CHINA. 



Army, employed them, bout tlie year of Christ 200. It if re- 

 ^V"""" ' Uti-J, however, that, when the emperor Hoay tsong 

 had assembled hi* council in 1(>JO, a mandarin proposed 

 that the missionary, Father Adam Schaal, should be re- 

 quested to provide them with cast-iron cannon ; but, that 

 nether opposed the measure with this ansrrtion, that 

 before the dynasties of Tang (A. D. 019,) and Song 

 (A. D. 960,) they had never heard of fire arms ; and 

 that, since that time, any attempt to use them had been 

 attended with bad effects. In other passages of the 

 Chinese records, where fire-arms are mentioned, there is 

 no evidence that artillery is meant by that expression ; 

 on the contrary, it is often explained by those very his- 

 torians who employ it, n implying merely burning ar- 

 rows, balls of fire, and a kind of talisla for throwing 

 atones. It is (aid, indeed, that in 1232, the Moguls, in 

 besieging Kay-fong-foo the capital of Honan, made use 

 of cannons caUed Tchin-tien-looy, (i. e. thunder making 

 the heavens to tremble) formed of a tube of hollow iron, 

 filled with powder ; but another kind of Mogul artillery 

 is described, of which the thunder would not be very 

 formidable, and which consisted of ribs of bamboo join- 

 ed together, and strongly bound with ropes. In imi- 

 tation of these, the first Chinese cannon were made of 

 three or four bars of hammered iron joined together with 

 hoops of the same metal; and about 100 of these guns 

 were seen by Mr Bell of Ante rmony in one of the towers 

 towards the extremity of the great wall, when he visited 

 China in the suite of the Russian embassy in 1720. But, 

 however early, or in whatever form, the Chinese may be 

 supposed to have employed artillery in warlike opera- 

 tions, it is certain that they were never in very general 

 use, and that they were at length entirely abandoned. 

 The missionaries, who entered China about the end of 

 the 16th century, agree, that they saw some bombards at 

 Nankin, but that the Chinese could not use them. In 

 the year 1621, when the Portuguese presented three 

 pieces of artillery to the emperor, it was found necessary 

 to send, at the same time, men who could load and fire 

 them, as there was not a Chinese who knew how to ma- 

 nage them. After being tried at Pekin, these pieces 

 were sent to the frontiers to be placed upon the great 

 wall ; and arc said to have been found so serviceable 

 against the Tartars, that, by the advice of the military 

 mandarins, and the assistance of the Jesuit missionaries, 

 Schaal and Verbiest, a considerable number were cast for 

 the army ; but, notwithstanding all the exertions of these 

 learned men to instruct them in the art, they have made 

 little progress, either in casting or using great guns. 

 The only cannon, which the gentlemen of the British 

 embassy observed in the whole of their progress, were a 

 few ill-formed and disproportionate pieces, near one of 

 the gates of Pckin, lying unmounted upon the ground ; 

 a few, of the same description, on the frontiers of the 

 province of Canton ; and a small number, apparently 12 

 pounders, at Hang-tcheoo-foo, with a wooden pent-house 

 over each. M. l3e Guignes observes, that, except at 

 the last mentioned town, none of the cannon which he 

 law were placed upon carriages, but upon blocks of 

 tone; that those, on the frontiers of Canton, had the 

 touch-hole of a very large site ; and that the balls were 

 made of dried and hardened earth. The Chinese are 

 aid to be extremely awkward and timid in the use of 

 the few pieces, which they do possess. In making sa- 

 . they employ three small petards, like pistol barrels, 

 which are stuck erect in the ground, and the soldiers are 

 o afraid in setting fire to these thundercrs, that they 

 discharge them by means of a train laid from one to the 

 other. Vet tiny affect, we are told, the utmost superi- 



ority over other nation ', even in this branch of the mili- 

 tary art ; and, when Captain Parish caused a few rounds > ""^~"" 

 to be fired, as quickly as possible, from the two field- 

 pieces which the British embassy carried as presents to 

 the emperor, the Chinese officers coolly observed, that 

 their own soldiers could do it just as well, and perhaps 

 better. When Lord Macartney, also, asked the ex 

 roy of Canton, if he would wish to see his guard per- 

 form the different European evolutions, he replied with 

 great indifference, that such things could not be new 

 to him, who had been o much engaged in the wars 

 of Tartary, though there was reason to suspect, as Mr 

 Barrow remarks, in relating the circumstance, that 

 the gentleman had never before s<-en a firelock. 



There are a number of military fortresses, or places Fortifies- 

 of arms, in different parts of the country, especially tiuo*. 

 upon heights, in small islands, or at the confluence of 

 rivers. These are furnished with cannon placed upon 

 masses of stone, not on the top of the wall, but near to 

 the ground, in embrasures shut up with wooden doors, 

 on which are painted the figure of a tiger. The man- 

 darins occasionally visit these forts, when a general sa- 

 lute is fired. The military places exactly resemble for- 

 tified cities ; and the other forts or walls, constructed 

 on mountains and dangerous situations, are of use only 

 as a check upon robbers. The Chinese cities arc all 

 fortified ; but their defences consist simply of ramparts, 

 which are generally plain walls, but sometimes are flank- 

 ed with square towers and surrounded with ditches. 

 These defences are sometimes drawn in a circular, and 

 sometimes in a square form ; and are constructed of the 

 earth thrown out of the ditch, lined with stone or 

 bricks; but, in the latter case, there is always a few- 

 rows of stones as a foundation for the bricks. They are 

 built in a form sloping towards the summit, but the 

 slope is greater within than without. On the side to- 

 wards the town, the bricks recede at every row; but, on 

 the outside, the contraction is more gradual, and the 

 bricks are placed without any apparent jutting out of 

 the lower ranges. These walls are always higher than 

 the houses, and are generally from '25 to 30 feet in 

 height, and from 20 to 25 in thickness at the founda- 

 tion, and from 10 to 12 at the top. The ascent is by a 

 kind of flight of steps, or rather a gently rising road, so 

 as that the mandarins can ride on horseback to the sum- 

 mit. The Chinese make little use of artillery in the de- 

 fence of their towns or forts ; and it has been observed 

 that their walls could not sustain the shock, but would 

 tumble down after a few discharges. Neither could 

 they resist the effects of a bombardment for any length 

 of time ; and a moderately sized frigate would be suf- 

 ficient to level the strongest fortresses on the river of 

 Canton. The point, upon which the Chinese bestow 

 the greatest attention in their fortifications, is the gate, 

 of which there have been observed three different forms 

 of construction, the single, the double, and the triple 

 gate. In the tingle gate the entrance is strait, opening 

 directly through the principal wall. In the double 'gate, 

 the entrance is the same as in the single ; but there is, 

 in the front, a large earthen mound, surrounded by a 

 wall in the form of a semicircle, and in which there is 

 another opening, sometimes in a line with that in the 

 main wall, and sometimes on one side. The space, or 

 area, between these gates, is used for assembling the 

 guard, and is commonly provided with a few small can- 

 non, laid flat on masses of stone. The triple gate is 

 rery rare, and the only one observed by M. De Guignc* 

 was in Ki;i-tchcoo, a city of Shang-tong. In its con- 

 struction and appearance, it exactly resembles the double 



