Arizona republican., 1900-08-24

ing. But for many reasons the British reports on lhis phase of their naval life are very brief and the matter of pira- cy on the China coast has been touched ol as little as nnssible largely because there has be n a well grounded fear tha: it would hurt trade.
 One of the famous old pirate hunters of the British navy is Admiral Morse by. who speaks from experience and has as intimate d knowledge as any man p1ss -sses of these murderers of the sea. when he says: Were we to add to- Grther all the resources of the African ana Greek cOrsairs in their worst days, the amount would be as nothing com pared with their Chin se rivals. who. unlike the majority of Mediterranean. pirates prey a : readily upon their own countrymen as upon aliens.
 Admiral Mors bys acquaintance With the pirates began wh- n the first of the trnatv ports was opened. It was then :hGt The pirates first showed their pow cl. Ship after ship was reported mis- sing. ship after ship made Hong Kong or Singapore with the report of having been pursued or attacked by pirate junlSs.
 The principal stronghOlds of piracy were on the west coast-from Swatow, about 100 miles north of Hong Kong, to Hainan. about 150 miles south. On the islands of the coast and in the harb1rs and inlets on the mainland, tha pirates had fortified stations. which sheltered fleets of fifty or lO0 armed junks. under the supreme control of one chief or aa- miTal.
 These junks ranged from fifty to 400 tons mounting six to twenty guns. with a crew of about six men to q gun, and pr. tected by boarding netunss, stink pots and so on.
 The British government was so inn pressed with the necessity of crushing them that it offered reward of $50 for every pirate killed and $5 for every one taken alive. The slaughter that fol- l wed may be imagined from the fl,. that the head money soon amount el to 90 great a sum that the govern r.ant was compell.G C to withdraw the offer. Yet the pirates despite their inn menSe losses. seemed to be as powerful as evel.
 Admiral Moresby during ] is term as pirate hulter received the thanks of the president of the United States for
  of the American ship Phantom. which had been bearded and taken by horde of the savages just north of Hong Kong. on Patrass shOal, where she had
 grounded. Unfortunately the British cruiser arrived too late to save more. than one boat lead of the Americans. The rest had been killed. But the ship was recovered and bloody vengeance was eXacted. for the warship penned three of the piratical junks up in q small estuary and shot them and every pirate on board to pieces. Not one was allowed to escape.
 The "Fath of the Pirates" of the China seas was Chen Chin Lung. writes Capt. Wilton Forster, of the British navy, il the Queen. From the care of the Roman Catholic fathers who brought him up. he first went to the 1louTis.,ing POrtugU SC settlement of Macao about forty miles from Canton. The moral atmosphere of this place was as cOntaminating in the seventeenth century as it is today. The young dls- ciple left for Japan and married Jap aness as preliminary step to gaining the confidence of a wealthy merchant of that cCCntrY. by whom he was in- trusted with the valuable cargo of a large vessel bound for China t. dispose of it a a profit at Foo Chow. Chen Chih-Lung did SO dispose of it. Then he invested the proceeds of it in the equip ment of certain vessels for piracy. He applied the eXptrience of life he had gained at Macao to such advantage that his first venture proved a great success. ana he finally became so rich and DOW arfUl that the imperial governms mt dar- ed not use force to stop his career. The | hribe of an admirals rank. however. pro red sufficient tu induce him tn cease his depredatiors. ana an invitation to visit Pekin. which he was so foolish or overcCnfident as to accept. placed him tr the power f rhe government. He was made a state prisoner. while treat ed with all consideration. But on the death of the emperor. who had given him an assurance Of immunity, he was quietly deca pitateI.
 His son escaped and became known as the Terrible KOXinga, the greatest leader of piratical mercenaries of the period. His conduct twice affected the for -unes of his country while his dep relations were g rrible on the entire coast line that in 16G3 the reign1ng efn- Deror issued an edict commanding the natives of the litoral. provinces to re- tire four leagu-s inland, an edict that vas obeyed. KoXinga after this threw all the weight of his piratical mercena- ries into the scale on the side of the emp ro". He fought the invading Man chUs. He behaved with great humanity to the people of Canton, affording them 9 place of refuge on boal1 his vessels. At last his power became So formidable that in 1865 the Manchu conquerors called in the Dutch heet to aid them i'll attacking him. The combined Manchu and Dutch fleets attacked him in his stronghold of Annoy and after a san guinary action KcZinga was deft ated with terrible loss. He then retired t. Formosa. and was proclaimed king of that country. where he eventually died mad.
 But. piracy had come to stay. Tnerv are local conditiOls on the rivers and the entrances to the great rivers from the coast. which are. peculiarly favor able to i. The dangers from sunken 1 far -t,- aIcy .1F