(...) As a man is as far distant from China at Macao as in Europe, from the extreme difficulty of penetrating into this empire, I will not follow the example of navigators who have spoken of it without any knowledge whatever; I will therefore confine myself to a description of the connexion of the Europeans with the Chinese; the extreme humiliation they experience in it; the feeble protection they can derive from the Portuguese settlement upon the coast of China, and finally, the importance which might be attached to the city of Macao, in the possession of a nation which would conduct itself with justice, but at the same time with dignity and firmness, against a government which is perhaps the most unjust and oppressive, and at the same time the most cowardly, that at this moment exists in the whole world.
The Chinese carry on a commerce with the Europeans, which amounts to fifty millions, two fifths of which are paid in silver, the rest in English cloth, Batavian or Malacca tin, in cotton from Surat and Bengal, in opium from Patna, in sandal wood and pepper, from the coast of Malabar. Some articles of luxury are also carried from Europe, as looking glasses of the largest dimensions, Geneva watches, coral, fine pearls; (...)
Macao, situate at the mouth of the Tigris, can receive sixty-four gun ships into its road at the entrance of Typa; and in its port, which is below the city, and communicates with the river to the eastward, ships of seven or eight hundred tons half laden. Its latitude, according to our observations, is in 22° 12′ 40″, and its longitude 111° 19′ 30″ east.
The entrance of this port is defended by a fortress, consisting of two batteries, which on entering it is necessary to pass within pistol-shot. Three small sorts, two of which are mounted with a dozen guns, and one with six, guard the southern part of the city from all Chinese enterprizes; these fortifications, which are in the very worst state, would by no means be formidable to Europeans, but are fully adequate to keep in awe the whole maritime forces of the Chinese. There is, moreover, a mountain which commands the country, and on which a detachment might hold out a very long siege. The Portuguese of Macao, more religious than military, have built a church upon the ruins of a fort which crowned this mountain, and formed an impregnable post.
The land side is defended by two fortresses, one of which mounts forty guns, and which can contain a thousand men in garrison, has a cistern, two springs of running water, and casemates to enclose warlike ammunition and provision; another, upon which are mounted thirty guns, cannot allow of more than three hundred men; it has a spring, which is very abundant, and is never dry. These two citadels command the whole country.
The Portuguese limits scarcely extend to the distance of a league from the city; they are bounded by a wall, guarded by a mandarin with a few soldiers. This mandarin is the real governor of Macao, and the person whom the Chinese obey; he has no right to sleep within the enclosure of the limits, but he may visit the place, and even the fortifications, inspect the custom-houses, &c. On these occasions the Portuguese are obliged to salute him with five guns. Not any European, however, is allowed to set a foot on the Chinese country beyond the wall; any imprudence of this kind would put them at the mercy of the Chinese, who might demand a large sum of money of them, or detain them prisoners; some officers of our frigates, however, exposed themselves to the risk, but this act of levity was not attended by any disagreeable consequences.
The whole population of Macao may be estimated at twenty thousand souls, of which one hundred are Portuguese by birth, about two thousand of half-blood, or Portuguese Indians; as many Caffre slaves, who serve them as domestics; the rest are Chinese, and employed in commerce, or the different trades which render the Portuguese themselves tributary to their industry. These, though almost all of them mulattoes, would think themselves dishonoured by exercising any mechanical art, and by that means supporting their family; but their pride is never in the least degree hurt in continually soliciting, with the greatest importunity, the charity of passengers.
The viceroy of Goa nominates to all the civil and military places at Macao. The governor is appointed by him, as well as all the senators, who divide with him the civil authority. He has just appointed the garrison to consist of a hundred and eighty Indian seapoys, and a hundred and twenty militia; the service of this guard consists in making night patroles; the soldiers are armed with staves, the officer only has a right to wear a sword, but in no case can he use it against a Chinese. If a robber of that nation be surprised breaking open a door, or taking away any effects, he may be stopped, but with the greatest precaution; and if a soldier, in defending himself against a robber, is so unfortunate as to kill him, he is delivered over to the Chinese governor, and hanged in the middle of the market-place, in the presence of that same guard of which he formed a part, of a Portuguese magistrate, and two Chinese mandarins, who, after the execution, on their departure from the town, are saluted as in entering; but if, on the other hand, a Chinese kill a Portuguese, he is committed into the hands of the judges of his own nation, who after having stripped him, make a pretence of fulfilling all the formalities of justice, but always suffer it to be evaded, very indifferent as to the claims which are made on them, and which have never been attended with the smallest satisfaction.
The Portuguese have lately made a vigorous effort, which ought to be engraved on brass in the calendars of the senate. A seapoy having killed a Chinese, they shot him themselves, in presence of the mandarins, and refused to submit the decision of this affair to the judgment of the Chinese.
The senate of Macao is composed of a governor, who is president of it, and three vercadores, who audit the finances of the city, the revenues of which consist in the duties imposed on merchandize, which enters Macao in Portuguese vessels only. They are so blind to their own interest, that they will not suffer any other nation to land goods in their city, even on paying the established duties, as if they feared to increase their own revenue, and to diminish that of the Chinese at Canton.
It is certain, that if the port of Macao were made free, and the city possessed a garrison, which could secure the commercial property that might be deposited there, the revenues of the customs would be doubled, and would, without doubt, be sufficient to defray all the expences of government; but a petty individual interest is opposed to an arrangement dictated by sound policy. The viceroy of Goa fells Portuguese commissions to the merchants of different nations, who carry on commerce from one part of India to another: these same adventurers make presents to the senate of Macao, according to the importance of their expedition; and these mercantile motives form, perhaps, an invincible impediment to the establishment of a free port, which would render Macao one of the most flourishing cities in Asia, and a hundred times superior to Goa, which never will be of any service to its metropolis.
After the three vercaderes, of whom I have spoken, rank two judges of orphans, entrusted with the charge of the property of minors, the execution of testaments, the nomination of tutors and guardians, and, in general, with all discussions relative to successions; there is an appeal from their sentence to Goa.
The other civil or criminal causes are also tried, in the first instance, by two senators, named judges. The produce of the customs is received by a treasurer, who pays, under the orders of the senate, the several appointments, and different expences; this, however, must be done by order of the viceroy of Goa, if the sum exceed three thousand piasters.
The most important magistracy is that of procureur of the city. He is the medium of communication between the two governments of Portugal and China; he is answerable for all strangers who winter at Macao; receives, and transmits to their respective governments, the reciprocal complaints of the two nations, of which a register, who has not any deliberative voice, keeps a record, as well as of all the deliberations of the council. He is the only person who is not removeable from his place at pleasure; that of the governor continues three years; the other magistrates are changed every year. So frequent a renewal, contrary to every received system, has not a little contributed to the annihilation of the ancient rights of the Portuguese, and it certainly could not be continued, if the viceroy of Goa did not find his account in having a great many places to give or to sell; for the manners and customs of Asia will readily admit of this conjecture.
An appeal lies to Goa from all the decrees of the senate; the known inability of these pretended senators makes this law extremely necessary. The colleagues of the governor, who is a man of great merit, are Portuguese of Macao, very haughty, very vain, and more ignorant than our country magistrates.
This city has a very pleasant appearance. The remains of its ancient opulence are several fine houses, let out to the supercargoes of the different companies, who are obliged to pass the winter at Macao; the Chinese compelling them to quit Canton, on the departure of the last vessel belonging to their nation, and not suffering them to return thither, till the arrival of the ships from Europe in the following monsoon.
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| A localização do terreiro num desenho de James Waten 1814 |
Macao is a very agreeable residence during the winter, because the several supercargoes are generally men of distinguished merit, very well informed, and who have such considerable appointments as to enable them to keep an excellent house. The object of our mission stood so high in their estimation as to procure us, on their parts, the most flattering reception; had we possessed no other title than that of Frenchmen, we should, in a great measure, have been as orphans, the French East India company not having at that time any representative there. (...)
At this season of the year, the climate of the road of Typa is very unequal; the thermometer varies eight degrees from one day to another: almost all of us were afflicted with severe colds, attended with a fever, which gave way to the fine temperature of the island of Luconia, which we made on the 15th of February. We left Macao on the 5th, at eight o'clock in the morning, with the wind at north, which would have allowed us to pass between the islands, if I had had a pilot; but desirous of sparing this expence, which is considerable, I followed the common course, and passed to the southward of the great Ladrone. We had taken on board each frigate six Chinese sailors, to replace those whom we had the misfortune to lose at the time our boats were lost.
The situation of these people is so unhappy, that, in spite of the laws of the empire, which, on pain of death, forbid their going out of it, we could in a week have enrolled two hundred men, if we had stood in need of them.
Our observatory was erected at Macao, in the convent of the Augustins, from which we fixed the east longitude of this city at 111° 19′ 30″, from a mean between several observations of distances between the sun and moon. The motion of our time-keepers was also verified, and we found that the daily loss of one of them was 12′ 36″, a much more considerable one that what we had ever observed before this period; it is, however, necessary to observe, that during twenty-four hours, the winding up of this time-piece had been forgotten, and that having thus been stopped, the defect in the continuity of its motion had in all likelihood produced this derangement. But supposing, that till our arrival at Macao, and before the negligence of which we were guilty, the delay in this time-piece was such as we had fixed at Conception, it would then have given the longitude of Macao 113° 33′ 33″, that is to say, 2° 14′ 3″ more than it actually is, according to our lunar observations; thus the error of this time-keeper, after a ten months navigation, had been no more than forty-five leagues. (...)
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