The Sun.
London, England, 1854-10-07 00:00:00

THE CHINESE INSURRECTION.

The following letter front the Chinese rebel Chief
to the residents in Honk; gong hasbeen forwarded to
us from Hong Kong :

"I, Hung-Seu-Tsene, by the grace of Heaven be-
stowed in the course of time, reviving, after an interval
of ages, the Prince of Peace (Ta.-ping-Wang), recognised
by Heaven as Emperor (Kwangto) of a new dynasty, the
Ming restored, a great (or stout) Chinese, signify my
pleasure to you, barbarian slaves and foreign devils,
saying :
" You, ye foreign slaves, are but as fowls, apes, or
dogs by kind. You are ignorant of the five relations ;
you are ignorant of the five relations ; you are not sus-
ceptible of civilisation. It was solely because the rulers
of the south—faithless to China, and coveting their
money—fostered the men from afar, and invited you, ye
slaves, to bring tribute and to trade, that you obtained
authority to build houses .and trade in Chusan and
,Ningpo, in the provinces of Fokien and Chekeang—that
you were suffered to anchor at Macao and Whampoa,
in Canton, and carry on your commerce. For years you
brought tribute and came as guests, you were obedient
to our laws, you submitted to the influence of our
people's feelings. You had been as women for 200
years, when you gradually (or secretly) became preten-
tious, and the imbecile governors of the 18 provinces
were handtied as far as coping with you went.
" 'ln 1838, when Lin burnt your opium, and Admiral
K wan died gloriously in action with you, Jehshan and
Lungwan sold themselves like traitors. Kesben and
Keying sold-you Hong Kong and lied to the Emperor—
a matter of gnashing of teeth. You usurped territory,
plundered the people, defiled their women, took their
houses, desecrated their graved, rnincd their fields, burnt
their temples, &c., with the heart of the fox, affecting
the fierceness of the tiger.
" Ayya! Is not your worthlessness low even to ri-
dicule ? But you looked not for it that the wisdom of
Heaven would give its clue to the virtue of man, and
that the hearts of the people would resume their alle-
giance to China.
" I, the King, have spoken of war, and have talked
of the movements of troops. We have many thousand
guns of divine power, weighing millions of pounds. We
have many myriad vessels 100 chang in length, which,
without wind, can convey themselves hence to the three
Kiang provinces. On is lucky day, which we shall
select, we shall descend straight on the province of
Canton, and in the autumn shall send you a challenge
to fight. Our clustering standards will shade the nine
heavens, and with numberless swords and spears we
shall enclose the seas. Our divine fire shall consume
your ships, our troops your dwellings ; our divine
weapons shall flash to the pole, and our divine youths
and maidens shall be as thunder shaking the skies.
"'Now, I hereby signify to you my pleasure that you
immediately release such of our people as are in your
prisons, and treat Chinese gentlemen with respect. If
our houses and wealth are restored, and your foreign
guns and devil ships given up to us, we will secure to
you your miserable existence. But if you will persist in
your blindness and adhere to your former courses—enor-
mously vicious and violent, when the soldiers of heaven
shall come, and the winged sword shall have no eyes to
see, do not charge me, the King, with a want of huma-

nity.
" 'Let every one tremble and obey this decree, which
is tendered for the information of the foreign slaves and
hairy devils.' "
Nanking.—This letter is forwarded by Yang Seu
Tsing, Elder of the Left Wing, King by the Grace
of Heaven, Minister-in-Chief of War at Home and
Abroad, King of the State of Peace, &c.
The envelope to the above states that the enclo-
sure is a letter sealed with the Imperial seal, ad-
dressed Juno the. Bth to the authorities in Hong
Kong, to whose office it is 'to be carried with all
speed and delivered by way of King Chew-Foo in
Hoopeh), and Sea Yang-Foo (in Hoopeh), by Ole
hands of an officer of the Salt Fleet.

CALAMITOUS FIRE AT .ENSLIAIki, NA'AR

OXFORD.

.
On Thursday afternoon last, shortly before two o'clock,
a fire broke out on the Duke's Farm, at Ensham, occu-
pied by Mr. Samuel Druce, jun., and in a short space of
spark,
time it communicated to the ricks in the adjoining farm-
eimleo,osae straw
yard, called the Old Farm, belonging to Mr. Druce,
sen., the two farms being separated only by a wall. It
appears that while Mr. S. Bruce's men were employed
with a steam thrashing-machine thrashing out a barley
aotnthseomt
rbilcokw,Tithfreorawintdhebeeningginev,earyn:higtehd
and ignited it ; and although this was noticed by Mr.
Druce, sen., who was on the spot, and by his men, who
attempted,, bnuiPing. on straw, to extinguish it,
they were unable •to do so,for the flames communi-
cated with an adjacent rick, and in an
inincredibly short
time every rick the
space of yard was on fire. The
flames extended to the farm buildings, the feeding pens,
barn, and to the ricks in the Old Farm
yard adjoining,
The flakes of fir
e
were whole of which were destroyed. re
were driven by the wind across the
fog on the thatched roofs, destroyedvillage, and, alight-
ing in their course, in
Swan-lane, a cart hovel.-- •
Mrs. Brain • and a h , six cottages, belonging to
butcher. The fire ou"'
occupied by Mr. Green,
by Mrs. Ann c then caught the house occu-
piedand the Baptist Castle, which it totally destroyed •
Chapel, whichadjacent, '
narrow escape. was had a very
The property which next fella to
prey
the devouring
element were a barn, close to e road, belonging to Mr.
Gibbons ; the premises, barn, and out-buildings' occu-
pied by Mr. Thomas Bowerman, in rhich were stowed
about 10 or 12 quarters of oats, belonging to Mr. Rid-
dle ; 2 cottages belonging to Mr. • Wall ; a stable,
belonging to Miss Cook, occupied by Mr. John Pimm ;
2 cottages, in Pig-lane, belonging to Mr. Preston ;
a skittle alley, brew house, and out house, occupied
by Mr. Bridges, landlord of the Queen's Head,
and belonging to Mr. Akerman, of Wytham ; a work:
shop adjoining, stable, hovel, kitchen, carpenter's shop,
2 waggons and cart ; the' premises belonging to Mr.
Druce, sen., and occupied by Mr. Charles Pimm ; the
house occupied by Mr. Morris, painter, in Queen-street ;
3cottages adjoining to Mr. Akerman. At this point the
progress of the fire was arrested, mainly by the very
effective engine from Blenheim Palace, which prevented
it extending to a large barn, in the occupation of Mr.
W. Shillingford, wool stapler, where an immense quan-
tity of wool, of the value of 10,0001., was stowed. The
fire, increased by the wind, confined itself to one direc-
tion and the distance between the place where it origi.
nated and where it was stayed is not less than a quarter
of a mile. Strange to say, that in that intermediate
space there were many thatched buildings and rich
which escaped uninjured, while others at a trifling dis-
tance from thorn . were totally destroyed,.-oxford
Journal. -