CHINA.

Lyttelton Times, Volume IV, Issue 163, 18 February 1854, Page 9

CHINA.

A review of a French work in the Times, entitled, I?lnsurrection en Chine depuis son Origine jusquil la Prise de Nankin par MM. Cattery et Yvan, affords some characteristic traits of the war. We quote a couple of extracts :-— " An Imperial force," we are told, " of 13,000 men was despatched to Kouang-Si to make mincemeat of the rebels, and to break up the conspiracy for ever. But the attempt, as usual, failed. Half the army was slain, and the other half prudently went over to the enemy. Seu, the discreet Governor-General of the two Kouangs, always shut up behind the thick walls of Kao-tcheou, and never disheartened so long as his own person was secure, swore by his slender moustache that he would be revenged for this last audacious act of the insurgents, and proceeded at once to make good his terrible oath. He had recourse to stratagem. By his orders 4,000 buffaloes were got together, and twice as many torches attached to their long horns. The herd was placed under the charge of 4,000 soldiers, and the expedition, prepared with the utmost secrecy, set out one nisrh* *a the direction of the rebel earn p.— According to the plan laid down, every buffalo, transformed for the occasion into a fiery chariot, was to make frightful ravages wherever it appeared, to kill every man within reach, and to set fire to the camp. The horned battalions advanced without obstacle; the insurgents, apprised of their intended visitors, allowed them quietly to defile. But the Imperials were not vouchsafed so honourable a reception. By favour of the illumination they had themselves provided, their movements were well/noted long before they reached the camp. When they reached it, the old scenes of carnage #ere played over again. Almost every soul was slain, as every buffalo had been captured. Not the least singular part of the story is, that notwithstanding the double loss of men and beasts, the stratagem was regarded by the Chinese authorities as a splendid stroke "of military genius, and worthy , of a nobler fate. There exists in China a wonderful treatise on the art of war in twenty-four volumes, and the sagacious Seu had found, no doubt, time to study it in his well fortified citadel. This unequalled work is forbidden to all civil mandarins below the third degree, and to all military mandarins below the fourth. To civilians generally it is a sealed book. No library may possess more than one copy at a time, and the name of all purchasers must be strictly registered." The following gives a nearer description of Nankin than we have hitherto enjoyed:— " The city of Nankin, which contains more than half a million souls, was, under the Mings, the capital of all China. Its walls surround a city three times as large as Paris, but in the midst of its deserted streets are found ploughed, fields, and grass grows on the quays, which formerly boasted a triple line of ships. Nankin is situated in an immense plain, furrowed by innumerable canals. The fertile districts in its neighbourhood show v network of rivulets and navigable watercourses, and its own banks are planted -with willows and bamboos. In the province of Nankin grows the yellow cotton, from which is made the material exported once in such large quantities to Europe. There, also, is raised the greater part of the rice consumed in the empire. Kiang-nan is certainly the brightest gem in the Imperial diadem. And well it may be, since its fnutfulness is beyond, belief. In Europe fertility is barrenness compared with it. Twice every year the fields of Kiang-nan are covered with crops, and fusils aiid vegetables grow uninterruptedly. Nankin

itself is built in the water. It. is a city like Rotterdam, surrounded by fertile marshes and waters abounding with fish. It has lost much of its former splendour; indeed, it looks like a village, notwithstanding- its 500,000 inhabitants, when compared with the enormous enclosure in which it stands. But narrow as it has become, it is still the city of learning and of pleasure. Tn a Chinese, according to our French authorities, nothing is beautiful, nothing is good, nothing is graceful, or in good taste, which does not proceed from Nankin or Sou-tcheou-Fuo. Fashion in the Celestial Empire attaches itself to one of these two schools. As to Pekin, its voice goes for nothing in matters of taste. It has the simple monopoly of ennui. In Nankin reside the litterateurs, the learned, the dancers, the painters, the archaeologists, the jugglers, the doctors, and the most famous courtesans. In the fascinating city there are schools of science, and art, and pleasure —pleasure itself with a Chinese being both an art and a science. Kiang-nnn is, in fact, the Italy of China; and some portion of the year must be passed by the luxurious Chinese in Nankin, where poetry and love constitute the business of their daily lives. The daughters of Nankin are educated to please. Sometimes they are sold, as elsewhere, to rich Mandarins;at others, they are sent freely into the world, with their fine forms and exquisite talents, to become the happiest women in China, but they are also the most pleasing." .Such, according to MM. Callevy and Yvan, are some of the attractions of the renowned Nankin, where they allege that the victorious rebels may find accomplices, bnt never gain adherents, for adherents to an insurrectionary movement spring not from the silken lap of luxury, but from the gaunt bosom of privation and want.