A report on the expedition to western Yunan viâ Bhamô / by John Anderson.

  • John Anderson
Date:
1871
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A report on the expedition to western Yunan viâ Bhamô / by John Anderson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    45/502 (page 19)
    Tartar armies were fully occupied for some years in subduing the south- western parts of the empire^ in which certain Chinese princes had attempted^ with the support of the princes of the Taimin family, to establish independent kingdoms. Notable among these was Yunlie, ^ who was prolaimed king at Canton. He was attacked, however, by the victorious Tartar forces under the able Amavan, and forced to abandon his kingdom. He escaped to Yunan, and arrived at Momien (Theng-ye- chow) j he made overtures to the Tsawbwa of Bhamo to reside at that town, promising to pay 100 vis of gold to the king of Ava, if he were allowed to do so. As the Tsawbwa declined to forward such a proposi- tion, the fugitive sent back to say that he would become a subject of Ava, and this being approved by the court, he arrived at Bhamo along with the governor of Yunan, and a retinue of 600 men, among whom were many of his nobility. They were all disarmed and forwarded to the capital, and the king gave them the town of Tsagain to reside in. Colonel Burney remarks ” that the Burmese chronicles endeavour to create the impression that Yunlie was treacherous, and ambitious to found a kingdom for himself in Burmah, and that he was followed by an army which was advancing in two divisions,—one by the Monieit and the other by the Theinnee route. But we have the authority of the Jesuit Father, P. Joseph H^Orleans, that Yunlie^s party was so weak that it had to abandon him to his fate, and of Du Halde, for stating that he had not sufficient forces to resist the Tartar Regent, Amavan. It is highly improbable, therefore, that the apparently powerful army, which advanced u2:)on Ava during Affinlie^s residence at Tsagain, was the remnant of his scattered forces. Yunan at this time, however, was the asylum of the ^ Tlie Jesuit, Pierre Joseph D’Orleans (Hahlyut Soc., Tartar Conquerors of China) states that Yunlie was not far from the kingdom of heaven, and that his wife and son were ])aptised by the names of Helen and Constantine, and that he had the Jesuit Father, Cofler, attached to tliis court, and that he sent another priest to Rome to give in his alligeance to the Vicar of Jesus Christ, loc. cit., p. 21. Du Halde says that the Father, Andrew Cofler, instructed the emperor’s mother, his wife, and eldest son in the truths of Cliristianity, and baptised them. “ It was expected,” he continues, “ that this emperor woidd one day he the Constantine of China, which name was given to him when he received the sacrament of spiritual regeneration ; ” loc. cit., p. 228. Gutzlaff, who was not very accurate, mentions that the emperor himself was a convert, and that his general officers were all Christians, and that his court was filled with converts. Du Halde relates that he kept his court at Shanking, the capital of the province of Queychew, loc. cit., p. 229. Cutzlalf’s History of China, vol. ii, p. 19, et seq.; Du Halde, vol. i, p. 228, et seq.; Universal History, vol. viii, p. 491. - Loc. cit., p. 12G.