The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898. Volume 19 of 55. Unknown
provinces upon which the welfare of the Philipinas depends, I will now write what has happened this year. There have not been so many and various warlike occurrences as in former years, for it has been somewhat more peaceful here. I will relate briefly what has happened as occasion may require.
Of Great China
Although last year I gave an account of the war which the Chinese were carrying on with the Tartars, I will now return to this point, because we have received letters from our fathers in China. To begin with the earliest events, there was in the province of Teatum,4 one of the provinces of Great China adjoining Tartaria, a powerful eunuch who collected taxes in the name of the king, and who had some seventy servants in his following. They committed a thousand robberies and tyrannies among the people. The mandarins who governed that district reported this to the king. He ordered them to bring the eunuch in custody to Tiquin, where he is still in prison. The eunuch’s servants were hunted by the mandarins in order that they might be given the punishment they deserved for their crimes; but they, with many other Chinese, fled to the Tartars, whom they begged and persuaded to invade and destroy China, offering themselves to serve as guides. It was not difficult to induce the Tartars to do this, since for other reasons they were already angry with the Chinese. So they planned that these Chinese traitors and some Tartars should go with concealed weapons, and in the guise of friends, to a certain place. They went there, and one night suddenly seized their arms, killed the greater part of the soldiers, sacked the place, and, pretending to flee, withdrew with the spoils. They left a great number of people in ambush, in the woods. The Chinese viceroy of that district, learning of the affair, immediately sent a large body of soldiers who are always on duty there. The troops pursued the Tartars, but unexpectedly fell into the ambush and were completely routed. When the Tartars saw that they were victorious, they returned to the fort and destroyed it. When this was learned in Paquin the mandarins came together to discuss with the king some means of redress. As the king did not wish to see them he simply ordered that they should consult among themselves and then report everything to him. Now the Tartars sacked and destroyed some other smaller forts, as well as one very important stronghold called Sin Hon [i.e., Tsingho]. From this point they made their forays through the whole of that district, and sacked a large part of it.
The decision reached in the consultation by the mandarins was that the king should order all the noted captains who were not holding office, and who had retired to their homes, to come to the court; that a large number of soldiers should come from all the provinces to lend aid and to meet the demands of the occasion; and that the mandarins who were for various reasons at their homes should come to the court of Paquin. All this was soon carried out by the king’s order. He likewise commanded that heavy taxes should be gathered for supplying the soldiers; that a large number of horses should be collected; land that the tuton, or the viceroy of that district, should be imprisoned. He sent another viceroy in his place with extensive powers, even with authority to put to death the chief captains who, on account of their fear, were contemplating flight. He sent other mandarins of great executive ability and prudence to help the viceroy; and, in order to prevent excitement among the people, he ordered that the students [letrados]5 of the district should not come that year, as usual, to the court for examination and graduation as licentiates, but promised them their degrees for the following year. In addition to this, he ordered that the news from Leatum should not be divulged to the people. Although the gates of the city of Paquin and those of the royal palace had always had a strong guard of soldiers, he doubled the guard and closed the gates at sunset. And although, according to the custom of the Chinese, people could enter wearing spectacles and a mask, now, as a greater precaution, when one came through the gates of the city they made him show his face, in order that they might know whether he was a friend or not, and in order that enemies might not come into the city unperceived. All this has been brought about by their fear. The king likewise ordered that four hundred thousand soldiers should be stationed at different places and posts of the province of Leatum to impede the passage of the Tartars. The Corias, who were subject to China, sent the king seven hundred horses as a present, and ten thousand infantry to help in the war.
The western Tartars, hearing of the good fortune of the eastern Tartars, came upon invitation to the aid of the latter, but were defeated by the Chinese. Another neighboring nation also came for the same purpose, but they were bought off by the Chinese with a great amount of silver, and so they returned to their homes satisfied.
Finally, the best captains joined together to act upon this matter. But their efforts were quite unsuccessful, because, when they entered further into the interior of Tartaria than was safe, the Tartars, awaiting a good opportunity, fired into them on all sides, wounded and killed the most celebrated Chinese captains, and destroyed almost all of the army that was there last year, 1619. It is a common saying in China that all the brave people died at this time, and that if now the Tartar should come he would meet with no resistance, and that he could easily make himself master of everything. It is estimated that the total number killed, part of whom died by the sword, part from unbearable cold, part from hunger, and part from lack of other necessaries, reaches three hundred thousand. But this loss is insignificant to a people who are so numerous as the Chinese are today.
At the beginning of that year, 1619, the king of these Tartars—who is even now styled king of Paquin, just as if he had already conquered it6—sent to the king of China a memorial of complaints against the Chinese, reciting in it reasons for his revolt (for it must be supposed that he was formerly in a certain way subject). These reasons I will briefly state. 1st, because some years ago the Chinese had killed his grandfather; 2d, because, when he was at war with the northern Tartars, the Chinese aided them against him; 3d, because the Chinese had often gone into his country to plunder, and had captured some people, and, when he had made complaints of this injury to the mandarins of Leatum, they had contented themselves with degrading [acortar] the delinquents, whereas they well deserved death; 4th, because the Chinese had broken up a marriage for which he was making arrangements with the northern Tartars, a rupture which he deeply felt; 5th, because the Chinese had destroyed the grain-fields that his people had near the great walls, the strong ramparts that divide the two kingdoms, and had driven off a great quantity of stock that his people also had there; 6th, because the Chinese had induced other Tartars, his enemies, to write him some very offensive letters; and, 7th, because in different wars the Chinese of Leatum had aided his enemies, although this was without the knowledge of the king of China. Wherefore he asked that the Chinese king should order the people of Leatum to be punished as their crimes merited, and threatened that if this were not done he would take the punishment into his own hands, as he had, indeed, already begun to do.
The king of China made no answer to this memorial, for both he and the mandarins think that they have not broken any of the agreements entered into with the Tartars, and that all that the Tartars say is false—except that they admit that they killed the Tartar king’s grandfather, but only because he had been caught robbing in the Chinese territory. It is known that since this occurred bloody war has gone on between these two populous and powerful nations; that the Tartars have always gained the advantage therein; and that if they had so desired they could have come to the very gates of the court of Paquin, since fear has taken such hold upon the Chinese that they have closed all the gates of the city, except one which they use, and have made another wall completely encircling the one that was already around the city.
The persecution against the Christians and against our Society which has been going on in China during the past years is now mild. Hence people are being converted to Christianity as formerly; and our fathers are safe, for a great mandarin presented to the king a memorial in our favor, in which he refuted the calumnies that a powerful enemy of ours had launched against us, and that had been the cause of this persecution. And, although the king made no answer, by his silence he consents to our fathers’ remaining in China, for it was asked in the memorial that our fathers should not leave that kingdom; and since the mandarins know that the king has seen the memorial, and that he tacitly consents to it, they also, are satisfied with it. As this same memorial has been circulated throughout the whole of China, everybody has learned of our innocence and of the excellence of the law of God, which was dwelt upon at length in the memorial. Accordingly, as
So in the MS., but apparently a copyist’s error for Leatum, the form given in later pages; apparently a phonetic blunder for Liao-tung, the name of the province where the contest between Russia and Japan is now centered (May, 1904).
W. Winterbotham gives, in his
Referring to the Manchu chief Noorhachu (see Vol. XVIII, note 63). His grandfather was named Huen.