CHINA.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume II, Issue 59, 14 August 1862, Page 6 (Supplement)

CHINA.

IMPORTANT DEFEAT OF THE REBELS. CAPTURE OF NING-PO AND TSINGPOO BY THE ALLIED TROOPS. DEATH OF THE FRENCH ADMIRAL. "We (Melbourne Leader) have our dates from Hong Kong by the Madras to the 3rd ult. The intelligence is of an unusually important character. In consequence of the repeated insults and attacks of the rebels, the allied troops had been obliged to interfere, and had beaten the former, and recaptured Ningpo and Tsingpoo, and restored them to the Imperialists. The French admiral, Protet, was killed in an attack upon Shanghai, and and Lieutenant Cornewall, of H.M.S. Encounter, fell in storming Ningpo. Matters look very serious at Shanghai, and the Colombo Observer thinks it probable that a requisition has been made on India for troops. The China Mail of the 27th of May, says : —“The principal event during the last fortnight has been the fall of Ningpo to the allied arms, after an occupation of live months by the Taeping rebels. Apart from the immediate provocation which led to the city of Ningpo being taken by the Allies, its existence as a rebel port was threatening to counteract the operations going on against the Taepings in the vicinity of Shanghai. Considerable quantities of arms and ammunition were being consigned to an English firm there for the use of the rebels, a fact not to be contemplated without regret by our authorities in the Yang-tsze river. The firm of Davidson & Co., represented at Ningpo by Mr. William Davidson, may possibly have viewed the present political crisis in China, as demanding the most active measures in support of the rebels: and without any ulterior view to gain, may have procured the large Cargoes of arms and ammunition lor their use, one of which has just been seized and sent to Shanghai. This was cargo which arrived in the Paragon, from Singapore, under British colors, with a manifest that described her cargo as ‘general.’ Desirous that the word used in the manifest should be properly interpreted, the Paragon was searched, and lound to be nearly filled with guns, powder, and shot, amounting to, it is said, 300 cannon, 100 cases of email arms, and 50 tons of ammunition, the whole valued at §BO,OOO. COMMENCEMENT OP HOSTILITIES AND FALL OF Ningfo. —The train of incidents which immediately led to the late hostilities was this;—Some blackguard Europeans sent into the country for the rebel chief, Fan, to return to his post at Ningpo, despatching for his use, a house-boat, replete with European comforts. Fan duly arrived to the delight of his people, who gave him a salute of honor; but the guns were shotted, and some people on our side of the river were killed. At the same time the rebels continued to amuse their leisure by firing in the direction of H.M.S. Ringdove. Mr. Consul Frederick Harvey, whose energy and discretion at Ningpo trom first to last are beyond all praise, took steps to put a stop to this, in consequence of which the Encounter arrived with demands from the Admirals for an ample apology, and the removal of the offending battery. These demands were sneered at. The rebels said they did not fear us ; we might come on when wo liked ; we should soon find out which was the cock and which was the hen. Meantime a body of Imperialists, after taking Chin-hae, advanced up to Ningpo with the view of besieging and assaulting it. The rebels were told that we should certainly not interfere, so long as they did not fire on us. On Saturday, the luth mst., at 10 a.ra., without the slightest provocation they sent a volley of musketry into the Encounter. This was the signal for a general action, and shot and shell were poured into the city for 5 hours. After this the walls were scaled and the city taken. So Ningpo becomes again a consular port, to the great sorrow of dealers in arms, and it is said, of foreign missionaries. Poor Lieutenant Cornewall of the Encounter, who was the first to scale the walls, was shot dead by English arms and bullets ; and at his funeral one of the rebel chiefs, called Luh-sin-lan, who was rescued by the missionaries, came to the ceremony under their auspices. Mr. Consul Harvey, on seeing this worthy in the cemetery at the funeral of one of her Majesty’s officers just killed by the rebels, said, “ Why ? * What’s this ? That scoundrel Luh-sin-lan at this funeral!” “Yes, poor dear fellow!” said a missionary in reply. Capt. Dew, on his attention being called to Lnh-siu-lan's presence, under the chaperonago of his friends, the missionaries, was disgusted beyond speech. Attack on Shanghai. —From Shanghai, we learn that Admiral Portet died on Sunday morning, the 18th., from the effects of wounds received the previous day. This seems to imply an encounter with the rebels on the 17th, of which only rumours have reached us ; the Admiral is said to have attacked a stronghold of rebels on the Pootung side of the river and received the fatal wound as he was leading a body of four hundred marines. The place was ultimately taken. The Admiral died shortly after being shot; his body was brought

to Shanghai in the Feeloong, H.I.M. despatch steamer. The last fight of which we have accounts was at Tsingpoo, a walled city twenty-five miles from Shanghai, which the Allies took before breakfast on the morning of the 12lh instant, after two hours’ hard firing with various descriptions of artillery, including Armstrong guns. The quantity of loot has been kept a secret this time owing, no doubt, to our remarks of last fortnight but wo understand it has been taken in charge in the usual manner by a committee appointed for the purpose. The loss, as usual, has been trifling, not worth enumerating, evidently, for it is not alluded to in the accounts of the affair. The usual gaiety prevailed among those engaged in the capture ; the chief difficulty appears to have consisted in moving ordnance up to the scene of action but it was most creditably surmounted by the exertions of all concerned. Captain Bradshaw, of the Royal Artillery, died, we are sorry to report, on his way back to Shanghai; he had previously been reported sick. The Admiral accompanied the expedition, having recovered from the effects of a wound received at Lukakong. It must be confessed that our operations against the Teepings are being conducted with eminent vigour and success. As we feared, and deprecated a fortnight ago, a suggestion has been made by the press in Shanghai that these proceedings should be made the ground for new demands on the Imperial Government. The only demands likely to be made at present are that the great body of people who have been seduced or compelled into this revolt should be invited to return to their allegiance by offers of a general pardon.