Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-04-16 00:00:00

THE REBELS IN CHINA.

We have just read the last manifesto issued by
the Tae-ping rebels at Nanking. This document
was sent to Lord Elgin when on the Yang-tsze, and
is at once a confession of faith, and a diplomatic
invitation from the chief to the English. It is
drawn up in a sing-song form, which, doubtless, the
author conceived to be excellent poetry. The
perusal of this manifesto makes one shudder by its
gross blasphemy. It begins by saying :
"We proclaim (as a sovereign), for the informa-
tion of our younger brethren of the Western
Ocean.

" Why are you not loyal to the utmost ? Why do
you wilfully pursue your former course ? You have
often been guilty of serious disobedience of com-
mands. Were we not to issue our decree, your
boldness would be as great as heaven. Heaven
has sent you down a king to be your true lord.
Why are you so troubled, your hearts so unsettled ?
"'We have desired our ministers to treat you
with courtesy, and have issued ouf manifesto to
show our sympathy with you.
" The myriad nations throng in myriads to our
Court. Ours are the myriad hills, the myriad waters
at infinite distance. Far as myriad li, myriad eyes
throng their way up. All knowledge, all happiness,
all merit is ours.

" We built the temple of the Father and the Elder
Brother, and destroyed the devilish serpents. We
exterminated the brutes by the aid of the Father
and Elder Brother (Christ.) The serpents and
brutes all exterminated the whole world sings the
song of peace."
And this Tae-ping revolution is the result of
foreign intercourse with China, this blasphemous
manifesto a result of Christianity preached to its
people! Truly we cannot pride ourselves over such
rssults. We cannot help it, for China is falling
beyond redemption ; the revolution is not a purifying
agent, as other revolutions have been, but it is a
mere fungus growing out of and feeding on
the extreme rottenness of the Empire. It
will die out and do no good. The present
generation may live to see the fall and division of
both Turkey and China--empires, unwieldy in size
and bankrupt, which have failed to keep time with
the universal law of advancement, and, as a necessary
consequence, perish. They may revive for a brief
season, under new lords, but their nationality is
dying for ever. Empires once fallen, never rise
again.—China Mail, February 24.

1859

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF LORDS.-FRIDAY.

Their Lordships having met at five o'clock, a lengthened
discussion took place with regard to the Red Sea and
Indian Telegraph Company (No. 2) Bill, upon a formal
motion to dispense with a standing order for the purpose of
proceeding more rapidly with the bill.
Lord Stanley, of Alderley, took a strong objection to the
measure, especially to clauses 42 and 53. He argued
against the contract which the Government had entered
into with the Company, and expressed a hope that if the
bill passed, power would be taken, at any future time, to
purchase the line, if it should appear, desirable.
The Earl of Ellenborough looked upon the line as a great
military and public undertaking, rather than as a com-
mercial speculation.
After a few words from the Earl of Derby, who explained
the nature of the guarantee given by the Government to the
company,
The motion for dispensing with the standing orders was
withdrawn.
The further progress of the bill, therefore, is suspended
for the present.
The Duke of Argyle called attention to a despatch from
the Earl of Elleuborough to the East India Company, dated
28th April, 1858, recommending the rescinding of the system
of grants in aid of schools by the Government of India, as
established under Sir C. Wood's despatch of July, 1854, and
moved for certain papers in connection therewith. The
noble duke defended the system of grants in aid, as being
the cheapest mode of extending education to the masses of
India, as interfering least, if that could be desired, with their
religious prejudices, and as conciliating the views enter-
tained by the missionary party, and those who supported a
system of secular education in India.
The Earl of Ellenborough objected to the system of grants
in aid, on the ground that it had failed, that it violated the
principle of religious neutrality, and that it was an expen-
sive plan.
After a few words from the Duke of Marlblrongh, the
motion, on the suggestion of the Earl of Derby, was modified,
and it was then agreed to.
The Superannuation Bill, end the Combination of Work-
men Bill were road a third time and passed.
The House adjourned at 7.20 p.m.