1805, when the efficiency of those noble vessels was signally proved. The China fleet, consisting of sixteen sail, under the command of the senior officer, Captain Dance, was homeward bound on the 15th February, when it fell in with the French squadron, under Admiral Linois, who had been cruising for some time to the north of the Straits, with the express view of cutting them off. The fleet, of which most of the ships mounted thirty guns and upwards, formed in order of battle, and advanced boldly to the engagement, the van being led by Captain Timins of the Royal George, who engaged the Admiral's ship, a vessel of eighty guns, and received upwards of sixty shot in his hull and rigging. The fight concluded by the French squadron setting all sail, and leaving the English in quiet possession of the field, as well as of the immense amount of national property of which they were in charge. The Commodore of the fleet was knighted in approbation of his gallant conduct, and the commanders of all the ships presented with swords, and other marks of distinction. This highly respectable service has been dissolved by the operation of the act which deprived the East India Company of their former privileges.

About this period, or shortly afterwards, commenced the career of the Chinese pirates, called after the Portuguese of Macao Ladrones, who for some years spread terror along the coasts of the Canton province, and even up the river itself, as far as the city. The southern shores of China, from the innumerable islands with which they are studded, have always given employment and shelter to a hardy race of fishermen, whose poverty, joined to their independent habits, have at different periods led them to combine, in large bodies, for piratical purposes, in defiance of the weak and inefficient maritime force by which the coasts of the empire are guarded. The power of the celebrated leader, Koshinga, and his successes against

the Dutch settlers on Formosa during the seventeenth century, have been already noticed; and a squadron scarcely less formidable was destined to appear during the period which elapsed between 1806 and 1810. Very particular accounts have been obtained of these singular freebooters, not only from a Chinese work, but from the personal narratives of Messrs. Turner and Glasspoole, two Englishmen who had the misfortune to fall into their hands, and who were compelled under pain of death to attend the pirates in all their expeditions.

But however great their contempt for the imperial fleet of China, or any other native force to which they might be opposed, these Ladrones never willingly engaged a European vessel larger than a boat, and the following observations of the Emperor Kânghy seem to show that their predecessors in his time were equally cautious. "We have lately heard, from the pirate who surrendered and threw himself upon our mercy, that when his companions went to plunder vessels on the seas, it was their practice to avoid all European ships, being afraid of their fire-arms," &c. The force and number of the later squadron of freebooters has been pretty accurately ascertained from the accounts of Messrs. Glasspoole and Turner. Their junks or vessels amounted in 1810 to about 600 of various sizes, from 80 to 300 tons, of which the largest seldom mounted more than twelve guns, varying from six to eighteen pounders, which had been either purchased from European ships, or taken from the Chinese; but chiefly the latter. Their handarms were pikes with bamboo shafts from fourteen to eighteen feet long, and they used, besides, the common Chinese pike with a handle of solid wood, and an iron point consisting of a slightly curved blade. They had also short stabbing swords, not two feet in length. Their guns as usual were mounted on solid timber,

without trucks, breechings, or tackles, and run out right abeam, so as to be fired only when they could be brought to bear upon the object, by wearing the vessel! The broadside being fired, they hauled off to reload, which is a difficult and tedious operation with the Chinese. The largest junks carried between 100 and 200 men, and were furnished each with an armed boat for cominitting depredations among the towns and villages on shore. Few narratives can be more interesting than that of Mr. Glasspoole, which was published in the United Service Journal, but which cannot be detailed in this place. Both that gentleman and Mr. Turner were ransomed for considerable sums by their friends at Canton, and escaped happily to relate their singular captivity and adventures.

Not the least remarkable feature about this formid. able fleet of pirates was its being, subsequent to the death of its original chief, very ably governed by his wife, who appointed her lieutenants for active service. A very severe code of laws for the government of the squadron, or of its several divisions, was enforced, and a regular appropriation made of all captured property. Marriages were strictly observed, and all promiscuous intercourse, and violence to women, rigorously punished. Passes were granted to the Chinese junks or boats which submitted to the pirates but all such as were captured in Government vessels: and indeed all who opposed them, were treated with, the most dreadful cruelty. At the height of their power they levied contributions on most of the towns along the coast, and spread terror up the river to the neighbourhood of Canton. It was at this time that the British factory could not venture to move in their boats between that place and Macao without protection; and to the Ladrones, therefore, may be partly attributed the origin of the valuable survey of the Chinese seas by Captain Ross; as the two

cruisers which were sent from Bombay, at the select committee's requisition, to act against the pirates, were subsequently employed by them in that work of public utility, the benefits of which have been felt by the whole commercial world.

Finding that its power was utterly unavailing against the growing strength of the Ladrones, the Chinese Government published a general amnesty to such as would submit, and return to their allegiance; a stroke of policy which may be attributed to its acquaintance with the fact, that a serious dissension had broken out between the two principal commanders of the pirate forces. This proceeded even to the length of the black and red squadrons (which they respectively headed) engaging in a bloody combat, wherein the former was discomfited. The weaker of the two now submitted to accept the offers of the Government, which promised free pardon, and kept its engagements; the leader was even raised to some rank in the Emperor's service! Being thus weakened by the desertion of nearly half her forces, the female chieftain and her other lieutenant did not much longer hold out. The Ladrones who had submitted, were employed by the crafty Government against their former associates, who were harassed by the stoppage of their supplies, and other difficulties, and a few more months saw the whole remaining force accept the proffered amnesty. Thus easily was dissolved an association which at one time threatened the empire: but as the sources and circumstances, whence piracy has more than once sprung up, are still in existence, the success and impunity of their predecessors may encourage other bands of maritime robbers to unite in a similar confederacy at no distant period.

A considerable number of years had elapsed since the occurrence of one of those homicides, which, even when accidental, always prove so serious and em

barrassing to the trade at Canton; but in the month of March, 1807, a case happened which showed in the strongest light the consequences which may at any time result from the riotous and unruly conduct of our seamen on shore, subject as they are in China to be supplied on the cheapest terms with ardent spirits called samshoo, generally adulterated with ingredients of a stimulating and maddening quality. A portion of the crew of the ship Neptune had been drinking at a spirit-shop, and a skirmish soon took place with the Chinese, upon which the men were collected as soon as possible by their officers, and confined within their quarters. The idle Chinese, however, assembled in great numbers before the factory, and pelted the gates, as well as every European who passed, notwithstanding the presence of some Hong merchants who had been summoned on the occasion: the confined sailors, at length losing patience, broke through all restraint and sallied out on the mob, whom they scattered in an instant, and one Chinese was knocked so rudely on the head that he died,

The trade as usual was stopped by the Chinese, and the Hong merchant, who secured the Neptune, held answerable by the Government for the delivery of the offender. Nothing could be elicited as to the identity of the individual, in a court of inquiry held on board the Neptune. The mandarins at first demanded that the men should be tried within the city, but the case of the poor gunner was retorted upon them, and the thing was declared to be impossible. It was at length arranged that an examination should take place within the factory, before Chinese judges, but in the presence of the select committee and Captain Rolles, of his Majesty's ship the Lion, who were provided with seats in court, while two marines with fixed bayonets stood sentries. Eleven of the men, it was proved, had been more