The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1861-01-04 00:00:00

CONCLUDING NCTICE.

(FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT.)
The entire militia force collected under the green
standard (lou-yng) and distributed throughout the
eighteen provinces of the Chinese Empire, amounts in
all to 600,000 men, 60,000 of whom are in the province
of Tchi-li alone. They are divided into cavalry (ma-
ping), and infantry (non-ping), and stationary garrisons
(sheou-ping). The whole of these are very indifferent
troops, and are not to be compared with the Tartar
battalions, which comprise the best soldiers of the
empire. These militiamen have rather the character
of police, custom-house officers, county constabulary,
and so forth, than soldiers ; nevertheless, those of
them who do garrison duty in Tchi-li, and on the
northern frontiers as well as along the sea coast,
are sometimes called upon to perform military service.
But the nature of the duties discharged by the Lou-
yng must necessarily prove one of the causes of the
present weakness of this large body of men. Thus,
it is the militia of the green flag which furnishes
guards for the rivers, large and small, the canals and
their embankmeats, the prisons, and the prisoners dur-
ing their conveyance from one place to another, and for
the vessels laden with ammunition, forage, and provi-
sions. It is they also who have the inspection of vessels
in process of construction in the building-yards, and of
the Government granaries and storehouses. They also
act as coast-guardsmen for the suppression of smuggling,
as police for the interior of the towns, and as carriers
of despatches for the civil and military services. They
have, besides, the inspection of the salt-pits and the
dif-
ferent plantations. The men belonging to the force in
question are in a manner free to do what they like ;
they all live in their own houses, and are occupied id
agriculture; they assemble only on rare occasions by"
order of their chief, when they are exercised in the
management of arms, but in consequence of their mixed
organisation, they form, as may easily be supposed, the
worst possible troops.

Besides the militia of the green standard, there is a
city militia (thou-ping), which is, in fact, a municipal
guard, whose duty it is to watch over the general safety,
and to maintain public order. This latter militia, which
is under the authority of the mandarin governor of the
province, is officered in each district by one captain,
three lieutenants, six ensigns, and forty non-commis.
sioned officers, having under them 300 privates. In the
town militia (thou-ping) there are three divisions, which
are distinguished by their own peculiar equipment : the
first (miao-thang-ping) is armed with muskets and
sabres ; the second (tchang-tlasiang-ping) is armed with
lances and halberds; and the third (theng-pai-ping)
with merely a sword and buckler. Their uniform is a
pointed head-piece, made of pasteboard, and a tunic
without sleeves, upon which is written, in large charac-
ters, the word "Thou-ping." The pay of each town
militiaman is two taels (Bs.) a month—a sum which,
though small, is by no means out of proportion to the
duty, which is not less insignificant. The whole of
these guards have so little of their time taken up with
their military duties, that they pass most of their time
in the markets, or in shops, being all engaged in one
kind of trade or another.

These three great divisions of the Chinese army are
subject to the military code which was published in
1731, in the reign of the Emperor Young-Tching, and
comprises the constituent laws and regulations of the
army, the duties of the officers and privates, the dis-
ciplinary and correctional punishments inflicted on both
the one and the other, conform to the sentences of the
competent tribunals. The sentences are apportioned
according to the gravity of the offence. They consist
of suppression of rations and of pay, imprisonment, the
bistinado and cane, perpetual or limited banishment,
piercing of the nose and of the ear with a small arrow,
and finally, the punishment of death.

The following are the principal articles of the military
code, which, if put in force with reference to the
conduct of the Chinese army, men and officers, in
presence of the allied forces, would give the military
board of punishments plenty to do for some time to
come, are as follows :

There shall be beheaded ; every soldier who, in action,
shall not advance to the conflict, shall murmur, or shall
refuse to beat the gong when called upon to do so ;
every soldier who, being entrusted with the transmission
of an order, shall tamper with it, or divulge it to a third
party; every soldier who, in a report, shall exaggerate
the services which he has rendered ; every soldier who
shall oppress the population, native or foreign, or shall
be convicted of theft or of rape ; every soldier who shall
permit himself to terrify his comrades by lying stories;
every soldier who shall refuse to take the field
by feigning sickness of any kind, or who shall
give a false alarm ; and every soldier who shall
allow a stranger to penetrate into the camp
without special authority. As for the bastinado, it if'
liberally awarded for the least misdeed or fault. In all
the revisions of the military code, the Emperors of China
have always sought by means of rigorous laws and regu-
lations to maintain military discipline intact, and to.
stimulate patriotic feeling by the promise of liberal
rewards. These rewards,3reakkoramapcLnecuaiary,;
decides upon the reports which are made to him—and
by the Emperor, who confers the office. It is only in
time of war that officers and non-commissioned officers
are appointed by the General Commander-in-Chief;
but even in that case , this functionary has the
disposal of only one half of the appointments that are to
be made, and it is necessary for their validity that they
be ratified by the Minister of War. In the event of any
officer or private distinguishing himself by the perform-
ance of any brilliant service, he not only receives a step of
rank but also a certain sum of money, which varies accord-
ing to the rank of the individual. The relatives of those
who are killed in action are supported at the expense o
the State, and children who are left orphans receive
pecuniary allowances varying from .£l6 to £4OO sterling-
Whenever it happens that the family of an officer who.
has died in the performance of his duties, civil or mili-
tary, cannot meet the expenses of his interment, they
have only to make application, to the proper department,
and the Government pays for everything. Those who
are wounded in action receive pensions according to
their n nk. It may be said, in fact, that extreme soli-
citude is displayed by the Chinese government in behalf
of all persons connected with the military profession,
and for the families of those who have distinguished
themselves or have died on the field of battle; but not-
withstanding all that is thus done by the government-
with this view, the Chinese army, as everybody well
knows, is anything but what it ought or *eight be.
The positive "weakness of this immense army, as

tb.o ars—. -j Lu
explained by a variety of causes. There is, in the first
place, the enormous extent of the Chinese Empire,
which stretches from the coasts of the ocean on the
south, as far as Russia on the north, from Hindostan on
the west, to the sea of Japan on the east ; there is next
the peculiar policy of the government, which, from the
remotest times down to the present, has devoted its chief
efforts towards the encouragement of agriculture, to the
total neglect of everything that tends to the improve-
ment of the art-of war. All the honours in the gift of
the government are reserved for the literary class, on the
members of which mandarinates are conferred in pre-
ference to those who, although inferior in literary
acquirements, are often generally their superiors in
military knowledge. It is generally understood that
the motive of the Emperor of China in so acting pro-
ceeded from the dread of placing too great power in
the hands of any one general, lest it should be em-
ployed by him in undermining the Imperial authority.
This state of things existed previously to 1644, and it
was modified by the new conquerors of the throne 'of
China, the Mantchou-Tartars, who, seeing all the ad-
vantages which they could derive from it, reserved to
themselves the sole power of nomination to all the posts
in the army, the exclusive protection of the Imperia
city, and conferred upon the chiefs of the different corps
exclusive privileges. By degrees, the Mantchou-Tartar
Emperors, enervated by the effeminate customs of the
Chinese, have departed from these principles„ and the
civil element has regained its level.

All the soldiers of the empire are married, and engaged
in cultivation of the soil ; each of them has a piece of
ground, which he cultivates, and to the care of which he
devotes the whole of his time. The men abandon the
plough only under the threat of the cane or the bas
tinado ; and, it may be added, that these correctional
punishments are applied with a liberality which says as
little for the governing powers as for the governed.
There is no such thing as drill, excepting at very long
intervals, and, when the men are assembled for this pur-
pose, the exercises are little better than nominal.

In conclusion, it may be remarked, that the Chinese
soldier possesses none of the qualities of the European
soldier who has the advantages of intelligence and of
being properly instructed in his duty, is influenced by
the love of country, and excited by enthusiasm, all which
impel him onwards to the performance of whatever duty
whereas the Chinese soldier, enervated
is required of him ;
by his qecientary and contemplative mode of living, and
brutalised by the customs of hiscountry, and by the indul-
gence of the most degrading passions of fallen humanity,
though he may be well enough suited to the labour of
the fields, is utterly unfit to handle military weapons.
Te only exception to this is the case of the Mantchou
and Dakhour Tartars, a people who origikally came
from the borders of the Amoor. These men to some
extent really deserve the name of warriors. They are
as brave and as full of energy as the Chinese are
cowardly and indolent ; and it is on this account that
the present Emperor, who is quite alive to the real state
of the case, has entrusted the defence of his dynasty to
them and not to the Chinese. It is the Tartar troops
of the eight banners, supported by the 60,000 men
composing the militia and green flag, whom the Anglo-
French expeditionary force encountered and defeated on
the banks of the Peiho, and in front of the capital itself.
C.

The Montreal Ocean Company's steamer Canadian,
which sailed yesterday for Portland, took about £13,000
in specie,