Various - History of the Pirates Who Infested the China Sea From 1807 to 1810

The merchants and adventurers who came to China "to make money" found both the government and people widely different from descriptions given by the Jesuits. They found that the Chinese officers of government, commonly called Mandarins, would think themselves defiled by the least intercourse with foreigners, particularly merchants; and that the laws are often interpreted quite differently before and after receiving bribes. The Europeans were proud of their civilization and cleverness in mercantile transactions, and considered the inhabitants of all the other parts of the world as barbarians; but they found, to their astonishment and disappointment, the Chinese still more proud and cunning. We may easily presume that these deluded merchants became very irritated, and in their anger they reported to their countrymen in Europe that the Chinese were the most treacherous and abandoned people in the world, 5 5 Toreen's Voyage behind Osbeck, II. 239, English translation. that "they were only a peculiar race of savages," and required to be chastised in one way or another; which would certainly be very easy. Commodore Anson, with a single weather-beaten sixty-gun ship, in fact, set the whole power of the Chinese Government at defiance.

The Translator of the History of the Pirates ventures to affirm, that the Chinese system of government is by far the best that ever existed in Asia; not excepting any of the different monarchies founded by the followers of Alexander, the government of the Roman Prætors and of Byzantine Dukes, or that of Christian Kings and Barons who reigned in various parts of the East during the middle ages. The principles of Chinese government are those of virtue and justice; but they are greatly corrupted by the passions and vices of men. The greater part of their laws are good and just, though the practice is often bad; but unfortunately this is generally not known to the "Son of Heaven." It is the interest of the Emperor to deal out justice to the lowest of his subjects; but, supposing it were possible that one man could manage the government of such an immense empire, who either could or would dare to denounce every vicious or unjust act of the officers employed by government? The Chinese themselves are a clever shrewd sort of people; deceit and falsehood are, perhaps, more generally found in the "flowery empire" than any where else; but take them all in all, they rank high in the scale of nations, and the generality of the people seem to be quite satisfied with their government; they may wish for a change of masters, but certainly not for an entire change of the system of government.

There has existed for a long period, and still exists, a powerful party in the Chinese Empire, which is against the dominion of the Manchow; the different mountainous tribes maintain, even now, in the interior of China, a certain independence of the Tay tsing dynasty. The Meao tsze, who were in Canton some years ago, stated, with a proud feeling, that they were Ming jin , people of Ming; the title of the native sovereigns of China before the conquest of the Manchow. It is said, that the whole disaffected party is united in a society – generally called the Triade-Union – and that they aimed at the overthrow of the Tatars, particularly under the weak government of the late Emperor; but the rebels totally failed in their object both by sea and land.

It has been falsely reported in Europe, that it is not allowed by the laws of China to publish the transactions of the reigning dynasty. It is true that the history written by the official or imperial historians is not published; but there is no statute which prohibits other persons from writing the occurrences of their times. It may be easily imagined that such authors will take especial care not to state any thing which may be offensive to persons in power. There is, however, no official court in China to regulate the course of the human understanding, there is nothing like that tribunal which in the greater part of the Continent of Europe is called the Censorship . Fear alone is quite sufficient to check the rising spirits of the liberals in the middle empire. The reader, therefore, should not expect that either the author of the "History of the Rebellions in the Interior of China," or the writer of the "Pacification of the Pirates," would presume to state that persons whom government is pleased to style robbers and pirates, are in reality enemies of the present dynasty; neither would they state that government, not being able to quell these rebellions, are compelled to give large recompenses to the different chiefs who submit. These facts are scarcely hinted at in the Chinese histories. The government officers are usually delineated as the most excellent men in the world. When they run away, they know before-hand that fighting will avail nothing; and when they pardon, they are not said to be compelled by necessity, but it is described as an act of heavenly virtue! From what we learn by the statements of a Chinese executioner, we should be led to form a bad opinion of the veracity of these historians, and the heavenly virtue of their government; for it is said, that one Chinese executioner beheaded a thousand pirates in one year. 6 6 The Canton Register, 1829, No. 20.

The author of the following work is a certain Yung lun yuen , called Jang sëen , 7 7 Jang sëen is his Tsze, or title. The numbers which are to be found on the margin of the translation, refer to the pages of the Chinese printed text. a native of the city or market town Shun tih , eighty le southerly from Canton. The great number of proper names, of persons and places, to be found in the " History of the Pacification of the Pirates ," together with the nicknames and thieves' slang employed by the followers of Ching yĭh, presented peculiar difficulties in the translation of Yuen's publication. The work was published in November 1830 at Canton; and it is to be regretted, for the fame of the author in the Great Western Ocean , that he used provincial and abbreviated characters. I will not complain that by so doing he caused many difficulties to his translator, for a native of Shun tih would not trouble himself on that point; but I have reason to believe that the head schoolmaster of Kwang tung will think it an abomination that Yung lun yuen should dare take such liberties in a historical composition. Schoolmasters have a greater sway in China than any where else, and they like not to be trifled with. These are particularly the men, who, above all others, oppose any innovation or reform; scholars, who presume to know every thing between heaven and earth: and they may certainly satisfy every man, who will rest satisfied by mere words. These learned gentlemen are too much occupied with their own philosophical and literary disquisitions, to have any time, or to think it worth their notice, to pay attention to surrounding empires or nations. If we consider the scanty and foolish notices which are found in recent Chinese publications regarding those nations with which the Chinese should be well acquainted, we cannot but form a very low estimate of the present state of Chinese literature. How far otherwise are the accounts of foreign nations, which are to be found in the great work of Matuanlin! It will, perhaps, be interesting to the European reader to learn, what the Chinese know and report concerning the nations of Ta se yang , or the Great Western Ocean . I therefore take an opportunity here to give some extracts from a Chinese publication relative to European nations, printed last year at Canton.

The fifty-seventh book of the Memoirs concerning the South of the Mei ling Mountains , contains a history of all the Southern barbarians (or foreigners); and here are mentioned – with the Tanka people and other barbarous tribes of Kwang tung and Kwang se – the Siamese , the Mahometans , the French , Dutch , English , Portuguese , Austrians , Prussians , and Americans . The work was published by the command of Yuen, the ex-Governor-General of Canton, who is considered one of the principal living literary characters of China, and it consists chiefly of extracts from the voluminous history of the province Kwang tung, published by his Excellency: —