English and Foreign.

Lyttelton Times, Volume IX, Issue 557, 6 March 1858, Page 3

English and Foreign.

CHINA

I By way of Sydney we have news from Hong Kong to the 4th of November. J The « Friend of China' of that date I says;—-Governor General Yeh has left J Canton, with all the troops at his eom- | mand, to fight the rebels about Shaou- | hing;—and that is the last we shall hear ** of Yeh- When, Seu left on a similar j expedition, our .prediction regarding him 3 proved correct, it will be remembered—he i never returned! I In the same journal, on the 28th of i October, it is stated that the Mandarins I of Canton have sent messengers to every | place to press junks into their service for I the; purpose of'carrying soldiers to guard | and defend. The passage boats between I this and Canton and every description of ! junk met with are equally thus pressed •" into ; the service. Alas! ; these grasping Mandarins in peaceful times were unwilling to prepare men of war against the time of need, and now they oppress the people by seizing their vessels and thus using them. j As to these fighting vessels—many go [ forth; but few return, and as for requiting* | for the vessels thus used and destroyed, [ not & single fun or le (penny or farthing) ! is refunded, causing the owners to tung- | hun (curse and swear). The Canton ManI darins have sent workmen to Fat-shan to | haste on the preparation of fast craft for | the conveyance of soldiers, who are now i collecting in the Toong-koon, Heang-san, 1 and Sun-oey districts, to be conveyed in | said, vessels westward for guard and dej fence. Men's hearts are ; fearful; few are \ willing.to go. If any go it is without counting the cost, and as soon as they do they; just retreat without orders. At the present time the province of Kwang-tung is invested on the north-west by the Hung rebels, on the south by the Hakahs, and in the Canton river by the English navy. The Kwang-si province adjoining on the west has become the Hung's! the Kiangsi province adjoining on the north east also; belongs to the. Nanking party; and districts of the Kwang-tung province, both at a distance and near at hand, are without the means of protection and salvation,''; If Canton is hot lost this year, to the Hungs, it will fall to the foreigners..: These bloody-minded covetous Mandarins have executed" many innocent persons, and incurred the displeasure of God above. Their r punishment lingereth not, but will be upon them before many days. In speaking of the disorders of the provinces of China (says the /Friend,) there are twelve now disturbed, viz., Kwang-tungiand-Kwang-si, in the south; Kiangsi and Kiang-nan, central; Hoon-nan and Hpo-pek, lying west.of the last two; Hokkeen : and ;; Shan-tung, on the eastern coast;: Hoo-nan and An-wui; Kiang-soo and Kwe-chow, in all twelve; and although; not entirely lost to the Empire yet, still the greater portion of them have been captured by insurgents, and. thrown into.disorder, leaving about six exempt. It is csrtain that the Manchu dynasty cannot calculate.on continuing. The Hungs will not be put down, but will hereafter be able to establish themselves, and to govern the disorders; in China.

Recently a gent'eman came to Hongkong from among the Kwangsi red turban rebels, stating that the, five divisions of the rebel soldiery. there numbered more, than 80 mann, 800J000, each division, amounting .to a hundred and fifty or sixty thousand. The division which took Ungchow, Fung.chuen, Tuck-heng, and Seuheng (?).has now become connected with the northern rebels ] at Che-soy, so. at present this division amounts to more than two hundred thousand. Also, in the northern parts of Kwaug r tun, the two Chiefs Chun and Lem. have taken the two district capitals of KwaugMiung and Y-chap. The soldiers are rampant and ferocious, and wherever, ; they make their appearance among the villages and towns they hoist a red flag to which the people assemble. The whole of the north-western part of; the province of Kwang-tung now be lu''/fl?s| to,;tfcredsV; ' • ;j^t Our reporter tells us, observes jfifd j ' Friend of China,' that there is a mannowj in Honglcbng, who is cognisant of all the' parti^Msjjfs of the siege and capture of the district city of Ungchow.- His tale is as follows :~tJngchow is takqn, and the red turbanned rebels, over a hundred thousand' in number, in junks on; the r^yer, and shore, cover an area of a hundred fe" (.33. miles) in extent. TJngchow is situated on a hill skirted by the river'; but thoiigh so clqse to the water the, inhabitants and garrison, more than. a hundred thousand in all, suf- i

fered much from thirst, being prevented by the rebels from helping themselves. The public granaries were soon empty, when the Mandarins levied contributions of twenty-five per cent, on private stocks. Tbis: did not last long, and then they slaughtered the army horses and animals of all kinds. From this varied with the skins of nuts from which oil! has been expressed, paddy huski, &c, they went to stripping boxes of leather and boiling it, and at last they took to cooking the bodies of those who were starved to death—some, rather, than partake of this mess, chewing rags, paper, &c, &c. A peck of rice would fetch its weight in silver. After four months of these horrors, the rebels made an assault on the east gate, and, once within, the garrison fled at the west; only, however, to meet death on the spears of the besiegers—not one in ten escaping. It was from, a man who had escaped to Shaoug hing-foo that the party who has reached Hongkong received the stpry now given. Yeh and his coadjutors at Canton are said to be much troubled at ,these painful reports; and hold meetings in the city daily to devise plans to ward off the evils staring them in the face. Soldiers are obtained with difficulty, and junks for the public service have to be pressed from . their owners. The whole of the surrounding districts are called on to supply soldiers. The 'Friend' thus eulogises Admiral Seymour :—" One of the excellent features in the Admiral's character is his evident willingness to follow out practical suggestions whether made through the medium of the press or in any other way. This is the more striking, perhaps, from its beingin such contrast with the conduct of our local government, who, so far as we can see, have a rule amongst themselves to ignore everything that does not originate with their own body." It had been suggested by that journal that gun-boats might be advantageously employed in scouring the great net-work of rivers creeks and canals around Canton. The hint was taken, and the ' China Mail' thus tells of one of the excursions, through a correspondent in the suite of Commodore Elliott: —"We have just completed a successful survey of some of the inner waters in the neighbourhood of the Canton river. On Wednesday, the 14th of October, Commodore Elliott left the main river with the gun-boats Opossum, Plover, and Staunch, and proceeded towards Shawan. No junks being found in this place, he then proceeded on to Ch'an-ts'un, where there we're found some four or five Mandarin junks, which were broug-ht out and burnt. The gun-boats anchored in the neighbourhood of this town for the first time. The next day starting- at daylight, the expedition started towards Shum-tak and Tan-chow, and then passed on towards the supposed position of Kow Kong on the.great west river; one Mandarin's fast boat (Feihai-sun) was destroyed, having failed in the attempt to escape from the steamers. The second night's anchorage was about four miles below Kow Kong. On the following day we entered the broad stream of the west river, and, keeping the district of Sun-ui on the left hand, we proceeded in a N.E. direction towards Sam Shui. Arriving at the canal which connects the west and north rivers, the gun boats boldly pushed through, being excited by a spirited chase after a large war junk which was at last run down and burnt in the canal. She carried a very heavy armament; her bow Igun being 50 cwt. We then entered the north river, and came in sight of the city ■of Sam Shui. The Commodore now determined to find his way down to Macao; ;and, accordingly, returned to Kow Kong: !we diverged from our former course, land kept a more southerly direction toIwards Kong Moon. Arriving off this Iplace, we found a g-reat number of larg-e War junks, which were burnt. A fort lopening fire on us, the fire was returned, ■and, by the bursting of a shell in the midIdle of it, all further opposition was prevented. We then advanced towards Macao, idestrbyihg- six Mandarin boats on our way, land after a six days', cruise safely arrived jatthat place."....