Mr. Adkins goes on to say "that the impostor (?) and his immediate attendants lie buried in its ruins."
The victors also reported that they captured the Chung-w.a.n.g a few days later, and also the Kan-w.a.n.g when they entered the city, finding him in the Tien-w.a.n.g"s palace. Chung-w.a.n.g, they say, managed to leave the city with a number of followers, but was captured three days later by a body of cavalry sent in pursuit: this was the account given to Mr. Adkins.
Another Imperialist version states that the Ti-ping Commander-in-Chief was captured by _some villagers_ a few miles from the city, through having given up his own white horse (celebrated for great strength and fleetness) to his young prince, the Tien-w.a.n.g"s son, and having compelled him to mount it and escape when he saw that at least a portion of his party must be captured. Certainly this seems very characteristic of the Chung-w.a.n.g"s brave, loyal, and generous nature, but then it is the only incident in the whole narrative which bears the appearance of truth and probability. Besides the above two stories of his capture, when the enemy obtained possession of Hoo-chow-foo, they reported that they had caught the Chung-w.a.n.g _there_, and from that place a head, stated to be the great rebel general"s, was sent over the country as a warning to the people.
As for the story of the Kan-w.a.n.g"s capture, there are several contradictory and apparently authentic statements: one by a certain Patrick Nellis, who personally saw the chief and talked with him at Hoo-chow (subsequent to the fall of Nankin), where it seems that he proceeded with an escort to communicate the loss or abandonment of the capital, and concert measures for the evacuation of Hoo-chow-foo as well.[79]
Besides the above reports, others were promulgated by the Mandarins, in which they defeated different Ti-ping armies _en route_ for the south, killing thousands and tens of thousands of rebels and capturing many chiefs, among them the Shi-w.a.n.g, who, singularly enough, still managed to be in command of the Ti-pings near Amoy, until within the last few months, when he retired to join other leaders farther inland.
Confessions were produced which professed to be written by the penitent rebel leaders in their dungeons, while awaiting their turn to be disembowelled, or "cut into a thousand pieces"--a pleasing prospect, of course likely to make the destined victims suddenly feel inspired with love and respect for the benevolent Manchoos, whom they had so vigorously opposed all their lives! Among these seemingly fabricated confessions only one is worthy of any attention, and that is a lengthy composition, ent.i.tled, "The autographic deposition of Chung-w.a.n.g, the faithful king, at his trial after the capture of Nankin." Were it not for the known mendacity of the Mandarins, and their particular addiction to forging doc.u.ments of this sort in order to lessen the prestige of the revolution by representing its princ.i.p.al leaders as in their merciless power, there would be little doubt but that the one in question was genuine. In 1852, previous to the capture of Nankin by the Ti-pings, the Imperial authorities concocted an article they named the "Confession of Tien-teh," pretending that it was the deposition of the leader of the rebellion, whom they falsely declared was their prisoner. It is quite probable that the "Chung-w.a.n.g"s deposition" is of similar truthlessness, and was made up by some prisoner of note (who may have been pardoned in consequence), and the cunning writers attached to the Governor-General of the two Kiang, Tseng-kwo-fan. Still it must be admitted that many portions of the alleged deposition bear not only the impress of truth (in so far as historical events, data, &c., are concerned), but expressions closely resembling the well known sentiments of the great Ti-ping general; so that if, as we trust, he was not the author, some one pretty intimately acquainted with him must have been. However, some facts tending to support the theory (for there is no direct proof in any case except the Shi-w.a.n.g"s movements subsequent to the fall of Nankin) of the Chung-w.a.n.g"s escape, will be given in the course of our narrative.
Having noticed the Imperialist reports, it is now necessary to give the following digest of the events referred to, and which may be depended upon as the only possible version to be derived from the existing and attainable sources of information:--
It is known that when the Chung-w.a.n.g became convinced England was determined to persist in prosecuting hostilities against his people, and likewise felt their inability to cope with the foreign power, he at once decided upon the best military movement under the circ.u.mstances--namely, an entire abandonment of all accessible possessions, and a retreat into the interior, where British hostility could not reach them, and where no Manchoo forces could either prevent their operations, restrain their consequent reinforcement, or impede their future progress.
Before parting with the Chung-w.a.n.g, I was myself present at several councils when the above plan was discussed, and unanimously agreed to by every chief present. But one impediment prevented the Commander-in-Chief from acting with his usual brilliancy of conception and wonderfully successful rapidity of execution; it was the Tien-w.a.n.g, who refused even to listen to any proposal to abandon his capital.
Different people will view this ruinous obstinacy of the Ti-ping king in various ways. Some will look upon it as sheer, downright folly; others, as the useless, fanatical sacrifice of a bigot; while some may consider that that great, heroic, n.o.ble-minded man, having once established the capital of his dominions and the centre of his religio-political movement at Nankin, did right and gloriously in meeting death rather than turning backwards on the grand path. If we ascribe to the Tien-w.a.n.g motives partaking equally of the three traits--n.o.bleness, fanaticism, and rashness--we shall probably be pretty near the truth.
At all events, the Tien-w.a.n.g pa.s.sionately refused to entertain the only plan by which the existence of the Ti-ping power, and the perpetuation of his dynasty, seemed possible. All the court officers, cabinet ministers, and other high authorities of Nankin, were blindly subservient to the will of their king, and equally infatuated with his religious and temporal command. Besides, many of those about him were of the Hung family, and, being nearly related to their chief, not only followed implicitly his wishes, but jealously formed themselves into a clique about him, to the prejudice and exclusion of other more capable and independent officers. All the fighting w.a.n.gs were outside the capital, and incessantly engaged with the enemy; few troops were in garrison, while many thousands of helpless non-combatants daily diminished the stores of the failing granaries; and if the mult.i.tudinous besieging army, encamped and fortified all round the devoted city, had been animated with the slightest particle of courage or military spirit, they might easily have captured it many months before it eventually fell through starvation, or was evacuated by the troops.
The Chung-w.a.n.g, after his separation from myself at Wu-see, proceeded direct to Nankin _via_ Chang-chow-foo. His only object was to save the king and his own family (living with his aged mother, whom he loved with excessive filial tenderness), by inducing them to leave the untenable city. He, alone, proposed the unpalatable manoeuvre to the Tien-w.a.n.g, whose severe displeasure he had already incurred, being punished in various ways--by deprivation of t.i.tles, refusal of audience, accusation of disloyalty, &c. How the time (December, 1863, to 19th July, 1864) was pa.s.sed, from the arrival of the Chung-w.a.n.g to the fall of the capital, unless the professed "autographic deposition" be true, or the garrison really abandoned the city and escaped, will probably never be known to history. Either, as the "deposition" states, the whole city pet.i.tioned against the departure of the renowned commander, or he personally elected to remain, rather than desert his king in the hour of death and darkness, even though such calamity might have been avoided but for the fatal perverseness of the monarch; perhaps both causes operated to confine him to useless inactivity within the walls of the doomed city--inevitably doomed, and encircled by the numberless siege works of the enemy as with a band of impenetrable steel.
How the poor people, fated by the pa.s.sive stubbornness of their rulers, must have gathered together round their great warrior, as men will rally about a tower of strength; how the unnumbered thousands of helpless non-combatants must have rejoiced at the presence of him whose very name was an army, a bulwark to his people, and a terror to the enemy; how bitterly must the brave, energetic soldier have grieved and chafed at the unnecessarily-incurred annihilation, and growing horrors of the siege, which should have been avoided; but, alas! how could one great man, without means, save a people, a sacred cause, and a city invested by 100,000 savage foemen?
Loyalty and filial duty brought the "faithful prince" to Nankin; the same motives bound him there to await destruction, when his presence in the field--at the head of his own army, left under command of his cousin, the Shi-w.a.n.g--would have proved invaluable, and would surely have placed the Ti-pings in a much better position than they occupied at the close of the year 1865.
Nankin fell at last. All that is _positively_ known by Europeans--apart from false, garbled, and exaggerated Mandarin sources--may be summed up in few words:--Frightful privations were endured before the enemy took possession; and when the city was entered by Mr. Consul Adkins, and other gentlemen, the streets and houses were literally blocked up with the bodies of the dead, by far the greater portion having the appearance of death from starvation; and many being very far advanced in decomposition, proved that, long before the Imperialists found courage enough to blow an opening through the undefended walls, the unfortunate people had succ.u.mbed to famine faster than the living could bury the dead--in fact, it was evident that no such effort could have been successful from the numbers who had daily perished.
Mr. Adkins, in his despatch to Earl Russell, places the number of people slaughtered by the Imperialists on their entry at 10,000; but other visitors state as many as 30,000, which is probably nearer the truth.
It is also certain that many chiefs with their followers left Nankin in safety. A successor to the Mo-w.a.n.g, a.s.sa.s.sinated at Soo-chow, having afterwards appeared at Hong-kong; the Yu and Hsieh w.a.n.gs (the latter being one of the Tien-w.a.n.g"s brothers, and always attached to the court) being heard of in Kiang-si at the head of an army; while the following extract from the narrative of one Patrick Nellis, already referred to, and which was made on affidavit before the British Consul at Shanghae, seems to prove that the Ti-ping prime minister escaped from Nankin, and such being the case, undoubtedly there are strong grounds to believe the military leaders did likewise. In the evidence sworn to, Nellis, after describing an engagement with the Imperialists, states:--
"On our return to Hoo-chow-foo, Kang-w.a.n.g arrived from Nankin with an escort. Great ceremonies were shown at his reception; he did not look as if he had suffered any hardship...."
In speaking of the evacuation of the city, Nellis makes the following statement:--
"Kan-w.a.n.g spoke to me in English very slowly. He asked me what I was. I said, "an Englishman." He said he had never met a good foreigner, and asked me if I would go with him to Kiang-si. I said I should be very glad if Tow-w.a.n.g (Commandant of Hoo-chow) would let me."
This conversation took place more than a month after the fall of Nankin, and a few days before the abandonment of Hoo-chow-foo on the 28th August, 1864. Upon the strength of such facts the _Friend of China_ has steadily maintained that Nankin was abandoned by all but the poorest civilians when the Imperialists made their breach and marched through without opposition.
Another circ.u.mstance damaging to the veracity of the Imperialist reports, is a statement (contained in one of the Mandarin"s inspired "confessions,") purporting to be that of the Tien-w.a.n.g"s son (the heir to the throne). The young prince is made to state that his father "succ.u.mbed to sickness on the 24th of May, 1864;" but of this all-important event the "Chung-w.a.n.g"s deposition" makes no mention. Here is an inconsistency which at once proves either one or both the "confessions" false; because, if the Tien-w.a.n.g had really died, the Chung-w.a.n.g would have been at liberty to carry out his own views and abandon Nankin; whereas his professed "deposition" states that, to the day the city fell, he was unable to do so in consequence of the Tien-w.a.n.g"s opposition.
The _Friend of China_ also states that a Mr. Butler, of Shanghae, actually witnessed the withdrawal of the garrison. Moreover, adding together the few spared by the enemy, those slain and those destroyed by famine, we should even then scarcely have the number of dest.i.tute people--labourers, coolies, and friendless non-combatants--who were relieved by the Chung-w.a.n.g alone during the early part of the year 1864, when he kept a list of about 80,000 dependent upon his resources and charity. In 1863 rations were daily issued to upwards of 400,000 people.
At the period now referred to, when the Chung-w.a.n.g shut himself up in the beleaguered city, the population, inclusive, was certainly not less than a fifth of a million, and, probably, far exceeded that number; therefore, even supposing that one-half (which is a large estimate) perished, were slain, or made prisoners, during and at the termination of the siege, how can we account for the 100,000 remaining, unless we believe that they had previously managed to effect their retreat from the city?
In the _Friend of China_, August 16, 1864, appears the following:--
"We are still a.s.sured by parties who have means of knowing, that our first story of the evacuation of Nankin by its soldiery, before the Imperialists sprung their mine and rushed in, was the correct story; all those 30,000 ma.s.sacred individuals told of by the _Recorder_ (but _not_ mentioned at the Asiatic Society with the "flushing of a pheasant") being inoffensive men, women, and children.
"The Chung-w.a.n.g, it is said, is not dead. He is at Hoo-chow-foo, while the Tien-w.a.n.g is still in the body."
The strongest support of the Imperialist statement of the death of the Tien-w.a.n.g, and the capture and subsequent execution of the Chung-w.a.n.g, is the fact that, since the fall of Nankin, nothing whatever has been heard of them elsewhere. On the other hand, however, it was supposed that one or the other was commanding the forces in the interior, acting in Fu-keen in concert with the Shi-w.a.n.g when he occupied the city of Chang-chow, near Amoy, from October, 1864, to May, 1865: and what seems to lend force to this supposition is that he appeared to be acting under the orders of some superior farther inland; the only chiefs of higher rank being the King and his son, the Chung, Kan, I (several years absent in Sz-chuen), and Si w.a.n.gs--the latter being a young man (son of the original Western King) attached to the court at Nankin, and totally without authority in military affairs. Upon the whole, it is quite possible that the Ti-ping King, his son and heir, Prime Minister, and General-in-Chief, may have met with the fate ascribed to them by the enemy; still there is no positive proof, and there are good grounds for supposing that some, if not all, are yet living and directing the Ti-ping movements.
The siege of Hoo-chow-foo by the Imperialists was merely nominal, for, up to the abandonment of that city by the Ti-pings, they were never allowed within range of its walls, and were compelled to act almost entirely on the defensive, so repeated and vigorous were the attacks by the garrison and a corps of observation they had encamped outside the place on a neighbouring range of hills. Only a few days before the evacuation took place, the garrison succeeded in capturing a number of Imperialist stockades, several hundred gunboats, and three or four thousand men, besides inflicting heavy loss in killed and wounded; the Franco-Manchoo disciplined auxiliaries alone losing 6 officers and 800 men. Very soon after this victory, the evacuation was effected with consummate skill, the enemy not discovering that the Ti-pings had flown until the day after. The number of troops forming the garrison and encampment was very considerable, 50,000 being the lowest estimate;[80]
their line of retreat was either through the province of Fu-keen or Kiang-si, and their destination is even yet unknown, none of the chiefs from Hoo-chow having been recognised anywhere since. It is, however, pretty certain that they acted in concert with the forces led by the Shi-w.a.n.g, though keeping an inland position, while the latter advanced to the sea-board at Amoy.
The _Friend of China_, Sept. 8, 1864, under the heading,--"Another of the parties despatched by us a short time ago, to learn the real state of affairs about Hoo-chow-foo, has just returned,"--reports as follows:--
"The Chung-w.a.n.g was in command up to the last.... Hoo-chow was evacuated.... Three days afterwards--we repeat--three days afterwards, Le Futai gallantly marched into the city with a thundering noise; and then what did he? The gates were closed, and then commenced a general sack, and the usual ma.s.sacre of innocent individuals.... A laughable story is told of the _second_ capture of the Chung-w.a.n.g here, at Hoo-chow; his head--the veritable caput--with loud clamour of gongs, being sent round to all the villages, that people might behold the head of the arch traitor! Our reporter, wicked sceptic! loudly declares that the head _said to be_ the Chung-w.a.n.g"s, truly sat on the shoulders, a week ago, of a man whose highest grade in life was that of a coolie!"
In the month of October, 1864, the residents of Amoy were suddenly surprised to hear that a body of Ti-pings, about 10,000 strong, had surprised and captured the city of Chang-chow, barely twenty miles inland, and situated on a river emptying itself into the sea at the Treaty Port.
From this reappearance of the Ti-pings close to a Treaty Port, we are enabled again to obtain some authentic records--many Europeans, including the British Consul, having visited them at Chang-chow. One English gentleman wrote the following account (which may be relied on as authentic) of his experiences to the _Daily Press_, and the same was reproduced in _The Overland China Trade Report_, 1st January, 1865:--
"A VISIT TO CHANG-CHOW.
"_To the Editor of the "Daily Press," Hong-kong._
"Sir,--As you appear desirous to obtain information regarding the insurgents in this neighbourhood, I take leave to furnish you with the following result of my personal observations, which were derived in the course of a visit amongst them.
"The city and suburbs of Chang-chow are still occupied by the Taeping insurgents. About three-fifths of the whole city is burnt, and in the ruins may be seen the dead bodies of the late inhabitants, uninjured except by fire; not a wound could I see on any, which plainly shows, and as the rebels themselves affirm, that the inhabitants set fire to their dwellings themselves, and perished in them; having previously drugged themselves with opium rather than fall into the hands of the insurgents.
"Those portions of the city unburnt are occupied by the rebels, but there are many streets of Hongs, the doors of which are sealed up, uninhabited, and apparently full of merchandise. The rebels appear to be very numerous; I should estimate them at about 12,000; but they affirm themselves that they number 15,000. There are a great number of boys and youths among them, but I saw no women. They are much sunburnt, thin, and haggard in their appearance, and evidently have undergone much hardship before they took this city. I was told by many of them that they underwent extreme privations during their retreat from the north; that food of any kind, at many places, could not be obtained, on account of the country people being extremely hostile, and destroying everything as soon as they heard that the rebels were nearing them. That at several small towns on the borders of the Provinces of Che-kiang and Fokien human flesh was used for food; and that a peasant"s body was retailed out at 80 cash per catty by the fortunate rebel who had killed him!
"The chief in command at Chan-chow is Tszle-w.a.n.g,[81] brother to Chung-w.a.n.g. He was at Ningpo during its occupation by the insurgents in 1862, and he commanded in the defence of that city when he was attacked and driven out by the British naval force, under Captain Dew. But he says he bears no animosity towards the British on account of it, as he is aware that Captain Dew was subsidized by the Chinese Government to retake Ningpo from the rebels. He professes the profoundest respect for the British nation for their bravery and power; and what he most ardently wishes is to be on friendly terms with her; and all that he requests is for her to act fairly up to her _professed neutrality_ to both contending parties. He says that, should they not succeed in conquering the Imperialists, he would be most happy to see the country under British rule. He promised he would not venture nearer to Amoy than Chang-chow (which is about twenty miles distant), provided the Mandarins at Chau-bay, a town situated on the river, about half way between Amoy and Chau-chow, did not blockade the river, and cut off all native trade and communication with them. That, in case they did, he should be compelled to take Chau-bay. That he should on no account attack Amoy, as he did not wish to have any rupture with foreigners. That he was very sorry the trade of Amoy suffered on account of their occupation of Chau-chow. That he would be only too happy to open trade reciprocally with foreigners; and that he would grant them every privilege and protection. That he was willing to trade with them for any description of European goods and native produce in return. Opium was not interdicted. He has made a law to protect all native farmers and tradespeople, and this has been already felt by the country people who have opened a day market in one of the main streets of the south suburb; and, from daylight to dark, until the gates are shut, every description of native "Chow-chow" is to be obtained. Tszle-w.a.n.g told me that the establishing of this market, though doing a great deal of good to both parties, had led to many executions of both rebels and country people--the former on account of taking goods and not paying for them, and natives found in the city setting fire to houses and plundering; who, when caught, are taken before a rebel Mandarin, and, if found guilty, executed; as no rebel, under penalty of death, can take the life of any person, except in action. The rebels appear to be well armed with rifles, revolvers, and muskets. The Imperial soldiers in this respect are not to be compared to them, as their arms consist entirely of native matchlocks, gingalls, and spears, and not one in ten has even a matchlock; and they are a wretched lot of ragged rabble. On the other side, the rebels are very neatly dressed, more cleanly, and are drilled after European tactics. There are some Europeans amongst them, but I had no communication with them. They have entirely routed the Imperialists in every engagement they have had with them; and on the 2nd instant they came down on the Imperial lines 2,500 strong, the Imperial troops numbering 11,000; who have advanced to within about five miles of the city, to endeavour to protect the farmers, to gather in the standing crops of rice, which are in great abundance for many miles around the city, and which the rebels have gathered in and secured. The Imperials were encamped on both sides of the Rim, but their greatest force was on the right bank, behind a rugged hill, the inner extremity of which was crossed at right angles by a valley, which could have been easily protected by throwing up a few earthworks and mounting a few guns in them. Their weak point they could not see; and the rebels, taking advantage of the hilly ground in the neighbourhood to advance under cover during daylight, and, coming down the valley at dark, entered the Imperial camp about eleven p.m., without any warning being given. The Imperials were completely panic-struck; and having no retreat but by river, rushed to their boats in such numbers that many of them were swamped, and hundreds of soldiers drowned. Many of them ran and hid themselves wherever they could, and among the latter was the chief Mandarin in command. They offered little or no resistance; and the rebels, after killing 1,000 and taking 450 prisoners, destroying the camp equipage, returned to the city at daylight.
Tszle-w.a.n.g told me that his plan of campaign would be next to take the large and populous town of Tong-wah, and from thence march upon the district city of Chin-chew in the spring. That the amount of the whole rebel force in the province of Fokien under his command fell little short of 50,000 men; and hoping to increase it to 80,000 after the capture of Chin-chew, he should then endeavour to open communication with the British authorities, and arrange to take Foo-chow-foo.
"Tszle-w.a.n.g appears to be a man of considerable calibre. He appears, for a Chinaman, to be well up in foreign politics, and conversant on many subjects that you generally find the Chinese most ignorant on. He is affable and engaging in his manner, and appears to treat those about him with kindness. He is thirty-one years of age; short, stout, and well-made; his face is much sunburnt, and complexion, say dark; any person might think he was of Malay origin, as he has both the features and colour of a Malay. That he is some strategist and has considerable military tact must be acknowledged by the manner he took the city of Chang-chow, before a rumour was even circulated of the rebels being anywhere near the place, or intending to capture it; and from the defeats the Imperial force has sustained in every engagement they have had with him, although in numerical strength the Imperial force has always been 3 or 4 to 1. I should like to pay another visit to the insurgents, but all foreigners are interdicted from visiting them, both by the Consuls and Mandarin authorities; in fact, we are now not even allowed to enter the river, which is only a mile and a half, and nearly twenty miles from Chang-chow, on the usual shooting excursions, wild fowl being very plentiful in the river, and which is our only amus.e.m.e.nt at this season of the year. The whole foreign community feel this to be very hard indeed, and consider it to be very arbitrary on the part of the Consul, as this place is extremely dull--no amus.e.m.e.nts whatever, our only recreation being in a picnic or shooting excursion up the river--but Mr. Pedder tries to make himself as unpopular as he possibly can, and he has told the Mandarins that they can arrest any foreigner they can find on the river under any circ.u.mstances whatever, and the Mandarins have threatened to decapitate any boatmen who may hire their boats to or take foreigners up the river. I also hear that the British Consul some few days ago issued a _warrant_ to search the private dwelling of an English resident here for arms and munitions of war; and, if any were found, to bring him prisoner to the Consulate; but, happily, his suspicions were wrongly placed, as they found nothing of the kind in the gentleman"s house whatever. Has a British Consul authority to search a gentleman"s private dwelling whenever he may please, and set spies to watch the movements of a person to please the Chinese Mandarins? Really this is cringing or holding the candle to the Celestials, and taking away the liberty of the subject entirely; and if it goes any further, I cannot say how it may end.
"Your obedient servant, "VERITAS.
"Amoy, 14th December, 1864."
In a subsequent letter, describing another visit to Chang-chew, the same writer states:--
"The rebel campaign is about to be carried on with vigour in this quarter; of the 30,000 men collected in Chang-chow, not one-fifth are required to garrison the city. I heard from Tszle-w.a.n.g myself that he should immediately detach 7,000, under Tsi-w.a.n.g, to a.s.sist in the capture of Tong-san, and another force would be despatched simultaneously to attack Tong-wak and Chin-chew. The rebels (Ti-pings) are in possession of six cities in this part of the province of Fu-keen, and within a few days"
march. _The rebels told me that Tien-w.a.n.g"s son was at one of the cities._"
The violation of the Queen"s Order in Council (commanding neutrality to be observed after the Soo-chow ma.s.sacre) by the British Consuls in China, is well shown by the previous letter of "Veritas." Besides the partisan acts therein complained of, six or seven English steamers were hired to the Mandarins at Shanghae to carry Imperialist troops to Amoy.
They did so, and were well paid for the affair; but is this neutrality?
Moreover, every kind of war material was freely supplied to them, and British officers were allowed to command some of the Imperialist troops (_Colonel_ Kirkham, formerly with Gordon, and one _Captain_ Macdonald being particularly noticed), while all supplies for, or communication with, the Ti-pings were forbidden and attempted to be cut off; but, notwithstanding, munitions of war, and some Europeans (including _Colonel_ Rhode, Gordon"s late Adjutant-General, and _Colonel_ Williams, who had commanded one of the Anglo-Manchoo regiments) managed to reach the revolutionists.
Shortly after the capture of Chang-chew, the Shi-w.a.n.g issued the following proclamations:--
"NOTIFICATION FROM THE TAIPING CHIEF AT CHANG-CHOW.
"Notification from His Royal Highness Lee, Shee-king and Protector General, ordering the people to submit willingly and to continue their occupations.
"Whereas agriculture is the chief of the occupations of mankind, upon which people necessarily subsist, and whereas, since I rule this city I have always informed the people everywhere that they may continue their duties and occupations as usual--be it therefore known that those who submit to this government are called good people. Strict orders have been given to my officers and soldiers not to make any disturbance among the inhabitants, which orders you must have heard.
"But how is it that at present the fields are left uncultivated and all agricultural business seems to be entirely neglected?
The plantations of sugar-cane are nearly ready for harvest, but will spoil if not cut, and the grains and paddy are nearly rotten, the reason of which we cannot comprehend. Probably the raising of arms is the cause of it, of which the people stand in awe, consequently they moved to their countries; or is the cause that at the time of fighting they are afraid that they may be implicated, that on this account they fled to other places? But the benevolent and just army will not destroy the good people; while they exterminate the wicked, they will not punish the innocent.