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
quickly cause to repent them for he burnt eight of their best Ships three at one time and five at another of the loss of which eight Vessels the Intelligence was certain and doubtless they losâ—â— many more but what or how many we are not so well informed The Hollanders perceived to their cost with how troublesom and fierce an enemy they had to deal and therefore they resolved to proceed in a new Method for nothing could be gained of Icoan by force but Money could do all things And it is most true that whoever is able to contend with Weapons of Gold and Silver may the cheapest and least expensive way be victorious At last the Hollanders made their peace with Icoan obliging themselves to pay him yearly as a Tribute about six or seven thousand pound sterling and by this means they had free liberty to traffick and pass from Formosa to China The Sum was not great in comparison of the grand advantage and profit which did accrue to them by this freedom of Commerce Yet did their Money purchase them the Friendship of Icoan at so cheap a Rate Afterwards the good Correspondency between them produced so firm a Friendship that he was desirous to commit to them the care of his Sons Education and sent him to them to Iacatra of which they are possess'd in the East-Indies that he might be instructed in the Politeness and Martial Discipline of Europe By the Sequel it will appear how much Icoan was esteemed of by the Hollanders who for several years before the War had used their utmost endeavors to obstruct the Portuguezes of Manila in their Commerce with China and to this intent their Men of War did incessantly rove about those Seas and seized upon all the Chinese Vessels they met but now if any Vessel had a Pasport from Icoan or was freighted with any Merchandize appertaining to him they suffered it to pass by with all freedom though it was bound for their Enemies Countrey and hereby did much prejudice their Trade and all this they did solely out of consideration to Icoan for if they met with any other Vessel though it appertained immediately to the King of China himself and was laden with his Houshold-Goods or any thing else which belonged to the very person of the Prince it was not the less plundered but all things were presently seized upon and all the men who were found aboard made Slaves Thus Icoan by the Hollanders was looked upon as more King of China than the King himself But this Pyrate did not pretend to be less considerable upon the Land and in the Provinces of China than he was upon the Sea The King was once in Arrears to him about the value of some five or six thousand pound sterling for his Pension which was placed upon the Royal Revenues of Canton The King's Officers did not take care to give him satisfaction herein soon enough he presently came ashore accompanied only with five or six thousand men in whom he most confided and though there was in the Town more than two hundred thousand Inhabitants yet there was no person so bold as to dare to deny him entrance Neither did he commit any violence but assoon as he was entred with his men he caused a Tribunal to be erected in the midst of the Town and summoned all the Kings Officers and publick Notaries to appear before him made the Kings Officers pay him what was due and acknowledged the Receipt thereof before the publick Notaries then departed out of the Town leaving all things very orderly and peaceably These were the Courses which Icoan used to make himself be paid even by the King of China himself Now as the Hollanders more considered the power of this Pyrate than even of the King so likewise hereafter they sent all their publick Embassies to Icoan and not to the Court at Pequin all Honours were paid and all Presents were made solely to him nay once they presented him with a Scepter and Crown of Gold thereby to excite his Ambition to the Royalty and that they might further engage him to take it upon him they offered him the assistance of all their force and power But as to this point Icoan remained a very Loyal Subject to his Prince which in the Sequel he further manifested for he never made any ostentation of this Scepter and Crown he caused it only to be put in his Wardrobe amongst his other Goods and lâ—â—id up as a present which he esteemed and valued but not as a Royal Ornament nor as an Ensign of his Grandeur and Dominion But a greater scandal to the dignity and person of the King was this after Icoan had obtained his pardon all the Armies and Troops which he Commanded were paid and maintained out of the Kings Exchequer the King was at all the Charge and Expence Icoan had all the honour and advantage It was the Misfortune of China not to have had Ministers of State more zealous of the Grandeur and Interest of their Soveraign The Money of a Pirate had so corrupted them that though they might have obstructed the Commerce of the Hollanders in Formosa with China and thereby have obliged them to have received the permission of the King rather than of a Pirate yet there was nothing which they thought less of than upon this occasion to support the Power and Majesty of their Master But these Officers did solely concern themselves for their private Interest not at all for that of the State and their Prince And this is not very extraordinary in all Courts of Kings so that it may very well be said that either Princes should be content not to Reign or that they should make such use of their Authority that those who should only execute their Orders should be content nay glad that their Master did solely Reign and Command I judge it now necessary to say something of a difference which happened between Icoan and the Portugueses of Macao He had always made shew of an inclination and value for that Town where he had lived when he was young and when he did not so much as hope ever to have been raised to his present height Now happened there a very remarkable Accident which had likely to have induced him as he threatned to have fallen very foul upon the Inhabitants The occasion was this Being at Iapan at the beginning of his Rise he had there a Natural Daughter which was then baptiz'd and brought up in the Christian Religion The Christians after being driven out of Iapan she amongst the rest fled and came to Macao where she was received by charitable persons who took care of her pious Education in the Exercises of the Christian Religion Icoan being now informed that his Daughter was at Macao sent to the Portuguezes to demand her as his Child They considered that it was the Father who demanded his Child but yet they did not think fit to restore him his Daughter because she was
quickly broke open these prisons and now there was nothing but Massacres and Murders in all places which was occasioned by the endeavours of Fathers and Husbands to preserve the Honour of their Daughters and Wives for violences of this nature are insupportable to all Nations The Tartars were not content to commit these Disorders in the Houses of the Chineses but to compleat their Outrages they carried away their Women into their Camp and there they told that they came purposely into China to shew them once in their lives the Sky and that not through Grates and Lattices and to set them at liberty after they had been Captives and prisoners all their Lives Thus they took pleasure with these Ralleries to insult over these miserable Wretches It is said that the first day the City was sack'd they carried away great numbers into the Camp without shewing any more regard to the rich than to the poor and that the Ladies of the highest quality were compelled to suffer the highest Indigniâ—â—ies Thâ—â—s in the City of Canton there was nothing but Rape and Murder and in the Tartarian Camp nothing could be heard but the Groans and Cries of Women who bemoaned and lamented their Fathers their Husbands their Honour their Liberty their Countrey and several other innumerable calamities which made them abominate both their Lives and themselves In the midst of this desolation the people ceased not to cry and complain to the Viceroys Is this that which you proâ—â—ised us Is this the performance of the assurance you gave us that no dammage should be done to those who quietly and voluntarily rendred up themselves as we have done we who have ruined our City and Families by rendring up our selves too credulously The Lord chief Justice or Viceroy in Civil Affairs shewed a dislike of these disorders but as he was not Master so he did not much trouble himself to stop the progress of them As for the Viceroy of Military Affairs he less concerned himself herein he only published some new Proclamations by which he prohibited the Souldiers to enter iâ—â—to any houses or to offer any violence to the Inhabitanâ—â—s upon pain of punishment But these prohibitions were but weak remedieâ—â— for so great calamities he only did this out of policy to amuse thâ—â— people for he himself did most violâ—â—te these Injunctions and had the greatest share in the plunder and the Viceroys causing whatever was most rich and valuable which was found in the City to be publickly carried into the houses which they had taken up for themselves did clearly evidence that they were the most culpable of these Disorders They pretended that not having Money to pay the Army they were necessitated to permit the Souldiers to pillage the Town that thereby they might have wherewithal to subsist The Chineses seized upon some of the Souldiers and carried them before the General and there accused them of Murder and Rape and several other hainous Crimes committed by them whereby they had reduced the whole City to a very desperate condition He then caused some of them to be chastised but their punishment was not proportionable to the enormity of their crimes so that during the three days of the Sack of the City of Canton there was no stop put to the violence and fury of the Souldiers It is believed there was more than fifteen thousand Inhabitants massacred and the greatest part in the defence of either their Wives Daughters or Sisters neither their Wealth nor their Honour upon any other occasion but this could prevail with the Chineses to hazard their Lives thus freely But they were willing to sacrifice themselves in the defence of their Wives so powerful an influence have Women upon men that they are able to inspire Courage and Resolution into the Breasts of the most timorous Cowards In these three days was utterly ruined and desolated that great City the Riches whereof did befoâ—â—e surpass the wealth of divers Kingdoms and Nations And after all this barbarous inhumanity the Tartarian General said he wished the Inhabitants would have made some resistance that he might have been provoked to havâ—â— treatâ—â—d them with less moderation But if this was the moderation of the Tartars what can we imagine should their Rigour and Sevèrity have been After the dayes were expired duâ—â—ing which time the City was abandoned to the Rapine and Violence of the Souldiers the General was willing to put a check to the disorders and then he concerned himself in putting a stop to the insolâ—â—ncies of the Souldiers which he did with no great difficulty By which it is manifest that there are few disorders in any Army to which the Commanders in chief may not put a stay if they will so generously engage themselves herein as they ought But oftentimes the Licentiousness in Armies takes both its Rise and Continuance from the remissness of the Generals in the execution of their Charge nay many times by their own example and authority they license these Violences To prevent the further progress of these disorders they commanded all the Souldiers to depart out of the Town and not to return thither again till they were commanded but to stay in the Camp They should have hanged up whoever transgressed these Orders The Tartars were then encamped round the Walls of the City under Leather Tents as their usual custom is which were so numerous and ranked in so handsom an order that they looked like a portable Town or another Canton Thus the Complaints and Violences were appeased not but that there was still cause to complain And it is rarely otherwise in an Army If in Europe it is not possible to hinder the Souldiers from plunder and rapine in which they place their great happiness â—â—nd delight much less is it possible amongst these Barbarians But all the violence in Europe is moderation in comparison of what we have now seen The unfortunate Inhabitants of Canton began now to breath again and it was a comfort to some that they were not the most unhappy A strange consolation and yet this induces us all to bear our afflictions the more patiently It now remains that we should admire or rather be moved with compassion to see on the one side with what fierce haughtiness the Tartars treâ—â—ted the Chineses and on the other how crowchingly and submissively these behaved themselves before their Victors If any of these afflicted Wretches did but mutter in the least the Tartar began to speak big and loud or rather to thunder and at the same instant clapped his hand upon his Cimeter the Chinese only stooped down his head heaved up his shoulders and presently beâ—â—ame mute nay they kept in their very breath as long as they could or else they prostrated themselves upon the ground and upon their Knees they studied for Complements how in the most obliging language to reply to the outrages of their persecutors The miserable creatures sometimes used such impertinent flatteries that they gave the