The Sun.
London, England, 1862-01-14 00:00:00

CHINA.

SHANGHAE, Nov. 24.
We have been startled, within the last few days
with news from Pekin, announcing the seizure and
execution of three ministers, under the new regime,
as traitors to their King and country. From the
aecounts given in the Pekin Gazette of the affair, it
would appear that these men, high in authority,
have been deceiving the late Emperor with regard
to the relations of the allies towards his person and
government, after the occupation of the capital.
Hien Fang was exceedingly anxious to leave his
rigid mountain retreat and return to Pekin, but
these ministers deterred him from putting his desires
into effect by gross subterfuges, which his brother,
Prince Kung, and his widowed Empress, have
found out; and they attribute the death of her

husband to the bitter cold region where he breathed
his last. Apparently that lady is of more than
ordinary spirit, and boldly accused them to her
advisers for accelerating the death of the Emperor,
which according to the laws of China is treason,
and punishable by death—voluntary by self strangu-
lation with a silver cord, or involuntary by decapi-
tation in public. Two of the delinquents had the
felicity of going out of existence by their own
hands, while the third was beheaded at the place
of public execution.

Before this sanguinary act of retributive justice
was performed, the young Emperor made a six
days' progress from Zehol, where his father died,
to Pekin, the cortege being followed up by the re-
mains of Hien Fung. It so happened that the
chief traitor, the Prince of I, Tsai-Yuen, was in
charge of the body of his late master, so that on
reaching the end of his journey he was seized by a
squadron of Tartar cavalry and incarcerated in the
city. The other two obnoxious members of the
regency were sent on a false mission into Pekin, to
make the necessary preparation for the installation
of the boy Emperor. They were also imprisoned in
the city. The day afterwards the procession en-
tered the ancient northern capital of China, and
the people, in their quiet, subdued tone, cried,
" Long live the Emperor !" On the following day
the alleged traitors were tried by a special court of
inquiry and found guilty, after much consideration.
Their crime could only be expiated by death, so
the Princes Soo-Shun and Kwan-Kwa were pre-
sented with silver cords to strangle themselves,
which they deliberately performed in their dun-
geons, and the Prince of I was decapitated. On the
seventh day after all this sanguinary business the
Prince Kung, brother to the late and uncle to the
present Emperor, was declared regent, an announce-
ment which has give satisfaction to all, particulariy
as he is most friendly to the intercourse with foreign
nations.

On the other hand the disgraced dead members of
the late Council of Regency were among those who
perpetrated that treacherous proceeding when Mr.
Parkes and others were seized under a flag of truce,
then tortured, and several died in the most frightful
agony, among whom was Mr. Bowlby, the Times
correspondent, On this head. the North China
Herald has the following remarks:

" Whilst shuddering, we lament over the tragic
end of these unhappy men, we cannot but recognise,
with feelings of great awe, this marked application
of the principle of retributive justice from the de-
crees of the All-wise, whilst their hands were yet
red with the bravo and innocent blood of our own
countrymen, whose loss we still continue to de-
plore. The names of Brabazon, Bowlby,and others,
still cry aloud for vengeance ; but, it is more in
sorrow than in anger that we should seek,as a warn-
ing to others, to embalm the memories of their mur-
derers, in allusion to their own bloody end, with
this pertinent motto—Salia to sanguine, queen

The particulars of the whole business are given in
the abovenamed journal, extracted from the Pekin
Gazette, and translated in extenso. It would not be
doing justice to these remarkable documents to send
yon garbled extracts, consequently I forward them
in full for publication at your leisure. These show
plainly that a coup d'etat of the most important
character—especially with regard to friendly
foreign relations—has been quietly but speedily
and effectively accomplished. In one week a revo-
lution has been effected in the Government of this
empire which has been the slow growth of centu-
ries; and excepting the deaths of three traitors to
their emperor and their country, it has been a blood-
less revolution. The action was quick, sharp, and
decisive. On the Ist of November the Emperor
arrived at Pekin ; on the 2d the two Ministers,
Twan-Wha and Soo-Shun, were arrested; next day
Tsai-Yuen, the chief delinquent, was seized by a
body of cavalry while escorting the late Emperor's
remains from Zehol to Pekin. On the 4th these
three Princes and Ministers were tried by a tribu-
nal specially appointed by the Emperor and his
new advisers ; on the sth they were condemned,and
on the Gth Tsai-Yuen was publicly decapitated,
while his two colleagues were presented each with a
silver cord to strangle themselves, which they did
effectually, for they were found dead in prison next
day. The other five members of the Council of Re-
gency have received less sanguinary punishment,ac-
cording to their deserts. On the 7th Prince Kung, the
friend to foreigners, and who was mainly instru-
mental in getting the late treaties assented to, was
proclaimed Regent over his youthful Majesty, who
has assumed the new title of Tung-Chih, signifying
Union in the cause of law and order," instead of
the former one, Chi-Hsiang, meaning " Good For-
tune." Never has there occurred in the annals of
this country a more daring or successful change of
administration for the benefit of foreigners.