The Sun.
London, England, 1853-08-15 00:00:00

LONDON, MONDAY, AUGUST 15, 1853.

The importance of the revolutionary outbreak
in China can scarcely be over-rated. Whatever
the result of the movement, it must at any rate
waken from the torpor of centuries one-third of
the earth's population. It must rouse nearly
400,000,000 of people to a consciousness of the
benefits of civilisation, if not actually to a recog-
nition of the blessings of Christianity. In speak-
ing thus we are not guilty of any exaggeration.
The magnitude of the insurrection is as indis-
putable as the territorial vastness of the Celestial
Empire, or as the numerical strength of its in-
habitants. According to the statistical chart of
the provinces it is estimated that there are, in
China Proper alone, no less than 36 7,632,907
inhabitants : while in the surrounding dependen-
cies, such as Tibet, Turkestan, Mangolia, and
Mantchooria, there are, at a moderate computa-
tion, 30,000,000 additional—constituting alto-
gether, as we have said, the enormous aggregate of
400,000,000 people hitherto owning obedience to
one Government. A wonderful division has, within
the last two years, started up in the midst of this
gigantic multitude. An adventurer of surprising,
energy, of indomitable resolution, and of irresis-
tible self-reliance, has within an incredibly short
space of time collected together a vast army, and
conducted them heretofore in a march of uninter-
rupted triumph against the forces of the Chinese
SOVEREIGN. Already, it has been remarked, that
one half of the ancient empire has fallen into the
hands of this indomitable Leader of the Revolu-
tionists. It has been observed that he has so far
cared for the sustenance of his armed adherents
that he has even now accumulated in the " Holy
City" of Nankin alone, 150,000 tons of rice for
the purpose of future consumption. It has been
seen, moreover, that while thus having regard to
their bodily comfort, he has inflamed the hearts
of his disciples to a surprising pitch of fana-
tical ardour, by revealing to them the con-
solatory wisdom of Revelation and the ineffable
loveliness of Christianity. Such, up to this
moment, have been the proceedings of the Prince
of Universal Peace, the redoubtable Ciroo, or
4i Lord," Humc-su-etium, better known among
his followers as the great TAE-PING-WANG
Such has been the direction of that extraordinary
poliCy by which he has contrived thus rapidly to
bring d o
bring so . many
millions under his
threaten the entire race of Mantchoos with n to
a war
of extermination.

As indicative, in an unanswerable man,er of
the scope of this revolutionary outbreak
among of the Chinese, the extent of the em • which
they are the inhabitants may be regarded at this
time, we conceive, not altogether unprofitably. it
must beremembered that within littlemorethan two
years, half of this same empire has been brought
under subjection by theforces of TAE-PING-WANG !
And what are the dimensions of the territory thus
speedily conquered ? It is an old tale to the geo-
graphers. But to a considerable portion of even
the educated classes of the community, we doubt
not, but that some few of the particulars connected
with this inquiry may appear almost beyond the
limits of credibility. It may seem scarcely credi-
ble, for example, though it is simply a matter of
fact, that the empire, half of which has been
already vanquished by TAE-PING-WANG, extends
through
ro ugh about thirty-five degrees of latitude,
and .
.Y about sixty-five degrees of longitude. A
territo--,
in length about miles, in breadth
about 2,000 • 3,000
miles, in area about 5,000,000
square miles l This, of course, including the
several dependencies—China Proper alone, how-
ever, covering some
.1_
the aggregate. so 1,300,000 square miles in
extraordinary, indeed, is the
extent of territory embraced under the title of the
that it
Celestial En4ire, has been described as
degree, diversified to such a
~4 both in aspect and
climate, that it comprises
the livaady plains of e tracts similar to
Holland—othersa--t withfertile the
he
mountains and valleys of Switzerind
,idaiiiencso-f—tLlie omdbreaaridyy---'-stetphpeeschofamlasia----gne country of
,'.France--the the sandy
,deserts of Africa—and the beautiful hills and
':lales, the .corn and wood lands of our own in-
comparable country." All these varieties of

aspect, all these diversities of climate, in
an empire inhabited by one race, having one
history, speaking one language : a race, howbeit,
no longer owning allegiance to one man, or acknow-
ledging belief in one religion. For, on this side,
the northern moiety of China is under the autho-
rity of the Emperor, while on that the southern
acknowledges obedience to the CHOO TAE-PING-
WANG. Here the believers in Buddhism—there
the Asiatic neophytes of Christianity. Yonder the
Idolater, and yonder again the Iconoclasts. Per-
haps a yet more startling indication of the size
of China Proper may be discovered in a separate
consideration of the extent of its various pro-
vinces. Let it be considered, for instance, that
the single province of Chih-li, or Pe-chele,
or as it was anciently called Yu and
Yeu, is as large as Michigan, or Arkansas
in the United States, or (to bring the matter
nearer home) about the size of England
and Wales together ! This, recollect, a single
province. Shantung, again (another province),
has been correctly described as about the size of
Georgia in America, or of Wales in Great Britain.
Keang-seo and Gan-hwuy—formerly united in the
one province of Keang-nan—are estimated as
about half as large as Spain ! Kiananother
province, is described as comparable in extent to
Virginia, U.S., or as twice the size of Portugal !
Through another province, that of Shan-se, the
yellow river, or Hwang-ho, runs for 180
miles ! And so on with the rest of the
divisions of China. A territory so vast
and so populous, and yet one half of which has
already been subdued by the foes of Buddhism,
the assailants of the Tartar dynasty, the extermi-
nators of the Mantchoos, the followers of TAE-
PING-WANG, the newly-enrolled believers in Chris-
tianity! Bearing facts like these in our remem-
brance, we cannot be regarded as extravagant in
estimating the Chinese Revolutionists as the
pioneers of Oriental civilisation.

The Government of India Bill was, on Friday
night, read the third time in the Upper House,

and to-day the Lords' amendments will probably
be taken into consideration by the House of Com-
mons. The most important of these alterations,
indeed the only one of any consequence, or calcu-
lated to excite a discussion, is the omission of the
44th clause, which had been introduced on the
motion of the Right Hon. Baronet the Member
for Droitwich, but which was negatived without
a division, with scarcely the expression of an opi-
nion in its favour by their Lordships. It now
remains to be seen whether the popular branch of
the Legislature will yield on such a question to a
body not one-fifth of which could, or would, be
brought together in the month of August on even
the most important question of the session. Whe-
ther those who, by an overwhelming majority,
had affirmed the principle of " unrestricted compe-
tition," will stultify themselves by submitting to
the maintenance of the most grinding and vexa-
tious monopoly ever enforced upon a suffering
people. A monopoly under which the price of an
article of primary necessity to more than one hun-
dred millions of human beings, is increased in a
tenfold ratio, by which salt, the only condiment
with which the miserable Ryot is enabled to fla-
vour the coarse and tasteless rice which consti-
tutes his food, and which is no less essential to
his health than to his comfort, costs in the inte-
rior of India 201. to 251. per ton, although in
England it can be sold at 75., and landed free in
Calcutta at 40s. per ton. Astonished and grieved
as we have been, at the subservience exhibited by
the chosen representatives of the people, in relation to
this very measure, we cannot suppose that they
will be indifferent to their own dignity, their own
independence, and their most cherished privilege.
Yes ; we repeat "their most cherished privilege,"
for we contend that the Lords have no right to
interfere in any measure relating to the taxation
of any body of her Majesty's subjects, whether
resident in Hindostan or in the United Kingdom ;
and that such interference should be promptly
and vigorously resented, and unless clearly ex-
plained and fully retracted, should insure the re-
jection of the entire bill.

The House of Commons has invariably, from

time immemorial, acted as the guardian of the
public purse, as the protector of her Majesty's
subjects from fiscal tyranny, and fiscal extortion-

Without its consent no tax could be levied. And
even if previously in existence, it decided that

it should cease and terminate—it would not en-
dure the rejection of the proposition by the
House of Lords. On financial subjects it claimed
and exercised supreme authority, and exhibited a

peculiarly sensitive feeling at any appearance of
tampering with its Constitutional function. The
tacking on of a money clause as a rider to any
bill, was a significant hint that no tampering with,
or mutilation of, the measure would be sanctioned.
What, however, will be thought of the independ-
ence or spirit of its Members if they submit
patiently to the striking out of the money clause
and accept the measure as amended by the Upper
House ? We should be loath to impute such a
degeneracy to those who occupy the seats once
filled by really determined and energetic men.
What, after all, is the question to be decided ?
The Charter of the East India Company will ter-
minate next year, and with it the right of taxing
one hundred and fifty millions of her Majesty's
subjects. It is necessary that there should be
some renewal of that Charter, either with or with-
out modification, the substitution of some other
governing body, or the assumption of the supreme
power, by or in the name of her Majesty, without
the intervention of any other authority whatso-
ever. The House of Commons decided in favour
of granting a modified Charter to the East India
Company, clogged with certain conditions, one of
which especially related to fiscal matters, and
might therefore be looked upon as peculiarly within
I the province of the representative branch of the
Legislature. This condition was, that the manufac-
ture and trade in salt, which had been carried on by
the East India Company in violation and defiance

of a clause contained in the existing charter
should, after a certain time, be relinquished, and
that the manufacture and sale of salt in India
should be absolutely free, subject only to such
Excise or other duties as may now, from time to
time, be levied upon such salt so manufactured.

It will be seen that the House did not go by any
means as far as it might have done. It would
have been justified in declaring that the iniquitous
impost, by which the health and lives of so many
of her MAJESTY'S subjects were sacrificed should
cease ; that a tax as odious as one on potatoes in
Ireland could or should be totally abolished. In

place of so doing, it merely decreased ; the ter-
mination of the monopoly exercised by the Com-
pany giving a reasonable time for winding
up its affairs. It alluded to the enactment
passed twenty years ago, by which the Company
provision
sh°111(1 " with all convenient speed close their
commercial business," and decided that the salu-
tary
should decision
Was
Kingdom. To the former
equally due to the people of Hindos-
tan and of the United
in order to
insure
unadulterated an
adequate supply of a good
article at as moderate a rate as
the local difficulties
andlie enormous amount of
the tax still sanctioned
latter in order that the would permit ; to the
fory ehould not be deprived
one
of an important marketof their articles of
produce, whence a constant and large demand
might be anticipated. But thelioutshe
eofsalLuotardrys
have wantonly and wilfully abrogated
provision. They have interfered on a fiscal sub-
ject on which Hindoos and Englishmen were
con-
cerned, and nothing now remains but that the
House of Commons should assert its undoubted
privilege, and maintain its independence uniin_
paired—that it repel the unjustifiable and un-
warranted invasion of its rights.

THE CAMP AT CIIODIIAM. —The public interest in the
camp, instead of subsiding, appears to increase, now
that its days are numbered. On Saturday;, although in
paint of military manoeuvre, an "off day, the ground
was visited by many thousands of persons. The camp
will finally break up on Saturday next.
OFFICIAL APPOINTMENTS. —Thelion. Frederick Bruce,
now Charge d'Affaires and Consul-General to
the
Oriental Republic of the Uraguay (Monte Video), is ap-
pointed her Majesty's Agent and Consul-General in
Egypt.ten Mr. Richard Birnie, of the Inner Temple, is
7,b-secnrverd Advocate-General for Western Australia.—

CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT,
(THIS DAY•)

OLD COURT.

The August sessions of the Central Criminal Court
were opened this morning, before the Right Hon. the
Lord Mayor, the Recorder, Mr. Commissioner Gurney,
Aldermen Moon and Carden, and the Sheriffs of Lon-
don and Middlesex.

The first edition of the calendar contains the names
of 137 prisoners, of whom 56 are from London, 60
from Middlesex, 3 from Essex, 2 from the Admiralty,
7 from Kent, and 9 from Surrey.
The grand jury having been sworn and empannelled,
The Recorder proceeded to deliver his charge. He
said he was happy to tell them that their labours would
not be very protracted, as the calendar was, compara-
tively speaking, light. The number of prisoners was
considerable, which was no doubt owing to the long in-
terval of time which had elapsed since the holding of
the last session ; but the great majority of the cases
were of the ordinary character, and involved no points
of legal difficulty. There was no case of wilful murder,
or of the graver description of offences ; and although
there were two cases of manslaughter returned upon
the coroner's inquisition, he thought that in one
of them at least there was not sufficient evidence to
justify the finding of the coroner's jury. And so it
seemed the coroner himself thought ; but coroners' juries
were sometimes too prone to take the law into their
own hands, and return verdicts which the evidence could
not support. There was one case in the calendar which
it was necessary that he should draw their especial
attention to. It was the case of a person who was
charged with having attempted to conspire with others
to take away the life, or rather to murder a foreign So-
vereign. Our constitution took no notice of the political
offences which foreigners might have been guilty of
abroad, but readily afforded them asylum when they
were compelled to fly from their native homes ; but
while they were partaking of our hospitality it was re-
quired of them that they should conform to the laws in
all respects, and in the same manner as the rest of her
Majesty's subjects. Well, then, there could be no doubt
that if a British subject conspired or attempted to conspire
to take away the life of a foreign Sovereign he would
be guilty of a misdemeanour, and there could be no
doubt that same law applied to a foreigner while he was
living under the British Constitution. Now, in the case
in question, the prisoner was charged with having at-
tempted to get up a conspiracy to murder Louis Napo-
leon, the Emperor of France, and if the jury found that
the evidence made out that he had attempted to induce
others to conspire for that purpose, it would be their
duty to return a true bill against him. There was no
other case which called for any comment from him before
dismissing the Grand Jury to their duties. The learned
Recorder congratulated them upon there being a pro-
spect that betting-houses would shortly be suppressed,
and explained the nature of the change that was about
to take place in the law with regard to the punishment
of transportable offences.
The Grand Jury then retired.