THE REBELLION. (From the Overland Register, March 13.)
Applying this term to all the outbreaks of all descriptions that have lor some time past been devastating Uaiiia, it appears ah it the rule of anaichy and confusion \v«.s going to gne place to the rule oi" the Mandarins. It is now"ihe ot six yeais since the disturbances in Quang-se began to excite attention. We shall not dwell on the absuid rumours which were published as. iacts, and ail the more giccdily swallowed the more ignorant in distant the reader, but briefly enumerate a lew. Fiist,— ths movement was to restore tho Mings; one of their descendants, a young prince of eighteen, had had supernatural appro\al from a wooden statue of «onie god 01 goddess, a kind of Chinese version of the Winking Pictuie of Rin.ini, our Lady of the Salette, or Rose'lWrmi'r's bleeding picture, aisd miraculous button'; ior the curds breeches. Then there was a silver wall— then French priests were at the bottom oi it, and Fiench officeis at the head of the movement. Canton was set down about three years ago to be the citv in which the young Ming Prince v.as to celebrate his !New Year's Day, though up to this time it has not afforded such hospitality, for o^e good substantial leason, — tl.eie wat no such man. The army of the pretender moving northward came eventually upon Nankin, and a visit from an English war steamer, it it did nothing else, proved that everything that had bc»-n asserted of the movement except its existence, was a pack of Unmitigated ialsohoods, and it turned out then that the rebels were our worthy Protestant brethren . We shall say nothing of the flaming act-omits of the anticipated "regeneration, moral and physical, which >v ere spread abroad by weak, ignorant, and sanguine individual-, belonging to classes from which more sense might have been expected. Three separate visits of other war steamers to Nankin gradually extinguished thii folly. In the mean time, Amoy was captured by a band of triads, and held for several months ; but the Mandarins having full power very soon, by the assistance of th& people who were annoyed by the exactions of the scoundrelly mob who were oppressing I them, obtained possession of the place again, and en en<' v as put to that part of the intended regenei alion of Chin'. Shanghae was taken, but in consequence of the position of the European settlement, aid, comfort, assistance, in advice, in men, in arrns,?and in provision', were so liberally extended to the people holding the place, that it is only after an eighteen months' siege that it has fallen into the hands of the authorities— and this part of the~intendrd regeneration of China brought to a termination. Canton has for some time back been threatened, and, as a large town, Fatshan, in its neighbourhood, captured by pirates. It was possible that a coup de main might have even placed Canton in the hand-, of the robber patriots. They held some land and a strong position near Whampoa, and were aided and comforted by their recognition as a political party by the British Admiral, the American Commodore, and the American Charge a Affairs. The Chinese authorities have regained Fat^han ; a severe defeat has been mfliced on Admiral Stirling's friends or acquaintances near Whimpoa, and they have lost t.ieir foit; and generally speak ng. though much disorder exists, he country" s gradually returning under the powwr of the authority*.
It la said that the Mandarini have not reoovered any of the above places by the stiong hand,— that they Grant power. This aTgument cuts two ways, and ha« the sharpest side towards the opprnento of government. If in the first enthusiasm of a plundering foray the Mandarins are driven back so effectually that the insurgents hava ample time and means to consolidate tht-ir sclf-atyled "more patriotic and just- government," what must be thought of them when they establish no other go\ernment than the merely military .one of governing by i'rrceand levying foi ced contributions, wl-ich failing, they disperse or retire, or more properly speaking, disb- nd nnd flee in panic terroT as at Amoy and Shanpj hae ? People are quite welcome to the argument of the imbecility of the Mandarins, but of what character trust those patriots be who after all their success of surprise cannot stand up against even such imbeciles ? Of the great rebellion in the north there are so few news that it may safely be concluded that that compound of ignorance, folly, and blasphemy in drawing towards a conclusion, and the sooner that comes the better. We are certain that the eyes of most people are becoming opened to the conviction that there is nothing to be hoped for the regeneration of China from such men as are now supposed to be at the head of affairs at Nankin. We ourselves began in this belief, — we continued it, and it seems likely, notwithstanding the amount of ignorant abuse of which we have.beon the object, that this beli f nill shortly be the general one. _
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Bibliographic details
Daily Southern Cross, Volume XII, Issue 835, 29 June 1855, Page 3
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849THE REBELLION. (From the Overland Register, March 13.) Daily Southern Cross, Volume XII, Issue 835, 29 June 1855, Page 3
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