CHINA. 



233 



HUtory. . given. He was born of very obscure parents in the pro- 

 * /-" - vince of Fo-kien, and went to Macao to make his for- 

 A.I>. 1646, tline am0 ng the Portuguese, where he became a convert 

 to Christianity, and took the name of Nicholas Gaspard. 

 Thence he repaired to Japan, where he entered the ser- 

 vice of a wealthy merchant, and became at length the 

 commander of his trading vessels to Cochin-China, Cam- 

 boia, and other places. While he was on a voyage at 

 Camboia, having heard, that the merchants, with whose 

 commodities he had been entrusted, had been carried off 

 by a pestilence which raged in Japan, he immediately 

 applied to his own use the property in his hands, pur 

 chafed a number of armed vessels, and became the most 

 formidable captain of pirates, that had ever been known 

 in the Chinese seas. In alliance with another commander, 

 he plundered all the ship!, without distinction, which 

 came in his way, and bid defiance to all the fleets of the 

 empire. The emperor, unable to reduce these naval 

 chiefs by force, wrote, at the same time, a letter to each 

 cf them, expressing his high sense of his valour, and of 

 the services which he might render to his country, in- 

 viting him to join the imperial navy in subduing the 

 other piratical fleet, and promising him in recompense 

 the office of captain-general of the sea-coasts, and ad- 

 miral in chief of the sea-forces. Tching-tchi-long, 

 though he suspected the artifice, yet, depending upon his 

 strength and good fortune, instantly made sail to attack 

 his fellow pirate, whom he vanquished and put to death, 

 after a desperate engagement ; took the greater part of 

 his ship* and crew into his service ; and thus, become 

 more powerful than ever, boldly advanced to meet the 

 imperial fleet, which, instead of attacking, as was in- 

 tended, the remaining pirate, weakened, as they expect- 

 ed, by his conflict with the other, were glad to congra- 

 tulate him upon his success ; whilst by virtue of the em- 

 peror's letter, he immediately commei.ced the functions 

 of high admiral, and required all the trading vessels of 

 the empire to receive their passports from his hand, for 

 which he exacted enormous sums, to the great detriment 

 of commerce and of the maritime provinces. By brib- 

 ing the favourite eunuchs and chief officers at court, 

 he prevented the numerous complaints against him from 

 reaching the ears of the emperor; and raised himself to 

 such a degree of power, that no one dared to question 

 his actions. On one occasion he went ashore at Can- 

 ton, where the imperial officers had withheld a part of 

 his revenue, as admiral <-f the fleet ; entered their popu- 

 lous city with only 6000 of his men ; erected a tribunal 

 in one of the public squares j and, having summoned the 

 officers in question, together with some lawyers, into his 

 presence, obliged them instantly to pay him the money 

 which he required, gave them receipts in form, and re- 

 turned to his fleet without any obstruction. Upon the 

 death of the Emperor Hoay-tsong, he might have seized 

 Upon the crown with greater prospect of success, than 

 either of the rebels Lee and Shang formerly mentioned ; 

 and it is said, that in the event of his making such an 

 attempt, he had a promise from the Dutch traders at 

 Formosa to assist him with all their forces. But he 

 transferred his allegiance to Long-voo, as the only re- 

 maining representative of the imperial family ; and re- 

 jected with scorn all the attempts of the Tartar monarch 

 to gam him to his UK. rests. Afttr engaging the armies 

 of that prince in several bloody battles, wiih varying 

 success, he was taken prisoner and sent to Ptkin ; but, 

 as Ins son was still at the head of his powerful flert, he 

 easily found means to secure his own -.atety, by engaging 

 to support the Tartar interest. Long-vt.o, either unable 

 to stand without the aid of Tching-tchi-long, or. as 



VOL. VI. PART 1. 



others pretend, having been betrayed by his means into History-^ 

 the hands of the other party, was deprived at once of his ^"TTCTT^ 

 life and crown. Still the provinces of Quang-see and 

 Quang-tong refused to submit. Against the latter, opposition 

 where a young prince of the late imperial family had to the Tar- 

 been proclaimed, one of the uncles of the Tartar em- tar. 

 peror, named Peli-poo-wang, was sent with a powerful 

 army in the character of viceroy. The Chinese troops 

 never attempted to face the enemy ; but, according to 

 some authors, the city of Canton stood a twelvemonth's 

 siege with great spirit ; and was, on that account, given 

 up by the Tartar general to be plundered, three whole 

 days. The young emperor and his adherents were put 

 to death ; and the inhabitants subjected to every species 

 of cruelty and insult. The rest of the province was 

 soon reduced, except the town of Shao-king, where ano- 

 ther young prince, named Yoong-lo, had been proclaimed 

 emperor by the viceroy of Quang-see, Thomas Kioo, 

 and the late generalissimo of the Chinese army, Luke 

 Shin, both of whom were Christian converts and brave 

 commanders. The chief counsellor of this prince was a 

 Christian eunuch named Pan-Achilles, by whose means 

 the Jesuit missionary Andrew Koffler was brought to 

 instruct the monarch and his family in the truths of 

 Christianity, and it was hoped that he might one day 

 prove the Constantine of China, by which name he was 

 in that view baptized. The Tartar army, after the re- 

 duction of Canton, marched without delay against this 

 new competitor, but were engaged with great intrepidi- 

 ty, and completely routed by Kioo and Shin. The re- 

 port of this victory, and of the election of a new emperor, 

 spreading through the neighbouring provinces, revived 

 the courage of the Chinese; and a new army, appearing 

 in Fo-kien, gained several cities from the Tartars ; while 

 Tchin-tchi-kong. called by the Dutch Coxinga, son of 

 the celebrated Tchin-tchi-long, taking part with the 

 imperial family of China, made great progress in subduing 

 the towns on the sea-coast. His success, however, was 

 of short duration ; and, having received a total defeat 

 from the Tartars, he was driven out of China, and obliged 

 to retire to his fleet. New armies sprung up in every 

 quarter against the conquerors ; and battles were fought 

 with various success. The viceroy of Kiang-see shook off 

 the yoke, and defeated the Tartars in several engage- 

 ments. Two chiefs in the northern districts, whose names 

 were Ho and Kiang, uniting their forces, gained a great 

 victory over the Tartars ; and kept the field for a con- 

 siderable period without opposition. Yoong-lo resisted 

 all their attempts upon the city of Shao-king ; and, ha- 

 ving put himself at the head of his troops, repulsed them 

 a second time from the frontiers of his province. But Formida- 

 the most terrible of all their opponents was a chief na- l) ' e PP- 

 med Tchang-hien-tchang, who was rather a general mur- 1^," ta '" 

 derer and robber, than a competitor for the crown, or a a d bloody 

 commander in any interest. He completely expelled the oppressor 

 Tartars from the western provinces, where he is said to ' ll >e Chi. 

 have committed barbarities altogetht r incredible ; and neic ' 

 governed everywhere in the most tyrannical and feroci- 

 ous manner. If any one under his jurisdiction commit- 

 ted an offence of the most trivial nature, IK- commanded 

 tin- culprit, and all who inhabited the same street, to be 

 put to death. He caused 5000 eunuchs to be murder- 

 ed, because one of them refuted to acknowledge him as 

 emperor; and butchered, in like manner, 10,000 learned 

 men. because he regarded them as hostile t" his preten- 

 sions. Upon leaving the capital of Se-ichuen, he order- 

 ed the inhabitants to be led out of the city in chains and 

 to be massacred in the fields, to the number of 60,000. 

 He called upon his troops to murder all their wives, be- 

 2 a 



