be Injustice I have lost my Kingdom which I received in inheritance from my Ancestors In me is finished the Royal Line which so many Kings my Progenitors continued down to me with all the Grandeur and Fame sutable to their Majestick Dignity I will therefore for ever close my Eyes that I may not see this Empire descended to me thus ruined and ruled by a Tyrant I will go and deprive my self of that Life for which I can never suffer myself to be indebted â—â—o the basest and vilest of my Subjects I have not the Confidence to appear before them who being born Subjeâ—â—ts are become my Enemies and Traytors It is fit the Prince should die since his whole State is now expiring And how can I endure to live having seen the loss and destruction of that which was dearer to me than Life The Prince after he had thus wrote what his just grief dictated to him he untied his Hair and covering his Face presently with his own hands he hanged himself upon a Tree near to that on which the Empress remain'd strangled This was the Tragical Catastrophe of this unfortunate Monarch The Emperour of China remained thus hanging on a Tree the Prince who was the Idol of his people at the very name of whom Millions of men trembled the Soveraign of above a hundred Millions of Subjects the Monarch of a Kingdom as spatious as all Europe he who counted his Souldiers by Millions and his Tributes by hundred of Millions Finally the potent Emperour of the great Empire of China is hanged upon a Tree and his Royal Consort the Empress upon another near him What a weighty Load did the Trunks of these Trees support But of what weight had it need be to make the great men upon earth duly weigh what is all this terrible and ambitious Grandeur which in so few moments passes from the height of the Felicities of this Life to an Abyss of Misery This unhappy Monarch finished his Reign at the age of 32 years or according as some say at 35. But a few years to have said he lived but fewer to say that he reigned if compared with his Predecessors for his Grandfather Vanliè ruled over China near fifty years and Zunchin lived but thirty five He died very soon but it was his Misfortune he died not sooner For true it is that whoever it be King or Emperour who reckons his years which have been exposed to such direful Tragedies cannot be said to have lived such a number of years but to have undergone a far greater number of miseries and calamities The
Children upon the same pain of death Thus the Tyrant Ly dealt with divers of the Mandorins as well those who declared themselves for him as those who in some measure testified a respect for the memory of their Prince It was a just Recompense to these Traytors and Chastisement to those who too late regarded their Loyalty to their King and Country This was the miserable condition of the Empire of China during the years 1640 41 and 42. The Tartar entred not to make open War till the end of 1643 hearing then that Zunchin the Lawful Emperour had lost both his Empire and Life The Fame whereof could not be kept within the Walls of the City but was quickly dispersed all over China and from thence through Tartary in each of which States it made different Impressions in the minds of men according to their good or ill Affections to the Emperour and Empire The Tartar did not make any shew of Joy at the News of Zunchin's death He rather seemed very much moved at it as a very deplorable Accident of a most pernicious Example and therefore ought to be severely and condignly punished But he was not displeased at the new right to that Empire he judged did thereby accrue to him He began not only to discourse of it but to argue it very hotly He maintained that he was now freed from any Obligation which lay upon him from the Oath by which the Tartarian Princes had tied themselves to the Royal Family of China never to make any Attempt upon that State forasmuch as that Family was now extinct in the person of Zunchin and had left the Empire to the power of the Usurper and Tyrant He pretended it was now very just and right for him to enter upon the ancient Rights which the Tartars had heretofore to that Empire seeing that these Rights had only been yielded up to the Royal Family which then reigned and that those only are to be understood to be comprehended thereby who were descended in a direct Line from Father to Son Else if all the Kindred of the Emperour of China were to be understood to be preferable to the Tartars in their pretensions to this Crown it was both very insignificant and fruitless to have inserted this Restriction That they did only renounce their Right to the Family which then reigned For Kings and Princes can never fail of Kindred and thus the Empire could never have revolved to the Tartâ—â—rs who had treated very clearly and sincerely always supposing that the Soveraignty might pass as is very usual in all Monarchies from one Family to another He pretended further that admitting there should yet remain any of the Kindred of Zunchin it must be granted that they were all in so weak and low a condition that they could never be in a capacity of acting any thing considerable for the Liberty of their Subjects and therefore ought to be reputed as persons dead and lost rather than living and in any probability of obtaining the Crown That it was also to be considered that the Rebel who had found so little opposition in raising himself from a private Souldier to be Master of the Imperial Court and six of the principal Provinces of the Empire had already overcome the greatest difficulty in making himself the Soveraign Monarch of that great Empire and now that he was possessed of the Forces and Treasures of China no Prince of that Nation could hinder him from confirming his Authority and triumphing in his Rebellion That it was of dangerous consequence to leave in this Usurper an example to other Rebels of oppressing their Kings and subduing their States and Subjects Thus they argued in the Council of the Cham of Tartary and at last concluded That as it was on the one side of high importance to go and revenge a Prince and State oppressed so on the other side it was neither just noâ—â— equitable that his Highness should leave his own Empire in danger to become a prey to his Enemies and consume all his Forces and Treasury to regain by Conquest the Empire of China that he might afterwards deliver it up to any one who was descended from the Kings of China or perhaps to some not at all allied to them for it was noâ—â— to be doubted but many would falsly pretend themselves to be of the Royal Family Therefore since the main and principal Branch of that Royal Stock was now extinct and that the lesser were all brought under the power of the Tyrant who daily shed the Royal Blood yet remaining it must be granted by all persons that though Conquesâ—â— could never rightly entitle a Rebel to the Soveraignty yet it might a second time confer the just and lawful possession of China upon the Tartars Having with these Arguments justified their Claim to the Empire of China it now remained that they should confirm it with the power of their Sword And for this they prepared with all possible expedition and the more eagerly for being a warlike and generous Nation they were perswaded that not only the Justice of their pretensions but their Honour engaged them in it that thereby they might avenge the quarrel of all Kings â—â—n making this perâ—â—idious Traitor who â—â—y his Treason had possessed himself of â—â—he Empire by reducing his lawful Soveraign to that extremity that out of despair he became his own Execuâ—â—ioner an example and terrour to all â—â—isloyal Subjects All these Considerations fix'd the â—â—artars in their resolutions for the conâ—â—uest of China and presently they isâ—â—ued out all convenient Orders for this â—â—xpedition They recruited theirtroops â—â—ith new Levies and in a short time â—â—hey raised several potent Armies But â—â—ill they were unwilling to pass over â—â—he Wall or make any Irruption upon â—â—at Empire til they were called in by â—â—me of the Heads of the Loyal Chineses perswading themselves that if they deferred their entrance into China till they were importun'd thereto from them they should thereby both betteâ—â— secure and justifie their Conquest and clear themselves from all reproaches of breaking their League which till then they had preserved with that Empire They were staying in expectation of some such Overture when it presented it self to them as favourably as they could have wished for one of Zuâ—â—chin's Generals to whom he had committed the Guard of the Frontiers towards Tartary sent to the Tartars to solicite them to enter into China Thiâ—â— possessed the Tartars of all the advantages which they had so long wisheâ—â— for as judging them absolute necessary for the accomplishment of their designs The General who was called Vsanguâ—â— had always kept his Loyalty to hiâ—â— Prince unspotted though in this lasâ—â— occasion he could not render him anâ—â— important Service for the Rebelâ—â— were so numerous and the Loyal Subjects so feâ—â— in comparison that they could make no confiderable Attempt But now this Vsanguè did most passionately desire some opportunity to revenge both the death of his Master and
the Tartar came to view the place nearer and as he was distributing the Scaling Ladders and giving Order for the Assault he spied all the Gates open and without any further delay entred in Thus without drawing his Sword he became Master of this strong City which was fortified and defâ—â—nded with so many Walls and Buâ—â—warks â—â—hat â—â—ccording to the Accompt the Reâ—â—â—â—on gives of it two thousand men of â—â—rope might therein for several years hâ—â—ve maintained a Siege against a very powerful Army It was sufficient for the Tartar only to present himself before it to win a City of that vast extent that a man on Horseback could â—â—carce in two days time surround the Circumference and all the Outworks of the first Wall The General was not a little puffed up with his Victory but being vex'd and impatient that the Emperour Hunguan had escaped him without any intermission he pursued after him with all his Horse His diligence gained him the Success he so eagerly desired for he quickly overtook the unfortunate Prince and having met him in disorder and not able to make any Defence being abandoned by the greatest part of his Retinue he presently seized upon him and as it is generally reported put him to death at the very instant This was the end of the Life and Reign of this Monarch who caused himself to be stiled Hunguan the Bright and Splendid Prince but all his Splendour and Brightness was only like Lightning which quickly vanishes All these glittering Flashes are but of a short continuance and like an Ignis Fatuus quickly disappear After the death of Hunguan the Victor returned to Nanquin having constituted a Chinese Mandorin Viceroy and Governour of the whole Province This Mandorin had been formerly one of the chief Ministers of State to two or three of the Emperours of China and was called by a Name which signifies Ape or Monkey because ordinarily in his Discourse he used many affected Actions and Gestures with his Hands Head and Mouth But he was ever esteemed of generally as a great Statesman and reputed a very able and intelligent person in the Art of Government The General of the Tartars committed to this Mandorin the sole care of all the Affairs and Concernments of that entire Province and after he had levied some Recruits and given his Troops some time to refresh themselvs he proceeded to the Conquest of the two Neighbouring Provinces Schiamsi and Fuquam and with the same Fortune and Success which did usually attend the Arms of the Tartars in a little time he subdued them both Some places as in the other Provinces made a resistance but a very short and ill-managed one The other places taking advantage by the Misfortune of their Neighbours presently submitted to the Victors These three Provinces were all reduced under the Dominion of the Tartar in less than a year which was 1645. Now as the General was determining to advance his Troops towards the other three Provinces which bordered upon these which were Honan Suchuen and Cancheu News was brought him that he was already Master of them without being necessitated to draw his Sword They testified the more readily their Obedience to all Orders his Highness should please to impose upon them because they had leisure to consider to how many inevitable Calamities they should expose themselves should they think to stop the Triumphant progress of their victorious Enemies Therefore they resolved to prevent their ruine and if by submitting they could not secure themselves from all the sad Inconveniences which in all Wars are unavoidable yet they hoped their Oppressions hereby would be but light in comparison of such as they must infallibly expect in a War with an exasperated Enemy where there is no Mercy to be expected by the Conquered CHAP. VI. The Tartars find the greatest resistance in the Conquest of the three last Provinces A Chinese Pyrate makes himself very potent Who this Pyrate was OF all the fifteen Provinces into which the vast Empire of China is divided twelve of them were in the year 1645. entirely subjected to the Dominion of the Tartars there only remained the reduction of three viz. Foquien otherwise called Chincheo Canton Quansi to complete the entire Conquest of all China Bâ—â—t it was more difficult to subdue these than all the rest for some of these Countries did not only border upon the Seas but were also rugged and mountainous and the people very warlike more particularly those of Foquien or Chincheo and being thus advantageously seated they were likely more to exèrcise the Valour and Warlike Discipline of their Enemies than as yet any of the Chineses had done But besides the Ruggedness of the Countrey and the Martial Genâ—â—us of the Inhabitants there were two other Obstacles which presented themselves and for some time put a stop to the Tartars in compleating their Victory The first but least considerable was a new Prince of the Blood-Royal who had retired himself into these Provinces and in the City of Foquien was Crowned Emperour of all China This Prince at his Coronatioâ—â— stiled himself Ianvan All these Titles have some â—â—llustrious signification but I could never be informed what this last meant If Hunguan was only a flash of Lightning this latter was only a Vapour or Exhalation All these people with their great Emperour did but a little affright the Tartar But they perswaded themselves that if their new Prince was not powerful enough to recover that part of China which was lost he might yet secure to himself these three Provinces of which he was now Master And that which did most encourage them was their Princes having employed under him a most eminent Chinese Captain who was highly reputed for his Valour and till now had ever been very successful in divers adventures both by Sea and Land The second Obstacle I intimated before was this Renowned Captain and he was the greatest and last which ever the Tartars met with in all their Conquest Upon this very mans Account they were obliged to change their usual method in the management of affairs and to go to work a different way than yet they had done Before they threatned and imperiously commanded all people to submit unto them upon pain of severely feeling their displeasure but now since they prevailed so little even by force and violence iâ—â—stead hereof they did not contrary to theiâ—â— usual custom think scorn to come to Proposals of Agreement Treaties nay Intreaties to a person of no quality a very Pirate This man who had made himself such a Terrour to the Tartars was by birth a Chinese and was called Icoan a Name which then made a great noise even in very remote Countries And for the better Intelligence of the state of Affairs in China as they then stood I judge it will much satisfie the Readers curiosity to recite some of the Adventures of his Life He was born in a little Village near the Sea-side not far from the City
their first heat It was a very bold Attempt and might seem even presumptuous that this General should at the first enter into this Countrey where he knew they were best prepared to defend themselves But the consequence manifested that he had reason so to do The Cities and Strong places of this province did not of their own accord open their Gates as in other parts They all resisted against the fierce assaults of the Tartars and never yielded till thereby they were so debilitated they could make no longer resistance Notwithstanding all the diligent inquisition I have made I could never be particularly informed what Icoan did only in general I have learn'd that he was present in all eminent Enterprizes and never turn'd his back to his Enemies but at last he fell unfortunately into their hands and was made a prisoner of War but whether he was taken in a Battel or in the defence of some place I cannot tell But most certain it is he never quit his station nor delivered himself up into his Enemies hands whom he had offended so outragiously till he had for a long time fought most manfully All things were now easie to the Tartars after they seized upon Icoan There was nothing of any great importance remained to be done in that province but to possess themselves of the person of the King and this they did in a short time after and as the Relation saith presently put him to death yet by the following Narrative he seems to have defended himself a considerable time but as to this particularity it shall be cleared in its due place As for Icoan they thought it convenient to spare his life that they might present him to the Emperour Xunchi From henceforth we shall see nothing but the Disgraces and Misfortunes of this person who had so long been the Favourite of Fortune he that for so long a time had as it were been intoxicated with prosperities shall hereafter see the frailty and deceitfulness of Fortune But though Icoan was caâ—â—t down in his Fortune yet he was not dejected in his spirits his Chains and Imprisonment had not abated his fierceness and courage he seemed to shew a very great animosity against the Chineses and therefore he presently put himself into the Tartarian Garb and caused his Hair to be cut and with this new face he went with his old boldness as if he still had several Armies at his command to present himself to the Victor and to desire him to employ in his Service him and all the Souldiers which he pretended yet to have at his disposal both by Sea and Land See what the audacity and fidelity of a Pyrate can do Icoan hath now neither Prince nor Countrey left but methinks this confidence to dare to make these proffers to his Conquerour of what he had dispossessed him and at the same time as he was his prisoner was not very seasonable If he would not appear more constant and faithful to his Countrey at the least he should have shewed himself more subtil and prudent in Timeing these proposals more advantageously to himself The Tartar did not reject these proffers of Icoan He had occasion for Ships Seamen to reduce the two other provinces And it was not so easie for him quickly to be furnished with Sea-stores and Naval provisions requisite for a Fleet unless Icoan did at least interest himself in calming and gaining to the Tartarian Service those persons who had served under him and were most horribly averse to the Tartars who had dispoyled him of all his Goods and Treasury unless what he had hid and they could not find After they sent him prisoner to Nanquin where the Cham's Unkle then was and some time after he was conducted to Pequin and presented to the young Xunchi Assoon as Icoan was brought before the Prince he failed not to take notice to him of the Answer he had returned to the Mandorin who writ to him from Nanquin He repeated to him the injurious terms with which he had spoke of the Tartars how he called them Thieves and Tyrants In truth they did not object to him as so great a crime that he had engaged himself with all his might in the defence and maintenance of the King who had been Crowned in the province of Foquien They judged that his Loyalty to his King and Countrey extorted this duty from him and the young Xunchi how much soever he was exasperated against Icoan could not but readily acknowledge that however Treason may please it always makes the Traitors odious and on the contrary though Loyalty be never desired to be very eminent in Enemies yet it alwayes renders their persons the more estimable Icoan when he saw how vehemently the Tartars urged his Letter against him boldly denied that ever it came from him he positively averred he never wrote it nor any thing like it and that it was a forged piece produced by his enemies to blacken him in the opinion of that Court thereby to consummate his Ruine From this they passed to another Head of his Accusation in which they pretended he was guilty of High Treason in having by his Authority opened Silver Mines and compelled by violence the people to work in them Icoan maintained he never opened any Mines of Silver and declared that what Silver he had was so far from having been taken out of the Mines in China without the Emperour's permission that on the contrary it came out of the Possessions of the King of Spain and out of the Territories of the King of Iapan with the leave of those Princes And at the very instant he confuted those who objected this crime against him Certain it is that the greatest quantity of Silver he had came to him as he said partly out of Iapan by the way of Naâ—â—gasaque partly from Mexico and Peru out of the Mines of the King of Spain by the Vessels of Manila After he had cleared himself as well as he could from the most weighty accusations there was produced against him a great number of Informations and Complaints of several Grievances with which he had oppressed the provinces And that which is very strange those very persons who presented these Accusations against him were the same Officers of the late Emperors of China who after Icoan had gained them by his Bribes had retained them and impeded their presentment to the Emperour These Traitors were so impudent as to produce before the Tartar those very Papers which evidenced their having sold themselves to Icoan and because they sold their perfidiousness at so dear a Rate that thereby they obliged him to grate and pole the provinces they attempted to cause him to be punished because he did for their profit and advantage pillage these very provinces None surely but the Kings of China could have such Officers From hence the Tartar might infer how Loyal they were likely to be to a Forreign Prince who had so often betrayed their lawful
slow resolutions haâ—â—e only served to expose them to the derision of those other Nations whom they know to be the most jealous of their Glory and Grandeur The Supplies were no sooner arriv'd but the General caused several strong Batteries to be raised with which he incessantly battered the Walls and made a terrible breach The great Guns from the Town plaid as briskly After this the Tartars gave a new Assault and now the besieged did not only drive them from their Walls but resolutely sallying out against them they routed and pursued them to their Ships into which that they might get they were forced to go up to their very Necks in water Now the Chineses had the satisfaction to deride the Tartars These invincible Victors say they are now dâ—â—feated and forced to run away to their Ships The Conquerors of China have the Courage to turn their Backs to the Chineses Thus they scoffed at the Viceroy and for all his eagerness to avenge himself quickly he was forced to take it patiently now but he lost no time for assoon as he had reproved his Souldiers for running away so cowardly he encouraged and animated them that they would with all possible expedition wipe off this dishonour to their Nation He Landed again and at the the very instant gave order to his Gunners to take such care in traversing their Guns that they might answer his expectation His Orders were executed with the success he desired for the Cannons were pointed with that exactness that in a short time they dismounted several pieces of the besieged's Artillery and they fired incessantly till they disenabled all the rest Now the Corsairs began to sink in their Courage and this made the General take heart and hope well But yâ—â—t he wished they would come to some composition for having experienced the besieged to be both valiant and skilful Souldiers he did not desire to drive them into a desperate condition The Pyrates who had now almost spent their Powder did as earnestly desire to capitulate and to gain fair Terms and they themselves sent to the Viceroy to offer to deliver the place up to him to put what Garrison and Governour he pleas'd into it only upon this condition that neither he nor the rest of his Souldiers would come into the Town The General having engaged his whole Reputation upon the success of this Enterprize was ambitious of nothing more than to come off with honour and therefore received the Proposals very joyfully He appointed presently what Garrison Tartar-Governour should remain in that place and took order for their entrance the next day but the Pyrates were not satisfied that they might rely upon the General 's word and fearing lest he should take some pretext or other to revenge himself on them for their resistance they resolved to make their escape that night All in the Town who were able to carry Arms followed them and there only remained in Tunquam Women Old men and Children and such persons who were unfit for War The Tartar expected the next Morning the Keys of the Town should have been brought him that the Garrison he designed to place there might march in but the Gates were already open and the Town abandoned to his Discretion He entred into the Town and shewed no violence or ill usage to any person he found there It was not his nature to be so mild especially after he had been so incensed as he had been before this place and therefore lest he should forget his own natural disposition he failed not to discharge some part of Choler upon the Neighbouring Towns and Villages which he sacked and pillaged He committed such horrible Cruelties that thereby he more than ever exasperated the whole Province against him One of these Villages stood upon its defence but at last upon the engagement that they should receive no prejudice they surrendred themselves but the Souldiers which marched into it did most treacherously violate the parole which had been given them They began to injure and abuse the poor Countreymen at which they were so enraged to see that the promise which had been made them was not observed that they took up their Arms and fell on upon the Tartars and in their fury they killed divers and routed the rest who made their retreat with what plunder they could carry away to a Hill not far distant The General sent his men a recruit that they might entirely subdue the poor Countreymen but they had made their escape to a place where they could receive but little dammage The Souldiers dispersed themselves all over the adjacent Towns and pillaged and massacred the miserable people who had already submitted themselves as if they had been declared Enemies or rebellious Subjects The Viceroy saw all this Disorder and contented himself to say he had no Money to pay his Army and therefore was necessitated for their subsistance to let them do so Therefore it was to no purpose for those who suffered to make their Complaint Rome burnt and Nero in the mean time diverted himself with the Cries of the miserable Inhabitants CHAP. XVIII A Discourse of the Viceroy in Civil Affairs upon the Cruelty of his Colleague The Corsairs still perplex the Tartars The Chineses improve themselves in the Art of War Thâ—â— Northern Chineses are of a different Genius from the Southern THE Viceroy in Civil Affairs who knew what horrible Mischief thâ—â— Souldiers did was as much concern'd at it as the Chineses but it was not in his power to remedy it He saw plainly that these violent actions did not do so much hurt to the Chinesâ—â—s as they prejudiced the Affairs of the Tartars Once he opened his heart to Father Sambiase Superiour to the Iesuits at Canton to whom he spoke in these Terms The Rebel Cham this was the chief of the Corsairs who had the same Name with one of the firsâ—â— Tyrants but was not the same person The Chineses took great notice of the conformity of the Names of those persons who began and of those who continued the desolation of that Empire for the Tartarian General was called Ly and the chief of the Corsairs Cham The Rebel Cham therefore said the Viceroy commands the Army of the Robbers by Sea and the General Ly the â—â—obbers by Land The one doth as much mischief as the other the Province is ruined and all places therein are utterly desolated and I cannot imagine what will become of either it or us All places revolt and conspire against us and they have reason to do so For my own part I shall endeavour to justly acquit mâ—â— self in that Office in which the Emperour my Master is pleas'd I should serve him I will serve him faithfully â—â—o the loss of my life rather than fail in discharging my Duty I know I shall perish in the end but if so that my death cannot be available to reduce Affairs into better order you shall see that after my Life is
received their Pay They went the more readily imagining their Treason was not discovered because the Viceroy who might have seized them if he pleased bestowed this Liberality amongst them to engage them as they thought to serve him the more faithfully And by his Aspect and manner of speaking to them they could not collect any thing which might give them the least occasion to suspect him They entred by one Gate at which they received part of their Pay and they went out at another where they were paid for their Treachery The Viceroy had placed at the last Gate his greatest Confidents and those whom he had entrusted with his secret Designs and such as he knew would resolutely execute the Order he gave them so that as fast as the Traytors came to this Gate they met with those who stabbed them and cut their Throats And this Execution was managed so subtilly that the two hundred Conspirators who should have delivered up the Fort all lost their Lives in such a manner that they did not perceive the Misfortune of their Companions The Guard of this Fort was intrusted to new Officers and Souldiers who were both more numerous and such as the Viceroy was more secure of their Fidelity This was not ill-contriv'd for a Gown-man and if all the Lawyers of China had been as able as he was perhaps the Emperour and the Empire had not been lost so soon It was quickly known how necessary it was that the Viceroy should have employed all the diligence and resolution which he made use of in this Expedition for scarce had he concluded the punishment of the Traytors but but besides the sixty Vessels which lay before the Forth first mentioned there was seen under sail a new Navy of more than two hundred Ships These were they to whom the Conspirators should have delivered up the place Assoon as they perceived that they could do nothing they came enraged up to the very City and threatned to put all to the Fire and Sword and leave no man alive The Tartars were well prepared to receive them and made up to them assoon as they were Landed They instantly engaged and the Encounter was managed with great animosity on both sides The Tartars at last gain the advantage and the Assailants retreat but not far from the Town only out of the reach of Cannon-shot there they lodged themselves and kept the Town besieged on that side next the Water This was the greatest mischief they could then do the Cantoners for being Masters of the River they put a stop to all their Provisions which they could receive no other way The Viceroy who was now surrounded with secret and declared Enemies and at that time when the General was absent with all the best Souldiers in the Army thought himself now necessitated to employ all his Abilities to maintain and defend himself for this effect he thought he must secure the Brother and Cozen of the great Calao who was the Head of the Conspirators And therefore he seizes upon and imprisons them and obliges them to write to the great Calao that if he did not within three dayes retreat from before the Town they were condemned to lose their Heads He summoned likewise all the ancient Mandorins to appear before him whom he enjoyned to stay near his person that he might employ their Credit and that he might by all ways imaginable endeavour to prevail with the Calao and the Rebels to retreat and leave the Town in peace and quiet If the Viceroy only threatned them that he might affright them he was not blameable but if he intended to execute his Menaces doubtless he was both unreasonable and unjust He exacted that from the Prisoners which lay not in their power to accomplish and he condemned them to death though they were innocent No Law commands an Impossibility and can it be a crime not to do it It was not in the Prisoners power to do what the Governour desired The Calao and the other Conspirators knew that if they retreated they exposed both their own Lives and the Lives of all their Relations to more eminent danger and therefore they thought they ought not to abandon their Enterprize This procedure of the Viceroy struck a great terrour all over the City and all the Inhabitants staid very silently within doors expecting what the Issue would be of all these Treasons CHAP. XX. An Allarm in Canton at the Approach of the Corsairs The Consternation of the Inhabitants The General arrives and routs the Besiegers The Inquisition after the Conspirators and their punishment The resolution of a Chinese Captain his Death and Praise THE Viceroy in Civil Affairs gained nothing by his Rigour and Severity by ceasing to carry himself with moderation and equity and making use of those violent courses which he had so often condemned in his Colleague he only encreased the number and strength of his enemies for he had scarce begun his violence but he saw a much greater number of the Barks and Vessels of the Pyrates come thundering against him instead of sixty which came before the first Fort and two hundred which approached near the other There might now be counted a thousand Vessels either before or near the Town And all this numerous Army by the continual discharge of their Artillery made such a terrible Thunder that all the Houses in Canton seemed ready to be shaken in pieces The Bells rung the Drums beat and the Air resounded and all the Elements in general seem'd to be in a commotion and to hold some part in this terrible Consort But the better to imagine the horrour of all this jangling noise let us reflect upon the noise of the Cannon in some Merchants or other ships when they celebrate any Festival and then consider what was the thunder of all the great Guns in above a thousand Vessels which fired incessantly what was the clashing of Arms and other warlike Instruments in two potent Armies which contended who should strike the greatest terrour into their enemy and what a hideous jangling there was of an infinite number of Bells of different Sounds some louder some lower some sounding hoarse and some sharp and shrill that they deafned the Ears of all the Inhabitants and Neighbourhood of the City The Cantoners gave now their City for lost and the fright into which the Pyrates put them by their late menaces made such a horrible impression in their imagination that though they were Chineses and their own Countrey-men yet they expected no succour but from the Tartars whom they looked upon as their Protectors and Avengers The whole City was in Arms by the order of the Viceroy who issued out a Command that no person should appear upon pain of death but in the Tartarian Habit and commanded all his Officers to kill immediately all they found in the Chinese Habit He caused all incumbrances to be removed out of the Streets that his Horse might freely march without any hindrance up and