The Sun.
London, England, 1862-02-26 00:00:00

CHINA AND JAPAN.

The following is from the Overland China Maz,
of the 15th January :

The principal news during the past fortnight has
reference to the loss of Ningpo by the imperial
party and its capture by the rebels. Nearly the
whole of the city population fled on the advance of
the Taipings, but unfortunately some poor women,
mostly old, were left behind, with a certain pro-
portion of younger ones; these latter have been
subjected to every sort of indignity, some being
ultimately left to die in the streets. The streets them-
selves are literally strewn with dead bodies, all form
of burial being quite disregarded. Towards foreigners
alone has moderation been practised, and that is
solely attributable to the dread they entertain of us.
No general massacre took place, as there were few
people left to kill ; no houses were burnt, in com-
pliance with a promise given to our consul at Ning-
po, before the city was taken. The trade and pro-
spects of the place are, however, hopelessly ruined.
The following authentic heads of news from that
port have been received by us, and will doubtless
prove interesting to the English public. The dates
brought down from Ningpo are of the 3d instant :-
1. The British consul, Mr. Fred. Harvey, has
called upon the English missionaries to leave the
city of Ningpo; it being no longer a fit residence
for Christian missionaries. All the British mis-
sionaries have abandoned the city. 2. The rebel
soldiers who insulted some of these missionaries have
been summarily beheaded. Seven heads came off.
3. Dreadful outrages committed by the rebel sol-
diers on a few Chinese women found concealed in
the city. Seven or seventeen the number, rebels are
not particular. 4. dr. Consul Harvey has received
a written apology from the rebel Generalin-Chief
for not returning his call. (The rascals are afraid
of coming out of the city forts.) 5. The Taipings
continue to respect the foreign location site at
Ningpo, in accordance with promise and arrange-
ment made with Consul Harvey. 6. Departure of
rebel troops for Shaou-hing. Disbanding of those
troops outside Ningpo—the recruits running away,
and leaving the old rebels to return to Ningpo.
7. Consul Harvey has been informed by the
rebels that they propose establishing a
native Custom-house. 8. Admiral Chin is reported
to be arming at Chusan for an attack on Ningpo.
9. The city has become an armed camp; no trade
or business within its wads. No residents of re-
spectability, only rebels living in it.
It must be admitted that Mr. Harvey, our consul
at Ningpo, has shown a most becoming amount of
firmness during the recent crisis; and it is certainly
to his cool and judicious management that we must
attribute the respect in which the Taipings hold
us, notwithstanding their rude and lawless excesses
towards others.

From Japan, we learn that the new regulations
have not been relished by the British community;
an order emanating from the native authorities
forbidding Japanese traders to take money from
our merchants previous to furnishing the goods
for which that money forms payment, is,
in effect, an infraction of article 14 of the treaty
which says that "foreigners may freely buy from
Japanese, and sell to them, any articles that either
may have for sale (munitions of war excepted),
without the intervention of any Japanese officers in
such purchase or sale, or in making or receiving
payment for the same."
Another topic at present discussed in Japan is
the opening of new ports, the time (1862) having
now arrived for the opening by treaty of Ogasaki
and Yedo. The former of these ports is said to
possess commercial prospects of a very high order;
some of the consuls have been memorialised on the
subject, and a reply has been received from Mr.
Harris, the American minister, to the effect that
the subject is under the consideration of his Go-
vernment, but that no conclusion had yet been
come to. The British minister is silent on the sub-
ject. The representatives of England and France
have each assumed a guard of armed retainers—
that of the former arrived at Yokuhama by the
Centaur on the Ist of November; it is composed of
a draft from the Military Train,and is said to form
rather an imposing body of men. The guard of M.
de Bellecourt, the French minister, is composed of
men drafted from the Dordogne, but acquainted
more or less with cavalry service. The Prince of
Mito is reported to be dead ; his son, who succeeds
him, is said to be friendly, if not to foreigners, at
least to justice, for he has been making strenuous
and successful efforts to apprehend the assassins
who lately attacked the British Legation. A church
and chaplain are being for English d provide resi-
dents at Yokuhama. All causes of disturbance in °

this country seem now reduced to the freaks of
drunken sailors ashore on leave.
The latest advices from Pekin are to the 18th
Decenater, at which date all was quiet. Mr. Bruce,
in conjunction with Prince Kung, had issued re-
vised regulations for the Yang-tsze river.
In a letter lately received from Hankow, our cor-
respondent says that—" Though everything is quiet
as far as political affairs are concerned, and the re-
bels are still away from both provinces, yet business
is at a standstill, owing perhaps to the bad wea-
ther, heavy falls of snow, and high winds, and
also to the approaching grand Chinese festivals and
rejoicings in consequence of New Year; be that as
it may, business is very dull. Freights have gone
down, and ships that were loading two months ago
at 15 to 18 taels per ton for Shanghae, are now get-
ting 6 and 7 taels. It is expected that matters
commercial and monetary will remain in this state
for a few months."

At Nanking, we believe, the same condition of
affairs prevails as when our authorities last paid it
a visit. Beyond the traffic in a few necessaries of
life there is nothing in the form of trade ; terror
rules within the walls, and decapitation—the only
punishment known in the rebel camps—is a daily
or hourly occurrence ; the military patrols may kill
a suspicious or unknown person on meeting him,
and tho chiefs, or headmen, have the same power
over their slaves. Only two classes of population
are found in Nanking—the soldiers and the helots.
Among the soldiery there are many leaders who are
jealous of each other, and this jealousy alone keeps
down disaffection. Danger from the imperialists is
the chief if not the only bond of union among the
rebels, and on the removal of such danger by fur-
ther successes, it is not improbable that divisions
may quickly take place in their camps and coun-
cils. Several of the rebel officers have secretly ex-
pressed their wish to leave Nanking, but are de-
terred no less by the watch set on them, than by the
difficulty of knowing where to fly to. The cele-
brated Kang-wang, or " Shield King," as the mis-
sionaries call him, formerly one of Dr. Legg's pupils,
is at present one of the many victims of the caprice
and tyranny which prevail among the chiefs.
Though related to the leaders, and at one time en-
titled to the highest honours, he is now degraded,
and his functions, whatever they were before, are
placed in abeyance ; the reason assigned by Kang-
wang himself for this is his friendliness towards
foreigners. He warned the Rev. Mr. Cox, who
visited Nanking in the Coromandel, and would
gladly have remained, by no means to stay in
the city, plainly informing him that no
missionary need come there who would not
preach the " divinity" of the Teen Wang as well
as that of God and Our Saviour ; any other
doctrine, he said, would not be tolerated, and a mis-
sionary could only preach the truth at great per-
sonal risk. Another Chinese teacher informed the
same rev. gentleman that he would lose his head if
he attempted to preach the foreign doctrine.
The power of destruction possessed by the rebels,
however, is not abated, and the prospects of China
continue as foggy as ever. If the Prince of Kung
can infuse new life into the Government, they may
yet be suppressed, for, with the exception of some
brute ferocity, and that somewhat intermittent, they
are a poor set, utterly without administrative capa-
city, and uninfluenced by anything but a spirit of
brigandage. If this cannot be done they will con-
tinue, as before, to overrun the country. They have
taken the province of Chekiang simply because they
have exhausted the resources of Nganhwuy and
Keang-soo; these are becoming depopulated, and
the land is passing out of cultivation. On the im-
perial side nothing is seen bat supineness, imbeci-
lity, and cowardice, with perhaps a little treachery
and corruption. Unless either party improve there
is a miserable prospect for China. The security of
Shanghae and the uninterrupted navigation of the
Yang-tsze are the points which the British Govern-
ment appear at present disposed to maintain under
all circumstances; but the fall of Ningpo shows
that, as yet at least, they are not prepared to ex-
tend the same principle to all the ports. The ques-
tion that now naturally agitates some minds is—
Which ports will be protected and which not ?
Chusan is at present a receptacle for the trade
driven from Ningpo by the rebels. From the ports
of Amoy, Fuhchau, and Swatow we have no news
of importance.
Hangchow is reported to have fallen at last. This
has caused a little consternation amongst the native
merchants at Shanghae, who suppose that another
stride will bring the rebels to their doors. The
steamer Scotland was sold the other day for 87,000
taels—about £29,000. Her purchasers were Chinese,
and the fact shows the confidence they have in our
trade and in the Great River.
Mr. Henry Parkes goes to England by the present
mail, after having done more for England, in China,
than any other living man. He well deserves
the brief interval of repose he now goes home to
obtain.

There is no local news of importance. The wea-
ther is very fine, with the thermometer at 58 deg.
A colonial land sale, on the 7th and Bth inst,,
realised in premiums the sum of 76,496 dols,, adding

to the revenue of the colony besides, in fixed annua

rentals, the sum of 4,385 dols. The lots, 50 in all,
were purchased by English, Parsee, Portugal, and
Chinese residents.