170] ANNUAL REGISTER, I8I6. 



it hull resisted as far as the latest 

 accounts, in tiie close of June 5 

 but it was still threatened, and 

 the llaitdi had made apjjlication 

 to the British Government For as- 

 sistance. Tiiis circumstance may 

 in the event involve the Comjjany 

 in fresh hostilities. 



It may not be improper to aiUl, 

 though only from prixate infor- 

 motion received from Madras, 

 that an iiruption of Pindaree 

 horse from the Mahratta terri- 

 tory burst, in the spring-, upon 

 the Guntoor Circar, one of tlie 

 most prosperous of the Company's 

 possessions on the coast of Loro- 

 mandel, and after desolating it in 

 the most savage manner, carried 

 off a prodigious booty, without 

 being brought to action by any 

 Britisli foice, in the whole of 

 their rapid career fiom one side 

 of the peninsula to the other and 

 back again. 



In our eastern narrative of the 

 last year we inseited an article 

 from Rome., reporting- a great 

 progress made by the Catiiolic 

 Missionaries in China, in propa- 

 gating the Christian religion 

 through that empire ; at the same 

 time expressing- our doubt of the 

 permanency of such convei'sions 

 under a despotic government. 

 This a])])rehension has been too 

 well verified by the intelligence 

 conveyed in the following extract 

 of a letter dated Canton Jan. 1, 

 181G. 



" In June last there was a 

 persecution carried on against 

 the Roman Catholics of Sze- 

 chuen. The Viceroy of that pro- 

 vince begins his I'eport by saying, 

 that the religion of the West, de- 

 nominated the religion of the 

 Lord of Heaven, is a depvrwed or 



Irregular religion, particularly in- 

 jurious to the manners and hearts 

 of men. He says, tiiat in the 

 I 5th year (five years ago) 2,000 

 families recanted, and since up- 

 wards of "200 families. He re- 

 cently appi-ehended 7'2 persons, 

 and seized 53 books. It is, how- 

 ever, distinctly stated, that in the 

 books seized there were not found 

 any expressions that could be 

 construed into an oi)position to 

 government. He closes his re- 

 port by saying, that he suspects 

 there is some European among 

 the mountains of Sze chuen, 

 though lie has not been aljle to 

 apprehend him. 



His Majesty begins his reply, 

 by noticing the blind obstinacy of 

 men ; that though their persons 

 be involved is the net of the law, 

 when once a notion of ascending 

 to Hea\en takes possession of 

 the mind, they arc regardless of 

 death. 



The two leaders who would 

 not recant; Chooyung and Tung- 

 gaen, are ordered to be strangled 

 immediately: 38 others, who also 

 refused to recant, are ordered to 

 be sent to Tartary as .slaves ; 

 among these are several womeUj 

 and an old man of 80. Women 

 and ol i men are in many cases 

 allowed to redeem themselves by 

 paying a fine ; but in this case it 

 is directed that they shall not be 

 allowed to do so. Further, the 

 obstinate old man and a fev^ 

 others, who seemed more culpa- 

 ble than the rest, are to be con- 

 denmed to wear, /or ecer, a hc.vy 

 wooden collar." 



This information is confirmed] 

 by an article in the " Austrian^ 

 Observer," which states, froirti 

 the last accounts of the jNIissiona- 



riea 



