guns, but had only 36 mounted, most of them 12 pounders, and 17 of them
brass: she had, besides, 28 peteraroes, in her gunwale, quarters, and
tops, carrying each a 4 lb. ball; and, before the engagement, she
mustered 640 men capable of bearing arms, officers and passengers
included. She was, besides, well furnished with small arms, and was
particularly provided against boarding, both by her close quarters, and
by a strong network of two-inch rope laced over her waste, and fortified
with half-pikes placed in the manner of cheveaux de frize; but,
notwithstanding all her defences, she had 64 men killed, and 84 wounded,
whilst the Centurion had only two men killed, and a Lieutenant and 16
men wounded, all of whom recovered, one man only excepted.
And how the Commodore learnt from some of the prisoners, that the other
ship, which he had kept in the port of Acapulco the year before, instead
of returning in company with this, as was expected, had sailed earlier
in the season than usual, and was probably got into Manilla before the
Centurion set sail from Mocao; so that, notwithstanding our present
success, we had reason to regret the loss of time occasioned by the
delays of the Chinese, which prevented our taking two rich prizes
instead of one; though, to say the truth, it would not have been an easy
talk to dispose of the prisoners, which, even as it fell out, was a
matter that gave the Commodore no small disquietude; for they were above
double the number of our own people; and some of them observed, when
they were brought aboard, how slenderly we were manned; and the General
himself could not help expressing his indignation to be thus beaten by a
handful of boys. It was therefore necessary for our own preservation to
prevent their rising; and that could not be securely effected without
exercising a degree of severity which in any other circumstances could
not have been justified on the principles of humanity; for there was no
method practicable but that of stowing the men in the holds of the two
ships; and as for the officers, 17 in number, they were confined in the
First Lieutenant’s cabbin, under a guard of six men, first depriving
them of their arms, and then keeping a strict watch on all their
motions. Indeed, the sufferings of the common men, such of them in
particular who were not employed in navigating the ship, were much to be
pitied; for, the weather being extremely hot, the stench of the holds
loathsome beyond conception, and their allowance of water but just
sufficient to keep them alive, being only a pint a day for each man, it
was next to a miracle that not a man of them died during their
confinement, except five of the wounded, who expired the very night they
were brought aboard the Centurion. Thus circumstanced, the motives of
humanity, as well as interest, strongly urged the Commodore to hasten
his return to China; and the prize being much damaged, both in her hull
and rigging, it was found necessary to take her in tow for the quicker
dispatch.
On the 21st of June it blew a storm, which continued till the 25th, when
the sea ran mountains high: in this storm the Centurion lost her
long-boat, and the prize a launch.
On the 2d of July we passed between the Bashee Islands, though the
rippling of the sea seemed to indicate breakers or rocky ground; but the
wind being so far to the northward as to render it difficult to weather
them, we risqued the danger to shorten the voyage. On the 8th of July we
made the coast of China, and on she 11th came to an anchor off the city
of Mocao; from thence we proceeded to the river of Canton, where we met
with the usual obstructions from the custom-house officers, and where
the Commodore was again obliged, as it were, resolutely to force his way
to his intended station. The officer who came to take the dimensions of
his ships, in the usual manner, seemed astonished when he talked of
being exempted from the accustomed rates, and gave him to understand
that the Emperor’s duty must be paid by every ship that came into his
ports; and the pilot had private instructions not to carry the ships
through the Bocca Tygris, or narrow pass that forms the entrance into
the river of Canton, till security was given for the accustomed charges.
And here it may be necessary just to mention, that this pass, not more
than a quarter of a mile in breadth, is defended by two forts on the
opposite sides; but these the Commodore disregarding, and being
determined to enter the river without delay, as the stormy season was
approaching, he caused the pilot to be brought before him, and in a
determined tone threatened to hang him to the yard-arm, if he did not
instantly take charge of the ship, and carry her safe, without striking
ground, through the Bocca Tygris into the open river. The poor pilot
performed his office, but did not escape punishment for what he could
not help. He was instantly seized on being released from the Centurion,
committed to prison, and rigorously disciplined with the bamboo.
However, he found means to get access to the Commodore afterwards, to
supplicate a recompence, who, ever ready to reward the sufferers in his
service, gave him such a sum as more than contented him for his
whipping. Nor was the poor pilot the only sufferer; for the Governors of
the forts were both displaced for not preventing what it was in vain for
them to attempt to oppose, and for not doing what all the council must
know was impossible to be done.
On the 16th, the Commodore sent his Second Lieutenant to Canton, with a
letter to the Viceroy, assigning his reasons for putting into that port,
demanding a licence for purchasing provisions and stores, and intimating
an intention of waiting upon his Excellency in person to make his
acknowledgements. The Lieutenant was civilly received, and promised an
answer the next day. In the mean time, the principal officers of the
prize desired permission to go to Canton on their parole, which was
readily granted. These no sooner arrived, than they were called before
the magistracy, and examined; when they generously and frankly
acknowledged, that they fell into the hands of the Commodore by the
chance of war, and that though they were prisoners, they were
notwithstanding at liberty to treat for their release; they said
farther, that it was not the custom among European nations to put
prisoners to death; but that the laws of war authorized much severer
treatment than they had hitherto met with from their conquerors. This
confession from an enemy had great weight with the Chinese, who, till
then, though they had revered the Commodore’s naval force, had yet
suspected his morals, and had considered him rather as a lawless
free-booter, than as one commissioned by the state for the revenge of
public injuries.
On the 20th of July, three Mandarines with their retinue came on board,
and brought the Viceroy’s permit for a daily supply of provisions, and
for pilots to carry the ships up the river as high as the second bar;
and, at the same time, they delivered a message from the Viceroy, in
answer to that part of the Commodore’s letter which related to his
visiting his Excellency; the substance of which message was, that the
Viceroy wished the Commodore to defer his visit till the hot season was
over, but that, in September, when the weather would be more temperate,
he should be glad to receive him. This the Commodore looked upon as a
finesse, knowing an express was sent up to the Emperor’s court at
Peking; whence the real motive for putting off the visit seemed to be to
gain time to receive the Emperor’s instructions concerning the ceremony
to be observed at his reception. The Mandarines, having dispatched this
part of their commission, next entered upon the business of the port
charges; whereupon the Commodore at once cut them short, by telling
them, that, as he did not come to trade, he was not to be treated upon
the same footing with trading ships; that his Britannic Majesty’s ships
never paid customs in the ports of Europe, nor ever would be subject to
any pecuniary imposts in any other port whatever. Finding nothing to be
gained on this head, they told the Commodore, that they had still
another matter in charge, and that was the release of the prisoners
taken on board the galleon; for that the Emperor would never permit the
subjects of princes with whom he was in alliance to be held in bondage
in his dominions, nor could the Viceroy answer it to his Sovereign if he
suffered it; and that, therefore, his Excellency hoped that the
Commodore would give immediate orders for their release.
Though nothing could be more agreeable to the Commodore, who wanted much
to be rid of the incumbrance, than this requisition, yet, to inhance the
favour, he at first raised difficulties; but at length suffered himself
to be prevailed upon by their intreaties, and concluded, by assuring
them, that, to shew his readiness to oblige, he would deliver up the
prisoners whenever the Viceroy would please to order boats to fetch
them. Matters being thus adjusted, the Mandarines departed: and, in a
few days, two Chinese junks were sent from Canton to carry them to
Mocao, under the direction of one Captain Fial, Commander of a Spanish
merchant-man, to whose ship we gave chace in our passage from the Bashee
Islands to Mocao, but lost sight of her in the night.
To this gentleman the General of the galleon, and all his officers,
except one who accompanied us to England, were delivered up. And now I
have occasion to mention the General, I cannot help relating an affair
which gave us on board the prize a great deal of concern, and
sufficiently shewed the meanness of his spirit, and his beggarly craft.
I have already taken notice of his being wounded in the engagement, and
of his being indulged with the use of his own cabbin till he was fit to
be removed. The Commodore, over and above this indulgence, sent him a
surgeon from his own ship, upon a complaint that the Spanish surgeon on
board the galleon was quite ignorant in his profession; but at the same
time he sent an officer to demand his commission. Pretending to the
officer that he was unable to move, he referred him to a small box in a
locker of his private cabbin, in which, he said, it was, and likewise a
sword-belt set with diamonds of great value, his own property; but, upon
search, neither the commission nor the belt could be found: and, as some
of our people had been rummaging both that and other parts of the ship,
he protested, that, if they could not be there found, they must have
been taken away and concealed. Under colour of this concealment, though
he never produced his commission, he all along received the most humane
and gentlemanlike treatment that the most worthy officer could desire or
expect; and such was continued till his departure, when neither his
chests, of which he had two very large ones, nor any of his trunks or
cases were suffered to be searched: but every thing which he claimed as
his personal effects were delivered to him with the greatest care and
punctuality though, as I was afterwards informed, he had many valuable
ventures concealed, which ought to have been delivered up as prize to
the captors; but, as that was never examined into, he carried them off
with the rest, and, it was supposed, was not the least among the gainers
by the capture of his ship. He persisted, however, to the last in the
loss of his commission and belt, and, though there were none on board on
whom he could charge the theft, yet the Commodore sufficiently expressed
his displeasure against the whole by the prohibition he laid upon us, as
soon as the prize came to an anchor in the river, by which all
communication was cut off between us and the country people, and no boat
suffered to come near us but our own; by which severe order we were
entirely debarred from purchasing our own provisions and necessaries
from the Chinese, which the people in the Centurion were at full liberty
to do; neither could we employ the Chinese tradesmen to supply us with
apparel, of which we stood greatly in need, though in that too the
Centurion’s people were indulged: and all this for no other reason, that
was ever assigned, but that, if the jewels the General had lost were
concealed, the Commodore was determined the secreter should have no
opportunity of disposing of them without being discovered. Had this
precaution been taken, as it ought, for the satisfaction of those who
suffered under the severity of the censure, and had the effects of the
Spanish General been properly inspected, the secreter would have been
publickly exposed; for, when we afterwards fell down to Mocao with the
ships, where we sold the prize, I was myself told by an Irish priest,
that the General had both his commission and his belt; that he made no
secret of the matter at Mocao; and that he had offered the jewels (being
only made up by way of blind) among the merchants for sale.
But to return: during our stay in the river Canton, our people were
employed in repairing the Centurion, over-hauling her sails and rigging,
cleansing and ventilating her decks and quarters below, and in paying
and decorating her hull; insomuch, that when she came to sail, she had
more the appearance of a ship newly fitted out, than one that had been a
three-years voyage in traversing the globe. While these things were
doing on board the Centurion, we in the prize were busied in rummaging
for treasure, till about the latter end of August, when we made a full
end of our search, and found, upon account of the captors, in specie,
1,278,546 dollars, and 1,324 of wrought plate and virgin silver. The
jewels we found were not then valued.
At the same time that the inferior officers and seamen were employed in
these different services, the Commodore had a still more important
business in hand. He knew it was impossible for us to proceed to Europe
without an ample supply of provisions and other sea stores; and, though
we were furnished with a daily allowance, yet no order had been obtained
for victualling us for our intended voyage. Application had indeed been
made, and terms agreed upon with the contractors to furnish whatever was
necessary; and they had undertaken to procure the Viceroy’s permission
for the delivery but when, about the middle of September, the proper
officer was sent to enquire what forwardness these things were in, he
found that neither the baker had begun to bake the bread, nor the
butcher to kill the oxen, nor was the least step taken to comply with
any one article of the agreement. We could no otherwise account for this
faithless procedure of the Chinese, than by supposing they meant to
starve us into a compliance with their accustomed demands for port
charges, with which the Commodore was determined never to acquiesce.
Indeed, it was suspected, that the contractors themselves had some
interest in promoting the delay, though it was not easy to penetrate the
views by which they were influenced, as it may with truth be asserted,
that in artifice, falshood, and attachment to all kinds of lucre, the
Chinese, as a nation, are not to be paralleled by any other people under
the sun. It were endless to recount all the artifices, extortions, and
frauds, which were practised on the Commodore and his people by this
interested race. The method of buying provisions in China being by
weight, the tricks made use of to make them heavy are almost incredible.
At one time a number of fowls and ducks being bought for the ship’s
store, the greatest part of them presently died, which spread a general
alarm on board lest they, should have died of poison; but, on
examination, it was discovered that they had been crammed with small
stones and gravel to increase their weight. The hogs, too, bought of the
Chinese butchers ready killed, were found to have had water injected
into the carcases for the same purpose; and when, to avoid this cheat,
the hogs were bought alive, it was found that salt had been given them
to increase their thirst, that methods had been used to suppress their
urine, and that the tortured animals had been sold in that inflated
state. Mr. Walter adds--[for it is on his authority that these instances
are reported]--that, as the Chinese never scruple to eat the animals
that die of themselves, they contrived, by their secret practices, when
the Commodore put to sea, that part of his live sea-store should die in
a short time after it was put on board: in order, therefore, to make a
second profit of the dead carcases which they expected would be thrown
over-board, they followed in boats to pick up the carrion; and,
accordingly, two thirds of the hogs dying before they were out of sight
of land, their labour could not be in vain.
The treachery of the contractors being now discovered, the Commodore
determined to renew his former requisition for an audience with the
Viceroy. With this view, he notified his intention to the proper
Mandarine, and desired that he would fix the time with the Viceroy when
he would be pleased to receive him at the same time giving him to
understand, that, on the first of October, he intended to proceed in his
boat to Canton. The Mandarine returned for answer, that he would
acquaint the Viceroy with the Commodore’s intentions. As it was
apprehended, that the payment of the customary duties would be demanded
at this interview, the Commodore took the necessary precautions to
prevent the Chinese from facilitating the success of their pretensions
by having him in their power at Canton, and, therefore, gave the command
of the Centurion to his First Lieut. Mr. Brett (now Sir Piercy), with
orders, if he should be detained, to lie at the mouth of the river, and
suffer no ship or boat to pass or repass till he was released, by which
the whole navigation of the river would be immediately obstructed.
This being known to the Chinese, they were now more than ever
embarrassed in their deliberations. The morning of the 1st of October
arrived, and just as the boats crew, eighteen in number, which the
Commodore proposed to take with him, appeared in their uniform, namely,
scarlet jackets and blue silk waistcoats, the whole trimmed with silver,
with silver badges on their jackets and caps, his linguist came to him
from the Mandarine, to tell him, that a letter had been received from
the Viceroy, desiring the Commodore to defer his intended purpose for
two or three days, which not being doubted, the men were ordered to be
undrest, and the preparations were all laid aside; but, in the afternoon
of the same day, another linguist came on board, seemingly in a great
panic, informing him, that the Viceroy had expected him up that day;
that the council was assembled, and the troops under arms to receive
him; and that the Viceroy was highly incensed at the disappointment, and
had sent the Commodore’s linguist to prison, chained, supposing him to
be the sole cause of the contempt. This plausible tale gave the
Commodore great uneasiness, not at that time suspecting any imposition;
and though it afterwards appeared to be all a mere farce, yet the
falshood was so well supported by the artifices of the Chinese
merchants, that three days afterwards the Commodore received a letter,
signed by all the Supercargoes of the English ships then at the place,
expressing their uneasiness at what had happened, and intimating their
fears that some insult would be offered to his boat, if he attempted to
come to Canton before the Viceroy was fully satisfied of the mistake. To
this letter the Commodore replied, that he did not believe there had
been a mistake, but was persuaded it was a forgery of the Chinese to
prevent his visiting the Viceroy; that, therefore, he would certainly
come up to Canton on the 13th of October, confident that the Chinese
would not dare to offer him any insult, as well knowing he should want
neither power nor inclination to make them a proper return.
On the 13th of October, the Commodore continuing firm to his
resolutions, all the Supercargoes of the English, Danish, and Swedish
ships, came on board the Centurion, to accompany him to Canton, for
which place he set out in his barge the same day, attended by his own
boats, and by those of the trading ships, which on this occasion were
sent to augment his retinue. As he passed by Wampo where the European
vessels lay, he was saluted by all of them except the French, and in the
evening he arrived safely at Canton.
The Chinese merchants, who affected to appear very much pleased that he
had met with no opposition in his way, pretended that the Viceroy was
then so fully employed in preparing his dispatches for Peking, that
there was no getting admittance to him; but that they had engaged one of
the officers of his court, as soon as he was at leisure, to notify the
Commodore’s arrival, and endeavour to fix the audience. Though the
Commodore knew this to be a falsehood, yet he suffered himself to be
persuaded by the European Supercargoes not to appear to doubt it,
provided the Chinese merchants would undertake that his bread should be
baked, his meat salted, and his stores in readiness, within the space of
40 days; after which time, if the least article was pretended to be
forgotten, he would force his way to the Viceroy, and prefer his
complaint. During the interval, while the contractors were endeavouring
in earnest to fulfil the terms of the agreement on their part, (which by
the way they insisted should be paid for in advance on his), a fire
broke out in the suburbs of Canton, which on the first alarm might
easily have been extinguished, by pulling down some of the adjoining
sheds; which the Commodore with his officers and crew observing, were
instantly about to carry into execution but they were told, that
whatever they pulled down they must build up again at their own expence,
and that none but a Mandarine must presume to direct upon such
occasions. The Commodore, on this admonition, dispatched his people to
the English factory to assist them in securing their effects, as it was
easy to foresee that no distance was safe from fire, where the
common-people contented themselves with gazing at it, and now-and-then
holding up an idol or two to extinguish it. At length, however, a
Mandarine came out of the city, with 4 or 500 firemen, who made some
very feeble efforts to pull down the neighbouring houses; but by this
time the fire had extended itself, and had spread among the merchants
warehouses, where the Chinese firemen had neither spirit nor skill to
encounter it; so that it was feared the whole city would have been laid
in ashes. In this emergency, the Viceroy vouchsafed to make his
appearance, and a message was sent to the Commodore requesting his
assistance. Accordingly, he hastened a second time, with about 40 of his
people, to the place where the fire raged with the most violence, and in
sight of the whole city performed such daring, and, to the people who
beheld them, such astonishing feats, that they looked upon them as
salamanders, and cried out, that they could live in fire. In truth, it
was no uncommon thing to see the boldest and most active among them
tumble on the roofs amidst the ruins of the houses which their own
efforts had brought down under them. And thus, by their resolution and
agility, the fire was very soon subdued, to the astonishment of the
Chinese who were spectators of the wonders they performed. On this
occasion the Swedish was the only European factory that suffered; yet on
my arrival in England, to my no small diversion, I read in the Paris
Gazette, that the city of Canton had been almost wholly destroyed; and
that, in particular, the English, Dutch, Danish, and Portuguese
factories, had been burnt down, and almost all their effects consumed;
but that the French factory had providentially escaped, their goods
being all shipped before the conflagration reached the quarter allotted
for their residence.