country, and was suffered to live, and at last made a corner-stone of
the empire. Joo-ming pardoned seven times Mang-hwo; and Kwan-kung three
times set Tsaou-tsaou at liberty. Ma-yuen pursued not the exhausted
robbers; and Yo-fei killed not those who made their submission. There
are many instances of such transactions both in former and recent times,
by which the country was strengthened, and government increased its
power. We now live in a very populous age; some of us could not agree
with their relations, and were driven out like noxious weeds. Some,
after having tried all they could, without being able to provide for
themselves, at last joined bad society. Some lost their property by
shipwrecks; some withdrew into this watery empire to escape from
punishment. In such a way those who in the beginning were only three or
five, were in the course of time increased to a thousand or ten
thousand, and so it went on increasing every year. Would it not have
been wonderful if such a multitude, being in want of their daily bread,
had not resorted to plunder and robbery to gain their subsistence, since
they could not in any other manner be saved from famine? It was from
necessity that the laws of the empire were violated, and the merchants
robbed of their goods. Being deprived of our land and of our native
places, having no house or home to resort to, and relying only on the
chances of wind and water, even could we for a moment forget our griefs,
we might fall in with a man-of-war, who with stones, darts, and guns,
would knock out our brains! Even if we dared to sail up a stream and
boldly go on with anxiety of mind under wind, rain, and stormy weather,
we must everywhere prepare for fighting. Whether we went to the east, or
to the west, and after having felt all the hardships of the sea, the
night dew was our only dwelling, and the rude wind our meal. But now we
will avoid these perils, leave our connexions, and desert our comrades;
we will make our submission. The power of Government knows no bounds; it
reaches to the islands in the sea, and every man is afraid, and sighs.