CHINA.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VII, Issue 467, 25 April 1857, Page 5

CHINA.

We find in the Melbourne papers news from Olrina to January'22nd. It is, as will be seen, anything but satisfactory.

WHOLESALE POISONING,

We find the following in the ' Friend of China' of the 15th of January : —

A diabolical attempt was made this morning to poison the foreign.residents in Hong Kong, by means of arsenic in the bread issued from the principal bakery in the colony. The firm is known by the title of ." Essing," the proprietor being a well= known comprador named A-him, long ' resident' here. The sufferings of many who partook of the bread have been severe ; but the quantity of poison mixed with the flour seems to have been too small for the purpose intended, and we are happy to say. we have not heard of a single fatal,case. The circumstances of A-lum having settled many of his outstanding accounts yesterday, and taken his departure for Macao with his family this morning before his customers' breakfast hour, when discovery and his consequent apprehension would have been certain, has.afforded strong reasons for believing that the act was performed with his cognizance and sanction, if not by his express orders; and the 1 Queen' has been despatched to Macao in search of him. . , PROGRESS OF THE WAR.In the same journal we find the following report of the progress 0f hostilities up to that period :— We have nothing to record that contains promise of a speedy termination!] of our troubles at Canton. The burning of the foreign factories on the 14th December has been followed up by various acts and demonstrations, all showing that the quarre} gains both in depth and breadth the longer it endures. The capture of tfte little steamer Thistle, and murder of alTon board, the placards and proclamations of the neighbouring districts, the pursuit of the steamer Fei Ma, and the formidable attack of alarge 'jnnk fleet [upon the powerful steam squadron before" Ganton,details of which we give elsewhere,all prove the increasing hardihoodof the enemy, and induce the conclusion that, if our present means are thoroughly equal to the maintenance of our present position at Canton, they are, at least, insufficient to the attainment of the end originally proposed. Nothing can be clearer at the same time, than that to halt now would be to jeapordise not oiily our own interests in .tup south, but the interests of every1 country trading with China at every point to which we have access. In the course of threi months, the; lbcaV governmentl hae= been able to stimulate1 the

anti-barbarian prejudices of the pnpulation around us, that the intercourse between the mainland and this colony may be said to have been all but snspended, while a number of respectable Chinese, directly and indirectly dependent upon us, have been scared home, lest their' apparent attachment ttf the foreigner should involve their friends and relations; such, implication being in China the most common consequence of dissatisfaction established or suspected.

The local alarm' reported elsewhere' has by no means subsided ; and it is no good omen' that many of the Chinese shopkeepers are removing the most valuable portion of their effects ; yet, except from fires, the acts of incendiaries,-we see little cause for fear. Against them precautions are at length* being taken r in the removal of mat sheds, and especially of some highly dangerous ones, used for the storage of spirits, pitch, tar, oakum, and other ship storesj in the neighbourhood of the Harbour Master's Wharf. These are now partially removed, and just in time, as an attempt was made on Tuesday night to set them on fire by means of a lighted joss stick and a train ofgunp-jwder leading along the top of the mats. The gunpowder exploded^ without doing any damage ;■ but had the shed once; taken fire, it must have • communicated with theothers, and probably the whole range of houses betwixt Pedder's Wharf and the Bank would have been destroyed; for the quantity of combustibles Stored therein is immense, and there is no saying where the fire would-have stopped.

i The G ivernrnent is taking every precaution for i the prevention ol fire aud for calming, the minds'of such of the Chinese as are determined to remain in the colony- In this they are receiving the most i cordial assistance from Admiral" Guerin and Colonel < Armstrongs—who, it is said, have again, and in 'Stronger terms than before, protested against the [barbarous mdnner'i'ti* which Yeh has thought ; fit to carry' on the war, by the kidnapping and murdering of private individuals, and by offering rewards for the heads of foreigners. The Commodore doubtless has been in some measure urged to this by the "murder of one of his marines on Friday night last, off the U. S. naval, stores." A- man was there seen from* the shore struggling in the water, and beiiig forced under by some Chinese sampan men with bamboos,-but the boats at the wharf shoved off, and refused' to proceed to his assistance; the marine, an Irishman, was missed that night, and has not been heard of since. Another murder is supposed to have been committed upon a Lascar sailor; the man might haye1 been set down as 1 a deserter, but that his brother is in the colony and has been unable to learn what Mas become of him, while the Chinese have, a story current among them of a colored-man having been killed and decapitated somewhere at the back' of Taiping-shan; The rumor may be without foundation, still such a rumor exists. THE POISONING IN HONG KONG. The ' China Mail' of the 22nd Jauuary furnishes the following particulars : — A-lum, of the Essing-shop,. has been brought over from Mhcao, and with his employees has undergone an investigation before the magistrates. He, his father, and eight others have been committed for trial at the.Criminal Sessions of the Supreme uourt, to be held on the 29th instant, charged with a commission to po>on the community, while all the others fonnd on his premises are threatened with deportation. Of the man's guilt or innocence nooue, leastof all the editor of a newspaper, ought publicly to express an opinion before the -trial', and we therefore refrain from doing so, or from publishing any statement for or against him, further than to contranict one false report which has found its way into print, viz., that A-lum was detained on board ths , Shamrock' at Macao until the arrival of the Spark. It is to be regretted that A-lum'e two foremen have escaped, the 1,000 dollars reward offered by Government may, however, lead to their apprehension. We doubt if all that is now needful to restore animation to commerce, and to guarantee the future security of trade, property, and life itself, can he effected by a naval force alone. We have seen that we may shell, burn, and destroy, with little result except an increase 6f boldness and pertinacity on the part of bur foe. Our navy may yet inflict a blow that will stay his action for a moment, but the city has yet to "be taken/ or the Canton-man is not beaten ; and until he be, we are still to him (and to all China) that inferior thing,'the barbarian trader, always uncivilised, and now deprived of trade by him, the Canton-man, whom the trader has neyer been able to beat. It will be with no usual rejoicing, that we shall hail the arrival of an adequate niijitary force P.S.—Since the above was in type, the Fei-Ma has arrived with intelligence of the Admiral haying landed a body of men and fired the suburbs, and that a great portion of them, estimated at from 2,000.t0 3,0 n0 houses, had been destroyed ; that the rebel fleet at Whampoa had joined the imperialists; and than the Admiral has withdrawn the Sybil!* from Whampoa. All the chpps, including that of British Vice-Counsul, left that place ye-terday morning lor Hongkong; and the Spanish steamer Jorge- Juanin tow ofthe Scipiori' for Macpa; s 0

exists,

ab that thete is rtbw1 iiot * vessel of ifiy description at Whampoa, if we except a few deserted chops, which' probably before tKis, have Berved as food for the flames. . ,