The Chinese Repository/Volume 1/Number 2/Journal of Occurrences
JOURNAL OF OCCURRENCES.
Rebellion. Till within three or four days, nothing of great interest concerning the highland rebels, has transpired. Governor Le, who left Canton early in the present month, reached Leenchow on the 11th.
During the last two or three weeks, we have heard it confiidently rumoured, that his Majesty's government would try to divide and conquer the rebels, by offers of peace and place. A native of the highlands, in the service of the Emperor, was called away from a situation on the coast, to go and try to talk over his fellow-clansmen. And quite recent accounts from the hills state, that a rebel was "topped" by an Imperial knob of considerable rank, and so sent to persuade Chaou, the 'Golden Dragon,' to surrender. The traitor carried an order, with which he was to admonish the chief rebel to submit, and so give himself up to certain death. And, still further, it is rumoured, that the traitor had 2000 followers, to enforce his exhortation to submission. But the 'Golden Dragon,' who was the Lion couchant on the hills, put the envoy and his 2,000 all to death.
But since the 27th, these rumours have given place to credible and serious intelligence. It is now pretty evident, that there has been some hard fighting. The enemy, which at first seemed to retire before Governor Le and his forces, showed themselves, in small numbers, on the 20th, and the fighting began. It continued for five successive days; when the rebel army appeared 30,000 strong, and 2,000 of the Imperial troops, including a large number of officers, were dead on the field.
Rumours, though they prove false, still tend to show the character of a people. Chinese rumours often respect the degradation or death of their governors and other great men The governor of Yunnan province, who continues to write to the Emperor about copper and various other matters belonging to that region, has, within our memory, been more than once, by false rumours, degraded, his iil-gotten gains seized by the Emperor, and himself doomed to death. The governor of Keangnan, about six weeks ago, according to the universal rumour, swallowed gold leaf, and so killed himself. But, in the Peking Gazettes, he is still alive, and writing memorials to His Majesty, as usual. These rumours are probably got up by the malicious, and propagated by the oppressed, who wish they may be verified.
Since Governor Le went in person to the highland war, there is a rumour, that, on his approach to the hills, he lost a good many officers and men, by a stratagem of the enemy. One dark night, they having fastened lights to the horns of sheep and goats, let them loose upon the mountains, and the Imperial troops began to fire away at the lights born by the sheep, whilst the men in arms came down by a defile, attacked the Imperialists in their rear, and made no inconsiderable slaughter.
The effect of lights suddenly exhibited in a dark night, is exemplified by Gideon's three hundred torches, concealed in pitchers; at the sight of which, accompanied by the sound of three hundred trumpets, the armies of the Midianites, which were "like grasshoppers for multitude," were thrown into disorder and completely routed; for "all the host ran, and cried and fled." In all such cases there is a moral effect, which is the cause of the physical one—a panic. Three hundred pieces of cannon under different circumstances might not work so great a defeat as the three hundred pitchers and lamps did. Frederic, called the great, said what was palpably untrue, when he affirmed that the Almighty was always on the strongest side, physically considered. No! "the race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong," either in personal or national affairs. If God blow upon the mightiest army, it withers, and is routed. Who can stand before his cold? Witness Napoleon in Russia.
Maneaters. In various periods of Chinese history, it is recorded, that "men ate men." Revenge and hunger may induce this horrible act. A report has reached us, by a coasting vessel from the north, that his Imperial Majesty has remarked, that 'the signs of the times this year, indicate a state of things, in which men will eat men.' The Empress mother reproved her son for these words, and told him, that such language ought never to come from the lips of an Emperor. Further to explain away the idea, she ordered wheaten paste, be fashioned like men, and these bread-men to be distributed among the people; and that thus 'men might eat men.'
On the eastern frontier of Canton province, the inhabitants are said to delight in wars, and sometimes even to devour their enemies, whom they have slain in battle. At the present time there is, in those regions, a great scarcity of rice, and much distress; business is at a stand, and nothing but robbery and plunder prevail;-human being are said to be devouring each other;—but this we do not believe.
Thieves and Robbers. The Canton police has, of late, been much harassed by the multiplicity of applications, from all quarters, against thieves and robbers. What vexes the heads of the government is, that in many cases the offenders cannot be caught.
The Governor himself, has expressed great displeasure with the officers of the military police, because of their being unable to discover the' thieves, who stole from a Shanse trader, three or four thousand dollars, which were taken from under his bed. His Excellency's displeasure led to great zeal and severity of search which has occasioned the loss of three lives. A suspected boat on the river was overhauled, a scuffle ensued, and three passengers were either knocked, or fell overboard, and were drowned. The officer who headed the search, in order to screen himself, has sent in a very false statement, that he was opposed in his duty by swords and spears; his people wounded. &c. &c.
The executive of the Chinese government, in many cases, acts most fallaciously. The letter of the law is carried into some sort of effect; but whether upon the innocent or guilty, is a secondary question. The absurd peremptoriness of authority, that a thing must be done, whether practicable or not, occasions a great deal of injustice; and sometimes the condemnation, to capital punishment, of persons completely innocent.
Decapitation. The Canton court circular of the 18th ult., announced the trial, sentence and execution of of seventeen criminals. Their heads, severed from their bodies and put in small cages, were exposed to public view in the market place, near the execution ground. Just without one of the southern gates of the city. Here we supposed was an end of the tragedy. Not so; the circular of the 22nd, four days after the decapitation, states that their heads, still in the cages, were labelled and sent off to Ying-tih;—a town some miles distant from Canton, the native place of the criminals, and the scene of their depradations,—there also to be exposed to the view of the populace.
Banditti. Of late, in the district of Heang-shan, associated banditti have been excessively troublesome to the farmers on the banks of the rivers. They levy a tax of so much per acre, to be paid every quarter of a year. An opulent farmer named Wan-ho-tseih, on the 19th of the 3rd moon, resisted this unjust levy, and was in consequence carried off by the banditti, who demanded twenty thousand dollars for his restoration.
Repudiation. A Mantchou Tartar soldier, named Chang, received his bride the other day, and for alledged infidelity, heaped upon her every possible personal insult, with public indignity, and sent her away to the house of her parents. The affair came before the Tartar Commandant, who would have dismissed both the father and the husband, being men in arms, but for their good archery; on which account, they were retained in his Majesty's service.
Suicides. A poor cottager, at the late season of sacrificial rites, performed at the tombs of ancestors, having nothing to provide the oblations to be used on the occasion, sold a favorite fowl, which constituted all his property. The purchaser gave him bad silver, or rather copper washed with silver, which he received and went his way. But when offered in payment, it was rejected. The man's vexation was so great that he went and hanged himself; which, when his wife ascertained, she also put an end to her mortal existence. But these suicides are ascribed to the pressure of deep poverty.
Mantchou Tartary, being by the reigning family always considered as the region of simplicity and honesty, his Majesty is a good deal annoyed at several recent robberies and thefts there. Besides, the local officers have not been able to catch the thieves. He says, this state of things is extremely detestible, and to mend the matter, he has plucked the knob of office from the head of Cha-hing-ah, giving him three months time to bring to justice certain offenders. In case of failure, Cha-hing-ah may expect something worse.
Postscript. By the Peking Gazettes we learn, that two Mantchou commissioners, one holding high civil as well as military office at Peking, the other Governor and General-in-chief of one of the Mantchou provinces, have been sent by the Emperor to Hoonan, to superintend the war, and endeavour to put down the rebellion. Their names are He-ngan and Hoo-sung-ih.
Two individuals at Peking, have been convicted of using opium; one of whom, an officer, has been degraded, and the other has been sent to the custody of Choo, Fooyuen of Canton. A third, awaits his trial for traffic in that drug. It is said (not in the Gazettes) that, the two commissioners, above named, after visiting Hoonan, will come to Canton, to make inquiries concerning the opium trade here.
Accounts from the highlands continue unfavourable; and, by an express from Governor Le, more troops are being despatched for Leenchow.