# The Chinese Repository/Volume 1/Number 5/Journal of Occurrences

←August 1832
September 1832
October 1832→
JOURNAL OF OCCURRENCES.
Rebellion.—we have to regret the omission, in our last number, of some particulars which we possessed concerning the suppression of the rebellion in Hoonan. In our 3d number, page 111, we gave some extracts from a Peking Gazette of the end of May. A gazette of the 11th June, since received, contains further details, derived from a second despatch from Governor Lookwan, of which the following is an extract.
After having forwarded the previous despatch, concerning the victory over the rebels on the 15th May, the Governor joined General Yu-poo-yun, the commander-in-chief, and advanced with him, to repossess the small town of Pingtseuen, which had been the last strong-hold of the mountaineers in Hoonan; and to exterminate the rebels from the surrounding country. On the 20th, 21st, and 22nd of May, the troops were chiefly engaged in throwing fire into the town, by which means multitudes of the rebels were destroyed. On the 23d, a strong force was ordered to march in at once, and every place occupied by the rebels was set fire to, many of them perishing, with their houses, in the flames. On each of these occasions, large numbers of prisoners were taken, both men, women, and children; till at length, no more rebels were to be found. On the 25th, therefore, inquiry was made for the chief rebel Chaou-kin-lung; when it was universally declared, by his relatives and followers, that he had fallen in the streets of Pingtseuen. Parties, with individuals who had known the chief, were then sent to turn over and examine every corpse, in order to assure the governor of the truth of what was said. This was done;—but unsuccessfully, and with great difficulty, on account of the vast number of putrid, half-burnt bodies, which lay unburied. The governor, however, is inclined to believe the assertion of Chaou-kin-lung's death, and the Emperor agrees with him in thinking, that, as it is so general, there can be little doubt of its truth.—The Emperor greatly laments that, instead of having "taken him alive and sent him to Peking, there to be punished according to the fullest extent of the law,—that so the authority of government might be luminously exhibited,and men's hearts rejoiced,—it had been found impossible to obtain possession of his person, he having been slain in battle;—and so the Imperial hopes had not been accomplished."—A fine specimen this of the civilization and tender mercies of the Chinese!—During the whole time of the siege of Ping-tseuen, which lasted from the 29th April to the 24th May, there were 3 officers and 158 privates killed; and 23 officers and 593 privates wounded.
It will have been seen from previous numbers, that, on the suppression of the rebels in Hoonan, as detailed above. Governor Le set out for Leen-chow, the seat of the rebellion in this province; and commenced a campaign against the eight principal tribes called Pa-pae Yaou. He had not dared, according to his own account, to make any attack previously; but had only preserved a strict look-out, during the continuance of rebellion in the neighbouring province; for which he has incurred the Imperial displeasure, and has been degraded from his rank, and deprived of the honorific ornament of a peacock's feather in his cap: being suffered, however, to retain his office.
Since the defeat which he met with at the begining of this campaign, on the 20th of June (and which was the immediate occasion of his degradation), his Excellency has been ​joined by the Imperial commissioners He-ngan and Hoo-sung-ih, with Yu-poo-yun, appointed to take the temporary command-in-chief of the troops; and has met with a little better success. In a gazette of the 6th August, the Emperor, however, expresses his displeasure on account of the Governor having attempted to enter the hills after the rebels, by which means the troops were in danger of being entrapped. His Majesty wishes all the mountaineers to be enticed into the plain, and driven together into one place, as at Pingtseuen in Hoonan:—then he says, they can be surrounded, and entirely cut up, without one being suffered to escape (or, in Chinese phrase, to slip through the meshes of the net)!
Another subject of Imperial reproof is the want of attention to the military force in Canton, in consequence of which the men are mostly so feeble-bodied and incapacitated for action,—that, although in their own province, many of them get ill from want of strength to bear the necessary labour and change of place.
The commissioners and governor are directed to draw supplies of grain from the districts in the neighbourhood of Leen-chow. Le, with Choo, the Fooyuen, and the Poochingsze or Treasurer, are commanded to draw up estimates of money requisite to defray each item of expense, and to employ just as much as is requisite, but nothing more,—We are told, that the sums which have already been issued by the provincial treasury of Canton to defray the expenses of troops, weapons, and ammunition, during the last five months, exceed two millions of taels.
Secret Associations.—The weakness of the Chinese government is in nothing more plainly evinced, than in its fear, not only of large bodies of men combined for secret and political purposes, but also of small religious sects, headed usually by men of feeble ability, whose sole object appears to be gain. This fear, we think, is a far more convincing proof of weakness, than any real or imaginary inability of ministers to put a stop to such associations.—We express ourselves doubtingly of their inability, because we are of opinion, that it is owing rather to the want of will than of means, that societies, like the San-ho-hwuy or Triad society, combined for the uneqiuivocal purpose of overthrowing the dynasty now occupying the Imperial throne, have been suffered to attain power, so formidable, as to defy the authority of the government, when it suits the purposes of the associates to do so. We believe, that the principles of the society or brotherhood which we have named in particular, are, to wait the time when heaven, earth, and man shall all appear joined to favour them, in the subversion of the government (which time, according to some, will be when the future Budha appears on earth);—and in the interim to exert all their efforts to hasten forward that wished-for period.
We have been led to these remarks by observing the frequent recurrence, in the Peking Gazette, of Imperial edicts against all associations; and the severity with which ringleaders are punished,—some being condemned to suffer the slow and ignominious death,—others hastened to immediate execution,—and numbers transported for life, without possibility of being included in any, even the most general, pardon.
In a late number of the Gazette, there is a long paper from the Emperor,—occasioned by a memorial from a member of the censorate,—wherein the subject of the Hwuy-fei, or "associate banditti," is connected with the rebellion of Chaou-kin-lung, which, says his Majesty, "could never have been commenced but by the intervention and instigation of those associates."—After considerable detail,—from which it appears, that the supreme government at Peking is not wholly ignorant of the unjust and unprincipled manner in which the local officers, at a distance from the capital, transact business; and that cases of appeal from the provinces, with regard to lands and property plundered, have of late become exceedingly numerous, his Majesty concludes with declaring his anxiety, on the people's account, that such illegalities should be prevented: and requiring the higher authorities ill all the provinces, to "make the Imperial mind their's; and to attend to the people's good as their chief occupation."
​Peking, July 18th. A memorial has been received from Halangah, on the western frontier, saying, that Maemaetelee, the Beg of Aoukhun, had sent an envoy, with a letter (or rather a statement, as from an inferior) to the Emperor; delivering up eighty Cashgar Mohammedans. The bearers of the letter, having brought with them merchandize, horses, and sheep, Halangah had proclaimed the gracious will of the Emperor, that they should trade therein, without the levying of any duties.
His Majesty handed the letter over to Esak, or Isaac, the Cashgar prince, (whom, since the last Cashgar campaign, he appears to have retained at Peking); and was very well satisfied with the translation which Prince Isaac gave him. "These Aoukhaners, says he, "awed by the majesty, and penetrated by the virtue of China, have, in this proceeding, evinced sincerest gratitude. It is an omen of permanent tranquillity on that frontier."
From this occurrence, and perhaps in consequence of a request from the Aoukhan Beg, his Majesty has taken an opportunity of restoring to rank and office, the venerable Sung Tajin, who has been, for some months back, in disgrace. Sung was formerly commissioner in Turkestan; when he made himself loved and adored by the people; and advised measures such as those which have now been adopted; hence his merit, which has recommended him to mercy. The Emperor, moreover, was desirous of showing kindness to an aged minister, who has served under three successive monarchs, viz: Keen-lung, Kea-king, and Taou-kwang.
Remarkable birth. It is pretty well known that, in China, parents having three children at a birth (as well as persons of remarkably advanced age), are presented by the government, with small sums of money; whether as rewards for circumstances over which they can have no control, or as trivial offerings in aid of their support, we are not prepared to say. On the 31st of last month, a woman named Chang, the wife of a man whose name is Wang-a-kwei; living at Whampoa, was delivered of three sons; in consequence of which the parents have received ten taels from the district magistrate; who sent the father back, desiring him to nurture his sons, and bring them up. It is expected, however, that he will destroy one, if not all of them,—in blind belief of the Chinese saying, that "a triple birth is the harbinger of evil." Who that is acquainted with this fact, can conscientiously think, with anti-christian soi-disant philosophers, or professing-christian governments, that pagans can be "happy enough without Christianity"?
Postscript.—A paper has just come in from Leen-chow, too late for more particular notice. It is a memorial from He-ngan and Hoo-sung-ih, the Imperial commissioners; and contains an account of all the successful skirmishes with the rebels that have occurred, from the 15th of August, the time of their arrival at Leen-chow, till the 20th inst., the date of the despatch.
Some advance has been made;—they have penetrated farther into the mountainous districts, than at any previous period of the war; and are only waiting for the arrival of a reinforcement, when they hope to end the rebellion, by the entire reduction of the mountaineers; many having already offered submission, but without being willing to resign their arms.