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.

The CONQUEST of the Empire of CHINA by the TARTARS.

CHAP. I. The Beginning of the Troubles of China. Two Subjects of the Emperour's rebell. They make themselves M••••sters of six Provinces, and of the Imperial Court. The Resolutions of the Tartars there∣upon.

THE Inhabitants of China enjoyed all the pleasures of Peace, under the Go∣vernment of their lastEm∣perour, who was called ••••unchin, a deceitful and unfortunate ••••ame. He was the most absolute Mo∣narch

that ever ••••le•••• those vast Terri∣tories; when in the Year 1640. a year Fatal to several States, those Clouds began to gather, which shortly after produced such a Storm, as ruined the whole Empire.

I said, the name of Zunchin, after which the Emperour of China was called, was a deceitful Name; for Zunchin in the Chinese Language signi∣fies Successful Omen, or Soveraign Do∣minion; but how false a Prognostick this was, it quickly appeared. The Emperour was of a most courteous and good disposition; and certainly hi•••• Subjects who enjoyed great plenty, and all the Advantages of Peace, lived tru∣ly happy under so excellent a Prince▪ But it is not sufficient for a Prince to be good, and to govern mildly and peace∣ably, unless he likewise takes care, not to have ill Officers, who make use of their Credit under Him, to gratifie their private Passions, and to exten•••• their Ambition beyond all Limits.

It was in the year 1640. when two R••••b••••ls at the same time, revolted a∣gainst

their Lawful Soveraign; one of them was called Ly, the other Cham: And though they were but private Subjects of the Emperour of China, and persons of no consideration, either by their Quality or Birth, yet they both equally aspired to the Supreme Domi∣nion. And having drawn to them great Numbers of the choicest Souldiers in the Empire, they began to make In∣cursions upon the Northern Provinces, which border upon Tartary.

The Emperour, in the mean time, did not take sufficient care to stifle this Revolt. In all likelihood the Com∣plaints and Informations of those Com∣manders, who guarded the Frontiers, never entred the Court so far, as to reach the Emperour's Ears. The Mi∣nisters of State, and Officers of the Court stopped the Passage, having al∣ready sold the Empire, and their Ma∣ster, by abusing his mild Disposition▪ The Saying of Diocletian is but too true;

That although a Prince be Good, Prudent, Observant, Careful, and Vigilant, yet he cannot pre••••ent

Treachery, if those who are in Em∣ployment under Him, and who ought to serve and advise Him faithfully, do contrariwise combine together to surprize Him, and to make ill use of His Authority. Either the Ability and Fidelity of the Counsellors to a Prince, must strike a terrour into Re∣bels, or these Rebels will in a short time make themselves a terrour both to the Prince and Hi•••• Counsellors.

The two Chiefs of this Rebellion took such advantage by this pernicious Negligence, that those Counsels, which if at first executed, would with great facility have put a period to these trou∣bles, became now both unfit and im∣possible to be put in execution. In a short time they gained themselves the Renown of Great and most Valiant Commanders, and by the advantage of this Repute, they quickly had For∣ces enough, not only to defend them∣selves, but to enlarge their Conquests; and having fit opportunity to enhaunce the Fame of their Victories, their Con∣federates encreased every day more

and more. The Applause which is gi∣ven to Victors, never fails to acquire them new Associates. And thus these Usurpers did in a very little time by force of Arms, make themselves Ma∣sters of five Provinces.

The Rebel Cham went to establish himself in that Province, which of the five, was the most remote from the Em∣perour's Court, and took upon him the Title of King, with full resolution to extend his Conquests, and to bring under his Subjection the neighbouring Provinces as soon as he had raised For∣ces enough, to enable him to put in execution his great Projects.

The other Rebel, who was called Ly, having, as it appeared, framed to himself greater Designes, approached nearer the Court, and had already in his Imagination conquered the whole Empire: But judging, from the ad∣vantage he had received from Cham's Confederacy with him at the beginning, how great an obstacle so powerful a Competitor might be to him in pro∣cess of time, he did in all likelihood

make him away, either by secret Trea∣chery, or open Violence; for in all the Relations there was never any more mention made of the Tyrant Cham.

I judge it here very necessary, to advertise my Reader with the necessity which was imposed upon me, in rela∣ting several Passages, to make use of these Terms, in all likeliho••d, in all ap∣pearance, most probably, &c. for the In∣structions out of which this Narrative was compiled, came to me in Letters, and loose Memorials, which were sent out of China during the Troubles; and doubtless the great Confusions, in which the whole State was then involved, was the occasion that the Informations came so brief and disordered, not re∣marking the times, and often not suffi∣ciently distinguishing the Names of Per∣sons, and their Qualities. And being necessitated several times to review and examine over the Memorials one after another, I observed that what was re∣lated in some of them, was only a con∣tinuation and explanation of what was said of others. And therefore for my

Readers better satisfaction, I have di∣gested them into this Method, which perhaps, notwithstanding the diligence and Assiduity I have employed herein, may not seem so compleat and exact, as might be wished for.

Ly, who had now no Competitor, who could aspire to the Soveraignty, began to noise abroad his vast Projects, and setled himself in the Capital City of the Province Xensi, called Singan∣suase. He caused himself to be crown∣ed, and took upon him the Title of Em∣perour of China, kept an Imperial Court, and acted like a Soveraign Prince. He threatned to pursue in a short time his Resolutions of subduing the Province of Pequin, and to make himself Master of the Emperour's Court, and to joyn Pequin, which is the principal of the six Northern Provin∣ces, to the five others, which were al∣ready in subjection to him.

It is not certainly known what was the first rise of these two Usurpers, on∣ly it is famed, that they were both Generals in the Emperour of China's

Armies, who perceiving themselves, and Souldiers to be neither regarded, nor recompensed for their Services, but to be ill used by the Ministers of State, they revolted against their King, and conspired together to be their own Pay-Masters; resolving to make the Grandees of theCourt understand, that those who serve their Prince in his Ar∣mies, are without comparison better capacitated to serve or disserve the State, than those whose sole Employ∣ment it is by their Court-Artifices to ingratiate themselves with their Prince.

They began at first with Complaints, and from Complaints they came to Arms, and having once began their Treachery, they thought themselves engaged most vigrously to prosecute it.

Without all doubt, they who gave the first occasion to this Rebellion, were highly Criminal; but this does not render those more excusable or less culpable, who not only began it, but continued it so outragiously, as to make an attempt not only against the State, but against the life of their So∣veraign.

No Misdemeanour of a Prince, let the Disorders and Irregularities of his Government be never so publick or manifest, can license the Rebellion of his Subjects; much less can any Sub∣ject revenge or right himself on his So∣veraign. If he be injured, let him make his complaint to his Prince, and by Petitions and Supplications seek for redress; If he receive no relief, let him renew his Supplications till his Prince be acquainted with his griefs; and if after all his importunities, he can prevail nothing, let him cease to complain, or rather let him resign up his Complaints to the King of Heaven, who is the only Judge of the Kings up∣on Earth; else if Subjects may upon a∣ny pretence whatsoever rebel against their Prince, and right themselves of their Soveraign, farewel to Monar∣chy.

Whilst the Flame of Rebellion and Civil War, which every day blazed out more and more, threatned the whole Empire of China with a general Ruine and Revolution, the Tartar did

most attentively and vigilantly watch to see, if according to his wishes, there would happen some overture of an ho∣nourable Pretext for him to enter into some or all the Provinces. Although it be true that within the 24 years which preceded the Revolution of Chi∣na, viz. from 1618. to 1642. the Tar∣tars had sometimes passed the Wall, and made Incursions upon the Frontiers, yet it was only to requite the Chineses for the Irruptions which they had made into Tartary. The Inhabitants of Asia do, whensoever they judge themselves injured, right themselves by revenge; for if an injury be done, either from a particular person to a particular per∣son, or from one State to another, Re∣venge is their only satisfaction: It being the general practise of all Asia for any injured person to retaliate upon his Adversary; and I wish to God, that only these people sought to right them∣selves by revenge and violence.

It was this mischievous custome, which induced the bordering Tartars heretofore to make so frequent Incur∣sions

upon their Neighbours the Chi∣neses: But then they had not so much as the thought to subdue the Empire, and less had they the force wherewith∣all to do it. And at this time the Em∣perour of China and the Cham of Tar∣tary were at peace: And though it is true that the Peace and amity which was formerly sworn between both States, and the renuntiation which the Tartar had made of all his pretensions to China, could not prevent the fre∣quent Inrodes which they mutually made upon each other, yet to make o∣pen war upon China, neither seemed just nor honourable to the Tartars themselves; and therefore in their ju∣stification they alledged such specious Reasons and Pretences, that they may serve for Instructions to many Politici∣ans of Europe.

The Tartar therefore did only watch and observe what passed in China, and kept himself in a readiness to take ad∣vantage of all occasions which might be beneficial to him; but he resolved to embrace none, but what might seem

honourable, and whereby he might with Glory and Renown do some emi∣nent exploit in some or other of the Provinces of China, and not thereby draw upon him the odious Title of U∣surper. And in the mean time he con∣tented himself with the knowledge, that to what side soever Fortune should be favourable, she must advantage his Interests and should the Sword decide the Justice of the Cause, that would most expeditiously promote his Preten∣sions. It must be acknowledged that these Barbarians had more difficulty to resolve upon what seemed to them un∣just, than many of our Polititians have; for to establish his Right by violence, seemed to the Tartar to be not the acti∣on of a King, but a Tyrant. He had in readiness a numerous and potent Ar∣my, both for Horse and Foot: And though he had not as yet any Artillery, yet in a short time after he was provided of great store, and very good, though he did not engrave upon them Ratio ultima Regum.

He considered likewise that Ly court∣ed

him, in expectation by his Favour to be protected against his Lawful So∣veraign, and that upon this account; or at least not to have him for an Ene∣my, he would not be unwilling to make him a sharer in his Conquests. But this Prince had solemnly sworn peace with the Royal Family of China, and had relinquish'd all his Rights and Pre∣tensions upon that Empire, to that Fa∣mily, the Head of which was now seat∣ed in the Imperial Throne; and there∣fore he could not resolve with himself, as great an Idolater as he was, to vio∣late that Oath which he had taken in the presence of his Idols: A great Example to those who boast of the true Religion, and yet swear and promise, without regarding the performance of either their Oaths or Promises.

Finally, the Tartar judged very tru∣ly, that if he joyned his Forces with any one of the two Parties, he should in a short time make himself Umpire and Master of one or both. The Troops of the Emperour of China, and those of the Usurper were quartered along

a great part of the Wall through which he must open his passage, and yet he resolves not to advance: He saw that the lawful Prince asked no succour from him, and to declare himself in favour of the Rebel he abominated, being fully perswaded, that to sup∣port a Rebel against his lawful Sove∣raign, was an action unworthy of a Prince, and that it could not but re∣dound to the dishonour of those, who follow the pernicious Example of pro∣tecting Rebells. This Prince, though he could not boast at his Coronation to have been anointed with Oyl sen•••• from Heaven, yet he knew full well that he should sin both against Heaven and Earth, should he declare himself in favour of the Usurper. It must be granted, that an Infidel and an Idola∣ter, as all these people are, might have been less moved with these considera∣tions of Honour and Justice; especi∣ally, when his protection of those of a contrary Religion to that which he himself professed, was not now under debate.

These Deliberations kept the Tar∣tars on the Frontiers; but all this time he kept his Army under strict Disci∣pline, both because he saw his Neigh∣bours Armed and engaged in a War, as likewise judging, that he should have some seasonable and favourable oppor∣tunity of passing into China without falsifying his Faith and Oath, which he desired to keep inviolable.

Ly, in the mean time, was not con∣tent to be absolute Master of five Pro∣vinces, but now, having no obstruction from his Competitor Cham, he made himself sure of the whole Empire; and resolved speedily to take posses∣sion of it. But it could not be so soon done, as wish'd for. Envy and Jea∣lousie of one side, and the natu∣ral Love which the Chineses have for their Prince on the other, had already rendred the Tyrant odi∣ous to the whole Nation. These people have so tender and passionate a Love for their Soveraigns, that they seem rather to idolize, than to love them. And it is reported of this

last Prince that he did both rightly me∣rit, and possess the Affections of his Subjects, being beloved of them, both as their Father & King; and this made the Tyrant every day more and more abominated: But the Envy which the Fame of his high Advancement drew upon him, did likewise encrease the publick indignation against him. There are none in China, but the Princes of the Royal Family who are born great & potent, & therefore it is not persons of Worth and Honour, but the Rasca∣lity, and those who have advanced themselves by the oppression of others, who enjoy great Honours and Reve∣nues. And being there are no Lands or Possessions there hereditary, there are few or none in the whole Empire, but are often dispossessed of their Fa∣thers Estate. And from hence it was, that so many persons, who from their abject condition beheld the lofty Gran∣deur of Ly▪ could not but be enraged, to see in this Tyrant a most despicable Vileness joined with so prodigious an Advancement▪ as approached to the

Soveraignty it self. It is very difficult for men to refrain from indignation & envy, when they see a mixture of these two Extremes in the same person:

The Tyrant for his own security, took care to pay his Souldiers, and to omit nothing which tended to their sa∣tisfaction; but fearing lest they might not alw••••ys continue so true to him, and lest they should be moved with respect to their Prince, before they were brought to despair of his Grace and Pardon; he resolved with all possible speed, to compleat the entire Invasion of the whole Empire; but first he thought it fit to acquaint his most reso∣lute Commanders and his greatest Con∣fidents with his Resolutions; which he did in these Terms;

Friends, said he, the Lot is cast; we must now either gain all, or lose all; we cannot hereaf••••er be greater Rebels than we are already, therefore let us dispatch with all expedition the Conquest of the other ten Provinces of China, now that we have made five Provinces ••••eel the pow∣er

of our Swords, but most assuredly, when we shall have subdued the rest, none will be so audacious and rash as to dare to call us Rebels or Vsurpers. Rebels if victorious, cease to be Rebels, and become the right and lawful Lords and Masters. What therefore now remains? but that I either make my self the Soveraign Mo∣narch of all China, or lose my Life in these Fields, and there become a prey to the Birds of the Air, and Beasts of the Field. Yhere is nothing in all this spa∣tious Empire can gratifie me but either a Throne or a Grave, and I will advance my self to such a pitch of Grandeur, that if I fall, it shall be with such a Crack, as shall shiver the whole Frame of Go∣vernment, and bury the whole Empire under my Ruines.

Thus Ly spake to his Followers, who were entirely devoted to him, and re∣solving to run the same Fortune wi••••h him, they desired nothing so much as to follow him in whatsoever great at∣tempts he should please to embrace; finding his Souldiers thus resolute, he

speedily entred upon a most bold and hazardous Des••••gn, but of high impor∣tance for the speedy accomplishment of his Pretensions: This was to go direct∣ly against the very person of the Em∣perour, and with all his Forces to as∣sault the Imperial Court, and Capital City of the Empire; fully determining to strike off the Emperours Head, and to place the Crown upon his own. By this eminent Exploit, he knew he should possess himself of the Kings Treasure, which would highly strengthen his Party; and besides, cut off all powe•••• from any of the Royal Family, to raise any Forces, or to head any, who should yet have any sparks of Loyalty in their Breasts.

To execute this grand Attempt, he must make himself Master of the great City of Pequin, where all the Court resided▪ But he could not hope to do this by open force; and therefore re∣solved to do it by Stratagem, and so to surprize the Town, that the Thunder∣clap should be felt, before the Noise was heard.

By this sudden Surprize, he would not leave the Emperour time, to pre∣pare either for his Defence, or Flight. Otherwise it would have been very difficult for Ly with all the Force he could have raised, so suddenly to have reduced this great City: For besides the vast extent of Pequin, it was very well fortified, and in time of peace, was guarded with 80000 of the Empe∣rours best Souldiers. The Imperial Palace alone is above two Miles in cir∣cumference, and defended with two or three Walls, with their Ditches and Bulwarks, which are all distinct the one from another, and which cannot be taken but separately one after the other; the Guard hereof was intrust∣ed to the choicest Militia of the whole Empire.

Ly foresaw all these difficulties, which he judged so great, that he de∣spaired of surmounting them, but by open violence; and therefore resolved rather to make use of secret Intelli∣gence and Correspondency; for with∣out fraud and treachery he could never

have vanquished all the Obstacles to this grand Design. To this intent, he had already, by Presents and fair pro∣mises, bribed several of the Grandees of the Court and Council, and by these means, found it not difficult to engage them in his Interests: A strange thing, that when there was not any one per∣son of the common people, either in City or Court, who could be drawn into this Treason, several of the Ma∣gistrates and Officers of the Court made themselves a detestable example, by entering into a Conspiracy against the State, & the person of their Prince. The chief of the Conspirators were the Eunuches of the Imperial Palace, who were then very potent & conside∣rable in the Court. The Emperour of China presumed much upon the trust and fidelity of these persons, thus to entrust with them the Guard of his per∣son, and the Government of his State.

By this we may perceive in what condition those States are, who have no Nobility amongst them; I mean

no persons, who inheriting the Digni∣ties and Grandeur of their Ancestors, do receive Principles of Loyalty to their Soveraign at the same moment they receive the first Principle of their Life. There are some things which men can never acquire by study though they apply themselves to it assi∣duously, but they must descend to u•••• from the Bloud and Virtue of our Pro∣genitors; else these studied Duties▪ which come not to us by Nature, ar•••• but of a short continuance, nor much to be relied on.

The Tyrant, after he had by the as∣sistance of the Officers and Eunuchs o•••• the Court, thus laid his treasonable de∣sign, he sent into the Imperial City o•••• Pequin, several of his most trusty & va∣liant Commanders, disguised like Mer∣chants, with Instructions to keep ope••••¦shop, and to expose to Sale several ric•••• Merchandises. These counterfeit Mer∣chants were never suspected to be grea•••• Commanders, and their Apprentice•••• and Servants choice Souldier••••. It con∣cerned them though to mind thei••••

Trade, for upon that depended the purchase of the greatest Empire in the world; and they which put it to Sale, were those which were most of all ob∣liged to preserve and defend it. When the Bargain was thus made, and Ear∣nest mutually given, those in the City and Court, who kept intelli∣gence with the Tyrant, failed not by several pretexts to lessen the Guards, and to weaken the Strength of the place as much as lay in their power. Thus in a little time the Treason broke out all of a sudden, to the great Dis∣order and Astonishment (as may easily be imagined) of all the Inhabitants who were not privy to the Conspiracy. For whilst they were uncertain what Resolution to take, they were under the power, and at the mercy of their Enemies. Ly presently appeared, and found the Gates of the Town open, and his men victorious in the Conquest of this great City, before he could at∣taque it. See the Success of this Re∣bel, who in so short a time made him∣self master of several Provinces! This

of Pequin, the principal of the whole Empire, was the Sixth now under his Subjection.

CHAP. II. The D••••ath of the Emperour Zunchin, and of all the Royal Family. The Tartar resolves to oppose the Vsurper, and to advance his ancient Pretension to the Empire of China.

THE Emperour Zunchin did not perceive the deplorable condi••••i∣on of his State, till it was not in his power to remedy it. He knew full well that the rage of his Enemies would not only take from ••••im by violence, his ••••mpire and Crown, but his Life also. He perceived that the Plot was laid, from that very time, that his Counsellors advised him not to raise Forces, nor send Money nor Recruits to those Commanders who guarded the

Frontiers. He might then have put a stop to the progress of the Rebels, or at least have gained so much time, as to have been in a readiness to have fought them, before they had been so far advanced. But now, poor Prince, when he saw himself besieged in his Palace, he was fully convinced that he had been betrayed, and therefore judged, that there remained nothing for him now to do, but to depart out of this Life, by a Death worthy of his Dignity and Courage. He wa•••• redu∣ced to that extremity, wherein the meanest of men are to be compassiona∣ted. His desperate Condition made him feelingly reflect, how much in him was to be pitied the too fa••••ile dis∣position of Princes, which is usually at∣tended with sad Disasters both to them and their States.

The City of Pequin being of a vast extent, before the Traytors could by force enter the Palace, which was very spacious, some of the most Loyal Offi∣cers and Souldiers made a vigorous re∣sistance: These few persons, who did

the most passionately resent the disaster of their Prince, were such who had received the hardest measure from the Grandees of the Court. This Attempt which they made in opposition of the Tyrant, gave the King opportunity, if he pleased, to dispose of his Life him∣self, rather than to abandon it to the Fury and Outrage of his trayterous Rebels. This unfortunate Prince look∣ed upon the resistance which some of his Subjects made to the Tyrant, as the more grateful testimony of their Alle∣giance, since thereby he obtained the liberty to have the disposal of his own Life at his own election; which he considered as his last happiness, and as the remains of the Respect and Loyal∣ty of his Subjects. To what a strange excess do the Disgraces of this life pe∣netrate the Breasts of men, when to kill themselves, is sometimes esteemed of as a Felicity, even to the most po∣tent of Kings and Princes! We shall always see some Imitators or others of the Examples, which Histories record to us of Cleopatra, Mithridates, and o∣ther

eminent persons, who have made use of both Steel and poyson, that by dying by their own hands, they may free themselves from dying by the hands of others: A frail and cruel sa∣tisfaction, which the pride of man makes him seek out, to be his own Ex∣ecutioner, that thereby, he may die with the greater renown and pomp.

During the time that this resistance put a stop to the entry of the Rebels in∣to the Palace, the Emperour of China considered, how speedily to dispose both of his Royal Family and Person, which was in the most Tragical manner that ever Histories related: He had but one only Daughter, very young, which till now had been the Hope and Desire of the Empire. It is true, that a Relation printed in China, and pub∣lished 1640. makes mention in two places, that the Emperour Zunchin had a Legitimate Son, and Heir to the Em∣pire, who was a very hopeful young Prince, and already gave proof of his capacity for great Enterprizes; but doubtless he was dead before this dire∣full

Tragedy was acted; for he is not at all mentioned in the last Manuscript-re∣lation, which certainly would not, (had he been then alive) omitted speaking of him, since it gave so ample an account of his Sister, and made her so g••••at a sharer in this calamitous Disaster, that her Throat was cut by her own Father, and that at her own supplication, that she might not see her H••••nour, and il∣lustrious Rank become a shamef••••l prey to a Tyrant and Traytor, who had no∣thing great and eminent in him, but his Treason and Rebellion against his Lawful Soveraign.

After this horrid Execution, the Emperour with his hands yet ••••eeking with the bloud of his Daughte••••▪ went into the Garden of the ••••a••••ace, accom∣panied with his Legitimate Spouse, the Empress. He abandoned six other Wives, who had each of them the Ti∣tle of Queen, thirty others who were the most Illustrious Ladies of the Em∣pire, and three thousand others of les∣ser Quality. It is very difficult for the Soul of man, let it be never so great

and compassionate, when it is oppres∣sed with such a tumult of Griefs at once, to extend its care to each parti∣cular Concern. Presently after this, the whole Court ecchoed with the doleful Cries and Expressions of the Sorrow and Rage of those persons who perceived themselves thus deserted: Till now the Trouble and Confusion of the whole Palace had rendred them a∣stoni••••hed and mute; but now they could no longer undergo the burden of their Afflictions, but sought by La∣mentations and Complaints to ease and relieve themselves. So that now there was a contest amongst them, who should the loudest proclaim their Grief: Some cried, My Lord and my Husband; o∣thers, My King and my M••••ster; and some, My Father: Every one accent∣ing their sorrow in a Tone sutable to their part in this Scene of Sorrow.

The heart of this u••••fortunate Prince was penetrated with so great Afflicti∣ons, that it could not admit of any sense of lesser; and it was now too late ••••o seek for any Consolation. The on∣ly

comfortable thought which Zunchin could now entertain, was how to pre∣serve his Honour, and chiefly, that of his Royal Consort, the Empress. As for his other Quee••••s and Numerous Wives, he was no longer moved for them; the preservation of the Honour of the Empress, was the sole and last satisfaction he hoped for in this life; and to preserve this, he resolved to perpetrate an Act of the highest vio∣lence imaginable. What prodigious Afflictions represented themselves to the Mind of this distressed Emperour, when the very apprehension of them transcended these Stupendious Real ones?

Amongst so great a Number of Offi∣cers and great persons as were in this Court▪ it could not possible be, that they should all generally be perfidiou•••• and treacherous; there were some yet so generous, as not to forsake the per∣son of their Master: And it was wi••••h this Loyal Attendance that he entred into the Garden; but it was not now to recreate himself, as at other times:

He went to die, deprived of all com∣fort, but a very doleful one, which was, that he yet had it in his power to be his own Executioner. The Foun∣tains, Flowers, Groves, Birds, and great variety ofliving Creatures, which were the pleasant Recreations of this Delicious place, were now no longer the Divertisement of this Prince. Here was nothing now but Grief and Sor∣row; all things had a gloomy and mournful Aspect: For as it is the property of distempered Eyes to make all the Objects of Sight appear sutable to their Distemper; so to these per∣sons, who had all their Faculties and Senses totally possessed with Sorrow and Affliction, all the pleasures of this agreeable place seemed but as so ma∣ny Sad and Melancholy Spectacles.

These afflicted Courtiers, with a doleful silence attended upon the Em∣perour and the Empress, who could neither speak a word, nor shed a Tear. When the Heart is opprest with Sor∣row, Tears do in some measure refresh it, and Speech seems to discharge the

burden of its Grief; but Sorrow had taken such entire possession of the heart of this poor Prince, that it had stop∣ped all passages to relief: And it wa•••• requisite for him to retain all his Spi∣rits, lest he should expire under the weight of his Afflictions.

Zunchin was a young Prince, endow∣ed with all the qualities that might ren∣der him amiable to his people. His Royal Spouse, the Empress loved him with so tender an affection, that to te∣stifie the sincerity of her passion to him, she resolved to die either with, or be∣fore 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 invo∣king the Emperour, the other the Ty∣rant: It was like so many Stabs to his very heart, as oft as he heard himself, who was descended from sixteen Em∣perours his Ancestors and Progenitors, brought in competition with an infa∣mous Villain. These Disgraces pier∣ced the deeper, the more he perceived

his own party to decline, & that of the Usurper to be exalted to the very Hea∣vens: The Stars of which, unfortu∣nate Zunchin execrated, that they were so propitious to a perfidious Varlet, who so little merited the Fate of a So∣veraign. And being by his direful Calamaties, driven to this Despair and Fury, he poured out more bitter Im∣precations against those cruel and fatal Stars which presided at his disasterous Birth.

This Prince being very pensive and solicitous how to prevent greater Dis∣graces yet, went together with those who accompanied him towards a little Grove, at the Entrance of which he stopp'd; and then the Empress gues∣sing 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 Hu∣mane 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, de∣siring 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 Empe∣rour, not being able to express the pas∣sion of her Soul otherwise than with her Eyes; for all Commerce and Commu∣nication 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 sense∣less 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 sig∣nifies, 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 desi∣red a little to refresh and revive his Spirits, which were sunk and oppres∣sed. 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 fol∣lowing 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 ••••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 in∣heritance 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 ••••o the basest and vilest of my Subjects. I have not the Confidence to appear before them, who being born Sub∣je••••ts, are become my Enemies and Tray∣tors.

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 hang∣ed 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 Soul∣diers 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 ter∣rible 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 ac∣cording 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 Grand∣father Vanliè ruled over China near fif∣ty 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 dire∣ful 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 relation makes no mention how many years Zunchin reigned. And whoever reads these Tragical Events, hath reason to desire that his just Cu∣riosity 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 Mo∣narchs, 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 suc∣ceeded him, but he only reigned some Moneths: Thaicam had for his Succes∣sor his eldest Son Thienchi; this Thien∣chi was succeeded by his Brother Zun∣chin 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 So∣veraign 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 Mo∣narchy in a few years hath had many Kings; but this doth not add to the fe∣licity 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 Govern∣ment happy. Therefore those Nations ought to bless the King of Heaven, whom he blesses in bl••••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 over∣throw and revolution of this great Monarchy did not happen on such a sudden as it appeared: For several years before the Symptomes of a mor∣tal Distemper manifested themselves in the Body Politick of this State; and the dangerous Illness thereof was suffici∣ciently 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 thin•••• but to behold the inevitable ru∣ine and destruction thereof. The least Aches, if neglected, often prove mor∣tal: 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 incura∣ble

Illness, but by an Illness to which due and timely Remedies were not ap∣plied; and it will always be to be fear∣ed that that State which is governed with such a supine remissness, will often be in danger to fall under the like ca∣lamities.

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, aban∣doned their Resolution. And now the Usurpers, who were the more animated meeting with no opposition, pursued their Victory, which they secu••••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 Trea∣sures 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 Mando∣rins to give in their Names and Quali∣ties, that in his new Gover••••ment he might bestow amongst them such Em∣ployments 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 e∣minent 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 Offi∣cers of the Court, who attended on the Emperour and the Empress into the Garden, though there be no certain information of their death, yet proba∣bly 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 requi∣red 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 Or∣ders, delivered in their Names, per∣swading themselves that by this ready Obedience they should make them∣selves very considerable in this new upstart Court. But they found them∣selves much frustrated in their expecta∣tions; for so far were they from being thereby the more considered by the U∣surper, that on the contrary, assoon as he had received their Names and Qua∣lities, resolving to take an advantage of their base unworthiness, he con∣demned them in the payment of seve∣ral great Sums of Money, in proporti∣on to the Estates and Offices every one of them were pos••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 con∣demned to Death; and no day passed in which some or other of these wretch∣ed persons did not by cruel Torments lose their Lives. Nor did the Tyrant

stay here, but published new Decla∣rations, that those pretended Debts, Fines and Taxes which the Fathers had refused to pay, were payable by 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 Loy∣alty 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 Em∣pire.

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 there∣fore ought to be severely and condign∣ly punished: But he was not displea∣sed 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 Obli∣gation which lay upon him from the Oath by which the Tartarian Princes had tied themselves to the Royal Fami∣ly of China, never to make any At∣tempt 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 Em∣pire, seeing that these Rights had on∣ly

been yielded up to the Royal Fami∣ly which then reigned, and that those only are to be understood to be com∣prehended thereby who were descen∣ded in a direct Line from Father to Son. Else if all the Kindred of the Emperour of China were to be under∣stood to be preferable to the Tartars, in their pretensions to this Crown, it was both very insignificant and fruit∣less 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 Tart••••rs, who had treated very clearly and sin∣cerely, always supposing that the So∣veraignty might pass, as is very usual in all Monarchies, from one Family to another.

He pretended further, that admit∣ting there should yet remain any of the Kindred of Zunchin, it must be grant∣ed that they were all in so weak and low a condition, that they could ne∣ver 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 al∣so 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 posses∣sed of the Forces and Treasures of Chi∣na, no Prince of that Nation could hinder him from confirming his Autho∣rity, 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 Sub∣jects.

Thus they argued in the Council of the Cham of Tartary, and at last con∣cluded; 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 no•••• 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 no•••• 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 grant∣ed by all persons that though Conques•••• could never rightly entitle a Rebel to the Soveraignty, yet it might a second time confer the just and lawful possessi∣on of China upon the Tartars.

Having with these Arguments justi∣fied their Claim to the Empire of Chi∣na, 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 perswa∣ded that not only the Justice of their pretensions, but their Honour enga∣ged them in it, that thereby they might avenge the quarrel of all Kings, ••••n making this per••••idious Traitor (who ••••y his Treason had possessed himself of ••••he Empire, by reducing his lawful Soveraign to that extremity, that out of despair he became his own Execu∣••••ioner) an example and terrour to all ••••isloyal Subjects.

All these Considerations fix'd the ••••artars in their resolutions for the con∣••••uest of China, and presently they is∣••••ued out all convenient Orders for this ••••xpedition. They recruited theirtroops ••••ith new Levies, and in a short time ••••hey raised several potent Armies▪ But ••••ill they were unwilling to pass over ••••he Wall, or make any Irruption upon ••••at Empire til they were called in by ••••me of the Heads of the Loyal Chineses,

perswading themselves, that if they de∣ferred their entrance into China till they were importun'd thereto from them, they should thereby both bette•••• 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 Zu••••∣chin's Generals, to whom he had com∣mitted the Guard of the Frontiers to∣wards Tartary, sent to the Tartars to solicite them to enter into China. Thi•••• possessed the Tartars of all the advan∣tages which they had so long wishe•••• for, as judging them absolute necessa∣ry for the accomplishment of their de∣signs.

The General, who was called Vsangu••••, had always kept his Loyalty to hi•••• Prince unspotted, though in this las•••• occasion he could not render him an•••• important Service; for the Rebel•••• were so numerous, and the Loyal Sub∣jects

so fe•••• in comparison, that they could make no confiderable Attempt. But now this Vsanguè did most passio∣nately desire some opportunity to re∣venge both the death of his Master and of his Father, who was a great Officer in the Emperour of China's Court, and was put to death by the Tyrant, for the approved Loyalty both of himself and his Sons, therefore V∣sanguè, who wanted neither Zeal to revenge his King, nor sense of his own Injuries, considered that there was not in the whole Empire Forces enough to attempt the bringing the Tyrant to his condign punishment; that it was not to ••••e hoped that any of the Princes of the ••••loud Royal could ever regain the Em∣••••ire; that the whole State in all like∣••••ihood would become the prey and ••••poil of some new upstart Traitor; and ••••herefore he judged, that it would be ••••ess dishonourable for that Nation to ••••ubmit to the Dominion o•••• an Empe∣••••our who had won it by Conquest, ••••hough he was a Forreigner, since there ••••as no probability for the Chineses to

imagine ever to be able to shake off the yoke of Tyranny. For these conside∣rations, he judged it expedient to ad∣dress himself to the Tartars, whom he knew to be both powerful, and coura∣gious, and therefore believed that i•••• must be them only who could the soon∣est reward the Tyrant according to his deserts. And therefore resolved to call them in to the Conquest of this Empire, and obliged himself to give them entrance through that part of the Wall which was committed to his Guard.

Without all dispute this was a mos•••• pernicious resolution, and such as could only tend to the compleating of the entire ruine of the whole State. In all appearance this Vsanguè was more in∣••••ent upon revenging his private quar∣rel than successefully to serve his Coun∣••••rey; or else his Zeal to discharge hi•••• duty in taking vengeance of the Ty∣rant, blinded him so, that he did no•••• discern that this way of revenge woul•••• inevitably procure the irreparable ru∣ine of his own Countrey. It is true

the Tyrant had already made himself very potent; but it was to be consi∣dered that he was by birth a Chinese, as likewise were all his Souldiers; that time doth daily produce various altera∣tions in the state of all affairs; that it was more facile for those of the same Nation to equalize the Tyrant in pow∣er, and by watching their opportuni∣ty, to suppress him, than to support the force of so warlike a Nation as the Tartar. And moreover the Tyrant became every day more and more odi∣ous to the people, and it was easie to imagine that this hatred would in a short time produce some Conspiracy powerful enough to ruine him.

But that which was yet more consi∣derable, was, that the Southern Pro∣vinces, which were the richest and the most powerful of all China, had alrea∣dy crowned, and acknowledged for their Lawful King, a Prince of the Royal Family, who might in a short time raise Forces as potent as those of the Tyrant; and having the advan∣tage of Right and Justice on his side,

be quickly in a condition to fight him▪ or if he was desirous to spare the bloud of his people, he might easily find out some other way to cut him off.

The Government of this new King was already very plausible to his Sub∣jects. He was very mild and prudent in his Conduct of Affairs, and neglect∣ed nothing which might either establish or enlarge his Authority. His manne•••• of Government was accompanied with Qualities directly opposite to those of the Tyrant, which made him every day more beloved, as the Tyrant daily became more odious for the insuppor∣table Insolency and Arrogancy with which he treated the principal persons of the Empire. Thus the Renown and Grandeur of the Royal Bloud on the one side, and the despicable Vile∣ness of a Rebel on the other, had made such an Impression in the Spirits of the people, that there was great reason to hope that the whole Empire would within a short time be reduced under a Lawful Prince.

But the too precipitate Zeal of the

General Vsanguè would not permit him to take so far a Prospect, or else (as it is very probable) he was not sufficiently informed of what passed in the Southern Provinces, till such time as the Tartar was already entred into China; for the Relation which came then, though it be very obscure in this point, as in divers others, not suffici∣ently remarking the time, yet it seems to intimate that the Prince was not Crowned nor submitted to as Lawful King, till after the Tartar had passed the Wall.

This inconsederate Proffer and De∣mand of Vsua••••guè was most accepta∣ble to the Tartarian Court, being it was that great advantage to their Interest, which they had so long co∣veted. And they judged to be thus called in, was a full acknowledgment of their Right, and that now there remained nothing but taking possessi∣on, to make themselves the Lawful Masters.

The Tartars thought this would ex∣empt them from all just reproach of

either invading or surprizing the Chi∣neses. And though it be true that their so long forbearance to enter into China, and the importunity with which they were called in, even by some of the Chineses themselves, cannot suffici∣ently justifie the Conquest of the Tar∣tars, being there were so many Princes of the Royal Family of China, then living, yet it is admirable to consider how solicitous these people were to ju∣stifie themseves, and to give a plausible account of their management of this Affair, with which many Politicians would not so much have troubled their Consciences: And yet these people who had all this regard to Justice, are Barbarians. Our Politicians of Europe, who have so little, are Civiliz'd, that is to say, persons instructed in all the Duties of Humane and Civil Society. But if the name of Politician signifies only an able civiliz'd person, it may very well be said that the Tartars in these latter days have been as Politick, and as Civiliz'd as most Politicians else∣where.

CHAP. III. The Tartars enter into China. The Ty∣rant Ly flies. The young Xunchi makes his entrance into Pequin, and is there Crowned Emperour. He de∣clares War against the King of Corea, and makes his Kingdom Tributary.

THE Tartars resolving to enter into China, being importun'd thereto by the General Vsuanguè, omit∣ted nothing necessary for the execution of so great an Exploit. Orders were issued out in all parts for all provisions for War, the preparations for which were sutable to the Grandeur of the Enterprize.

Their Prince was called Xunchi, and was not above 10, or 12 years old, but endowed with so much Wit and Courage, that they supplied the de∣fault of his years. This young Mo∣narch

resolved to pass into China, at the head of his Army. As his presence must needs more animate the courage of his Souldiers, retain them in their Loyalty to him, prevent Differences and Disorders amongst his Comman∣ders, so it could not but at the same time excite an ambition in his Subjects, to go and serve in that War, where they should see their young Prince in the Field, and in so tender an age un∣dergo all the Toils of War.

The Tartars having now made suffi∣cient provision of all necessaries for their Expedition, they entred into Chi∣na, by that part of the Wall, through which the General Vsuanguè had open∣ed them a passage. They were not displeased that the Northern Provinces which were in subjection to Ly, under∣went the first Inconveniences of the War, as it may be judged, by their go∣ing straight against the Tyrant, per∣swading themselves that thereby they should render their entrance less odi∣ous, and their Designes less suspected by those who had not as yet sided with them.

It was in the year 1643. that the Tartars made this irruption into China; neither the Day nor the Moneth is set down; but it may very well be suppo∣sed, that it was towards the latter end of that year; for the Relation saith, that in the space of three years and some odd Moneths that vast Empire was entirely conquered, and that the last of all the Towns which submitted to the Tartarian yoke, was Canton, of which the Tartar possessed himself in the beginning of Ianuary, 1647. Nei∣ther is the number of the Forces which went upon this Expedition very cer∣tainly known; we only know that their Number both of Horse and Foot were almost incredible.

They divided their Army into seve∣ral distinct Bodies of Foot and Horse, some of a hundred, some of two hun∣dred thousand men, which at the first did very much incommodate one ano∣ther; for some of them advanced, plundered, and subdued that part of the Countrey which was designed the Prey and Conquest of others.

The Cham of Tartary was accompani∣ed with three of his Unkles, who sup∣ported this young Prince, & serv'd him with Valour and Loyalty, rarely to be parallell'd. Their care was from the ve∣ry beginning to gain a Repute to the power of their Sword, and by mild∣ness and moderation to ingratiate their government with the people. The elder of these three Princes, who was very eminent for his skill and ability in the Art of Government, kept himself always close to the person of the Em∣perour, and instructed him with pru∣dent Counsels, and took such care of his Person and Fame, as if he had been his Son rather than his Nephew. The two other Unkles of the Emperour, who were younger, commanded his Ar∣mies, and by their Loyalty and Valour they caused the Emperour's Arms to triumph in all parts. One of these did more eminently signalize himself in this Conquest, by which he gained the Fame of the most Valiant Captain of the whole Nation, and acquired the Title of the Conquerour of China.

The War in a short time extended it self into the Province of Pequin, the Capital City whereof had for the last Ages been always the Seat of the Court of the Emperours of China, and there the Tyrant had established himself, and drawn to him all the Grandees of his Party. But the Fame and Success of the Tartars quickly displaced him. There were only some few places, which did render themselves by force; all the other yielded to the Threats of the Tartars, out of the fear and apprehension they had, that they should be as severely chastised as those were who made any Resistance. Thus, though in some few places the Chineses were so obstinate as not to submit to a Forreign Power, and in others they made some shew of resistance, yet generally they all presently yielded themselves up to the strongest, and few or none did firmly adhere to the Ty∣••••ant.

The Tartars having thus prosperou∣••••y began their Conquest without meet∣••••ng with any considerable Obstacle,

which might put a stop to their pro∣gress, resolved to lose no time, but to march with their whole Army towards Pequin. The desire they had to find the Usurper there, made them hasten, that they might with all possible speed pluck the Crown from off that unwor∣thy Head.

The Tyrant had in Pequin a very gallant and numerous Army, who were very well paid, and such as in all ap∣pearance would have made a very reso∣lute Defence. This made it generally be believed, that if convenient order was taken, should the Enemy gain the Victory, the purchase thereof would cost him much Bloud. But this Usur∣per being but a cowardly Traitor, and all his Souldiers so many treacherous Villains, their huffing Vapours quick∣ly vanished. Till now they only con∣tended with Deceit and Treason: They had only overcome naked men, peo∣ple disordered, and so surprized, that they had not time to prepare for their Defence; but now they were obliged ••••o face an Enemy, who came prepared

to give battel, in search after them, and such an Enemy which was flesh'd in the Victory of all those who ever durst oppose them. Ly knew there was no safety for him so near his Ene∣my; for as it would be rashness to run the hazard of a Battel, so the danger was equal, to stay and expect his Ene∣my, and to think to defend himself, be∣ing blocked up in the City of Pequin, therefore he resolved to retreat, and to abandon his Capital City assoon as the Enemy was within three days jour∣ney from it.

The Tyrant, before he discamped, discharged some of his Choler upon the people, and executed most horri∣ble Cruelties in the City. This was to punish them for the respect which in some measure they seemed to retain to∣wards their Lawful Soveraign: It be∣ing most true, that they always shewed a greater abhorrency to his Treason, than any Zeal or Inclination to his In∣terests. Therefore assoon as he had revenged himself on the Inhabitants of P••••quin, presently with his Associates

he took his flight, and carried along with him the Treasures of all the Em∣perours of China: But he was not so loaded with Riches, as with the execra∣tion of the People, which have eter∣niz'd his Memory amongst the Chineses as the most detestable Villain which ever breath'd.

The Tartars presently appeared be∣fore the Walls of the City of Pequin, and made their entrance without any resistance; but assoon as they percei∣ved that the Tyrant had made his E∣scape, they made no stay, but instant∣ly followed him; but it was not pos∣sible for them to overtake him; there∣fore the young Xunchi returned to Pe∣quin, into which, assoon as he had made a most magnificent entrance, they judged it convenient with all expediti∣on to declare him the absolute Monarch of all that Golden Kingdom; for so the Tartars call China.

This young Monarch, after he had caused himself to be Crowned Empe∣rour of all those vast Territories, judg∣ed it convenient to settle his Court in

the Palace of Pequin, whither he sum∣moned all the Nobility of Tartary, and did most eagerly prepare for the pro∣secution of his Victory.

As for the Tyrant Ly, that we may never have occasion to mention him more, all the further mention which the Relation makes of him, is only, that he retreated into the Province of Xensi, which is in the Northern parts of China, and one of those six Provinces which he had reduced under his Sub∣jection. Thither he went with all his Forces and Treasure, and made a stay with all his Retinue in the Capital Ci∣ty, fortifying himself therein as strong∣ly as he could possibly. This is all which the Relation informs us concer∣ning the Tyrant, and it makes no far∣ther mention, neither concerning his Person, Army, or prodigious riches. It is no small trouble to me that I should have so often occasion to complain of the defect of the Relation. But the person who furnished me with the Me∣morials relating to this part of the Hi∣story, knew no more, and satisfied

himself with acquainting me, that at the time of his Writing, all thing•••• were in such a confusion in the whole State, that he could not possibly clear∣ly inform himself concerning divers Particulars.

This is most certain, that the Tartar•••• did in a short time after conquer all the Provinces, even that of Xensi, whither Ly was retreated; but whether or no he was there seized upon by the Tar∣tars, or what became either of him, his Army, or vast Riches, is not at all mentioned. It is strange they should be so negligent in the Tartarian Court, as not more particularly to inform themselves herein! For the Relatio•••• from the Information of divers persons who came from Pequin, since the Co∣ronation of the Cham▪ makes mention of divers Passages less remarkable, bu•••• takes no notice of the last Adventures of the Tyrant.

That which is most credibly famed▪ is, That his Followers, when they more seriously reflected upon the E∣normity of the Crimes which this ex∣ecrable

Traitor had perpetrated against his own Countrey, and the numberless calamities which he had drawn upon that once so flourishing an Empire, and after all this, that he should be so infa∣mous a Coward, as not to dare to op∣pose the Tartars, nor so much as to face them at their first approach, when he migh•••• more advantageously have fought them, having then a very gal∣lant and numerous Army, which now every day mouldered away, and did not only renounce his Authority, but detest his very Person; and that he should yet keep to himself those vast Rich••••s, which they judged to be a Spoil more due to them, than to so cowardly a Vagabond. They com∣bined together to make away his per∣son, and to seize upon those Treasures which he was then possessed of, and which the Emperours of China had been many generations collecting. And when they had executed their Design, and divided the Prey, the whole Ar∣my disbanded, and dispersed them∣selves up & down the other Provinces.

But should his Souldiers have spared him his Life, it would have been very difficult for him to have escaped some disasterous end or other, from the rage of the rest of his Countreymen; fo•••• Don Iulian was never more abhorred by the Goths, who dwelt in Spain, than Ly was generally by all the Chineses. But I shall speak no more of him, and may what I have now said be sufficient to strike a horrour into all such Villains whose punishment can never adequate their Crimes.

I shall only add that this Traitor ru∣ined both his Prince and himself, bu•••• the Calamities which he drew upon his Countrey did not expire with him. He had advanced himself by the Fall of his Soveraign. All that ambitious men can aspire to, is only to ascend by the same steps by which others descend; but how little do they consider with what peril they advance themselves, that by the height of their Fall, they may purchase to themselves the greater repentance, that they were ever mount∣ed so high? If so potent an Emperour

could fall so low, what could so base a Tyrant expect, but quickly to be re∣duced to that extremity, as to search out a Precipice to fling himself down headlong? Yet so fatally mischievous was the Destiny of this vile Wretch, that he acted these Villanies, though he could not but know, that the Em∣pire and his Countrey would remain only to those who were the least buried in its Ruines. It was at the last mani∣fest to all persons, that the Attempt of this perfidious Villain was to ruine the whole State, and there was none but abominated both his Person and his Actions. But the Mischief was done, and his death and punishment would not remedy it. So true it is, that all things are with no great vio∣lence discomposed, but not so easily reduced into order again: And f••••om hence it is, that there is nothing more faulty, than to begin a Mischief; nor nothing more difficult, than to put a period to the progress of it.

There was now no more mention made of Ly at Pequin. Xunchi the

young King of the Tartars was absolute Soveraign, and so active a Prince was he, that after his first Victory, he woul•••• take no respite, or stand still so muc•••• as to take breath, but resolved wit•••• all speed to exercise his magnanimou•••• Courage in subduing the whole Em∣pire. And that he might the mor•••• successfully begin his Enterprize, he considered that the King of Corea wa•••• his Neighbour, and that it would no•••• be secure for him to leave one so po∣tent behind him. The Kingdom of Corea lies on the East of China, and is little less in extent than all Spain: It is only separated from China by a great River, and was Tributary thereto heretofore, when China was in subje∣ction to the Tartars; but since the Co∣reans have refused to submit themselvs to the Dominion of the Chineses, and have chosen to thems••••lves a King of their own, who only somtimes sent Pre∣sents to the Emperours of China; the Tartars therefore now laid claim to it by right of their former possession, and upon this pretence they marched to∣wards

those parts with their whole Ar∣my.

But it was not so easie to conquer the Coreans as to subdue Pequin; for they are a more warlike people than the Chineses, and have for a long time been engaged in a hereditary War with the Inhabitants of Iapan, who are naturally very fierce, and much addicted to War, and hereby the Co∣reans have learn'd how to handle their Arms in their own Defence; and be∣sides, they were not divided, either by Faction or Treachery, but firm∣ly united in their Councils, and sted∣fastly resolved to defend themselves. They were governed by a Prince who was unfeignedly beloved, and chear∣fully obeyed, and who led them into the Field himself; and for these Rea∣sons they gave a greater check to the victorious progress of the Tartars, than ••••he Chineses could yet do. But the Tartars overpowering them in Force, and being animated by their success, gained great advantages over them in all parts. Fortune declared her self so

favourable to the Tartar, that she did thereby evidence she destined him only for Victory and Triumph. But though in a short time he reduced a great part of this Kingdom, yet it was not with∣out the loss of his best Souldiers.

The King of Corea, perceiving that his Forces were neither for number nor strength sufficient to oppose so power∣ful an Enemy, thought he should more successfully by submission defend him∣self. There is nothing which Ambiti∣on will not do to support it self; if it be convenient to do any abject or low action, then there is nothing so humble or vile which the proudest spirited man will scorn to act. This Prince, since his Grandeur would not avail him a∣gainst his Enemy, resolved to seem willing to submit himself to him. As for the Tartar, he resembled the Mag∣nanimous Lion, or one of those Hero's, of whom it is said, that they will grind their Enemies to powder, if they refuse to submit to their power; but make it their Glory to spare those who pro∣strate themselves at their feet.

The King of Corea sent therefore to lay his Crown at the feet of the Cham of Tartary, assuring himself that it would be returned back to him, condi∣tionally that he would acknowledge himself a Tributary to the Tartar, who accordingly accepted of his Offers, a••••d assented to treat upon those terms. Thus the King of Corea abased himself, that thereby he might be the higher exalted; the readiest way for any per∣son to disentangle himself out of any troublesom affair, and in conclusion, to gain himself an advantage thereby, is to know how subtilly to dissemble; for all men are easily deluded with false Appearances.

In the Tartarian Court they consi∣dered that they had already their hands full in China, and that they could never want employment there, and therefore this Treaty with the King of Corea upon these terms, must needs be very advantageous to them; for there∣by the Emperour without lessening his Forces would encrease his Fame. Thus the Cham returned out of Corea with

all his Army, to Pequin. And in the Interim he gave order to the King of Corea, without any Arms to follow him to his Court, that there they might better draw up, and conclude upon the Articles of Peace. Accordingly the King of Corea confidently relying upon the Parole of this young Mo∣narch, failed not to observe these Or∣ders, and rendred himself at Pequin, presently after the Arrival of Xunchi, and was received and treated accord∣ing to his Grandeur, and the Magnifi∣cence of that Court. After the King had solemnly made his Homage to the Cham, according to the Conditions of Peace, which were concluded upon these Terms, That henceforth the Kings of Corea should by Homage and Fealty hold their Kingdom with all the Depen∣dencies thereof from the Emperours of Tartary; (Which were almost the very same Conditions with those which were formerly made with the Late Empe∣rours of China) he returned with his Diadem and Royal Scepter to his own Kingdom, to the publick Joy, and his

private satisfaction, which did the more exalt the Fame of the Grandeur and Generosity of the young Emperour of Tartary. All that is here reported was concluded in the year 1643. and the beginning of 44.

CHAP. IV. The Tartar pursues his Conquest. He re∣duces five other Provinces bordering upon Pequin. His Conduct, that thereby he might illustrate his Victo∣ries, and the Orders he prescribed to the Conquered.

PResently after, the Tartars had en∣tred into China, their powerful Armies over-ran all parts thereof, and like a violent Torrent carried all be∣fore them. Their young Monarch ne∣ver failed in his own person to appear in all eminent Enterprizes. We have already seen that assoon as he had sub∣dued

the Province of Pequin, which is the principal of the whole Empire, and one of the six which the Tyrant had reduced under his power, how pru∣dently he secured himself towards Co∣rea, which he had made Tributary to him. But this was but as an Essay of his Heroick Actions. Now he resolves with all expedition to strike the ter∣rour of his Arms into those five other Provinces of the North, which yet seemed to side with Ly. These were Xantum, Leautum, Honam, Xansi, and Xensi. This young Prince entred at the Head of his Troops into these Pro∣vinces in the beginning of 44, and the same year subdued them all. There was at the first some few places which made a vigorous resistance, but of no long continuance. The heat of the Chineses did not long last, and their great Flashes quickly blazed out, and served only to consume themselves therein. But it is strange that the Tar∣tars should over-run and reduce all these Provinces, without meeting with the Tyrant, or seeing any appearance

of either his Army or Treasure; at least the Relation is silent herein.

The Conduct of the Tartar in so swift an Expedition is very remarkable. He went directly with the main Body of his Army, and fell upon the Capital City of the Province, without ever dividing his Forces, or diverting them upon any other Design. His Opinion was, that no General of an Army, though he should leave behind him some places less considerable, which he might have possessed himself of, and some Bodies of the Enemies Forces, which he might have defeated, yet he need not distrust his Victory. Thus this Prince with the terrour of his nu∣merous and potent Army, presented himself before the Capital City of the Province, which in a short time he al∣wayes either carried by Storm, or else presently obliged it to render upon Ar∣ticles. By these means, assoon as he had made his entrance into the City, he took possession not only of it, but of the entire Province; and then he established all convenient Orders both

for War and Peace: And from thence he issues out his Summons to all other Towns and places in the same Province, either without all delays to submit themselves to his power, or to prepare for their Defence, and at the same time he gave them assurance that he would receive them into his Favour and Mer∣cy, if without making any resistance, they rendred up themselves: But if on the contrary, they resolved to de∣fend themselves, then he denounced a bloudy War against them. Thus the places which submitted before they were compelled to it by violence, were received and treated with all the Grace and Favour they could expect from so generous a Prince; but as for those places which prepared to make Resist∣ance, he sent his whole Army to sum∣mon them the second time; and so nu∣merous and formidable were his Soul∣diers, that they brought Terrour and Desolation in all parts where-ever they came, and laid their Sieges so close, that those who at first appeared most ••••esolute, after they had felt the rigour

of the first Assaults, quickly repented themselves; but it was now too late; for the Tartar had determined by their example to teach others to yield them∣selves to his Mercy, before they put him to the cost of bloud; and thereby he likewise designed to instruct their Neighbours, that they might not be deceived, but know what upon the like occasion to expect.

This was the Conduct and Success of the Tartar in the conquest of these five Provinces, where the young Prince in his own person commanded in the head of his Troops, as he did likewise in Corea. This Expedition concluded with the year 1644. after which he re∣turned to Pequin Crowned with Law∣rel.

This Prince had made choice of this great City for his Court, and the place of his Residence, and had pub∣lished his Proclamation, that all the Officers of his Court, and the Nobility of Tartary, should appear there. And having already given so many eminent proofs of his undaunted Courage, he

thought it would be now more sutable to his Grandeur to remit the Conquest of the Nine other Southern Province•••• of China to the Experience and Loy∣alty of the Generals of his Armies: Ei∣ther he judged that in all that spatious Countrey ••••here was no Enemy glori∣ous enough for him in person to con∣tend with; or else, having been so of∣ten victorious, he thought the very Fame of his Arms sufficient to carry Victory with them where-ever they came. Thus we see in all times Exam∣ples, which evidence that the common Saying, That the Fortune of War is variable and uncertain, holds not al∣ways true. And as this Maxim hath been falsified in the persons of Alexan∣der, the two Caesars, Iulius and Au∣gustus; the Scipio's, and many such other Conquerors; so it may very well be said to have been confuted by young Xunchi; who for his Valour may justly be parallell'd with all these Hero's, and like th••••m seems to have been born only for Victory and Triumph.

But that which me••••its the greatest

Admiration, and which ought to be recorded, that it may serve for an exam∣ple to other great Princes, is, that a∣midst so tender an Age, and so pro∣found a Darkness of Infidelity, it could not be discerned, that so numberless Victories had rendred this Prince ei∣ther proud or vain-glorious: And yet it must be acknowledged, that should this young Monarch, have like those other Conquerours, been puffed up with pride or vanity, yet the Tender∣ness of his Age, his Valour, Power, and Success, considering likewise that he was a Barbarian, void of the know∣ledge of the true Religion, might ve∣ry well have pleaded in his excuse: But the Relation in all his grand Ex∣ploits, makes him appear as a Prodigy of Moderation; and Remarks that he never attributed his Victories either to his own Valour or Power, but solely ••••o the Soveraign power of the God of Heaven, according to the knowledge he had of him; as for himself, he said he was only the Executioner of the Pleasure and Decrees of Heaven, and

unless from thence he had been most visibly favoured, he declared he should have despaired of success in divers En∣te••••prizes, the execution of which pro∣ved most facile & easie to him. And for proof how much he was favoured from above, he recited several Prodigies which he assured himself were pre-or∣dained by Heaven, that thereby his Arms might be rendred Victorious▪ Perhaps the Devil, that he might the more blind these people, did by some extraordinary means bring to pass those Adventures which they related; as amongst other things, the Tartars do with great assurance affirm, that at their first entrance into China, they found a Ford over a River which was very deep, and never before fordable in any part, much less at that place, where the Tartars Army marched over. This River they call the Yellow Ri∣ver, because the waters thereof are ve∣ry much troubled and muddy. The head of it arises beyond China, into which it enters by the North, and wa∣ters several Provinces thereof, and in

all parts is very large and deep, but more especially at that place where the Tartars marched over with their horse and foot, without any difficulty at all.

The like Accident, they say, hap∣pened to this Prince, and his whole Army, in their passage over another River. These great Rivers are very frequent in all parts of China, and in some places they are of a very extraor∣dinary bredth and depth.

From all these adventures the Em∣perour of Tartary concluded, that the Heavens approved of his Conquest, since to gain him the possession of Chi∣na they acted in such an extrordinary manner. The Chineses themselves (which may seem strange) confirm these rela∣tions, and say it was decreed from a∣bove, that the Empire of China should be subdued by the Tartars. This they publickly proclaim, hoping thereby to palliate the shame of their Nation, that they have so infamously and cowardly submitted to their Enemies. The Hea∣vens (say they) decreed it should be so, ••••nd they preordain'd the confusion and

destruction of China, that thereby it might the easier be conquered by another Nation, else the Chineses would in ano∣ther guess manner have received any who should have dared to assault them, and would never so wretchedly have suffered themselves to be subdued by their Ene∣mies. Thus the conquerers and the conquered do equally pretend to have pursued the decrees of Heaven. The Tartar hereby makes his advantage, and the Chinese likewise thinks to excuse his base cowardliness. Thus men all the world over ridiculously strain their brains to make God compliant with their pleasure, and so enamoured are they with their fond fictions, that to gain credit to them, they fear not to authorize them upon the supreme rea∣son of the Universe, and the soveraign Truth it self.

The whole Tartarean Nation hear∣ing the renown of the victories of their young Xunchi in China, quickly flowed in. And now that their Country-men were masters, no walls were sufficient to stop their passage; the love of fame,

the desire to share with their compani∣ons in the remains of the pillage of so many fine Cities, and rich Provinces, would not let them sit still, but drew them thither from all parts.

Great need had the Emperour of them all; for besides that he was obli∣ged to maintain great Garrisons in all the Towns and strong places, which in each Province are very numerous, it concerned him likewise ever to keep in the field several potent Armies: some to reduce those people, which as yet had not submitted to him; others to secure what he had already conquered. And it likewise highly imported him to have an Army in readiness to prevent revolts and insurrections of the people, which are very ordinary in a Nation lately conquered; and especially in a Nation, which having been accustomed to the dominion of Princes of their own Countrey, see themselves brought under subjection to Forraigners.

It was this consideration which in∣duced the Tartar to engage as many as he could possibly of those Chinese soul∣diers,

who were borderers upon Tart••••∣ry, to take employment in his Army; for these are the most warlick and the skilfullest at their arms of all China. And principally he endeavoured to draw into his party the heads of the most e∣minent families, and the most conside∣rable persons of the whole countrey▪ These persons served both as hostages to him, for the Loyalty of all their de∣pendents, and increased the number of his Souldiers, which he daily raised more and more, that he might with all convenient speed send them to the con∣quest of the more remote Provinces: but still he took care that the chief Commanders and principal Officers of his Troups were Tartars.

As for all other employments which were not Military, though there were many very considerable offices and dig∣nities, the Tartars bestowed them a∣mongst the Chineses, with less precau∣tion. And herein at the first they pro∣ceeded in a method very proper to gain the affections of the people, they continued all the Mandorins in their

places, onely some of them they advan∣ced to more considerable employments, according to the knowledg they had of their merits. These proceedings did render their dominion less odious: But it must also be confessed, that some time after they turned some out of their employments, reformed and limited the power and jurisdiction of others, and to others they left them onely their naked Titles, but deprived them of their Authority. Neither did they think it convenient any longer to per∣mit the Chineses to be the dispensers of Justice to the people, or to have the power of punishing them. And with∣out all doubt▪ they deser••••edly merited to be thus chastised, for having for∣merly made such ill use of their Autho∣rity. For it was visible, that the state and Empire of China were brought to ruine onely by this; that the interpre∣tation of the Law, and the dispensati∣on of Justice, was confided, or rather a∣bandoned to the Eunuchs, who were both corrupt, and neither qualified nor capacitated for their employments.

As for the military charges, the Tar∣tars were more diffident of entrusting them in the hands of the Chineses, though sometimes they disposed of the commands of some of their Troups to such as they could most rely on, and as they judged most capable; but they al∣ways set over them some General, or o∣ther considerable Officer of the Tar∣tars, who with a greater body of men kept a strict eye over these Chinese Troups, and had a more absolute and particular command over them.

But that which did most exasperate and deepest pierce the heart of the Chineses, was the Edict which the Tar∣tars published, whereby they enjoyned them to cloth themselves after the Tar∣tarean fashion, and to cut off their hair, which the Chineses love most passio∣nately, and take great care to spruce and perfume it. And generally that which they esteem the most gentile and handsome, is to have their hair, like womens, hang down to their very feet: and therefore this ordinance seemed to them most severe and rigorous. But the

Tartars judged it highly important, pre∣tending that conformity in habit would infallibly produce a greater corre∣spondence and conformity in the affec∣tions and inclinations of persons, so that a forraign dominion would not be so displeasing, nor seem so uncouth and strange, when this external diversity of habits did not offend the sight. Use and custome makes all things suppor∣table. And whereas the Empire of China contains several spacious Coun∣treys, which could not all be conque∣red at once, they saw no way how to avoid several inconveniences, which would otherwise happen, but by ma∣king this distinction of those who were conquered, from those who were not; and for this reason obliging those whom they had first conquered, to cut off their hair, thereby they were easily distinguishable from those who were not. And now there yet remained some mark to be put upon the Chineses who had submitted themselves, to know them from the real Tartars; and this was very necessary, for it was not very

easie to distinguish them by their faces, there being so great a resemblance in the features of these two Nations▪ Therefore they judged it requisite to give to the conquer'd Chineses some particular Mark, which was, by enjoy∣ning them to wear a bigger tuft of hair on the top of their heads, just as in Eu∣rope they do to their Gally-slaves, to di∣stinguish such who are Christians, from such who are not,

Nothing so cut the Chineses to the heart as this did, and they could not possi∣bly prevail with themselves to obey this severe Order. The Tartars perceiving they so much scrupled it, reiterated their Injunctions, strictly requiring all persons, without any restriction or ex∣ception, upon pain of life, to give a speedy obedience thereto. And now some of them chose to lose their heads with their hair; for they made so great a difficulty to comply with the Edict, that their disobedience cost them their lives. They knew full well their pe∣ril, if they were refractory, and yet

they were so obstinate, that they would rather dye, than be deprived of their hair.

CHAP. V. One of the Vnkles of Xunchi reduces the City and Province of Nanchin. The flight and death of a King of China, who had been publickly crowned. Six of the nine Southern Provinces submit themselves to the Tartar.

THE young Xunchi, when he had taken all convenient order for the confirming and securing of his Au∣thority over his new Subjects, had dis∣posed of all Offices in the State, and settled strong Garrisons in all parts of the six Northern Provinces; being re∣solved not to stir from his Court at Pe∣quin, he remitted the conduct of his Armies to one of his Unkles, with or∣der to proceed with all speed to the

conquest of the other Provinces. This Prince in a short time after departed from Pequin with a very powerful Ar∣my, and marched directly towards the great City of Nanquin, which City had been formerly the residency of the Im∣perial Court, and was now the Metro∣polis of one of the best Provinces of the whole State.

It was in this Province, nay in this very City, that the Mandorins had crowned and proclaimed Emperour a Prince of the Royal Family. As soon as they were informed of the death of the Emperour Xunchin, they thought they could do nothing more important for the welfare of the State, than to op∣pose this lawful Prince to the Usurper. This was the best present remedy for the afflictions and calamities of their Countrey, which they could then think upon. This new King was Son to a Cousen germane of the Emperour Zun∣chin, in whose Court he had been edu∣cated, and was ever considered as a Prince of the Bloud Royal; nay, the Emperour himself, at such time as

nothing disturbed the tranquillity of his Government, took a particular care of him.

This young Prince, who wanted not abilities, quickly pe••••ceived, from whence the Storm was to be feared; for from the very time of his Corona∣tion there was a great rumour that the Tartars advanced with a very potent Army; and this took up his thoughts more than all the Enterprises of Ly. Therefore probably this Prince was not crowned Emperour, 'till after that the Tartars had passed the wall. This it was which induced him to refuse the Government, and the stately pomp and lustre of the Imperial Crown. But the Mandorins were so importunate with him, and his Soldiers did so confidently assure him victory, that at last he suffe∣red him to be prevailed with to accept of the Crown, though he soresaw that the weight of it would crush him to pieces.

This new King at his Coronation, took upon him the name of Hunguan, which signifies splendour. But his Reign

should have been more prosperous to have verified his Title, and made him an Illustrious and splendid Prince. As soon as he had the Crown upon his head, he took all possible care for the preservation of his Empire and Sub∣jects; he provided all conveniences for the most urgent necessities of the Pro∣vinces, he raised and repaired the For∣tifications of all the towns and places of greatest importance. But he was in a more especial manner careful to secure the Passes, and to obstruct and block up the passage of his Enemy. As for his Army, he made choice of his stou∣test men for his Soldiers, and placed o∣ver them experienced and valiant Commanders. And for his people, he was resolved to increase their privi∣ledges, and to heap upon them his Acts of Grace: and that he might entirely gain the hearts and affections of his Subjects, his carriage towards them was very different from that of the for∣mer Emperours of China; for he con∣descended to a kind of familiarity with them, and when ever any eminent acti∣on

was to be done for the publick be∣nefit, he ever in his own person gave them the first example what they were to do, that thereby he might both in∣struct and encourage them; and this did so conciliate him the inclinations of his people, that they all voluntarily vowed to pay him all the Loyal Ob∣servance and Obedience he could ex∣pect from them.

There was just reason to have ho∣ped, that if the General Vsanguè had not so precipitately called in the Tar∣tars, all the Southern Provinces, which make the greatest and best part of Chi∣na, might have been retained under their Obedience to their Lawful Sove∣raign, who was powerful enough to have suppressed the Usurper; and it would have been no more difficult for him, than it was for the Tartar to have dissipated the vain projects of the Traytor; nay, he might peradventure have driven him to that streight, as to have obliged him by a voluntary death to prevent the ignominious Execution due to his perfidious Treachery.

But the Reign of this new Empe∣rour was never destined to be blessed with so great Felicity, nor with any long continuance; for he reigned over the nine Southern Provinces little more than a year; But during that small space of time in which Xunchi was ta∣ken up in the Conquest of the six Nor∣thern Provinces, and the Kingdom of Corea.

Assoon as the Cham began to taste the first-fruits of his Victory, the en∣tire Invasion of the Empire did no more disturb his Conscience, than did the breach of the peace which he had sworn with the Royal Family of China. He did not now consider that it would have been but natural Justice to leave to this Chinese Prince, at least that part of the Empire where he had been cho∣sen King, and the Tyrant had never extended his Dominion. He knew that Hunguan was publickly and un∣doubtedly acknowledged to be a Prince of the Blood Royal; but For∣tune and Victory had now new Mode∣liz'd his Conscience, and made Justice

transformed. Now he publickly de∣clared that his Right to the whole Em∣pire was sufficiently justified by this pretext, That those persons of the Blood Royal, to whom the peace was sworn, were only to be understood of such who were immediately descended from the Emperours in a direct Line from Father to Son, as the Succession of the 17 last Emperours had been con∣tinued in that Family. He was desirous to have it thought that this explanati∣on ought to be made of the Oath, that hereby he might be freed from it, as likewise from all Obligations which lay upon him to any who might ever pretend to be of the Royal Family of the Emperours of China.

See now what was the Tartar's Ju∣stice. But when we reflect upon the practise of many Christian Princes, th••••re is less reason to wonder that a Barbarian Prince, an Idolater and In∣fidel, should with all his might advance his Conquest, since now it was so facile, so glorious, and of so high importance to his Grandeur and Interest. He had

began too successfully, to stop in the midst of his Course. And the young Xunchi proceeded too swiftly to be stayed now, with these initial conside∣rations, whether he had or he had no Right; whether he was, or he was not obliged to be a punctual Observer of the Oath and the Peace which his An∣cestors had sworn with the Emperours of China.

The Emperour's Unkle, whom he had employed in the entire Conquest of all China, did with all possible speed advance with all his Forces towards the province of Nanquin; he went directly against him whom the Chineses had crowned their Emperour, and was by his Instructions commanded with all diligence to endeavour to seize up∣on his person, and take from him both his Crown and his Life. These were Reasons of State, but they were cruel and barbarous Reasons, which because th••••y did exclude all of the Blood Royal from any Right of Succession, must likewise adjudge to Death this Prince, who was called, and in a man∣ner

compelled to it; but this was to cut off at the first all occasions of Re∣volts, which might distrub the Tartars in their possession of the Empire of China.

Assoon as the General of the Tartars was entred into the Province of Nan∣quin, at the first he met with a some∣what vigorous resistance from the Chi∣neses, but after they had seen those vast Armies, they did not long perse∣vere in their Resolution. All began to bend and yield to the Success and Valour of his Forces. And proporti∣onably as he went further into the Countrey, he met with fewer Ene∣mies to contend with. Many who saw how dear it had cost their Neighbours to have endeavoured to stop the pro∣gress of the Victors, thought they should be more secure by being less ob∣stinate. The General therefore ad∣vanced on his Road, and having by the force of his Arms subdued all Ob∣stacles which did impede his March, he came and lodged with his whole Army within sight of the great City of Nan∣quin.

The Emperour Hunguan resided there with all his Court, and lived in all the Splendor sutable to his Person and Dignity; but he was now confirm∣ed that he was not deceived in his ap∣prehension of the weight of the Impe∣rial Diadem, and now he was convin∣ced that it would have been more ad∣vantageous to him to have persisted in so Honourable a Refusal. His Cap∣tains and his Souldiers who did so va∣pour when the Tartars were at a great∣er distance from them, were not now they were near them, so couragious; though now, if ever, it was the time for them to give proof of their Resolu∣tion and Courage; but in stead of Va∣lour, there appeared nothing but Ti∣morousness in all parts. His best Com∣manders, on whom he most relied, were all defeated, and those Posts abandon∣ed from whence he hoped most to have annoyed the Enemy: Seeing himself therefore in so ill a posture of defence, and no better upheld, he resolved not to stay till the Town was battered and assaulted by the Tartars, but with his

choicest Troops departed out of Nan∣quin in the night time; and presently all the most considerable persons in the City followed him; so that there was none staid in it, but a great Rabble ••••f persons very uncapable of defending a City.

In the Morning 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 with∣out drawing his Sword, he became Master of this strong City, which was fortified and def••••nded with so many Walls and Bu••••warks▪ ••••hat ••••ccording to the Accompt the Re••••••••on gives of it, two thousand men of ••••rope might therein for several years h••••ve maintain∣ed a Siege against a very powerful Ar∣my. 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 ••••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 Hun∣guan had escaped him, without any in∣termission 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 disor∣der, and not able to make any De∣fence, being abandoned by the great∣est part of his Retinue, he presently seized upon him, and (as it is general∣ly 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 Vice∣roy

and Governour of the whole Pro∣vince. This Mandorin had been for∣merly 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, be∣cause ordinarily in his Discourse he used many affected Actions and Ge∣stures 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 com∣mitted 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 For∣tune and Success which did usually at∣tend 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 ta∣king advantage by the Misfortune of their Neighbours, presently submitted to the Victors.

These three Provinces were all re∣duced under the Dominion of the Tar∣tar 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, Su∣chuen 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 inevi∣table Calamities they should expose themselves, should they think to stop the Triumphant progress of their vi∣ctorious Enemies: Therefore they resolved to prevent their ruine, and if by submitting they could not secure themselves from all the sad Inconveni∣ences which in all Wars are unavoida∣ble,

yet they hoped their Oppressions hereby would be but light in compari∣son of such as they must infallibly ex∣pect in a War with an exasperated E∣nemy, 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 Pro∣vinces. A Chinese Pyrate makes himself very potent. Who this Py∣rate 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 Chin∣cheo, Canton, Quansi, to complete the entire Conquest of all China: B••••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 Chin∣cheo; and being thus advantageously seated, they were likely more to exèr∣cise 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 Gen••••us of the Inhabitants, there were two other Obstacles which presented themselves, and for some time put a stop to the Tartars in com∣pleating their Victory.

The first, but least considerable, was a new Prince of the Blood-Royal, who had retired himself into these Pro∣vinces, and in the City of Foquien was Crowned Emperour of all China. This Prince at his Coronatio•••• stiled himself Ianvan. All these Titles have some ••••llustrious signification; but I could never be informed what this last meant. If Hunguan was only a flash of Light∣ning,

this latter was only a Vapour or Exhalation. All these people with their great Emperour did but a little affright the Tartar. But they perswa∣ded 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 Ma∣ster. And that which did most encou∣rage them, was, their Princes having employed under him a most eminent Chinese Captain, who was highly repu∣ted for his Valour, and till now had ever been very successful in divers ad∣ventures both by Sea and Land.

The second Obstacle I intimated be∣fore, was this Renowned Captain, and he was the greatest and last which ever the Tartars met with in all their Con∣quest. 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 threat∣ned, 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, i••••stead hereof, they did not (contrary to thei•••• 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 Adven∣tures of his Life. He was born in a little Village near the Sea-side, not far from the City of Annay; the place of his Birth was not more obscure than his Parents were poor and miserable; when he was very young, he went out of his own Countrey, to try if elsewhere he could not better his Fortune; and be∣ing a bold witty Fellow, he did not despair to raise himself in time to be

some considerable person, which that he might, he judged it necessary for him t•••• travel abroad, see the world, and to seek out some convenient em∣ployment; upon this account he came to the City of Macao, and there, as it is usual for persons of his years and con∣dition, he placed himself in the Ser∣vice of some Workman or Tradesman, and from thence he came to serve a Chin••••se Merchant: This was no very high preferment, neither did he resolve to stay here. And as he wanted not for wit; he every day improved himself, grew more and more cunning, and ca∣pable of higher advancement. And here in this City being instructed in the Principles of the Christian Religion, he was baptized, and called Iaspar; but for what reason he took this Name, I cannot tell, unless perhaps he imagin∣ed it very fortunate. Icour or Iaspar seeing himself at Macao but in a mean condition, and not much considered, returned into his own Countrey; but not being advanced there, nor con∣tenting himself to live low and ob∣scure,

he went from thence to Iapan, where at that time there was great freedom to all Nations to come and Trade, and for this reason he fixt him∣self there, and got employment under a very rich Chinese Merchant, whom he served with great fidelity and dili∣gence in all his Concerns, and was ve∣ry well approved of by his Master, who found him daily more and more intelligent in all things relating to Traffick, and so confided in him, that he sent him with some Ships, and a great part of his Wealth entrusted to his care, to Trade in the Kingdoms of Cochinchine and Cambaye: Iaspar acquit∣ed himself so well of his employment, that he returned with great profit to his Master, and much credit to him∣self. Afterwards he so improved the repute and opinion which his Master and several other rich Merchants had of his capacity and fidelity, that many of them did gladly entrust him with the greatest part of their Stock. Once he went from Iapan to Cambaye with two Ships laden with very rich Mer∣chandise,

the Factorship of which was commissionated to him by his Master and several other Merchants. He ar∣rived safely at Cambaye, and as he was busied in unlading and disposing of his Merchandise, News was brought him that his Master and all or the greatest part of those by whom he was employ∣ed, were dead of the Plague, which that year raged terribly in Iapan, and followed after a Famine, which had much afflicted and desolated the whole Countrey.

Now was a fit season to verifie the proverb, which saith Opportunity makes the Thief; and a more favourable one Iaspar could not wish for. By profes∣sion he was a Christian, but he was not so sincere in his Religion as long to shew forth the works thereof, in observing the Eighth Commandment. At length he grew weary of having been true and faithful to those who confided in him. And now had he a very seasona∣ble occasion to practise Machiavel's Ma∣xim which saith, That he had best be a l••••ng time a good and an honest man, who

would be a good time •••• Cheat and a Knave; that is to say, he that would long gain by fraud and deceit, must first gain Credit and Repute by a lo••••g shew of Truth and Integrity; Icoan therefore now forges a Will for his Master and the other Merchants by whom he was employ'd, and therein he declares himself sole Heir of all the Lading of those two Vessels: And yet he pretended not to forsake the Law of God, or to renounce the Chri∣stian Religion; for he was willing to perswade himself that the true Heirs of these Merchants ought in Conscience, for a reward to his Services, to let him enjoy all that he was then possessed of at Cambaye; and there it was easie for him thus to clear his Accounts. But it would be more difficult for him to accompt with the Mandorins of China, who are more exact in taking Ac∣compts for the Dead than for the Li∣ving; for these Lordly M••••ndorins make themselves the Executors of the Wills of all dead persons, that there∣by they may make themselves their

Heirs. They observe great Forma••••i∣ti••••s of Justice, out of pret••••nce to pre∣vent all Frauds which might be impo∣sed upon lawful Heirs; but in reality, it is only thereby to advantage them∣selves. Iaspar, who understood very well the Customs of his Countrey, judg∣ed he should be much perplexed there, in making up his Accompt••••; for the Mandorins had very exactly informed themselves of all the particulars with which he had been commissionated; and therefore seeing his Life and For∣tune in such eminent danger, he thought that the best course he could take was that if he must die like a Thief, not to let it be for his first The••••t, nor like a common Rogue, since he k••••w how to advance his Fortune, and make him∣s••••lf the General of the Thieves. Th•••• principles of the Christian Religion in which he had been instructed, might something disturb his mind▪ in the•••• courses: But by Thieving he enriched himself; & by restitution he impoverish∣ed himself; & besides, he was likely to meet with great vexation in accomp••••∣ing

with the Mandorins of China; therefore he judg'd, the most expedi∣tious way of freeing himself from the vexatious trouble of making up his Accompts in this world; was to re∣serve these matters till he should make up his Reckonings for all in the next. Thus as for Religion, Icoan did not much trouble his thoughts, which were now wholly employ'd in contri∣ving how to secure & advance his For∣tune; for which the readiest and surest way, he thought, was to turn Pyrate.

Icoan, by the Sale of these Goods and Merchandizes, of all which he had now made himself the proprietary and Master, raised so considerable a sum, that therewith he purchased several Ships, and raised a little Naval Army; and now he had made himself Comman∣der in chief of such a Squadron as might make the Mandorins of China have no great mind to come and call him to ac∣compt. But out he puts to Sea, and in a short time meets with so many suc∣cessful Adventures, that (as the Relati∣on saith) the Barbarossa's and other

eminent Corsairs could not come in comparison with this famous Pyrate. The Name of Icoan was as much fam'd as fear'd; and he was not less valiant than crafty and subtil. But above all, he shewed himself most liberal when any prize was to be shared. The Fame and Renown he hereby purchased, en∣cr••••ased daily the number of his Fol∣lowers: All persons who were either desperate in their Estates and Fortunes or of such loose principles as himself, crowded into his party. Thus the number of his Ships so encreased, that at last he made himself Admiral of a very considerable Navy.

Icoan doth no longer now content himself to prey upon private Vessels, but not doubting of Success, he hath the audacity to go and fight the whole Chinese Fleet, assoon as he was inform∣ed it was preparing to come in pursuit after him. Several other Corsairs had divers time been roving about those Seas, but ei••••her they never kept out at Sea, but whilst the King's Ships were in Harbour, and neglected to scowre

the Seas, or else it was not long before they were surprized and seized upon by those who were encouraged thereto by the great reward which the King promised to any who should bring in the Heads of these Pyrates. Nay, it sometimes happened that these Rogues destroyed one another▪ as he was who came against Icoan. But this Fellow ••••arried himself so cautiously, managed all things with so excellent an order, and was so punctually observed and o∣beyed by all his Followers, that he was not to be surmounted either by Force or Stratagem. Thus he became Ma••••∣ster of all the Seas upon the Coast of China. But he did not stop here, but that his Souldiers might not be idle for want of Employment, he landed, and made Invasions upon the most rich Provinces, pillaged and sacked the people, desolated the Countrey where∣ever he came, neither did he meet with any remarkable opposition against his great Forces, which were then so numerous, that he was able to put out to Sea a thousand Vessels. What can

we attribute all this to, but meer For∣tune? Icoan was but yesterday a small Officer to a poor Handicrafts-man, and to day is Soveraign of the Seas, the Dread and Terrour of people and Pro∣vinces. The King, or rather the Kings of China, for this Corsair upheld his power under the Reign of several Kings, were fully informed of all which passed upon the Coasts; but it was no easie matter to undertake the suppression of Icoan. And there were very few who had so much Courage as to venture near his Squadrons; for his Ships were so well furnished with ex∣cellent Cannon, and he had aboard them so many bold desperate Fellows, and so great plenty of all sorts of Arms and Fire-works, that there was no bo∣dy who had any mind to go in chase of him.

The King, who searched out all possible means to put a period to the Rapine and Violence of this Corsair, at last thought of a very pretty way to suppress him, and this was by a strata∣gem, which was both Warlike and Po∣litick;

but it had not the success which was hoped it might. The Fortunate Destiny of I••••oan prevailed as well a∣gainst the policy as power of his Ene∣mies. There was at the same time a great rumour in the Kings Court of a∣nother Pyrate who roved about the Coasts of some of the Provinces, and behaved himself with that resolution, that he likewise was looked upon as invincible. There happened some In∣terviews between these two Pyrates, and they agreed together not to op∣pose or undertake any thing one against the other; and by this League they supported themselves. The King there∣fore purposed, and did really write to each of them, giving strict charge that his Letters should be delivered to them both at the same instant of time, and with great secrecy, so that one of them when he received his Letter, might not know that the other had been sent to upon the same account.

The purport of the King's Letters ••••o each of these Corsairs was to this effect; That being informed of his Va∣lour,

he was desirous to make use of his Service in an Affair of high im∣portance to the good and welfare of his State; and therefore offered Icoan a General Pardon and Indemnity for all that was past, and to acquit him from the restitution of any thing of which he had been possessed of, ap∣pertaining either to the King or to any private person whosoever: And that he would not only receive him into grace, but make him High Admiral or Captain General of all the Sea Coasts, give him the Office of Great Mandorin, and abundantly shower upon him his Favours and Rewards. But to merit these Graces, he comman∣ded him with all speed with his whole Fleet to attaque the other Pirate, who disputed his soveraignty over the Seas; and therefore it highly concerned him not to suffer any longer such an Enemy to his State; and that Icoan was the person he had made choice of to quell and suppress so eminent a Pirate.

The Letter which the King writ to the other Corsair was to the same

effect; That he might receive him into Grace, &c. he enjoyned him to go, as∣sault and defeat Icoan.

This Stratagem of the King was highly approved of, and it was imagi∣ned that the issue thereof would have been of great importance to the pub∣lick welfare; for in all likelihood each of these Pirates would with great joy have received these Proposals, and should these so powerful▪ Fleets engage each other, it was expected that either they should ruine themselves, or if one should gain the Victory, yet in the Conflict he should have been so shat∣tered and torn, that the Navy Royal which was setting forth upon this occa∣sion, finding him in that condition, might with ease defeat and vanquish him, and thus entirely compleat the destruction of both these Pyrates.

It is not known what operation the King's Letter had upon the inclinations of the other Corsair, the Competitor of Icoan; but as for him, he very rea∣dily entertained these fair propositions; and whatsoever the Design of them

might be, yet hereby he saw an honou∣rable way (which he so ambitiously de∣si••••ed) laid open to him to dissentangle himself from the toils and ••••urmoyles of the Sea, and the perils in which he was involved, and from which it is very difficult for any man, pursued by a powerful King, long to secure himself, And should any disaster happen to him: by giving obedience to these Orders, he knew that his endeavour faithfully to serve his Prince, would Crown his Misfortune with honour. But should he gain the Success he hoped for, he should thereby elevate his power high∣er than ever, make himself glorious in hi•••• own Countrey, and free himself from the fear of being called to an Ac∣compt by the Mandorins.

See now Icoan transformed into a Loyal Subject to his Prince, upon the Reception of his Letter and Commis∣sion, which did as much blemish the Fame of the King, as it did illustrate the renown and glory of the Pyrate▪ who to be received into the Grace and Favour of his Prince, was only to de∣stroy

his great Adversary, which did import his private concern as much as the publick; for there being then no••••e left who could contend with him at Sea, or disturb him in his Enterprizes, he knew he should have it in his pow∣er to make himself feared and beloved by whom he pleased.

Thus this Corsair was sure to make his advantage every ways, but mistrust∣ing, as he had reason, that he with whom he was to engage, might have received the like Order; for this is the usual practise of the Polititians of Chi∣na, and therefore their Countreymen are the less surprized with it; he judg∣ed by delay he should endanger his Success, and therefore resolved with all expedition to put his Design in exe∣cution, and at the very instant issued out all convenient Orders to his whole Fleet, and immediately went in search of his Enemy.

Icoan knew that his whole Fortune depended upon the Success of this Ex∣pedition; therefore he omitted nothing which was expedient to be done. After

he had visited all his Ships, seen that they were very tight and trim, his Ca∣nons right pointed, his men in good order, and in general had put all things in a readiness for Battel, he went and faced his Enemy, who likewise had drawn together all his Force, without all doubt upon the same Design, but had been more remiss and delatory in making his preparation; and yet he fitted himself for fight as well as the diligence and eagerness of his Enemy would give him leisure, who pent him in so clo••••e, that he would not give him liberty to make out to Sea, but char∣ged and assaulted him with all the fierceness and violence imaginable.

Nothing could be added to the Va∣lour and Conduct with which Icoan managed the whole Battel, in which he shewed a Courage and Judgment wor∣thy of an excellent Commander. The Victory was long disputed between both parties, and with all the Valour and great Exploits which can be ima∣gined; and doubtless that which is said of the Combats of Pyrates, that they

make a great noise with ••••heir Guns, on∣ly waste their powder, and do no grea•••• Execution, held not true here; fo•••• most certainly this was a very bloody ••••ight, in which two fierce and sto•••• Pyrates did most obstinately resolv•••• neither to give nor take Quarter, bu•••• either to conquer or to die; but the Success, or rather the Courage and Conduct of Icoan quickly gained him the Victory; which he secured by leap∣ing into his Enemies Ship, and with hi•••• own hand killing him, and cutting off his head, and thereby quickly put an end to the Battel, in which the Victor's Ships were so little endammaged o•••• disord••••red, that they were ready fo•••• a fresh Fight; as for those who had ta∣ken part with his Enemy, and escaped the Fire and Water, they presently struck Sail and submitted to the Victo∣rious Icoan; nay, they immediately sided with him, for they were persons, who though they had changed thei•••• Master, yet they changed neither their Quality nor Condition. Thus Icoan encreas'd both the number of his men

and Ships, and his Fame likewise, and thereby became after the victory both much more powerful and formidable. Then even presently he issued out fresh Orders to all his men to be i•••• a readi∣ness to receive the Kings Fleet, should they make any Attempt upon him.

But this great Success and Conduct of Icoan had frustrated all the Designs of the Chinese Court. He was more potent than ever, and con••••equently more to be feared: He never yet had so gallant an Army, nor so numerous a Fleet under his Command. So tha•••• the Kings Ships which came in search after him, wi••••h design to have fought him, imagining to have found him half conquered already, when they had made up nearer to him, and di••••covered in what condition he was in, pretended now they came with a quite different Design. They came not now to assault Icoan, but to congratulate and give him joy of his Victory. This subtil Corsair, who was perfectly well vers'd in the Art of Dissimulation, did con∣ceal his distrust, and made no shew as

if he had prepared to receive them as his Enemies, but made to the Shore, and when he was Landed, he went and presented to the Viceroy the Kings Letter, wherein he gave him assurance of those great Recompences if he freed the State from that Pyrate, whom he had defeated, and whose Head he then delivered to the Viceroy, shewing him the Ships he had taken, and the men who had delivered themselves up to his Mercy. The Viceroys could not refuse Icoan the Honours and Dig∣nities he laid claim to, since he had so express a promise of them from the King their Master. He presently there∣fore took possession of the High Ad∣miralship, and being back'd and sup∣ported with so many powerful Forces, which made him so dreaded, he re∣solves to maintain himself in that Of∣fice.

Thus is the Grandeur and Fortune of this Pirate now firmly established: He is now rich and powerful, a most Illustrious Person, and highly consi∣dered of by the people: Of a great

Thief, he is now become the great Mandorin of all China; but it is true, in that Countrey Thief and Mandorin differ only in Name: But he is not now feared as he was before; but on the contrary, he is loved and honoured by all the Provinces; for he promises them in recompense of the Mischiefs he had brought upon them, to make them flourish in wealth and prosperity.

He now begins to make the Seas o∣pen and free for Trade and Commerce. It was not very difficult for him to scowre the Coasts, and to clear the Seas of all Pyrates; for which he need on∣ly with his Followers quit the Seas, and stay ashore; for all the Corsairs which used to rove about and ravage those Coasts, had listed themselves in his Squadrons, and were under his Com∣mand; but Icoan and his Followers were too much allured with a Pyrates Life, not to put out to Sea again with all speed. The difference between his former being at Sea, and his present, is only this, that now he robs with the Kings Flag, and under the pretext of

his Authority. There are in all parts of the world honourable Thieves and Robbers, who rob and steal with Roy∣al Authority; but Icoan robbed the King himself, and that with greater audacity than he plundered private persons. There were no Vessels which went out of China laden with Mer∣chandizes for the Neighbouring King∣doms, but he made pay their whole Duties to him; nay, and more than their Duties. And as if Icoan had been King, the Merchants took all their Pasports from him, & esteemed of them much more than they did of those from the King. Thus the Commerce of Chi∣na availed this Officer much more than it did the King himself; and besides all this, he laded several Vessels for Iapan and the Philippines, with the richest Merchandizes of all China, which he had either plundered, or bought at his own price: And this Traffick brought him in yearly Millions of Silver; so that in his Palaces he had several Halls and other Rooms covered over with Plates of Silver, which was become as

common with him as the most ordinary Materials.

The King of China was highly dis∣pleased that his design to destroy this Pyrate, should succeed so contrary to his expectation; for he saw that instead of having ruined and destroyed him, he had confirmed him in his authority, and made his power more dreaded than ever; and therefore now all his Con∣trivance was how to draw him from the Sea, and the best way of doing this, he thought was by employing him against the Tartars, who then made Incursions upon the Frontiers of China; for this end he declared him General of his Armies, and sent him Commissi∣ons to levie new Troops in those Pro∣vinces where he was already Captain General of the Coasts.

He caused likewise several great and considerable sums of Money to be de∣livered to him for the payment and subsistance of his Army: But the in∣tentions and designes of the Court were only hereby absolutely to cut off the Tyrant, either by causing him to

be destroyed by the Tartars, or else by seizing and arraigning him when he should be further advanced into the Countrey, where they might more ea∣sily secure his person.

Icoan very readily obeyed the Kings Orders, but he was too clear-sighted not to see through all this policy, and too subtil not to evade it, and turn it to his own advantage. He delivered out his Commissions, called together all his Troops, and appointed his Field-Officers, and began to march into the Field. But all this time he had laid a Contrivance with his Friends and Con∣fidents, that when he was upon his March, they should in all parts give an Alarm, and should publickly come and inform him that several Dutchmen and other enemies to the State of China did rove about, and ravage the Sea-Coasts, the Guard of which was com∣mitted to his care. Icoan upon the advice hereof made a shew of much trouble and concern, and seemed very much perplexed. He instantly sent advice upon advice, to acquaint the

King with all that had passed upon the Coasts. At last he remitted the ma∣nagement of the war against the Tar∣tars to his Lieutenant-Generals, and he himself presently put out to Sea, to go in chase of these Pyrates which had made such havock upon the Coasts. This was all the desire and intention he had of approaching near the Court.

Icoan understood full well how all Affairs were there managed, and knew that the King did not of himself cause these Orders to be issued out; for it was not he that governed the State, but his Officers and Counsellors, and therefore conceived that it was they who had laid these designes against him, resolving thereby to ruine him. Neither was he ignorant that the Vice∣roys and the Kings Commissioners in the Provinces where he was, were rea∣dy upon all Ooccasions to do him all the ill Offices they could, being instru∣cted thereto by the Ministers of State, who had likewise commissionated them to watch and observe him, and not to let slip any opportunity, whenever

time and place should give them any advantage against him; foreseeing therefore the vexations and trouble in which he should perpetually be invol∣ved by these persons, he apprehended that there was no other Expedient to free himself from so many Enemies, but to resolve to win them to his party, and to engage them in his Interests. This was not very difficult for him who was so well furnished with Money, with which he knew how to supply himself upon all occasions; for he need only lay new Taxes upon the Countrey: By this he knew he should open the mouths of the poor people whom he oppressed, and raise their Cries against him; but at the same time he should stop the mouths, and appease the clamours of those who sought to oppress him. This he thought was the best way to secure and advance himself; and this he resol∣ved to put in practise, and did so suc∣cessfully, that in a short time he was one of the chief Ministers of State. And there was no body hereafter at the Court that ever gave Icoan any di∣sturbance,

but all persons there were highly satisfied with him; for he failed not to supply them with Gold, Silver and Pearls, all which he came easily by.

The poor afflicted Provinces did in∣cessantly make remonstrance to the Court of the Grievances they suffered from Icoan; but his Gold, Pearls and Bribes had so stopped all passages into the Court, that their Complaints and Supplications could never reach the King. The Ministers of State and Eu∣nuchs of the Palace were so satisfied with the liberality of this Corsair, that now he never was mentioned at Court as a Pirate; but as a Loyal and Faithful Servant of his Prince; and all the discourse there was of the eminent Exploits he had done, and the great Services he had rendred the State. It is a strange thing, but it is incident to the Courts of all Princes, that Kings, who ought to be best informed of the state and condition of their Subjects, know less than all other persons the op∣pression and desolation of their Pro∣vinces.

Thus the people without any relief or remedy groaned under the extortion of this Tyrant; for so far was the King from relieving them, that he was utterly ignorant both of their Afflictions and Complaints. It was not to be expected that the Ministers of State or Counsellors to the King should acquaint him with the oppression of his Subjects, since thereby they reaped so great profit to themselves, and be∣ing that Icoan now robbed and plun∣dered for them, they encouraged him to rob and plunder the people more boldly than ever. Thus are Kings ser∣ved, and thus are Affairs governed. Those who have all their Livelihood and maintenance out of their Exche∣quers, are the persons who serve them least faithfully: They devour the Labour and Subsistance of the people, but matter not how their Master dis∣charges himself of the care which he ought to take of the preservation of his Subjects.

CHAP. VII. The Pyrate Icoan made a Treaty with the Hollanders. His Quarrel with the Portugueses of Macao, for refusing to restore him his Daughter, which he had caused to be educated in the Chri∣stian Religion. The Tartar sollicits him to joyn with him. His Fidelity to the Princes of China.

AFter that Icoan had rendered him∣self thus potent both by Sea and Land, he had a mind to make the Hol∣landers, who were in the Isle Formosa, stand in awe of him. This Isle is the nearest Land to the Province of Fokien, from whence it may easily be discove∣red when the Sky is clear. He began to menace the Hollanders, that he would drive them away, unless they re∣treated of their own accord. But it was not so easie to effect this as he ima∣gined:

All that lay in his power to do, was only to put a stop to their commerce with China, and this alone was to do them no small injury; for this would exclude them from the greatest profit and advantage which they made by their Trade to the In∣dies.

The Hollanders, should they be de∣prived of Liberty to trade with China, would lose a great part of their Trea∣sure; for they meet in no parts, no not in Europe, with so considerable Mer∣chandize as the Chinese, with which they traffick to Iapan and other places, and in exchange thereof, receive pre∣sent Money. At the first they vilified Icoan's prohibition, but they had quick∣ly 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 los•••• many more, but what or how many, we are not so well informed. The Hollan∣ders perceived to their cost, with how troublesom and fierce an enemy they

had to deal, and therefore they resol∣ved 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 a∣ble 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 Friend∣ship of Icoan at so cheap a Rate. Af∣terwards 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 in∣structed

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 be∣fore the War had used their utmost en∣deavors 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 conside∣ration to Icoan; for if they met with a∣ny other Vessel, though it appertain∣ed immediately to the King of China himself, and was laden with his Hou∣shold-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 up∣on,

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 him∣self.

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 be∣fore the publick Notaries, then depart∣ed 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 consi∣dered the power of this Pyrate, than even of the King, so likewise hereaf∣ter they sent all their publick Embassies to Icoan, and not to the Court at Pe∣quin; 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 as∣sistance 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 a∣mongst his other Goods, and l••••id up as a present which he esteemed and valu∣ed, but not as a Royal Ornament, nor as an Ensign of his Grandeur and Do∣minion.

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 Com∣manded 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 zea∣lous of the Grandeur and Interest of their Soveraign. The Money of a Pi∣rate had so corrupted them, that though they might have obstructed the Com∣merce 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 pri∣vate 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 Com∣mand.

I judge it now necessary to say some∣thing 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 begin∣ning

of his Rise, he had there a Natu∣ral Daughter, which was then baptiz'd, and brought up in the Christian Reli∣gion. The Christians after being dri∣ven 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 Educati∣on in the Exercises of the Christian Re∣ligion. 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 a Christian, and as for him, though he had been baptized in, and made profes∣sion of the Christian Faith, yet he lived like an In••••idel, and conversed with no others; but they were desi∣rous duly to examine and consider of so weighty an affair; and for this in∣tent, they called an Assembly of Ec∣clesiastical, and other pious persons, who did conclude, that they ought not to restore the Child to its Father. Up∣on

this Icoan menaced them most terri∣bly, that he would come and besiege Macao with a Navy of five hundred or a thousand Ships, that he would fetch away his Daughter by force, ruine and extirpate all those who had retained her from him, and that from that very instant he would begin to reduce them to the extremity of Indigency and Ne∣cessity, by putting a stop to their Re∣ceipt of any provisions or Commodi∣ties from China: But for all his threats they did not restore him his Daughter, neither did God permit him to bring the mischief he intended upon that Ci∣ty.

It is not known what occasion did afterwards calm Icoan; but all persons were surprized, and did much wonder when they were informed that some time after a Vessel which was bound from Macao to Iapan, being by storm driven upon the Coast of China, where Icoan was in person, that he should most courteously receive all the persons belonging to the Vessel, presently sup∣ply them with all Necessaries, and fur∣nish

them with pasports and all the safe∣guards which they could desire for their return into their own Countrey, and did not so much as offer to retain any person, to oblige thereby the Por∣tuguezes to restore him his Daughter, which he did not so much as mention. That all Icoan's rage terminated, and he never after gave any disturbance to the Inhabitants of Macao.

The Portuguezes, who upon this oc∣casion had been so well received, ob∣served that Icoan had a very curious O∣ratory, in which they remarked a∣mongst other things, the Statues of our Saviour and the Virgin Mary, and of divers other Saints; but it must not be imagined that these were any Marks of Christian piety: It was only a testi∣mony that those of that Nation do ea∣sily approve of any sort of Religion; for not being tied to believe a Unity in the Deity, they do indifferently re∣ceive a multitude of false Gods, nei∣ther do they fix the number of them, but leave all persons free to adore few∣er or more at pleasure. Thus since

they are so indifferent as to Religion, and any seems to them good enough, they scruple not amongst their Pagods or Idols, to place the Images of Saints, without making any distinction, or paying more or less honour to those of Iesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, and of other Saints, than to their own Idols. But they equally adore them all as their Gods, and this is the Sum of their Di∣vinity. It is very credible, that though Icoan had been baptized, yet he was ignorant of the Principles of the Chri∣stian Faith; for the Portuguezes could never observe that he ever render'd more honour to Iesus Christ than he did to his Idols; neither did they per∣ceive him to do the least action of a Christian, though then he was amongst the Christians, and then, if ever, it might well be expected he should shew at least some Sparks of his Christiani∣ty; but they did not remember to have heard him ever so much as speak either of the Gospels, Sacraments or Commandments either of God or his Church; and as for the manner of his

Life, that was less Christian; either this wretched man was so impious, or so ignorant, that he equally burnt In∣cense to Iesus Christ and his I∣dols.

The Portuguezes having been thus obligingly received by this Corsair, and knowing how much it imported them to embrace his Friendship, they then commenced to treat with him in rela∣tion to their own Concerns as far as Prudence and their present Occasions required. They had experience that he was a terrible Enemy, a crafty, sub∣til Thief, and very often too near a Neighbour to them: They thought likewise they were oblig'd to have some regard to him, because he had former∣ly lived in their Town amongst them; and therefore they made a Treaty with him upon very honourable terms, and after confided so far in him, as to en∣trust him with their Merchandizes, to transport them in his Vessels to Iapan; for the Portuguezes were deprived of all liberty of commerce thither, by their Edicts, which did severely pro∣hibit

the admittance or entrance of any Christian into Iapan.

Thus Icoan made great advantage with trading with the Inhabitants of Macao, not but that they were sensible what a peril they run; for they knew how great reason they had to suspect, that either this Pyrate, or those em∣ployed under him, might some time or other appropriate all the Portu∣gueze Merchandizes to themselves, and be discharged with pretending only that they were either cast away, o•••• else made prize by the Corsairs. And should such a Cheat as this be put upon them, they had no Remedy where∣by to relieve themselves. But Ico∣an proceeded with so much honour, that the Merchants never perceived any of their goods to have been embezell'd with which they had entrusted him. They only observed that their Gain was less; from whence they conclu∣ded, that he contented himself only to be a sharer with them therein. But of this they acquit Icoan, believing, that it was only those he employed un∣der

him, that thus pilfered. All this they passed over, being desirous to continue on their Trade, though it was with the less profit.

For several years together there was nothing spoke of but how powerful Icoan was both by Sea and Land: And certainly he deserved to be numbered amongst the other Tyrants of China; nay, even then when he passed for a very faithful servant to his King, be∣cause he was so to the Mandorins; and his Gold and Silver prevailed so at Court, that there his Tyranny was ne∣ver spoke of, but only the grand Ser∣vices he had rendered the State. His Authority was so great, that he want∣ed nothing of being King or Emperour of all China, but the Title, which he did not judge convenient for his condi∣tion; for as he wanted not for pru∣dence, he could not but know that the Title of King or Emperour would both render him odious, and ruine him in his Affairs; therefore he contented him∣self with having obtained from the Court the Dignity of Gaucum, which

is one of the greatest and chiefest of all China. It is true, that though he ever pretended to this Charge, yet he was not possessed of it, but under the Reign of the last Emperours of China, at such time as the Tartars had already conquered a great part of the Empire.

Having taken a view of the pro∣gress and height of the Fortune of this Corsair, it remains, that we should now observe what use he makes of it. The Relation gives large testimonies of the Fidelity which he did ever inviolably retain to the Chinese Princes of the Royal Family, which was such, that it might well have served for an exam∣ple to the Grandees of that State. For when he was most potent, he did not only pay all due reverence to the Em∣perour's person, his Orders and Injun∣ctions, but likewise ever highly respe∣cted all the Princes of the Blood Roy∣al. If Icoan would have taken up Arms against his Prince, he was far more powerful than the Usurpers, ••••ha•••• or Ly. So many men he had at

his command, the vast Treasure he was possessed of, did incomparably more capacitate him, either to begin or carry on any Enterprize of that Na∣ture; but it may well be said, that his Loyalty was greater than either his Forces or his Riches. Thus he did not only continue a faithful Subject to his King, but even after the death of Zunchin, and when the Tartars were already entred into China, instead of placing the Crown upon his own head, as he had then a fair opportunity, and as several others did; he on the con∣trary, seated upon the Imperial Throne that Prince whom we before mention∣ed to have been crowned in the Pro∣vince of Foquien; and he it was who undertook his Defence and Support, and after that he had firmly engaged all his Forces by Sea and Land to serve that Prince, he came himself and con∣stantly attended upon his person. Icoan might have employed all this Force in the conquest of a State and Monarchy for himself, or else he might highly have advanced himself by siding with

the Tartars, and thereby might have secured his Fortune; for from the Chi∣neses he needed then fear nothing: But his Duty to his Prince was dearer to him, than the security of his Fortune, nay than of his Life it self could be amongst the Tartars. He saw that he hazarded all by endeavouring to de∣fend a Prince whom it would be very difficult to protect against so powerful Enemies; but probably he was ambi∣tiously desirous of this occasion, to make himself as eminent by his Loyal∣ty, as he had been by his Pyra∣cy.

Icoan now prepared against all At∣tempts of the Tartars, resolving to at∣tend them in the Province of Foquien, one of the three last of the whole Em∣pire, which remained yet unconquer∣ed: Hither he had drawn his choicest Troops, which were composed of per∣sons whose courage he had approved both by Sea and Land, and he Headed them with the Prince who was newly crowned Emperour of China. This Prince and Icoan were two the greatest

Obstacles which the Tartars ever met with in their whole Conquest, which made them now to caress and solici••••e Icoan, who before used only to brave and menace all persons into a submissi∣on to their authority.

I was necessitated to make this Di∣gression, that I might discover what Force the Chineses then had, and who this great Commander was, whose power it was hoped might have preser∣ved some part at least of that Empire from the Invasion of the Tartars.

But now I shall return back to the progress of the Victors, who after they had in the Year 1645. reduced to their subjection the City and Province of Nanquin, with the two other Neigh∣bouring Provinces of Schiamsi and Hu∣guan, and that the three other which bordered upon them, Honam, Suchuen and Iuana had voluntarily submitted themselves, and all this in the space of eight Moneths, the Cham of Tartary's Unkle, who commanded his Armies, retreated to Nanquin, and there con∣stituted a Chinese Mandorin Viceroy;

but still the Flame of the War was not quite quenched, but blazed out in all parts of the Empire, and therefore it was not the intention of this Prince only to pass away his Winter-Quarters at Nanquin, but to consult there the securing his present Conquest, and to contrive the most prudent way of re∣ducing the three last Provinces. And there he concluded, that it would much advance his intended Expedition into these Provinces, if he could engage I∣coan to side with the Tartars; and the best way of accomplishing this would be by intreaties and promises. To this intent he caused a Letter to be writ by the Chinese whom he had ordained Viceroy of Nanquin to Icoan, who had a great value and esteem for that per∣son.

The Mandorin wrote in his own Name, and as it were to a Friend, to whom he judged himself obliged by the Bond of Friendship, to send ad∣vice of this Importance; but it was well known that he only did it by the express Order of the Tartar. The

Subject of the Letter was to let him know, That he would inevitably ruine himself and his Affairs by endeavouring to oppose the Triumphant Victors; and that if he would repose any Credit in him, he should without any hesitation or delay deliver up those three Provinces to the Tartars; That he engaged to him his word, and promis'd him all the assurance he could desire, that this Prince would constitute him Viceroy of Foquien and Canton; or rather that he would make him Soveraign and King thereof, if he would only acknowledge that he held that State from the Emperour of Tartary. It is most certain, the Soveraign of those two Provinces would have been no small King; for they are as spatious as all Spain, and the most wealthy of all China. And as to Icoan, these Countries did more suit his Concerns, than any other, since all his Force and Wealth was there.

Icoan by his Answer to this Mando∣rin, gave him to understand the Loy∣alty he resolved ever to retain to his lawful Prince. He sent him word, That

he was not so credulous as to intrust him∣self in the hands of such Thieves; nor so treacherous as to betray his Countrey to such Tyrants: That he was so far from delivering up those Provinces, whose pro∣tection and defence he had undertaken: That he was most stedfastly resolved to employ the Remainder of his Life, and all his power and wealth to drive these Vsurpers out of China: That this was his Design, and that he should find he would lose no time, nor omit any thing necessary for the Execution thereof.

CHAP. VIII. Icoan demands Succour from the Empe∣rour of Japan, who refuses it him. He maintains a War against the Tar∣tars a whole year. He is taken Priso∣ner, and presented to the Emperour Xunchi. What was the end of this Corsair.

ICoan understood very well what it concern'd him to do after the An∣swer he had returned to the Viceroy of Nanquin. He expected that all the Fury and Might of a triumphant Ene∣my should presently thunder upon him; he therefore mustered up all his forces, and prepared to receive the Assaults of his Enemies. And that he might not be negligent in any thing, he judged it convenient to send an Embassie to the Emperor of Iapan, to demand Suc∣cour from him: He conjur'd this Prince

that he would please to send over some of his Troops into China, upon whose Valour he could more relie than upon his Chinese Souldiery.

The Emperour of Iapan, like the Princes of China, is wholly buried in Luxury. If ever he goes abroad ei∣ther to hunt or course, it is alwaies in a Sedan or Litter, where he is, as it were shut up in a Crystal Cage; he pre∣tends, that it is thereby to command the greater respect and veneration from his Subjects, not that he is affraid to be seen. The Answer which this Prince returned to Icoan's Embassadors, was this; That his Highness never treated, but with Kings his Equals. That if Zun∣chin the Lawful Soveraign of China had asked Aid from him when his Occasions required it, he should have sent a consi∣derable number of his best Souldiers to his Relief: That he should have been as readily disposed to have done the like, had any Prince his Legitimate Successors de∣manded Succour from him; but upon the importunity of any particular person he could not grant it: That his weighty

Councils were taken up with the Conside∣rations of the Affairs of Kings, and that they well merited the Addresses of Kings.

The Answer of the Emperour of Ia∣pan was not so unreasonable; but Icoan did not expect that he would have so much stood upon his Grandeur with him, and was not inclinable to make use of any other Applications, lest thereby he should debase himself in the esteem of the Grandees of his Court. He pretended that he ought to be con∣sidered as the pillar and support of the Empire of China, and that he might well take upon him thus to speak in the name of the whole State at that time, when he was, as it were, the Life and Soul of it: Therefore he resolved to have no more to do with the Emperour of Iapan; and all his thoughts were now wholly busied to put those Forces he had at home, in readiness to receive the Tartars.

Who when they had understood the resolution of Icoan, saw that it con∣cerned

them to lose no time, but with all ex∣pedition to push on their Victory; in the carrying on of which, it was ne∣cessary for them to employ prudence, as well as force. In the first place therefore, they judged it convenient to take care, better to secure to them∣selves the City of Nanquin: And this they did by constituting a Superior Authority to that of the Mandorin, who was Viceroy, ordering the Cham's Unkle, who had conquered these six Provinces, to reside with his whole Court in that City. And that he might appear with greater Lustre, and be more absolute, they gave him the Ti∣tle of King. Thus the City of Nan∣quin, which had been formerly the Court and Residence of the Kings of China, returns now to the Court of a Tartarian King: But yet itnever appear∣ed that this Prince, who had the title of King, had greater Authority than if he had been only Viceroy; and per∣haps there was some Mistake in the Re∣lation, and that really he was only Viceroy. The Sequel will clear this

Point, which to me seems considera∣ble.

The Council of State to the young Xunchi, did do two things of great importance, by the establishment of this Prince at Nanquin: The first was by limiting the great power of the Chi∣nese Mandorin, who was a very subtil and able Statesman. The second was, by constituting the Cham's Unkle King in this great City, they did thereby ho∣nourably withdraw him from the Com∣mand of the Army, that he might re∣mit to a new Commander the conquest of the three last Provinces. They knew that the War which they were now entring upon, was more rough and difficult than any they had been yet engaged in: Therefore though this Prince was valiant and successful, yet because there was a younger Unkle to the Cham, called Pelipaouan, who was more considerable in the Army, and more knowing in Martial Affairs, they judged it very important to empower this latter with the Command in chief of the Army. I could not learn the

Name of the Cham's Unkle first here mentioned; but as for this Pelipaouan, he was a great Hero amongst the Tar∣tars, who did unanimously declare, that the Emperour his Nephew ought to ac∣knowledge the conquest of China to his Valour and Prudence. He it was who was chiefly employed to inspire Valour into the young Emperour, and to animate him to these great Enter∣prizes. By the Tartars he was stiled the Conquerour of China; which Ti∣tle he thought he had well merited by the share he had in the Conquest. To this Pelopaouan was committed the re∣maining Expedition, that is to say, the Reduction of the 3 last Provinces, in which the War was likely to be more rough than it had been in the others; both because the Countrey was very Mountainous, and there was likewise a powerful Army of experienced Soul∣diers fully resolved to make a resolute Defence.

The Prince did with great joy re∣ceive his Commission and Instructions. As there was nothing he desired more

passionately than to answer and main∣tain the Fame of his Valour, so nothing so much satisfied him as to see that he was made choice of to carry on the conquest there where the Victory was most difficult: And as for all the dif∣ficulties and obstacles, he only made a sport of them.

In the beginning of the year 1646 he marched into the Field at the head of an Army of two hundred thousand men, all choice Souldiers; for there was an emulation amongst all ••••he Troops who should serve under this Prince. He had fifty thousand Horse, and a hundred and fifty thousand Foot. He had a Train of Artillery of five hundred peeces of Ordnance, with a suitable proportion of Ammunition, and all other provisions for so great an Enterprize. Amongst several Armies of the Tartars, which had ravaged the State of China, there had been many as numerous, but never any com∣posed of such choice and stout men as those whom Pelipaouan commanded; and it concerned the Tartars now to

employ his best men. As for the num∣ber of men which the Emperour of China and General Icoan had under their command, it is not certainly known: But without all scruple there was in those Provinces above a Million of armed men, those who were at Sea, not being included in the number; for besides the old standing Troops, and the Souldiery which appertained to Icoan in particular, there was an incre∣dible number of men retired thither out of the other Provinces.

Pelipaouan entred first into the pro∣vince of Foquien, where he expected to meet with the greatest Obstacles in the narrow passages of the Mountains. The Prince who had been there crown∣ed, had for six Moneths enjoyed the splendid Grandeur of his Royalty; Icoan the General of his Armies, was likewise there attending on him with his choicest Troops. Both the Armies quickly joyned and engaged. The numbers and the particularities of the Combats and Battels which were then ••••ought, are not remarked in the Rela∣tion:

But both parties being more than ordinarily animated against each other, it is easie to imagine that there were many eminent Exploits perform∣ed on each side. Pelipaouan spent a whole year in subduing this province: He was confirmed that he had not done amiss in having so briskly begun the War whilst his men were fresh and in their first heat.

It was a very bold Attempt, and might seem even presumptuous that this General should at the first enter in∣to this Countrey, where he knew they were best prepared to defend them∣selves: But the consequence manife∣sted that he had reason so to do. The Cities and Strong places of this pro∣vince did not of their own accord o∣pen 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. Not∣withstanding all the diligent inquisition I have made, I could never be parti∣cularly 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 cer∣tain it is, he never quit his station, nor delivered himself up into his Enemies hands, whom he had offended so out∣ragiously, 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 impor∣tance remained to be done in that pro∣vince, but to possess themselves of the person of the King; and this they did in a short time after, and as the Re∣lation saith, presently put him to death; yet by the following Narrative he seems to have defended himself a con∣siderable time; but as to this particu∣larity, it shall be cleared in its due place.

As for Icoan, they thought it conve∣nient

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 intoxi∣cated with prosperities, shall hereaf∣ter see the frailty and deceitfulness of Fortune. But though Icoan was ca••••t down in his Fortune, yet he was not dejected in his spirits; his Chains and Imprisonment had not abated his fierce∣ness and courage; he seemed to shew a very great animosity against the Chi∣neses, 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 bold∣ness, as if he still had several Armies at his command, to present himself to the Victor, and to desire him to em∣ploy 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 fi∣delity 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 prof∣fers of Icoan: He had occasion for Ships & Seamen to reduce the two other pro∣vinces: 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 in∣jurious 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 mainte∣nance 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 acknow∣ledge, that however Treason may please, it always makes the Traitors odious; and on the contrary, though Loyalty be never desired to be very e∣minent in Enemies, yet it alwayes ren∣ders their persons the more estima∣ble.

Icoan, when he saw how vehement∣ly 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, produ∣ced 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 Trea∣son, in having by his Authority opened Silver Mines, and compelled by vio∣lence 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 ha∣ving been taken out of the Mines in China, without the Emperour's per∣mission, 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 Na••••gasaque; part∣ly 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 ac∣cusations, there was produced against him a great number of Informations and Complaints of several Grievances, with which he had oppressed the pro∣vinces: 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 im∣peded their presentment to the Empe∣rour. These Traitors were so impu∣dent as to produce before the Tartar those very Papers which evidenced their having sold themselves to Icoan; and because they sold their perfidious∣ness at so dear a Rate, that thereby they obliged him to grate and pole the pro∣vinces, 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 Loy∣al they were likely to be to a Forreign Prince, who had so often betrayed their lawful Master, and a Prince of their own Nation. How are such Kings and such States to be bemoaned! And how are those people to be la∣mented who have not wherewith to purchase the favour of those who have so great credit with such great Prin∣ces!

As for Icoan, he had yet left him wherewithal to gratifie the Avarice of those who imagined there was nothing more to be expected from him: He had hidden Treasures, which were not yet discovered; and whether he was or he was not criminal, he knew no∣thing could give a better gloss to his Affairs, and therefore he judged that he must resolve to pay new Contribu∣tions to his Accusers: And now he ap∣plies him to re-purchase the favour of

those same Officers whom the Policy and Mildness of the Tartarian Govern∣ment had continued in their Charges and Offices. By these means all his Accusations fell to the ground, and he appeared innocent in proportion as he distributed his Money & Presents. Now Witnesses were produced, who gave in evidence for his justification; and all that was ever alledged against him, was ••••only false suppositions and black calumnies. Thus Icoan, by declaring himself liberal, was declared innocent, dismissed and fully discharged. This was the Justice which this Pyrate's mo∣ney obtained him from the Chinese Ju∣stices and Magistrates.

Icoan was not only cleared, but con∣tinued in his Charge of Gaucum. But it is probable this was no longer than his Money and Bounty lasted; for when that failed, he must expect to be de∣prived both of his Office and his Life.

The Tartar knew what he had to do, when he found it was no longer his ad∣vantage to let live so declared an Ene∣my,

and one who had treated him so disgracefully. Icoan dissembled with all the Art he could possibly; but it was manifest to all, that he was stripped at once of a great power and vast riches. As for the Charge which remained to him, it was only a Name and Title, which conferred some honour upon him but nothing else. And besides, his presence grew daily more and more insupportable to those who not only perceived there was little left to be racked from him, but most earnestly longed to be rid of such a person who could so authentickly and clearly evi∣dence their Extortions. Thus the un∣fortuate Icoan was on all sides in danger of his Life, unless, as some have be∣lieved, he was already cut off by the Stratagems of so many Enemies. This Pyrate who had been so successful in the former part of his Life, now saw that his misery was reserved for his lat∣ter days. This Apostate of the Chri∣stian Religion, this Tyrant and Op∣pressor of so many people and provin∣ces, went now to accompt for all his

Villanies; yet as the height of his Fortune created Jealousie and Envy in all those who were Spectators of his Advancement, so his Fall cannot but move the compassion of all who shall cast their eyes on the precipice.

It may well be said that the Tartars, when they had s••••bdued the province of Foquien, thereby made themselves ab∣solute Masters of the entire Empire of China; for though they had not as yet entred into the provinces of Can••••on and Quansi, yet there they met with so few Obstacles to their Victory, that this Expedition did not much perplex them.

The Emperour Xunchi presently sent several Grandees of his Court to con∣gratulate with his Unkle Pelipaouan for his having reduced that province, and taken prisoner the General Icoan, which he apprehended to be the most consi∣derable Enterprize. And at the same time he constituted him Vice∣roy of these last provinces. This makes it credible that he never gave

the Title of King to his other Unkle, who resided at Nanquin; for it is not probable, that that Prince who neither had the Merits nor excellent Endow∣ments of Pelipaouan, should be made King of six provinces, and he who was stiled the Conquerour of China, and much more considered of at the Court, should only be Viceroy of three. Nei∣ther is it rational to believe that this young Prince should be willing to share out his new Monarchy, or to suffer any to be partners with him in his Royal Dignity, lest thereby they should grow so powerful as to contend with him for the whole. It is most true, that the am∣bition of Reigning will not admit of partnership; no not upon the conside∣ration of Kindred or Affinity. Remus was nearer related to Romulus, who scrupled not to shed his Brothers bloud, lest he should have a Companion in his Royalty. All the occasion there was to suppose that the young Emperours Unkle who resided at Nanquin, was a King in reality, was only this; he had Viceroys subordinate to him; but so

had Pelipaouan. We may therefore conclude that this was no Remarque of Soveraignty, but only a permission which they had from the Court to con∣stitute inferiour Viceroys, reserving to themselves the Superiority and chief Authority in the Government.

CHAP. IX. The Tartars pass into the Province of Canton, where a Chinese Prince is Crowned Emperour of China. They enter the City of Canton, finding the Gates open. A Chinese Fleet which came with Relief, fires the City. The Proclamation which the Tartarian Viceroy causes to be published in Can∣ton.

ALthough there remained two great provinces to be subdu'd before the entire Conquest of China could be compleated, yet Pelipaouan̄, after he had defeated and seized upon Icoan, did not think it glorious enough for him in person to proceed further in that Expedition, in which he saw so little difficulties and few Obstacles which might add Lustre to his former Victories. He setled himself in the

province of Foquien, that he might there provide all things necessary for the reducing the remaining part of the Empire of China under the Subjection of the Tartars: He resolves to begin with the province of Canton, into which he passes over an Army of two hundred thousand men, as he did the preceding year into Foquien: And as if he had already brought all the Inha∣bitants of Canton under the Tartarian yoke, at the same time as he impower∣ed a General or Viceroy in Martial Affairs, with the Command of his Ar∣my, and the direction of all his Milita∣ry Concerns, he likewise constituted a Lord chief Justice or Viceroy in Ci∣vil Affairs, who had the administration of the Civil Government of that pro∣vince.

The General of the Army was cal∣led Ly, as the first Tyrant was, of whom he came little short in his Cru∣elties. And it was the violence and fierceness of this Commander which made these people the more dread the Tartarian Dominion. Till now they

hoped they should have been treated by the Victors with Clemency and Mildness, publick Fame having inform∣ed them of the Moderation and exact Distribution of Justice which the Em∣perour Xunchi and his Unkles had ob∣served where-ever they came: But the violent and fierce procedure of this Viceroy made them quickly change the good opinion they had of this new Government. As for the Lord chief Justice, he was a moderate person, and fitter to command; he endeavoured all he could possible to cherish in the people the esteem they had of the young Emperour's Indulgency and Cle∣mency.

This province being nearer to Ma∣cao, from whence the Relations came to Manila, and from thence were dis∣persed into other parts, hath been the occasion that we have been more exact∣ly informed of all the most remarkabl•••• passages in the reduction hereof. And therefore by observing what manner of Defence the Chineses here made, the truer measure may be taken of the Va∣lour

and Martial Exploits, or rather of the ill Cond••••ct and little Resolution of that Nation. But from the hard usage with which the Tartars treated these people, it must not be concluded that they made the like waste and spoil in the other provinces; for this part of China being very remote from the Court and person of the Emperour Xunchi, notwithstanding all the care and precautions of this Prince, it was not possible to retain the Souldiery un∣der exact Discipline. They were not now paid as heretofore; but that they might subsist, their General, a violent and rash man, by his own example, instructed them in all manner of Licen∣tiousness. And this is the true reason that the desolation in the Southern provinces was beyond comparison greater than in the other parts of the Empire.

The numerous Army which General Ly commanded, began to march out of their Quarters the beginning of Ianu∣ary, 1647. And it being the custom of the Tartars to fall on with all their

force upon the Capital City of the province, all the several Troops Ren∣dezvouzed the 19th. of the same Moneth, within half a days Journey of the City of Canton. It is easie to imagine what a General Consternation there then was. But that we may ob∣serve how fondly ambitious men are of the Title of King, we must here re∣marque that in this City, which could expect nothing but to be quickly redu∣ced under the Dominion of the Tar∣tars, a new Prince of the Bloud-Roy∣al had in the preceding Moneth of De∣••••ember caused himself to be Crowned Emperour of China, though he had but lately seen that several far more powerful Princes than himself had pur∣chased their own destruction by assu∣ming to themselves the Royal Dignity, yet he could not Master the impatient desire he had to be stiled Emperour: His whole State was circumscribed in the Walls of that City; and all his Revenues and Treasury consisted only in vain Expectations. A Moorish King ••••f Cordiva once said, Let me reign to¦day,

though I die to morrow; and that was the Destiny not only of that Moor, but of this Chinese. The pride of men must strangely blind and bewitch them, to make them imagine it so great a fe∣licity to die with their Brows encircled in a Royal Diadem.

This great Emperour of Canton had under him several Souldiers, but ill armed, and as ill paid. They were all fully resolved to flie from the Tartars before they ever engaged in the de∣fence of their Prince. It is true that they had been in several Skirmishes, and had always come off safe, but it was because they took care to secure them∣selves by running away; and without doubt they had reserved themselves for this last time. See what Forces this Emperour had, of whose Name the Relation takes no notice, his Victories having never sufficiently signalized him.

As for the City of Canton, it is said to have been very well fortified; and the vast Riches which were in it made the Tartars earnestly wish that it would

make some resistance, that they might thereby be licensed by the Law of Arms to pillage it. They knew there was a great commerce of all Nations, that several Merchants even of Europe, had their Magazines and Factories there. They pleased themselves with the hopes of the rich plunder they should have if so strong a City should make any opposition. There were then two hundred thousand Inhabi∣tants in it, who were defended with two strong Walls, which were well flanked with Towers and Bulwarks, and fortified with several Out-works, in a very good condition of Defence, and furnished with great store of Can∣non well fixed. It concerned them to defend a King whom they had newly crowned, who had Souldiers enough under him, and though a great part of them were Run-aways, yet certainly he could not but have a considerable number of men knowing and experi∣enced in Martial Affairs. And besides all this, the Town was scituated upon a great Ri••••er, and at the very foot of

the Walls there was a very powerful Fleet of strong Ships well armed, and ••••ufficiently provided both with Men and Ammunition. Finally, there was in the City of Canton both Men, Arms, Ammunition, and Provisions; and all things necessary to hold out a long siege: And yet notwithstanding all these advantages, which might make a Town impregnable, only twenty Tar∣tars made themselves Masters of it; these were some Light-Horsmen who had advanced themselves before the Army; and these alone took possession of the vast City of Canton: Certain∣ly this is not to be parallell'd in any Hi∣story.

The Army of the Tartars made a halt half a dayes journey from the Town, when these twenty Horsemen advanced themselves upon this great Design; for there the Souldiers are not under so exact a Discipline, and stay not, as in other parts, for the word of command. They went up to the very gates of the old Town, which they found open, and presently entred in, and rid through

all the Streets till they came to the new City, where they did the like. They only let flie some Arrows here and there, to strike a terrour in the peo∣ple, and cried out to them that they should not stir, for the whole Bo∣dy of the Tartars were at the Gates; but that they need fear nothing if they were quiet and peaceable.

The Rumour of the approach of the Tartarian Army was scarce divul∣ged in the Town, when the greatest part of the Souldiers, instead of put∣ting themselves in a posture of defence, abandoned their Stations, and quit their Arms. These Braves would no longer now endure any Mark or Badge of their Profession, but plucked off quickly their Coats lined with yellow, which is the usual Habit of the Souldi∣ers there, and having flung away their Arms, went and thrust themselves into the crowd of the common people. The Emperour of Canton remained all alone in his Palace without any Guard, but that of his Wives and Concubines, and some few Eunuchs; goodly Troops

to dispute for victory with the Tartars! And in this extremity his Exchequer was so empty, and his Credit so low, that having occasion for about some six hundred pound sterling, he could not find so much in all his Coffers, nor in the Pockets of all his Courtiers.

This small number of the Tartars run about all the streets and places of the City without meeting for a long time with any person who offered so much as to make them stand. At last some Chineses drew together, and sur∣rounded four of them, who were the most negligent in standing upon their Guard, and having seized them, they carried them to their Emperour, who assoon as he saw them, ascended upon his Throne, and sentenced them to be executed in his presence. This was all the Blood which the Tartars here lost; and at this easie rate they purchased the Defeat of the Emperour of Can∣ton, and the Surprizal of this vast City.

There was not any of the Inhabi∣tants who did in the least think of the

defence of the City; all their thoughts were taken up in contriving how to save their Lives as well as they could: And for this intent, the wealthiest and chiefest persons of the City judged their greatest security would be in dis∣guising themselves like poor Folkes, and in this Equipage to thrust them∣selves into the crowd of the distressed and miserable people. God be praised that it sometimes happens that the rich envy the condition of the poor; for both Friends and Foes alwayes design upon the Wealthy; and it was at these which the Tartars aimed; and there∣fore it the more concerned them to conceal themselves. As for the poor, they had nothing to lose, and therefore might very securely stay in their houses. It was some satisfaction to them that they could now laugh at the Fortune of the rich, who had so often derided their Misery. It was little available to those who were very wealthy to have been so sollicitous to disguise them∣selves: The malice of the common people would not let slip so fair an op∣portunity

to revenge themselves by letting these persons know who it was the Tartars searched for. The Popu∣lace cried out in all parts, Let these Vil∣lains come and shew themselves; Let these Thieves and Robbers who have sold their Prince, that they might heap up such vast Wealth unto themselves, come now and enrich the Tartars therewith; let them now a••••compt with their new Ma∣sters. They have for a long time oppres∣sed and abused us; but they shall now fare no better than we; they shall be now no greater Lords than we are: Shall they be poor only in disguise, and we misera∣ble in reality? Shall they have ruined us, and shall we save them? &c.

The Army of the Tartars came be∣fore the Town towards the Evening, and was not a little surprized and asto∣nished to find the Gates op••••n, as if it were not an Enemies Town. The Tar∣tars went and took up their Quarters where they best pleased; rested them∣selves, and slept very securely, no bo∣dy offering to disturb them, or so much

as ask who they were, or what they came for. The General and Lord chief Justice went and lodged themselves in the old Palace of the Viceroys of the Emperours of China, and were as well accommodated as if they were in their own Houses.

Thus the King of Canton was dispos∣sessed of his whole State the four and fortieth day of his Reign, which he resolved not long to outlive: And therefore assoon as he saw himself aban∣doned by his Subjects, he went and seated himself upon his Imperial Throne with as severe and grave an aspect as became his Royal Dignity. This may represent to our view the Roman Senators when Brennus and the Gauls sacked Rome. In this condition this poor Prince expressed himself to this effect;

The Tartars are possessed of my City, and my Subjects have abandoned me; what can I now expect but death? But I will die like a King. I am mounted upon the Throne, and upon the Throne I

will end my days. Here I will have the satisfaction at the same time to cast a vi••••w upon my short Prosperity, and to face my present Adversity. Here I will attend and see how Heaven shall please to dispose of me; I make no resistance against its Decrees; I patiently submit to its Ordi∣nances, &c.

Some of his Wives whom he had lo∣ved the most tenderly, that they might testifie their passion to him, killed themselves in his presence; a strange effect of Love, that should make ha∣tred to our selves transcend our Love! As for the King, he staid upon the Throne till night; but then he wa•••• no longer minded to tarry there for death; either Fear or Drowsiness made him descend. He had reason not to persist in acting so serious and grave a part, when all his Gravity was so soon likely to terminate; but whatever he did, he could not long escape his Enemies, who searched too diligently for him, not to discover him quickly.

This same night a great Chines•••• Fleet

of strong Ships came from Sea up the Channel to the very City, and brought a very considerable Relief; but they were so mad and surprized to find that the Tartars were Masters of it, that they assisted to consummate the ruine of it; for they were so enraged both against the common Enemy, who was possessed of the City, and the Inhabi∣tants, who had so cowardly delivered it up, that they fet fire to that part of Canton which was called the New City, and was the most beautiful of the whole Town. The Fire catched so fast upon the Houses, which were only built of Timber, that they were in a very short time consumed in the flames.

It is said the Fire was so great, that in the Old City, which was four Miles distant from this, one might see all that night as clear as if it had been Noon∣day. Some believed it was the Tar∣tars which set fire on the City, and af∣ter laid the blame upon the Chinese Fleet: But there is little probability that the Victors would deprive them∣selves of the fruit of their Victory,

by reducing the best part of this great City into Ashes. They had not as yet began to sack the Town, which they fully resol••••ed to do, not mattering, whether they could or could not justi∣fie their intended Act. The Fleet af∣ter they had fired the City, and though it was night, had by the brightness of the Flames shewn themselves, they tacked about, and sailed away; and by morning it was discernable to what a deplorable condition the Fire had reduced the greatest part of that City.

The Sequel of these Disorders was the beginning of those outragious Vi∣olences and horrible Oppressions by which the Tartars have since quite ru∣ined and desolated those once so flou∣rishing Provinces. They did now no longer shew any observance to the Or∣ders and Prohibitions of the Emperour Xunchi. It was one of the Injunctions of this Prince that those Towns and Places which made no resistance, nei∣ther within nor without the Walls, should receive no ill usage; but

that only a Tartarian Governour should be placed there with some Troops, if it was judged necessary, to keep a Garrison there, that he might be able by force of Arms to reduce and chastise the Inhabitants, should they of∣fer to revolt. The City of Canton had not made the least resistance, and of all the Cannon which were placed upon the walls, there was not one Gun fired. As for the death of those four Tartars who had so rashly hazarded themselves, perhaps the Viceroy was not as yet in∣formed of it; or if he was, it is mani∣fest these Straglers entred the Town without any Orders: And whatever is done by any party without the Li∣cense of their Commanders cannot ob∣lige the contrary party as to this re∣gard, to shew any regard to the Mili∣tary Orders which the King or his Ge∣nerals have established.

But notwithstanding all these Prohi∣bitions of the Emperour, ••••he General, who had so passionately wished that the City of Canton would have made some resistance, that thereby he might have

been priviledged to plunder it, would not either rightfully or wrongfully let slip so rich a Booty. He was so trans∣ported by his Avarice and Cruelty, that he had already made sure to himself of the riches of Canton: He now there∣fore contrives to pillage it, though it was against the express Order of the Emperour Xunchi, and against the Pa∣role which he himself had given both before and after he was entred the Town. For this effect, he caused to be fixed up in all the Streets and publick places, several Proclamations to this Purport;

1. Lest any of the Inhabitants should apprehend any violence, he assured them they should not be damnified in the least▪

2. That all Persons without a∣ny exception, should upon pain of Life, within three days cut their hair after the Tartarian Mode.

3. That within these three days the Masters of all Families should present themselves before the Ge∣neral and Lord chief Iustice, and bring in Writing their own Names, and an exact List of all persons in in their Family, so that whose Name should not be found therein, should be reputed an Enemy and Traytor worthy of death.

4. That all Shop-keepers and Workmen should apply themselves to their ordinary Vocation, to gain their Subsistance by their Art and Calling, as they did before the en∣trance of the Tartars.

5. That the Trade and Com∣merce should continue as before, and for this intent, that all places where Merchants used to assemble, all Shops, Magazines, Custom-Houses,

and generally all places relating to Trade and Traffick, should be open and free for the pub∣lick Benefit and Conveniency.

These were the Proclamations which the General published; and I shall now let you see how they were put in exe∣cution.

CHAP. X. The Tartars sack the City of Canton. The Viceroys change the Government. The Death o•••• the King of Canton and all his Followers. ••••he reduction of several places in the Province.

THe twentieth day of Ianuary in the year 1647. proved not very fortunate to the Inhabitants of Canton; for after all these fair promising Procla∣mations, the General began to sack and pillage the Town, which he conti∣nued for three days. At first the Tar∣tars found so rich Booty and Prey in all parts that they thought scorn to burden themselves with any thing but ••••ither Gold, Silver, Pearls, Musk, or such other like things of high price: But afterwards they were not so nice, and did not forbear ••••o accommodate themselves with Silk either raw or

wound, woven or unwoven; and at last they took whatever else best plea∣sed the Fancy of these pillagers: And what but this could be expected from such persons who had all things at their discretion.

But it must be acknowleged, that as in all parts some men are more just and honourable than others, so amongst these Tartars some of the Captains, which are the persons of the highest quality in that Nation, did treat the Inhabitants of Canton with something more of Humanity; for they only went to the Houses of the Mandorins, who presented them either with a Sum of Money, or something else of a very confiderable value. And if they were satisfied with this Present or Ransom, they then withdrew themselves, and search••••d the House no further. And the anxious care with which they keep up their Wives and Women, made them look upon this as a most obliging action. When the Tartars went from this house, they always left some Signal to notifie that it had been pillaged, that

it might not be plundered the second time: But if the Mandorins Present did ••••ot satisfie them, as not being pro∣portionable to the Accompt they had received of his Wealth, then the poor Wretch his house was ransack'd all o∣ver; he lost not only his Present, but all that he had which was good for ought; or at least all the Tartars would please to take; for from that moment he mu••••t expect no mercy; all places in his house were broke open, they rifled and searched every Corner; and seized upon whatever they had a mind to, both Goods and Persons.

This engaged the Mandorins to be most bountifully free of all that they had which was either rich or valuable; for they must now resolve to be very li∣beral; and the most avaritious persons were not unwilling to appear prodigal upon this occasion, where nothing but profu••••eness could protect them. And yet there were some who with all the Presents they could make, could not save themselves: This proceeded from the malice of the common people, who

that they might have the satisfaction to avenge themselves on the Mandorins, were not affraid to give wrong infor∣mation to the Tartars, perswading them that some were more rich than really they were. Therefore some of th•••• Mandorins fared no better for all their Presents; for the Tartars held to their informations, pretending always tha•••• they who were so able might give mor•••• bountifully.

As for the persons of lower conditi∣on, and the common people, they were left to the mercy of the Souldiers, and there is little to be found amongst them. The miserable Inhabitants felt during these three dayes to what a de∣plorable condition that Town is redu∣ced which is abandoned to be sack'd and pillaged; for the Tartars were not content to take from them all they had, but proceeded to those excesses and violences as transcended all ••••he pati∣ence of these poor Wretches; for th•••• Chinese, who are the most jealous peo∣ple upon earth, were sensible of no∣thing so much as to see the Tartars im∣pudently

rush into the Lodgings, or ra∣ther the Prisons and Cages where they kept their Women shut up. I call them Prisons and Cages, as thinking these the most proper names for the places in which they inclose their Wives and Women, being they are close and strictly watched. And this is evident whensoever any Families remove by water to any place; for then all their Women are transported in Sedans, the Doors and Windows of which, though they are very little, are so fortified with strong Iron Wire, that they are not easily broke open. And as for their Lodging in their houses in any Town, there is never any Window in them towards the Street, nor towards any place from whence they may be seen. And notwithstanding all these precautions, the Chinese do not think their Wives are kept sure enough; perhaps it is because some things are lost by being kept too st••••ictly.

But all the strict Guard with which the Chineses kept their Wives, was lit∣tle available to them now: The Tar∣tars

quickly broke open these prisons; and now there was nothing but Massa∣cres 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 insup∣portable to all Nations. The Tartars were not content to commit these Dis∣orders 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 re∣gard to the rich than to the poor; and that the Ladies of the highest quality were compelled to suffer the highest Indigni••••ies.

Th••••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 Coun∣trey▪ and several other innumerable calamities, which made them abomi∣nate both their Lives and themselves. In the midst of this desolation the peo∣ple ceased not to cry and complain to the Viceroys; Is this that which you pro••••ised us? Is this the performance of the assurance you gave us, that no dam∣mage should be done to those who qui∣etly and voluntarily rendred up them∣selves, as we have done, we who have ruined our City and Families by ren∣dring 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 Ma∣ster, so he did not much trouble him∣self to stop the progress of them. As for the Viceroy of Military Affairs, he less concerned himself herein; he

only published some new Proclamati∣ons, by which he prohibited the Soul∣diers to enter i••••to any houses, or to of∣fer any violence to the Inhabitan••••s, up∣on pain of punishment: But these prohibitions were but weak remedie•••• for so great calamities; he only did this out of policy to amuse th•••• people▪ for he himself did most viol••••te these Injunctions, and had the greatest share in the plunder▪ and the Viceroys cau∣sing whatever was most rich and valua∣ble 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 Mo∣ney to pay the Army, they were ne∣cessitated 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 o∣ther hainous Crimes committed by

them, whereby they had reduced the whole City to a very desperate condi∣tion. 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 be∣lieved there was more than fifteen thou∣sand 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 pow∣erful an influence have Women upon men, that they are able to inspire Cou∣rage and Resolution into the Breasts of the most timorous Cowards.

In these three days was utterly rui∣ned and desolated that great City, the Riches whereof did befo••••e surpass the wealth of divers Kingdoms and Nati∣ons.

And after all this barbarous in∣humanity, the Tartarian General said, he wished the Inhabitants would have made some resistance, that he might have been provoked to hav•••• treat••••d them with less moderation: But if this was the moderation of the Tartars, what can we imagine should their Ri∣gour and Sevèrity have been?

After the dayes were expired, du∣••••ing which time the City was abandon∣ed 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 insol••••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 Ar∣mies takes both its Rise and Continu∣ance from the remissness of the Gene∣rals in the execution of their Charge; nay, many times by their own example

and authority they license these Vio∣lences. To prevent the further pro∣gress of these disorders, they com∣manded all the Souldiers to depart out of the Town, and not to return thi∣ther 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 nume∣rous, and ranked in so handsom an or∣der, 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 Eu∣rope it is not possible to hinder the Souldiers from plunder and rapine, in which they place their great happiness ••••nd delight; much less is it possible a∣mongst 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 con∣solation! and yet this induces us all to bear our afflictions the more patiently.

It now remains that we should ad∣mire, or rather be moved with com∣passion, to see on the one side, with what fierce haughtiness the Tartars tre••••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 Ci∣meter; the Chinese only stooped down his head, heaved up his shoulders, and presently be••••ame mute; nay, they kept in their very breath as long as they could; or else they prostrated themselves upon the ground, and up∣on their Knees they studied for Com∣plements how in the most obliging language to reply to the outrages of their persecutors. The miserable crea∣tures

sometimes used such impertinent flatteries that they gave the Title of Highness to the meanest Souldier in the Army; and as for the Viceroys, they dignified them with the stile of Majesty, nay, Divinity if they pleased.

Whenever any of these Comman∣ders went through the City, always some of their Guard cried out aloud to the people, Have you submitted your selves to the great Emperour of Tarta∣ry? The Chineses repeated several times, We have most readily submitted; and testified their submission with all the demonstrations they could possibly invent. And if the meanest Souldier had met in the streets any Chinese, though he was a person of he highest quality in the City, he treated him like a Slave or a Porter, and presently made him carry his Baggage, and without any authority but force and a Tartarian insolence, he compelled the Chinese to do the most servile and vilest drudge∣ries, and that most patiently. But alas, what a cutting and desperate tri∣al was this of the patience of these

miserable persons! For the Chineses, especially the persons of Quality, are so nice, so averse to any thing of labour or toil, and so prone to vilifie and con∣temn others, that nothing so much pierced them as these unheard of In∣solencies.

After that the Viceroys had taken care for the government of the City, by the establishing of several Magi∣strates, who were under their authori∣ty, to render Justice to the people, they thought it further convenient to distri∣bute amongst the people several little Tickets of coloured Paper, about the breadth of two fingers, in which were writ in Chinese Characters these words, People subjected to the Emperour of T••••r∣tary: All persons might securely pass and go where they pleased by the pro∣tection of these Tickets, which were, as it were, so many Declarations of submission and subjection; which they were obliged to have always in a rea∣diness in their hands, or fastned upon their Cloaths. There were other Tic∣kets of a different form for persons of

higher quality; these were four square, about a hands breadth, in which were writ the same words, but in larger Cha∣racters, and these were not of Paper, but of some kind of Stuffe. The Soul∣diers much respected these Tickets, es∣pecially the latter, which was all the priviledge the great and most conside∣rable persons of the City had.

After they had thus setled all things, there remained nothing now but to se∣cure the person of him who was crown∣ed King of Canton. Till now the Vice∣roys contented themselves with the knowledge that he was still in the City, for they had placed so strict a Guard, that neither this Prince, nor any other Chinese could possibly escape; but now they did with all diligence search out for him, menacing all persons who con∣cealed him any longer with death; and by this means he was discovered to them, by those who had been his great∣est Confidents, and had not till now deserted him. Assoon as the Tartars had seized him, they instantly cut off his Head. This was the Catastrophe of

this great Monarch, who reigned only four and for••••y days: A short glory to have cost so dear; but at this rate are the Vanities of this Life esteemed of; and there will never be want of those who will yet most ambitiously court them. After this they put to death all who were discovered with him, and till then had adhered to him: Their crime was only that they durst yet re∣tain some Loyalty for their Prince; and for this the Tartarian policy condemn∣ed them to death: A barbarous and cruel policy, which renders those more criminal who practise it, than those whom it condemns.

All things began now to be setled in their usual method under the govern∣ment of the Tartars, and those they employed under them, having turned out, changed and reformed the ancient Mandorins. These new Masters of Canton began now to apply themselves to repair the dammages which the Fire had done to the Buildings of the City, and the Fury and rage of the Souldiers to the neighbouring places. And now

they took under their consideration the restoring and securing the ancient com∣merce, by encouraging all Tradesmen and Workmen to apply themselves to their ordinary Trades and Employ∣ments, that all persons for the future might for the publick necessity and be∣nefit follow their usual Vocations.

There remained yet several Cities and places in that Province to be redu∣ced under the power of the Victor. That province contains several great Cities; the most considerable of which after Canton, are Xaochin, Xuochen, Nanchium and Hochi••••heu. The Tartars, as their custom is, sent to summon them all to submit voluntarily and peaceably, or else, they gave them to understand, they would send an Army to besiege them, and then they must expect no Quarter. Upon these Summons, the greatest part, not staying for compul∣sion, did readily yield themselves up; but some put themselves in a posture of defence, whereby they did not advan∣tage themselves, and were subdued in a very short time. Those who resisted;

quickly learn'd that they had much better have complied with the times, and have prevented even the Summons to Obedience and Submission; for ei∣ther voluntarily, or by violence, they saw they must of necessity come under the subjection of a new Master: If they did but refuse to pay obedience to the Summons, they were presently sur∣rounded, and the Fields all covered over with innumerable Troops, which made them soon feel the rigour of those penalties with which they had been me∣naced; for the most barbarous and in∣solent of the whole Army presently cast themselves into that party which came against them, and were headed with Commanders not less averse to desolation and destruction; neither Honour, Justice nor fear of punish∣ment could put any bounds to their Rage and Fury. Those who stood up∣on their defence must resolve to suffer most direful calamities. By these means they compleated the entire Conquest of the whole province, except the City of Xaochin, which as yet could

not resolve to submit to so cruel a Dominion.

CHAP. XI. At Xaochin the Chinese stand upon their Defence. Gueqan King of Quans•••• comes into that City. He goes and meets the Tartars, he fights, and routs them. A Division amongst the Chineses. They are defeated in ano∣ther fight, and their City Xaochin taken.

THe City of Xaochin is eminent a∣bove all the places of China, by being the first which is known to have worsted the Tartars. The Inhabitants had the resolution not only to defend themselves, but to go and meet the E∣nemy before he approached their Walls, and compelled him to retreat, after they had routed and defeated him in open field. The City Xaochin is distant from Canton about three days

journey; it is very spatious, and strong, both by its situation, and by several Works and Fortifications, which made it very tenable: It is situated in the furthest parts of the province of Can∣ton, upon the Confines of Quansi, which was the last province which remained unconquered of fifteen, into which the Empire of China is divided.

There was in the province of Quansi two Kings newly Crowned, both of them Princes of the Royal Family, of the ancient Emperours of China. This was, that the Tartar might have both the Glory to conquer two Kings, and the pleasure to make these unfortunate Princes experiment what a grand sa∣tisfaction it is to die with Crowns up∣on their heads. But that which is ve∣ry pleasant, these two Princes were at war together; or rather, they had a Dispute and Contest concerning the Rights and Jurisdiction which each of them pretended to this province; so little did they think of letting the Tar∣tar have any share with them, who was comming to make a better accord

between them, by seizing upon all from them.

One of these two Kings was called Sinhianuan, a young Prince, about twenty years old, raw both in Years, Resolution and Conduct. The other was called Guequan, who, it is proba∣ble was not so young, but as to his Age the Relation is silent. It only saith, he was a man of great courage, and till now had been ever successful in Martial Exploits, and that if at the beginning of the War the Chineses had crowned him Emperour, so that he might have had time to draw together his Troops, and rally up all his Forces, as several Princes had who were crow∣ned in the other provinces, he might probably have kept the Tartars in play, and put a stop to their progress before they were advanced so far into the Countrey.

This Guequan marched into the field, and being resolved manfully to oppose the Enemies, he went towards the Borders of Canton, there to expect their entrance into Quansi. This is

the first time the Chineses durst ever venture to go meet the Tartars▪ And this was the first man in all China, who had so much resolution as not to con∣tent himself ••••o expect them, but went in search after them, to stop them in their March, And to fight them. The City of Xaochin is situated, as I said, upon the confines of the two provin∣ces Canton and Quansi, and was the only City in the province of Canton, which had not submitted to the Tar∣tars. Guequan who was advanced so far, sent to offer to the Inhabi••••ants the assistance of his person, and engaged to them that he would hazard all in the defence of their Liberties, if they would acknowledge him for their King. Those of Xaochin embraced the proposals of Guequan, and pre∣sently proclaimed him their King. He then entred into the Town, which he found very well furnished both with Arms and Ammunition, and a great number of Souldiers, who were fled thither from all parts, and they all seemed resolved courageously to fight

for their Liberty and Countrey, and to lose their Lives rather than to enjoy them in slavery to the Tartars.

Guequan brought with him several considerable Troops into the Town. Amongst his Souldiers, he had some who called themselves Wolves; these were bloody and desperate Fellows, and generally all his men were very brave, resolute, and more zealous for their Liberty than their Lives. The eager courage of the Souldiers did so elevate the Kings resolution, that he thought he was able to do any thing. And that he might take the advantage of their present heat, he resolves to lose no time, but with all speed to give battel to the Tartars. He therefore takes the Field; but his resolutions and counsels were not so secret, but the Tartars were informed of them. But they could not perswade them∣selves that so little a corner of the Em∣pire, which they looked upon as con∣quered already, could be able to form any Enterprize which could retard their Victory. Pelipaouan himself did

so vilifie all the resistance these provin∣ces could make, that he would not so much as stir from Fochien. He judg∣ed it unworthy of his Grandeur to ap∣pear in this Expedition, being willing to remit the glory thereof to the Vice∣roy of Military affairs in the province of Canton: He only sent him some new supplies of men, with order, that assoon as he had taken sufficient care for the security of the City and Pro∣vince, he should with all expedition go with a very powerful Army before the City of Xaochin, and make that and the province of Quansi submit; com∣manding him withal, that where-ever he came, he should leave no crowned Head alive, nor man breathing who could lay any claim or pretension to the Soveraignty.

The Viceroy departed from Canton at the head of an Army of near two hundred thousand men both Horse and Foot. He caused likewise a numerous Train of Artillery, with all necessary provision and ammunition to be drawn into the Field along with him. And as

for the Government of all affairs of the City and Province, both Civil and Military, he committed it to the ma∣nagement of the Viceroy in Civil Af∣fairs. And for his better security, he left him a sufficient Guard of Souldiers. This great Army came in a very few dayes within view of Xaochin; but be∣fore he could approach nearer the Ci∣ty, he met with Guequan, who shewed himself very ready to engage him; for he had drawn up his numerous and gal∣lant Troops in very good order, ready to give Battel. The Tartars, assoon as they perceived them, began to vilifie this shew of courage so little usual in the Chineses, and look upon this fine Muster as only an effect of a very vain and frivolous audacity, which would be but ill maintained, and therefore he instantly came up to them, and fell on with the main Body of his Army, but disorderly enough, as they usually do. They thought they should at the very first encounter, without any diffi∣culty have routed them; for having so often beaten the Chineses, they looked

upon them as already defeated; but the first Charge had not that success they promised themselves: The Chi∣neses did make no great Noise, being mad and ashamed to see themselves thus vilified by these Barbarians: But when those who charged them thus scornfully, came close up to them, they let them see they knew how to fight. The Tartar Horse more especially found the Body of the Chinese Pikes so firm and close, that they could not break in so soon as they imagined; now they came to their Lances and Cimeters, and here the Chineses shewed themselves as firm and as resolute as the Tartars; but they did not much make use of their Bows and Arrows, but fired continu∣ally, and played very briskly upon them with their great Guns. This Charge was managed very resolutely and stoutly on both sides. The Chi∣nefes kept their ground, by which those who so assured themselves of the Victory, began to understand that there is no Law that one party should ever conquer, and the other always

be conquered. The Field began to be covered with the Tartars who lay dead and wounded, and their Blood began to stream out in all parts. The Chineses now advanced, but could not perswade themselves that the Victory could be theirs, nor could the Tartars imagine they could be defeated; so much do men from custom claim autho∣rity over that which they acknowledge to be Fortune and Hazard. Thus in that famous Battle in Spain, than in which Victory was never more hotly disputed; Caesar could not imagine young ••••ompey could defeat him.

But at last the Tartars and Chineses both began to believe what they saw so evidently, and the Tartars being rout∣ed, fled away in great disorder. The Chineses hereby being fully convinced of the advantage they had, pursued very close after the conquered. The one side now confessed they had lost the Day, and the other cried Victory. Thus the Chineses should have defend∣••••d themselves in the first provinces: If they had there fought thus valiantly,

it is manifest, all the Tartarian Force could never so soon have compleated their Conquest. Troy for ten years held out a Siege managed by other-guess Souldiers than these.

The Chineses returned after their Victory to Xaochin, and entred the Town in great Triumph and Glory, and were received by the Inhabitants with Tears of Joy, and for several dayes there was nothing but Feasting and Entertainments; for the people could never satisfie themselves with embracing and applauding those whom they looked upon as the Liberators and Avengers of their Countrey; but this was to proclaim a Triumph before the the Victory. The advantage which the Chineses had now gained might have put a stop to the progress of their Ene∣mies, had they known how to make use of it; but the fond vanity and pride of that Nation presently created Discord amongst them, and thereby sacrificed them to the Vengeance of their enemies.

There was in the great Fight Soul∣diers

of both Provinces, both of Can∣ton and Quansi: Those of Canton were in Xaochin when Guequan was ac∣knowledged, and received as King. The one and the other had equally sig∣nalized themselves that day; but when they were returned into the Town, nei∣ther the one nor the other would yield that there ought to be any equality in the praise and applause which was due to them, each party pretended that they alone had routed the Tartars, and that they were able singly to make head against that terrible Enemy. So great a haughtiness was there in this Nation, that a contest amongst them for praise and glory divided them into two di∣stinct parties, whereby neither the one nor the other long subsisted.

The Tartar was touched to the very quick that he had been routed, and therefore now busied all his thoughts in contriving how to efface that ble∣mish which did so discredit the Fame of his Arms: Therefore without losing any time, he marched again into the Field, being extraordinarily animated

against the Town of Xaochin. He was sensible that he was defeated before, by having made too sure of the Victo∣ry, and having too inconsiderately un∣dervalued his Enemy; he therefore now resolves to take his advantage more prudently; he drew up his Ar∣my in that order of Battel which he judged most convenient, and gave out all Orders necessary both for the as∣saulting and routing his Enemy more assuredly.

The Chineses failed not to come and present themselves to a fresh Battel, but they were not now so numerous as be∣fore. The Militia of the two Pro∣vinces stood upon their punctilio's of Honour; and they had chosen forsooth a very seasonable time to dispute these points. Those of Canton maintained most obstinately, that all the Glory of the Victory ought to be attributed to them solely. And upon this they of Quansi thinking they ought not to put up this Affront, refused to march into the Field: If (say they to those of Canton) you alone defeated the Tartars

the last time, you may do it again the se∣cond time; see how they come now to pre∣sent you with a new Victory: Go and rout them again, and then return in tri∣umph into the City.

Guequan with all his credit could not accord this difference; he foresaw the mischief, which did hereby threaten both his Army and the City; but as he was a King only by Courtesie, and stood in need of those from whom he held his Grandeur, to support it, he could not so absolutely command, for he was not so absolutely obeyed. Those of Canton went singly to present them∣selves to the second Fight. The Tar∣tars came against them extraordinarily animated, and in so good order, that the Militia of both Provinces would very difficultly have undergone the first Shock, and the Battel was scarce begun, when it was quickly perceived to which side the Victory declined. The brave Cantoners, quickly fled, ho∣ping to save themselves within the walls of their Town; but such was

their Misfortune, that the T••••rtars pur∣sued them so close, that they entred pel-mel the City with them.

Guequan, when he saw himself as ill obeyed by those whom he led into the Field, as by those who refused to fol∣low him, being surprized that the one run away so cowardly, and that the o∣thers to revenge themselves on those of Canton and Xaochin, neglected to su∣cour them as they might have done, he only now took care to escape himself from the fury of the Tartars: He knew they would lose no time in endea∣vouring to seize upon him, & therefore he resolves to lose none in securing himself, but with all possible speed he retreats into his Province.

Assoon as the Tartars had entred the Town, being in a rage, they fully re∣solve to satiate themselves with the blood of their Enemies, & thereby they reduce that unfortunate City to a meer Shambles of Humane Flesh. The Mas∣sacre continued for several days; and the Victors who were exasperated up∣on

several accompts by their Revolt, Resistance, Presumption, that they they durst come and fight them, and by the Victory they had obtained, to the great disrepute of the Tartars, and by the Blood of their Nation which they had spilt in so great a quantity, they took all the vengeance which they thought ought to satisfie their Choler and Fury. Miserable City, which af∣ter so successful a beginning ought not so unfortunately to have drawn upon it self its own unhappiness and ru∣ine!

Assoon as Guequan was returned in∣to his province, he presenty reconci∣led himself with the King Sinhianuan. They were neither of them of opini∣on to let their private differences dis∣unite their Forces, of which they had equally occasion; having to contend with so powerful an Enemy. Each of them thought now only how to defend himself in the Succincts of his Sove∣raignty; but scarce were these two Monarchs united in their friendship,

when two new Kings start up in the same province: They were two per∣sons who had nothing which could re∣commend them either by their Birth or Quality; and their whole Soveraignty was limited in the Jurisdiction of three or four towns, which acknowleg'd their Dominion. Thus the Royal Dignity heretofore so adored in China, was now become a prey to the Ambition even of the meanest persons. In the single province of Quansi there was at the same time four Kings; and these who were only like so many Kings in Cards, or in a Play, yet they took up∣on them high Titles and Pretensi∣ons.

It is believed that the two Kings last mentioned were Mandorins, who after they had scraped all the Money they could possibly from the people upon pretext of making warlike preparati∣ons, finding their Extortions would be no longer suffered, thought themselves necessitated to cry and stand up for li∣berty. They thought they could not better stop the complaints of the poor

people, but by declaring that they were ready to sacrifice themselves for to defend their Countrey, and revenge themselves of the Tyrant; and for this they offer'd to hazard their persons and their Fortunes; but that they might be better enabled to serve their Countrey, they must be Crowned Kings of China; to which the people readily assented, and now instead of Complaints, there was nothing heard but Applauses and Acclamations: But these Impostors did not much consider either their Countrey or Liberty, when they saw how rashly they had engaged in a business which surpassed their abi∣lity to manage, they quickly abandon∣ed their Crowns. They considered not only how to benefit themselves by their Royal Dignity, by abandoning it to the Tartar, and deserting those who had declared them their Prote∣ctors. It is not to be wondred, that this miserable Nation should amidst such Treacheries and Deceits be so ruined. The Reign of these two Monarchs was not of a much longer continuance than

in that Countrey a Comedy is acting; and these did not play their parts ill. They recollected together all they had pillaged, which made up a very rich Booty, and then retired themselve••••, being loaden with the spoil of those whom they had not only oppressed, but sold to their Enemies. Able and sub∣til Knaves know how to disentangle themselves out of any troublesom af∣fair, and it is only weak and innocent persons who are miserable in this world.

The other Kings, Guequan and Sin∣hianuan, who were Princes of the Blood Royal, though in a very remote degree related to the last Emperour, continued more faithful to their Coun∣trey; being endowed with more ge∣nerous souls, they resolved to run the same hazard both of Life and Death with those who had acknowledged them for their Kings. Against these 2 Sovereigns the Tartar now marches. He was already entred into the pro∣vince of Quansi, and in a little time possessed himself of the great City

Vecheu: It made some resistance, but as it usually did, it proved very fatal to those who undertook its defence. The City was sacked and pillaged; but the Tartar spared, as much as he could the Lives of the Inhabitants, because they had not very obstinately resisted; so that if any Murder was committed, it was only by some Accidents which are unavoidable in a Town which is sacked, and that by Barbarians.

From hence the Tartars passed to the other Cities in that Province, in which there was none which did not instantly upon the appearance of the Tartars, open their Gates. They made the more hast to submit, because it was reported that another Army of the Tartars was entred into the Neigh∣bouring Provinces, and advanced with all speed towards them. These were Supplies which were sent to recruit and strengthen the Army which they had heard was defeated before Xaochin: But the Viceroy sent now orders to the General of that Army to retreat back into the Province whither he was

commanded before; for he had no occasion for these new Forces, those he had being sufficient to compleat the entire Conquest of that Province, had it been greater than it was. The Ge∣neral upon the Receipt of these Or∣ders, marched another way with his Army.

I must here take notice that there was a Rumour that since that, Guequan was again entred into the Field, had obtained a new Victory over the Tar∣tars, and retaken the City of Vecheu, in which the Viceroy then was; after which, he pursued him so close, that he obliged him to retreat to the very Borders of the Province, where he staid expecting Relief, that he might be able to regain what he had lost. I could not possibly learn the truth of this Story, and therefore it is the less to be credited: But however it was, it is most certain that Pelipaouan had sent very great Supplies both of Horse and Foot, and that upon the Rumour of the Resistance which was there made, so great a number of Tartars

ran thither, that it is little likely the Chineses could gain any great advan∣tage.

Neither have I been informed what these great Armies did in that Pro∣vince; only in the General, that after they had over-run the whole Country, as a Torrent overthrows and carries a∣way whatever opposes its Current, so nothing could withstand the fury of the Victors. This is all which the Re∣lation saith, which was writ towards the end of 1647. But it doth not set down any particularity, but only that there was no more Chinese Kings after these two Princes dyed with their Sword•••• in their hands, for the defence of their Coun••••ry. This was all they could do, to prevent the oppression of their Subjects: But the People were not relieved, though the Princes thus readily laid down their Lives to ende∣vour to preserve some part of the State. Guequan only gained a great Name and Reputation, which can ne∣ver dye in the Memory of the Chineses, neither can their Grief, that they did

not declare him King at the very be∣ginning of the Irruption of the Tartars; yet there have been some Chineses who have pretended that Guequan was still living, and that he had expelled the Tartars out of the Province of Quansi. There can only be in the Kingdom of Castile a Don Pelage, nor can there be another Garcia Ximenes but in the Kingdom of Arragon.

The Tartars by the reduction of this Province, compleated the Con∣quest of China: And the young Xun∣chi was Master of all the Fifteen Pro∣vinces which compose that vast Em∣pire. This Prince at the Age of thir∣teen or fourteen years, was Soveraign of three most vast and puissant States, Tartary, China, and Corea, which though they be of so great an Extent, yet are contiguous one to the other, and are at present united into one State. All these spacious Countries were Conquered in less than four years; so that as it was formerly said of Alexander, so it may be said in our days of the Tartars, That they have

not made so many Conquests, as they have overrun and robbed Countries: It is most certain, that if these great Armies were only to have Marched over these vast Countries, it would have taken them up as much time, as it did to Conquer them: And if Alex∣ander had ever heard of another Xun∣chi before him, he would with as much reason have envied him, as Caesar did Alexander: Caesar was troubled, that he began his Conquests only at that Age, before which Alexander had fi∣nished his: But that Conquerour him∣self, might have had as great occasion to complain, that he had done nothing at that Age, at which we hear our Xun∣chi had ended his Glorious Conquests. And if this Prince lives long, and still marches on as fast as he hath begun, either the World should be greater than it is, or else some new one must be discovered; for, according to the vast projects with which this Conque∣rour flattered himself after his Victory, the whole Earth is too little to give suf∣ficient employment to his great Cou∣rage.

CHAP. XII. Disturbances in the Maritime Provinces. Some Chinese Princes retire them∣selves into the Mountains. Others by Treaty make their peace with the Tar∣tars. One who had conceal'd himself amongst the Bonzi, discovers himself to the Viceroy, and is carried into Tartary.

AFter that the whole Empire of China was entirely conquered, the Victors yet for some time, both by Sea and Land found sufficient employ∣ment for all their Forces. The peo∣ple who were newly subdued, but es∣pecially those of Fochien, Canton and Qu••••nsi, made divers Insurrections in several places. The Tartars did with greater facility retain under their obe∣dience, and dissipate the Conspirators of the Inland Countri••••s: But as for

those Rebels who took the Sea, and ro∣ved about the rivers, these gave them so great a disturbance, that they thought they could never have surmounted it. It is not that all the Attempts the Chin••••ses could make did much affright the Tartars; but these Incursions did continually disquiet and trouble them: These Rovers did not only disturb the Tartars, but they preyed upon their own Countrymen, robbed and pilla∣ged the Lands of the Neighbouring Princes, and the Allies of China.

As for the other provinces which were more advanced up into the Coun∣trey, and lay nearer to P••••quin, where the Tartarian Emperour resided with his Court, there was not any commo∣tion since those people first submitted themselves: But they lived as peacea∣bly and as quietly as if there had been no alteration in the Government. But as for the 3 provinces of Fokien, Canton and Quansi, they being more remote from the Court, and the Souldiers which were commanded thither, having by their inhumane violences brought a

most horrible aversion to their new Do∣minion, it was not possible to reduce things there into any order or peace. It is true, that as for Quansi, I cannot tell what should have so prolonged the War there, as in the other two pro∣vinces, unless it was the pretension that Guequan was up still; and that he might the better watch his advantage, he had retreated with his Souldiers and Followers into the Moun••••ains: But it would have been very difficult for this Prince long to have subsisted; and be∣ing surrounded with so great a number of Enemies, it was not possible he should escape, being met with by some or others, but must soon have been de∣feated, having no Forces to defend himself.

It was also reported that the King Tanv••••n did with some Troops still de∣fend himself in the province of Fokien, where Pelipaouan then was. This was that Prince whom the Corsair Icoan had caused to be Crowned after the death of the Emperour Zunchin, and under∣took his support and defence against

all the Force of the Tartars. This King of China was said to be still living. But the Relation calls him Luvan in∣stead of Tanvan; which at first sight might give occasion to believe that these were two distinct Princes: But by the sequel it is manifest that this could be no other than the first Tanvan who was Crowned six Moneths before the Tartars entred into that province; for the Relation remarks, that the Prince who still supported himself, was the same who had governed that pro∣vince in great tranquility the space of six Moneths; which can be understood of none but Tanvan, who was Crown∣ed much about that time before the ar∣rival of the Tartars. And there is little probability that after they had made themselves Masters of the Coun∣trey, there should be any Prince who should reign peaceable six moneths, no not six hours. There could not there∣fore be any other King then in those parts but this Tanvan, who was belie∣ved to be dead, because he disappeared ••••fter ••••o••••n was taken prisoner, though

here the Relation takes notice that there was still mention made of him; & perhaps this Prince had two Names, and this might occasion his being spoke of as two different persons: But this was the Prince whom the Chineses said to be still living, and that he was reti∣red into the Mountains, where he se∣cured himself by often changing his Station and place of Retreat. It was also said he had with him Icoan's Son; as for the Father, there was no more mention of him: This young man is spoke of as a person who did his Prince very eminent Service: It is verily be∣lieved, he was a stout and couragious person, and gained a great repute, both upon his Fathers account, and having been instructed by the Hollanders at Xacasià, in the exercise of the Art Military, as it is practised in Eu∣rope.

This is said to have been the State of affairs in the province of Foquien; but it is scarce to be believed, that Pelipa∣ouan, who was so puissant, should let things long run thus: And this clear∣ly

appears by the same Relation, which remarks, that the Governour did in∣cessantly send very considerable Forces both Horse and Foot, out of this pro∣vince into Canton; from whence it is evident, the King of China did not much disquiet him. All these Rumors, which had no very good ground, pro∣ceeded only from the shame the Chi∣neses had to have behaved themselves so cowardly; for seeing themselves thereby reduced to that sad condition, they invented several Fictions, that they might be thought to be very cou∣ragious: But this Arrogancy benefit∣ed them but very little, nor those small Attempts they made that they might not seem quite subjected. The truth is, they were so very low, and in a con∣dition so far from being able to restore themselves to their pristine Liberty, that to dare only to turn their head a∣gainst the Tyrant, served only to exas∣perate him, and make him shed their Blood afresh, and shew them no Mer∣cy.

It was in the province of Canton,

where the Tartars found the greatest trouble and resistance, even after they believed themselves Masters thereof. And there was reason to believe that the Concern of the Chineses might yet have a more favourable success. The City of Hunchicheu is one of the most considerable of the whole province▪ and there a Conspiracy suddenly broke out against the ••••artars. They had chosen for their Head a King whom they had Crowned upon this D••••sign. This person had made himself very eminent by his Thieveries and Rob∣beries, and these were his sole quali∣ties for which he was considerable▪ For even Thieves and Robbers, if they grow potent, are so far consid••••red of, as to be regarded as Soveraign Princes. Those of Huchicheu did very unfortu∣nately fail in their expectations: They took up Arms upon the belief that the other Towns would have done as much in the absence of the General, who was gone to conduct some Troops into the province of Quansi; but none of the other Towns stirred, and they did

herein very wisely; for that City which did so unseasonably declare it self, was quickly sensible both of its Errour and Misfortune. The Thief whom they had acknowledged for their King, plaid the Thief still. He only now robbed these miserable and unfortunate people with greater au∣thority; for he pretended they were obliged to support his Grandeur; and now he designes, if he can, to rob the Tartars; for this intent, he treats with them, and covenants to sell them his Crown, and his whole State, the City of Huchicheu; he comes and renders up himself to the Viceroy of Civil Affairs, who governed that province in the absence of the Viceroy of Mi∣litary Affairs, and resignes up to him his Regal Ornaments, and was by the Viceroy received with all the Honour and Favour he could expect.

The honourable reception which the Tartar gave to this person, who came and thus rendred up himself, in∣duced a Prince of the Blood Royal to take a Resolution to treat for the like

accommodation for himself. He had concealed himself in the Province, and had refused all Ensignes of his Royal Dignity, though he merited them much better than the King of Huchicheu. He preferred the Crown of a Bonzi, by which he did some time disguise his Quality; for he was acknowledged by the whole Nation for a Prince of the Royal Family: But seeing with what danger the Regal Dignity was attended, he was not much ambitious of it. He withdrew himself into the City of Canton, and there stayed till the Tartars drew very near it; then he judged it more secure to retire him∣self elsewhere, and went and placed himself in the Monastery of the Bonzi, by whom he was very kindly received. These Chinese Monks seemed much mo∣ved at his Misfortune, and promised to conceal him with all the secrecy he could wish for. And to this intent, they cut off his hair, leaving him on∣ly a Circle round his head, which is that which I called his Crown, which I said he preferred before all others,

and then they put on him the Habit of a Bonzi; this is the name of several miserable persons, whom the Devil deludes, and prevailes with them to retire themselves into solitary places, that they may there pay the greater honour to their Idols. In one of these Monasteries this Prince had now lived concealed, and the Bonzi proved very faithful to him, none of them offering to discover him to the Tartars; but he was not secure from fears and perpe∣tual Alarms: He believ'd a Secret could not long be kept amongst so ma∣ny of the Bonzi; for in some of these Monasteries there are sometimes five hundred or a thousand persons, and the greatest part of these kind of per∣sons are not too much to be trusted or relied upon, though they make such an extraordinary profession of Virtue and Sanctity. This Prince therefore ha∣ving heard that the Viceroy was a per∣son of so much Honour, and so punctu∣al to his word, resolves after he had first treated with him by some of his Friends, to go and render up himself

to him. This he did, and the Viceroy failed not to receive him with all the Honour he could wish for: But all this kind reception did not secure him, that no attempt would be made upon his person; for till now the Tartars had put to death all the Princes of the Blood Royal of China, whom they could discover. It is true there was not any yet, who relying upon their Parole, had delivered up himself to them; and perhaps upon this conside∣ration, they thought fit, that they might better secure him, only to con∣duct him safe into Tartary; but he was still in hazard some time or other, to lose his life, that they might be out of all fear of him; a strange Justice which makes a man criminal, because those of the same Blood with him have been so unfortunate as to lose their Empire and Lives!

CHAP. XIII. The State and Condition of the Portu∣guezes of Macao. They had conti∣nued Neuters between the Chineses and the Tartars. Their Fear lest the Victors should make some Attempt upon their City. They are better treated than they expected.

BEfore we leave the Shore of China, to see what the Rebels did, who had taken Sea, I judge it convenient to give some account what was then the state and condition of the Portu∣guezes of Macao. This is a place of which they are possessed in China, and is one of the best and wealthiest Plan∣tations they have in all the Indies. The City of Macao is situated in an Island some fourscore Miles distant from Can∣ton, threescore of which are gone up∣on a large and beautiful River, and

the other twenty by Sea. Macao is suf∣f••••ciently known by the Relations of those who have made several Voyages thither from divers places in Europe. But perhaps it may not be unaccepta∣ble to have a Relation how the Inhabi∣tants behaved themselves in this great Change of the Government of that State on which they must alwayes on necessity have dependance. The City of Macao cannot subsist but by keeping peace and a good intelligence with Chi∣na, and with the Ruler in chief whoso∣ever he be; for besides the great ad∣vantage and profit they make by their Commerce thither, which occasioned the building it about a hundred years ago, and hath since enlarged and en∣riched it, it can have no provisions for its subsistance but from China; so that if no Army should besiege it, and none should come to scale & undermine the wals thereof, yet of necessity they must perish, if the Chineses would but have the patience to reduce it by want of Necessaries. Macao is built upon a heap of Rocks; the Fields, Vineyards,

and Olive-Gardens, and whatever places else furnish it with necessary provisions, are in China: All must come from thence, and it can no ways receive from any place else those things it stands in need of for its daily subsi∣stance.

Therefore for all these Reasons the Portuguezes did very discreetly manage their Affairs with the Chineses. And it concerned them to be very prudent and circumspect, to keep fair so long with a Nation which is not to be paral∣lell'd in the whole world for diffidence and distrust; yet the Portuguezes lived so well with these people, that they were as well esteemed of as the Chi∣neses themselves, and they are the on∣ly Strangers with whom the Chineses could ever be prevailed with to have any dealings or confidence. But so great was the Friendship which the Chineses have shewed to those of Ma∣cao, that it had almost quite ruined the Town; for divers times they have been just upon declaring themselves, in favour of the Chineses, against the

Tartars: yet during the late War, they alwayes kept themselves in a Neu∣trality, having considered what danger they had formerly run by being willing to succour the Chineses against so po∣tent Enemies; which is manifest by the ancient Relations from China. But in this general revolution the peril was infinite greater; for all those persons who had caused themselves to be crow∣ned the Kings of China, failed not e∣ver to demand aid and succour from Macao, and there were always some of the Inhabitants who were inclinable e∣nough to favour their Interests. But they had a more particular regard for that Prince who was Crowned at Can∣ton; for there ever was a very close correspondence between these two Towns. Those of Macao had received divers Favours from those of Canton, and for this reason, the Portuguezes seemed obliged not to abandon their Friends in their distress; yet they con∣sider all the Succour they could send would signifie little, and it would in∣fallibly draw ruine and destruction up∣on

their City; therefore they resolve not to run the hazard of exasperating so dreadful and ••••nemy. It is good to consider upon weighty Affairs more than once; and whoever would not repent quickly, should not resolve suddenly.

The Tartar did so highly esteem of the Prudence of those of Macao, in not having, during this war, declared a∣gainst him; that upon this sole consi∣deration, he was stopped from making any attempt upon their Town: It is not but that they were in perpetual alarms: They knew that the Viceroy in Milita∣ry Affairs at Canton, was very potent, that he was one who grasped at all, kept his Design very close, and one who was very perfidious, and therefore not to be relied on. He often appear∣ed at Sea with a very great Fleet: He pretended it was only to go along the Coasts in chase of the Chinese Pyrates, but he often approached very near the City of Macao; and they them∣selves heard the Souldiers in the Tar∣tarian Army declare publickly that it

was not very difficult to pillage Macao; for nothing could hinder them whenso∣ever they pleased. The Viceroy was not less zealous than his Souldiers to en∣ter upon any Enterprize which might equally redound both to his profit and honour. This did not a little disturb the Inhabitants of Macao, who were upon this account diffident of his Inten∣tions. But of several things which this great City had reason to appre∣hend, there were two which did prin∣cipally seem to render its ruine inevi∣table.

The first was, the Fame of the great Treasure and Riches in Macao, which in former times there really was; but the War in China, and those Calamities which ever attend it, had now redu∣ced it to a far different state. The whole wealth of that City consists in several rich and precious Merchandizes which the Inhabitants yearly receive from China, and transport them from thence into Iapan or the Philippine Islands, and there in exchange they receive Ingots of Silver: But for the

eight preceding years, the Commerce had quite ceased; by reason of the war, they could receive no Commodities from China: And after the breach between Portugal and Spain, they had no liberty to go to the Philippine Isles. And the Emperour of Iapan had throughout all his Dominions most ri∣gorously prohibited all commerce with the Christians. Thus the Inhabitants of Macao were at a loss in all parts; for the profit was very inconsiderable, which they gained by any other Traf∣fick; and without the Money of Ia∣pan and Manila, it was not possible to make any great advantage; so far was Macao then from being rich, that on the contrary, ever since those eight years, during which, the Trade ceas∣ed, it was brought to so low a conditi∣on, that it was believed that great Ci∣ty could not long subsist.

To this condition are the Towns and Factories in the Indies often redu∣ced; for their whole Income and Har∣vest consists in the Transportation and Vent of their Commodities. If this

commerce should fail for two or three years, they are then brought to great misery and necessity: And this would be the state of Spain it self, should it for some years be disappointed in the arrival of its Fleets; for I may well take the liberty to say, that the Dew from Heaven doth not so liberally con∣tribute to the making that a fertile Countrey, as the Water of the Sea, which brings so great a number of Ves∣sels thither from all parts. But it is true, these Merchandizing Towns do without any great difficulty, in a short time recover themselves; for there needs only two or three years of good Trading to supply them with plenty of all things, and by this hope and expe∣ctation, the Inhabitants of Macao sub∣sisted.

But how poor soever the Town was▪ it was still reputed to be very rich, be∣cause it really had been so a few years before. For in the year 1640. there came thither so great a quantity of Sil∣ver from Iapan, that the King's Du∣ties, which were Ten per Cent. amount∣ed

to a hundred thousand pound ster∣ling. And according to this Computa∣tion there must have been a Million sterling, which was more than came ever after from Iapan. What Silver came from Manila is not computed in this Calculation, though there came some years above three hundred thou∣sand pound from thence. The Re∣nown of the wealth and riches of Ma∣cao, did endanger the Ruine of it; for the Tartar easily suffered himself to be perswaded into a belief of the truth of this Report, and without any fur∣ther information, he did verily believe there was great Treasures hid there, and did not at all scruple, but that the pillage of that opulent City would en∣rich him for ever.

The other reason the Inhabitants of Macao had to apprehend their Ruine, was the knowledge they had that it was not necessary that the Design of forming any Enterprize against them, should be concluded upon in the Em∣perour's Council of State; for they ••••w all things depended upon the Ca∣priciousness

of the General, who was very ambitious, undertaking and suc∣cessful, and whose Souldiers were nur∣tured up and accustomed to Outrages and Violences. Thus they were in continual fears, lest they should quick∣ly see the Tartars come and assault their walls, and attempt to sack and pillage their City, and if they were attaqued, it was impossible for them to make any resistance, without utterly ruining themselves; and should they not with all their might defend themselves, they must expect inevitable destruction.

Macao was very well fortified and furnished with great store of Artillery, the Inhabitants and Souldiers were all Europeans, and persons of great Cou∣rage and Resolution; they resolved, not to render up themselves to the Tartars upon the first flight of Arrows, as the Chineses had done. If the Tar∣tars got the Victory, they would make them pay for it; for the Portuguezes were fully bent to maintain the honour of their Nation, in not easily submit∣ting to these Barbarians, who under∣stood

so little the Art of War. They determined to make the Tartars know, that the reason why they gained so ma∣ny Victories, was because there was so weak opposition made against them, and to let them see that they must not expect to march over the world with the same speed they had done over China.

But if Macao resisted, it must infal∣libly perish: The Ta••••tar was Master of all China, and as I said before, it must depend, for its subsistance, upon the supreme Governour of that State; for it can expect no relief from any place else, nor any Succour sufficient to protect it against so puissant an Enemy. When they were dri••••en to extremity, Necessity would compel them to deli∣ver up themselves upon Articles, if they could obtain any; and if they could, they must resolve to open their Gates, and let in the Viceroy, and de∣pend upon the pe••••formance of his En∣gagement to them.

But this Barbarian, who because he

was twelve hundred Miles distant from the Court, did not trouble himself with the observance of the Instructions he received from the Emperour to curb the Licentiousness of his Souldiers, would less have cared to sack and pil∣lage Macao, and bring upon it all the mischief lay in his power. And though the peril was thus great to receive him into their Walls, it would have been greater not to admit him: See how the safeguard of Macao depended upon the Mercy of the Tartars, that is to say, up on persons who have very little, who acknowledge no Law, nor any Obliga∣tions, but what they please to im∣pose upon themselves, who seldom en∣ter into any Treaty or League with Strangers; and if they do, it is in such a manner, that they resolve at the same time to observe nothing that they pro∣mise.

Thus the Portuguezes had reason on all sides to dread the Tartars, who shewed them every day what mischief they could do them. They came of∣ten and presented themselves before

the Town, sometimes by Sea, sometimes by Land, on that part of China which lies nearest to it. And they being Ma∣sters of all the Countrey, except this place only, the Inhabitants judged the Tartars would think that one Town ought not to render imperfect the Vi∣ctory they had made of so vast an Em∣pire.

But God Almighty, who knows how to keep the City, even when all other power watches but in vain, shew'd that in the midst of so many perils he would preserve Macao. Though all we frail Creatures can do, comes short of what we ought, yet God is often graciously pleased to accept of and reward our weak Endeavours, though they are but the operation of his Grace in us. The City of Ma••••ao had received and bred up several Faithful Labour••••rs, who were gone to serve in Christ's Vineyard which he had planted in Ia∣pan and China, and had dispersed them∣selves amongst several other Idolatrou•••• Nations. Thus this City was a means ••••o reveal the Name of God to several

Nations who sate in darkness; and it may very well be said to have been a sanctified Academy, a glorious Am∣phitheather, where several holy Cham∣pions exercised themselves, that they might overthrow Idolatry, and obtain a Crown of Martyrdom. It was not full ten years since it pleased God to crown with Martyrdom in one day more than sixty persons, who all went from Macao: And if it may be per∣mitted to say so, the Divine Providence was pleased by the defence of Macao, when it was in so eminent danger, to re∣compense the service the Inhabitants thereof had done to the Church of Christ. And certainly the protection of Gods faithful Servants there, did much propagate the Glory of his Name. The Churches afore-menti∣oned, and several other Kingdoms de∣pended upon Macao, to be furnished from thence with able Labourers, who might implant and strengthen their Faith. Should Macao have been de∣stroyed, the Fountain and Streams would have been ruined, from whence

their Instruction and Consolation flo∣wed to them; and according to all hu∣mane probability, it may be said, that those Churches there newly planted, would have been all lost, the Gospel no longer preached in those places, and the glorious Beams of Gods Name would in a manner have remained e∣clipsed to these people.

But at last, by the Omnipotent assist∣ance of the Almighty God, the Inha∣bitants of Macao▪ began not to be in such dread of the Tartars, who now declared they intended no War against their City; but on the contrary, they desired that the Commerce should be continued between both Nations, as it had been formerly with the Chin••••ses. And for their further s••••curity, shortly after they sent to Macao an authen••••ick Act or Instrument, whereby they did declare that all things r••••lating to the Trade and Traffick should be establish∣ed as before; and to this effect, they then granted all liberty and security to the Portuguezes to come to Canton, and there negotiate all their Concerns rela∣ting

to Trade; and permission to the Tartars to carry all sorts of Wares and Merchandizes to Macao.

The Portuguezes were then t••••inking to have sent an Embassie to the Vice∣roys of Canton, or if it had been ne∣cessary, to the Emperour himself, that they might more solemnly have setled the peace and liberty of Trade, and thereby have rendred their security more inviolable; but they considered, that all that Sea-coast, and the very Rivers were so infested with Pyrates, that there would be no safety for their Embassie without a strong Convoy; and they were not then in a condition to put out to Sea so great a Fleet as would have been necessary upon this occasion; but they were in hopes that their condition would improve daily. The Tartars seemed to be extraordina∣rily satisfied with the Portuguezes that they had not declared against them in favour of the Chineses; and upon this account they were ready to make them any Return, or shew them any Civili∣ty, so great a value they had for their

Friendship. Thus God preserved the City of Macao, and hath been pleased ever since to continue his protection to it; for God is not like man, who be∣gins, and grows weary of well doing: The Goodness of man is quickly drain∣ed, and their patience expired; but God is inexhaustible in the Riches of his Goodness and Patience, and his first Benefits are as so many Marks, or rather as so many Pledges and Assu∣rances that he is still preparing new ones for us.

CHAP. XIV. The Tartars put out to Sea, and fight the Corsairs of China. A Treaty of Peace is proposed, but broke by the per∣fidiousness of the Viceroy. He is dis∣covered to be a Chinese. The natural Genius of that Nation.

Though the Tartars had reduced under their subjection all the Continent of China, they were not yet Masters of the Sea. But that they may; we shall see them now engage with the Chinese Pyrates: And now they will have their hands full, nor will they so easily subdue these new In∣habitants of as many floating Towns as they had Squadrons of Ships, with which they roved about, and scowred the Coasts. But before the Tartars would undertake the Pyrates, they determine to conquer the Isle of Hai∣n••••m.

All along the Coast of Canton there are very many little Isles, which are only separated from the Continent by Rivers, and many of them are great Rocks uninhabited, and so near the Shore, that they are judged by many to be part of the Main Land of China. The most considerable of all these Islands is called Hainam, distant some eighty miles from the City of Canton, but so near the Shore of that Province, that in a clear day it is easily discerna∣ble from one end to another. The earth is so fertile, that it very plenti∣fully produces all things necessary to the use of man: They fish likewise for Pearls, which are found there in great numbers; and besides, there comes from thence several other choice and rare Curiosities, as all the Relati∣ons of China remark. All the Island is not inhabited, neither are all the Inhabitants of the same Nation; for the Southern people are more rude, and do not acknowledge the Sove∣raignty of the Chineses over them, nor will they have any Commerce with

them: But in the Northern parts there are several Chineses, three Cities, and eight Towns, besides sev••••ral other Houses and Habitations scattered up and down, and this part of the Isle is the most populous and rich.

The Tartar resolves to make himself so much Master of this Island, that there should be no Town or Habitati∣on of the Chineses but should acknow∣ledge him for their Sovereign; and for this effect he commissionated a Ge∣neral; and issued out Orders to him to pass over with a very considerable Fleet of Ships: Notwithstanding the little knowledg the Tartars had in Sea-affairs, yet they did with the same facility sub∣due this Island as they had done the rest of China. The General, after this, setled a Tartar Governour there with a strong Garrison of Souldiers, and re∣turned into the Province of Canton, loaden with Wealth and Honour; for he had much enriched himself in this Island; and though he was well paid for his pains with the plunder he got, yet in recompense of his services there,

he had conferred upon him the Office of High Admiral, which the Chineses call Haitao, and in execution of his Command, he presently put out to Sea with a Navy of sixscore Ships.

After he had conquered the Isle of Hainam, his design was to clear all the Seas of the Pyrates, who did most hor∣ribly ravage all the Coasts; but more especially the Province of Canton, that being the richest and best Province of all China; the Corsairs were thereby invited to make such havock there. The Tartars fully determined to ex∣tirpate them all; but though they did their utmost endeavours, yet it was not so easie to accomplish this Enter∣prize. At the first, when they were not very able Seamen, this Naval War seemed terribly laborious to them; for the Tartars principally those of the North, had never seen the Sea till they had conquered China, and traversed o∣ver that great Empire. And having so little experience of the Sea, the ve∣ry imagination of fighting upon that E∣lement, struck a strange dread and ap∣prehension

into them; but valiant men will fight any where. The Romans were no better acquainted with Sea-af∣fairs in the first Punick War, when they were necessitated to get an old Ship of Carthage, that they might build according to that Model; yet after they became so able Seamen, and so powerful at Sea, that Augustus and Anthony, at the Battel of Actium had a greater number of Ships than ever the Carthaginians had had in several years. The Tartars likewise presently accu∣stomed themselves to all the Toils of the Sea, and were no longer sick, nor to seek how either to manage a Sea∣fight, or to go in chase of their Ene∣mies; nay, they became very skilful Pi∣lots.

The Chinese Corsairs did not only rove about the Seas, but they went up the Rivers, which in those parts are very deep and large. The first Ring∣leaders who began to infest the Coasts, were four eminent Pyrates, who divi∣ded their Ships into four Squadrons, in each of which it is thought there was

above ten thousand men: The great∣est part of these kept upon the Rivers, where they plundred and seized upon all they could find on either side the Rivers, and did as much mischief to their own Countrey-men, as ever the Tartars had done; who now began to believe that it would be more advanta∣geous to them to gain upon the Corsairs by Treaty and Proposals. To this ef∣fect, they propounded to them an Act of Oblivion if they would come to any reasonable agreement. The Pyrates did not reject this Offer; for there be∣ing little now left for them to plunder or pillage, either from their Enemies or Friends, they were content enough to make peace: But the Tartarian Ge∣neral was not of so peaceable a dispo∣sition, and therefore the Favour and Friendship he promised the Corsairs, was of no long continuance. During the time of this Treaty of Agreement, two of the principal Pyrates came a∣shore, that they might conclude upon such Articles which might equally re∣dound to the satisfaction of both par∣ties:

But there yet remained some∣thing upon which they could not a∣gree, and thereupon the Tartarian General began to use violence, and seized upon the two Captains of the Corsairs, and enjoyned them upon pain of death to oblige all the other Py∣rates to surrender themselves to his Mercy. This unreasonable procedure was not according to the approbation of Xunchi, who never intended his Captains should deal so perfidiously; but the Viceroy, as hath been already remarked, was a person from whom greater Justice was not to be expected. His rash and violent nature would not permit him to hear reason. It is also reported, that by bi••••th he was not a Tartar, but a Chinese, of the Province of Loa••••tum, which borders upon Tar∣tary, and the greatest par•••• of his Soul∣diers were also as himself, Chineses; but yet they endeavoured to pass for Tartars. It would be scarce credible, that the Tartars shou••••d grant to a Chi∣nese the Command of so potent an Ar∣my, in which the grea••••est part of the

Souldiers were likewise Chineses; for few wise men approve the policy of putting so many enemies into Military Employments, and giving them so great Command in such remote Provin∣ces; but this may be thus salved, the Chineses of Loaotum were distant from Canton more than twelve hundred miles, and were near Neighbours to Tartary, and consequently better ac∣quainted with the Tartars, with whom they often conversed, than with the Cantoners, with whom they had no Commerce; therefore they looked up∣on them rather as Country-men, than those whom they only knew at so re∣mote a distance, and that only by hear∣say. This consideration may make it less to be wondred at, that the Gene∣ral should be a Chinese, and so likewise the greatest part of the Souldiers he commanded; for the Inhabitants of this Province looked upon those of a∣nother as so many strangers and for∣reigners, and therefore the Tartars the le••••s apprehended that these should re∣volt in a Province so far distant from

their own Native Countrey, in which they had left their Wives, Children, Parents, and all the rest of their Re∣lations, as so many Hostages, under the power of the Tartarian Garrisons. which they had there established to se∣cure their new Conquest. It was like∣wise rumoured that the Viceroy of Ci∣vil affairs was also a Chinese, of the same Province of Loaotum; but this is not so certain as that the General was, whose inhumane cruelty is the more to be abominated, seeing he was most fierce against his own Countrey∣men.

It was not by any order from the Tartarian Emperour, nor to ingratiate himself with him, that the General took these violent courses. That Prince was in his nature very far from com∣manding, approving or permit••••ing them: But the Chineses are naturally inclined to be very insolent and fierce, even to their own Countreymen; and therefore there is no mean or modera∣tion in their comportment towards one

ano••••her. They are all either Kings or Slaves: They will adore as a God, a man, of whose assistance they stand in n••••ed; and they will trample upon, like a Worm, any one who hath occasion of theirs; either they do with a most abject vileness crouch and crawl be∣fore their Superiours, or else with a most insolent haughtiness tyrannize o∣ver their Inferiours: The poor man is only regarded as a slave to the rich; and the rich acts, as well as he can, the Petty King or Tyrant. But that which is most to be admired at, is, that every particular person should be able to per∣sonate either the one or the other of these Extremes, according as it is most comformable to his present condition; for if one of these miserable Wretches of a sudden gains any Wealth or Re∣pute, it is admirable to see how he will Lord it, as if he had been born and bred so all his life; and the like doth the rich man if he happens to be impoverished, they will most wonder∣fully suit themselves to their present state and condition, though it be never ••••o un••••c••••ustomed to them.

By this you may perceive that the Genius and humour of the Chineses is to be inflexible and unmerciful to those who depend on them, which is just opposite to the nature of the Tartars: This may be evidenced by the General at Canton, who was the more outragi∣ous, by being by birth a Chinese. As for the humour of the Tartars, it doth much resemble that of divers people in Europe; they are very passionate, hot, and quickly incensed; sometimes they are transported with passion, if they meet with any opposition, especi∣ally if it be in any thing which relates to their Pleasure and Luxury; for then their Choler transcends all the bounds of Reason; and this hath cost the lives of several Chineses, who endeavoured to prevent the rape of their Wives; but these disorders are very ordinary, even in the Armies in Europe. As to any thing else, the Tartars delight not in shedding Blood; they are not of so sanguinary a Spirit, nor were they ever inclinable to do any hurt or violence to any who gave them no offence, by

making resistance, or defending them∣selves. But the General and his Soul∣diers did incestantly, without any pro∣vocation commit Massacres in all pla∣ces; and therefore it was observed, that the Souldiers who we••••e the most mild, staid and reasonable, were those who were the real Tartars, and these were esteemed of as the most valiant and couragious; and the unreasonable Cruelty of the others was accounted a testimony of their base, cowardly and degenerous spirit.

The Viceroy with all his fierceness did thereby do no very good service to the Emperour his Master; for those who undertake to carry all things by the utmost rigour and severity, seldom prove very successful in the manage∣ment of Affairs. A more calm and generous procedure is much more pre∣valent than all this passionate and pre∣cipitate violence. B••••ute beasts, who are void of all Reason, are mastered and tamed with force and violence; but certainly Man, whose Glory it is to be endowed with a reasonable Soul,

well deserves that Speech, Reason and Intreaties should be employed to per∣swade him. It is scarce credible what Mischief this ill Conduct of the Vice∣roy did, attempting by these vio∣lent courses to reduce the Corsairs: They did (as I have already said) rove about the Sea and Rivers, to the num∣ber of forty thousand, divided into four Squadrons; but now they had ceased from all Acts of Hostility, and had submitted upon those Proposals of peace which were offered them. Two of the most principal amongst them came ashore to sign some Articles to which they were agreed, when the Ge∣neral, a man of neither Faith nor Ho∣nour, did contrary to the parole he had given them, seize upon them, and without either sense or reason demand∣ed of them upon pain of death to ob∣lige all the other Pyrates to submit themselves: It was not in their power to reduce the others; nor was this the Peace which was tendred them. Thus the perfidiousness of the Viceroy kind∣led those Embers which shortly after

made such a Flame, that neither he, nor many more could quench it, though it was in the midst of the Waters.

There was no Bull nor Tyger exas∣perated, nor Serpent trampled on, more enraged than these Corsairs were assoon as they were informed of this Action of the General. They wanted nothing now, but to know how to mo∣derate their passion; and to execute their resolutions as firmly ••••nd couragi∣ously as they were hot and eager to declare them; they now renewed their first Acts of Hostility, but more vio∣lently and frequently than ever. This last perfidious Act of the Viceroy had alarm'd them in all parts, so that on the Land there was nothing to be seen but Houses burning, and on the Sea and Rivers, Ships roving about: It is thought there was above two thou∣sand; so that supposing there were but a hundred men, Mariners & Souldiers, in each Vessel, thus there was in these two thousand Ships two hundred thou∣sand men; which is a very formidable Navy, and surpasses most ordinary

Fleets. The design of this great Ar∣my was, to free their Country from the Tyranny of the Tartars, who by the late Treachery of the Viceroy, were become very terrible and dreadful to them. Thus an imprudent Officer in power, by his ill management of Af∣fairs, rendred a whole Nation odious, though before it was in good esteem.

The Viceroy, that he might not ac∣knowledge that he had done amiss, seemed not to be concern'd at the great preparations the Corsairs made against him; it was his humour to be glad of any occasion to shew his Valour; and lest he should want, to create new. To give him his due, he was both valiant and successful in all his Enterprizes; but his cruelty and perfidiousness did both blemish and discredit the Glory he acquired thereby.

CHAP. XV. The Viceroy burns the Vessels of the Cor∣sairs; they return in greater numbers, pillage and ravage the Countrey, and compel the Chinese to quit the Tarta∣rian Habit which they had taken. They assault the City of Canton, and are repulsed by the Viceroy in Civil Af∣fairs.

THE General at Canton was now engaged by force of Arms to re∣duce the Corsairs; and therefore be∣cause he perceived that their Forces encreased daily, he did with all possi∣ble speed put out to Sea with a Navy of fifty Ships▪ each of which carried sixteen peece of Cannon: And having provided all things necessary, he im∣barqued himself with those Souldiers, on whose valour he most confided. The Tartars went now to a War, of which

they had little experience; but h••••ving the example of their Viceroy, they went aboard very resolutely, that by their valour they might supply the lit∣tle intelligence they had in this way of fighting, which was so new to them. They imbarqued so speedily and se∣cretly, that the Corsairs had no infor∣mation of it. The Viceroy favoured by the good Fortune which did usually attend him in all his Enterprizes, sur∣prized the Pyrates in the Channel of a River, where the multitude of their Vessels did more inconvenience, than advantage them against the small num∣ber of those who came against them: they were so surprized, that they could not possibly make out to Sea as they desired, that they might have surround∣ed their Enemy. The Tartars, though they were but fresh-water Souldiers, yet they came in very good order, and assaulted the first they met with so vi∣gorously, that they quickly disabled them for fight: The rest had neither the leisure to recover, or put themselves into any order; or had they any place

either to retreat or fly to; for the Viceroy had blocked up the mouth of the River, and thereby stopped their passage. And that he might expedite his Victory, he presently set fire to their vessels; and the Pyrates being in this disorder, and seeing no way left for their escape, they quickly routed themselves; for now they did in great confusion cast themselves into the wa∣ter, that they might, if possible, save themselves by swimming to the sides of the River. And of all this great mul∣titude, none but those who thus saved themselves, escaped either being drowned or burnt.

The Viceroy when he had assured the Victory, endeavoured to preserve a hundred of the best Ships, and bur••••t the rest. From thence he returned to Canton, where he had imbarqued, and to illustrate his Triumph, he caused the hundred Ships he had taken from the Pyrates, to be haled after him. At his Arrival the Town was filled with Acclamations of Joy, with which all the Inhabitants did congratulate and

salute him as their Liberator, and as one who had for ever secured them from all fear and apprehension of the Corsairs.

It is strange that the Chineses of Canton should thus applaud the Tar∣tars for the Victory they had obtained over the Chineses who combated for the Liberty of their Countrey: And these Acclamations may seem to have been only feigned and base compliances of the servile people; but it is certain their Joy was not counterfeit, but sin∣cere, and they did without any dissi∣mulation felicitate the Tartars for their Victory: The reason proceeded from the horrible mischiefs they suffered from the Corsairs, who not only roved about the Sea and the Rivers, but de∣solated the Fields and Towns, leaving no respite to the Inhabitants of this Province, who were then all submitted to the Tartars. But for these Corsairs, after the Chineses had suffered all the Calamities to which Towns sacked and pillaged by Barbarians are reduced, yet every one began to look upon his

Misfortune as a Tempest which was now ceased. As for those who were dead, they were no more thought up∣on than dead people usually are; and all the Troubles they had undergone, were only now considered as a thing without remedy. There was nothing now to be seen all over the Countrey but bald Pates, and all the Inhabitants were cloathed after the Tartarian mode; willingly or unwillingly they must submit to the Law of the Victor; and if they governed themselve•••• peaceably, for the future they need not fear to suffer from the Victor so great Afflictions as they had already undergone.

Though their troubles from the Tar∣tars seemed to them to be at an end, the outrages they suffer'd from the Pyrates did but now begin. These were new Tyrants, and a new sort of Barbarians, which did incessantly renew the affli∣ctions of these miserable people: At the first they only reviled and re∣proached them, calling them cowardly Traytors, for having abandoned their

King and their Countrey to these Ty∣rants, as if they had voluntarily made choice of these new Masters: From injurious Words they came to Blows, and treated them with all the ill usage imaginable. In their fury and rage they perpetrated acts of that violence as transcended all the inhumane actions of the Tartars: They compelled the Chinese to retake their ancient Habit; and to shew their authority the more, they obliged them to wear their Live∣ries. After they had p••••llaged and sacked all parts, they then fortified themselves in such Posts as they judged most advantageous, pretending they would there defend the Chineses against all Assaults of the Tartars; but this only served to give occasion to the Tartars to return and plunder and spoil the unfortunate Inhabitants a second or third time; for the Viceroy was no sooner informed of what passed in those parts, but he instantly returned, and did more Mischief than ever he had before. And if the Cors••••irs made any resistance, then he was the more

outragious, and obstinately resolving to go through with every thing he un∣dertook, he was sooner or later still victorious. As for the Pyrates, when they saw they could not defend those whom they ought to have better pro∣tected, they presently retook them∣selves to the Sea, and so abandoned these poor Wretches to the fury of an Enemy, who was the more outragious, because he thought he had so debilita∣ted them, that they had not strength enough left them, so much as to crawl about. And when the Tartar missed of the Corsairs, on whom he might avenge himself, he punished the Inno∣cent instead of the Nocent. It was in vain to alledge any Reasons to pacifie him, or justifie themselves: It was sufficient to make these miserable peo∣ple criminal, because he had in his fu∣ry and rage declared them so.

The Corsairs returned twice or thrice, and made the Inhabitants of the Province of Canton change their Habit; and the Tartar as often pursued after them, and renewed all the Cruel∣ties

and Inhumanities which can be imagined they should exercise against Rebels. This gave occasion to the Inhabitants of all the Towns and Vil∣lages which bordered upon the Rivers, to manifest such an aversion to the Cor∣sairs, and after their defeat, to give such demonstrations of their Joy, be∣lieving, that from thenceforth they should be freed from them: For as for the Tartars, after the Calamities they had undergone from them, they expected to suffer no more from them: Therefore they evidenced all they could possibly that they did participate in the advantage which did accrue from this Victory; and for this reason, they received the Viceroy with such applause at his entry into C••••nton, when he returned in Triumph for the Victo∣ry he had obtained over the Enemy they most dreaded.

The great Defeat of the Corsairs happened presently after the reduction of the City of Canton: But it is not related in the Memorials which came from China, till after the Relation of

the entire Conquest of the whole Con∣tinent of China; to make some distin∣ction, I suppose, between the Sea-fights and the Land-fights which the Tartars had with the Chineses. The Tartars took the City of Canton the 20th. of Ianuary, 1647. And after some days spent in providing for all things necessary for the Government of the City and Province, the Viceroy then put out to Sea, where he gained this great Victory over the Pyrates to∣wards the end of February in the same year, and finding no Enemy in that Province to engage with, he passed from thence to the City of Xaochin, that he might subdue that, and the Pro∣vince of Quansi, with all its Dependents. There it was that Guequan defeated the Tartars; but the Prince gained but little advantage by his Victory; for in a second Battel the Viceroy was victorious, and thereby made himself Master of the City of Xaochin.

It was much about this time that P••••∣lipaou••••n, who commanded as a Sove∣raign Prince in these Provinces, recal∣led

the General of Canton out of the Province of Quansi; the Conquest of which he had before commi••••ted to his Management: He pretended his pre∣sence was necessary in the Province of Canton, to reduce the Corsairs there; for the Relation remarks, that the Viceroy returned in the beginning of April, 1647. And it doth not appear, that he ever after went to the Conquest of Quansi: Therefore it was another General who drove Guequan out of the Field, and compleated the reduction of that Province. The Tartars, who were not accustomed to be beaten by the Chineses, were highly en••••aged at the defeat of the Viceroy at Xaochin; and Pelipaouan, who was the Roaland of Tartary, was more incensed than any; and therefore he recalled the General: It is believed, he would not so soon have recovered the Advantages which he lost by that Defeat, if he had not testified his Resentment by presently imploying a new Commander in the re∣ducing and governing the Province of Quansi.

During the time in which the Gene∣ral of Canton was absent from that Province, the management of all Af∣fairs both Civil and Military, was com∣mi••••ted to the Viceroy in Civil Affairs, who was a more intelligent and pru∣dent person; but above all, eminent for his Zeal for the Service of his Prince, whose Authority over his new Subjects, he was very capable of main∣taining. He was not less valiant than his Colleague, though not so hot and passionate: He had with him as many Troops of Horse and Companies of Foot as were necessary for the Guard of his Person, and of securing the peace of the Province. But the Cor∣sairs, who were exasperated and enra∣ged by their late Defeat, were now rallied together, and ready to enter upon some great Exploit; and being certainly informed, that the General was engaged in other parts, with the greatest part of the Forces, they be∣lieved the Viceroy in Civil Affairs was not able to defend the City with those few Souldiers were left him;

therefore they resolved to go and as∣sault it; and one Morning by One of the Clock, they came up to the City, and presently fired a great number of Vessels which lay in the River, some of which belonged to the Tartars, and the others to the Inhabitants of the Town. In a short time the Fire was so great, that to those who were near, it seemed rather to be clear Day than Night. All the Vessels which were ei∣ther in the Haven or River, were all consumed, except some few which were sheltered by the Artillery, which was planted upon a Bulwark, to which they durst not approach so near.

The Corsairs were now so certain of their Victory, that they were ready to make Bonefires: And that they might shew they were Masters of the Town, they sent to declare to the Townsmen, that they were come to fire all their Houses, and put all the In∣habitants to the Sword, and that they would not leave a man alive, to teach them what they had got by submitting to the Tartars, contrary to the Faith

and Loyalty they owed both to their King and Countrey.

The Inhabitants thereupon, gave themselves for lost; but yet they re∣solved man••••ully to defend themselves: They received very couragiously those who came to assault them; but espe∣cially the Chineses of the Province of Foquien, of which there were many then in Canton, fought with a more than ordinary resolution▪ for they were the more animated, because they knew the greatest part of the Corsairs were of Canton, and there is a mortal Feud between the people of these two Pro∣vinces.

Upon this occasion, the Prudence and Valour of the Viceroy in Civil Af∣fairs, made it evident that those who are employed in the management of Civil Affairs, are capable of managing Martial Affairs, and to obtain Victo∣ries in Battel. He presently took care to hearten and encourage the Common People, who gave themselves for lost: And therefore commanded them to go every one to his own house, and to sleep securely.

It is my Duty (said he) to take care of your Safety; therefore rely upon my Care: I will go and draw up all my Souldiers in Battalia between the Walls of the Town and the Pyrates; and I engage to you they will not approach near your Walls so long as one Tartar is left alive; and do not believe they will easily destroy us all.

And to shew how much he confided in those Forces he had with him, at that very instant he went out of his Palace, drew off all the Guards, and command∣ed that the Gates should be left open; from thence he went to the Gates of the Town, which he caused to be all opened; and at every one placed such Commanders as he knew would defend them couragiously. After he caused all the Streets to be cleared, that no∣thing might impede the March of his Horse to and fro. Having provided for all things necessary within the Town, he got up a Horseback, and at the Head of his Men he placed himself

by the River side, fully resolved, that whoever came to assault him, should be well received. They began to skir∣mish presently, and both partìes were very hotly engaged: The Canons and Muskets plaid very fiercely; but especially those from the Bulwarks of the Town, which in a short time sunk several Barks and Ships belonging to the Pyrates, to their great loss. The Corsairs, who did not expect to have been so warmly received, had no great mind to prosecute their Enterprize, but retreated, or rather fled away; which was no small Joy to the Inhabitants, as likewise to see they had a Governour, who was as able to defend their City, as to distribute Justice.

It is said, that amongst the Ships which in this Engagement were burnt by the Corsairs, there was a Vessel which belonged ••••o a King who was Tributary to China, and maintained the Liberty of his Subjects by paying every three years a small Tribute, only as a Mark of Homage and Fealty. This Ship, which was then going to carry

the Tribute to Pequin, was unfortu∣nately in the Port at Canton: There was in it about some sixscore persons with the Ambassador, forty of which were either burnt or drowned, ten or twelve were taken by the Corsairs, who made them Slaves, and presently put them to the Oar, that they might ••••sist them in making good their Retreat; the seventy others saved themselves by swimming. The Tartars received them very courteously, furnished them with all Necessaries, till they had conveni∣ence of returning securely into their own Countrey.

CHAP. XVI. The Testimony which certain Christian Negroes gave of their Religion in the presence of the Tartars. After which God Almighty miraculously pre∣serves them in a Fight. The Corsairs continue to spoil the Countrey. The Viceroy in Military Affairs drives them out of a place in which they had fortified themselves, and stood upon their Defence. He ruines the ••••own, and all the adjacent Countrey.

AMongst those Forces which de∣fended the City of Canton a∣gainst the Corsairs, there happened to be more than two hundred Negroes, of different Nations, but were all Christi∣ans, who had made their escape into China, from Macao, where they had been Slaves. At the beginning of the War, these Negroes were more than

three hundred, and had all carried Arms against the Tartars, under the Command of the Famous Icoan, who confided more in them, than in the Chi∣neses; and alwayes kept them near his person, and they served him with all the Valour and Loyalty he could ex∣pect from them, till such time as he was defeated by the Tartars; at which time, several of them died with their Swords in their hands, fighting near his person. Those which remained, which might be about some two hun∣dred, afterwards took Arms under the Victors, and so happened to be a∣mongst the Forces which were in the City of Canton. The Viceroy and di∣vers other Tartars, who had been Spe∣ctators of several gallant Actions which they did in the Combat, in which they repulsed the Corsairs, did in publick highly applaud them. The Viceroy was not only content, by the praise he gave them, to shew the esteem he had of their Valour, but he likewise invi∣ted them to a publick Entertainment: And here it was that these Negroes gave

such a Testimony of their Religion, that the Relation thought not fit to o∣mit it. The Viceroy having caused to be served up before them several sorts of Flesh-meats;

May it please your Excellency, say they, you must know we are Catholick Christians, and the H••••ly Catholick Church commands her Children to eat no Flesh during Lent, which is a Term of forty dayes every year; and it being now that Season of the year, we cannot eat those Flesh-Meats your Excellency hath presented us withal: We highly esteem, and are sensible of the Honour your Ex∣cellency hath been pleased to do us; but we beseech you to permit us to obey the Holy Ordinances of our Religion; for we must declare, we have such a Reve∣rence for those Holy Sanctions, that we believe we ought rather to die than fail in the Observance of them.

Though this Particular doth not much import the present History, yet it is related, that it may manifest to

Christians the great impulse of their Religion, which can create such coura∣gious & generous notions in the Breasts of such despicable persons. Those He∣reticks which hold the abstinence from Flesh which the Church commands at certain times, as an unnecessary Cere∣mony, and an Abuse, though they pretend to be Reformers of Religion, may yet learn Religion from these Ne∣groes; or at least be brought with them to confess, that it is the property of Vultures and Ravens, and such o∣ther like ravenous Animals to live only upon Flesh; but Man, who is created for a more noble Life, ought in rea∣son, at some certain times, to abstain from gratifying his Palat and Appetite: This the very Tartars acknowledged from the Light of Nature, though it did but obscurely glimmer to these Barbarians, who had neither a God, nor Religion. The Viceroy did not at first comprehend what the Negroes meant; but when he fully understood upon what account they refused to eat Flesh, he had the higher value for

them, and now he applauded the faith∣ful Obedience they paid to the Injun∣ctions of their Religion; all the other Tartars did the like, and declared that they had a greater esteem for this De∣claration of the Negroes, than for all their gallant Exploits in the Com∣bat.

God did not leave the Generosity of these Christians without recompense; for shortly after, in their favour, he shewed a Miracle, of which the Tar∣tars took notice, and admired, to the Glory of the Catholick Christian Re∣ligion: Thus it was; Four dayes af∣ter the Corsairs were repulsed from Canton, they returned, and gave a new assault, but much more furious and fierce than the former; for before the greatest part of them fought only in their Ships, but now they Landed, and with all their Forces stormed the town. The Tartars who were commanded by the Viceroy in Civil Affairs, received them with their accustomed Valour. The Combat was fought with an equal Obstinacy by both sides, from Day-break

until Noon. There was a great number slain upon the place; for all the time the Artillery plaid incessant∣ly, and the Arrows showered down continually.

The Negroes who fought amongst the Tartars, failed not to maintain the Reputation of their Courage; and that they might do something for the glory of that Religion which they pro∣••••essed, they desired amidst so many brave and valiant Souldiers, to signalize themselves; and therefore they pre∣sented themselves in all places where the peril was greatest. At last the Tar∣tars got the Victory; the Pyrates re∣treated in disorder to their Ships, and fled away. After which, the Field where the Battel was fought, was dif∣cerned to be covered all over with Blood and dead Bodies. There were great numbers of the Tartars as well as the Corsairs slain. The Negroes all assembled together, and seemed to have been invulnerable that day; there was none of them hurt or injured in the least: It did not appear that the

Enemies weapons had touched them in the least; and yet they were two hun∣dred, who all fought where the Ar∣rows, Musket and Cannon Bullets flew thickest, and where the greatest num∣bers had been slain. This did extraor∣dinarily astonish the Tartars, who were eye-witnesses of their gallant Actions. This prodigy did not give a little re∣pute amongst them to the Christian Re∣ligion.

The Negroes failed not to declare that it was from God alone that they had received this protection; and at that very instant, before they put off their Arms, they went from the place where the Battel was fought, to the Ie∣suits Church in Canton, to give praise to God for their preservation. Thus it pleased God to manifest his Glory, in not deferring longer to reward the Faith which these new Christians had shewn forth by their observance to the Ordinances of his Church. It is not that God was indebted to them this Miracle: God owes nothing to his Creatures, who are all his Vassals and

Slaves, and of themselves incapable of acquitting themselves of the Duty they owe to the Almighty.

Ten dayes after this second Defeat of the Corsairs before the City of Can∣ton, which happened in the beginning of April 1647. there appeared before the same City a Naval Army of Soul∣diers, which had been formerly com∣manded by the renowned Icoan. This was part of those Forces which he had offered the Tartar when he was taken prisoner, as hath been intimated be∣fore. There were only seventy Vessels, but they were all in very good equi∣page, furnished with all Necessaries, and sufficiently provided with both Souldiers and Seamen. These men came to present themselves with all their Vessels to the Tart••••r, to serve him in the War which he h••••d with the Cors••••irs; these were but the least part of Icoan's Souldiers: All the rest, who had made their escape from the Tartars, had joyned themselves with the Pyrates. In the time that this Fleet arrived at Canton, the General return∣ed

from the Province of Quansi, from whence Pelipaouan had recalled him. After this, he was only employed a∣gainst the Pyrates, who gave him his hands full; and for the reducing of them, Pelipaouan could not possibly do any thing more advantageous than en∣gaging this General against them.

The General was no sooner arrived at Can••••on, but he was informed the Corsairs had reunited their strength, and had Landed, and possessed them∣selves of a great City called Xuntè, di∣stant a dayes journey from Canton; that they had fortified this City, and seem∣ed to be fully resolved to stand upon their defence. This was sufficient to make the General quickly take the Field: He presently issued out Orders for the equipping of fifty Vessels with all speed; but he would not make use of any of Icoan's Vessels or men; for he was willing to shew that by his own va∣lour he could subdue them without the assistance of Strangers. He presently put out to Sea, accompanied with his best Souldiers, and engaged he would

so handle the Corsairs, that they should have no great mind to come and visit him so near another time. He was not gone far before he met with a hundred of their Ships, which were Chinese Men of War, great Vessels, but of lit∣tle strength to maintain a fight: They were loaden with Straw, and other combustible Stuff, proper for the De∣sign they had in hand, which was to fire those Ships of Icoan which they knew were entred into the Service of the Tartar; but they had but bad Suo∣cess; the Vessels which they came to fire, were secure, and they themselves were only burnt; for the Viceroy with his accustomed success, boarded them, and made use of that Stuff to burn them, with which they had designed to fire their Enemies.

The General swelled with Glory for the advantage which he had now gain∣ed without much hazard or toil, or loss of time, pursued his course, to over∣take the main Body of the Pyrates: He found that they had possessed them∣selves of the City of Xuntè, that they

had there fortified themselves, and made a shew of resolutely defending themselves. He presently Landed, and without loss of time, and consulting nothing but his Passion, he fell on to storm the Town. At this first Assault the Corsairs out-braved all their fierce∣ness, and obliged them to take more leisure how to make a second. They returned a second time, but in more order, though with much heat and animosity; yet by these two Assaults he gained nothing, but on the contra∣ry, lost many of his men.

The Tartar grew desperate to see himself thus received and handled by a company of Raskally Free-booters; for the Chineses as well as the Tartars gave them no other Title, though they fought in the defence of their Countrey against its Usurpers; but in all places the strongest are best esteem∣••••d of. Though the Viceroy had hi∣••••herto still been so victorious, yet now he was at his Wits end, to see that one single Town, in which there was nei∣ther a King, nor any considerable per∣son,

who commanded in chief, but de∣fended only by some pilfering Raskals, should be able to maintain it self against two Assaults, and kill a great number of his men: But notwithstanding, he resolves either to carry the place, or perish in the attempt. Thus the Tar∣tars by their firm resolution were al∣wayes victorious; and the Chineses were ever overcome, because they were neither stedfast nor constant in the management of their Enterprizes.

The Viceroy assaults it the third time, and now he did it with all the might and force he and his men were capable of. The Corsairs did but weakly de∣fend themselves; for the greatest part were already thinking of making their Retreat. At last the Tartars enter the Town, which they did most hor∣ribly desolate: They thought it not sufficient to sack and pillage it accord∣ing to their usual custom, unless they massacred likewise all sorts of people they found therein, as well the Inhabi∣tants as the Corsairs, who had entred the Town, and those whom they had

compelled in by force. There was an innumerable multitude slain in that place; but the General did not think himself sufficiently avenged by the ru∣ine of that City; but that he might fully discharge his Fury and Rage, he pillaged and ruined ten other neigh∣bouring Towns, though they had not at all assisted or contributed to the Re∣bellion of this place.

The spoil and plunder of this Town was very rich; for several who expe∣cted, it should have defended it self better, had brought all their Wealth thither. The Tartars herewith enrich∣ed themselves, and likewise seized up∣on the Pyrates Ships: They preser∣ved the best, with which they encreas∣ed their Fleet, and burnt all the rest, which were very many in num∣ber.

The barbarous Cruelties which th•••• Victors executed even upon them who gave them no provocation, served on∣ly to raise them up new Enemies, who saw they had as good die as suffer more misery. This is the third time that the

Neighbourhood of Xuntè had been successively pillaged by the Tartars and Corsairs. And it is certain, that if the Emperour had been made acquainted with all these Oppressions of the peo∣ple, he would have chastised the Ge∣neral, that he kept no better order; but this Commander had such interest at the Court, that the Emperour was only informed what Towns he had ta∣ken, knew not that he had ruined and desolated the Countrey; and there∣fore, the General, instead of hearing that he was complained of there, saw he was the more considered, as if there∣by he had merited much, and done his Prince good Service. This gained credit to the report that the General was rather a counterfeit Chinese, than a natural Tartar; for this manner of ma∣king war, and enhancing the fame of his Victori••••s, was more like a Chinese, than a true Tartar.

CHAP. XVII. The Corsairs trouble and perplex the Ge∣neral. They possess themselves of the City Tunquam, and maintain it a∣gainst several Assaults. They deliver it up upon composition. The Cruel∣ty of 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 arm∣ed 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 Coun∣trey-men; others came to avenge, if they could, the death of their Fa∣thers, 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 pe∣riod 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 e∣minent exploit, whereby at last they might ave••••ge themselves on the Tar∣tars.

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 in∣formed that they were betwixt Lautao,

which is a little Isle just opposite to M••••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 practi∣sed by Politicians. There was a great report that the Pyrates were extraor∣dinary powerful, that they had a well regulated Army, that their Vessels were filled with desperate men, who were resolved either to conquer or pe∣rish, after they had sold their Lives at a dear rate; therefore the Viceroy, not thinking it would be for his advan∣tage 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 rea∣dy 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 A∣larm 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 wil∣ling to disguise his fear.

The Number and Forces of the Py∣rates encreased daily, and the Relati∣on saith, that they were almost as in∣numerable as the Sand of the Sea. These terrible Armies did incessantly rove a∣bout, and infest all parts of the Pro∣vince 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 Af∣fairs, who was a prudent person, and understood better than he to deal with

the Pyrates. These two Chiefs con∣cluded that it would be more available, to be less fierce and hot, and more cir∣cumspect and prudent in the manage∣ing of the War. They placed Guards at the Gates of all the Towns in the Pro∣vince, where there were none before; there they examin'd all who came in or went out; for they knew that the Cor∣sairs had Intelligence in all the Towns, and that their Confederates were bu∣sily 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 hun∣dred thousand.

They judged it likewise convenient, to make a new renumeration of peo∣ple 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 ne∣cessary for each Family.

This War of the Pyrates had brought most miserable calamities up∣on 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 scar∣city 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 peo∣ple 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 ac∣count; 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 com∣mitted 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, Pesti∣lence 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 Pro∣vince, so that the richest, plentifullest, and most delicious of all the Provin∣ces 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 such license to his Souldiers, that thereupon they flew out into the height of wickedness, and committed the most enormous Villanies. I re∣marked before that he was called L••••, who first began the destruction of that vast Empire, and reduced the Empe∣rour Zunchin, out of despair, to destroy himself. The word Ly from henceforth will be remarkable in China, for ha∣ving been the name of two such emi∣nent Tyrants; yet the Chineses pre∣tend, that the name of Ly, from the two Letters of which it is compo••••ed▪ signifies High Endowments of Wit and

Virtue. But the Viceroy had no bet∣ter a repute for having had so fine a Name: And it might have been said to him, as a Souldier once said to Alex∣ander, that he should either change his Name, or change his Actions.

This Commander, who some few days before was return'd so discontent, that he had neither met by Sea nor Land any Enemy to fight with, had quickly occasion to come out of his ill humour; for he received News that that the Corsairs had Landed at a place distant some two days journey from Canton, and had made themselves Ma∣sters of the City of Tunquam. This was a place the best fortified and fur∣nished with provisions of any in the whole Province. He was likewise in∣formed, that they had begun new Works, and were putting themselves in such a posture of defence, that they might annoy whosoever made any At∣tempt against them, and receive little dammage within their Walls. The Chi∣neses are very ingenious, and will take pains: And having observed that the

Tartars in all their Assaults, came ex∣posed to all d••••ngers, and took no care to cast up Works to shelter them from the Cannon-shot; they made their Fortifications in that manner, that their Enemie•••• should have no great desire to approach very near them: they built their Walls with Battlements, and pierc'd them ••••hrough with divers Loopholes like the Port-holes in ships, for the Great Guns to play through. In some places of the Wall they cut down Sl••••s from the top to the bottom, and built up several Scaffolds, upon which they placed several Tire of great Guns, just as in a man of War.

The Viceroy no sooner received this Information, but he put out to Sea with a very potent Fleet. The number of his Vessels is not known; but promising himself that he should quickly put a period to the War, he came to that intent with his greatest force. He presented himself before the City of Tunquam, and Landed his men, resolving presently to fall on; but neither he, nor his Sould••••ers, who

were to give the Assault, were well pleased to see so many Tire of great Guns so well Manned, and so many Gunners standing just ready to give fire upon them; but not being accustomed to shew any fear, & having ever made his brags that he would rais Mountains where before there were Vallies, he was not now backwards, with his usual animosity, to give the Signal for the Assault. The Tartars fell on very re∣solutely; but they were no sooner ap∣proached near the Wall, but they per∣ceived it was the stronger and better fortified, by the more Holes it had in it. Now all the Artillery play'd against them, and made a most horrible Massa∣cre amongst the Assailants, who were come up to the very mouth of the Cannon, and did not believe they were prepared to give them such another Discharge; when not leaving them time to consider how to make good their Retreat out of all these Crannies, there showered amongst them such a storm of Bullets and Arrows, that the Ditch was presently filled up with dead

and wounded men, and those within the Town received no dammage.

The Viceroy was so obstinate, that during the first dayes he lay before Tunquam, he gave several Assaults to it; but thereby he only lost both his Time, Credit and men. And though he attempted it with all his might, he could not lodge himself upon any part of the Rampart: He had now need of all his good fortune to enhearten him; for he was mad and enraged, he knew not either what measure or reso∣lution to take: He saw he advanced but little either by strength or Strata∣gem; and he knew he should lose both his Reputation and dignity, if he did not with honour succeed in this Enter∣prize. He began now more calmly than was usual with him, to take a pro∣spect of his Affairs. He perceived he had lost many of his best Souldiers, and that those which he had left were nei∣ther numerous nor valiant enough to carry the Town; he sent therefore to demand recruit from the Viceroy of Civil Affairs, and some great Guns to

batter and make a Breach in the Wall, with some Canoneers of Europe.

These Canoneers which the Viceroy sent for, were eight or ten men of Eu∣rope, who some few years before went from the City of M••••c••••o, to serve the Chineses against the Tartars. After, when they saw in what a low condition the Chinese affairs were, and not know∣ing what to do in the remo••••est parts of that Empire, being more than twelve hundred Miles distant from Macao, they resolve to take employment un∣der the Tartars: And they did such eminent Service, that they were high∣ly esteemed of by all that Nation. It is very remarkable, that though the Tartars knew that they went from Ma∣cao to serve the Chineses, yet for all this, they did no injury to the Portuguezes. They considered that so few persons ought not to make them think that the whole Nation had declared against them, but that these were Souldi∣ers of Fortune, and only such, as for their particular advancement, had cast themselves into the Chinese Army. It

happened also that these Canoneers dis∣coursing with the Tartars of the state and condition of Macao, the Tartars expressed a great affection for the Por∣tuguezes, and for all the Europeans in general; and having after gained great repute with the Tartars, by the great Services they did them, they were thereby enabled to do, and did seve∣ral good Offices to the Inhabitants of Macao.

The Viceroy in Civil Affairs recei∣ved the Letter from his Colleague in the Evening, and the very next Mor∣ning he dispatched away a considerable Supply of both Souldiers, Gunners, Artillery, Ammunition, and all other provisions; and this he did with that diligence, that the difficulty of ha∣ving Ships for their transportation, and necessary stores so soon in a readiness, did not retard them. These Recruits must be sent by Sea, and therefore they ought to be strong enough, not to be stopped by any Squadrons of the Corsairs, should they meet with any in their passage: With this expedition

do Recruits march in Tartary, where they are not so long a making ready as in Spain, where they seldom arri••••e at the place to which they are designed, till it be delivered up, or too late to execute the Enterprize they go upon. The disadvantages which have some∣times ac••••rewed to Spain, from their wasting too much time in their Delibe∣rations, may give just occasion to say, That their too slow resolutions ha••••e on∣ly served to expose them to the derisi∣on 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 As∣sault, 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 ve∣ry Necks in water.

Now the Chineses had the satisfacti∣on to deride the Tartars: These invincible Victors (say they) are now d••••feated, and forced to run away to their Ships. The Conque∣rors 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 him∣self quickly, he was forced to take it patiently now; but he lost no time; for assoon as he had reproved his Soul∣diers for running away so cowardly, he encouraged and animated them, that they would with all possible expediti∣on wipe off this dishonour to their Na∣tion. He Landed again, and at the the very instant gave order to his Gun∣ners to take such care in traversing their Guns, that they might answer his expectation. His Orders were execu∣ted with the success he desired; for the Cannons were pointed with that exactness, that in a short time they dis∣mounted

several pieces of the besie∣ged's Artillery; and they fired inces∣santly till they disenabled all the rest.

Now the Corsairs began to sink in their Courage; and this made the Ge∣neral take heart, and hope well: But y••••t he wished they would come to some composition; for having experi∣enced the besieged to be both valiant and skilful Souldiers, he did not desire to drive them into a desperate condi∣tion. The Pyrates, who had now al∣most spent their Powder, did as ear∣nestly 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 o∣ther 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 remain∣ed in Tunquam Women, Old men and Children, and such persons who were unfit for War.

The Tartar expected the next Mor∣ning 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 Dis∣cretion. 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 af∣ter 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 Neigh∣bouring Towns and Villages, which he sacked and pillaged. He commit∣ted such horrible Cruelties, that there∣by 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 Soul∣diers which marched into it, did most treacherously violate the parole which had been given them: They began to injure and abuse the poor Countrey∣men, 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 en∣tirely

subdue the poor Countreymen; but they had made their escape to a place where they could receive but lit∣tle dammage. The Souldiers disper∣sed 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. There∣fore 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 Af∣fairs, upon the Cruelty of his Col∣league. The Corsairs still perplex the Tartars. The Chineses improve themselves in the Art of War. Th•••• Northern Chineses are of a different Genius from the Southern.

THE Viceroy in Civil Affairs, who knew what horrible Mischief th•••• Souldiers did, was as much concern'd at it as the Chineses; but it was not in his power to remedy it. He saw plain∣ly that these violent actions did not do so much hurt to the Chines••••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 firs•••• 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 deso∣lation of that Empire; for the Tartari∣an General was called Ly, and the chief of the Corsairs, Cham;) The Re∣bel Cham (therefore said the Viceroy) commands the Army of the Robbers by Sea, and the General Ly the ••••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 en∣deavour to justly acquit m•••• self in that Office in which the Emperour, my Master, is pleas'd I should serve him. I will serve him faithfully ••••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 taken away, and my Colleague Ly shall have the sole dispo∣sal of the Province, what care he will then take for the subsistance of the Soul∣diers, and preservation of the Peo∣ple.

This Declaration the Viceroy in Ci∣vil Affairs made of his displeasure to see how things were governed; but he had done better, had he opened his mind to the King his Master, who was neither locked up so close, nor so difficult of access as the Chinese Kings used to be. And it may be he did write; but those Letters which the Ge∣neral sent to the Court were more pre∣valent, and byassed all Affairs con∣trary to the Viceroy in Civil Affairs. The General pretended he was neces∣sitated to use Rigour, but he did it on∣ly towards the Rebellious Corsairs, and not to the People, which had submitted themselves: And the Court being ti∣red out with this obstinate War of the Corsairs, they did not believe this Ri∣gour was prejudicial; but on the con∣trary,

that nothing could have been of greater advantage than the employing so inflexible and fiery a man as the Ge∣neral was. To put this gloss on things, was the ready way to encrease the Mischief▪ and make the Cure hopeless. Those who oppress others, never want persons to applaud them; and those who are oppressed, never find any to protect them: We are wrongfully in∣form'd of the truth of things, either because we will not give ear to it, or else because it is wrongfully represent∣ed to us. Deceit and Falshood marches in triumph in all places, that being ge∣nerally managed more dexterously and subtilly, and listened to by most per∣sons with more pleasure. Thus States and Nations are often disturbed, nay, ruined, and it cannot be discerned, that it was, or was not occasioned by the fault of the Prince who govern∣ed.

The General could not yet bring the War with the Corsairs to a period. They continually so alarm'd him; that he knew not which way to turn himself▪

but tormented him so, that it was able to have distracted him; sometimes they came in search of him up to the very Gates of Canton; and after they had pillaged and plundered all the night, the next morning they were all vanish∣ed: Their Vessels being lighter, they had the boldness to surround his Ships, and assault them, sometimes on one side, sometimes on the other. They allarm'd him one place, whilst they were executing their Project in ano∣ther. And sometimes he was scarce re∣turn'd from the Chase of them, but they returned to the same place from whence he had expelled them; for that they might the better take their advantages, they had placed very trusty Spies in all places. Thus they always succeeded in some part of their Enter∣prize, whilst the General was gulled and abus'd, in being perswaded to go in search of them where they never were. This was a very pleasing divertisement to this fierce Fellow, who thought to carry all things by his turbulent and capricious humour. There were in this

province some people who were ever so unfortunate as to be on the wrong side; these bore the brunt of the fury of both sides. Thus all those great & gallant Ci∣ties all along the Coast, have been ruin∣ed, their Buildings reduced into a heap of Rubbish, and are become the deplo∣rable remains of desolation and destru∣ction: They were deserted and aban∣don'd by their Inhabitants, the greatest part of which, were either killed or murdered, and the rest chose to for∣sake all, and retire themselves for their security, up higher into the Coun∣trey.

The Tartars themselves suffered in part by that mischief which they them∣selves had occasioned; for besides the Affront and Vexation to see the Cor∣sairs for their pleasure, thus abuse and torment them, they stood oftentimes in need of Necessaries. They thought there would never be an end of im∣barquing continually, which was to them a new exercise, to which they were not very well accustomed. The General in one of these Incursions hap∣pened

to seize upon a very eminent Pyrate, who was of great repute for his Valour: He took him by surprize, and the cowardliness of his Followers, who then deserted him▪ and brought him to Canton, and in the open place there, shot him to death with Arrows. This was no great loss to the Corsairs, who had persons enough as valiant as he whom the General had now put to death; and the Tartars no more ad∣vanced their interest thereby, than he did, who thought to diminish the Sea, by taking a drop of Water out of it.

The General did not stay in Canton above four and twenty hours after he had taken this Corsair, before he put to Sea again. He was no sooner aboard, but he commanded to set Sail without any other Declaration what Course he would steer. He did thus several times, that the Pyrates Spies might not discover his Designes; and sometimes, not believing he could be precautious enough, he took the Helm himself, and ordered his Navy to follow him what∣ever

Course he should steer. He was most certainly a person highly endow∣ed with all the qualities befitting a Souldier, was indefatigable, and took no rest: But his violent and bloody Actions often lost him more than he gained by his laborious Toil. And it is manifest, that in the late Combates, the Tartars were often worsted, and the General himself beaten and defeat∣ed, which did both embolden the Py∣rates, and encrease both their number and Forces. It is likewise reported, that in this Province they had possessed themselves of several Villages, Towns, and Cities, which before had submit∣ted to the Tartars, and that the Gene∣ral could not gain any considerable ad∣vantage against them either by Sea or Land, though he assaulted them with a very strong Army of both Horse and Foot.

By this it is credible, that had the Chineses been trained up in Martial Discipline, they might have made as good Souldiers as other Nations. They are generally very strong and vigorous,

active and Industrious, will undergo Labour and Toil, love to be employ'd, and are generally mortal enemies to I∣dleness, which is particularly remarked in the Provinces which are adjacent to Tartary, where they are most common∣ly engaged in War. This is related by several persons of Europe, who say, they could never have believed them capable of doing such extraordinary actions as they have seen them do, had they not been Spectators. And it is believed, the Tartars would not with so much facility have made themselves Masters of those Provinces, had they not found the people in disorder and division, occasioned by the Troubles of a Civil War; where instead of a Lawful Soveraign to rule over them, several Tyrants had brought a horri∣ble confusion and disorder over the whole State▪ in which all persons were divided into several Factions, by their different Tenents of Loyalty and Re∣bellion. The Tartars finding these people so little able to make any resist∣ance, and they having strengthened

their own Forces with divers Chinese Troops, who sided with them, under their General Vsanguè, from hence it happened that they conquered those Provinces with greatest facility, which else would have cost them most Blood and Difficulty.

As for the Chineses in the Southern Provinces, which are more remote from Tartary, they are soft and effe∣minate, beyond all the Inhabitants of Asia; and that which did produce this Effeminacy in them, and was a great cause of the ruine and destruction of their Empire, and ever will be to all other States, was the profound Peace and Security in which those Provinces had been so long involved; for seve∣ral ages there was no mention of War i•••• all the Relations and Histories of those Provinces. They were so igno∣rant of Navigation, that they only knew what Tempests and Shipwrack signified, by seeing the description of them in Pictures. This Nation which so little troubled themselves with Arms and War, passed all their life in indul∣ging

their ease and their pleasures. Vi∣cious Crimes were all their occupati∣on, neither could Ignominy nor Cor∣rection check these Disorders; for they considered nothing but plenty and prosperity in this Life, having nei∣ther a God nor Religion, at least such a one as did not restrain them from gi∣ving themselves wholly to their luxu∣rious passions.

But it is credible it was not so much Peace and Effeminacy, which ruined the Empire of China, as the little e∣steem that Nation had of warlike Discipline and Souldiers. The Chineses valued nothing but Literature and Sciences. Any one who was accoun∣ted a learned man, would have tram∣pled upon twenty of their Captains, who were obliged to suffer patiently this injurious Affront. There always went with the General who command∣ed their Ar••••ies, some Learned Doctor, on whose direction all things depend∣ed▪ The whole Army obeyed this Learned Mandorin: It was he that gave out all the Orders, and not the

General. They were all Scholars, and persons eminent for Learning, who compos'd the two Councils of War of that State: And they only were ad∣mitted who were best able to plead some Argument in their Law, and not those who knew how to draw up an Army in Battalia.

The ill Consequences of this manner of governing were foreseen long be∣fore. The Histories which were many years since printed in China, took no∣tice hereof, and hereupon gave advice of such importance as deserved to have been listned to: But this advice was little available to those who would not believe the mischievous consequences hereof till it was too late to remedy them. Military employments and ex∣ercises were so vilified, that most per∣sons scorned to accept of them. This Profession was totally relinquished to such miserable Wretches as could get no other employment; and these per∣sons never hoped to be advanced thereby. They knew too well there was neither Honour nor Profit to be

expected in the Army; for both these were totally engrossed by the Learned men, who gained higher promotion by the explication of some point in their Law, than by gaining a great Battel; so that those who came to have any employment in their Army, were persons of little worth: Those who were, out of anger to see themselves thus unworthily dealt with by those, whose employments they judged of far less importance, quickly deserted the Service, and quitted their employment, without concerning themselves for the interest of either their Prince or Coun∣trey. Nay, it is well known that some Generals have declared, they had ra∣ther assault a Fort in Tartary, than to go and present any Memorial to the Emperour of China's Court; and that they more dreaded to appear before one of their Mandorins, than to be in the midst of an Ambuscade of their E∣nemies.

It cannot be denied, but that the destruction of the Empire of China a∣rose from hence. The Tartars have se∣veral

times declared it: And for this reason, assoon as they were possessed of the State of China, they instantly entred into a Method of Government just opposite: It is not, but that they knew that each of the Extreams were faulty, but that they might at last fix themselves in the true Mean, they judg∣ed it necessary to pass from one Ex∣tream to the other, which the Chineses likewise did; who from so ill Souldi∣ers as they were at first, by their effe∣minateness, and of so little esteem for any Military Atchievements, became at last to be all Souldiers and Warriors. And those who would not submit, did so totally relinquish their Effeminacy, that all their delight was now in War and Arms. They thought that was only to be accounted Honour and Glo∣ry, which was acquired by gallant and great Exploits. The Chineses, though late, manifested, that naturally they wanted neither courage, dexterity, nor ability to be excellent Souldiers. And in the last Engagements they had with the Tartars, the Relations report that

they vilified and despised their Bows and Arrows, and relied more upon the use of their Muskets and Fire∣Arms, which charged and discharged very readily, and handled their Pikes and Halberds most advantageously, and with all this they were well versed in the Art of Artillery; but this was the Misfortune of the Chineses, that they did not sooner put themselves in a con∣dition to have given their Enemies some considerable Defeat.

They kill'd and slew where-ever they came, and failed not to fame a∣broad, and pursue the least advantage they gained in the Late War. The Tartars likewise did their utmost en∣deavour to support the reputation of their Arms: But Fame is too talka∣tive to make them conceal the Actions of the Chineses. The Inhabitants of those Towns which had submitted, from whence the Intelligence of all that passed, came, did not move at all; but were struck with amazement and si∣lence, which gave occasion to many to doubt whether it was fear or hope

whick kept them in such suspense. They saw some little glimmering hope of Li∣berty, but they saw great occasion to make them apprehensive lest the Cor∣sairs should advance higher up into the Countrey; for where-ever they came, they drew after them the Tar∣tars, and with them all the Afflicti∣ons and Calamities which had deso∣lated and depopulated those Towns which bordered upon the Sea.

The Viceroy Ly was not satisfied to see that his Affairs did not succeed according to his wish. He did his utmost endeavour to prevent the en∣crease of the Mischief; but the Py∣rates were so numerous, and so dis∣persed in all parts, that he could not be with them in all places; neither could he raise as many Forces as were requisite; for he saw that at e∣very Engagement, he had need of a compleat Army: Therefore he did all that lay in his power to keep them as far distant from Canton as he could, that thereby he might still re∣main Master of the Sea. He happen∣ed

once to have advice, that the Corsairs had taken a place very near that City; he instantly went towards them with a Navy of a hundred and seventy Ships: And according to his usual custom, he threatned to die the Sea and Land with the Blood of the Corsairs. But the Effects of this great Choler fell only upon some miserable wretches, who little thought they had done any thing to have ex∣asperated him against them. The Cor∣sairs having notice that he was coming towards them, sack'd and abandon'd the place. This was all the diversion they designed at this time to give the Con∣querour, who presently poured out all his fury upon this unfortunate place; which he reduced to Ashes, that it might never serve again for a retreat∣ing place to the Pyrates.

CHAP. XIX. The Corsairs take a little Fort near Can∣ton, having engaged part of the Gar∣rison to side with them. The Viceroy in Military Affairs discovers a new Plot in another Fort. The manner how he punished the Traitors.

THE Corsairs after they had been driven from the Neighbourhood of Canton, left this City in quiet for some time; but not the General Ly, whom they kept in continual exercise on one side or other. One day, when he was absent, being in pursuit of some of their Squadrons, others of them returned presently to Canton: The fourth of August, 1647. in the Evening, seventy of their Barks came and cast Anchor at the foot of the Wall of one of the Bulwarks of the City. They had already secured to their party some

of the Guard which kept the Fort. And therefore they were not discover∣ed till Sun-rise, at which time several of the Great Guns were dischar∣ged against them from the Fort. The Traitors within had perswaded the other Souldiers that they were the Kings Ships, which came from pursu∣ing the Corsairs, and therefore no bo∣dy took the Alarm sooner. But the Pirates, who stormed the Fort at seve∣ral plac••••s at the same time, quickly made themselves Masters of it. The greatest part of those who kept it, pre∣sently sided with the Victors, and quit the Tartarian Habit, and put on a Coat edged with yellow, and a high crown'd Bonnet edged so likewise, which is the usual Head-covering of the Chinese Souldiers. The rest, who would not do so, were all put to the Sword. There was in this Fort great store of Artille∣ry, and other Arms, with Powder and all sort of Ammunition. The Pirates took some part of the smallest peeces to furnish their Ships with, and flung the rest into the River. As for the grea∣ter

Peeces, which they could not so ea∣sily remove, they disabled them from ever doing them any hurt. This Fort could not be very near the Town; for the noise of the Cannon was not heard thither, and it was not known that it had been assaulted till eight of the Clock the next morning, when a Boy who had made his escape, brought the first News thereof.

The Viceroy in Civil Affairs, who then commanded in Canton, could not credit the surprizal of that place, till he was better informed by those he sent thither to that intent. They present∣ly brought him back word, that the Corsairs had made themselves Masters of the place, and that they were en∣deavouring, with the loss of no time, to make it very tenable: The Vice∣roy instantly marched out against it, with a very numerous Army of both Horse and Foot, fully resolving to re∣gain that Post. He stormed it several times, and in all the assaults which were made by both sides, fought very reso∣lutely: Great Numbers were slain up∣on

the place, but still most on the Tar∣tars side, who came on without taking any care to shelter themselves. At last the Tartars are obliged to retreat without obtaining the least advantage. And it is manifest, though the Re••••ati∣on is silent herein, that after the Py∣rates abandoned the Fort, as they had already done in several other places, that they might betake themselves a∣gain to the Sea, they shewed they had no mind to keep it, when they took out part of the Artillery, and disabled the rest. Had they not re∣treated already, the General, who was now returned to Canton with his Army, would not have failed to have employ'd all this Forces to dislodge them from that Post. But though he returned very triumphantly, it doth not appear he did any eminent exploit in those parts.

The Viceroy in Civil Affairs stood very diligently upon his Guard, whilst he saw the Enemy so near him; and mistrusting that the Pyrates might hold intelligence in the City, as they really

did, he was so fortunate, as to appre∣hend a Spy, who was a Servant to the General o•••• the Corsairs; he put him to the Torture, where he confessed that there was really a Conspiracy against the Tartars, and the chief Manager thereof was the great Calao: This was one of the highest dignities in Chi∣••••a, and superiour to a Viceroy. This Calao was called Chim, and was aboard one of those Vessels which had surpri∣zed the Fort, where he staid expecting a numerous Supply of Souldiers, who had all by an Oath obliged themselves either to perish in the Attempt, or re∣store China to its pristine Liberty.

From henceforwards the Viceroy in Civil Affairs, and all the other Magi∣strates were very cautiously watchful, lest they should be surprized; for this effect, he appointed such Captains to command the Guard at all the Gates, of whose fidelity he was most secure. And he himself undertook the guard of the p••••incipal Gate of the City, and went night and day thorough the City, to visit all the other Guards, exhort∣ing

them both by his words and exam∣ple to watch over their Enemies, who slept not. He commanded out several other Captains with their choicest Souldiers in their Companies to guard those Posts and Places from whence he foresaw the enemy might likeliest at∣tempt the Town.

The indefatigable diligence of the Governour, and the deposition of the Spy, occasioned other Chineses to be apprehended, who were suspected to be Complices in the Conspiracy. Assoon as these were put to the Torture, they presently avowed that all that the Spy had averred was true; that really they had conspired to deliver up the City to the Corsairs; that the Fort which they had lately seized upon, was delivered up to them by the treachery of those who kept it; that the like would hap∣pen at a Fort near that, where two hun∣dred Souldiers of the Garison were contriving to let in the Chineses. All these commotions did not at all di∣sturb the Viceroy, but by his pru∣dence he mastered all. It is certain,

that the ability of this man prevented more Mischief, and preserved the Tar∣tars more Towns than the General with all his Valour could conquer. And there is not less ability requisite to re∣tain and preserve what we are posses∣sed of, than there was at first to acquire it.

The Governour of Canton being in∣formed that there was a Plot laid in that other Fort, went thither with all diligence; but without shewing that he knew any thing: He entred with a Countenance seeming to be fully satis∣fied; and then he declared to the Soul∣diers, that because the present urgency of Affairs obliged them to keep such strict Guard, because the Enemy was so near, he would, to encourage them, gratifie them with an Augmentation of their Assignment, and encrease their Pay; and that therefore they should come one after another to be entered in the Register, and received their Pay. They went the more readily, imagin∣ing their Treason was not discovered, because the Viceroy, who might have

seized them if he pleased, bestowed this Liberality amongst them, to en∣gage 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 occa∣sion to suspect him. They entred by one Gate, at which they received part of their Pay, and they went out at a∣nother 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 Tray∣tors came to this Gate, they met with those who stabbed them, and cut their Throats. And this Execution was ma∣naged so subtilly, that the two hun∣dred Conspirators, who should have de∣livered up the Fort, all lost their Lives in such a manner that they did not per∣ceive the Misfortune of their Com∣panions. The Guard of this Fort was intrusted to new Officers and Souldi∣ers,

who were both more numerous, and such as the Viceroy was more se∣cure 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 resolu∣tion which he made use of in this Ex∣pedition; 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 pre∣pared to receive them, and made up to them assoon as they were Landed.

They instantly engaged, and the En∣counter was managed with great ani∣mosity on both sides. The Tartars at last gain the advantage, and the Assai∣lants retreat, but not far from the Town, only out of the reach of Can∣non-shot; there they lodged them∣selves, 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 re∣ceive no other way.

The Viceroy, who was now sur∣rounded with secret and declared Ene∣mies, and at that time when the Gene∣ral was absent with all the best Souldi∣ers 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 Con∣spirators: And therefore he seizes upon, and imprisons them, and ob∣liges 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 blame∣able; but if he intended to execute his Menaces, doubtless he was both un∣reasonable 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 Priso∣ners power to do what the Governour desired. The Calao, and the other Conspirators knew, that if they re∣treated, they exposed both their own Lives, and the Lives of all their Rela∣tions

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 Is∣sue 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 Inquisi∣tion after the Conspirators, and their punishment. The resolution of a Chi∣nese Captain, his Death and Praise.

THE Viceroy in Civil Affairs gain∣ed nothing by his Rigour and Severity, by ceasing to carry himself with moderation and equity, and ma∣king use of those violent courses which he had so often condemned in his Col∣league; 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 six∣ty which came before the first Fort, and

two hundred which approached near the other. There might now be count∣ed a thousand Vessels either before or near the Town. And all this nume∣rous 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 Festi∣val, and then consider what was the thunder of all the great Guns in above a thousand Vessels, which fired inces∣santly, 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 num∣ber 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 Inha∣bitants 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 Coun∣trey-men, yet they expected no succour but from the Tartars, whom they loo∣ked upon as their Protectors and A∣vengers. The whole City was in Arms, by the order of the Viceroy, who is∣sued out a Command, that no person should appear, upon pain of death, but in the Tartarian Habit; and com∣manded all his Officers to kill immedi∣ately all they found in the Chinese Ha∣bit. He caused all incumbrances to be removed out of the Streets, that his Horse might freely march without any hindrance up and down the Streets. The Gates, Bulwarks and Walls were all covered with Souldiers, who did

incessantly discharge their Muskets and Fire-Arms, that they might make the greater shew of Resolution in the face of their Enemies: But of a sud∣den they were surprized at the arrival of the General. He returned condu∣cted by his good Fortune, with his Ar∣my whole and entire, and entred the City with the Sound of Trumpet. He met not with the Enemy, the greatest part being incamped on the other side of the City; and he did not perceive them till he was passed by them; for they were retreated into a place where they were covered by some Hills which hindred the sight of them.

The Corsairs were not less surprized to see the General return with all his Army at that time, when they believed him so far distant: And being in great disorder, and so not in a condition to give Battel, they durst neither go up to him, nor stay for him, though they were the stronger. The first Resolu∣tion they took, which usually is not the most generous, was to run away. Some of their Vessels began to retreat

in disorder, and the others, which thought they must do so too, followed them with that haste, that they fired not one of their great Guns against the Viceroy's men, who pursued them, to the incredible satisfaction of all the In∣habitants of Canton; and now the Cantoners prepared for triumphal Re∣creations, and to see the sport of the Bulls, in as great security as before they were in fear and dread.

The Run-awayes fled with such haste, that they left behind them their greatest and best Vessels, out of which they withdrew the Souldiers and Sea∣men, and what else they could, because these were too heavy and slow to fol∣low the rest. The Viceroy pursued them with all the Sail he could make, but could not possibly reach them; for their Vessels were much lighter, and their Rowers more expert, and in bet∣ter breath, and did beyond compari∣on exceed those of the Tartars, who were poor miserable Countrey-Fel∣lows, compelled to it against their will.

The General, after he had for some time been in chase after them, returned back again, and then seized upon those Vessels they had left▪ and entred in great glory and triumph into the City, where he was received as their Libera∣tor; and as if he had been sent from Heaven to succour them in this their urgent necessity. The Viceroy in Civil Affairs, who had likewise deli∣vered them out of a very intricate dan∣ger, went before him, and accompa∣nied him through all the streets of the City, which they passed through in the midst of a great Crowd of Peo∣ple, who could never weary them∣selves with praising and applauding him. And though it was broad Day∣light, yet there were Torches lighted in all the streets and places through which he passed, and Odors and Per∣fumes were burnt in all places, as if some of their Pagods or Idols had been marching through the Streets. But to what a person do they burn In∣cense? And what doth not Necessity and Flattery induce miserable people to do?

After all these publick Rejoycings and Feastings were over, the Vice∣roys busie themselves in searching out the Accomplices in the Conspiracy; which was not like that of Cataline: For they did not design to oppress, but deliver their Countrey; and yet there was very exact and diligent Inquisition made. The Chineses are very dexte∣rous in concealing and dissembling the Affairs of their Nation, and speak ve∣ry sparingly and advisedly of things of the least importance: And whoever discloses a Secret, is accounted a pub∣lick enemy, and a persecutor of his Countrey. But assoon as they are put to the Torture, the first pain makes them proclaim all they know: They love themselves too well, to love their Friends to that degree, as to suffer any pain upon their account. They do not intend to pay so dear for their Friendship.

Therefore assoon as the first who were apprehended, were put to the Torture, instantly ••••ll the Conspirators were discovered; some were only pri∣vy

and consenting to the Conspiracy; others were Sticklers and Principal••••; but the Tartars presently cut off the Heads of both the one and the other. This is their ordinary way of punish∣ing all criminal persons, without ma∣king any distinction of either Crimes or persons; it was sufficient they had all deserved to die.

After this first Execution, the Tar∣tars looked more narrowly to keep •••• strict Guard at the Gates of the City. And ••••o this effect, they appointed new Captains with Souldiers of approved Fidelity: They used all imaginable circumspection in shutting and opening the Gates; they altered and changed often both the time and manner of do∣ing it, that they might the better be as••••ured they were kept close shut, that thereby they might manifest to all who should yet entertain any thought of a new Conspiracy, that they were not remiss in keeping strict Guard. They carefully examined all who went in or out, and made them discover what ei∣ther they brought in or carried out.

All these Precautions, and the sud∣den Execution of the Conspirators, kept all the people in amazement, and made them that they knew neither what to think or say. Each of the In∣habitants was in a continual apprehen∣sion that some or other who designed to do them mischief, should publish their Names amongst the Conspirators; for there needed no other manner of proceeding to make any man lose his Life. And there is great reason to be∣lieve, that several very innocent per∣sons fared no better than those who were most Criminal. It is a very usu∣al way of taking revenge in that Coun∣trey, for those in distress to go and hang themselves at the Gate of their Enemies, to declare thereby, that they deserved the like punishment if Justice was done upon them. At this rate some base spirits have purchased the satisfaction of revenge. All this troublesome time the Inhabitants of Canton remained prisoners in their own houses: They saw and heard what h••••d passed, but durst say nothing. They

dur••••t scarce open their Mouths in the most retired and secret places of their Houses. They explained themselves, by lifting up their shoulders, and such like Gestures; and in so dismal a time this was the best Expedient to avoid greater mischief.

Although the Chineses, assoon as they are put to the Torture, confess all they know; yet in all parts of the world there are some extraordinary persons who may pass for prodigies in regard of other men. And it may well be counted a very great one, when one single man dares approve himself resolute and generous amidst a multi∣tude of timorous Cowards. This h••••p∣pened amongst the great numbers of those who were declared to be either Principals or Accomplices in the Con∣spiracy. A Chinese Captain, not one of the Pyrates, or a Sea-Commander, but a Land-Commander, whom they call a Mandorin of Martial Affairs, was put to the Torture, and interrogated whether he knew any thing of the Con∣••••piracy or Conspirators? He thus re∣plied;

That whether he knew any thing or nothing, he was not a man to make any of his Countrey-men lose their Liv••••s by the hands of their enemies: That the resolution of those of the same Coun∣trey to unite themselves together against their Tyrants, to free their Countrey from Oppression, ought not to be called a Conspiracy. If this was that which they call'd a Conspiracy, he was in truth the chief and principal Conspirator in the whole Empire, and that he would most willingly lay down his Life to gain success to that Conspiracy. That this was all he had to say to them; and this he knew most certainly. These words spoken so resolutely and pertinently, were not ve∣ry plaisant to the Tartars, who were not accustomed to receive such Lan∣guage from the Chin••••ses: And they having the Law in their own hands, made this free and resolute Discourse a very criminal Offence. They ordered that he should be racked with greater Tortures; and scoffingly told him, He should reserve all his fierceness till he was so tortured upon the Rack, that he should

have need of all his Courage to support the anguish thereof.

He was no more moved at their Scoff••••s than at their Menaces; neither was he a man to be estimated according to the rate of the other Chineses. Rome her self, even in the time of her Cato's had few to be compared with him. It was the misfortune of China, not to have had many such Captains who might have hindred the Tartars from advan∣cing so far. They put him again to the Torture, which was extraordinary cruel: He endured it with the same Constancy▪ without changing his Opi∣nion, or so much as his Countenance. Several Chineses, who judged how far they themselves were from being able to give so generous an example, were troubled to see so much resolution in one of their own Nation. But the Tartars were enraged to find a Chinese who mocked at them, and all the tor∣ments they could afflict him with. A∣midst his greatest tortur••••s, he told them very boldly, That they tormented themselves in vain: That he was fixed

and resolved to endure the torments, even to death, and that he would b•••• content not only to die once, but often, if he had as ma∣ny Lives as he would will••••ngly lay down for the Service of his Prince and Coun∣trey: That he should believe them happily lost, or rather gloriously employed, to pay thereby so lawful, nay so indispensable a Duty to a valiant man.

The Viceroys caused his Wife and his Son to be brought to him, threat∣ning to kill them before his face, un∣less he discovered the Conspirators. They were desirous to see if that which is most tender to a Father and a Husband, could mollifie his Courage. They thought, though he cared not to lose his own Life, yet perhaps he might be concerned, that those for whom he ought to have the greatest affection, should lose theirs upon his account. They had scarce brought them before him, but casting a fierce and angry look upon his Son and Wife, in a slighting scornful manner he replied to the Tartars; This is not my lawful wife which you bring before me; No, my wife

was not so unfortunate as to fall into the hands of the Tartars; I my self at her own request, kill'd her some days since, though I had no reason to complain that she had violated her Honour or mine, and she was fully satisfied in the esteem I had of her conjugal fidelity; yet seeing amidst your Violences we can be secure of nothing, we would not longer leave that in hazard, which was dearer to us both than our Lives. As for this woman, you may do with her what you please; I never law∣fully married her, and my Honour or Dishonour doth not depend upon her. I acknowledge the young man you bring before me, is my Son▪ but if he had not been taken from me, he had not staid in the world after my •••• ••••ife; and therefore I fear so little to see him die, that on the contrary, you will do me a great pleasure to dispatch him quickly. Let him di••••, I intreat you: Either do you kill him, or give me liberty to do it. I shall die con∣tent, when I shall know that he doth not live under the Dominion of Tyrants, and be assured that he shall neither prove a Traitor to his Countrey, nor no longer

live to see those Treacheries and Oppressi∣ons under which she now groans.

But this Father could neither kill his Son himself, nor prevail with his Exe∣cutioners to do it. He neither had Weapons, nor liberty to use any; which if he had, it is probable, he would have performed all he said, and perhaps something yet more barbarous, with pleasure have torn out the very Heart and Bowels of his Son, which certainly no person but an Infidel and Idolater could have been capable of.

What Cato, of whom Antiquity makes such boast, did formerly, comes far short of what this Chinese Captain would have done. Cato, when he was in Vtica, had courage enough to kill him∣self, but not enough to endure to see his Son die; on the contrary, he sent him to C••••sar, with this Recommendation to the Tyrant; That as for himself, h•••• had made choice of death, because he could not prevail with himself to live un∣der a Tyrant, after he had so long lived in a frèe Commonwealth. As for his

Son, ••••e was young, and might in time accustome himself to Slavery; and there∣fore he recommended him to Caesar, desi∣ring him to receive him into his Protecti∣on. But this Chinese Captain, instead of enslaving his Son, and recommend∣ing him to the Tyrant of his Countrey, as that Roman did; He was resolved to have killed his with his own hand, that he might not live under Tyranny or Slavery. It is therefore no Hyperbole, to say tha•••• China in her last Misfortunes had some extraordinary persons, and greater than Cato himself.

The Viceroys ought to have shewed a greater esteem than they did, of the Generosity of this Chinese; but either they did not regard i••••, or else he thereby struck such a terrour into them, that he made them dread him: And this perhaps induced them not to suffer such an Enemy to live longer. They took away his Son and Wife, to whom it doth not ap∣pear, that they offered any further violence; and the next day they put him to death. This was much

magnified amongst the Chineses. Gal∣lant and Heroick Actions are appro∣ved by all persons, even by those of the most timorous and lowest Spirits. But this is the ill, that those who praise, nay envie Goodness and Virtue, will neither take the pains to imitate or pursue it.

A little time after the death of this Chinese Captain, it was known t••••at he was a Commander under the King Guequan, who was retreated in∣to the Mountains, and had sent seve∣ral persons throughout all the Cities of China, to animate the people to de∣clare against the common Enemy, for Liberty. And this Captain was then imploy'd upon this account, and gave out that Guequan, the Lawful Succes∣sor of the Chinese Emperours, would command and head them. But this Negotiation had not a more fortunate success, though the ••••aptain by his rare and unparallell'd Loyalty, made it evi∣dent, that Guequan, who was certainly one of the best Princes that was ever Crowned during the late Tar••••arian war,

could not possibly have employed a person of higher Merit and Capacity, to serve him against his Enemies. His Courage and Valour gained great Re∣nown amongst all his Countrey-men, and his last Adventures gave occasion to discourse of them, and enlarge up∣on them in this present History.

CHAP. XXI. The Corsairs possess themselves of several places, and return to assault Canton. The General routs them at Sea. The Chineses manage their Affairs ill, and thereby only exasperate the Tartars, and consume the rest of their Forces.

I Must now draw to a Conclusion the Information I have received con∣cerning the Atchievments of th••••se Py∣rates, who did daily afresh toil and torment their Enemies. The General was almost at his Wits end: This man who seemed so indefatigable in War, found out those now who gave him sufficient employment both by Land and Sea. They had now made them∣selves Masters of three or four the best places in all the Province of Canton, and there they defended themselves in spight of all the Tyrants Fury, and all

that the Tartars could do to drive them out. They laid siege to several other Places, and blocked them up very close. But they were much more powerful at Sea, and highly dissatisfi∣ed, that they had so precipitately and inconsiderately made their last retreat. at that time when they did both in men and strength over-power the Vice∣Roy: Therefore with all possible ex∣pedition they rendezvouz'd again, and at the same time gave a new Allarm to the City of Canton; they cast Anchor at the foot of that Fort which they had taken a little time before, and there in the presence and sight of the Vice-Roy, after their usual custom, they menaced the Inhabitants. The approach of these Pirates, who were ever apprehended as such dreadful é∣nemies, put the whole City into a great perplexity and commotion. The Tartars were no less disturbed to see the Corsairs come thundring upon them from all parts with such numerous and potent Forces. All the Citizen••••, as at other times, armed themselves,

and continued all night under their Arms, making a most terrible noise and horrible uproar. The Corsairs made no less a clamour without, than the Tartars within the City; for whilst they were drawing up their Horse, they made a continual shouting. The Soul∣diers within the City had each of them taken up their Posts upon the Walls, & at the Gates, and the Captains went the Round incessantly. Amongst these Barbarians they go not the Rounds with so great a silence as they do in the Disciplin'd Armies in Europe, but they continually shoot, shout, and make a clamour with their warlike Instru∣ments. Nay, their very Guards and Sentinels do incessantly fire their Guns at night; whereas in Europe, they would not fail to take the Alarm at the first Gun which discharged: But these are Barbarians, and most barbarous in making war, where they imagine that a noise doth encourage them, and make them the more valiant; perhaps it is because with shouting and making a noise, they usually supply the defect of

Company, and being accustom'd there∣to, when they are in company, they make the greater clamour to engage their companions to stick the firme•••• ••••o them.

Assoon as day began to ••••ppear, ••••e∣neral Ly resolves to go and fight them at Sea. And being fully perswaded that they now designed to engage him, and that for this intent they wait∣ed for him; he therefore prepares a very potent Fleet to assault them, and presently hoises Sail, and makes up to them: He found them ranged in or∣der of Battel, and ready to fight him, and assoon as he had divided his Fleet into the several Squadrons, and issued out the Orders which were to be obser∣ved in the management of the Fight, he gives the Signal to fall on: Each Party engaged with great animosity. The Fight was very bloody, and the Victory a long time disputed, inclining some time to one side, and sometime•••• to the other.

The Tartars fought with more Va∣lour, and in better Order, and de∣fended

themselves better; but the Corsairs had the advantage by their number, and their Ships were lighter, and tacked quicker about, and came up, and charged oftner, and being more numerous, they extend th••••m∣selves out further, surrounded their Enemy, and charged them at the same time both afore and abast. It is most certain, that if there had been as good a union and accord amongst them, as there was amongst the Tartars, they had not only won that day, but seve∣ral others; but these were only per∣sons who were assembled together, and divided into different Squadrons, un∣der distinct Commanders in chief; a∣mongst whom there was not that good correspondence as was necessary; for though they had a General, they gave him only the Title, but no Obedience and Observance but what they pleased, not what was due to a Sove••••aign and absolute autho••••ity; so that if in the midst of the Engagement, any Com∣mander in chief of one of the Squa∣drons, who wanted Courage, and

had a mind to run away, all the rest of the Ships in that Squadron follow∣ed him, as Cleopatra heretofore desert∣ed Anthony. This was the consequence hereupon, that although some of the Squadrons fought it out stoutly, yet at last, for all their Valour, they must submit; for the Tartars, assoon as they perceived any of the Pyrates Ships to run away, incessantly cried out Victory, and thereby animated their men to fall on with greater vio∣lence upon those who yet stood it out. There being so little union, and so great a misintelligence amongst the Corsairs, one of their Squadrons had no sooner run away, but presently there followed a general confusion and disorder amongst all the rest: And the Tartars to secure their Victory, fail∣ed not to press the closer upon them. It was the Misfortune of the Chineses, that though they were as nimble in running away as the Parthians, yet they were not so dexterous in fighting whilst they run away, and thereby gaining the Victory. This was the

Event of this great Battel; the Corsairs were all routed, and the Tartars, as they usually did, gained the Victory with all the advantage imaginable,

The Corsairs had several such like Engagements with the Tartars as this was; but there will be no end to relate them all; and besides, being it would almost be the rehearsal of the same thing again and again, the relation thereof would prove tedious. But to say something in the general of the War which these Pyrates made, it is certain they toiled and tormented themselves to little purpose. They did not consider, that it was not now either a time or season to let their Ene∣mies see, they were to be feared; for thereby they only obliged them to stand the stricter upon their Guard, and to be always ready armed, and to keep very strong Armies ever in the Field; neither did these Pyrates do any con∣siderable dammage to the Tartars, or gain any advantage, which might en∣courage them to hope to regain the pristine Liberty of their Countrey;

but on the contrary, they consumed what Forces they had left, and by ru∣ining the Countrey, they made them∣selves incapable of ever undertaking any thing against the Tyrants. And admit they should have won some con∣siderable Victory, and cut the Viceroys and all their men in pieces, and by this means recovered the City and Pro∣vince of Canton; yet they had reason to expect new Armies of the Tartars to fall upon them, who would not long let them enjoy their Victory. And that they did not now come, was only because that all these Risings of the Corsairs were not now looked upon at Court as so considerable a War. There they believed them to be onely some Mutineers, or some Rovers, which might give some disturbance to to the Viceroys, but did not merit the care of the Tartarian Emperour, no more than the presence of Pelipaouan the Conquerour of China, under whose Government that Province was.

It would have been more advantage∣ous

for the Chineses to let the Tartars taste and enjoy for some time the Pleasures and Luxu••••ies of China, which if they had, it is probable that it might have succeeded with them, as it did with Hannibal at Capua, and that they might not have been so invincible after as before. They should have let the heat of such victorious Enemies cool a little: And if they would not have staid fourscore years, and let the Tar∣tars again be so long Masters of China, as they had been once before; yet they should have given them leisure to re∣call their Troops, and let them with∣draw their potent Armies; and by giving those Souldiers which were left there, occasion to believe that they need fear nothing in their new Con∣quest, thereby have induced them to stand upon their Guard more remissly; but on the contrary, to necessitate so powerful an enemy to keep the Field continually, and to be always in Arms, and by the Victories they obtained, to grow more fierce and insolent. This was not the way to regain the Liberty

of their Countrey, but to disenable it for ever freeing it self from Oppressi∣on and Slavery. As there is but one Phoe∣nix in the world, so there is but one Countrey, and that is Spain, which hath the virtue from its ruine to rise a∣again; whilst that which ruined it still subsists. It is said of the Phoenix, that the Flame which consumes it, doth at the same time re-animate it; that from the Fire in which it dies, it receives a new life, and that it could never re∣gain but from its own Ashes, and the Coal•••• of its Funeral Pile, those spark∣ling Colours in its Feathers which shine like Emeralds and Rubies. And thus hath Spain regain'd a new Birth and Resurrection out of its own Cinders, and those Embers which had consumed it. The Moors had in a manner ruined and destroyed that State, and reduced it to a languishing condition; but at the same time it recover'd its vigour a∣gain. For whilst the Moors fell upon the ••••othes, they gave opportunity to Spain to come to it self again, and to arrive at the height of Grandeur, in

which that great and puissant Monar∣chy hath ever since remained. In the de∣struction of China there is some resem∣blance with what hath happened here∣tofore to Spain. The Emperour Zunchin may be compar'd to Dom. Roderick, not so much in the loss of his Empire, as in the sudden destruction of that Prince and State at the same time. But it will never be so easie for China to re∣establish it self, as it was for Spain; for those great Exploits, in which the Spanish Valour and Constancy surpas∣sed it self, are not to be expected from the Chinese Levity and Effeminacy.

CHAP. XXII. An eminent ••••rediction of a Chinese A∣strologer, that that State should be conquered by a Stranger which had blew Eyes. The Precautions which the Chineses observed to divert the ef∣fects of that Prediction.

THE Chineses, who have ever been much addicted to Arts and Sci∣ences, had amongst them some very famous Astronomers, and some very eminent in Judicial Astrology; but one of the most renowned of all the Astrologers, of the greatest Credit and Repute amongst them, whom they cal∣led the great Cahorri of the Stars, had some years before, left behind him a ••••rediction, which made a great noise in the Countrey. The Prediction im∣ported, that time should come, when the Empire of China should devolve

to the power of a Forraign Nation, and that he which should conquer it, should have blew Eyes. It was a rare thing in that Countrey to see a man with such colour'd Eyes. There are so few that in these hundred years, during which the Spaniards have frequented the Philippine Isles, where there is a great confluence of all the Eastern-Nations, they have remarked, that they never saw any persons with blew eyes but either Europeans, or those, whose Parents were of Europe. If it could have been remarked in any o∣ther, it would have been looked upon amongst those people, as a Prodigy, and a monstrous thing: But the Chi∣neses above all other Nations, testified a great abhorrence for blew Eyes, both because it was a thing extraordinary, and that thereupon they presently re∣flected upon the Prediction.

This was one of the principal Rea∣sons that they were ever such declared Enemies to the Hollanders: And be∣cause of their blew Eyes, they would never suffer them to enter their Ha∣vens;

and upon the same account they denied entrance both to the English and Danes, whom they observed ge∣nerally not to have their Eyes so brown or black as those of their own Na∣tion.

But it was little available to the Chineses to have such regard to the Eyes of men: They should more strict∣ly have regarded that which was of greater concern to them. But herein they were negligent; and the effect of the Prediction arrived from whence they did not at all expect it. He that was foretold he should have his Skull broke by the fall of a House, found little security by avoiding going near any Houses or Ruines, since he could not escape the Eagle which let fall a Tortoise upon his Head.

The Chineses, who were so jea••••ous of the Eyes of the Hollanders and En∣glish, did not mistrust that more fatal ones should come out of Tartary; for by the Tartars they pretend the Pre∣diction of their Astrologer was verifi∣ed. The young Xunchi was designed

to be the Conquerour of their Em∣pire, with blew Eyes. But I must here declare that the Relation doth not expresly say that that Prince had such Eyes as the Prediction intimated, only that he had a most beautiful Face, that his Complexion was very fair, with a most agreeable mixture of red, and that it was difficult to find either an Englishman or Flemming more fresh or beautiful: Therefore from this De∣scription it must be concluded, that he had such Eyes as the Chineses appre∣hended; for usually they are insepara∣ble from such Faces.

This the Chineses pretend was the accomplishment of their Famous Pre∣diction, which was no less renowned in that nation, than the Prediction of Antichrist amongst the Christians, if it may be permitted to make a compari∣son between the Verity of one of our Prophets, and the Vanity of a Chinese-Astrologer. But thus these miserable people were prepossessed with the Im∣pression of their future calamity. They are not so much to be blamed that

they were so cautious in not admitting the Christians to Land, as that they were so negligent in keeping Guard there where they had reason to be most apprehensive. They took no care for the pay and subsistance of their Soul∣diers, which were to guard the Wall; and yet from those parts they ought to expect their greatest and most dread∣ful Enemies: But see the Misfortune of this blind Nation; they believed themselves sufficiently advertised of their afflictions, and assured themselves they had taken all necessary precauti∣ons to prevent them, and yet little re∣garded the knowledge of him who weigheth in his just Ballance their Crimes, and the Chastisements which thereby they merit. They consolated themselves that their Astrologer had not been deceived, and could not but confess, that it was the Decree of Heaven, that the Empire of China should fall under the power and subjection of another M••••aster. But they could reach no further. They had not the knowledge of him who

cites before his Tribunal both Kings and People, the great Judge of all Mankind, who hideth his Anger and Justice by his patient Long-suffering of mans Injustice; but yet when he pleases, he reveals and manifests it by visible Chastisements of men, for their Infidelity and Iniquities.

CHAP. XXIII. The Chineses who traded with the neigh∣bouring States, are ill used assoon as the loss of their Empire was known. The ill reception which the petty King of Cochin-Chine gave to those who came into his Territories to secure themselves.

AFter I have related all that I could inform my self of con∣cerning the Conquest of China, from these brief Memorials and Relations I received, it remains, that I should say

something how the Neighbouring Na∣tions treated those Chineses which were in their Territories, when they recei∣ved the News of the Loss of the Em∣pire of China; for the Chineses made so ill a Defence, that it was scarce known that they were assaulted, before the News came that they were subdu∣ed, and had subjected themselves to new Masters. Of all the Asiatick Na∣tions there were scarce any but the Chineses who transported their Wares and Merchandizes into the adjacent Countries and Nations; and for this intent, as well as for the defence of their Coasts, they had several Ships out at Sea: Some little time before the Iapanners likewise went to trade into forreign parts. But then all their Forreign Trade was interdicted by their Prince, who, upon pain of Cor∣poral punishment, had forbid all his Subjects to go out of his Territories; but he permitted all Strangers, except∣ing Christians, to come to Iapan, and buy and sell what they pleased. As for the Chineses, they went in great

numbers into Forreign parts; especi∣ally those of the Province of Fokien, where they are most addicted to Navi∣gation. They went to export their Merchandizes into several parts, as Iapan, the Isle of Corea, Tunking, Cochin-Chine, Champa, Cambodia, Siam, Patany, Macassar, Solor, Sumatra, and sometimes even to Iacatra, which is a Factory of the Hollanders in the East-Indies: But they cannot go farther, being their Vessels are not proper for greater Voyages, though some of these places are little less than five or six hundred Leagues distant. And the policy of that Nation will not suf∣fer them to build Vessels of greater Bulk, and of strength to endure grea∣ter Voyages, fearing lest the Merchants should settle themselves in remote Countries, from whence they would not transport to China the gain and profit of their Trade and Com∣merce.

The Chineses were alwaies very wel∣come to Strangers, by reason of the great profit they brought by their

Traffick; and all their Merchandizes being highly esteemed, and consequent∣ly very vendible at Manilla, and all the Philippine Isles, there was alwayes in those Islands great Numbers of Chi∣nese Merchants. During the late Wars, there came fewer, but still some, to keep up the Trade; and assoon as they perceived their Affairs in China to grow desperate, and that there was no hope to recover their lost Empire, yet they failed not to give out, that now they should return thither in as great numbers as ever.

The Chineses did with no great diffi∣culty dwell and settle themselves a∣mongst Forreigners; nay, they made Alliances and Marriages in Forreign parts. Some of them took Plantati∣ons apart, and there inhabited, as in so many distinct Colonies of Chineses. Several others dispersed themselves throughout the Countrey, and busied themselves in cultivating the Lands and managing the Tillage and Husbandry of the Lords and Gentlemen of those Countries in which they lived; and o∣thers

employed themselves in other Vocations, and several Mechanick Arts, by which they rendred themselves very serviceable to those people amongst whom they inhabited. It is believed, that during the late Wars, there was above a hundred thousand Chineses, who were setled with their Families in the adjacent States and Countries; and there was in one single Island of the Philippines, which made an insurrecti∣on against the City of Manilla, in the Year 1649. more than forty or fifty thousand.

The Neighbouring Nations were not more surprized at the News of the loss of China, than the Chineses who were then there, were astonished and dejected; for being out of their own Countrey, whither now perhaps they might never return, they must expect to suffer several Reproaches, to the Disgrace and Dishonour of their Na∣tion: And they themselves were at the News hereof so transported with Passion, that they could not endure to hear it spoke of. Though they would

not believe that the Tartars were so ab∣lute Master of China, as was report∣ed; but they endeavoured by all means possible to conceal their shame and in∣famy; and for this intent, they invent∣ed all manner of Fabulous Stories, to gain a belief abroad, that the Chi∣neses had done, and did still do se∣ve••••al great Exploi••••s and very gallant Actions for the defence of their Coun∣trey. These were fine Fictions which the Chineses writ out of China to their Countrey-men in Forreign parts. And upon this account a Christian Chinese, who had from the time he went out of China, which was then twenty years, been setled with his Wife, Children, and Family in a very remote Countrey, and now never hoped to return back, had the confidence to give out, that the Chines••••s had defeated the Tartars, and cut them all in pieces; that they had freed China, and the rest of the world from those Tyrants, and that now there was no War there, but on∣lo amongst the Chineses themselves, who contended who should be the absolute

Monarch of that great Empire. The person to whom the Chinese recited this Fabulous Story, endeavoured all he could possibly to disabuse him. But he instantly produced a Letter, which he said he had received from his Bro∣ther in China, which informed him of all he reported; upon the sight hereof, they observed one thing, very worthy of Remark, which was, that that Let∣ter bore the same Date with the Rela∣tion, which gave a particular and ac∣curate account of all passages which had happened. And of the Truth of this Relation there was no scruple; for the very time was set down when ••••he Tartars had compleated their Con∣quest of that Empire; and therefore he to whom the Chinese made this Re∣port, could not but smile, and was ••••e∣ry desirous to convince him that no∣••••hing was more false; but he was not ••••o be confuted, but would still stand ••••o what his Brother had writ. He pre∣••••ended, that because he was a Chinese, ••••nd zealous for the Religion of his Countrey, it could not possibly be,

that he should send him such a Lie. These Qualities, forsooth, must needs render him a very credible person in a business of this nature. The poor man hereupon went his way very discon∣tentedly and melancholly; which gave occasion to suppose that he gave more credit to the Discourse of the other person, than to the Letter of his Bro∣ther: But he was angry and asha∣med to agree to a Truth which did not please him.

But yet the hardest usage which the Chineses, as well those who were al∣ready there, as those who came after in the Tartar Habit, met with in most of these Countries, was only to be mocked and derided, and to be treat∣ed with injurious terms, as to be cal∣led Traitors to their King, and infa∣mous Coward••••, for defending their Countrey no better. Though these Reproaches were very piercing, yet it was but a small matter to what they merited.

They were used more mildly by the Subjects of the King of Spain, who o••••

the contrary, did very much compas∣sionate their Misfortune. They must have been very hard-hearted not to have been grieved and troubled to see the deplorable condition of that vast Empire, which some few years before, they had seen so flourishing. The Spa∣niards ought especially to be moved with compassion towards them; for thereby they might be minded of what had heretofore happened to them∣selves at home. But it is true, that ge∣nerally people were not displeased to see the Chineses so humbled as they were; for they treated Strangers with so much diffidence and Jealousie, and the Landing there was incumbred with so many difficulties, that there was no approaching near their Coasts. This was the occasion that that great Empire was in a manner secluded from the Commerce and Society of Mankind; and thereby from the Light of the true Faith and Religion, which was there so horribly persecuted, only for this reason, that those who came to reveal it to them, were Strangers, who came

into their Countrey, notwithstanding they were prohibited by the Laws thereof. But all this Inhumanity pro∣ceeded only from a pa••••nick Fear, and a base Distrustfulness of that jealous Nation. The Tartar was very far from these timorous suspitions of the Chi∣neses; but having a better opinion of his Valour and Strength, he is willing the entrance into his Provinces should be open and free to all Na••••ions of the Earth. He doth not much concern himself at the arrival of Strangers. He is so little apprehensive that any should come, that on the contrary, he is con∣ceited that the Fame of his great Ex∣ploits hath made him formidable all the world over. And by how much the Tartars are more generous and cou∣ragious than the Chineses, they are so much the more frank and free in their Actions and Dealings, and of easier access, and herein they have a greater resemblance to the dispositions of the Eu••••opeans. They could never suffer nor endure that people should ap∣proach them with those Ceremonies,

and prostrate themselves before them, as they use to do before the Chinese-Mandorins, as shall be seen when I come to treat of their manner of Govern∣ment. Therefore assoon as there was any hope that the change of the Govern∣ment of that State would make open and free the Commerce of not only the goods of the Earth, but that which is of higher esteem and value, the Riches of Faith. There were none b••••t the Chineses who were troubled that the State-Affairs of that great Empire was changed.

I must now relate the manner how the petty King of Cochin-Chine, near Neighbour to the Chineses, received them after the ruine of their Countrey. This Prince is the Grandchi••••d of a Viceroy who revolted against the King of Tunking, together with all those people who inhabited in a small Canton of that State; so that Cochin-Chine is but a small part of ••••he Kingdom of Tunking, bounded by the Sea towards the South and the East; but towards the North contiguous as the whole

State of Tunking is with the Continent of China. The Viceroy by this Re∣volt still upheld himself in the quality of Viceroy or Prince of Cochin-Chine, as likewise did his Son, and Grandchild after him. And this last is at present the petty King of that Countrey, which for these sixty years hath been a small distinct State. Ever since the first Re∣volt, the King of Tunking hath inces∣santly made war against Cochin-Chine, still pretending to be the Lawful Sove∣raign thereof. But this war hath not been very hotly prosecuted by either party; for the Rebels have supported themselves by the power and interests of the Friends and Allies in Tunking; and the war by State-policy prolonged, and at the end it served only to waste and consume so much Money for the keeping up so many Souldiers, with∣out any great advantage or loss to ei∣ther party. This was the state of Co∣chin-Chine: But if the Tartars had had any inclinations to turn their Arms towards those parts, they might quick∣ly have decided the quarrel of those

two Princes; for each of them were Neighbours near enough to those Con∣querours to tremble at the very Fame of their Victories.

But to return to the pretty King of Cochin-Chine; he was not very potent, yet he was very fierce and trouble∣some, and shewed himself very splene∣tick to those Chineses driven out of Ia∣pan, for some Reasons which you shall shortly know; and he treated with all the ill usage he could possibly all the other Chineses, because they had de∣fended themselves so cowardly against their Enemies.

This Prince, with his whole Court usually resides in that place where the great River called Tayfy rowles it self into the Sea. All forreign Ships which come to trade in that Countrey, enter there without any difficulty. Two Leagues from the Mouth of the River there is an Island called Champailo, which frames a Bay or Harbour, in which Ships may ride secure. He sent order, that all the Chineses who fled thither, thinking to find refuge in his

Countrey, should pass no further; for he would not let his Territories serve for a retreating place to those who had been such Traitors to their King and Countrey. He kept them two Moneths in the Bay of that Isle, and would not permit them to enter into the Channel of the River. He was wil∣ling to make them sensible that they deserved to be treated no better by his Highness. They comprehended his meaning, and understood that he expected Money. This was the de∣sign of this great Monarch, who did not think it unworthy of his Grandeur to make his profit from the misfortune of these miserable people. The rea∣son that he durst thus treat the Chi∣neses, was, because he saw them so low; at another time he would not have dealt thus with them: But they who perceived what they must do, presently presented the petty King of Cochin-Chine; and hereby they o••••∣tained liberty to enter into the Chan∣nel of the River; after which, he continued to them the advantage of

that Favour; but they understood very well that they owed the Obliga∣tions thereof to their Presents.

CHAP. XXIV. The Emperour of Japan uses the Chi∣neses very hardly. The Iealousie that Prince hath of Strangers. How pow∣erful an Obstacle this distrust is to the conversion of those people. He re∣fuses to receive an Embassie from the Portuguezes of Macao. That though the Japanners are very powerful, yet they have reason to fear the Tar∣tars.

THere is none of all the Neigh∣bouring Princes of China who have shewed so much inhumanity to∣wards the Chineses as the Emperour of Iapan did. This Prince, as I have already remarked, had his head full of phantastick Chimera's; which if right∣ly

considered, were only vain Fears, which disquiet a base and timorous soul; but which yet were a powerful Obstacle to the Preaching of the Holy Gospel, and the propagation of the Christian Religion, which began to make a considerable progress in all parts of that spacious Countrey; but notwithstanding he would be thought a very valiant and puissant Monarch. And he might have been esteemed so, were it not, that for all his power he is so apprehensive of Forreign Princes, even those who are above five thou∣sand Leagues distant from him; but above all of the King of Spain, that he seems even when he is broad awake, to be disturbed with Dreams and Visi∣ons. These ridiculous fears made him imagine, that all those who went thi∣ther to discover to them the Mysteries of Christian Religion, were only the King of Spain's Spies. And this was the only reason which induced him to expel all the Christians out of his Ter∣ritories, and to put all those to death who either remained there concealed,

or returned back again to prosecute the Enterprize they had begun; which was to reveal to those people the Light of Faith. He made a prodigious num∣ber of Martyrs, even those who were his Natural Subjects, who had been converted to the Faith of Christ, he put to death upon the sole belief that they were so many Adherents to the King of Spain. Finally, the fear in which he ever is le••••t the Spaniards should come and dispossess him of his Empire, hath occasioned him to make such rigorous prohibitions to all his Subjects, not to go out of this Territo∣ries; for he imagines that they may go and convert themselves to the Christian Religion in Forreign parts, and then return with the Spaniards, and assist them to conquer his Empire.

The Portuguezes, in the Year 1647. sent a very honourable Ambassie. The Ambassadors with all their Retinue and Equipage, were transported in two Gallies. Their Instructions were to treat concerning the re-establish∣ment of Trade and Commerce with

the City of Macao. But it was impos∣sible to prevail any jot herein with that Prince. On the contrary, he renew∣ed his former prohibitions with great∣er severity; and pretended that he shewed the Ambassadors great Favour and Grace, that he suffered them to live. The Ambassadors staid before Nangasacke about forty dayes, from the six and twentieth of Iuly to the six∣teenth of September, in the Year 1647 I cannot express the precautions the Iapanners made use of during that time, to secure themselves, keeping a most strict Guard, out of the Distrust and Jealousie they had of every little trivial thing. And all this while they made a shew as if they had a desire to treat the Portuguezes most obligingly, and with all the Civility they could ex∣pect in other parts from their best Friends, yet made them content to bring ashore all their great Guns and Ammunition, nay the very Sails and Sterns from off their Ships, and to de∣liver them all up to be kept by them; assuring the Portuguez••••s they would

faithfully restore them assoon as they were ready to go out of the Har∣bour.

The Portuguezes at the first were not of opinion to submit to this Demand; alledging in their excuse that they had no Instructions from those by whom they were commissionated to act in this manner; but it was rather out of the apprehension they had that the Iapan∣ners had a design to disarm them, that after they might with less danger take away their Lives, as they had done to the Ambassadors which went from Macao in the Year 1640. After a lit∣tle time, they yielded to this demand, being convinced that they might do it securely, and that thereby they need fear nothing; seeing every day that the Vessels of the Hollanders, which came to Nangasacke, made no difficulty to deliver up to their custody all their Tackling; for in Iapan they used all these precautions, even to the Hollan∣ders, out of the fear they generally had of all Strangers; but they appre∣hended the Spaniards above all others.

There is no visible reason to be gi∣ven for these pannick fears, but only that it is the artifice of the Enemy of the Salvation of Mankind, to prevent thereby the knowledge of the true Religion; for it is certain, that if we well consider Iapan, there is no Sove∣raign in Europe, no not the King of Spain himself, can conquer a Coun∣trey of that strength, so far distant; or should he possess himself of any place therein, could he long keep it. To manifest this, let us but reflect of what a vast extent, and how populous Ia∣pan is, which contains sixty Kingdoms. In truth they are not so spatious as the Kingdom of Naples; but according to the relation of those Spaniards who have seen both; they are not less than either Granada, Marcia, Valentia or Anduluzia. Therefore there cannot remain the least doubt, but that a Prince who absolutely commands sixty such Kingdomes, is a most puissant Monarch. And all this spacious Coun∣trey is very populous, and a most war∣like Nation, and so little affraid of

death, that only to evidence what they would do, either out of affection to their Friends, or for the service of their Prince, they will instantly strike a Dagger into their Breasts. These people are also very united amongst themselves, and obedient to their Go∣vernours. And besides all this, they are very well armed with all manner of Arms and Weapons which are used in Europe: From hence we may judge whether or no a forreign Prince, though he had taken or fortified some place, could long maintain it, though it was never so strong, or well furnished with all Necessaries; nay, though he should employ herein all that was re∣quisite for the subsistance of a com∣pleat and entire Army, he must expect to be quickly assaulted very fiercely from the Land, and to have all his Works ruined and laid flat by strong Batteries; and let him make all the re∣sistance he can, he shall be sure to be besieged and blocked up, not only in the midst of great Armies, but of Walls and Mountains, if it be necessa∣ry;

and from the Sea-side, though he should over night, have it open and free, and be in a convenient Port to receive Succours and Supplies, yet be∣fore morning, he must expect to have the Haven blocked up, and the Sea ex∣cluded by Mountains transported thi∣ther by the Iapanners, if need be. There is a sufficient number of both Men and Vessels, and all Necessaries for a greater Enterprize, the Conque∣rour would quickly find himself immu∣red up in his Fort, and all hope of Re∣lief cut off; and though he should have a recruit of Men and Ships at Sea, if they were not already entred the Port, he would find there would be no possibility for them to enter in; nay, there would be no Haven; and so his Ships would be necessitated to abandon themselves to Tempests and ill Wea∣ther, to the Banks and Shallows, which are mor•••• frequent in those Seas, than in all parts of the world besides; and if they were in the Haven, they must never expect to come out, but to re∣main there likewise besieged and block∣••••d up.

It must not be imagined, that it is a Hyperbole to say that the Iapanners transport Mountains; for it is most certain they do by pieces and parcels, but not as the Saints did heretofore, by Miracles, remove whole Mountains. To evidence this, I need only relate what the Governour of Nangasacke did du∣ring the time that the two Portugueze Gallies were in the Haven. After se∣veral Demands and Replies to and fro, at last they went up the Channel of the River, which near the City, is half a Mile over: But some few days af∣ter, those who were aboard the Gal∣lies, where much surprized one Morn∣ing, to see the River blocked up by a Bridge, which went quite athwart the Channel, between which, and the Ci∣tadel of the Town, they were made prisoners. The Iapanners staid not here, but another Morning, two or three days afterwards, there was dis∣covered upon the same Bridge four Forts, at an equal distance, furnished and provided with both Souldiers and Artillery: And besides these Forts,

there was at each end of the Bridge, but a little lower, two Squadron of Ships, or rather two entire Navies, in each of which there was a thousand Vessels and Ships great and little, with an incredible number of Souldiers a∣board. After the Relation of all this diligence, it is easie to see that the Ia∣panners can do such prodigious things, that they cannot be reported without subjecting the Relater to the suspition of Hyperbolizing.

It was after known that the occasion of the Governour of Nagasacke's ma∣king all this preparation, was, that af∣ter he had sent advice to the Court of Iapan, of the Arrival of the Portu∣gueze Ambassadors, he had observed, that they had entred into that diffi∣dence, that it might well have induced them to return speedily back again. And he apprehended that he should both offend the Emperour, and be ac∣counted at the Court an imprudent person, if after he had given notice to the Court of these Ambassadors, they should have returned without recei∣ving

any Answer or Order from the Emperour, and therefore he made all these Preparations to retain the Ambas∣sadors there.

If the Governour of one single Town could upon a Concern of so lit∣tle importance, make such an Expence, and such an Oftentation of his power, as to build in less than a fortnight a Bridge with Forts, furnished with great Guns, over so great a River, and put out two thousand Sail of Ships, man∣ned and fitted for Fight; and besides all this, keep an incredible number of Souldiers under their Arms in his Gar∣rison; What might not his King and Master do to expel out of his State and Terri••••ories a Forreign Enemy, though never so potent and formidable, who should come to make an Invasion? It is therefore most certain, that there is no Prince or King in Europe, who would much advantage himself, should he make any Conquest in that remote Countrey; yet some Iapanners have said that ten thousond stout Spanish Souldiers might conquer all Iapan. But

the Spaniards would be very vain, should they imagine it was spoke seri∣ously; ten thousand men without ten thousand more to assist them, if occa∣sion should require it, would signifie so little in an attempt to do any great Exploit in so powerful a Countrey, that they would scarce be able to de∣fend themselves from one Ambus••••ade of the Enemy. And if Famine and Sickness occasioned by the change of Air and the Climate, and the want of good and wholsome nourishment, should destroy some part of them; if by the difficulty of passing the Rivers, and forcing their passage, another part of them should perish or be drowned; If the Assaults, Ambuscades, Skir∣mishes and Fights with the Enemy, should consume another part; How ma∣ny at last would there remain of these ten thousand men? Nay, if we further consider, that though there was neither Enemy nor War, yet a great part would quickly be lost. Common Sense and Reason would convince us, that he would be very ridiculous, who

should give credit to any such Expres∣sions of the Iapanners, and so would he likewise be, who should believe he had done some great matter towards the entire Conquest, if he had defeat∣ed t••••n thousand, or a hundred thou∣sand men in Iapan, though they would not part with their Lives at an easie rate to any who should assault them.

By this it is manifest, that the Iapan∣ners have little reason to be affraid; but the Devil thus disturbs them, that thereby he may stop the entrance of the Light of the Holy Gospel into that Countrey; which he hath already done, by so horrible a per••••ecution, that excepting that of An••••ichri••••t, the Histories record few more cruel; nay, there is no hope that the Servants of the Living God should of a long time be permitted to approach near that Countrey, unless as he holds in his hand the Key of the Bottomless Pit of De∣struction, he should shut the Mouth thereof, and open a way which we are yet ignorant of; we can only see, that if there is any humane means or way

left to make Iapan free for the Christi∣ans to come thither, it is by making that Prince better understand both his strength and power; and ass••••ring him that he who is able to make all his Enemies upon Earth tremble, needs fear no Conquerour; that Forreigners would get but little by coming to as∣sault him; that he knows already his Neighbours cannot equal•••• him in force or power; and as for the other Princes, who are at a greater di••••tance, though they be never so powerful, yet it would be in vain for them to come to gain any Victory or Triumph in that remote Countrey. The Iapanner is so haughty a Prince, and the whole Nation so vain glorious, that if this Vanity could once enter into their heads, they would presently grant liberty to all Forreign∣ers to come into their Countrey; and then they would so little care whether they were, or were not Spies to other Princes, that they would send to defie and brave them in their own Territo∣ries. Those who better understand the humour and genius of that Nation,

and how potent they are, may judge, whether they may not probably change their Conduct in the management of their affairs, when they come to un∣derstand better their own strength.

I have enlarged my self the more in my Discourse of Iapan, out of the desire I have, if it be possible, that these miserable people might cease to be apprehensive of their own felicity, and might at last give liberty to those to come into their Countrey, who are ready to reveal it to them: But at present there is no possibility; on the contrary, their Fears encrease daily. Heretofore they were only affraid of very remote Enemies; but at the pre∣sent, they dread their Neighbours most of all, and that not without cause. It is the just punishment of those who are affraid, and torment themselves with∣out cause, to have afterwards a true and real occasion of both fear and per∣plexity. The Iapanner is a very near Neighbour to the Tartar; for the Kingdom of Corea, of which he is Master, is not above thirty Leagues

distant from the Islands of Iapan: Therefore if any variance should hap∣pen between these Princes, and the Tar∣tar should invade Iapan, as he hath done China, it would be no little testi∣mony that God would again reveal himself to that Nation. All the Pre∣cautions which the Iapanners could then take, would be no more available than those were which the Chinese•••• took. And those miserable people would at last be brought to acknow∣ledge, that they have a Master, whose entrance they cannot stop into their Territories; for he knows how to make himself a passage when he pleases, and how he pleases; but by ways and means they know not of.

The Emperour of Iapan, who after the ruine of his Neighbours, was struck with a new fear, treated most barbarously all those Chineses who were in his Dominions; even those whom he knew had not at all contributed to the loss of their Empire. There were very many Chineses in Iapan, who had taken Wives of that Countrey, and

married their Daughters to the Iapan∣ners; some went incessantly, upon the account of their Trade between China and Iapan; others, the more wealthy Merchants resided continually at their Shops and Ware-houses, where they sold their Merchandizes, and drove a great Trade with the Mer∣chants of Iapan. All these persons were no way•••• either consenting or as∣senting to those Treacheries which had been committed in China; they had not contributed to the Misfortunes of their Countrey, from which they were then absent; having assoon as they per∣ceived War and Disturbances in those Provinces in which they usually traf∣ficked, retired themselves into Iapan; and though there the innocency of these persons were well known, yet the loss of China was no sooner divul∣ged, but they were condemned as so many Traitors, and cowardly Villains, who had shamefully delivered up their King and Countrey to the power of their Enemies. It did not appear that these poor people had done any ill, yet

the Emperour of Iapan, by his Edict, declared upon very severe penalties, that the Chineses being unworthy to live amidst his people, should with all speed depart out of his Territories and Dominions; and go they must, with∣out having liberty to make any Reply; for none are suffered to make any Re∣monstrance against the will and plea∣sure of this Prince, or the Decrees of his grand Council at Tenza. It was a sad Spectacle to see so many miserable people, thus destitute of all relief, put out to Sea, and necessitated to seek out unknown Countries, not daring to return to their Native Countrey, which was totally ruined by the Tar∣tars; nor suffered to stay in that Coun∣trey, which for so long time had been to them instead of their own Countrey. Nay, they must be gone with all speed; and in this haste, they could not obtain permission to carry with them some of their Merchandizes, as their Leather and Arms, the exportation of which, was prohibited: Some of them only, who were married in Iapan, left their

Families there, in hopes to return when things were not carried with that extre∣mity and rigour. After they obtained liberty to go and come with their Ships, only to trade, not to stay in the Countrey, as they did before.

The other Chinese-Merchants who came after to continue their Trade and Traffick▪ were much worser used. They being then in subjection to the Tartars, had their Hair cut short, and were habited after the fashion of the Tartars. This new mode was not ve∣ry taking in Iapan; for they were commanded and enjoyned not to stir out of their Vessels, nor to unload any of their Merchandizes, but to go back with all speed to the place from whence they came, and never to return to Ia∣pan in the Tartarian Habit; which if they did, they must expect a very ill reception, and severe punishment; but they could not return with the same wind which brought them thither: And in those Seas the Winds do in an unva∣riable order succeed each other all the year long, according to the Seasons of

the year with us; and to have a con∣trary wind to that which brought them, they must stay several Moneths. Thus the Chineses were necessi∣tated to wait for an opportune sea∣son to return from the place where they could not Land; but must remain prisoners at Sea in their Ships; and af∣ter they had suffered so much at home, the Inhumanity of the Iapanners made them know they were not yet arrived at the end of their afflictions.

They were used with such cruelty by these Barbarous people, that when the Tartars heard of it, they declared a high resentment of it, and threatned to go to Iapan to revenge them, and to let those base and cowardly spirited people know, they were able to con∣quer another Empire. The two Vice∣roys of Canton, who were more parti∣cularly offended, that the Iapanners should thus insult, had a great mind not to let it rest thus, but to carry their resentment further yet; but they could not of themselves make any at∣tempt upon that State; but the young

Zunchi must first concern himself in the quarrel: And it is certain, that if he had taken a resolution to carry the war into Iapan, in a little time he would have given great trouble and disturbance to that Prince. It was not far for the Tartar to pass over with his Troops from China and Corea, which was likewise in subjection to him. And these two Nations, which have ever been mortal Enemies to the Iapanners, desired nothing so much as a war against Iapan. This would have disturbed the thoughts of that Neigh∣bouring Prince, and have made him abate something of his haughty fierce∣ness, especially if Pelipaouan the Con∣queror of China, should have appear∣ed at the head of those who would have served under him in the Conquest of Iapan. We cannot tell what ••••eso∣lution the Emperour Xunchi may here∣after take: As we are not permitted to wish ill that good may come of it, so we ought not to wish that a Prince may turn Usurper or Tyrant; but if God, who disposes and orders Kings

and States as he pleases, should ever permit the Tartar to carry the war into Iapan, in probability this would be a means to give an entrance to the light of the Holy Gospel into that Coun∣trey where it is now so resisted.

See in the general how the Chineses were treated by their Neighbours af∣ter the loss of their Empire; the great∣est part of which contented themselves to deride them, and to speak of their Nation with injurious terms and con∣tempt. The Iapanners only treated them with all the hardship and fierce∣ness they could possibly. The Tartars accused them of Cowardliness, that they defended themselves so ill, and by way of reproach called them mild and peaceable people. Afterwards, in the Laws and Ordinances which they en∣acted for the Government of that State, they spoke of them in terms which ma∣nifested that they had no great value or esteem for them. In all places the unfortunate are insulted over; and those who stand and flourish, trample under foot those who are cast down;

not confidering that one day the like misfortune may happen to them. But they were Barbarians who thus treated the Chineses; whereas Civiliz'd and Reasonable persons would have regar∣ded the ruine of that Empire with the same reflection as Scipio did heretofore contemplating upon the Destruction of Carthage. This wise and prudent Roman taking a view of that renown∣ed City, which was at the same time, abandoned to the Fury of the Fire, and the Roman-Souldiers, its irrecon∣cileable Enemies. He hea••••d the joyful Acclamations of the Conquerers, and the doleful Groans of the Conquered, which through the Flames which sur∣rounded them, pierced the very Hea∣vens. He saw the miserable people, who flung themselves down headlong from the Walls and Houses, that they might escape the Fire, either received upon the points of Lances of the Soul∣diers, or bruised and trampled upon by the Horses Feet which marched through the Streets. He beheld the Bodies of some men half covered over

with Wounds, and the other half burnt with Flames, as if the poor wretches were to die two deaths at once: Scipio taking a prospect from an Eminency, of the direful Disasters of that City, could not refrain shedding Tears; which being remarked by some Knights of Rome, they demanded of him the reason why he so bewailed the Ruine of that City, which had been so dread∣ful an Enemy to the Commonwealth of Rome? This man, who saw farther into the event of things, than others, returned an Answer worthy, without all doubt, both of a Philosopher and a Roman.

I do no•••• (said he) shed Tears out of any Tenderness or Compassion for Car∣thage; but I cannot refrain from it, when I reflect upon the Transitoriness and Instability of humane affairs: I do not let fall these Tears for the Ruine of Car∣thage; I know too well the Mischiefs it hath done to my Countrey, and to the Family of the Scipio's; I understand full well that by the Law of Arms, no

Quarter is to be given to those who have so often manifested themselves such Re∣bels and inveterate Enemies. And now it is the third time that Carthage hath taken up Arms against Rome: I am not therefore moved at the destruction of that City; Nay, I am so far from it, that I commanded it; but I lament and be∣wail Rome it self; And I cannot stop the Torrent of my Tears, having so clear a foresight that time will come when my own Countrey will have no more favoura∣ble a Destiny. I cry therefore for the af∣flictions and calamities which will fall upon Rome; and I see them most evi∣dently in the Ruines of this City, once so Renowned all the world over, and for these seven hundred years so potent both by Sea and Land. I cannot but reflect upon its once so flourishing condition. It is not seventy years since it gained those glorious spoils in the Battle of Canna. I re∣collect with my self how formidable it was to us whilst Hannibal fought for it; that Hannibal who planted his Standards at the Gates of Rome, and might have made himself Master of the Capitol, if

he had known how to make use of his For∣tune and Advantage. Behold now that Town which cost the Lives of so many of our Roman Consuls, which hath been so often victorious over our Armies and our most famous Generals: Was it not in this very place, and upon that Theater which we see now covered with Flames, that heretofore they measured out by Bu∣shel-fulls the Rings of the Roman Knights, those valiant men who fell by the Victorious Arms of Carthage? But I see the Fortune of Carthage is very different from what it was heretofore. By which it is evident that there is no per∣manent prosperity upon Earth: There is therefore no Empire so powerful, but we must expect that sometime or other it will be overthrown and destroyed: And time will be when my Countrey, Rome it self shall only be the Ruines of that Rome, which now that it is Crowned with Glory and Triumph, over its most Formidable Enemy, makes such Boast and Ostenta∣tion of its Grandeur and Power.

Thus in the present destruction of

Carthage, did Scipio see, as in a Glass, the Ruine of Rome. And to know whether he was deceiv'd or no in what he did presage should happen to his Countrey, let us hear what a Father and Doctor of the Church saith. Saint Ierome makes no scruple to interrupt his Exposition on the Holy Scriptures, that he may deplore the Sack and Pil∣lage of Rome, which happened in his time. Carthage (saith he) was once ruined, but Rome several times: The Enemies of Rome have several times en∣tred victoriously into the principal City of the whole world: And it once happened that a little small Creature was the occasi∣on of the Loss of Rome, which gave oc∣casion to an Historian of those times, to say, That the Mistress of the Vniverse might be remarkable for every thing, it was necessary it might be said that Rome was taken by so inconsiderable a Creature as a Hare. It is fit therefore that men should rationally ponderate and consi∣der the Revolutions of States. He that would reflect with himself, that those Calamities which he sees to hap∣pen

to others, might likewise fall upon himself, might hereby avoid those Cheats which are imposed upon most men by the fallacious Smiles of For∣tune, and better arm and prepare him∣self against those Misfortunes and Dis∣graces which are equally incident to all Mankind. Those Princes and Nations who were Neighbours to the Chineses, ought to have made these Reflections upon the Ruine of that great Empire, and not to have insulted over those un∣fortunate People, as the Iapanners did, who treated them most barbarously and inhumanely. With this Remark, I shall conclude the Narrative of the most considerable Passages in the Con∣quest of China. It only now remains, that I should say something of the pre∣sent condition of that State under its new Masters; of their management of Affairs, and manner of Government; of their Religion; of their Armies and Military Forces; and lastly, of the Manners and Customs of the Tartars.

CHAP. XXV. Of the Religion of the Tartars. Their Natural Virtues and Vices.

IT may truly be said that those Tar∣tars which conquered China, are men who have neither the knowledge of God or of any Religion: For it doth not appear that they apply them∣selves to the knowledge of any Deity, or that they shew forth the Notions of any particular Religion. But they in∣differently receive all Religions and Superstitions which they are acquaint∣ed with, refuse none, but conform to all. As it may be said, that he who is every mans Friend, is no mans Friend, and that none can be reputed good men in the esteem of that person who is of opinion that there are no ill men; so it may likewise be said of the Tar∣tars, that they are of no Religion,

because they are of every Religion; for though from their outward actions they may pass for Idolators, yet to speak properly they have no Religion; for they neither know nor care to know, what it is they adore: Nay, it doth not appear, that they retain or receive those first notions which the sole instinct of Nature, without the assistance of any supernatural light, im∣presses into the breast of every man; by which Philosophers demonstrate a soveraign Being, and a first Cause of all things which move, and of all the products of Nature.

The Tartars have no knowledge of the Idols and Deities the Ancients a∣dored. They only worship, or rather admire the Heavens, just as it presents it self to their view, without making any reflexions upon that great and ad∣mirable brightness and splendour which they behold, and the wonderful effects which it produces: And yet to this they pay their greatest adoration, and this makes the greatest impression in the minds of the people. But you

must not imagin, that they much di∣sturb or disquiet their thoughts with the due observance of that ado∣ration which they pay to the Heavens; their devotion hath not so great an im∣pulse upon them: They have their Bonzi, which are their Priests, which offer their Sacrifices; and these are their Philosophers and Learned Men; but yet they have no great esteem for them. Their Women (as devotion in all places whether true or false is most natural to that Sex) seem to be some∣what more devout than the Men, and this appears by the veneration they have for their Bonzi. As this Nation embraces no particular Religion, so it rejects none, but easily are induced to believe a Divinity in that thing to which they see any other person pay any adoration; which they manifested in all parts of China through which they passed: For in all that Countrey there is an infinite number of Pagods, which are the Idols and Gods of the Chineses, which are placed in the Tem∣ples, very magnificently built, richly

adorned, and very numerons; and these were the Monasteries or Con∣vents of their Bonzi, who lived lazy and easie Lives; for notwithstanding that it was reported that these poor men forsooth, lived such austere Lives, and did such strict Penance, they did not much mortifie their Bodies, or af∣flict themselves; neither did the Tar∣tars find them so pale, lean, or disfigured as the common people gave out; but on the contrary, they found they look∣ed very fresh and well, were fat and lusty; which easily indu••••ed the Tartars to believe that their Lives were not very strict or austere: And yet they did no injury to their Persons, the Temples or Pagods. But it is true, that it cannot be determined whether it was out of Religion and Superstition, or State-Policy; for though they neither plundred the Temples, offered any violence to the Bonzi, nor took away any of those Lands and Revenues which the Emperour of China had gi∣ven them, though they were very considerable, which Moderation might

be thought to proceed from some sense of Religion, and Veneration which the Victors had for their Persons or Tem∣ples, yet on the other side, they were not very scrupulous, for they made Stables of the Temples, and tied up their Horses to the Pagods. And as for the Bonzi, they spoke scornfully enough of them; they called them lazy idle Fellows, who would neither labour nor take pains; and cheating Knaves, who gulled and deluded the people, and whilst they enjoyed plen∣ty and a fluency of all things, eat and devoured the Bread of the poor; sometimes they would say to them, Come out you lazy Knaves, come and fight, and a••••ter you have so long lived idly, and done nothing, come now and take a little pains. Thus they reproached and reviled them; but they did not force or compel them to quit their Cells or manner of Living. And this made it be believed, that they had ex∣press Order from the Emperour Xunchi, to offer no violence to the Bonzi, nor to commit any disorder in the Tem∣ples.

But yet many are of opinion, that in time the Tartar will either extirpate all these idle and unprofitable fellows, or else that he will reform them; for the Tartars have a great aversion to the manner of life which the Bonzi lead, which is no ways sutable to their Genius or Humour. But they judged fit to proceed with this moderation, lest if they should at the first have undertaken an Enterprise of that Con∣cern, they should thereby have ren∣dered their Government odious. But they could do nothing of greater i••••∣portance than this, for the admittance and propagation of the Christian Re∣ligion thoroughout the whole Coun∣trey; for hitherto the Bonzi have been the great opposers of the Preachers of the Holy Gospel; and these are they who have been the great obstacle to the conversion of those people. But after all, they do not this out of any great zeal to their false Religion, but only because they imagin, that that is more efficacious and conducible to maintain them in that quiet and easie life they now lead.

I must now say something how the Tartars have carried themselves to∣wards the Christians which they found in China. There was divers Priests of the Christian Religion in several pla∣ces, and it is certain, that they had beyond all comparison, a greater re∣spect and esteem for them, than for all the Bonzi. But amidst the Disorders of the War, the Sacking and pillaging so many Towns, the Iesuits, who are ••••he sole Preachers and Propagators of the Christian Religion in China, have suffered very much both in their Per∣sons and Goods, from the Insolency of the Souldiers, but chiefly from the Chineses who marched amongst the Tartars: But this was contrary to the express Orders of the Viceroys and Generals of the Armies, who were far from authorizing those Violences; which they sufficiently testified by the obliging reception which they ever after gave to those Fathers; for they gave them all the Safeguard and Pro∣tection which they could desire; and with great familiarity and confidence

they consulted with them about their Affairs. And this must likewise be said, that whatever the Iesuits suffered, it was not upon the account of their Religion; for the Tartars (as hath been already remarked) do not much concern themselves with those Matters. And it would have been very strange, should not the Insolenee of the Victo∣rious Souldiers have transported them to those Excesses which are so usually practised by them in all parts; but much more amongst the Barbari∣ans.

The Tartarian Women seemed more inclinable to our Religion; for they frequently resorted to the Churches of the Christians in Peking; but in truth, this was rather out of Curiosity than Devotion, though they shewed a great respect to the Images which adorned the Altars in the Churches. Perhaps they went out of compliance to the Iesuites, whom ehey saw so considered by the Emperour and all the Grandees of his Court; for the whole Nation is very courteous, and wonderfully com∣pliant

to the Humors of all persons, which cannot be denied to be a very apt disposition to incline them to re∣ceive the first Principles of the Chri∣stian Religion, and afterwards to in∣duce them to give credit to those Truths which it teaches, when upon examination they shall find them so conformable to the most refined Light of Reason.

But to speak something of the Vir∣tues and Vices of the Tartars; it must be acknowledged, that they are not so effeminate and sensual as the Chineses. They are not allowed to have so many Wives, and do detest and abhor those infamous and abominable Vices which are not fit to be named, and yet were frequently committed by the Chineses; which gave occasion to the Emperour Xunchi, assoon as he had taken posses∣sion of the Empire, and was informed thereof, to publish and Edict, wherein he declared, that whosoever should but attempt to commit those abomina∣tions, should have his Hand cut off; and whosoever should perpetrate them,

should lose his Head without any grace or favour. As for Theft, they hold it so high a Crime, that the very first time they punish it with death.

As for the rest of their Virtues, to speak of them in general, the Tartars are endued with many excellent Qua∣lities, and shew themselves to be very noble and generous in all their Actions. They are very frank and open, and observe the performance of their word and promise very punctually in time of Peace, when they are out of fear of an Enemy. Those to whom the Ad∣ministration of Justice is intrusted, must be very disinteressed persons; for they are very strictly prohibited to ac∣cept, or take any thing from any Party; and if they do, are very severely pu∣nished. They do not there as in other places, call that which the Judges take, their Fees, or a Present, or Gratuity; but Theft and Robbery, which is the Name which the Law of God imposes upon whatsoever is given to buy or purchase Justice. As for their other Moral Virtues, we shall see what they

are, when we come to speak of their Government.

The greatest Vice of the Tartars is, their Cruelty in War, where they are very sanguinary. And it is reported, that they have been transported to that excess, as to eat the Flesh of their E∣nemies, which is a most barbarous In∣humanity; but of this, there is no certain proof, neither doth it appear, that the whole Nation is guilty of that Vice; perhaps this was only the rage of some few of the most barbarous, and the very Dregs of the peo∣ple.

I must likewise declare, that their word is not to be relied on too much; especially if it redound to their profit and advantage to falsifie it. But it must be considered that they are Barbarians, and near enough Neigh∣bours to the Mahometans to have learnt this Vice from them, who are so easily absolved from it by the Law of their false Prophet. And I wish to God that this Vice was peculiar to the Ma∣hometans and Tartars, and that Machia∣vel

had not propagated the practise of this Doctrine more than ever Mahomet did. It is not the Turks and Tartars only who violate their Oaths and Pro∣mises, unless we must repute all perju∣rious and false persons to be Turks, Barbarians, and meer Infidels.

This is the best information I could receive of the Religion of those Tar∣tars who conquered China; and this is all ••••he Account I have of their Virtues, and Vices. And now I shall say some∣thing of their Form and manner of Government.

CHAP. XXVI. The Government of the Tartars in China. The excellent Endowments o•••• the young Xunchi. The Reformation which h•••• made of the Mandorins and Eunuchs in th•••• Court. The Virtuous Freedom of the Tartarian Women.

THE Tartars, though they are Barba••••ians and Infidels, yet their method of Government may give very good Instructions to our wisest Politi∣tians. These people, who as I have already remarked, do in a manner sur∣round the whole Continent of Chin••••, are possessed of a very vast Countrey, which is divided into several States and Kingdoms, which the Chineses make mention of according to the Ge∣neral Division of the whole world into four parts, calling them the E••••s••••ern, We∣stern, Northern & Southern Tartars. And

the truth is, that Nation is possessed of so vast a Countrey, that it seems to be a little World. The most potent of these people are the Eastern and Nor∣thern: And it was these, who under the Command of their young King Xunchi conquered China. They had for a long time been at war with those Tartars who are more advanced to the Western and Southern parts. And it is very remarkable, that having made a Truce and Accord amongst themselves, which gave opportunity to young Xun∣chi to pass into China with the greater Forces, they observed and kept it so inviolably, that there did not appear the least jealousie of the Victories of that Prince and Party, who had so long been their Enemies. We are (said they) all Tartars, why should we therefore de∣stroy one the other, thereby to give occa∣sion to a Forreign Enemy to triumph over us? Let him rather perish; and let him who can, be Victor: But let us assist each other. This action of these Barba∣rians is just opposite to the practise of the Christians, amongst whom a Prince

can never attempt any considerable en∣terprize against the Tur••••s and Infidels, but he shall instantly have occasion to fear, lest whilst he is engaged against them, his Neighbour should enter with an Army into his Territories. This doubtless proceeds from this Maxime, that all Christians do not repute the Turk to be the common Enemy. And yet those are Tartars and Barbarians, Infidels and Idolaters. These forsooth, are Christians, Politicians and Civili∣zed persons; but God will in his due time confound these Politicians, much more barbarous, than the Tartars.

Assoon as Xunchi had possessed him∣self of the Cities and Provinces, he consulted how to frame such Laws and Ordinances, by which he might con∣serve what he had acquired by force of Arms. And first of all, (as I have already noted) he ordained that all the Chineses should cut off their Hair, and shave their Heads, lik•••• the Tartars, only leaving a greater Tuft on the Crown of the Head, to distinguish them from the Natural Tartars▪ This Edict

seemed very rigorous to those people who were almo••••t as wil••••ing to lose their Lives as their Hair. It was said, that it was a Chin••••se of Peking who gave this advice to the Prince assoon as he was Crowned, as a thing of high im∣portance to secure his Victory. In all parts there are miserable Villains, who are willing to expose their own Coun∣trey, to suit to those persons from whom they can hope for more considerable advantage to themselves.

This Prince published a second Or∣der of higher importance, to retain his new Subjects in peace; and in this, his Policy appeared very judicious and prudent. A great number of Tartars went and setled themselves in China long before the War; as it is usual in all Countries which are very populous, for some of the Inhabitants to pass in∣to another; especially out of a worser into a better and richer, as China is in regard of Tartary; and as several per∣sons often go out of France into Spain, where Money is more plentiful. Xunchi therefore commanded all the Tartars,

both men and women of all Ages and Conditions whatsoever, to come with∣out any delay, out of the Provinc••••s were they were setled, and inhabit in one of the two principal Cities, Peking or Nanking, where the Kings of China usually resided with their Courts, and where several Tartars newly came out of their own Countrey, beg••••n to ••••sta∣blish themselves, and had order to fur∣nish the others with all Conveniencies which were requisite upon this occasi∣on. And on the other side, the Chi∣neses who inhabited in these two Ci••••ies, were enjoyned to go from thence, and dispose of themselves elsewhere.

This Ordinance was very inconve∣nient and troublesom, even to the Tar∣tars themselves; but it was of as great importance for the welfare of the State, as the enjoyning the Chineses to cut off their Hair. And the Tartars consider∣ed that these Discontents would quick∣ly wear away; and besides, the Empe∣rour Xunchi signified his Will and Plea∣sure to his Subjects in the most mild and obliging terms and manner he

could possibly, that thereby he might convince them, that he did not design to treat them like Slaves. After he had thus secured these two Capital Ci∣ties, which were as the two Keys of that Staff, upon the safe custody of which depended the security of his new Conquest. The City of Peking commands all the Northe••••n Provinces, and Nanking the Southern, and each of these Cities were so strong and po∣tent, that either of them, upon occa∣sion, would have been able to have de∣fended it self against all the Provinces which depended on it. But when they should be inhabited with Tartars only, and defended with a strong Guard of old and experienced Souldiers under the Command of Officers of approved Fidelity, from thenceforth there could not be the least ground to apprehend any Sedition or Treason. And the Tartars having thus secured these two great Cities alone, and sent some con∣siderable Forces to guard the Wall, that he might, when he judged in necessary, bring fresh Forces out of Tartary, he

need have no other Forces in any other part of China; no not if he should return into his own Countrey: For, should any Revolt or Insurrection hap∣pen, the Chineses could not raise Forces sufficient to make any resistance assoon as the young Xunchi should appear at the Head of his Armies. And besides, it was not to be feared, that the Chi∣neses, who by the late Wars and Insur∣rections had suffered so much, should not out of dread of new calamities re∣main quiet and submiss. But yet this Prince, that he might omit nothing which might tend to his absolute secu∣rity, placed strong Garrisons in all the fortified Towns and Places through the whole Countrey, and judged it not his Interest to stir out of China. He resided alwaies at Peking, though he would not suffer that either this City, or Nanking should be called the Court, pretending these ought only to be re∣puted two particular Cities, and that he would not have any other Court but that in Tatary, of which the Re∣lations give us no account.

Those who have ••••een the young Xunchi a•••• ••••king, report, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 he is a most courteous ••••nd ob••••iging Prince, and of a sw••••et 〈◊〉〈◊〉 mi•••• disposition, bu•••• wit••••al very quick and active, dis∣creet an•••• prudent, and of g••••eat abili∣ty for the management of affairs; and that he was very careful and circum∣spect in all things which related to the government and welfare of his Sub∣jects. He had ever near his person one of his three Unkles, who passed over with him to the Conquest of China, who was said to be a very prudent per∣son, and most passionately zealous for the Glory of this young Monarch, and the Honour of his Countrey. This Prince stayed ever at the Court, and took as particular care of the young Xunchi as if he had been Father to him.

But that which did most illustrate the tender nature, and good dispositi∣on of this Prince, was the strict In∣junction he laid upon all his Officers to do all the good, and to shew all the fa∣vour they could possibly to his people.

To this intent, he enjoined them to carry themselves fairly and mildly to∣wards all persons, and to treat them kindly and obligingly, and with all possible expedition to dispatch all those who addressed themselves to them; but above all, he commanded them to be disinteressed and uncorrupt, upon pain of losing both their Offices and Heads. How strictly this was ob∣served and practised, we shall see, when we shall come to treat of their Justice in particular. And the Emperour Xunchi, that he might by his own ex∣ample instruct his Officers to be kind and favourable to their Fellow-Sub∣jects, caused a Proclamation to be pub∣lished through all China, wherein he declared that he remitted all those Taxes, Impositions and Tributes which remained due to him, and had not been raised or collected in the three years of the War, which were 1644, 45, 46. It is true, the Chineses did not acknow∣ledge they were due, because all Chi∣na had not then submitted to him: But he pretended, that having been Crown∣ed

Emperour of all China in the year 1643, and never having had any lawful Competitor, these Duties were as rightfully payable to him, as if he had been in possession of the entire Empire. And though this reason was not preva∣lent with the Chineses, yet it is most certain, whether it was or it was not his Right to exact the payment of these Duties, yet if he would, he might have compelled them to pay him. He was absolute Master, and there was nothing to be gained by contradicting his Will. It cannot therefore be denied, but that he having very urgent occasion to Levy Monies, the remission of so great a Sum to his People, was a most magni∣ficent and Royal Bounty and Liberali∣ty, by which he manifested to them, that his Affection to them was more prevalent with him than his Interest. It is not, but the greatest part of the Towns and Provinces of China had by their Losses and Dammages suffered more than the payment of these Tri∣butes several times paid over, would have amounted to: But the Tartars

said that the Chineses had themselves drawn these Calamities upon them, be∣ing the Authors thereof, by their rash and vain Insurrection, by which they exasperated the Insolence of the Soul∣diers, whom it was not possible to curb or restrain at so great a distance from the Emperour's presence: That it was contrary to his express Orders, that any of these Violences had been committed; and that the severe cha∣stisements and punishment which was inflicted upon all persons convicted of these Crimes, were convincing Proofs that he did not approve or allow of them.

It is most certainly true, that all those Souldiers who were convicted to have robbed or plundered any person, were so severely punished, that if all Thieves and Robbers were so dealt with in all parts, there would quickly be none left in the whole world. And in a very short time the Roads and High-wayes were so safe and secure, that all Posts, Carriers and Messengers went their Stages and Journies with

the same liberty as before. Trade and Traffick quickly was restored and set∣led, so that all Wares and Merchan∣dizes were brought from the most re∣mote parts to the Sea-Ports with all the safety the Merchants could desire. It was a mark of the good Order and Government of this Prince, that all things were so quickly composed; that the people lived so submiss and quiet under their new Masters, and never so much as attempted to make any revolt or insurrection. To maintain this good Order and Discipline amongst his Souldiers, he issued out a Com∣mand, that where-ever they should be, even in those Provinces where there should be any War or Distur∣bance, they should keep themselves incamped under their Tents in the Fields, and not enter into any Towns or Villages, without the ex∣press Leave and Order of their Offi∣cers. A young Prince of but four∣teen years of Age, an Idolater and Barbarian, might have less observed the exact Rules of Reason and Justice,

and perhaps he might yet have made a great bluster, and have done greater actions: But we rarely see those who are neither Idolaters nor Barbarians, do any Exploits either of greater Gal∣lantry or Renown.

Af••••er the Remission of these Tri∣butes which had not been raised du∣ring the years of the late War, the Emper••••r began to cause to be Levied those which were due for the follow∣ing years; and this was with such mo∣deration, that though the ordinary Taxes whic•••• were paid to the Chinese Emperours w••••re but very reasonable, yet the Emperour Xunchi was willing to remit a third part even of them also; as he manifested by his Declaration which he publish••••d; which imported, that the Emperour would only take the two Thirds of those Tributes, which were accustomed to be paid to the Kings of China; and that he was graciously pleased to discharge the people from the payment of the other third part.

The Emperour Xunchi judged it

likewise necessary to reform the Man∣dorins * 1.1, which in China were very numerous, and enjoyed great Privi∣ledges, upon no other account, than of their Office, which many of them were not permitted to exercise. All Mandorins were exempt from paying any Subsidies or Taxes, and were on∣ly obliged to send to the Emperour what Information they judged neces∣sary concerning the Affairs of the Pro∣vinces and Towns; of which Duty and Obligation they discharged them∣selves so negligently and remisly, du∣ring the Reigns of the late Chinese Em∣perours,

that though they did for a long time plainly discern those Disor∣ders and Disturbances in the Provinces, visibly to threaten and presage the General Ruine and Destruction which fell upon the State, yet they did not concern themselves in the dis∣charge to their Duty, but by a cow∣ardly and slothful Treachery let both their Prince and Countrey perish. Xun∣chi understanding what disservice these persons had done to their Prince, re∣solved to make them know and feel that they deserved rather Chastise∣ments than any Favours or Immunities; and therefore he deprived them of their Dignities, and took from them their Priviledges, and would not per∣mit them to have any advantage above the rest of the people, but to pay e∣qual shares with others in all Tributes and Impositions. Is it not fit (said the Emperour) than henceforth the M••••n∣dorins should assist their King with their Money, since hitherto they have ••••ssisted him so ill with their Advice and Coun∣sel? This was a slight punishment for

those Traytors, who had been so un∣fortunately negligent in the execution of those Employments and Injunctions which they had received from their Prince. But this light chastisement was a severe affront, of which they were the more sensible, because it gave so great a pleasure and satisfacti∣on to the people, to triumph over them, and to rejoyce that the Tyrants were disgraced, and pulled down from their insolent and haughty Grandeur; yet it was reported, that Xunchi would employ under him some of these Man∣dorins, though but few, and those of the greatest Merit and Reputation.

It was expected and wished that he would have done as much to the Bonzi, who were possessed of very great Re∣venues throughout the whole Empire. And many are of opinion, that though he doth not quite extirpate them, yet he will make a strict Reformation a∣mongst them. There was then three distinct Orders of them; and there was heretofore reputed to have been above 3000000 Bonzi of only one of

these Orders. Had all these been sold for Slaves, they would have rais'd a considerable Sum of Money. Since then, their Number and Revenues are both decreased; yet there are still too many of that idle and unprofitable ge∣neration through all China, which would be no loser if the whole Race of them were destroyed; but on the contrary, would be a great gainer, to be thereby delivered from the great Obstacle at present to the Conversion and Salvation of those people.

But the most eminent and accepta∣ble Reformation which was ever made in China, was that which the Tartar made of the Eunuchs which had so great power and credit in the Court of the late Chinese Emperours: Though their Employment was only to be a Guard and Watch to the Wives of the Prince, and other great Lords, yet they advanced themselves to so consi∣derable Estates and Fortunes, that the most eminent persons in the whole State looked upon it as a high advantage, if they could promote several of their

Children to so honourable a prefer∣ment; so that there was great emula∣tion for the procurement of those places. It being observed that many Families had enriched and advanced themselves to the highest Honours and Dignities by having had a Child pre∣ferred to be one of the Princes Eu∣nuchs; but the Emperour Xunchi judg∣ed it not convenient to have the Of∣fices and Dignities in his State disposed of amongst that kind of men, but was minded that they should remain only in the same incapacity they were, na∣turally unprofitable persons in their generation, who were so far from ha∣ving served as they ought the late Em∣perour Xunchin, that on the contrary, the greatest part of them had been so many Traitors, who had perfidiously sold both their Prince and Coun∣trey.

The Wives of the Tartarian Lords would not consent that any of these Eunuchs should be placed as a Guard over them. They pretend to have no need of those Guards; for (say they)

Women are not the truer and faithfuller to their Husbands, nor the more chast, by having a strict Guard and Watch put upon them; but on the contrary, ma••••y have been false and unchast, only because they were watched too narrowly; and as for them, their Honour was a securer Guard than any which could be set over them. Nor were the Tartarian Wo∣men, like the Chineses, immured up as so many prisoners; but when they pleased, walked about the Streets in the Cities and Towns, and in the Countrey into the Fields. They ride on Horseback, and have the Courage to go to the Wars, and hazard their Lives in Fights and Battels. They ex∣ecute any Action better than they speak or discourse. The sole Employ∣ment of the Eunuchs being only to be as a Guard to the Women, whom the Chineses kept in a perpetual Imprison∣ment; this Office was of no regard or consideration amongst the Tartars. And in all probability there will be very few Eunuchs made hereafter in China, and those who are so already,

will be ashamed of themselves, and of the Affront and Injury which Na∣ture hath received in their persons.

CHAP. XXVII. How satisfied the Chineses were with the Tartarian Government. The Pride and Avarice of the Chinese Mando∣rins. The speedy and exact Executi∣on of Iustice by the Tartars.

IT may truly be said, that Princes by their Actions do not only invite, but command and oblige their Sub∣jects to follow their Examples. And thus did the Ministers of State, and Officers of the young Xunchi so exact∣ly conform themselves to the Model of Justice and Equity, which he had pre∣scribed them for the Government of his people, that the Chineses themselves could not look upon them as Usurpers and Tyrants, but presently began to

applaud and extol them, and ingeni∣ously to acknowledge, that they me∣rited to have the Command and Domi∣nion over them. This Content and Satisfaction of the people under their new Masters, was no less a Testimony of the good inclinations of the Prince, but of the Loyalty of his Officers; for it is but too ordinary for men to find fault, and to be offended at all that is done under any new Government, though it be never so well managed. But that which did most satisfie and content the Chineses, was to see that the Tartars let them have their share in the Government, and admitted them to several Charges and Dignities. This they did, that thereby they might win the Affections of the people, and be∣cause they foresaw that the Multitude of Affairs in so vast a Countrey would give sufficient employment to both Tartars and Chineses; and likewise be∣cause the Chineses were better instruct∣ed in the Affairs of that State, and knew better how to suit and comply with the humour and Genius of their

own Countreymen, they daily sent them into the Provinces, to exercise the Charge of Mandorin, and made them Governours of several Towns and Places, but still dependent and subordinate to the Tartarian Lords, who were the supreme Governours, and had the inspection over the Con∣duct of all Chinese-Officers, and by their Instructions were obliged to watch and observe that the Chineses, who had not the reputation of Inte∣grity, should not in their Employments act and do all things according to their own will and pleasure: But the Tar∣tars did not think it convenient to suf∣fer the Chinese-Mandorins to wear, as before, those rich Girdles, nor their square Caps, nor several other Marks of their Majesty and Grandeur, which rendred them so venerable to the peo∣ple. For heretofore, whensoever a Mandorin went to give Audience, he was followed by a Crowd of People with all the Majestick Stateliness, as if it had been the highest Concern of the State. The Streets must be cleared

through which he passed, and all per∣sons must place themselves in rank and order. Silence must be kept, and none suffered to call aloud, or make any noise. But when the face of Af∣fairs was changed, the Tartars mocked at them, whensoever they saw them only carried in their Sedans through the Streets. They called out to them, and told them, they should leave those for their Wives and Women, for whose use they were invented and made. And though they did not hinder them for making use of their Sedans, yet by de∣riding them thus, and by comporting themselves with a behaviour just oppo∣sed to this Effeminacy, these Chinese-Mandorins quickly so dis-accustomed themselves, that it was not necessary to prohibit them. The Tartarian Lords, the Viceroys of the greatest Provinces, nay, the Emperours Un∣kles went through the Streets on horse∣back, attended only by five or ••••ix of their Domestick Servants, as the most inconsiderable Mandorins of China were. The Retinue of the Lords rid

on Horseback likewise, as their Ma∣sters did. The Viceroys and princi∣pal Officers of the State were of so ea∣sie access, and treated so civilly and obligingly all persons, who had any business with them, that the Chineses were surprized at it. No body was commanded to keep silence in the streets and places where they were; but they received Petitions and Ad∣dresses, gave audience, and dispatch∣ed affairs, without any difficulty, or much Ceremony; and besides, the en∣trance into their Houses and Palaces, was free to all persons, and at all hours. The Chineses were struck with admira∣tion at these actions and proceedings of the Tartars, and esteemed them the more, when they reflected upon the haughty pride and arrogancy of their Lordly Mandorins, from whom they could never have Audience but at a great distance, and to whom they must never speak but on their K••••ees, and then bowing down their Heads so low as to kiss the very ground.

The gentle and fair reception, and

the free access which the Tartarian Of∣ficers gave to all persons, was not less powerful to maintain and secure their Conquest, than their Arms had been to gain it: which may be made evident by this, that there being only the Po∣pulacie in China, who could frame a∣ny Conspiracy, the common people, were so far from entertaining any such Projects or Thoughts, that on the con∣trary, they were so well satisfied with the Government of their new Masters, that they could not but with horrour now think on the hard servitude they groaned under the fierce arrogancy of their former Mandorins. It is doubt∣ful whether the Chineses were sufferers by the change of Government; and to clear this Point, it is necessary to shew how the former Chinese Mandorins treated all criminal persons, who had the Misfortune to be brought before them, though the Crime of which they were accused was never so slight.

The Pride of a Chinese Mandorin, seated in his Tribunal Seat, was insup∣portable, saith a Relation out of Chi∣na;

for after he had for a long time turned and rowled about his Eyes, that he might prepare himself to look stern∣ly and austerely upon the poor wretch∣ed Criminal, he afterwards looked ve∣ry fixedly upon him, and in such a man∣ner as if he had already been going to pronounce upon him some horrid Sen∣tence of Death: He wrinkled up his Eye-brows, so that under his square-Cap they looked as hideously as those do through the Vizor of the Helmet of an armed man, who is just going to charge his Enemy: He seats himself in a setled posture, and is very watch∣ful and careful over himself, not to stir or move in the least, but keeps his hands and all his body without any action or motion; he speak•••• some few words, but they fall from him with that weight and gravity, as if they were made of Lead, and as leisurely as a proud Animal when he walkes, lifts up his feet, and stately sets them down again upon the ground. He is like∣wise attended with two Pages, on each side one, with great Fans in their

hands, to cool and refresh the Air, and drive away the Flies: For it would be inconsistent with the Gravity of the Mandorin to move his hand upon this occasion. Such grave Majestick Man∣dorins would in ancient times have done well at Rome, to teach even the Cato's Rigour and Gravity. But that which is the most pleasant, this Fellow who hath the good Fortune to be a Mandorin, and is so rigid and severe, is the greatest Villain in the whole Countrey, or rather a most subtil Thief, who practises more cheating Tricks in one day, than a Troop of Mountebanks can do in a whole Year.

But the lamentable condition and posture of the unfortunate Criminal who is brought before the Mandorin, is more extr••••ordinary than the pride and gravity of the Mandorin himself. The poor wretch is brought into a great Hall, and there he must not fail to deport himself most demurely, and to look most dejectedly; he creeps bare-foot and bare-legg'd upon his 〈1 page duplicate〉〈1 page duplicate〉

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knees; and at every moment prostrates himself, and bows down his head till he touches the very ground with hi•••• Face. In this posture he presents him∣self, and puts himself into that form and shape which he thinks may move the greatest compassion: His Eyes are fixed on the Ground, as if they were fastened to it; his Head appears as if it was ••••hrust into his Shoulders; his Voice is low and whining, and he dares neither blow nor breath; his hands are so close joined, that they might be thought to cleave or grow to∣gether, but that he is forced some∣times to separate them, that he may so employ them, in paying the greater Obei••••ance and Adoration. All the rest of his Body remains so constraint, that if it was possible, his very Bones, for fear lest they should appear, might have been suspected, to have crept one into ••••he other. If he should dare to spit or cough, this would be so high a Crime, that he must instantly be se∣verely puni••••hed for it. In this state and condition, the sad wretch expects

to receive his Sentence from his Judge; who for this purpose hath a table pla∣ced before his Tribunal, and upon it lie several Tallies, which he takes up and flings upon the ground, more or fewer, proportionable to the correcti∣on to which he condemnes the Crimi∣••••al for the Crimes he stands accused, which very often are but slight ones. Each of these Tallies is a Sentence or Condemnation for a hundred slashes with a Whip, which doth so tear and flay off the Skin, that the miserable wretch often dies under the hands of his Executioners. And yet to make the least reply or intercession after Sen∣tence given, is but to encrease the pu∣nishment, by the addition of a new Crime. The Criminal person there∣fore durst not open his mouth, or move in the least, for fear he should exasperate his Judge. The Executio∣ners, who constantly attended, imme∣diately after Judgment, seized upon him, and quickly dispatched him; but first they stripped him stark naked, and then in presence of the Mandorin,

without any fear of offending thereby his Gravity, gave the condemned per∣son the number of Stripes, to which he was sentenced by the Tallies. He who would not drive away a Fly, lest he should violate his Formality, thought it no disrepect to him to see a naked man whipped in his presence. This was the ridiculous and Ceremonious af∣fectation of those haughty Mandorins, by which they pretended to maintain and keep up their Gravity, but as se∣veral other men do, they strained at a Gnat, and did not observe that they swallowed a Camel. And that is most certain, that the Chinese Mandorins did so tyrannize over the miserable peo∣ple, that there is no Hyperbole in this Relation of their fierce and cruel Ar∣rogancy.

The people therefore, when they saw their new Magistrates, and the Grandees of Tartary; nay, the very Unkles to the Emperour, to manage affairs without all this Ceremonious af∣fectation, and with a deportment so opposite to the ridiculous pride under

which they had so long suffered. When they saw the Viceroys receive Petiti∣ons and Informations in the Streets and publick places, and to answer them, and do Justice as they passed by on Horseback; and that at all hours of the day the Tartarian Magistrates gave audience, and at the very instant dis∣patched the Parties concern'd, with∣out obliging them to any Ceremony, or permitting them to prostrate them∣selves on the ground, or creep on their Knees to them. When the Chineses saw a face of Government, which seemed to have a smiling and more fa∣vourable aspect towards them, they could not desist from admiring and highly esteeming their happy Change.

They were so far from being grie∣ved, that they were reduced under the Dominion of the Tartars, that they perswaded themselves, that they now began to enjoy their Liberty, af∣ter they had so long groaned under so cruel a thraldom. Thus Xunchi em∣ployed all his Mildness and Goodness, hereby the better to secure to him his

new Subjects▪ And in all parts, the Art of gaining the Affections of the people, doth no less compleat and se∣cure Conquests, than that of gaining Victories, doth give a beginning and progress to them. Finally, the Ruine and Preservation of Empires and Peo∣ple dep••••nds much upon the different management of Affairs, by those who are the Supream Governours.

The Tartars had their Councils and Justice-Seats in the same manner as the Chineses had, but not in so great a number. They kept up the Dignity of Calao * 1.2 and Mandorin; but none at∣tain thereto, but by Merit and Electi∣on; and these ought all to be persons of high Reputation and Merit, of which the Tartars would be first well satisfied and informed.

As for their Laws and Policy, the manner of proceeding in their Courts of Judicature, and the Officers apper∣taining thereto, and their administra∣tion of Justice, as well in Criminal Causes, as in Actions of Debt, and Trials of Right between party and party, conformable to those Ordinan∣ces and Regulations which the Tartars have made; we have not as yet been particularly informed herein. We on∣ly know in general, that herein they act just opposite to what the Chineses did. And that they might quietly in∣troduce and establish these new Cu∣stoms, which are so contrary to the ancient, they have the more industri∣ously employed the Ch••••neses, whom they have put into several Charges and Offices. And the people on their part, that they may ingratiate themselves to their new Masters, have the more rea∣dily conformed in all things to these new Laws. And thus in all probability there will not be left in a short time, the least appearance of the ancient Chinese Government.

In all Suits and Trials the Tartars never make use of any long Writings, neither have Practitioners in Law any great Employment there. In all Tri∣als between party and party, the par∣ties concerned justifie by word of mouth only their claim to the thing in contest; and by word of mouth alone the cause is decided. All other Cere∣monies are counted a frivolous and ex∣pensive loss of time. They were yet more quick and expeditious in the dis∣patch of criminal causes, and yet they did very diligently examine all charges and accusations alledged against the party accused. They have this Max∣ime, That Guilt or Innocence do pre∣sently manifest it self, when judi∣cious persons, who manage the Exami∣nations, proceed impartially. Neither do they make use of Prisons, Chains and Fetters, saying, that thus to tor∣ment men, is to put them twice to death. When any criminal person is seized upon, at that very instant of time he is brought before the Judge, if the Crime be sufficiently proved a∣gainst

him, he is immediately punish∣ed; if the proofs are defective, he is set at liberty. There is but two sorts of punishments for all criminal persons. When the crime doth not deserve death, they take two Arrows and strike them through the Ears of the Criminal, and turning the shafts upwards, they tie them together on the top of his head, and in this posture they make him march through the Streets and publick places of the Town or City; and an Officer goes before him, and proclaims aloud, that who∣ever hath committed the like Crime, shall receive the like punishment. But if the Crime deserves death, his Head is cut off, without making any distinctions between either the quality of persons, or the nature of Crimes. It is suffici∣ent that they have deserved to die. When they execute the condemned person, they first strip him as naked as when he was born, to the end (say they) that he may go out of the world as he came into it. When he is thus stripped, the Executioner with a Ci∣meter

or short Sword strikes off his Head, and when the Body is fallen down, he hacks it to pieces; fo•••• which reason they stript it at the first. And usually they leave the dead Body upon the place, pretending thereby to make others dread and abhor the like crime. It is said, that heretofore the Executioner used to take home with him a Thigh, to make therewith an Entertainment for his Friends: And this perhaps gave rise to the report, that the Tartars eat Mans-Flesh. But as it hath been already observed, there are none except the most savage, bar∣barous and brutish persons of that Na∣tion, who can be judged capable of committing so horrid a crime. Nei∣ther would the Tartars so honour the Carkasses of criminal persons, as to give them living Sepulchres.

That which seems most strange in the administration of Justice by the Tartars, is that they can so soon go through all necessary Proofs, and Exa∣••••inations in criminal causes, and pri∣vate contests between party and party.

But Xunchi by a Law which will admit of no Gloss or Comment, pretends to have taken away all impossibility or difficulty in these quick and speedy Tri∣als; by which he ordained that all Suits and Contests between party and party, should be decided ass••••on as the parties concerned had been heard; and that in criminal Causes, the party ac∣cused should either immediately be pu∣nished or acquitt••••d; but if the party accused were really guilty, and the ac∣cusation not verified, nor the party con∣victed, that then the J••••dge who ac∣quitted him, should undergo the pe∣nalty of the Crime committed; for Xunchi pretended, that then the fault must be in the Judge: But if the fault was proved, the party accused was pu∣nished at the very instant of time, though never so inconvenient, and ••••hat either by a pecuniary Mulct, or cor∣poreal punishment. Thus there was no possibility of prolonging Trials: Nor was there any way to evade the due Execution of the Emperour's Law, which he designed, to oblige

thereby the Judge to be as much con∣cern'd to sift and impartially examine the Evidence, as the accused person to make his Defence. This Law he cau∣sed to be executed and observed most rigorously. The consequence whereof was this, that afterwards there was in all Offices and Courts of Judicature such persons, who though they were not rich, yet they▪ discharged their Employments with such integrity, that the people were much better satisfied with these Judges, than with those un∣der the Chinese Emperours, though they were very rich and Majestick.

Such precipitation in the dispatch of Affairs may seem somewhat barbarous, and not very politick; but the contra∣ry excess of prolonging Trials by per∣plexing Causes with Tricks and frau∣••••ulent Nicet••••es, and going through all those Terms and Punctilio's, and Or∣ders of Courts, which serve only to delay Justice, and make Causes to be so long depending, that they can never come to be decided; This, I say, may perhaps seem not less barbarous to

those people. Happy is that Nation where Causes are not so precipitately determined as amongst the Tartars, nor yet so delatory as in other places. But this Moderation is the operation of a Virtue which humane Policy doth not alwaies consult.

Xunchi hath also given to all those Officers and Mandorins, who are actu∣ally in possession of those Employ∣ments, all those Pensions and Allow∣ances which the ancient Emperours of China setled upon them; and hath con∣tinued several of the most ancient amongst them in their former Offices and Employments, or else hath put them into other places not less honou∣rable 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 rea∣son 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 re∣putation of Merit and desert, which may render him considerable in the e∣steem of the people: But the Of∣ficers who did most murmur and com∣plain, were those who had the ma∣nagement of the Exchequer, and the Revenues of the Emperour. They were not satisfied that they could not enrich them by those vast Sums of Mo∣ney which passed through their hands: The Tartars derided them, and scof∣fingly asked them, if they were not called the Officers of the Emperour's Exchequer; if they were so, they must then acknowledge, that the Ex∣chequer was not theirs, but the Em∣perours; but if they appropriated it to themselves, by enriching themselves thereby, they were not then the Offi∣cers of the Emperours Exchequer, but of their own; that they should either be satisfied with the Pensions were al∣lotted them, or resign up their place•••• to others: That the Emperour would not want Officers to discharge those Employments, and yet be well con∣tent

with the same Pensions and Allow∣ance they had who murmured, and were so discontented at them.

After the Xunchi had strictly enjoy∣ned 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 occasi∣oned 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 Bri∣bery, 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 Neigh∣bours, that by their Books and Wri∣tings it plainly appears, they could neither speak nor write of the Mando∣rins without bitter expressions of in∣dignation against them.

It was they who managed and dispo∣sed of all the Emperours of China's Revenue, but in such a manner, that the Emperour, whose Revenue amount∣ed yearly to more than thirty Millions sterling, was ever in want and indi∣gency. At least in appearance he had not wherewith to supply the necessary Expences of his State, which was oc∣casioned by the fraud of the Mando∣rins, who diverted to their own pri∣vate occasions the greatest part of those Monies, which should have been em∣ployed upon the publick account; and never concerned themselves with thin∣king, 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 coward∣ly, 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 conside∣rable 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 di∣stressed 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 sup∣port and preservation of Empires, and the greater, by the impossibility there is that great Empires should not have potent Enemies. In his greatest exi∣gency and distress, he found he had not any Souldiers whom he had by the least recompense engaged to stick firm∣ly 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 preser∣vation. He was fully convinced, that his Imperial Grandeur was but ill sup∣ported, when he saw his Royal person abandoned, his Life and Empire redu∣ced 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 Go∣vernment 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 en∣tred upon this Affair, with that care and resolution that it was not his fault, if afterwards Justice was not well re∣gulated and executed in China. His Ministers of State and the Officers whom he employed were likewise ve∣ry diligent herein. And certainly no∣thing could more effectually put a stop to these disorders, than to see the pru∣dence

and fidelity of the Officers con∣cur with the good intentions of their Master.

It wa•••• a thing very extraodinary to see with what uprightness and integri∣ty all the Officers, both those who were really Tartars, and those who de∣sired 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, pil∣laged and plundered all places and per∣sons; 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, be∣cause they have so great an one in the peril and danger. And if the Souldi∣ers under his Command took advan∣tage 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 act∣ed so uprightly, and proceeded with so much honour and impartiality in the management of all Affairs, and ob∣liged all the Officers under him to de∣mean themselves so plausibly towards the people, that they willingly accepted of this fair Deportment, in recompense of all those mischiefs he had formerly done them.

The better to manifest the ability of this Person, I shall relate some Passages, which passed between him and a Chi∣nese Mandorin, who was accused of Misdemeanor. An Inhabitant of Can∣ton

came, and presented himself before the Vice-roy, and demanded Justice of him, in a Cause wherein he was con∣cerned. The Vice-roy told him, that he could not take cognisance of his Cause, until a Chinese Mandorin had first heard it, and given Judgment therein; that he should go and demand Justice first of the Chinese Mandorin, and i•••• after he desired to appeal from his Sen∣tence, he might have recourse to him. May it please Your Highness (saith the Plaintiff,) it is true, such a Mandorin should first judge my Cause, and I have already addressed my self to him, that I might have Iustice done me: But I have for a long time prosecuted my business be∣fore him, and cannot obtain of him to de∣cide or determine my Cause: And though I have very earnestly sollicited him, yet it doth not appear, that he so much as thinks of me, I come therefore to suppli∣cate Your Highness, that you would be graciously pleased either to do me Iustice your self, or to cause the Mandorin to do itme. Ly, who was not of a humour and disposition to suffer things to go

contrary to his will & intention, having hea••••d this discourse, and being convin∣ced of the truth thereof, Bring (saith he) this ••••octor before me, and seeing him afterwards in the presence of a great number of persons, he severely reproo∣ved him, saying to him, Mr. Doctor, y••••u believe you are still under the anci∣ent Government of China, and in a Trial for Three hundred Pounds, you will make the parties concerned expend Six hundred or a Thousand: That in all Causes the Iudges shall be the only gainers; and that whensoever any per∣son obtains a Iudgment or Decree in his favour, he must first have wasted both his Time and Estate. But I'll make you know the times are changed, and that you have now to do with another Master Xunchi, the Tartarian Emperour. How comes it to pass, you have not determi∣ned this affair? How happens it, that you are pleased to prolong this Suit so long? You expect to bribed you infamous Villain? And you believe I do not un∣derstand that meaning. But I swear by the head of Xunchi, that if I ever hear

the like complaint of you again, it shall cost you both that Place and your Head. Therefore if you have a mind to live any longer, dispatch this affair quickly.

The Mandorin withdrew himself, fully determining to do justice therein, but he was forced and compelled to it. And all the other Mandarins and Offi∣ciers, who were advertised hereof, re∣solved to take advantage hereby, and to demean themselves so as not to deserve the like reproof▪ The common peo∣ple, when they had heard what had passed, highly extolled their Gover∣nour for his Justice herein. This acti∣on of his was not only famed about the City, but throughout the whole Pro∣vince, and all persons did admire and applaud the Person and excellent Qua∣lities of the Vice-roy of Canton.

This is all I could know in general of the Government of the Tartars in China, and in particular, how the young Em∣perour Xunchi, and his Officers mana∣ged affairs. These are men who are reputed dull and barbarous; but it is to be wished, that many in Europe,

who are esteemed of, as the most re∣fined and polite persons, had the Ju∣stice and Humanity of these Barbari∣ans.

CHAP. XXVIII. The Tartars compel the Chieses to leave their Books, and take up Arms. Of the Tartarian Letters and Language. The Sciences for which they have the greatest inclination.

LEarning and Arms may be consi∣dered in a State, as the two Poles upon which the Government turnes, and by which it subsists; so that either of them cannot be laid aside, but it must in a manner occasion a vacuum, and thereby debilitate the body Poli∣tick. But it is most certain that the want of Arms and knowledge in Mi∣litary affairs, may have more dange∣rous consequences than the want of

Books, and ignorance in the learned Arts and Sciences, which stand in need of Arms and Souldiers to protect and defend them. Which is clearly mani∣fest by the late Revolution of China, which the Tartar understood so well, that he thought himself obliged to re∣medy that ill, as well as he could, knowing that that which had given him so great advantage, might prove as much to his disadvantage, if he did not shun and avoid it. We have seen several very potent Monarchies which have had no need of Learning to confirm and strengthen their Domi∣nion. The Spaniards have fought a∣bove five thousand Battels in those times, when they did not think of writing of Books. And we may easi∣ly perceive, that they have not made much use of them in those remote Con∣quests which they have made of later years. The Tartars said very well, a State cannot be maintained without Arms, but it may without Books. For it is most certain that neighbouring Princes are too jealous of the Power

and Grandeur of each other, to let one another long be at quiet: Nay, the ve∣ry rumour that any one of them raises Souldiers or makes warlike preparati∣ons, necessitates in a manner all the others to arm likewise. It is their Sword which must do them right and justice. And they know full well, that it is no matter to those who have that power in their hands whether their right be grounded or no upon the most plausible and strongest reason.

Yet the Tartar, not to render him∣self odious to the Chineses, thought he ought not quite to prohibit them to apply themselves to Books and Study. He thought this was a point which must be touched but nicely since the whole Nation was so addicted to, and had so great an esteem for Learning. T••••erefore in the beginning of the year 1647 t••••ere were above three hun∣dred Scholars who took the degree of Doctor, in the City of Nanking, as heretofore they did at Peking; and above 600. others were admitted as Licentiats, besides a great number of

those who took the degree of Batche∣lor. It is not in Europe only, that there is such store of Doctors and Batchelors.

Xunchi was willing to give the Chi∣neses this satisfaction, though the expen∣ces hereof were very great, and were to be defrayed out of the Emperours Exchequer. This was no small mark of his Liberality, and his condescen∣tion in being pleased to gratifie the Chineses herein: But withal he gave them to understand that he should be necessitated to reform their Studies, and their over bookishness: and that now Scholars must give place and pre∣cedence to Souldiers as heretofore Souldiers were slighted, and Scholars only esteemed and rewarded.

As in all States and Countries men voluntarily apply themselves to those employments by which they may attain the greatest Honour and Profit. So the Chineses seeing Learned men the only rich and honourable persons in Chin••••, they ambitiously applied themselves to the studious and learned Sciences. Xun∣chi therefore thought fit solely to ho∣nour

and gratifie the Souldiery. This was sufficient to enduce the Chineses to quit their Studies, and turn Souldiers. Let every one according to their rea∣son 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 pro∣portionable 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 engage∣ment. 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. There∣fore though he still encouraged Lear∣ning in China, and sent into each Pro∣vince 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 manife∣sted 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 care∣ful 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 Or∣der, 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 Ho∣nour 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 care∣ful 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 sa∣tisfied His Majesty was with their Fi∣delity and Courage. Princes can ne∣ver 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 employ∣ments, 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 Pro∣fession: 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 Learn∣ing, yet he thought himself a great Doctor if he was advanced to the dig∣nity 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 ac∣knowledg 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 Mando∣rin, and and therefore if his Excellency would please to give him an employ∣ment more proportionable to his capa∣city, 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 Lear∣ning 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 fan∣cy, that hereafter in all Suits or Trials at Law, it will be thought necessary to

write so much, or examine so many Wri∣tings and Deeds. You must only atten∣tively 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 with∣out any violence refo••••med the abuses and frauds of the Chinese Pen-men and Gown-men, and was well enough plea∣sed 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 oc∣casioned several very pleasant passages: Once a Chinese Mandorin was obliged to quarter in his house a Tartarian Captain, a person highly considered a∣mongst those of his own Nation, and he had a very good lodging in the Mandorins house, and all the accommo∣dation he could wish for. The Man∣dorin, who was very ambitious of the fame and repute of a very learned man, had a very fine Library, which doubt∣less 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 Lodg∣ings 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 to lodge only the dead there. He went therefore to his Land∣lord, and said to him, Mr. Mandorin,

you must quickly cl••••ar me this place, and turn out these learned Lawyers and Law∣books, or else I and my Souldiers will make wadds for our Guns with them, or make use of of them for P••••pers to put our, Tobacco in. And you shall see that we know better how to employ them than you do. This was to shew no great esteem for that which the Mandorin so highly boasted of. But he must not argue in their defence, but quickly remove his Books. And in truth he had no reason to make any great complaint, if he made no great use of them, but kept them there only for shew and ostentation, and for the fame of having a great Li∣brary. Though the Tartar scoffing∣ly boasted all over China how he had made the Mandorin displace his Books.

This was all the esteem the Tartars had for Books or any learned Sci∣ences, to which they little applyed themselves, unless it was out of a desire to have some knowledg in the Mathe∣maticks and Astrology. For whereas they adore the Heavens, they were

well enough pleased to be able to dis∣course of the Stars, and to entertain themselves with that, which is the very ground and fundamentals of their Re∣ligion, but they mattered not much for any deep Learning herein. The Tar∣tars publish every year their Alma∣nacks or Calenders, which are little different from the Chineses. That in the year 1647. was the first which was set forth under the name, and by the or∣der of the Emperour Xunchi. This was a very curious piece, and the Author thereof was Father Adam the Iesuit, who was very skilful in the Mathema∣ticks, and was then in great favour and credit with the Emperour.

The Tartars did not more villifie or contemn the Political and Moral Phi∣losophy of the Chineses, though they thought it not worth their time to stu∣dy it. They often very rationally said to them, That it was much better to have fewer Laws, and to observe them better. That there was no need to make so many Statutes and Ordinances, but to give good examples; for to

know good, and not to practice it, serves only to heighten and aggravate mens iniquities.

The Letters and Characters which the Tartars make use of, resemble those of Iapan; and both of them are only some traces of the Chineses Characters: but they are much plainer, easier, and not so mysterious as those of China: And are therefore more approved of, nay than any which are used by the Asiatick people, or even by the Euro∣peans, who dwell in the Indies and the Philippin Isles, who because they have learnt the manners and customs of those Nations, make use of such fantastical Characters, that they can scarce read their own Writing, and are often ob∣liged to guess at the greatest part: They point all their Letters at the top and bottom, as the Hebrew Characters are, and this makes them Cyphers and Hieroglyphicks, rather than Letters.

It is remarked that the Tartarian Language hath something in it very grave and majestick, It hath many vowels as the Spanish hath: And na∣turally

they pronunce it with force and violence, and with a Warlike accent, which makes it appear rough and rude. But because it isso pronounced by Soul∣diers, who usually speak more fierce∣ly than others, especially those who desire to be reputed Hectors, we can∣not draw from them a general rule. Doubtless the Courtiers speak with a more polite and refined accent, as as they do in all Courts, where, it is to be wished, they were as careful to do well, as they are accurate to speak well.

Strangers e••••sily learn this Language, because it hath not so many Determi∣nations and Accents as the Chinese hath, which render it the most difficult and troublesome Language in the whole Uni••••erse. In all the Relations I have seen, there was no term or expressi∣on in the Tartarian Language, which might give us some example or essay thereof, except the word Pelipaouan, which was the name of one of the Ki••••gs Uncles; Peli is a Tartarian word, and of no rough or rude pronunciati∣on,

unless compared with the softness and smoothness of the Italian and Spa∣nish Tongues: it signifies Prince. And Van, which is a Chinese word, hath the same signification; so that Prince is twice comprehended in that name. If in Corea, or in any other place Pao sig∣nifies the same thing. Then Pelipaou∣an is as much as to say thrice Prince, or the thrice great Prince. This re∣petition may seem superfluous, and though it be expressed in three diffe∣rent Languages, yet the signification may be thought not to be altered. But in the Chinese Language, and perhaps it is the same in the Tartarian, these repetions add a great weight to the signification: Which may be confir∣med herein by the Histories of China, in which it may be seen, that they called by the name Chium all the Prin∣ces and Monarchs upon the Earth, except their own, to whom they re∣puted all others far inferiour; and they gave the title of Van to the Prin∣ces of the Blood Royal of China. But because they did not esteem either of

these two names sufficient to express the majestick Grandeur of their Em∣perours, they thought by joyning these two words together, and thereby composing the word Chiumval, it would much better suit the Grandeur of their Monarch: Therefore they invented a Title worthy of their King, whom they call Chiumval, thereby to render him the greater honour.

Thus we may discern that this Na∣tion, by adding together several words which have the same signification, intend thereby to frame a word of a higher and fuller signification, and a supereminent Name, which may com∣prehend them all in one. This was the weight and signification of the word Pelipaouan, which was as illu∣strious a Title, as that person was a∣mongst those people, who was digni∣fied with it. 'Tis very worthy of remark to observe, that the Emperour Xunchi was so far from being offended, that these high Titles were given to Princes, who, though they were his neer Relations, were yet his Subjects;

that on the contrary, he confided much in them, and made them Governors and Rulers over several great Provin∣ces, with a Power and Authority sui∣table to their quality. It was a great argument that Xunchi by giving so great a power to Pelipaouan, who by birth was a great Prince, and likewise took upon him the title of Conqueror of China, did not much matter those rea∣sons of State, which might be alledged against this Conduct: or else he wa•••• highly convinced of the fidelity of the Tartarian Princes. Or finally, that the Tartarian Kings are less jealous of their Soveraign Power than other Princes are, and that the Princes who are their Subjects, are not so passionately affe∣cted with Glory, and ambitious of reigning.

CHAP. XXIX. How much addicted the Tartars are to War. Their Arms offensive and defen∣sive. Their great••••st force consists in their Horse. The excellency of their Hors••••s.

THe Tartars cannot live out of Arms and War; they affect and desire nothing so much as to be always in the field, and have Enemies to fight with, which is the joy and pleasure of their Life. They never think them∣selves so graceful and handsome as when they appear with their faces full of seams and scars; whereas other Nations are so careful to keep their Faces smooth and beautiful, their Complexions clear and fair, their Hair, or rather their Periwigs, curled, poudred, and perfumed, to the shame, not only of their Nation, but nature

too, who made them Men and not Women, whom they do so much imi∣tate, and like whom they so strive to appear. The Tartars are far from this effeminacy, and are so transpor∣ted with a violent passion for Arms and Souldiery, that all the beautiful Pro∣vinces of China have been turned into forges, in which the Tartars employ an infinite number of Work-men in making incessantly all sorts of Arms. All the Black-smiths and all sorts of Work-men, who work in either Iron or Metal throughout that vast Empire, have been solely taken up with making Arms. If any one should be so curious, as to be inquisitive wherefore the Tartars make so many Arms? I know not how to answer them, but that to believe they design to make Arms enough for the whole world. All the fine Libraries in China were turned into Armories and Magazines, for Warlike provisi∣ons. Heretofore it would have been difficult to have found a Sword, though old and rusty, unless amongst the

Souldiers. If the Chineses were en∣gaged in any quarrel, they contented themselves with plucking one another by the hair of the Head, or the Beard, or else scratching; and those who were not armed with Nailes long e∣nough, decided it at fisticuffs. The Chineses did so naturally make use of their Nails instead of A••••ms, that those who would be reputed hectoring Gal∣lants, thought it an ornament, to have their Nails as long as the Talents of a Hawk or Eagle. It is so true, that they never ma••••e use of Arms in China, that though they had very many able and expert Physitians, they had not one Chirurgion in the whole Country; for they had no Wounds for them to practise upon. As for all accidental Hurts, outward Swellings, Impo∣sthumes, and such like Distempers, Physitians undertook the Cure thereof. But after the Tartars had subdued Chin••••, all sorts of persons wore Arms: Nay little Children of eight years old, ••••specially if their Parents were of qua∣lity, had a Hanger or Scymitar begirt

about their waste, which gave occa∣sion to the Chineses both to laugh at, and pity the little Children, that in so tender an age they should be trou∣bled to carry so unnecessary and useless a burden.

The Tartars exercised their Souldiers every day before the Palaces of their Vice-Roys: There they drew up the Troops in Battalia, and fired at one another with their Muskets and Guns as eagerly, as if two Armies had been contending for Victory. They had likewise Prises, and persons appointed to take notice of, and recompense the address and expertness of those who shot with Bows and Guns every day at a mark. Whosoever hit the mark with three Bullets, or three Ar∣rows, had given him, as a reward, a little piece of Siver Plate, fashioned like a shell, worth about four Iulio's; (a Iulio is in value about six pence ster∣ling:) He who hit the mark twice had one worth about two Iulio's; and he who hit it but once had one only of the value of one Iulio. But they who

missed the mark thrice were instantly bastinado'd. And to disgrace them the more, were publickly hooted and hissed at, or else had some other af∣front put upon them. The Tartars were not obliged to these exercises, but the Chineses of those Provinces, who had submitted them••••elves, that by custome they might learn not to be afraid of Guns or Arms. They de∣signed by this continual exercise, to disaccustome them from that Effemi∣nacy and Lazines••••, in which they had lain so long buried. These idle Fel∣lows would very willingly have been excused from this trouble. But they deserved to be learnt by their Enemies the exercise of Arms, th••••t they might carry them in their Service, since they so little concerned themselves, to make use of them in the defence of their own Country, and for the preservation of themselves.

As for the several sorts of Arms the Tartars make use of: The Defensive are, Breast-plates and Back-pieces, Head-pieces, Shoulder-pieces and

Vambraces, which are in a manner like the defensive Arms in Europe, but their Armour is not so bright, nor so well wrought, which makes them who wear them look the more terrible and dreadful. The Viser of ther Helmet is not fastned and rivited to the Cask as in Europe; but is only a loose pla••••e of Iron very strong, which covers the face, throat, and shoulders, and is seperated from the Helmet when they please. They likewise have se∣veral other pieces and plates of Iron, with which they cover the head, throat, neck and shoulders. These are to defend them in Fights from showers of Arrows, which fall thick, and might pierce an Artery, or wound them so deep in those parts as might cause so great an effusion of Blood, as might be very dangerous. And therefore they defend those parts with all the caution imaginable; for the defence of the rest of their body, they make use of certain Buff Coats m••••de very wide and large, and quilted in the inside with Cotton. When they

are at their own houses and in peace, they wear these Coats, but then they are not so well lined.

Their Offensive Arms are Bows and Arrows, short Swords and Lances: Their short Swords are pointed in the fashion of the Turkish Scymitars. They are usually very short but heavy, they have very sharp edges, and are excel∣lently well tempered. They make use likewise of another sort of Swords, which are very broad, and are by the Chineses and Iapanners called Catanes; there are some of these very great, and are two handed like the Swissers Swords: The fashion of the Handles both of their short and broad Swords is not extraordinary, but they are made of Gold, Silver or Brass, ac∣cording to the Riches or Curiosity of the owners▪ they have no Pikes, judging them not convenient for their manner of fighting. Their Lances are very short, and they use them as we do Haltbards or Partisans But their Bows and Arrows are their most ho∣nourable Weapons, of which they are

very proud, and take pleasure in shew∣ing how skilfully they can shoot with them, which they do so dexterously, that several persons with one draught of the Bow will let fly three or four Arrows at a time, with that force and violence, that should they at a due di∣stance hit any man, the lightest would pierce him quite thorough. Their Bows are rather little than great. They are light but very strong and solid. Their Arrows are some long, some short, but all so strong, that they will pierce through a stiffboard: The Iron heads are made four square, or triangular, but long and extraor∣dinary well pointed and tempered.

They had no Fire Arms, when they first entred into China: But as soon as they had possessed themselves of some places, they took out all the great Guns, Muskets and Fire Arms, which they found, and made use of them ever afterwards. But they ne∣ver employed any Tartars as Canno∣neers and Gunners, but only Chineses, and some few Europeans: Nor suffe∣red

any to carry Muskets or Fire Arms, but only the Chineses of those Provin∣ces which had submitted themselves, with whom they encreased their Ar∣my, that they might the sooner com∣pleat their Conquest. As for Petards or Fire-works, they neither know how to make them or use them, nor how to spring a Mine. It may seem strange, that the Tartars would thus put their best Weapons into the hands of their new Subjects, and not learn how to handle them themselves. That they should train up both Citizens and Countrey people in their Military Discipline: For which several persons censure the Conduct of Xunchi, as likewise for entrusting the Princes of his Family with so great a Power. But this Monarch was convinced that the more he confided in his Uncles, the more he engaged and secured their Loyalty; and by manifesting how lit∣tle he feared, and how much he slight∣ed the Chineses, he made them the more dread his valour, and the cou∣rage of the Tartars. It is very true▪

that a long time after the Chineses trembled if they did but hear his Name mentioned. And perhaps this great confidence and security of Xun∣chi did not prejudice his affairs. But this is most certain, that if it should have proved pernicious and fatal to him, he would not have been the first or sole Prince who was ruined and lost by being too secure, and confident of his own power and force.

It remains that I should speak of that in which the chief strength and force of the Tartars consisted, and by which they did almost solely conquer the Em∣pire of China. And this may well be said to have been their Horses. There are indifferent handsome Horses in China, but they are but weak, and they tire and lose their Wind at the first Course. Neither are they so fit for the War as those of Tartary, which are long winded, stout, strong, well set, and excellently shaped, and are all fit to make War-horses; and withall they are so nimble and swift, that it is a great pleasure to see them gal∣lop

over the most ragged Hills and Mountains, as if it was in a plain Mea∣dow. As for shape and strength, they come not short of the Horses either in Europe or Arabia. But all the Hor∣ses upon Earth; yield them the advantage of a certain highness of mettle and spirit, which cannot be de∣scribed, and keeps always in heart. As for those who ride them, they are seated as firmly, and as gracefully, as if their Horse and they were of one piece. But they apply themselves to this exercise when they are very young, and never quit it as long as they live. There are several Tartars who will tye the Rains of the Bridle to their Girdles, and only by the mo∣tion of their Body guide and govern their Horses as they please, make them turn upon all the Volts, and go any kind of Manage. By this means they have their hands free to make use of their Bows and Arrows. Others will hold their Bow with the same hand they do their Bridle, and at the same time draw their Bow and guide

their horse with great facility. It was these Tartarian horses which over∣threw all the Chineses which durst op∣pose them. And it may be said, that these were the Conquerors of China; for the Chineses having no Pikes to defend themselves, and keep off the horse; fifty thousand Horse, as there was in the least Army of the Tartars▪ and in that in which the Emperour commanded in person, above a hun∣d••••ed thousand, did presently break through, and rout all the Chineses Armies. These Horses, so bold and high mettled, broke through all opposition, and made a clear p••••ssage where ever they went; and besides they we••••e so numerous, and spurred on by so re∣solute men, that there are f••••w Armi••••s which can resist them, much less thos•••• of Chin••••, and such like, where they have no stands of Pikes, nor close Bat∣talions, nor Horses equal to ••••hose of Tartary.

The Tartars ride with their Stirrups very short, and all the furniture of their horses is not ••••sually ••••ither cu••••i••••u••••

or rich, but durable and serviceable, for their manner of fighting. The greatest force of the Tartars consists in their Horse, their Foot are nothing in comparison: which is not so in the Armies of Europe. Their Horse goes on first upon all occasions, and they are ever the first and last at all assaults. Finally, it was they who began and compleated in so short a time the entire Conquest of the vast Empire of China.

CHAP. XXX. The Military Discipline of the Tartars. Their manner of Fighting, and how they lay Siege to any place. The aversion they have to dwell in Towns. The Secu∣rity with which they sleep in their Camp, without placing ••••ither any Guards ar Sentinels.

IT is only for the disorders and con∣fusion which is in the Armies of the

Tartars, that that Nation can pass for barbarous: For they observe so little order, that it's rather by the number of their men, and their boldness and re∣solution, than by any skill or know∣ledge how to draw up their Armies in Battalia, or to fight their men, that they obtain so great Victories. There is nothing regular in all their warfare, either when th••••y fight any Battels, lay siege to, or storm any place: whereas the Chineses did usually defend them∣selves with all the order and regulari∣ty they could possibly. The T••••rtars, on the contrary, to conquer and van∣quish them, made use only of force and fury, with a great contempt of Death, to which they run with a joy and eagerness, as if they went imme∣diately to glory and triumph. Du∣ring the four years of their War with the Chineses, they had continually several Armies on foot at the same ••••ime. They passed incessantly from ••••ne Province to another, either to ••••nlarge their Conquests, or s••••cure ••••heir Victories; so that nothing was

seen throughout that vast Country, but Troops of Horse, or Companies of Foot. Each of these Armies were usually composed of two hundred thousand men, fifty thousand Horse, and the rest Foot. But there was not that distinction of Officers, as there is in the Armies of Europe. There was only a certain number of Captains, and instead of those several Colours, and Standards, which are displayed in other parts, there was only one Stan∣dard, under which the whole Army, both Horse and Foot, served. There∣fore, whensoever there is any mention made of the Standards and Colours of the Tartars, it is only according to the usual custome of speaking by th•••• Soldiers in Europe, to intimate a certai•••• number of their Forces, to avoid the often repetition of Troops and Ar¦mies.

The Tartars march with no bette•••• order, than they draw up their Ar¦mies in Battalia. They go divide•••• into severall little Bodies toge¦ther, without observing either ran••••

or file, and march either more open or close, as the ways will permit them. The Horse marches first as the vant∣guard, and the Foot follow after as a reserve. When they are ready to march, as a signal, the harsh sound of their Trumpet is heard; and afterwards it fo••••nds no more, no not when they give battel, or charge their Enemy. They have neither Drum nor Fife, nor any such like Instrument. But it is on∣ly the sound of this Trumpet which is a signal to them to begin their march, and this is the occasion of so great a commotion, that it may well serve to mind us of that at the last day of Judg∣ment. Before the Army is carried a Banner, or Standard, indifferent large, for which all the Troops have a great veneration. This is the only one th••••y have in the whole Army, and it is something like those which in the Church of Rome they have in their Churches. Whensoever they either charge their Enemies, or storm any place, they are obliged to follow this Standard which way soever it goes.

Therefore as soon as he who carries it, who is ever some eminent Captain, and is always accompanied with the most couragious Souldiers of the Ar∣my, begins the assault, the whole Army at the same time falls on. The Horse makes ever the first attempt, then the Infant••••y follow, without a∣ny order or conduct, but tumultuously and conf••••sedly, according as each ••••erson can close with his enemy. There is neither right nor left wing, main bat••••el, nor reserve. They have no distinct Squadrons or Battalions, ••••either do they regard to keep either rank or ••••ile: Nor do they observe a∣ny distinction of time in shooting with their Bows, or making use of their Lances and short Swords. But all this numerous multitude move toge∣ther, and do precipitately fall on at the same time; that they may break ••••hrough all opposition, like a Sea tos∣s••••d with a violent storm, when the Waves press and drive on each other so inc••••ssantly, that the first are no ••••ooner broke, but they are continual∣ly

seconded by others, with a new violence and impetousity. Whenso∣ever the Tartars have begun the Charge, they never think of taking breath, or making a retreat; nor are they discouraged to see any fall down dead or wounded; for they count it no loss to see a great number of their men lye dead in the Field, esteeming it the greatest glory to dye with their Arms in their hands, and knowing that they have men more than enough, to supply the place of the dead. They never sound any retreat, and mind nothing but either to conquer or dye. And this the sole order is given them to observe, unless they are totally de∣feated; for then it is free for them to run away, as they do in all other parts. If he who carries the Stan∣dard is either overthrown, or killed in the engagement, which happens very often; for he is always to pre∣sent himself where the greatest dan∣ger is, then he who is n••••xt him, fails not to take up the Standard, and thus in one fight, or in one assault, it often

passes through the hands of several persons; neither is there ever want∣ing gallant and brave fellows, who strive and contend who shall take it up, and carry it, than which nothing can be more honourable and glori∣ou••••.

But the manner how the Tartars be∣siege and take Towns, is both more extravagant and extraordinary than their way of fighting. The first thing they do when they lye before any place, is to storm it, and the last to raise their Batteries. The Horse make th•••• first approach, and gives the first assault, which is just opposite to the practice of Europe, without any manner of shelter they go and present themselves before a place defended with strong Walls and Bulwarks, lined with all sorts of great Guns and Ordnance, ••••ufficiently supplied with men, provi∣s••••ons, and ammunition: In this con∣dition were several places in China when the Tartars assaulted them. Whereas in Europe, an Army which came to ••••ay siege to any place, would

begin with opening their trenches, rai∣sing batteries, and after they had made a breach, then give the assault. The Tartars on the contrary began with storming the Town, and after batter it. It is the Horse, headed with the Cap∣tain, who carries the Standard, which makes all assaults, for which they make no great preparations. They only tye a great number of Ladders to their horses tayles. And though these ladders are only one single piece of timber, with several peggs struck through: yet the Tartars make use of them as readily as we can of our ordinary Ladders. When they are thus prepared, the Standard-bea∣rer claps spurs to his horse, and fierce∣ly rides up to the very foot of the wall, and is presently followed by all the rest of the Troops, who shout and cry out most hideously, thereby to strike the greater terrour and dread into their enemies. This they do in all fights and assaults.

Though the Artillery of the Enemy play incessantly upon them, though

great numbers of their men are cut off, yet all this doth not hinder the assai∣lants from hotly pursuing their enter∣prise. The heaps of dead bodies do on the contrary facilitate their approach by filling up the ditch. In this man∣ner they advance to the very foot of the wall, and then those who are nea∣rest, light from their horses, which serve them afterwards as Gabions and ••••arapets. And then having raised their ladders against the wall, with an unparallell'd resolution and cou∣rage they mount up to the very top thereof. Now the besieged are al∣most in as great danger as the assai∣lants. For those under the wall, who are to second those on the top, do in∣cessantly shower down an infinite num∣ber of Arrows upon those within the walls. And they let fly their Arrows with that ex••••ct••••ess, that they make ••••hem fall where they will, and they f••••y with that strength, that they strike quite through those who think them∣••••elves most s••••cure and best defended. Thus those upon the Ladders quickly

gain the top of the Wall, and there either lying flat down, or kneeling on their knees, with their Arrows, they ply so warmely those within, as well those who man the Guns, as all those who attempt to defend the walls, that they quickly beat them from their Artillery, and disenable them from making use of any of their Arms. In the mean time fresh Troops draw near the place, and whilst some are attemp∣ting to scale the Walls, others en∣deavour to possess themselves of a Gate, and to gain a passage into the Town; and in a little time, that is to say, as soon as any horses can get in, by the noise and neighing they make, they quickly discover, that the Town is taken, and that all is now at the dis∣cretion of the Enemie. Thus the Tartarian horses first proclaim the Vi∣ctory. These assaults, where the as∣sailants do thus precipitately fall on, without the defence of any Arms, and without facilitating their assault by fi••••st making a breach, did usually cost them the loss of many men, for which

they revenged themselves upon those who could no longer defend them∣selves. Then the fury of the Con∣querors was boundless, Revenge is the joy of their hears, from which they never desist till they have satiated themselves with the blood of the con∣quered.

But if by storm the Tartars make themselves not masters of the place, then they make use of their Artillery and batter the walls: And so con∣clude where the Europeans began, till after they have made all possible attempts to carry the place by storm, they fire not one Cannon, though they march into the field with a train of five hundred pieces of Ordnance, as ••••eli∣paouan did. Thus Tartars practise three things just opposite to what is done by those who better understand the Military Art. They begin first to storm, after they raise their batte∣ries; and thirdly, they employ their Horse to storm Towns and scale Walls. There is nothing in human affairs which seems so irregular and extra••••a∣gant

to some persons, but is practised by others, who yet alledge arguments to justifie it, which they pretend to be solid and rational.

As for their march, of which we be∣gan to speak, towards night the Trum∣pet sounds, and then all the whole Army take up their quarters. Till this signal is given, they never make halt all the day long, but they either march or fight: Therefore as soon as they hear the Trumpet sound, every man pre∣pares to set up his Tent, which he takes out from the rest of the bag∣gage. Each Captain hath a Waggon for the baggage appertaining to him∣self, and to all those under his com∣mand. The baggage of the whole Army never marches together: The Tents are either made of strong Lea∣ther or raw hides, which are sewed together, and made up indifferent handsomly. Each big and habitable enough, which it had need be, for it is their usual habitation. These Tents they pitch in great order with Market-places and Streets, like as in great

Towns, and are placed after the man∣ner of the houses of the Turks in the Country. The Tartars choose rather to live in these Tents than in Cities and Towns, in which they say, they are choaked up in a croud, and have not their health; whereas when they are encamped in the fields under their Tents, and breath in the clear air, there they are strong and lusty. It is most certain that all things to which men will accustome themselves, by continuance will become pleasant and agreeable; nay, even labour and toyl; it is but enduring it some time: where∣as idleness and the effeminate pleasures of this life grow at length wearisome, and burdensome to those who have any long time enjoyed them. There are some Gally-slaves, which would not be pleased to be taken from the Oar, time and custom hath so sweetned the hardship to them. Custome is very potent, nay it works miracles. This it was which prevailed so far with the Tartars, that it induced them to esteem ••••he palaces and fine houses in Cities in∣convenient

for their health. They ne∣ver were better in heal••••h, and more at ease, than when they were encam∣ped in the most vast and spatious fields, and were necessitated to suffer all the incon••••eniences of the air and ill wea∣ther; from hence it was, that they were so averse to live in Towns. But pe••••haps they have now changed their humour; for though they were so well content, to toyl and take pains during the time of their Conquest, yet it being but too true, that we do with greater faci∣lity accustom our selves to ease and pleasure than to hardship and labour; it is probable, that in time they will accustom themselves to the luxury and effeminacy of the Chineses.

But we must now return to visit the Tartars in their Tents; whither they withdraw themselves to feast and make merry. Their meat is usually young Horse-flesh, which they dress after their fashion; and as for their Horses, they feed them with Rice, which is better meat than the flesh th••••y eat: They drink and eat with as good a sto∣mach,

as they fight and take pains, and presently after fall asleep with as little disturbance as if they had no ene∣mies in the World. They never re∣gard to place any Guards or Sentinels: And the Rounds they go never wakens any body. Thus all night there is a profound silence in their Camp, with∣out the least noise, but sometimes the neighing of Horses. In the very heat of the War they slept as quietly, and with as little disturbance. It is only Barbarians who are capable of this arrogant presumption, to sleep thus securely amidst Arms and War, as if all was their own: For they are intoxi∣cated with s••••ch an opinion of their valour, that they think there is no per∣son upon earth hath the courage to give them an alarm. They are no more diffident, and have no stricter a Guard in the Towns, where they keep garrison, unless in Canton, and some few other places, where the Corsairs did incessantly allarm them, and there∣by necessitated them to keep some Soldiers always under their Arms. This

was not the custom of the Chineses, for they for above two hundred and eighty years, kept the strictest Guard they could possibly in all their Towns, and were in such a continual fear, that with their instruments and shoot∣ing, they made such a horrid noise all night, that no body could sleep in quiet: yet after they had watched so strictly for so many years, when their Enemies were above twelve hun∣dred miles from any of their Provin∣ces; they were unfortunately asleep when it concerned them to have been most watchful. The Chineses made a great noise when they saw no body, but when the Enemy was neer them, they scarce durst lift up their voice so loud as to call out, Arm, arm; so far were they from going to meet their Enemy, or disputing with him the entrance into their Provinces. Fi∣nally, they were no more safe for ha∣ving kept so good a guard; whereas the Tartar conquered all their vast Empire, and yet slept in quiet, con∣fidently relying on his own strength,

and knowing that his valour was so dreaded by his enemies, that they durst not attacque him; which veri∣fies the vulgar saying, that he whose Reputation is up may lie in bed.

CHAP. XXXI. Of the Behaviour of the Tartars. Of their Natural inclination to War and Labour. Of their frank and free dealing, without any ceremony. Of their Divertis••••ments, Occupations, and Employments in general.

THe Tartars, who conquered Chi∣na, are generally proper men, and well shaped, only their shoulders are broad, but the rest of their Limbs are well proportioned. But they are very sturdy and strong, which makes ••••hem appear rather rough and unhewn, than nice or effeminate. Neither are they affected with neat and fine

clothes, and by the brawnyness of their hands, it may be seen, that they can go very well without Gloves. All their Gallantry is to be in action, and make a bustle: Naturally they love to takepains, and they may be compar'd to those antient Roman Souldiers, born and bred in the Country, of whom one of their Poets saith; That after they had dy'd the Sea with the blood of Africa, after they had defeated An∣tiochus, Pyrrhus, and Hannibal, they returned to their Country life, and went out in the morning with a spad•••• upon their shoulders, and returned at night with a burden of wood, which their Mothers, who bred them not up nicely, had taught them to car∣ry.

The Tartars have not ordinarily their complexions so fair as the Chine∣ses; there is not much difference u∣sually in their faces, unless it be that some are more black and tann'd. They have thicker bea••••ds, which, for the most part, are either black or red, but they cut it quite off, leaving only a

tuft on the middle of their chin. They have no Mustaches, but for all that, they are very gallant fellows. Which is an argument that men (at least in that Country) may have courage, though they have no Mustaches. They wear their hair very short, or rather none at all, being willing to discharge themselves of that, of which they have so little need. Their Behaviour and out-side is not at all warlike, nor doth it shew any great mark of cou∣rage or resolution: they make a sport of work and labour, to which they have been accustomed from their In∣fancy, which make them, that they cannot live without it. They are not charmed with the pleasures of an idle and easie life, which they account dishonourable and ignoble; and that which is yet more, they are as inde∣fatigable, dexterous, and as able to go ••••hrough with their enterprises, as they are hot and fierce to enter upon them. Mans Life requires labour, and dex∣terity, as well as several other things, and we must sometimes incline to one

side, that we may counterpoise the other. The Tartars are as fit for contrivance as execution: And though they do not break their brains, with scratching out crafts and subtilties, or studying the artifice, or rather malice, which is accounted hability and strength of Wit; yet they understand very well their affairs, and discern, as far as mans capacity will reach, what is, and what is not according to the right rule of reason.

But it is remarked that there is a great inequality in their humours; for in time of peace they are like other men, and very different from what they are in time of war, when they are fierce, cruel, unmerciful, and take delight in shedding the blood of their ene∣mies: whereas at other times they are mild, courteous, affable, and strive to be civil and complaisant to all per∣sons. It is not strange, that men should not always be of the same temper, though they do not manifest such a contrariety of their humours, which some persons do so disguise, that it

cannot be known either when they are angry or when they are pleased▪ But the Tartars do not at all resemble these persons; they never conceal any∣thing that li••••s in their breast, they ••••n neither counterfeit a false joy, nor hide a true one: If they laugh it is hearti∣ly, and if they are displeased their face will shew it. Therefore they ••••y it is better to be passiona••••e than ••••••••∣cherous; for which reason they will not compliment and cringe to a ma•••• whom they ••••urse in their heart: and will sooner cut off a mans arms than embrace him in th••••irs, if they love him not. Where••••re they may pray and wish sincerely, that sincerity might prosper and be practised, and that treachery and dissimulation (the ene∣mie to human ••••ociety) might be ex∣••••irpated. As for ou•••• poli••••i••••k dissi••••u∣lation in E••••rope, th••••y mock and scorn at it: If they were addicted to Fables and Fictions, they might say that Sa∣turn's R••••ign and the golden Age was gone from Europe in••••o ••••artary.

That i•••• which they take the grea∣test

pride is to have fine horses, about which they usually busie themselves: and this may be said to be their grea∣test vanity, and their sole occupation from their very cradle. There is nothing which they will not make their horses do, and they do as exactly perform all that their riders put them to, as if they had the very same intellectu∣als with them; for they are trained up, and managed to that accurateness, that they may be thought to obey not only the motions of the bridle, but the very thoughts and intentions of their riders.

As for the actions of the Tartars in their conversation, they are such as ma∣nifest them not to persons who stand so much upon ceremony as the Chineses did: there is not that cringing to them, nor those prostitutions to the very ground as the Chinese•••• Mandorins compelled all persons to do before them. The Tartars will scarce pay such adoration to their Gods, and therefore think it not fit to be done to men: When ever the Chineses, who

were accustomed to these sordid Flat∣teries, come to make all these low submissions to the Tartars, they ei∣ther reproved them, or else they scoffed and derided them so, as there∣by to let them understand they expe∣cted no such ceremonies.

The Civilities which are used a∣mongst the Tartars do somewhat re∣semble those which are practised in Europe; when they salute any person▪ they stretch out their right hand and then bow their bodies a little, and when they have raised themselves up∣right again, they put their hand to∣wards their mouth. When they would return thanks for any Present, Compli∣ment, or any obliging expression, they stretch their right hand towards their knees, especially if they are sitting, and then they lay the handle of their Sword upon the same knee, and rai∣sing up themselves a little, they bow their head, as if they would kiss their right hand: when two friends meet in the streets, they never uncover their heads; which would be there as ridi∣culous

as if any one in Europe should, upon the like occasion, pluck off his shooes. T••••ey only salute each other, either with the ordinary civility of stretching out their arm, bringing it back to their mouth, or else kissing their hand; and then they discourse of their affairs; or if there be a more than ordinary friendship between them, and that they are much joyed to see one another, they then em∣brace, and by the kind reception they give each other, they testifie their joy.

The Chinese men had always Fa•••• in their hands, as Women have in o∣ther Countries: If they were either in their own houses, or ma∣king visits, or in the streets, or Temples, they were never without Fans, even the common sort of peo∣ple. The Spaniards in the Philipine Isles, who were used to see them with these Arms in their hands, did no longer wonder at it. But the Tartars could not refrain breaking out into laughter, as at a thing which they

thought very ridiculous; and they asked them scoffingly, If these were not the Arms of their Women which they used not so much to beat and cool the air, as to defend them from the heat of the Sun, left it should melt the paint upon their faces? The Tartars were not prohibited to use Fans; but though the heat was so excessive, that it almost stifled them, none of them could be perswaded to make use of a Fan.

For three or four years after the Conquest of China, the Tartars re∣fused to marry any Chineses Women, great numbers then followed them out of Tartary. It is not known what induced them to take this resolution, unless it was that they desired that Chi∣na should be peopled with inhabitants, who were real Tartars, both by blood and birth. But this was difficult to ••••ccomplish in so vast a Country, so well inhabited and peopled as China was. And it was not probable, that the aversion, which these two Nations had ••••o make any alliance between

each other, should last long. The contrary of which quickly appeared; for this animositie calmed every day more and more, and they contracted Marriages and Alliances with each other: and this union of blood and alliance, within a few years, will make them become one people and nation.

Amongst the Divertisements to ••••hich the Tartars are inclin'd, they ••••em to affect Musick, but theirs is not very charming: they are only de∣lighted with a warlike and loud tune; all soft Aires are so displeasing to them, that they count them not only vain, but intollerable. And this makes them think no Musick more pleasant than the harsh sound of their Trumpet: And generally no Harmony is more agreeable to the ears of Souldiers, than the sound of Trumpets and Drums, with which Musick they are most delighted.

I have already remarked, that these people do eat and drink heartily; and it is a usual saying with them, that

they who will work well must eat and drink well. But they are not very nice and curious what their meat is, reguarding more the quantity than the quality. They account young Horse-flesh their greatest dainty, which they serve up at all their Feasts. But their ordinary food is Mutton, and they have great flocks of Sheep: They eat like∣wise all sorts of Venison; as the flesh of Staggs, wild Boars, and of such other Creatures, which they hunt and take in the mountains; and sometimes Fish, when the fancy takes them to go a fishing, but they regard not whether their meat is fat or lean; which they rost or boil, and that but a very lit∣tle; for according to the custome of Barbarians, they eat their meat very ••••aw. They are not curious to have variety of Dishes, contenting them∣selves with one Dish, if they have e∣nough. They like best solid substantial meat, and for that which is not so, they are very well content to be with∣out it. Whilst they keep out in the field, they do usually live upon Rice,

f••••nding that less troublesome to carry along with them, than any other kind of provision. But if they are fixed in any place, then they make Wheaten Bread, and prefer that to eat with their meat, before Rice. When they drink Water, they drink it cold, as we do, and not hot, as the Chineses and Iapan∣ners do. As for * 1.3 Cha, which is the Drink, that in ceremony they pre∣sent to all persons throughout the whole Country, they drink that hot, according to the custome of all other people. And so likewise they do C••••∣colat,

though they have some kind of Chocolat, which is drunk cold. But that which they drink with most delight, is Wine, either white or red, or of any sort whatsoever. They will scarce believe that Maho∣met did so severely prohibit Wine, but if that Imposter did, they are apt to think, that he delighted so much in it himself, that out of envy he de∣nyed all others the liberty of drinking it. And perhaps Wine hath been a preservative to them against those damnable pestilent opinions, with which all their Neighbours are infe∣cted. And peradventure upon the same account they chose that Re∣ligion which obliges them to adore the Heaven as a God; for though they see that water falls from heaven, yet from thence they have no prohibi∣tion to drink Wine, and therefore they think they have reason not to make it a principle of their Religion, to drink only water.

But though the Tartars drink Wines, yet we do not see, that either

rich or poor fall into those Excesses by drinking, as they do in other Coun∣tries; which are so great, that from thence some have taken occasion to say, That unless Mahomet had prohibi∣ted the drinking of Wine, the whole World had been intoxicated with it: Yet at their Meals they invite their Friends to drink Healths, almost in the same manner as they do in Europe: I say almost, because they do not expect any man should prejudice his health with pledging; or, according to the French Phrase, doing reason to the health of ano∣ther: For this, they say, is to undo rea∣son, not to do reason. Therefore they laugh at us in Europe, when they hear say, that a man is not counted good company, unless he pledges all the Healths are drunk to him. They ask, if in Europe it b•••• thought Treason, or a crime against the State, to refuse to pledge a Health. For (say the Tartars) if as amongst us, it be only ••••t••••med of, as a less complian••••y; then ••••t i•••• far more con∣venient, to appear not so compliant, th••••n for an•••• man to m••••ke himself a Beast, by

drowning his reason and judgment. We p••••ise (say they) far more the enjoyment of our health, our senses and reason, than all the compliancy imaginable. Thus they do not then esteem a man to be less civil, or no good companion, if he excuses himself from drinking, when he is a∣fraid of prejudicing his Health there∣by. But what would these Barbarians say, if besides the Law of Nature and the rule of Reason, in the sole obser∣vance, to which they are so averse to drunkenness, they had the Law of God, and the Gospel of Christ, which upon so severe penalties prohibit all excess? And yet Christians are more intemperate than Infidels and Barbari∣ans.

Having given you an account what Meat the Tartars eat, I shall now ac∣quaint you how they serve it up: And this is either in Dishes of Silver, Tin, Brass, or such like Metal, according to each mans state and condition. They make li••••tle use of earthen Ware, though in China they have so fine, so cheap and common. They only make

use of little plates and cups, high and narrow, the best and finest they can procure, to drink Cha in. But though their cups and dishes are of such diffe∣rent metal, they are all of the same form and fashion, which costs not much, being not very curiously wrought, but very strong, as if they designed they should last forever. The Tartars are like the men in ancient times, according to the notion we have of them, as plain, blunt persons, a∣verse to all Luxury and Pride, which so impoverishes the World, it not be∣ing possible to supply the expences of such persons; whereas the Tartars are rich, and content at an easier and chea∣per rate. It is likewise remarked, that all the cups the Tartars use, stand upon feet like our old fashion cups and bowls: And perhaps it is not now thought fit that our cups should have any feet, because they have made so many men, by drunkenness and excess, lose theirs.

They make use likewise of Spoons to eat with, for they know not how to

serve themselves with those eating-sticks the Chineses use. The Tartars must be born again before they can be brought to the neatness of the Chineses, which requires a long application to it, before they can conveniently pra∣ctise it.

The Tartars generally are indiffe∣rently well inclined to trade and com∣merce, and are very reasonable and fair dealing persons. Their usual way of trade, is by bartering one commodity for another; as Corn, Wooll, Cattel, and other Merchandise, which are common there, for others that are of higher value; which make China the wealthiest Country in the World. They seem not very covetous of Sil∣ver or mony; and are ignorant of those subtilties which are usually practised by Trades-men, who are guided and governed by Avarice, and desire of gain. They would willingly have commerce with all Nations, and wish they would come thither to traffick and trade: and are not much concern∣ed if any forraigners come to dwell

in their Towns; nay they suffer them to wear Arms, having a good opini∣on of their own strength and courage, they laugh at those panick fears with which the Chineses and Iapanners are so possessed. On the contrary, they declare, that whosoever will come into their Country, ••••hall not be trea∣ted like strangers, if so be they will live quietly and orderly: but if they offer ••••o make any disturbance, then they must expect, either to be driven out, or punished according to their de∣serts. Thus they propose to deal with Strangers, by which it clearly appears, they act herein more judi∣ciously and rationally, than the Ia∣panners, who were frighted with their own dreams and imaginati∣ons.

The Beasts which they make use of for Tillage, or for their other occasi∣ons, either in time of Peace or War, are, as in Europe, either Horses, or such like Beasts, ordinarily employed for Carriage; which are very numerous throughout the whole Country.

As for Voyages by Sea and Navi∣gation, it is observed, that the Tartars which Conquered China are naturally averse to the Sea; perhaps it is be∣cause that part of Tartary in which they inhabited, is remote from the Sea: Nor is it strange, that any one should at the first dislike that which they have no experience of. Yet we saw that in the Province of Canton, they quickly be∣came very good Mariners, and fought very well at Sea. Men of Courage will master any thing: And no habit or custom can resist them, who resolve to accustom themselves to any thing, though never so difficult and strange to them at first.

CHAP. XXXII. Of the Habit and Fashions of the Tar∣tars. Of the Modesty and Virtue of their Women, who though they affect to ride on horse-back, and go to the Wars, yet are very chast and virtu∣ous. The Conclusion of this Narra∣tive of the Conquest of China by the Tartars.

ALl the Tartars, except the mean∣est and poorest of them, are clothed in Silk; which now they can do more conveniently, being masters of a Country where Silk grows: the others wear Stuff, either Woollen or Cotten, or else Linnen. The Fashion of their Clothes is in part peculiar to that Nation, in part much resem∣bling that of the Eastern Mahometans. They like better to follow the fashion of their Clothes, than to observe their

Law by drinking no Wine. And now you shall see, how they are clothed from head to foot.

They wear little boots, or buskins, which never come so high as the knee, and usually but to the calf of the leg, sometimes their Buskins have no soles, and then they wear shooes with them, but sometimes they have soles just like a little boot, and then they wear no shooes.

Their Shirts are very short, which they begirt about their waste with Drawers. These Shirts are u∣sually made of flaxen or cotten cloth: But they who are the most neat and gallant in their Clothes, though they are not of any high quality, have them of a certain sort of Silken stuff, almost like Satten, or else of strong Taffaty, but always very white.

Over this Shirt they wear a Vest, which comes a little below the knee, made very tite and straight to the bo∣dy, but lined with * 1.4 Wat, or Cotton,

from top to bottom. The Sleeves are very strait and narrow, but so long as to come over their hands; they are slit up as far as the wrist, and they turn them up, to make their hands appear the more graceful. These Sleeves are usually embroydered from the elbow to the shoulder, but from the elbow downwards plain. This Garment is buttoned down the sides to the waste, and from the top to the bottom. The buttons are ordinary of Plate, either Silver or Gold, or some other metal; and sometimes of Pre∣cious stones, of greater or less value, according to the pleasure or capacity of the owner, not according to his quality; for there, as in other Coun∣tries, they who are rich take upon them to be persons of quality. These Buttons are not put on strait down be∣fore, but side-ways: for they fold the left side of this Vest over the right, and along the edges of the fold the buttons are fastened in an oblique line, to keep it more streight and fit to their body as far as the waste;

which appears gracefully enough up∣on them. Some have buttons fastened upon their right shoulder, and along their collar. But this is a fashion not much followed.

They tye this Vest about them with a girdle, of which they have several fashions, and usually these are more gallant and brave than any part of their habit; yet some have only a Silken cord about the thickness of a finger, which they put several times about them. Others have a piece of Taffaty, or very fine Cotton Cloth, a∣bout four fingers broad, and adorned with Gold, Silver, Ivory, or Precious stones: And those who would appear more Souldier-like, have a piece of a Beast's skin, which they bedeck with Ornaments suitable to their genius and fancy.

Over this habit, which comes down very low, they wear a shorter Coat, but much wider and larger. These two habits are ever of different co∣lours, but the uppermost coat being most visible, is ever of the most gaudy and

lively colour: and being wider than the other they let it go unbuttoned and loose, though it is garnished with rich buttons like the other, but these serve only for ornament; and at the most, they button not above one or two. It hath no Sleeves, or else so short they come not below the el∣bow. This, like the other Coat, is lined with Wat or Cotton. These are their habits in Winter, but their cu∣stome is to wear as many Clothes in Summer, as in Winter; but probably ha∣ving changed their climat, they will be necessitated to change this custom. Tar∣tary lying more to the North than Chi∣na, and consequently being rather a cold, than a hot Country, the inhabi∣tants might well endure there to wear all the year long clothes, more suita∣ble in China for the Winter than Sum∣mer season. But it is probable, when they shall have more experienced the temperate climat of that Country, and the heats in the Southern Provinces, they will proportionably wear cooler Clothes, and lay aside their present

fashion of lining them with Cotton or Wat. Some persons have disliked the shape of their loose Coats, which they wear uppermost, because they have no neck-piece, or collar, and are nei∣ther raised higher, or cut away in the neck; but are seamed in the same manner at top, as at the bottom; so that they are shaped something like those frocks which, in some Countries, criminal persons wear, when they go to execution. But the Tarta••••s will not yield, that their habit is a•••• all un∣graceful, perhaps it is because they are accustomed to it. And we see, that those faces which at first do in •••• manner affright us, do not appear deformed, when we have for some time been conversant and acquainted with them.

And it is less to be wonder'd at, that we should approve of those fashi∣ons and habits, when we are accusto∣med to them, which first seemed fanta∣stical and ridiculous to us.

I have now shewn you the Habits of the Tartars from the feet to the neck and shoulders; but it yet remains,

that I should let you see what they wear upon their heads, which is more extravagant than any part of their ha∣bit. And though the relation enlar∣ges much upon it; yet perhaps it would be better to say nothing at all of it, than to conclude the relation with so displeasing a Subject. But lest any should complain, that their curio∣sity herein is not satisfied, I shall give some account of it. And if any persons deride and scoff at the Bonnets, or Hats, which the Tartars wear, let them consider, that a great part of the world laugh at them, for the fashion of their Clothes; and how often their own Nation have changed, and altered their fashion, and imitated, at last, those fashions of another Country, which, at first, they themselves thought very ridiculous and fantastical. And therefore that perhaps, at some time or other, they may likewise come to take up that for a fashion, which now they most of all dislike in the Bonnet of the ••••artars.

I shall now first observe to you,

that these people have a different co∣vering for their Head in Winter, from what they have in Summer. And though they are not all very exact in this change, yet the greatest part of them seldom fail. In Winter they wear a certain round Bonnet, very high crowned, which stands out, as if it was of a very solid substance, and yet it is only ••••ade of a certain Silk Stuff, or else of very fine Cloth, lined within with the same, and quilted with Wat or Cotton, as their Vests and loose Coats are: This Bonnet comes very close to the Head, but it is surrounded with a border so thick, that it appears bigger than any part of their Body: All this border is covered over with tuffts of Silk, which are usually of light colours, according to the fancy of the owner. In the crown they are much about the bigness of the Priests Caps in Spain: And those which the Tartars wear are covered all over, ex∣••••epting only a little round place before about the breadth of a Crown piece: this is left uncovered, that they may put

in a plate of some kind of Metal, with a button in the midst, either of Gold or Silver. The Mandorins and other persons of quality, which are in any place or employment, are distinguish∣ed by these Plates, which they ever wear, either of Gold or Silver, with some Jewel set in the midst. And it doth not depend, either upon any mans fancy or wealth, to take what kind of Plate he pleases; but the big∣ness, colour, form, and fashion of the Plate, Button, or Jewel, must of necessity distinguish and mark out the rank and quality of him who wears it. By this mark of honour they avoid all occasions of disputes, which often a∣rise in other Countries, for the rank and precedency of Magistrates and publick Officers. For it would be high treason there, for any one to dare to wear the mark of a dignity, which he cannot justifie to belong to him. In any other part of their Clothing, either in Winter or in summer, there is no distinction between persons of the highest quality, and the very dreg••••

of the common people, betwen the most learned and the most ignorant. Their Caps, or Bonnets are all generally of the same form and shape; only they, who are most rich or most curious, make choice of the finest Stuff. As for any thing else, the meanest trades∣man will have upon his head a Bonnet tufted all over, as well as a person of the highest quality. Therefore, in that Country, to distinguish persons accor∣ding to their rank and degree, you must look, and that very narrowly, upon the mark of distinction which they wear: For being every person wears the Plates with a Button in the midst, and that all the Magistrates have them of Gold or Silver with a Jewel, it is not easie to make a distin∣ction afar off.

As soon as Summer comes, the T••••r∣tars lay aside these Bonnets, and then they wear Hats, not made of Wooll wrought close together, as ours are, but either of the Leaves of the Palme or Date Tree, or of some very rare and curious Plant growing there. The form and fashion of this Hat is more

fantastical than their Bonnet. The brim is very broad and large, and the crown very little, but that it is ador∣ned, and set out with tufts of Silk. This likewise before hath a place for the Medal, or mark of distinction, as their winter Bonnet hath. Some wear these Hats of a pointed shape, others quite flat, and these have no tufts, which makes them appear the flatter. To the lining of the crown of this Hat are fastened several Silken strings, two of which hang down lower than the rest, to fasten it with, on their head, which they do by tying them to a button under their chin, in such a manner as they can slacken or streighten them at pleasure. But to return to the description of the brims of these Hats; which look like a broad ill shapen dish. They are lined on the inside, and hang flapping down, in the same manner as you may have seen a broad piece of Lead hang down at the end of a large gutter, to carry off the rain from houses. And as for the tufts of Silk, in rainy weather, they are

flatted down upon the Hat-brims, so that they reach within two or three fingers breadth of the very edge, which is bordered about with a very ill-favoured embroidery.

You must likewise know, that the tufts on the Hats of ordinary persons, and poor people, are of Silk; but the rich, and those who are most curious, make them of a certain yellow or gold colou∣red herb, the flowers of which do much resemble, those of the Mais, or Indian Wheat. The stalk of this Plant is a∣bout the thickness of a finger, and is long and plyable enough, to be wound several times about their Hats. And being it produces great number of Flowers and quantity of seed; it's so full of tufts, that several persons pull them off divers of them. The convenience of this Plant for Hat-bands is this, that it doth not soak in the water, as the Silk doth, and when it is wet it loses nothing of its lustre; but, on the con∣trary, appears more beautiful and live∣ly, and glittering as if it were enamel∣led. And therefore this Plant is high∣ly

esteemed of in the very place where it grows; for a Hat with a band there∣of is not sold under two* 1.5Ducats, which is a very high price, according to the rate that things are sold for in China. Where for the same price a man may buy as much Velvet or Damask, as will make make him a Suit of Clothes. They therefore who cannot go to the price of this Plant, make use instead thereof of Silken tufts of the same co∣lour: So that in that Country, they are counted poor when they are reduced to wear Silk. But Herbs and their stalks are esteemed of, as a very brave ornament for the most rich and honourable persons. See how great mens vanity is, when they are proud of a little chaff and straw▪

At present all the Chine••••es conform to the modes and fashions of the Tartars. To which they have been compelled by very rigorous and severe Ordinan∣ces, which condemned every man to

death, who did not obey and observe them; but the Women were treated with more civility. Nothing could be more opposite than this new Tartarian-mode, to the fashion of the habits of the Chi∣neses, which for a long time they had kept to without the least alteration. And therefore the more satisfied they were with the fashion of their Cloths, and their custome to wear their Hair long, so much the more discontent they were to part with either; which some so highly valued, that they chose rather to be stripped of their lives, than to be clothed after the Tartarian mode. But the Women found more civility from the Conque∣rors, than their Husbands did. Nei∣ther doth it appear, that they ever fai∣led to shew ••••ll respect to that Sex, in any place, except it was in the Province of Canton. Where the violent outra∣ges of the Vice Roy in Military affairs, did transport him beyond all bounds of honour or humanity: but we are not to presume, from the hard usage which the Chineses Women received in

that Provnice, that they were trea∣ted with no greater favour in the o∣thers: In which the Souldiers were kept in better discipline, under the command of Officers, who by their acti∣ons endeavoured to make a more ad∣vantageous impression in the minds of the people, both as to the merits of their own persons, and the honour of their Nation. Yet notwithstanding the great care they took to make their orders be punctually observed, they could not possibly prevent the great violences, which were committed in Towns taken by storm. It is scarce to be expected it should be otherwise in War: for we see that these outrages are not less frequently commi••••ted in Europe, even by Christian Souldiers, the Com∣manders in chief not being able to re∣medy all disorders: Yet it is certain, that all the Provinces in China, except that of Canton, the Tartars demeaned themselves towards the Women with all the honour and respect the Chineses could wish for. The Emperour parti∣cularly, the Princes his Uncles, and

the other Grandees of Tartary, by the severe punishments they inflicted upon all persons convicted of any disorders, of that nature, manifested how averse they were from allowing or counte∣nancing them.

Seeing the Tartars treated the Chi∣neses Women thus obligingly, it is not to be imagined, they would by force and violence compell them to change the fashion of their Clothes. And the truth is, they made no order or in∣junction herein, but lef•••• them free li∣berty to follow their own inclinations, to chuse whether they would be in the Tartarian mode, or keep to their old fashion. And in every thing else the Officers in the Tartarian Army, and the Mandorins shewed all the observancy and respect to that sex, as is usually done in Europe, which was not here∣tofore practised in China; where, when any man spoke to a Woman, he would never have vouchsafed her the title of Madam; though by her qua∣lity and condition she had been far su∣periour to him, and though at every

word, she spoke to him, she had trea∣ted him with Sir, and my Lord.

We must now give some account of the Habit of the Tartarian Women, though herein we have not been so par∣ticularly informed. They wear Hats as the Men do, but they are not so finely adorned; for many of the Wo∣men count it gallantry to go negligent∣ly. Sometimes it is a great piece of artifice, to have no artifice: For most things are the more handsome, by how much the more natural. And Nature hath very just reason to complain, that those very women whom she hath endowed with excellent Beauty, have notwithstanding, many times, recourse to Art, and seems to acknowledg, that it is from it they have received all that is either graceful or agreeable in them. But the Tartarian Women use not these arts; they wear their Hair long, as in Europe, and let it hang curling in a negligent manner upon their shoulders, not tying it with any string, but that which fastens on their Hat. And their Habit is either a certain Vest, or Simar,

pretty long, without any collar; or else one somewhat less, like a short wast-coa••••, very little different from those which the Chinese women use; these Vests are of several colours, but ever ••••ery gay and lively, usually they are of Sil••••, unless it b•••• those of the meanest and poorest persons: as for the shape of them, they are made exactly fit to the body, have but little compass, and are not trimmed with those modish va∣nities, as are i••••vented in Europe. They likewise wear buskins, and some∣times boots and spurs, when either they ride for their recreation, or go a journey; their horses are their living * 1.6 Chopino's, which they manage so gracefully, as no dress sets them off so advantageously. Their Bows and Ar∣rows are thei•••• Rings and Jewels; and the places where they meet to dis∣course in, and receive company, is the open field, where they run and skip

about like so many of the ancient Tyrrhian Nymphs, or the Amazonian Scythians, their Neighbours: At which the Chinese women, who had been im∣mured up in prisons, and caves all their lives, were so highly surprised, ••••hat it is not to be expressed; for they were so amazed at it, that they kn••••w not whether they should believe them to be men or women, and could never cease to admire them, though they were as much afraid of them, as of the men. Yet for all this, we m••••st not suppose, that shooting and riding is the sole employment of the Tartarian women. But they only use these ex∣ercises, to shew, what by their valour and courage they are able to do, if oc∣casion requires it And the truth is, they accompany their husbands in the Wars, and many times charge wi••••h them into the very midst of the enemies battalion. But nothing is more ad∣mirable in these women, than their dex••••erity in governing and managing their horses, which they do so skil∣fully, it is beyond all expression: and

there is none, but understand how to to ride and manage a Horse better than most men in other Countries. It is not there as in Spain, where only Gentl••••men and Persons of Quality ride on Horse-back. All the Tartarian wo∣men, poor or rich, do it daily. Their Horses serve them instead of Coaches and Sedans: And they have each of them their Horses in particular, which they train up and manage, so that it would be as great a disparagement to a Woman in Tartary not to know how to ride on Horse-back, as in Spain not to know how to go upon Chopino's.

Doubtless whatever transcends its due bounds and measure, is deserved∣ly blameable. And as we cannot ex∣cuse men, who in effeminacy, and a sol∣litous care to trick and trim up them∣selves, exceed even women: So nei∣ther can we approve, that women should surpass men in those Exercises which are more proper for the mascu∣line than feminine Sex. But usage and custome may render those things excusable, which in themselves are

neither contrary to religon or honesty: Or, at least, from the custom and us•••• which is made of them, we are to pas•••• judgment whether the practise of them is to be tollerated or condemned. And as for those actions and customs▪ of se∣veral people and nations, which have regard only to ••••n outward decency, and decorum, which serves only to make them be esteemed of by others, either more or less civilised or polite, these I say, depend very much upon opinion▪ As for modes and fashions, every ma•••• passes his censure upon them according to his own vanity and capriciousness▪ Some applaud and approve of that, which others dislike and vilifie: Some¦things are thought very decent and graceful in the opinion and fancy of some persons, and yet to hear othe••••s speak of them nothing is more un∣graceful, or ridiculous. Thus men scoff at and deride one another, and yet at the same time each man thinks he hath reason on his side. But it is cer∣tain, that though all men are not ratio∣nal at all times, yet the Tartars have

reason to love their own Country wo∣men the better, since they so sympa∣thise with them in their Martial genius, and apply themselves to those exerci∣ses, which suit and agree so well with their inclinations. The women there do both spring from, and are made of a wa••••like bloud and spirit, and from their very cradles they both recreate themselves by the practise of those quali••••ies with which nature hath en∣dued them, and in which they have made themselves by habit, and custom, so expert, and likewise hereby they render themselves agreeable to the men: And therefore, either they are not very blameable to follow those exercises which are not so usual for women in other Countries; or if here∣in they commit a fault, it ought to be esteemed a very pardonable one.

This is all the information I have re∣ceived concerning those Tartars, which have conquered so vast and rich an Em∣pire. After I had given you account of their Military power, I thought my self obliged, to add something concerning

their customs and management of civil affairs: for seeing they now govern, give Laws, and introduce what customs they please, throughout all that spati∣ous Country, we may from thence take some measure of the present state of China, under its new masters. But that which yet remains the most deplo∣rable, is, that such an infinite number of people, both the conquered and the conquerors should still remain un∣der the tyranny of Infidelity and Impie∣ty. There hath been some hope that the Tartars, who have not yet shewn themselves so rebellious to the Gospel of Christ as the Chineses were, might give freer entrance and a better recep∣tion than they did, to those to whom it should please God to inspire, to go and reveal the glad tidings thereof to them. But as yet these are only the desires and wishes of those, who day∣ly pray to God▪ that his Kingdom may come; we must therefore all incessantly offer up our prayers and supplications to him, that he would shower down his Graces and Benedictions upon the hearts

of those Christian Princes, who have had, or shall have, any part in that great work. It hath been the glory of the Kings of Spain, to have sent o∣ver, and maintained several Labourers to work in that vast harvest: And this great and glorious attempt hath de∣servedly gained them the title of A∣postolick Princes, from one of the Soveraign high Priests of the Roman-Catholick Church, Gregory XIV.

FINIS.

Notes

• * 1.1

  All Magistrates, both Civil and Mili∣tary, are called in the Chinese Tongue Quonfu, which signifies men fit for Counsel; and for their Quality, not Office, are stiled Lavie, Lavisy, or Lavias, which signifies Lord or Ma∣ster: But the Portuguezes, and in imitation of them, all the Europeans call them Mando∣rins; derived (as Arnoldus Montanus saith) from the Portugueze word Mandarim, a Com∣mander or Governour; or as Kircher intimates) from the Latin word Mandare, to Command.
• * 1.2

  The Colao's were superiour to all other Magistrates in the Kingdom, and had in a man∣ner a Iurisdiction over them: Therefore Seme∣do calls them the Supreme Presidents in all Councils, and of the whole Government; and saith they are commonly but four, and may never exc••••ed the n••••mber of six.
• * 1.3

  Cha is a Plant growing in Japan and China, the Leave•••• of which the Japanners grind to Powder, and drink it înfused in warm Water. But the Chineses i••••fuse the whol•••• Leaves, in the same manner as they do Theè. And the resemblance of the Leaves of these two Plants to each other, when they are ex∣panded in warm water, makes me question, whether Cha is not the tops of Theè, ••••r else some species thereof. Though Gaspar Bauhi∣nus places it amongst the Fennels; for which he is reproved by the most ••••earned Botanis•••• Dr. Morrison.
• * 1.4

  Wat is the Down which covers the seeds of the Apocynum Syriacum, called in English Silk-grass.
• * 1.5

  A Ducat is worth about six shil••••ings eight pence sterling.
• * 1.6

  Chopino's are high Cloggs, which the Women use in Spain, to make them appear tall.