THE REBELLION IN CHINA. SINGULAR SEIZURE OF ENGLISHMEN BY FRENCH OFFICERS. [From the Empire, July 21.]

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume IX, Issue 844, 3 September 1853, Page 3

THE REBELLION IN CHINA. SINGULAR SEIZURE OF ENGLISHMEN BY FRENCH OFFICERS. [From the Empire, July 21.]

By the arrival of the Planet, we are in receipt of intelligence of considerable interest from China, for which we are indebted to the courtesy of Messrs. Griffiths, Fanning & Co. On the departure of the Planet from Hong Kong, the latest accounts from Shanghae, (the 1 2th of April) state, that the insurgents had met with some check — that they had evacuated Cheenkiangfoo which commands the great canal, and were retreating to Nanking then in possession of the Imperial troops. It was expected that a great battle would be fought, which would in some measure be decisive. Great anxiety existed in Hong Kong as to next advices, and at Shanghae there was much alarm. At the British settlement a force had been landing and a volunteer corp3 forming. There were present four steamers and a brig of war ; two of the steamers and the brig were English vessels, the others, one French and one American, all acting in union and preserving a strict neutrality. The tea and silks in the place were being shipped off for safe custody, and trade generally was at a stand. The insurgents being in possession of the green tea district, there was little prospect of the coming crop of that description being as large as usual, and as the monied men of the country were indisposed to make the customary advances to the growers of the leaf, the supply of both descriptions of tea it was feared would be small in the new crop, and the price correspondingly enhanced. The only settlements of black tea reported were at the great price of 18 taels. Exchange, ss. to ss. Id. per cent. An extraordinary issue of the Friend of China, published on the evening of the 30th April, contains the following information of a very singular arrest of some English residents at Hong Kong by the French naval officers. We copy it entire : At about half-past nine o'clock on the evening of the 21th instant, Mr, Taylor (of Messrs. Wardley and Co.'s) and Mr. E. A. Still, were walking in the public garden, in the neighbourhood of the French flagstaff (which has lately been secured with chains instead of ropes, the stays having been cut on more than one occasion} and near which an armed guard has lately been placed. Mr. Taylor and Mr. Still walked up to the flagstaff, and examined the alterations which had been made, handling the chains, but in do respect interfering with the sentinel, or with the officer on duty on the spot. To the latter Mr. Taylor effered a cheroot, which was declined, and Mr. Taylor then enquired how long the French guard intended to remain there. Mr. Taylor and Mr. Still, who bad been by that time joined by Mr. Gifford, then sat down on one of the stone seats opposite the flagstaff, quietly conversing, until they heard a noise proceeding fiom the river, and Mr. Gifford remarked, "they are changing the guard, let us go and see." Mr. Taylor and Mr. Gifford then walked towards the river, Mr. Still following at a little distance, limping from a bad foot, with which he had been for some dayi coufined to the bouse, and which was then ban-

daged and under medical treatment. Mr, Still then saw Mr. Taylor surrounded by a party of Frenchmen, and walked up to see what was the matter, whereupon a voice exclaimed, "this is the other," and Mr. Still also was seized. Mr. Gifford, as this was taking place, was walking away, but returned again and saw bis friends bragged to the river's side. They were there made to get into a small China boat, and a voice cried out * la prise estfaite"(}\\e capture is made), and they were then transhipped into a larger boat, and taken on board a chop boat, hired by the Fremh authorities, and which has been for some time lying off the factories. Information of these circumstances having been givan to Mr. Harry Parkes, Acting British Consul, that gentleman immediately repaired on board the chop boat, and demanded the release of the •British subjects seized in this extraordinary manner. The officer declined to give them up, or give any explanation of his conduct beyond the assertion that he was acting under orders. Mr. Parkes then demanded a written explanation of what was being done, to which the officer replied he bad not pen and ink on board. Mr. Parkes sent for writing materials, and on the spot protested against the proceedings, to which the French officer declined to give any reply, but signified his intention immediately to remove his prisoners to Whampoa. Mr. Parkes then demanded to accompany his countrymen, but the officer declined to permit him to do so, saying that also was against orders. 1 hese English gentlemen, one of them an invalid, were then, under fixed bayonets, compelled to embark on board the boat of the Capricieuse, and the valorcus exploit having been performed, every Frenchman in the place immediately ran away, leaving their intruding flagstaff at the mercy of the community upon whom they had jast committed so gross an outrage. With wise forbearance the flagstaff was suffered to stand, a monument of disgrace to the nation by whom it has been so erected, and so protected ; and lest anger should get the better of discretion in the minds of some of the community, and any act should, in the course of the night, be committed upon it, which might seem to give colour or excuse to the outrage just perpetrated, a guard was set over it for the remainder of the night. Mr. Parkes, of course, at an early period demanded the assistance of Captain Blanc, of H.M. "brig Rapid, but before that officer could be found, and his boat's crew could be brought on shore, the heroes of the coup d'etat on an unarmed community bad made their escape, and with no probability of being overtaken. The steamer Cantcn however soon atter arriving, she was placed at tie disposal of Captain Blanc, who proceeded in her with his boat to demand release of the prisoners, with the inten ijn of despatching the steamer to Hong Kong with a communication to the cornroandiog officer there, in the event of his requisition not being complied with. Meanwhile, the boat of the Capricieuse, with the prisoners, was on her way to Wbampoa. hen near the barrier, the officer in charge, from ignorance of the river, steered so as to place the boat and lives of all on board in considerable danger. Mr. Taylor, observing this, pointed out the proper course, and conducted the boat safely through the dangerous passage. Mr. Taylor and Mr. Still were then taken on boad the Capricieuse, and a kind of examination took place of which it is difficult to give a report — suffice it to say, that Captain Rocquemarel declined to inform the gentlemen what was the charge against them, nor in bis presence were any witnesses examined. Mr. Still was told that he •was suspected of having cut the stays on a former occasion, and on asking "why," the reply was that he had been seen near the spot on the night when they were cut ; to which of course he answered " that might be," as he was in the habit of walking in the garden every night. Mr. Taylor was asked whether, in his opinion, the French bad a right to erect a flagstaff, to which he replied he thought it had no business where it stood. It was then demanded of him whether he considered the French had a right to defend it, to which question be declined to reply. Both gentlemen were then pressed to declare oa their honour that they had not cut the stays, nor knew who had done so, to which they also declined to give any answer. " Did you not, then, sir, stand upon the stone seat near the flagstaff?" " No," said Mr. Taylor, "No ! I sat upon it." Then you are free, observed the Captain. The gentlemen then remarked they supposed they were acquitted, and they were told they were so ; and then, that they presumed therefore they had been unjustly arrested, to which, however, the only reply that could be obained was that they were free ; but a polite offer was made "to show them the vessel !" Our friends, however, having bad quite enough of the Capricieuse, requested instead a 'boat to restore them to the homes from which they had been so unceremoniously dragged. The demand was complied with, but the progress made was so slow that when abreast of Mr. Hunt's Chop the gentlemen begged to be put on board there, and, hiring a China boat, arrived in Canton about nine o'clock on Friday morning. On the arrival of Captain Blanc and Mr. Parkes at Wbampoa, of course they found that the prisoners had been released. On demanding .explanation and apology, Capt. Rocquemarel, it is said, replied that the officer bad acted hastily, imprudently, but, as he was under orders, not hlameably ; and, in. reply to the remonstrance made by Mr. Parkes as to the gravest portion of the offence committed — the slight to the Consular authority — merely remarked that in that respect the officer had acted according to orders, for that he could not ttust the adjudication of so grave a matter to any one but himself. Another gentleman writes :—: — , " The Captain of the Rapid, and the Consul, it is understood, got little satisfaction : — the French Commodore regretted the circumstances, admitted bis sub had acted hastily, but declined to reprehend him for his indiscretion as he had acted under orders!! Who is it that keeps giving these orders to violate all social rights, and' shields from reprimand under the plea that •following- instructions is no crime?' Who is Mr. Bourboulon — who is Commodore Rtcqueluarel; — that they a»e to be relieved of responsibilities which other men in their senses dare not assume ? An individual acting as their subordinate, has, under the shelter of 'instructions,' done that for which he should be tried as a felon. • What right have the members of the French Legation to give instructions to invide private property, on neutral ground — to kidnap individuals peaceably engaged there, and to snub the

official representative of their country who claims their release, without being called to account for it ? Martial law may be very gratifying to the subjects of the present dynasty of usurpation id France, but citizens of Free States, where civilised rights are respected, are not accustomed to such a state of thiogs ; and it is hoped the representatives of Great Britain in China will take this opportunity of telling the Minister of the grand nation, that the persons of British subjects must be held inviolate, and that British authorities will not allow their prerogatives to be usurped by an armed banditti of any other nation." There 13 a good deal of excitement still, and there is to be a meeting in the morning, to give expression to the general feeling on the subject. It is high tirae other foreign authority interfered to have these armed men removed so as to avoid bloodshed. One gentleman (Mr. P. Ryrie) was charged with bayonets, and slightly wounded, for meiely asking " why his friends were arrested." This Imperial blockhead (Bourboulou) should be obliged either to prove his right to his putting his Flag-staff where it is, or forced to remove it at ouce.