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This was very amusing, but it made the prospect of entering the city on the following day more dangerous than ever. In the morning the Governor sent to say that they could not come to see him as there was a plot to murder them when they landed or in their junk, and the Roman Catholic missionary sent them similar intelligence. But Captain Blakiston and his comrades do not seem to have been easily intimidated. They at once fortified the junks, and sent a fresh demand for the sedan chairs and escort. At length the chairs and warriors came, and strongly armed, the captain and two comrades, with one Seikh, proceeded to pay their visits. The town was densely crowded with people as the public examinations were being held at the time, and the chairs were borne through an immense sea of heads, Captain Blakiston ruminating all the while on the probability of his being stabbed in the back before he got home again. Strangely enough, he and his friends reached the Governor's with whole bodies, saw his Excellency, who was delighted at the interview, concluded that his Excellency was a determined ruffian, passed on to dinner at the Missionary's, and dined off fish, ducks, pork, frogs, slugs, birds' nests, and samshoo, or Chinese brandy.

As they passed on up the river, they daily met fresh evidence of the dangerous state of things above, in the number of headless corpses which floated past. The more the bodies wanting heads swept by, the less the Chinese boatmen liked going on. Indeed their inference was an alarming one, and not at all unnatural. At last, at Süchow, they witnessed a pitched battle, though one certainly of a very mild description. It seems to have resembled an election row in this country. The different bands of gaudily-dressed combatants assailed each other with vollies of stones and abuse, stopping every now and then and "daring the other, in school-boy fashion," to come on. At different times a rusty old tube was filled with powder and let off, amidst loud cheers from the cannonading party. The result of the battle was, that one or two combatants were killed. When the expedition reached Pingshan, their difficulties culminated. The

rebels filled the adjacent country, and the people of the city, convinced that the party were on the side of the Taepings, absolutely refused to allow them to reside within their walls. The junk-men were proof against all entreaties to push on. One night, while they lay in the river, a deafening clamour arose about the town, which was quickly taken up by the boatmen, who bustled about for their lives, letting go ropes, and getting out oars, and making off down the river as fast as possible. The town had been attacked by the rebels. Its fate is not known, as the determination of the junk-men to make away down the river could not be resisted. The return, in the circumstances, cannot be called a retreat. The party had explored the Yang-Tsze for 1800 miles, had left an impress of the British character along their course, and had pioneered up a great highway, which we may be sure the civilized world will not let lie useless much longer. A better representative of the finest qualities, mental and moral, of the Englishman, than Captain Blakiston, could hardly have been selected for such a purpose. It he and his little party did not attempt, after the virtual desertion of their crew to penetrate through bloodthirsty marauders into India, it was only because they distinguished between genuine courage and the most infatuated bravado. They have paved the way for others to follow into the very centre of that peculiar empire which has for ages contained and almost secreted within itself a civilization far from perfect, yet not contemptible, and which was splendid amid the barbarism of past ages, if it be effete in this era of progress. Great changes now impend over it, doubtless for the better, after the convulsions of revolution are over; and one of the most marked signs of the new time coming is, that a party of Englishmen have passed right through the empire unchallenged, and leaving behind them the lesson of the bravery and resolution of the men of the West.

But we find ourselves drawn on to speculate on the future which awaits that fertile kingdom in which Captain Blakiston has so much interested us. To look forward with advantage, we must glance at the past; and to Com

mander Brine* we are obliged for the only clear and ample account we have yet received of the remarkable Taeping rebellion. Availing ourselves of his aid, we present to our readers a summary of that movement, which, for the past twelve years, has divided China, and the future of which who can tell?

The immobility of China was its proverbial characteristic. For thousands of years the empire has presented, so far as the existing generation could learn, the same unchanging front to observers from without. Its customs, its laws, its obscure religion, mixed with a strangely wild philosophy, its worship of sages, its civilization in some respects admirable, yet with no germ of progression, all these are undoubtedly things of ages in China. Yet not less than other countries has it been the theatre of many revolutions. The Tartars who first invaded China Proper, A.D. 1127, by either their Eastern or Western branches-Manchus or Mongolians kept the government of the country for many years between them. But the two divisions fought fiercely at different times for the ascendant; and in 1368, a Chinese native, named Chu, raised the standard of rebellion, drove out the Tartars, and became first Emperor of the Ming line. After the lapse of about two centuries the Eastern Tarters again prevailed, and established the dynasty which the Taepings are now in arms against. Nearly all the early proclamations of the Taeping Chief refer to himself as the champion of a conquered people fighting against a foreign domination. It is nothing strange then in China to see a popular uprising against the ruling power; but the religious aspect of the Taeping movement distinguishes it from all others.

There is a poor squalid little village, about thirty miles from Canton. Three rows of huts, a manure pond, and the village school are all that this miserable hamlet can boast of. It was here that, in the year 1813, was born Hung-Sien-Tsuen, the extraordinary man whose armies have shaken an ancient dynasty. His parents, though the head people of the village,

were poor so poor, indeed, that they were not able to educate him sufficiently to enable him to compete successfully at the state examinations.

At these there are often to be seen men who have grown old in repeated efforts and failures; and among these was Hung-Sien-Tsuen. Commander Brine considers that his want of success proves him to be a person of but moderate abilities. In this opinion we cannot concur. Not only have the brightest geniuses often been failures as mere scholars, but it would be impossible to point out any great mover or ruler of mankind whom we could reasonably expect to have passed the severe and crabbed ordeal of the Chinese examination hall. The gifts of the mere scholar are distinct from those of the man of talent or the statesman. Cromwell was a poor hand at books, Clive was an incorrigible dunce, Napoleon studied nothing but military mathematics, Wellington was very idle, and Hung-Sien-Tsuen was plucked at the Canton examinations. And how strange are the turns of what we call chance! Had he taken a high place and got some good post, he would never have founded the great "Taeping dynasty, to endure for a myriad myriad ages." In 1833, while at Canton, he met a Protestant missionary who gave him a bundle of religious tracts. These he philosophically accepted, put in his pocket, and thought no more about them.

Four years afterwards he again attempted to pass the examinations and failed. He returned to his native village broken-hearted and shattered in health. A violent sickness attacked him. He raved, and saw visions, and spoke inflated rhapsodies about himself. His aged father, greatly distracted about his son, sent for the magicians to cure him, but he threatened to slay them all. After his recovery he engaged in various menial occupations in order to get a living; and having failed once more at the examinations, his attention being once casually drawn to the religious papers he had got in Canton, he eagerly read them, declared that they gave him the key to all his sick visions, renounced the worship of Con

* "The Taeping Rebellion in China." By Commander Lindesay Brine, R.N., F.R.G.S., lately employed in Chinese Waters, with map and plans. London: Murray. 1862.

fucius, left his native place, and went away with two friends to the mountains, leaving behind him the reputation of his being distracted. With the assistance of a certain Fungyun-san, he set about making converts to his own peculiar and very confused view of Christianity. We should remark that he adopted the name of Siu-tsuen, or elegant and perfect."

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"At the commencement Sin-tsuen had only vague notions concerning the true manner of religious service. When he had taken away his own idols he placed the written name of God in their stead, and even used incense sticks and gold paper as part of the service. But in a few months finding that this was wrong he abolished it. In the congregation male and female worshippers had their seats separated from each

other. It was customary to praise God by singing a hymn, an address was delivered on either the mercy of God or the merits of Christ, and the people were exhorted to repent of their sins, to abstain from idolatry and to serve God with sincerity of heart. Baptism was performed thus:-Two burning lamps and three cups of tea were placed on a table, probably to suit the sensual apprehension of the Chinese. A written confession of sins, containing the names of the different candidates for baptism was repeated by them, and afterwards burnt, by which procedure the presenting of the confession to God was symbolized. The candidates then knelt down, and from a large basin of clear water, a cupful was poured over the head of every one, with the words purification from all former sins, putting off the old and regeneration. Upon rising they used to drink of the tea, and, generally, each convert used to wash his chest and the region of his heart with water, to signify the inner cleansing of the heart."

Siu-tsuen (we may as well take the shorter name that our hero had assumed) was successful in propagating the new faith. The Chinese authorities and upper classes look with stolid contempt on all the many popular religions, and so it was with that of Sin-tsuen and his followers. They despised him, and he throve. In the district of Kwei alone there were 2,000 converts. Not content with having their baptisms and assemblies unmolested, the "God Worshippers" went forth filled with righteous wrath against the temples of their neighbours, to destroy them, as the ancient Israelites did the idolaters of Canaan. This was rather more than the immovable mandarins could suffer.

Two of the leaders, but not Siutsuen, were put in prison, and one of them died in confinement. After this Sin-tsuen for some time continued to quietly discharge the duties of a cattle herd, and showed no sign of preparation for the part he soon afterwards acted.

In 1850 many districts of the empire particularly Kwangri and Kwang-rung were much disturbed. A fearful famine which, with its usual attendant the plague, had swept over a large part of the country, bringing misery to every village which lay within its influence, had reduced the people to that extremity of despair and exasperation which prepares the way for rebellion. Accordingly the district in which the "God Worshippers" were situate was in a very restless state. It was particularly infested by tribes of robbers who only associated together for the purpose of plunder. These, finding themselves pressed by the imperial soldiers, joined Sin-tsuen for the sake of the protection which the "God Worshippers" afforded to one another. The authorities proceeded to arrest the chief, and he calling all his followers together took possession of a market town, fortified it, and thus, in December, 1850, commenced the Taeping rebellion which once bid fair to make the family of the visionary cattle herd the reigning dynasty of China. His principle, as he expressed it at least, was so noble that the best of Christians could not improve on it. "If," said he, "we preach the true doctrine, and rely upon the powerful help of God, a few of us will equal a multitude." Nor did he misdirect the mighty power he had invoked. In four months after he fortified the village, he had around him a powerful, and, according to Chinese ideas, a well-disciplined army, every man of which was filled with an unquenchable enthusiasm, and devoted implicitly to his Chief. Fung-yun-san, Yang-sen-tsing, Hoo-yih-seen, and Tsung-sau-sen, were the other leaders. "Hung-siu-tsuen," writes the Chinese Governor to head quarters, "is a man of dangerous character, who practises the ancient military art. He has constantly two victories for one defeat, for he practises the tactics of Sun-pin" the Napoleon Bonaparte of China.

Siu-tsuen now commenced publishing proclamations, some of which were very inflated, and all of which were so arrogant in style that they showed a change for the worse was working in his mind. There is none of the simplicity, lofty tone, and abnegation of self which we expect from our great men. Yet it must be said that it is not fair to accuse him of blasphemy because he uses the name of the Deity and the Saviour in an irreverent manner. Commander Brine shows, we think, satisfactorily, that he only means to assert, in the strange passages which have been commented on, that he speaks in the name of the Deity and Saviour. His mode of expression is certainly not happy, but it is untrue to represent his thoughts as those of a maniac or blasphemer.

But whether he wrote well or not, he certainly fought well. After gaining several minor successes he assaulted the important city of Nankin; and by springing a mine under an angle of the walls, made a breach, through which his troops poured in. A very feeble resistance was made by the garrison, and soon the town was at the mercy of Siu-tsuen. He showed it none. Only one hundred out of the whole city escaped. That night the broad Yang-Tsze-Kiang rolled down to sea with reddened waves; and in the twilight of morning the boatmen on the lower river were horrified to see nearly twenty thousand corpses hurrying along with its current.

The only palliation that can be urged for this enormity is that Sin-tsuen is little better than a half savage, and that possibly he may have misunderstood certain chapters in the Old Testament as justifying the slaughter of enemies. We all know how ready better and wiser men than Sin-tsuen are to extract from Holy Writ a meaning that meets their special purpose. Strange as has been the life of the Taeping chief thus far, the strangest part is still to come. After the capture of Nankin it might have been expected that he would have pushed on to the capital at once. That he would have taken it with little trouble cannot be doubted. But once in Nankin he seemed to consider that he had done enough for one life. He retired into complete seclusion, and shutting himself up with his ser

vants and women (for he has an abundant allowance of wives) he passed his time in intense study, and in the composition of prayers. Few of his own officers got admittance to his presence, and strangers never. For some time it was doubted whether he was living. His arrogance continued unbounded. Her Majesty's ship the Hermes proceeded up the river to Nankin, in order to make investigations, and before she had been a day before the city, a paper was sent off to Sir G. Bonham, the British representative, declaring that his effulgent highness, the late cattle herd, approved of the conduct of the English in coming thus early, and regardless of distance, to offer their allegiance to him.

During this time of inaction KingYang, the chief's right-hand man, professed to have a number of surprising revelations, which chiefly tended to degrade Siu-tsuen. In one of them he was directed not to kick any of his wives with his boot on, but to adopt a different mode of chastisement. Siu-tsuen bore all this very quietly, apparently, believing that they were real revelations. At length he found out that Yang was plotting against him. Without a moment's hesitation, or giving his brother any notice, he cut off his head, and quietly returned to his course of study, which he pursued so diligently that when Lord Elgin, in the Retribution, came up the river, he was enabled to send to him an enormously long paper containing his religious views, and divided into 172 propositions. It commenced-" We proclaim, for the information of our foreign younger brethren of the western ocean, that the things of heaven differ extremely from the things of the world," &c. &c.

For some time the only military operations of the Taepings were marauding excursions. The chief was too busy with his studies to think of general war. It may turn out that his leisure has cost him an empire. The imperialists had been besieging Nankin ever since it was taken; but as they only closed up the three land sides and left the river communication open, the Taepings inside were not at all distressed. But now after nine years of this considerate warfare a fleet of junks came up the river and

eut off the supplies. The people inside began to starve; and at last Sintsuen woke up from his long repose. He planned a general sortie, which resulted in the total defeat of the Imperialists. The army, thus relieved, at once assumed the aggressive, and with fatal indiscretion attacked Shanhae, though they were informed that the English would defend the town. The wretched rabble who were led to the assault were mowed down by the skilfully directed fire of the Europeans, and had to draw off without getting near the walls.

The Taepings have done little since; but it is no trifling results that they have achieved. Over 30,000 square miles of territory the people obey and pay taxes to Sin-tsuen; and he commands an army of more than 400,000 men. His inaction ever since he got possession of Nankin appears to European observers inexplicable. It is not, however, to be attributed to mere sloth. Ruling in the city which was once the seat of royalty, inflated by adulation and enthusiasm, and surrounded by vast armies, he insists that he is the chief potentate not only of China but the world, and dreams away his time in studies and in discharging the imaginary duties of Emperor of China. Instead of heading his forces in a march against Pekin, he concentrates his energies on his own peculiar system of theology, and prepares long papers, explanatory of Christianity, which he obligingly forwards to the first English admiral who comes within reach. In the spring of this year the English and French authorities in China executed a movement which, for the time, awoke Sin-tsuen from his lethargy. They sent a small allied force to Ningpo, drove out the Taepings, and delivered over that important city to the Imperialists. Thus we have been pledged to discountenance the Taepings and assist the Tartars.

We hesitate dogmatically to condemn this momentous step; but we feel uncomfortable about it, particularly now that we have read Commander Brine's impartial and thoughtful account of the relative position of the two parties. The Taepings have the control of the tea and silk districts, and may at any time inflict an appalling blow on interests which are the most momentous to us.

VOL. LXI. NO. CCCLXI.

The question remains then--What are the prospects of the Taeping rising? In this question we are interested no less in a general than a selfish point of view. Commander Brine thinks that the ultimate result will be the division of China into two empires, over one of which the Taepings will rule. He reminds us that the popular notion of the Chinese empire having always remained unchangeable under one emperor is a mistake. Centuries ago it had two emperors whose dominions were divided by the broad-spreading YangTsze. Now all things point to some change in the ruling dynasty. The great famines, the desolating pestilence, which have filled to overflowing the cup of the people's misery, predispose them to change. They long to rest from their sufferings; and they scarcely hope to find safety from the ruling house under which so much has been suffered. But Sin-tsuen does not trust alone to human feelings. Wildly, foolishly, savagely, perhaps, he has touched the deep emotions of religion in the hearts of his followers. It is of no avail to sneer at his misconceptions and the inflation of his style. He is but a poor uncivilized man. It is not many years since he tended his parent's cattle, and spent his days in menial drudgery, pressed by penury, unknown or despised as a semi-maniac. In those days of adversity his heart beat high with lofty resolve, and his spirit swelled proudly and tumultuously with a religious enthusiasm which was noble though irregular. A few years have passed, and he has risen to be the rival of a dynasty which has lasted for centuries. If his career of conquest has been stayed, it is only because he has done so much that flatterers can tell him he need do no more. His future no man can prophesy. What he has done entitles him to rank among the heroes of mankind.

We must not close without again commending to our readers the two volumes which we have taken as our text-books. They should be read together; and in them, and nowhere else, can be got all the really reliable information at present procurable respecting the revolution which impends over China.

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