CHINA. [From the Sydney Morning Herald.]

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VIII, Issue 742, 11 September 1852, Page 3

CHINA. [From the Sydney Morning Herald. ]

We have received, via San Francisco, highly important intelligence from China. Premising that Mr. Bowring, her Majesty's Plenipotentiary and Superintendent of the Trade of British subjects in China, had entered upon the duties of his office on" the 1 lth April last, we invite .attention to the following exti act, whereby it will be seen that < the Imperial Government of the Celestial Empire had formally solicited the aid of Great Britain to subjugate its rebellious subjects, and that the insurrection had become so formidable, that Canton itself was threatened. " The'rebels have taken possession of a walled, town near Canton, and now threaten an attack upon the city itself. The remarks of the Friend of China show that the call will be readily responded to, and indicate that our far-seeing

rivals, will not permit the opportunity to pass without securing a still stronger footing and still greater privileges in China. It is not generally known, and hitherto every attempt has been made by the Government of Canton to keep the matter secret, that the troops levied by Seu to repel the insurgents in Kwangsi, being unable to obtain arrears of pay, have deserted An large companies, and that a body, said to number 18,000, have taken possession of a walled town at no great distance from Canton, whore, and in all the surrounding district, the utmost severities are practised on the unoffending residents. In this predicament, and hearing that, having possession of a number of salt and other boats, the unbridled mob threatened an attack on Canton itself, Yeh, the governor, at his wit's end, is now meditating an application to the British Government for assistance, — and thus commences a beginning of the end. Without such assistance, however, (says the Friend,) we see not how matters are to progress with safety to British interests in this country. When it comes to the preservation of life, to the repression of an insubordinate multitude, and the guarding of our trade, there cannot certainly be a question as to the propriety of lending the existing, though effete Government such assistance as it may be in our power to afford."