The Sun.
London, England, 1853-10-05 00:00:00

LITERATUBB.

History of the Insurrection in China. By MM.
Callery and Yvan. Translated from the French
by John Oxenford. Smith, Elder, and Co.

Perhaps no volume was ever published more
opportunely than this political and historical ac-
count of one of the most wonderful revolutions
ever witnessed in the eastern hemisphere. Sud-
denly, and unexpectedly, and at the moment of
the last bewilderment, [it admits the European
spectator of events into the secret of the great
Chinese Insurrection. For this the public is in-
debted to the sagacity of Doctor Yvan, one of the
most observant of modern travellers, and to the
erudition of M. Callery, one of the most:skilful of
oriental interpreters. Whether they are a species
of scholarly Damon and Pythias, or a kind of poli-
tical Beaumont and Fletcher, it were difficult to
conjecture under the circumstances. A suggestion
has been thrown out, however, recently in refer-
ence to the interesting volume under consideration,
to the effect that in all likelihood Dr. Yvan's share
in the undertaking has been the composition of the
general narrative, while that of M. Callery has
been restricted to the translation of the various
Chinese documents introduced. Otherwise, than
by some such supposition, we should be left in
total uncertainty as to which portions of the ac-
count here given emanated respectively from the
hands of these amiable and lettered wanderers.
Let us suppose that they have contributed equally
to the general description, and we must admit, in
regard to their styles, that the faces of the two Dro-
mios did not bear to each other a more striking
verisimilitude. It may be observed at once that
the effusion before us is not, as might rather rea-
sonably have been thought at the first superficial
glance, simply an ingenious specimen of book-
making—what is called, in the cant phrase,
catchpenny. a mere
The facts recounted in the strange
tale here told by MM. Yvan and Callery bear with
them the proofs of their own indisputable authen-
ticity. What is also worthy of particular observa-
tion, is the circumstance that the writers begin with
the beginning. Conscious that, for the most part
with the majority of Europeans, China is, in truth,
a terra incognita, they prepare the mind of the
reader for the due appreciation of the sequel by the
lucidity and detail which are the principal charac-
teristics of the introduction. These merits of the
original have been carefully retained in the English
version thanks to the care and industry revealed
froth first to last by Mr. Oxenford in his twofold
capacity as editor and translator. Moreover, it is
especially observable that the work, as here pre-
sented to the public of Great Britain, is enhanced
in value by the addition of an eighteenth chapter,
bringing down events to the period referred to by
the latest overland intelligence. Supplementary
information is likewise given in a " Postscript, '
comprising the narrative of Mr. Taylor, and re-
counting the proceedings of the insurgents at Amoy,
Nankin, and Chin-kiang-foo.
As introductory to the history of the Chinese
Insurrection, we are reminded by the authors of
the work under review of the course of events since
the birth,
in 1780, of the second son of Kia-king,
the late
Emperor " Brilliant Reason," or Tao-
kouang. His romantic defeat of the eunuch Lin-
king is the incident which first rouses the attention
of the reader, and renders him, naturally enough,
curious as to the changes of the political tide
in the Celestial Empire, as thereupon rapidly
and succinctly indicated. The genius of the young
Prince gave him a larger advantage than that re-
sulting from primogeniture, in testimony of which
Tao-kouang in 1820 ascended the imperial throne.
During his reign occurred the war with England,
as during the reign of his son and successor has oc-
curred the revolt in the province of Kouang-Si—
" the two most important events chronicled in the
annals of China during the last quarter of a cen-
tury," according to MM. Yvan and Gallery's just
and forcible declaration. Before recounting the
rise and progress of the latter event, our authors,
reasonably enough, deem it expedient to explain
in a few words the came and the course of the for-
mer struggle, a struggle which may be attributed
in a great measure to the rise of those astonishing
hopes out of which has emerged the still pending
Revolution.

First, therefore, in reference to the war between
the English and the Chinese. It was a war every-
body knows about opium. Until 1834, the East
India Company enjoyed the monopoly of the British
trade in that and other commodities. In that year,
however, on the expiration of the Company's chir-
ter, these exclusive privileges were denied to them
by the British Government. All English mer-
chants, consequently, after 1834, had an equal
right to trade with the Chinese. Subsequently—
several years afterwards—the Emperor Tao-kouang
determined to put a stop if possible to a custom which
had then been developing itself during about a hun-
dred years throughout his dominions. He resolved
to put an end to the accursed habit of opium-smoking
—and for this purpose his Celestial Majesty issued a
decree prohibiting the sale of the forbidden drug in
.every part of his enormous territories. The project in
itself was of course admirably humane—but it was
none the less atrocious on that account in the man-
ner chosen for its development. The celebrated
mandarin Lin was the man selected by Tao-kouang
to carry out at Canton his designs against the illicit
traffic of the opium smugglers. " Lin was then
about fifty years of age ; he wore the red ball, and
the peacock's feather with two eyes ;" in other
terms, he was a personage invested with the in-
signia of the highest dignities, and having a most
imposing appearance. Speedily enough the objects
of the enmity of Lin found that in him they had
decidedly " caught a Tartar." Here is testimony:
" One night the hongs, or factories in which the
foreigners resided, were surrounded by troops ; and the
English, American, and Parsee merchants, learned,
when they awoke, that they were Lin's prisoners, and
that the viceroy of the two Kouangs allowed them three
days to give up all the opium they had on board the
receiving ships ;' in default whereof, they were to be
treated according to the utmost rigour of the new law,
. in other words, were to lose their heads."
Thereupon the prisoners wrote to Captain Elliot,
commander of the naval forces of England in those
waters. Captain Elliot was then at Macao. He
hastened to the relief of his countrymen. He ad-
vised them to accede to the demand of the man-
darins, telling them at the same time, that he pur-
chased the opium which had been jeopardised
(amounting to 20,000 chests, representing a value
of 2,000,0001.) in the name of her Britannic Ma-
jesty's Government, and declaring, moreover, that
he would make a political question out of a com-
mercial difficulty. Captain Elliot then required
Lin at once to withdraw his troops from the bongs
or factories, and to release the whole of the subjects
of the Queen of England. With these requests,
however, the mandarin refused compliance. Now
let our authors relate the sequel themselves :

" As Captain Elliot had not sufficient force to resist
the Chinese troops, he gave up the prohibited article.
Lin caused large pits to be dug, and the opium, covered
with quick-lime, was buried in the island of Lin-tin, in
the presence of? witnesses ; after which operation, the
foreign merchants detained at Canton were set at
liberty.
" However, the day of retribution was at hand. In
.I,Bbort time a British fleet sailed up the river of Canton,
;ratling the forts, and threatening the banks on each
o :eatiainclatobok a strong position on the northern coasts
p • Tchousan n) . hen
lelvs
of these eo veecnutsylwnsgs received at(Chusa Pekin, •Lin W
was
Inittediately recalled, and Ki-chan, a member of the im
hi family, was appointed by the Emperor to succeed
ajl-ci i-than was an intelligent and resolute man.
e saw at once with what sort of enemies he had to
bee and the danger to which the Government had
his exposed by the imprudence and presumption of
yredecessor. As a skilful diplomatist he did not
I.,'eTate to accept the ultimatum laid down by the bar-
;nano ;' that is 'to say, he avoided a disastrous war by
accepting hard conditions, such as a heavy indemnity
Paid to the English, the cession of Hong Kong, and so
forth. However, when the treaty was submitted to the
.11113eror for sanction, the Son of Heaven' rejected
„Lt ith indignation. Ki-chan was ignominiously called, and underwent the greatest indignity that had
ever been inflicted on any high functionary under the
reign, of Tao-kouang. He was publicly degraded, his
“1- was confiscated, his concubines were sold, his
.„Tiuse was razed to the ground, and, to complete his
Etaf;rtreyseitnfusg, he was exiled to the remotest part of
particulars in relation to the great
en J
-hi
133anr,i'arm, lii-than, may be found in the " Voyage
bet" of MM. Hue and Gabet, as here inti-
Proceed. —_
mated bY MM. Yvan and Callery. However, to
tchb:
t4reallUttyli which mandarin named Y-chan succeeded Ki-chan in
e government of Canton, and brought back with him
his predecessor had concluded, torn.
the
rei ities were renewed at once. Every one knows
hai exult of the English expedition. Ning-po, Chang-
°f ihee-0"°11-san, Ting-hai, fell successively into the hands
at 1V who at last compelled the Chinese to sign
the , a treaty, by which they ceded Hong Kong to
northrrbarians ;' opened to them four new ports on the
tieu orr„, coast of the empire, granted them the occupa-
thenisei've_heu-san for five years ; and,
,moreover, bound
Mme Pay to ...a—
-y a heavy indemnity.'
fame 'eer this is the description given of the
a hia,sussela,,,,r between. China and England, not by
Conseaup„"tliess, but by impartial Frenchmen.
the stiu llpon the success of Great Britain in
struggle the
appeared, prestige of the Tartar dynasty dig-
".ll.:aLtil.9ea its 4-Lence'
to a considerable extent, the
,43! the daring conspiracy which ultimately
Magnitude in the revolt in theKouang-
. end. the rapid conquest of half the Chinese em-
Plern , and this in two years by a band of insurgent ad-
t_urters. It was on the morning of the 26th of Feb.
-(_,1465.0_ that the old Emperor, Tao-Kouang, expired,
tha from that may be dated by us, though not by
°12i119408 the UCCIVAPII to the throne of China