1841.
Journal of Occurrences.
239
play. Still further, our ships of war are not large and strong, and it is diffi- cult to mount heavy guns on board them. By these observations, it is evident, that our force here as a guard and defense against the foreigners is utterly insufficient.
Your slave has also made personal observation of the character and dis- position of the people of this province. He has found them ungrateful and avaricious. Putting out of view those who are actual traitors, and of whom, therefore, it is unnecessary to say anything, the rest dwell indiscriminately with foreigners, they are accustomed to see them day by day, and after liv- ing many years together, the utmost intimacy has grown up between them. They are widely different from the people of Tinghae, who, having had no previous intercourse with foreigners, felt at once that they were of another race. Let us reverse the circumstances, and suppose that the English had craftily distributed their gifts and favors, and set at work the whole machi- nery of their tricks, here as at Chusan; and it might verily be feared, that the whole people would have been seduced from their allegiance; they would certainly not have shown the same unbending obstinacy that the people of Tinghae did. These plain evidences of the want of firmness on the part of the people here, give us still more cause for anxiety.
We find, on turning over the records of the past, that, when operations were being carried on against the pirates of this province, although these were only so many thieves and robbers, with native vessels and guns of native casting, yet the affair was lengthened out for several years; and was only put an end to by invitations to lay down their arms under promise of security. And it is much to be feared, that the wasp's sting is far more poisonous' now than then.
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Your slave has again and again revolved the matter in his anxious mind. The consequences, in so far as they relate to his own person, are trifling: but as they regard the stability of the government, and the lives of the peo- ple, they are vast and extend to distant posterity. Should he incur guilt in giving battle when unable to command a victory, or should he be criminal in making such arrangements as do not meet the gracious approbation of his sovereign, he must equally bear his offense; and, for his life, what is it, that he should be cared for or pitied!
But if it be in not acting so as to meet the gracious approbation of his Sovereign that he becomes guilty,-the province and the people have yet their sacred sovereign to look to and rely upon for happiness, protection, justice, and peace. Whereas, if his guilt should lie in giving battle when unable to command a victory, then will the celestial dignity of the throne be sullied, the lives of the people sacrificed, and for further proceedings and arrangements it will be, in an increased degree, impossible to find resource.
Entertaining these views, a council has been held of all the officers in the city; namely, the general and lieutenant-generals of the garrison, the lieuten- ant-governor, the literary chancellor, and the commissioners, intendants, prefects, and magistrates, as also the late governors, Lin Tsihseu and Tăng- Tingching; all of whom agree, that our defenses are such as it is impossible to trust to, and that our troops would not hold their ground on the field of battle. Moreover, the troops ordered from the different provinces by your majesty having yet a long journey to come, time is still necessary for their arrival; nor can they all arrive together. The assemblage of a large body of troops, too, is a thing not to be effected without sundry rumors flying about, our native traitors are sure to give information; and the said fo- reigners will previously let loose their contumacious and violent dispositions. Your slave is so worried by grief and vexation, that he loathes his food, and sleep has forsaken his eyelids. But, for the above-cited reasons, he does not shrink from the heavy responsibility he is incurring, in submitting all these facts, the results of personal investigation, to your celestial majesty,