The Sun.
London, England, 1862-07-14 00:00:00

CHINA.

The interest in the news i;Om China is confined
to the proceedings of the rebels. The following
extracts are from the China Trade Report of
May 26 :
"Ningpo has been wrested from the Taepings by
a combined British and French naval force, and
restored to the Imperialists. This event took place
on the 10th inst.

" The result of the capture of Ningpo is by no
means satisfactory. The trade which was being
transacted there in rice and opium is jeopardised ;
the hopes that existed of silks and teas finding an
outlet there being also at an end. The rebels have
only retired a few miles in the interior, so that
unless an allied force be left to protect the place,
the Taepings will certainly attack and recapture it.
" As for affairs at Shanghae—the powers of en-
durance and vitality of the Taepings in that vicinity
are wonderful. On the 12th inst., the important
stronghold of Tsingpoo, a walled city about 25
miles from Shanghae, was wrested from them by
the allied force. The casualties reported on the
part of the assailants amount to one marine killed
and one wounded. The same tactics were followed
as those practised on previous occasions. Consi-
derable booty fell to the captors, including 100,000
pls. of rice, supposed to have been received from
Ningpo. About 2,000 prisoners were taken.
" The next assault upon the Taepings, however,
showed a very different result, and proved a for-
cible indication of the gigantic and extensive mea-
sures which the insurgents had determined on. It
would seem that, after the capture of Tsingpoo,
the allied force proceeded to attack the rebels at a
position which they had taken up en the opposite
side of the river to Shanghae, and about 23 miles
off. This attack was made on the 17th inst. The
Taepings allowed the allies to bombard their works
without replying. The allies, fancying the enemy
had, as usual, evacuated the post, advanced to the
assault. The Taepings must have kept in ambus-
cade, for when the attacking party had approached
near enough they opened a tremendous fire, killing
and wounding many officers and men. Admiral
Protet, the French naval commander-in-chief, was
amongst the killed. His body was brought to
Shanghae on the 18th inst. The fear is that the
affair is serious, as much secrecy is observed. It is
known, however, that the allies ultimately carried
the post with heavy loss to the Taepings, and that
another rebel camp hard by was being menaced,
and would be forthwith bombarded, &c.
" The most singular and important feature in
the case has now to be narrated. Notwithstand-
ing the repeated and sanguinary reverses which
the Taepings have sustained at the hands of the
allies, and the apparent futility of their attempts
to cope with artillery in the field, so far from being
disheartened, they have displayed the utmost
energy to repair their defeats. Chung Whang,
their principal general, who was most probably
with the main body of the army near Hangchow
or Soochow, sent down largo reinforcements to
Shanghae, and suddenly overran the districts where-
from the allies had but a few weeks previously
ejected the rebels. The unfortunate inhabitants
had again to undergo the calamities attendant upon
a visitation of the incensed marauders. Fire and
desolation again marked the path of the Taepings.
The People flew in thousands to the banks of the
river, houselesa and destitute, in the hope of ob-
taining means of
escape. In one district it is stated
that a continuous line of fire extended ten miles.
The 'I aepings app
earea in heavy force in several
places at once, driving
the Imperialists before them
like chaff before the 'wind. They attacked several
of the places wherefrom the
allies had ejected them,
and certainly carried such as they attacked, except-
ing walled City
ing the im of Kanding, the cap-
ture of which formed the leading lemma) of the
operations of the alliesadvisedlastrc.
The pos-
session of this place being important, several hun-
dred sepoys were placed there to assist the Impe-
rial garrison. The Taepings soon drove
'n
e
Imperialists, and laid siege to the place reinforce_
meats were sent from Shanghae both of British
and Indian troops. The intelligence is kept a
profound secret, as is usual when it is adverse,
but the belief, amounting almost to a certainty,
is that 700 British troops were surrounded at Kah-
ding, and are short of ammunition. An
armed boat was sent with supplies, but was cut off
and captured by the Taepings.
" The precise position of the allied force does not
appear. At Shanghae apprehensions are again felt
for the safety of the city and the settlement. Taep-
ing hordes have approached within five miles from
the city. Artillery will have to be sent to Kanding.
It is known that no more expeditions are to be
equipped and that the allied force will simply pro-
het Shanghae until the expected reinforcements
shall arrive, and that the Taepings will remain un-
disputed masters of the country near Shanghae.
Ningpo will be a sad source of weakness, and the
Yang-tsze trade placed in imminent jeopardy. It is
known that Soochow is the base of the Taeping
movements on Shanghae, and that their numbers
there are legion.
" There is still an absence of reliable news regard-
ing the operations of the Yee
hand ,g•
-tsze. The advises to
have all a strong Imperial bias. These state
that the. Taepings have sustained several defeats in
the neighbourhood of Nankin
; no particulars are
given The insurgent le 'dere, on the other hand,
proclaim that they have gained important victories.
The Imperialists have certainly taken a fort fro
short distance from Nankin.
Them
the Taepings a
of the occupancy f
advantage taken t.sia fort, was
to seize a number of foreign owned native trot end
Her Majesty's
appropriate the cargoes. gun boat

Banterer actually left her station off Nankin
and seized a large number of the Imperialist
war vessels at this fort. By last a'' vices these
were all made fast to the gun boat, and
held to enforce the restoration of the pro-
perty. There is no alleged illegality in the matter,
and it is needless to add that if the Taepings had
been the aggressors they would have forthwith been
shelled.

" The rebels are commencing to retaliate upon
foreigners. They have several times fired upon
steamers plying between Shanghae and Hankow,
but as yet no injury has been sustained. A feeling
of uneasiness prevails lest the coming crop of silk
should be either destroyed or arrested by the Tae-
pings in its transit.
" Large supplies of new season's Congous have by
this time reached Foo-chow and Hankow. No ap-
prehensions are for the moment entertained of the
action of the Taepings interfering with this branch
of trade.

" Affairs at Japan are rather more satisfactory ;
a decree had been issued limiting the Chinese
trading community at Nagasaki to 300. Business
both at that port and at Kanagawa had improved.
A singular political movement is reported. The
Bonin Islands, which it is said have been nominally
British for 30 years, have been suddenly taken pos-
session of by the Japanese. The step has probably
been suggested by the Russians, whose mysterious
footing about the Corea and the North of the Japan
group, is now exciting the curiosity of the British
Government, who are urging the favoured nation
clause as an equivalent to the postponement of the
ports under the treaty."