The Press.
London, England, 1857-05-02 00:00:00

THE WAR WITH CHINA.

THE intelligence brought by the last mail from
China details some important occurrences. The
despatches reach to the 15th of March. In the
Canton river affairs were tolerably quiet. Two
successful junk engagements at Fatshan creek and
at Toon-Chung, and the capture and destruction of
some dbzen junks, may, say the China papers, be
accepted as " compensation" for the capture by the
Chinese of the Queen passenger steamer while on
her voyage from Hong Kong to Macao. But the
most important event connected with the war is the
sudden insurrection of the Chinese colonists at
Kuchin, Sarawak, and their attempt to destroy the
resident English.
Rumours appear to have been current that the
Chinese contemplated resisting the authority of the
local Government for some time previous. On the
night of the 17th of February a large body, number-
ing about 200 Chinese, came down the river at mid-
night, and made a most determined attack on the
Government people and property. They first
secured possession of the two forts, one below and
the other above the town of Kuchin (the seat of
Rajah Brooke's authority), and, having furnished
themselves with all the arms and ammunition in
stcre, proceeded to the work of destruction upon
which they had ventured. One party attacked the
residence of Sir James Brooke, whilst the remainder
assaulted the houses of Mr. Ctookshank, the
magistrate, and Mr. Middleton, also a Government
official. The surprise and consternation was so
great, and the measures of the attacking party so
well organised, that all communication between the
different European members of the community was
impossible. While the Chinese attacked the front
of the house, Sir James Brooke succeeded in effect-
ing an extraordinary escape; he passed down the
bath-room, swam a creek near his house, and suc-
ceeded in gaining a neighbouring Malay village.
The assailants fired into Sir James Brooke's resi-
dence, killed Mr. Nicholets, plundered the place
of everything of value in their estimation, and then
set tire to the house. Sir James Brooke at once took
tl.e most active measures to destroy his assailants,
and as his own account of the whole affair is most
interesting, we venture to subjoin it as extracted
from a private letter :

A follower of Tien•Te, the rebel chief, bad arrived in
Sarawak. and some criminals, who had been banished the
country, secretly returned from Singapore. f had been
unwell fot• some days, and on the night at the 18th retired
early to bed. My servant was sleeping in a room near
mine, and Mr. Steel and Nicholets occupied a small
bungalow close hy. Between twelve and one o'clock I
was awakened by yells and shots, and, seizing my sword
aid revolver, I opened a window and saw that the house
was surrounded. The noise told me it was by Chinese.
I opened door by door in the hope of finding means for
escape, but in vain. I told Pent), [his native servant]
that our deaths were at hand, and, as the last hope, went
down to the hathing•rootn, which was under repair. The
dour was not fastened. I opened it gently, and, seeing
the way clear, ran across the lawn to the creek on the
right hand of the house, and took the w•tter close under
the bows of the boat which had brought the murderers to
their bloody work. I carried my pistol and sword
across with me. Glad was I to touch ground on the
far side, though not above thirty yards. I struggled
through the deep mud, and lay down exhausted and
panting in the road. Recovering breath, I gut to the
neamst house, and, launching a canoe, pulled up to the
Datoo Handers kampong. All was in confusion. I was
too exhausted to do much, and Hercules himself could
nut have restored courage or order to such a polio-
stricken crowd. Here Crookshank joined me bleeding
from a severe sword•cut in the arm. lie believed his wife
to be dead, and we both apprehended that the massacre
would be general. Finding all hope of restoring affairs at
the Handers gone, I pulled to the kampongs above, and
persuaded the people to secure their women and valuables
in prahus, and to cross to the opposite or left bank of the
river, so as to prevent the assailants from attacking them
by land. My house, Arthur's, and Middleton's were long
before this in flames. We got the women and children
acmes the river, and Arthur, Crookshank, and myself
retired to the same side, to the house of Nakndah Bryak.
Here Crymble joined us with the intelligence that after an
hour's defence our fort or palisade had been taken, and
with it all our guns, small arms, ammunition, &c. It had
been defended by Crymble, with four men, and two
prisoners ; three of the defenders were killed, one or two
wounded, and Crymble himself had been grazed by a spear
in his side. Middleton, Steele, Ruppell, and Penty
dropped in one after another. The bright fires went out,
and the dull morning broke at length, but only disclosing
to us the hopeless state of our affairs.
We remained quietly at Inkodah Bryaks, doing what
we could to animate the natives, and to prepare for
knell defence as our means allowed, should we be
attacked.

Mal here relate the fate and misfortunes of our
fellow•sufferers. Poor Harry Nicholets was murdered on
the grass, trying to reach my house. Crookshank amd
Ins wife escaped by their bath•►oom door. She ran first,
and he protected her retreat with a spear in his hand, but,
in passing the stable, one Of these villains rushed from

TILL PRESS.

the opposite side and cut her down. Her husband jobbed
his spear into the misczeant's back, but with a twist of his
body he wrenched it out, and, seizing the shaft, he
struggled to get the spear. Suddenly, however, letting go
with his right hand, in which he held a short sword, he
cut Crookshank across the fleshy part of the arm. Bcth
staggered, both let go the spear, and Crookshank, weak
with loss of blood, and believing his wife dead, staggered
away and reached me. She, young and beautiful, lay for
twelve hours weltering in her blood, conscious and
calm in this extremity. One fiend hacked at her head
till he cut off the long tresses which protected it;
another tore her rings from her fingers ; a third—for the
sake of our common nature let it be told—gave her water to
drink.

By this time the remainder of the Europeans had been
assured of protection; but when the bishop asked the
leader's permission to carry her to his house, he was told
that she should be left to perish. At length the boon was
granted, and she was relieved and tended, and is now, God
be praised, recovering. Middleton's house was attacked
at the same time anti in the same manner as the others.
He escaped with difficulty. His poor little wife hid in a
bakery till the burning rafters fell about her, and, from her
concealment, saw the assailants kicking about the head of
her eldest child. The mother was paralysed ; she wished,
she said, to rush out, but could not move. The youngest
child was murdered and thrown into the flames, where poor
Wellington's remains were likewise consumed, his head
borne off in triumph alone attesting his previous murder.
The day broke, as I said, and shortly after I heard that the
Chinese had assured the survivors of safety ; that they had
communicated with the bishop, and sent for Helms and
Ruppell. I then, hopeless of doing good, started for the
Siole, a small stream which has its outlet far below the
town ; it was a wild walk ; we swam the stream, washed
out every track of our footsteps in the mud, and took
refuge in a mangrove swamp as dark came on. By eight
o'clock two small boats came to carry us away, and in an
hour afterwards I was in Abong Buyong'sprahu, manned
by forty men, with six smaller boats in company. Our
party consisted of Arthur, Crookshank, Crymble,
ton, and Penty, and, after the trials and fatigues of the
twenty.four hours, we slept as though misfortune had not
overtaken us.

On Sunday, the 22nd, Sir James Brooke, having
received intelligence of the retirement of the Chinese,
ventured towards Kuchin, but before he reached the
town the Chinese returned in great force and com-
pelled him to retire. He determined as his only
resource to rouse the native population against tne
rebels:—

A force from Sakarran was our only hope, and with a
base for operations we might rally the people, re-arm, and
act against the enemy. The next morning I was on my
way to Lingao, when the steamer hove in sight. I hoarded
her. Skinner was most zealous and active. Here was
the very base for our operations we wanted. We drove
the miscreants out of the town, found the Datoo in a
cluster of prahus, and heard that he had recaptured nine
sampans and one of our prahus containing stores of
powder, some gnus, .Cc., of which we were in great want.
This was the first blow struck at the Chinese. I felt as-
sured that each day would improve our resources and
diminish those of our enemies. Their body of men was
nearly annihilated ; for, taking the jungle behind the
town or making off by the road, as they had no boats to
carry them away, they were cut off by the Dyaks or starved.
My next measure was to let the land Dyaks loose upon
them, and, within a circuit of thirty miles from Siniawan,
Bau, and Bula, tl:ey were driven into their defences with
great loss of lite, and all communication between Bau and
Sinaiwan prevented, excepting by means of large parties of
armed men. Night and day they were harassed by alarms ;
every straggler was cut down. In short, it was a guerilla
warfare of the most harassing character, and quite shut the
enemy up in their two places of strength, Ban and Sinia-
wan, The want of food was sure to do the rest, and it
was a mere question of time how long they could hold out.
Simovar and Bank were each covered, the former by the
fort of Balitlah, the latter by its landing-place, but early in
the month the Chinese again came forth in five prahus
and began ravaging the banks of the river. 1 was col-
lecting my people, and reassuring them after their panic.
The Datoo 13andar, on the 9th, was in a single Malay
prahu on the lookout at Linda Tarak when this Chinese
party came there. They declined an engagement on the
water, but landed and threw up a stockade, which they de-
fended with four guns and manned with about 250 men,
armed with muskets and Titles. The Datoo came down
himself in a small boat, and by one o'clock on the 10th we
got off two more large prahus, some thirty Dyak bang-
kongs as a reserve ; other prahus were preparing, and
some followed the same evening, but too late. These
three prahus ranged themselves in line and dashed at the
Chinese stockade, landed sword in hand, and carried it
without a cheek. The Dyaks cut the Chinese to pieces in
the jungle, and the haif•hour before sunset cost our ene-
mies from 100 to 1.30 men. Again the remnant was dis-
tressed in the jungle. Our party returned; had it as-
cended the river, no man, woman, or child of our enemies
would have escaped death or capture. This defeated
party consisted of their picked men, and their two great
leaders were killed in the stockade.
A panic now seized them. On the night of the 11th 1.
heard that Balitlith and Simovar had been abandoned, and,
hurrying up the following morning, the intelligence greeted
me that Bank was likewise deserted. and had been burned,
and that the Chinese were in full retreat towards Sambas.
'Phis took us by surprise, but our force got upon their trail
on the 1301, and, after three days' desultory fighting, drove
them across the frontier with great slaughter, the enemy,
however, making a desperate resistance in defence of the
women and children, and the efforts of our people not
being able to break them. Had twenty-four hours' delay
intervened to allow a concerted attack we should have had

425

them all ; but as it is we may be thankful, for a mere rem
nant of the body of Chinese men has escaped, and the
capture of the women and children was not to be desired.
Even now, however, this wretched mass, driven to the
further side of the Sambas river, must suffer great loss,
and may altogether perish in the wild jungle for want of
food and from exposure. Thus the punishment has been
almost as sudden and far mote sharp than the treachery
and first success of this miscreant body. A thousand and
more have been killed in different places, their flourishing
settlements destroyed, and not a rooftree to cover their
dastard heads in the country. The numbers starved in
their flight by being lost in the jungle it is difficult to
reckon, but it must be considerable, and out of a ;inputs.
tion of 4,000 or 5,000 certainly not more than 2,000 have
escaped, and half this number is composed of women and
children.

As to the causes and origin of the i______
James Brooke explains them as follows
Wherever there is a Chinaman there is the conceit of
supremacy and the desire of dominion. When associated
in bodies as in Sambas formerly, and thence in Sarawak
before my arrival, this lust of rule grows stronger. The
stringent proceedings of the Dutch have recently thrown
many desperate characters into Sarawak, and the miserably
feeble Government of Singapore, with its toleration of secret
societies, has strengthened the Chinese Kungsi here an?.
given it advisers aware of the state of British affairs and
policy. Without such advisers the idea of encouraging
trade while murdering the officers of Government would
never have entered the head of any of the rude Chinese
here, and without the means of Evelihood from without and
the support of the European community so mad a projt.ct
could hardly have been undertaken. To upset the Govern-
ment by the murder of its principal officers and heads and
to establish other Englishmen to carry on the trade, was
the suggestion of Chinese of Singapore, well acquainted
with the isolated position of Sarawak, and possessed with
the idea that the murder of Sarawak officers and the
Sarawak Rajah would he a matter of supreme indifference
to the British nation, provided that trade was continued
and cottons sold. It was a high compliment to my Go-
vernment that, murdering me with the intention of obtain-
ing power, these stupidly clever Chinese desired as little
change as possible. They forgot the native element, and
hence their destruction has come. It was a grand super-
structure, cleverly devaid by men acquainted with
English policy and mo of proceeding, but miserably
based as regards the feelings and the ferocity of the native
population. I think I have told you that one of Tien-Te's
followers—i.e. a follower of the rebel and Hoe leader in
China—has since been ascertained to have arrived in the
country. It is probable that he was the great Singapore
mover anti agent, and to all these causes to encourage the
attempt to acquire power anti plunder by means of
treachery and murder may be added the poverty of the
Chinese, owing to the scanty yield of gold during the last
eight months.
In conclusion, he writes :
The loss of the Company is trifling. It is fortunate that
you will hear of our disaster and its retrieval at the same
time: arid, for myself, I may say that I am in good health
anti spirits, and ready to rouzh it with the best of them.
Our ladies behaved with great fortitude and resignation.
Charlie Johnson, as usual, has been my right hand, and
every Government servant, has declared he will follow its
fortunes in evil as well as in good fortune. I have written
to retrench every superfluous expense, and I have appro-
priated toy pension from the East India Company to pity
the pensions I grant to others. Everything else is super-
fluous. No books, no papers, no wine, no nothing.

i, Sir

The following is an extract firm a letter from
Singapore, dated the 23rd of March :

The Chinese here and in the Straits generally are in a
disaffected state, and, should there be auy rumour of mis•
fortune to us in China, it may lead to unpleasant conse•
quences in the meantime, though there can be no doubt of
the ultimate result. The punishment cf the Chinese in
Borneo must have an excellent effect on other populations.
The only pity is that the English did nut do it instead of
the Malays. Sir W. Hoste's going t' Borneo must produce
the best results.

Sir James Brooke is stated to regard the affair as
trifling and soon to be retrieved. The Government
gunboats and the Malays were in eager pursuit of
the Chinese, and if the latter are overtaken the re-
tribution will doubtless be severe.

On the arrival of the news at Singapore the agents
of Sir James Brooke and the Borneo Company lost
no time in chartering the schooner Waterlily, and
loading her with arms and ammunition, as also some
volunteers for service, while the Dutch authorities at
Sambas immediately despatched troops and a war
steamer to the scene of action. Sir James Brooke,
by latest advice, had departed for Simunjang, on
the Sadong, the scene of the Borneo Company's
operations, and where a large number of Chinese
coolies are employed, with the view of preventing any
rising on the part of the coolies in that quarter.
The Chinese resident.s at Kuchin were completely
restored to confidence when the steamer left, and had
reopened their shops. So great, indeed, was their
reliance in the stability of the Rajah's Government,
that not one of their wives or children was sent away
to Singapore in the steamer. The loss by the late
outrages chiefly falls on Sir James Brooke and the
Government people. Mrs. Crookshank had nearly
recovered from her injuries, and her husband's
wounds were doing well.
With respect to affairs at Hong Kong, a general
sense of insecurity prevailed. The Government
contractors' storehouses had been burned down, and

I

426

700 barrels of flour destroyed—a particularly incon-
venient circumstance at the time, and entailing a
most serious loss. A guard placed over the ruins,
had been refused by Sir John Bowring previous to
the catastrophe.
Confidence in Sir John Bowring's ability to meet
the crisis he has brought about does not appear to be
generally felt :

Our brave old Admiral Sir Michael, as usual, is always
on the qui rive (says the China Mail), constantly on the
river between this place and Canton, inspecting, instruct-
ing, and occasionally attacking ; while our notable Gover-
nor, Sir John }lowring, quietly takes his daily siesta,
reiting upon the laurels he has acquired from his first
active debut in London as managing committee man of the
Greek loan, down to the time of his Kowloon deportation
here, some short time since.

It is a most absurd thing to imagine, and a great error
committed by the Home Government to suppose that a
literary man of Sir John's stamp and calibre can ever be
the proper ruler of a military colony, and we think we
express the sentiments of the largest portion of Hong
Kong, when we say that the authorities at home would be
conferring an inestimable boon upon us by ordering his
recall. Talent he has to a certain extent, and of a certain
order; but alas ! for the application.
The Chinese at Canton are not making any
effort to rebuild their suburbs or forts, but they have
cmstructed some fresh batteries on the left hank
of the river below the ruins of the French Folly
Fort. At Fatslian they were fortifying the approaches
a id blocking up the passage.
The murder of the passengers of the steamer
Queen seems to have arisen from the extraordinary
negligence of the authorities at Hong Kong, after
the case of the Thistle, in permitting a passenger-
vessel to leave Hong Kong with thirty-five Chinese
and not more than eight or ten Europeans on board.
Mr. Cleverley, an English official, who luckily
escaped, gives the following version of the affair:—
He was sitting alone on the upper deck, while the other
passengers, all the Portuguese, were at dinner, when a
Chinese passenger came up an asked him why he did
not also go down to dinner, an commended him to do
so. Soon after he went towards the cabin, at which time
there was not an officer of the vessel anywhere on deck.
Twelve or fifteen first-class Chinese passenger@ had come
on board at starting, and there were several other natives,
over none of whom was there the least supervision, nor
was a cautionary guard placed from the time of starting.
The loaded muskets were in the cheat on the upper deck,
and were all seized by the Chinese, who then descended
near the wheelhouse, and began to drive the others aft.
They also fired from the above into the cabin, where the
captain and passengers were at table, while some remained
on the top, and kept every passage forward closed. Captain
Wynn and Mr. Cleverley stood near the door, and the
latter shot two Chinese.

Tho captain was wounded in the head and jumped over•
board, followed by Mr. Cleverley, whose thighbone had
been shattered by a ball—both of them convinced that
further resistance to the Chinese was useless. Three
others were also then in the water, the steamer being near
the south-western end of Lantao. Atter remaining about
two hours in the water, Mr. Cleverley managed to attract
the notice of the crew of a lorcha, who lowered a boat and
picked him up, and on reaching the lorcha, hoisted the
boat up to the davits, from which position lie managed to
haul himself over the tatfrail and get .iown into the
cabin, suffering great pain from his wound all the time.
When he was picked up, he saw nothing of Captain Wynn
or of the Chinese who had jumped overboard ; some of
them may have reached land. The captain and mate of
the lorcha treated him kindly, and he reached Macao about
seven p.m. ; and in less than three hours after the rescue
was carried up to his own house.

The attack was conducted by Mandarin sol Tiers
and pirates, who were on board for the purpose.
The Queen was under Portuguese colours, and the
Governor of Macao had sent a representaticn to Yeh
regarding the affair, but the Portuguese passengers
had since arrived safely at Macao.
After th.s occurrence it was discovered that the
guns on board some of the other passenger steamers
had been spiked. The China papers complain of the
remissness cf the authorities in not taking steps to
check these attempts of the Chinese.
Two lamentable outbreaks of coolies were re-
ported. One in the Peruvian ship Carmac, in the
China seas, when the vessel was burned by tba
coolies, who perished in her, the captain and crew
escaping in their boats; and the other in the
English ship Gulaare, when ten coolies were shot,
several jumped overboard, and fourteen severely
wounded before the insurrection was put down.

SIR JOHN DAVIS ON CANTON.
SIR JOHN DAVIS attended the Geographical Society's
weekly meeting on Monday last, and read a very
interesting paper upon Canton.
Sir JOHN alluded in the first instance to the
objects of the present hostilities with the Chinese.
The objects were stated to be satisfaction for the
past and security for the future, and for their attain-
ment Sir John Davis was of opinion that the capture
and occupation of the provincial city was indispen-
sable. Canton was only seventy-seven miles from Hong
Kong. The city was defended nearest the sea by the
Bogue Forts, which had been three times taken by
the English ; next by the First bar battery ; next by

THE PRESS.

the Barrier Forts, which would be impregnable
were they not square, by which attacking vessels
might approach at an angle without danger; and the
last defences were the French Folly on the east of the
city, which were destroyed by Sir M. Seymour, and
the Dutch Folly, the Red Fort, the Shamir Fort, the
Teetotum Fort, and the Bird's Nest battery. Admiral
Seymour had occupied the Cow fort, and placed ships
all *down the river, within signal distance of each
other. The greatest danger was from fire-rafts sent
from the shallow creeks, but that danger was not so
great as might be thought, as they could be taken in
tow by the ships' boats, and run ashore to burn out
at leisure. The species of vessel most wanted was
gunboats for the creeks, and no doubt when those
despatched reached the scene of operations a good
account would be given of the enemy. Almost every
Chinese vessel in the neighbourhood of Canton could
turn a hand to piracy occasionally, and it should be
an object of the British expedition to disarm them,
and confer thereby a great benefit upon trade. Sir
John Davis next alluded to the probable occupation of
Chusan; he regretted when he had had to abandon its
possession on the payment of the indemnity money.
With respect to the objects of the war, Sir John
Davis was of opinion that we only wanted the com-
merce of China. The Chinese should be made to
understand that our object was not to obtain territory,
which appeared to be their impression, but their
trade.
Mr. CR.%WFORD said he bad himself never been in
China—he had never got further than Cochin China,
but he had lived amongst and had had authority
over Chinese for twelve or fourteen years of his life.
China was no doubt a very extensive and populous
country, but it was an error, though a pogular one, to
suppose that it was more thickly populated than
Great Britain. The emigrants from China wera all
adult men, and expected to return home again,
though the great majority did not. The number of
Chinese settled in the Eastern Islands was about
350,000, and there were large numbers in Cochin
China and Siam. They were a very industrious
people, and he never experienced any inconvenience
from the misconduct of the Chinese. It had been
said by one of the newspapers that the Chinese had
been conspiring against us everywhere they were
settled, but that was not true. In the Eastern
Islands, the Chinese trailed on an equality with Eng-
lish merchants, and some of them were justices of
the peace.

THE MORMONS AND THE GOVERNMENT
OF THE UNITED STATES.
THE latest news from the United States indicates
the probability of a speedy collision between the
federal authorities and the Mormons. Brigham
Young some time singe ordered all the records and
papers of the Supreme Court of the territory to be
destroyed. They were seized and deliberately
burned, with a collection of nine hundred volumes of
the United States' laws and reports. Young has
also cancelled several decisions of the federal judge,
and liberated and promoted convicted felons. As
Brigham Young, by some extraordinary compromise
of the late Administration, is the duly-appointed
governor of the territory of Utah, he draws a salary
from the Treasury at Washington in that capacity,
and therefore burning the library and archives of the
Supreme Court of the federal power becomes en
overt act of treason and rebellion. The judge of the
Supreme Court, Mr. Drummond, unprotected and a
" Gentile," having no force behind him to carry out
his decisions, unable to get verdicts, and altogether
reduced to a cipher, has resigned, and sent in a for-
mal complaint and description of the state of things
generally in the City of the Salt Lake to the Attorney-
General of the Union at Washington. The case is,
therefore, fairly before the Government. Judge
Drummond states that the Mormon chief priest, like
the " Old Man of the Mountain," has a sworn band
of assassins—the Danites—who commit murder at
the command of the Church as a religious duty,
inflict bodily mutilations on offending persons as a
secondary punishment, seize property, and are gene-
rally the " executive" officers of the chief. Suspected
parties, or those known to be dangerous to the
Church, disappear, especially in leaving the territory ;
they are supposed to be murdered by the Indians ;
really, the judge says, they are disposed of by order
of Brigham Young. Mr. I)rummond's predecessor
is declared to have been poisoned, and the late secre-
tary of the territory, Mr. Babbitt, and Captain J.
Gunnison, and a party of eight others, Judge Drum-
mond asserts to have been murdered. The news-
paper rumours of such things have hitherto been
doubted; but they are taking shape and form, and
revealing the extraordinary fact that, far in the wil-
derness, there is a community of 100,000 people
governed by an absolute theocracy, with polygamy as
the basis of society and assassination a recognised
instrument of the religious despotism.
The anomalous condition of affairs is, next to the
slavery question, the most perplexing domestic sub-

SAtTIRDAY,

ject now before the Government and people of the
United States. Since the day the Mormons made
themselves a power in the politics of Illinois, no
Administration has possessed the courage to oppose
them. Mr. Buthanan and his Cabinet, however, are
about to attempt a revolution among the Latter-Dav
Saints. It is proposed to send to Utah a military
force, officered by persons of character, who have
families ; and judges and executive officers of worth
and high standing, who have families, are to be ap-
pointed in place of Brigham Young. These mea-
sures will, it is believed, afford ample protection t,)
the territorial functionaries, and at the same time
impart an enlightened and purer tone to the morals
of the community. The order recently issued front
the War Department, withdrawing General Harney
from the conduct of the Indian war in Florida and
directing him to repair to Fort Leavenworth, there
to await special instructions, may perhaps have
something to do with the contemplated coup d'etat
of the Administration.

MAY 2, 1857.