The Sun.
London, England, 1853-08-26 00:00:00

LONDON, FRIDAY, AUGUST 26, 1853.

A considerable time has elapsed since we first
drew the attention of our readers to the many ex-
traordinary circumstances connected with the great
Chinese revolution. During the interval which has
followed those introductory observations, we have
repeatedly taken occasion to impress upon the
public the really wonderful importance of events,
the value of which we conceive to have been for
a long while unaccountably overlooked. Literally,
we believe, that we were thus about the first to
direct any particular notice to the import and
significance of this grand Asiatic movement—a
movement at once social, political, and religious in
its character—one affecting the destinies of nearly
400,000,000 of the human family—a rising
professedly, at least, in favour of a vast
and simultaneous extension of civilisation and
Christianity. Occasionally, moreover, there
have arrived in this country, despatches
from China descriptive of the course taken
by the insurgents, of the successes achieved
33y them over the Imperial forces, and of different
exploits and incidents by which the momentous
struggle has been latterly illustrated. Gradually,
too, we have been gratified to observe an increas-
ing interest in these remarkable occurrences among
the majority of our contemporaries. It has con-
sequently happened that the first vague rumours
of a disturbance of some kind or another in the
throng of the Chinese population have been fol-
lowed up by inquiry after inquiry until we have
contrived at length, by aid of a little perseverance
and tact, to collect together a mass of valuable
and reliable information. Our researches (it wet e
unjust, of course, to omit the acknowledgment)
have been aided to a great extent by accounts
°ming to us from various quarters. There
have been, for example, the Imperial documents
13111)1-jailed at Pekin—the insurrectionary tracts
and proclamation the official record of Sir
GEORGE 13017 H Ne mission
details
furnished by Mr. MEADOWS, the interpre-
ter,t a man of considerable
intelli-
gence—but, above all, he sagacity and
attractive work* printed
during the course
of
fthe present year at Paris,
from the jointly produced and ingenious inter-
woven narrative of MM. YvAter
A me
translation of the last, • and GALLERY.
last-mentioned volume,t
under the able and competent editorship of
Mr. JOHN OXENEORD, ar.,_
,uays we rejoice
to observe, on the eve of making its
appearance
This volume will be the more welcome to the •
coin-
xnunity from the fact of its unquestionable authen-
ticity. Dr. YVAN, as physician, and M. CALLREy,
as interpreter to the French Embassy in China
besides being men of undoubted veracity, scholars
distinguished by no superficial acquirements, and
authors of extended, and one of them in particular
(Dr. YVAN) o \ f established, reputation—possess in
the circumstance of their official character a sub-
f their credibility. From these
tantial guarantee o
cticable, even now, to cull
numerous sources, it is pra
ender the mystery of the
a sufficiency of facts to r
present movement among the Chinese to some
extent comprehensible. It is in this manner,
consequently, that we have been enabled already
to present our readers with
a diversity of
•par-
ticulars relating to the rebellion, conducted and
inspired, if not aciaally originated, by the Great
King Pacificator, the Prince of Universal Peace,
HOUND-SIEON-TSIUEN, or, as he is called by his
fanatical followers, TAE-PING-W A NG.
It has been asserted, as the readers of MM.
YVAN and CALLERY already very well know, that
the revolution commenced as far back as the
August of 1850-exactly three years ago—began
in the name of one TIEN-TE, a Prince of the house

* " L'lnsurrection en Chine : depuis son origine jus
qu' la prise de Nankin." Par MM. Callery et Yvan.
Paris, 1853.
" The Insurrection in China : with Notices of its
Christianity, Creeds, and Proclamations." By Dr.
Yvan, Physician : and M. Callery, Interpreter -to the
French Embassy in China. With a Supplementary Ae-
cou
nt of the most Recent Events. Edited by John Oxen-
ford. Smith, Elder, and Co. London, 1853.