CHINA.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XII, Issue 736, 26 November 1859, Page 5

CHINA.

"By the Sea Witch we (' Sydney Morning Herald,' Nov. 1,) have news from • Shanghai to the 3rd September,, being forty-three ; days later than previous advices.- ."•'•"'.. •...■:

Unfortunately, however, she brings only a single ; paper, so that, for the present at least, the details of what has taken place between the 22nd of July and the 3rd: of September must remain; a iblank.

The China Herald' of the latter date states that the Chinese had/surrendered,~to, Mr. Ward ope of the ordinary seamen of H.M.S. fiighflyer.named John. Powell, who had been ,taken prisoner on the night of 25th June, after the'untoward engagement of the British naval force with the Chinese at the mouth of the Pei-ho. The following is; Powell's narrative of his capture, and subsequent treatment, as related by-himself:— ;

, fE^e I^longgdl to the -Highflyers piriance and was left in ch"arge of her. whenthevparty-landed on the banfc of rthVi%f-h6; river. As he was assisting a wouiided man into one of the gun-boat's gigs he. ]et go the painter and got into the Chesapeake's launch to haul her alongside. Seeing her drifting with the tide, winch*was.making.in,ihe jumped'overboard to get her backbut she stuck on the mud and stakes, between the forts' on "each side of the river, which kept upa fire of small armson.her; about midnight five Chinese; went alongside; they knocked him" down and him into their sampan. He struggled with them unsuccessfully and had a spear run into;hiSveye.".LThey then bound him.and pulled to the bank on the right side, and were preparing to ait his head off when, a mandarin and some soldiers came out of the fort and desired them to take.him,to: the large fort, on the opposite side; which 'they'did. In one; of the rooms a mandarin, whom they called Wang, was drinking tea with ■ others. He.was taken before him and questioned as to the number of gun-boats, men, •■■& c, composing the force. This interview lasted about twenty minutes when he was-marched off with a man who I said his name, was ;•. Thomas "M'Keene, a sapper— who had been picked off the mud the-, same night— to the town of Ta-koo, about five miles across ai. plain of hard ground, on which, were ~several high ' >mbunds of earth. He observed that there was fonly a low wall in the rear of the forts, iijojbvaffordiing any military protection. At Ta-kop,. a' nian;darin, whom he supposed to be the Governor£put ■;him through an examination similar to that he'had before undergone. He was thenr taken to •a' room, ilike a stable, and was confined until the arrival of ;the;American Mission at Peh-tang on their return ■jfrom Peking., He laid:for four weeks on a mat on 'thejdamp floor at Ta-koo; but, becoming ill, a "bed 'was furnished to him for the remainder of his conifinement. Rice and Chinese food were given to l^im, ; also two suits of clothes. He jthinks there were : 80,000 troops in and about Ta-koo of which 30,000 ;were cavalry. He called himself an :American, Relieving it would save his life. The sapper was confined apart from him, and left behind as a prisoner. ■■•...- ■>:■■:- The same paper states that the Peking ' Gazette' has published the decree which the Emperor of China desired to be handed to the American There are, it remarks, one or two evident "misprints in the' Gazette," for instance, the words "the English. Pu-lu-sz" (Bruce), are printed,Vthe English Go-10-sz," which, had no. other copy •appeared, would have been translated English and (Russians. Otherwise the printed text quite authenticates the manuscript from: -which: the translation iwas made. It is remarkable that. lihe word' bar■barian does not occur in the decree. Contrary to all iusage we are spoken of as Ying-kwoh, Mei-kwoh, >English and American states or nations^ ■. •. •■'. J Our name occurs in one other' paper, a long memorial on the,death of Ulhintai, a noble Mongolian commanding'in Yehgihissar, one of, the far west Mahometan colonies of China. He ..-had served against Yehanghir, in his rebellion of 1826, and in 1842, "when the English barbarians were not quiet he received orders to take the field at Shanghai." In , 1853 he had been sent to exterminate 'rebels in the j neighbourhood of Hwai-king, and having been promoted to the Yengi-hissar command in 1856, stood a siege of one hundred days during a local Mahometan revolt. His exertions during this expended hita. , The * Gazette 'also contains the memorial of Yih Shan, acknowledging , the, decree (which appeared in our issue of 23rd July) regarding the Russian concession in the: valley of the Usuri. In obedience to this decree he had sent the Lieutenant-General Kilaminga down to the Usuri to be exposed, in the; cangue. Yiti Shari,'as commander-in-chief of Tsitsihar, resides at the city of Sagalien, as the crow flies, not less than 600 miles north of Peking, communications with which appear to be by way of Kirin, far to the east. Luchanli; a hiehling (say colonel) from Kirin, reached Sagalien on the 2nd July, with the aforesaid decree of the 16th June. Yih.Shan read it with awe and proceeded to select a. good, man to act for the officer about to be cangued. He, chose Aishin'ai already recommended to aid in managing the barbarian (Russian) business, and sent off Kilaminga in charge of Luchang to the Usuri. The promptitude with which these orders have been carried executed, and published is deserving of note. ■ Kweilliang and Hwashana appear together at

different levees ; but no ' Gazette' has as yet announced the termination-of their commission.

The authorities, of the Bordered Yellow Banner have moved the appointment of some one to take acting charge of the ftussiafrseal. ■; This is probably the seal hold by the the tso-ling, or captain of 150 who administers the affairs'of the descendants of the Russians brought prisoners from Albazin about the etui of the seventeenth century.

This is all that directly concerns foreigners, but there are several curious papers besides on Chinese matters. One from.Hoch'un, who. holds the appointment of general of the Tartar gurrison of Nanking, and as high commissioner conducts operations in the neighbourhood of that- city, relates how the expectant ti-tuh or gener.al-in-ehief of; the Chinese provincial force, by name Kinh-tien-hwa, enraged Avith one Ling Shun-turig, a' recently degraded brigadier, for cutting the shaft of a spear some inches too short, first abused him violently, and then made him kneel down in a puddle for several hours giving orders that lie was to be slapped in the face with the hand until evening!; This was done, and in the night the ex-brigadier Ling,,after weeping some time in silence, strangled i himself. The expectant general-in-chief Kiuh made every exertion to restore him to life but to no purpose. .In his alarm he reported him next day as having died in. a fit ;' but the truth getting wind, Kiuh himself committed suicide, leaving a memorandum to the effect that Ling was his sworn comrade, certain quasi-masonic ceremonies having been celebrated between them, and that Ling having made away with himself he did: not choose to live without him, Kiuh, says the' mempralist, was a violent, coarse, and abusive man he had only tolerated because of his valour in war. ■ ■ .......

. A long meraprial from a censor named H. Shautsz, upon the growing extravagance of the age, has been* published.' The means of the people, it states, are daily straitened more and more, but their expenditure grows daily more extravagant. Will the Emperor desire the Boards to consolidate the sumptuary laws and enforce their provisions, to the establishlishment of moderation and to the recovery of the people from bankruptcy." The civil war has made silver scarce, the copper currency has been debased; the ten-cash piece in circulation is in great'disrepute; prices in Peking have consequently risen a thousand per cent.,1 and yet luxurious habits of dress, in marriages, funerals, entertainments, daily gain ground; wine and tea houses multiply. People do not appear to reflect that the ten-cash piece stands for ten cash, and they spend it as if each cash it represents stood for ten. .This is in Peking. In the provinces, the great centres of trade are just as bad; they have been terribly injured by rebels, and now, while trade is slowly reviving^ there is already as much luxury and extravagance as ever there was.