932 



C II I N A. 



Kduetaore 



T retired to Seao-tong, where he aiiumed the title of Km- 

 P fror ^ Chint. 1 wo year* after warxli he drew the im- 

 periil forcet by stratagem into the wildi of Tartary, 

 xvher* be surrounded and cut to pieces the whole army ; 

 -and, advancing with hit victorious troops into China, 

 dettroyed second army, which had- been tent to oppose 

 liU prognew. Under the reign of Hce-tong, who wai 

 assutrd by auxiliaries from Corea, by an Amazonian 

 lady at the head of teveral thouiand men from the pro- 

 vine. Horn, and by Portuguese engineers from 



Macao, -the Tartar prince wai again compelled, for a 

 fhort time, to evacuate hit conquests Dul having die. 

 com filed 'the neighbouring powers, who had taken the 

 opportunity of his absence to invade hit dominions, (and 

 whose hostile demonstrations had probably tended, more 

 thin the prowess of the Chinese armies, to occasion his 

 rttreat,) h returned- to the invasion of China with re- 

 doubled fury, gained possession of the city of Prkin, 

 and commanded all the Chinese inhabitants, under pain 

 " n ' * have their heads after the Tartar fashion ; 

 of tht Chi- which occasion, it is said, that several thousands of 

 we to them chose rather to lose their heads, than their hair. 

 After the death of Tien-ming, the leader of the Tartars, 

 who was succeeded by hit son Tay-tsong, a prince of 

 a mild and compa-sionate disposition, the Chinese empire 

 was to much distracted by rebellions in different quarters, 

 that it was necessary to direct all the strength of the 

 army to their reduction ; and negotiations for peace were 

 opened with the Tartar Prince, which appear to have 

 been in some measure successful. 



Ticn-tsong was succeeded in Tartary by his son Tsong- 

 te, a prince of the moat affable manners and polite accom- 

 plishments, who had been privately educated among the 

 Chinese, and was intimately acquainted with their litera- 

 ture and custom*. On these accounts, he was highly es- 

 teemed by many of the Chinese mandarins, who, disgust- 

 ed bv the temper of the old Emperjr Hoay-tsong, which 

 hid been soured by the troubles of his reign, transferred 

 their services to the Tartar court. In the meantime, every 

 province almost in China- was infested by bands of robbers 

 or rebels, which were at last collected into two distinct ar- 

 mies ; whose commanders, Lee and Shang, agreed to 'di- 

 vide the empire between them. The former, after gain- 

 ing various successes, and committing the most barbarous 

 cruelties upon the adherents cf the emperor, approached 

 the capital, at the head of an army of 300,000 men. The 

 city was ttrongly garrisoned, and might have resisted all 

 the attempts orthc usurper, but the troops of the govern- 

 rr.ci.t were divided into a multitude of rival factions, and 

 rilled with numerous partisans of the rebel general. The 

 emperor himself, partly from the neglect of his officers, 

 ana partly from his own indolence, had been hitherto 

 kept in extreme ignorance of the true state of affairs ; 

 and remained shut up in his palace, occupied in practi- 

 sing the superstitions of the Bonzes. -When at last arou- 

 sed to a tense of hit situation, he found his capital betray- 

 ed to the enemy, his palace surrounded by .his rebel sub- 

 jects, his attendants and officers fled, and every avenue 

 of escape thut up. Retiring in despair with his family, 

 his prime minister, and a few faithful eunuchs, into a dis- 

 tant part of his gardens, they vhh one consent sought a 

 refuge by death from the insults of the victor. The re- 

 bel seated on the throne, treated with the utmost indig- 

 nity the dead body of the unfortunate monarch, when it 

 wai brought inta his presence, and commanded the re- 

 mainder of his family and adherents to be put to death. 

 Every one hastened to secure himself from a similar fate, 

 by making submission to the usurper, except Oo-san- 

 ktoey, the governor of Leao-tong, who obstinately rcfu- 



sed to acknowledge liis authority. Lee, (or Lie-tie- Hiitetr. 

 ching,) carrying with him the father of Oo-san hoey, * ~ > ,'~~' 

 invested the faithful viceroy in the capital of his province, ^ ^ IG *- 

 thewed him hit aged parent loaded with irons, and vow- 

 ed to put him instantly to death, should he refute to 

 submit. The brave Oo-sao-hoey, bursting into tears at Heroic pa. 

 the tight, fell upon hit knees, and besought forgiveness tri-. 

 of heaven, if he should still persist in his allegiance at 

 the risk of his father't life, who approved the resolution 

 of his son, and cilmiy submitted to bis fate. Determined 

 lo avenge at once the death of his prince and his parent, 

 he made application for aid to the Tartar severe' 

 TsoiiK-tc, wlio instantly joined him with an army of 

 SO.OOO, and compelled the usurper to retire to Pek; 

 Tsong-te died alrrost as soon as he had entered the Chi- 

 nese dominions, after having committed the charge of hit 

 son and his empire to his brother A-ma-van. The 

 young Tartar prince, Sun--hee, who was only seven 

 years of age at the decease of his father, was speedily 

 conveyed to Pekin, and welcomed by the people as their 

 deliverer, with the most joyful acclamations. In the 

 mean time, a grandson of Shin-tsoog, and rehtive of the 

 late imperial family, was proclaimed emperor at Nan- 

 kin, under the name of Hong-kuang, and had the 

 greater part of the nine southern provinces under his au- 

 thority. The rebel Lee also was still at the head of a 

 powerful army, which he basely employed rather in 

 plundering and massacring the defenceless people, than 

 in boldly contesting the throne with his competitors. 

 ua-i the empire of China assumed by three f-pa- 

 ratc and powerful claimants ; and render. veral 



years, a theatre of war and bloodshed. The Tartar 

 forces under the command of the three uncles of Sun- 

 shee speedily triumphed over all opposition. Oo--an- 

 hoey, assisted by the Tartar army, was indefatigable in 

 the pursuit of the blood-thirsty Lee, compelled him at 

 length to take refuge in the mountains of the west, with 

 a few desperate followers ; and, according to some ac- 

 counts, slew him in an engagement with his o-n hand. 

 One of the uncles of Sun-shce was then dispatched to 

 the south against Hong-kuang, who was driven from his 

 capital, taken. prisoner in his night, and pui to death on 

 the spot, or, according to some accounts, afterwards 

 strangled at Pekin. He is said to have been an amiable 

 prince, who had b;en carefully educated by the former 

 emperor; and who, as the last refuge of the Chinese, pj rla | Iu j, 

 had been urged, against bis inclination, to accept a j u j at ion of 

 crown, which he had not the power to maintain. Sun- china by 

 shee, remaining sole master of the empire, ascended the 'he Tar- 

 throue by the name of Shee-tsong, and founded 



The Twenty-second Imperial Dynasty. 

 TA-TMX. 



Mantclioo Tartars. 



Shcc-tsong 16*4- Kien-Iong 17.% TV 



Shin-tsoo-gin or Kang-hee . 1662 Kia-king 1796 *^" d d ' 

 Shec-tsong-hien orYong-tching 1723 



i-ty. 



During tike space of ten years after the accession of 

 this dynasty, new claimants, connected with the former 

 family, continued to raise the standard of resistance ; and 

 even governors of provinces, without any p< r onal views 

 to the sovereign')', obstinately refused to submit to the 

 Tartar sway. In the province of Se-tchuen Long- 

 voo, or Jan-van, a descendant of the former dynasty was 

 proclaimed emperor of the Chinese: and was supported f c i t j, rata | 

 in hit pretensions by the celebrated sea-captain Tchin- , ca . C an. 

 tchi-long, or Ikoan, of whom the following account is tain. 

 I 





