entire possession of the heart of this poor Prince that it had stopped all passages to relief And it waâ—â— requisite for him to retain all his Spirits lest he should expire under the weight of his Afflictions Zunchin was a young Prince endowed with all the qualities that might render him amiable to his people His Royal Spouse the Empress loved him with so tender an affection that to testifie the sincerity of her passion to him she resolved to die either with or before 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 invoking the Emperour the other the Tyrant It was like so many Stabs to his very heart as oft as he heard himself who was descended from sixteen Emperours his Ancestors and Progenitors brought in competition with an infamous Villain These Disgraces pierced the deeper the more he perceived his own party to decline that of the Usurper to be exalted to the very Heavens The Stars of which unfortunate Zunchin execrated that they were so propitious to a perfidious Varlet who so little merited the Fate of a Soveraign And being by his direful Calamaties driven to this Despair and Fury he poured out more bitter Imprecations against those cruel and fatal Stars which presided at his disasterous Birth This Prince being very pensive and solicitous how to prevent greater Disgraces yet went together with those who accompanied him towards a little Grove at the Entrance of which he stopp'd and then the Empress guessing 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 Humane 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 desiring 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 Emperour not being able to express the passion of her Soul otherwise than with her Eyes for all Commerce and Communication 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 senseless 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 signifies 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 desired a little to refresh and revive his Spirits which were sunk and oppressed 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 following 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 â—â—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 inheritance 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 â—â—o the basest and vilest of my Subjects I have not the Confidence to appear before them who being born Subjeâ—â—ts are become my Enemies and Traytors 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 hanged 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 Souldiers 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 terrible 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 according 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 Grandfather Vanliè ruled over China near fifty 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 direful 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 Curiosity 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 Monarchs 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 succeeded him but he only reigned some Moneths Thaicam had for his Successor his eldest Son Thienchi this Thienchi was succeeded by his Brother Zunchin 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 Soveraign 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 Monarchy in a few years hath had many Kings but this doth not add to the felicity 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 Government happy Therefore those Nations ought to bless the King of Heaven whom he blesses in blâ—â—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 overthrow and revolution of this great Monarchy did not happen on such a sudden as it appeared For several years before the Symptomes of a mortal Distemper manifested themselves in the Body Politick of this State and the dangerous Illness thereof was sufficiciently 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 thinâ—â— but to behold the inevitable ruine and destruction thereof The least Aches if neglected often prove mortal 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 incurable Illness but by an Illness to which due and timely Remedies were not applied and it will always be to be feared that that State which is governed with such a supine remissness will often be in danger to fall under the like calamities 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 abandoned their Resolution And now the Usurpers who were the more animated meeting with no opposition pursued their Victory which they secuâ—â—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 Treasures 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 Mandorins to give in their Names and Qualities that in his new Goverâ—â—ment he might bestow amongst them such Employments 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 eminent 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 Officers of the Court who attended on the Emperour and the Empress into the Garden though there be no certain information of their death yet probably 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 required 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 Orders delivered in their Names perswading themselves that by this ready Obedience they should make themselves very considerable in this new upstart Court But they found themselves much frustrated in their expectations for so far were they from being thereby the more considered by the Usurper that on the contrary assoon as he had received their Names and Qualities resolving to take an advantage of their base unworthiness he condemned them in the payment of several great Sums of Money in proportion to the Estates and Offices every one of them were posâ—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 condemned to Death and no day passed in which some or other of these wretched persons did not by cruel Torments lose their Lives Nor did the Tyrant stay here but published new Declarations that those pretended Debts Fines and Taxes which the Fathers had refused to pay were payable by the
very proper to gain the affections of the people they continued all the Mandorins in their places onely some of them they advanced 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 permit the Chineses to be the dispensers of Justice to the people or to have the power of punishing them And without all doubt they deserâ—â—edly merited to be thus chastised for having formerly made such ill use of their Authority For it was visible that the state and Empire of China were brought to ruine onely by this that the interpretation of the Law and the dispensation of Justice was confided or rather abandoned to the Eunuchs who were both corrupt and neither qualified nor capacitated for their employments As for the military charges the Tartars 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 always set over them some General or other considerable Officer of the Tartars 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 Tartars published whereby they enjoyned them to cloth themselves after the Tartarean fashion and to cut off their hair which the Chineses love most passionately 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 pretending that conformity in habit would infallibly produce a greater correspondence and conformity in the affections 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 supportable And whereas the Empire of China contains several spacious Countreys which could not all be conquered at once they saw no way how to avoid several inconveniences which would otherwise happen but by making 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 enjoyning them to wear a bigger tuft of hair on the top of their heads just as in Europe they do to their Gally-slaves to distinguish such who are Christians from such who are not Nothing so cut the Chineses to the heart as this did and they could not possibly 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 exception 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 peril 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 Authority over his new Subjects had disposed of all Offices in the State and settled strong Garrisons in all parts of the six Northern Provinces being resolved not to stir from his Court at Pequin he remitted the conduct of his Armies to one of his Unkles with order 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 Army and marched directly towards the great City of Nanquin which City had been formerly the residency of the Imperial Court and was now the Metropolis 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 oppose 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 Zunchin in whose Court he had been educated 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 peâ—â—ceived from whence the Storm was to be feared for from the very time of his Coronation 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 suffered 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 Subjects he provided all
their first heat It was a very bold Attempt and might seem even presumptuous that this General should at the first enter into this Countrey where he knew they were best prepared to defend themselves But the consequence manifested that he had reason so to do The Cities and Strong places of this province did not of their own accord open 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 Notwithstanding all the diligent inquisition I have made I could never be particularly 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 certain it is he never quit his station nor delivered himself up into his Enemies hands whom he had offended so outragiously 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 importance remained to be done in that province but to possess themselves of the person of the King and this they did in a short time after and as the Relation saith presently put him to death yet by the following Narrative he seems to have defended himself a considerable time but as to this particularity it shall be cleared in its due place As for Icoan they thought it convenient 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 intoxicated with prosperities shall hereafter see the frailty and deceitfulness of Fortune But though Icoan was caâ—â—t down in his Fortune yet he was not dejected in his spirits his Chains and Imprisonment had not abated his fierceness and courage he seemed to shew a very great animosity against the Chineses 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 boldness as if he still had several Armies at his command to present himself to the Victor and to desire him to employ 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 fidelity 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 proffers of Icoan He had occasion for Ships Seamen to reduce the two other provinces 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 injurious 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 maintenance 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 acknowledge that however Treason may please it always makes the Traitors odious and on the contrary though Loyalty be never desired to be very eminent in Enemies yet it alwayes renders their persons the more estimable Icoan when he saw how vehemently 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 produced 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 Treason in having by his Authority opened Silver Mines and compelled by violence 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 having been taken out of the Mines in China without the Emperour's permission 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 Naâ—â—gasaque partly 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 accusations there was produced against him a great number of Informations and Complaints of several Grievances with which he had oppressed the provinces 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 impeded their presentment to the Emperour These Traitors were so impudent as to produce before the Tartar those very Papers which evidenced their having sold themselves to Icoan and because they sold their perfidiousness at so dear a Rate that thereby they obliged him to grate and pole the provinces 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 Loyal they were likely to be to a Forreign Prince who had so often betrayed their lawful
slow resolutions haâ—â—e only served to expose them to the derision 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 Assault 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 very Necks in water Now the Chineses had the satisfaction to deride the Tartars These invincible Victors say they are now dâ—â—feated and forced to run away to their Ships The Conquerors 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 himself quickly he was forced to take it patiently now but he lost no time for assoon as he had reproved his Souldiers for running away so cowardly he encouraged and animated them that they would with all possible expedition wipe off this dishonour to their Nation He Landed again and at the the very instant gave order to his Gunners to take such care in traversing their Guns that they might answer his expectation His Orders were executed with the success he desired for the Cannons were pointed with that exactness that in a short time they dismounted several pieces of the besieged's Artillery and they fired incessantly till they disenabled all the rest Now the Corsairs began to sink in their Courage and this made the General take heart and hope well But yâ—â—t he wished they would come to some composition for having experienced the besieged to be both valiant and skilful Souldiers he did not desire to drive them into a desperate condition The Pyrates who had now almost spent their Powder did as earnestly 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 other 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 remained in Tunquam Women Old men and Children and such persons who were unfit for War The Tartar expected the next Morning 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 Discretion 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 after 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 Neighbouring Towns and Villages which he sacked and pillaged He committed such horrible Cruelties that thereby 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 Souldiers which marched into it did most treacherously violate the parole which had been given them They began to injure and abuse the poor Countreymen 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 entirely subdue the poor Countreymen but they had made their escape to a place where they could receive but little dammage The Souldiers dispersed 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 Therefore 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 Affairs upon the Cruelty of his Colleague The Corsairs still perplex the Tartars The Chineses improve themselves in the Art of War Thâ—â— Northern Chineses are of a different Genius from the Southern THE Viceroy in Civil Affairs who knew what horrible Mischief thâ—â— Souldiers did was as much concern'd at it as the Chineses but it was not in his power to remedy it He saw plainly that these violent actions did not do so much hurt to the Chinesâ—â—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 firsâ—â— 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 desolation of that Empire for the Tartarian General was called Ly and the chief of the Corsairs Cham The Rebel Cham therefore said the Viceroy commands the Army of the Robbers by Sea and the General Ly the â—â—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 endeavour to justly acquit mâ—â— self in that Office in which the Emperour my Master is pleas'd I should serve him I will serve him faithfully â—â—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
any thing or nothing he was not a man to make any of his Countrey-men lose their Livâ—â—s by the hands of their enemies That the resolution of those of the same Countrey 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 very plaisant to the Tartars who were not accustomed to receive such Language from the Chinâ—â—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 Scoffâ—â—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 advancing so far They put him again to the Torture which was extraordinary cruel He endured it with the same Constancy without changing his Opinion 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 torments they could afflict him with Amidst his greatest torturâ—â—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 bâ—â— content not only to die once but often if he had as many Lives as he would willâ—â—ngly lay down for the Service of his Prince and Countrey 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 threatning to kill them before his face unless 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 lawfully 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 â—â—â—â—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 diâ—â— I intreat you Either do you kill him or give me liberty to do it I shall die content 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 Oppressions under which she now groans But this Father could neither kill his Son himself nor prevail with his Executioners 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 himself but not enough to endure to see his Son die on the contrary he sent him to Câ—â—sar with this Recommendation to the Tyrant That as for himself hâ—â— had made choice of death because he could not prevail with himself to live under a Tyrant after he had so long lived in a frèe Commonwealth As for his Son â—â—e was young and might in time accustome himself to Slavery and therefore he recommended him to Caesar desiring him to receive him into his Protection But this Chinese Captain instead of enslaving his Son and recommending 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 thaâ—â— 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 iâ—â— 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 appear that they offered any further violence and the next day they put him to death This was much magnified amongst the Chineses Gallant and Heroick Actions are approved 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 tâ—â—at he was a Commander under the King Guequan who was retreated into the Mountains and had sent several persons throughout all the Cities of China to animate the people to declare against the common Enemy for Liberty And this Captain was then imploy'd upon this account and gave out that Guequan the Lawful Successor of
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 Neighbouring Prince and have made him abate something of his haughty fierceness especially if Pelipaouan the Conqueror of China should have appeared at the head of those who would have served under him in the Conquest of Iapan We cannot tell what â—â—esolution the Emperour Xunchi may hereafter 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 Countrey where it is now so resisted See in the general how the Chineses were treated by their Neighbours after the loss of their Empire the greatest part of which contented themselves to deride them and to speak of their Nation with injurious terms and contempt The Iapanners only treated them with all the hardship and fierceness 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 enacted for the Government of that State they spoke of them in terms which manifested 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 regarded 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 renowned City which was at the same time abandoned to the Fury of the Fire and the Roman-Souldiers its irreconcileable Enemies He heaâ—â—d the joyful Acclamations of the Conquerers and the doleful Groans of the Conquered which through the Flames which surrounded them pierced the very Heavens 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 Souldiers 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 dreadful 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 noâ—â— said he shed Tears out of any Tenderness or Compassion for Carthage 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 Carthage 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 Rebels 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 bewail 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 favourable a Destiny I cry therefore for the afflictions and calamities which will fall upon Rome and I see them most evidently 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 recollect 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 Fortune 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 Bushel-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 permanent 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 Ostentation 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 Pillage of Rome which happened in his time Carthage saith he was once ruined but Rome several times The Enemies of Rome have several times entred victoriously into the principal City of the whole world And it once happened that a little small Creature was the occasion of the Loss of Rome which gave occasion 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 consider the Revolutions of States He that would reflect with himself that those Calamities which he sees to happen to others might likewise fall upon himself might hereby