CHINA IN 1801.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 50, 13 January 1862, Page 1 (Supplement)

CHINA IN 1801.

(From the Madras Athenevm and Statesman,

October 3.)

The Emperor of China is dead. The celestial dvaeo.i has borne away the son and successor of Tuow Kwang to join his illustrious ancestors. Ten years of ignorant seclusion in 11 royal palace, with" rebellion, anarchy, and foreign invasion raging without, but with none to furnish the secluded sovereign with real information concerning the true state of affairs, we can readily understand tliat the shock he received hist year on the advance ofthe allied forces to Pekin, his own hurried flight into Tartary, and the plunder of his palace anil ruthless exposure of its inmost recesses, must alone have been sufficient to inflict a fatal blow. Under such circumstances indeed death must have been almost a welcome visitant ; and, just as some of the old Hindoo Rajahs immolated thcmsclvss on a pile after defeat and disgrace, so we might almost imagine that an Emperor of China overwhelmed by the sudden disclosuro of the appalling state of public affairs would glaelly turn away from a future existence in this world which could no longer present any charms for liim, and turn a longing eye on the new and therefore not unwelcome life beyond tbe grave.

The death ofthe late Emperor—the seventh of that Mantcboo dynasty, wliich has now lasted rather more than two centuries, occurs at an important crisis in the history of the Chinese Empire ; and, by a singular coincidence, the telegram announcing his decease was precedeel by the arrival of a mail bringing us official information of an exploring expedition undertaken within tbe present year into the very heart of the Chinese Empire to witliin a comparatively short distance of the western frontier.

It left Shanghai in February last, with the intention of passing up the great river Yang-tze-kiang as nearly as possible to one of its sources ; and then to pass over the Himalayas and into the plains cf Hindustan. The wretched state of the western portion of the Chinese Empire rendered it impossible to complete this design ; and the expedition after making its way up the great river to a place called Pin-shan, about 1800 mill s from Shanghai, was compelled to return down the river the way it came. But, notwithstanding this disappointment, Colonel Sard's expedition has passed through a large tract of country hitherto wholly unexplored by the European ; and, consequently, the publication of his notes has added largely to our stock of geographical knowledge.

Judging from its national advantages, China ought to be one of the most flourishing countries in the world. Colonel Sard assures us that the river Yang-tze-kiang is navigable throughout the whole course traversed by the explorers, a distance of something like 1800 miles ; and of this distance the first 1100 miles are navigable by steamers. The explorers met many boats coming from the west with cargoes of coke and coal; a circumstance that would suggest at once the ease with which a steam navigation might be opened. At the same time a considerable trade was going on in cotton and other articles. Poppy and tobacco were grown everywhere, anel gold was found in the stream.

As - Colonel Sard's epxedition proceeded farther and farther from the coast, it was found that terror of the rebels was greatly increased. At Ping-shan, tlie farthest point of the river reached by the expedition' the Prefect, after behaving very civilly, and promising them every assistance, still assured them that tlie rebels were in the neighbourhood, and advised them to leave the place. That very night the rebels made an extraordinary attack upon the town by candle-light. The walls were illuminated, and every rebel carrieel a lantern ; b»t the fighting appears to have been confincel to distant firing and shouting, and was said to have proved not very severe. However, there was no going any farther. No amount of pay would induce- any of the people to venture into a district overrun by rebels ; anel, as no boats ascended the river beyond Ping-shan, Colonel Sard and his party were unable to pay a visit to the country of tho Maoutse or independent tribes of the wesli-rn frontier. A chief of these tribes, however, with some of his followers, paid a visit to the 'I'xplorers, and were very friendly, and exchanged presents of knives and wine. They are ilc.se -ibed as being a totally different race to the Chinese, inasmuch as their faces were open and honest, whilst those, of the Chinese forces cert linly were not. They called themselves "black b ii-barians," and repeatedly said tbey were not civilized men. They stated that none of their p ople could read or write ; that they possessed horses and cattle in their own country; and that thei only crop was Indian corn.

The general condition of the Chinese Empire, as gathi-ied from Colonel Sard's notes, is certainly not very flattering. Those people are the best, off who combine together to resist the rebels. The Imp-■; ial forces are worse than useless, for whenever they are in the field they plunder the peojde just a.< much as the rebels.

It is worthy of remark that the character of the late Emperor shows that he belonged to a type not uncommon to a declining dynasty. Shortly after his accession he was described by Gutzhiff as sedate and pensive, fond of pageantry anel pomp, and 1 N-ccidiiigly superstitious. "He constantly repaiis to the temples, consults the idols, sacrificas in person, aud never undertakes to perform a single important act without obtaining encouragement from some image or other. All parties are agreed that he possesses little understanding, and that he is rather a child of circumstances than of foi--. thought."

Such then is the condition of China in this year 1861, when the Emperor lias been summoned to the celestial abodes, anel when a new aud apparently infant sovereign is about to ascend the throne of Pekin. The Mantchoo dynasty is evidently doomed. It has exactly reached the same stage of decline as was attained by the Mogul empire in this country rather more than a ccntuvy ago. Then the Mnhrattns and AfFghans were to the Emperors of Delhi just what the Taeping rebels and robbers have been to the poor ancl iiuorant Emperor at Pekin. The appearance of the English at Pekin was virtually the signal that the Mantchoo dynasty bud but a few years tb live, and that then "it would cease to be. Crumbling to pieces within, and assailed from without, nothing seems to have held it together hitherto but that wonderful system of routine, by which some empires have continued to struggle on long after they have to all intent.-- and purposes become politically dead. AVhat will be tbe future destinies of China remains to be seen ; whether hki Turkey it will be occasionally galvanised hv the AVestern Powcis,' in order to prevent it from fulling into the hands of cither, or whether during some European war it may fall a prey to some artful ai.d prompt conqueror, is a point upon which no doubt some difference of opinion may prevail.