Lin, on the other hand, had never dared to report to his master the full extent of the information which was given to him, though he was fully prepared to adopt every advice which tended to obstruct the commerce of England, and impede an amicable settlement of the difficulties. Such truths are always hard to bear, and harder to believe, and were consequently _not_ believed, _because_ they were true. But Keshen did his best to improve his weapons; he sent for a founder of cannon, who gave him a new model, and undertook to make some experimental pieces. Yet it did not escape Keshen that, even if he succeeded in casting good cannon, he could only do so as a preparation _for the future_. "They could not be ready," says he, "for the business we have now in hand. These are the proofs," he adds, "of the inefficiency of our military armament, which is such _that no reliance can be placed upon it_." He proceeded to say that it would be necessary to employ a naval as well as a land force to defend the Bogue, but then threw out a suspicion that the seamen were not to be depended on, for that "he had heard a report that, after the battle of Chuenpee, these men all went to their commander, or Tetuh, and demanded money of him, threatening that they would otherwise disperse; and he had, therefore, personally made inquiry into the matter, and found that the report was perfectly true, and, moreover, that the Tetuh, having no other remedy, (evidently the pay was in arrear,) was obliged to _pawn his own clothes and other things_, by which means he was enabled to give each of them a bonus of two dollars, and thus only could he get them to remain for a time at their posts."[25] Moreover, he added, "our ships of war are not large and strong, and it is difficult to mount heavy guns upon them. Hence it is evident that our force here, (he was writing at the Bogue,) as a guard and defence against the foreigners, is insufficient." Keshen next remarked upon the character of the people of the province. "Your slave has found them ungrateful and avaricious. Of those who are actual traitors it is unnecessary to say anything. But the rest are accustomed to see the foreigners day by day, and intimacy has grown up between them." And he proceeds to contrast them very unfavourably with the people of Chusan, "who felt at once that the foreigners were of _another race_."[26] Keshen then appealed to the history of the past, and made particular allusion to the difficulty which had formerly been experienced, in overcoming even the pirates upon the coast, who were at length only reduced to submission by a promise of security upon condition of laying down their arms.[27] Finally he expressed great fear, that if he gave battle, he would be unable to command a victory, and, in that case, the dignity of the empire would be sullied, and the lives of the people sacrificed.