However,
they acknowledged that they had been treated by the Commodore much better
than they believed they should have treated him had he fallen into their
hands. This confession from an enemy had great weight with the Chinese,
who till then, though they had revered the Commodore's power, had yet
suspected his morals, and had considered him rather as a lawless free
booter than as one commissioned by the State for revenge of public
injuries. But they now changed their opinion, and regarded him as a more
important person, to which perhaps the vast treasure of his prize might
not a little contribute, the acquisition of wealth being a matter greatly
adapted to the estimation and reverence of the Chinese nation.
In this examination of the Spanish prisoners, though the Chinese had no
reason in the main to doubt the account which was given them, yet there
were two circumstances which appeared to them so singular as to deserve a
more ample explanation. One of them was the great disproportion of men
between the Centurion and the galleon, the other was the humanity with
which the people of the galleon were treated after they were taken. The
mandarins therefore asked the Spaniards how they came to be overpowered
by so inferior a force, and how it happened, since the two nations were
at war, that they were not put to death when they came into the hands of
the English. To the first of these enquiries the Spanish replied that
though they had more hands than the Centurion, yet she, being intended
solely for war, had a great superiority in the size of her guns, and in
many other articles, over the galleon, which was a vessel fitted out
principally for traffic.
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