The Sun.
London, England, 1869-02-09 00:00:00

THE CHELTENHAM ELECTION PETITION:

ACTION BETWEEN ENGLISH AND

lIINESE IN FORMOSA.

Another missionary difficulty in China has ended in
serious consequences. It appeals that peaceful negotiations
having failed to obtain satisfaction for the recent outrages
in Formosa, H.B.M. gunboats Algerine and Bustard pro-
ceeded to Amping, the port of Taiwanfoo, to take pcs-
session of that place and its fort, Zelandia, as a reprisal.
The chief cause of this quarrel appears to be attributable
to the opposition of the local authorities to the presence
of European missionaries. Protestant and Roman
Catholic chapels had been sacked and destroyed at Koi
Kan and Pei-t'ou (twice at the latter place), a Chris-
tian convert being brutally murdered near Takao
short time afterwards. In May a number of
converts were assailed at Taiwan ; Dr. Maxwell and
his assistants were accused of diabolical murders and
infamous crimes, while Taiwan was (nominally) cleared of
the Christians. In addition to these religious affairs
there were commercial and political disagreements.
No redress was obtainable from the local authorities,
and it was decided that the Algerine and Bus-
tard should proceed to Amping, the port of Tiawanfoo,
and take possession of that place ana its fort as a reprisal.
After formally taking possession of Amping, Lieutenant
Gurdon, of the Algerine, re-embarked his men, expecting
to command the place by the guns of his vessel. On Wed-
nesday, November 25, the Taiwanfoo authorities
sent down 500 men to re-occupy the place. This
they did, and began actively to mount guns to
defend the place. Lieutenant Gurdon, having been
informed of this, sent a letter to the Chinese military
commander in the place, that if within an hour
he had not evacuated the fort and town, he
(Lieutenant Gurdon) must proceed to shell it. At the
same hour he warned the inhabitants to clear cut. His
remonstrance was in vain, so for an hour and a hall
before nightfall he cautiously and slowly poured in shot
and shell into the fort. About midnight he landed with a
party of volunteers, twenty-five in all, passing through
the surf in safety themselves, but losing one of their boats
in it, lay in wait behind a bank on the shore, until the
moon was fairly down, and then, all undiscovered, sallied
right into the place. Making their way to the Hiap-tai's
yamen, they found it filled with soldiers. The lieutenant
invited them, by an interpreter, to lay down their arms,
but they refused and showed fight, and in self-defedco
the assaulting party was compelled to fire. They did
so, killing eleven men and wounding six others : the
rest of the garrison took to flight. A few hours later,
in the dim light of morning, Lieutenant Gurdon, while
examining the approaches from Taiwanfoo, heard the
noise of a large body of men in the distance, and having
planted his men, they shortly descried a party, which was
afterwards ascertained to be composed of 250 Honan
braves. When at about 200 yards, the Algerines, with
their Sniders, opened on the advancing braves, who stood
for about five minutes returning the fire. After losing six
men killed and ten wounded, however, they turned tail
and fled to Taiwanfoo, leaving Lieutenant Gurdon and his
blue jackets in possession of the prize. The terms de-
manded have been fully complied with by the Chinese,
and the local authorities have been suspended by the
Foochow Viceroyal Government.

,FRENCH MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE IN

COCHIN-CHINA.

M. Sorel, an "Apostolic Missionary" in the western
part of Cochin-China, publishes an account of the shock-
ing massacre of some of his followers. He says : "A
large placard was posted up in the village of Thudau-mot,
announcing that a terrible epidemic was about to
visit the country. The priest-prophet, or bonze, who
originated it, mentioned as a safe precaution against
the disease not to stir out at night, no matter what noise
might be heard in the neighbourhood, and to carry a copy
of the placard about the person. The French authorities
understood that this placard was merely a preconcerted
signal, a kind of 'watchword, which theyconceived to be the
forerunner of an insurrection. All the heathen readily re-
sponded to the bonze's invitation, and repaired in crowds
to the temples in order to receive the precious talisman.
I prohibited the Christians wearing the superstitious
emblem. On the morning of the 9th a large body of
natives came down from Dong-po to Chan-thank, headed
by Thac, the bonze who had drawn up the placard noticed
above, a few leading men of neighbouring villages,
and three Malays who had deserted from the French.
They surrounded the guardhouse, butchered the Anna-
mite sergeant and three privates (one of them was a
native), and burnt down Ale fort. All the natives of the
village able to bear arms they compelled to follow them
to Thi-tinh. Before they arrived there the work of destruc-
tion bad already commenced. The natives had attacked
the fort, driven out the garrison, and captured a good
many Christians, On Thac's arrival he sent a detach-
ment into the jungle to capture all the Christians they
met with. During this time the fort was fired. A traitor
named GiA, in the service of Duoc, brought to the bonze
several of his brother workmen whom he knew were
Christians. The first, named Hatt, bore on his visage
the characters to-dao ' (infidel), with which he had been
marked some years ago at Binhdinh. In answer to the
bonze Thac, he replied that he was a Christian. An order
was immediately given to bind his arms and legs, and throw
him into a burning cauldron. The unfortunate man cried
out, '0 my God, my God!' But the populace shrieked, in
reply, It is useless ; your God will not come to save you '
Another Christian named Tieng was also given up to
Thac, and suffered a similar fate. Tieng succeeded in
breaking the cords which bound him, and fled to a little
river close by. But he was soon recaptured and thrown
again into
.the flames. Three other Christians gave way
before such fearful torture, and declared they were
heathens. They received the talisman, and were put in
the ranks o! the band. Two of these apostates related to
me the preceding facts, which were also confirmed by the
traitor This brute was not content with burlln
alive the two Christians mentioned above ; he killed v.)-itlgi
his own hand two others, one of whom was a wom,
n
with a child at her breast. Re is at present in custody,
On the day after the bonze ordered the rest of the Chris.
tians captured to be beheaded. They were led one by
one—men, women, and children —before a wait into which
they were thrown, after having been decapitated. The list
of the victims amounts to twelve men, four women, and
eight children. Several of the children were impaled on
lances before their parents' eyes. About twelve Chris-
tians managed to escape, but what has hes9a them is
.6 eel Irneou.7)

ltri. Baron Martin opened on Monday the inquiry intc
the Cheltenham election. The petitioners asserted that
Mr. Samuelson, the sitting member, obtained his place at
the poll by bribery,.treating, and undue influence. But
Mr. (Huddleston, Q.C., in opening the case, freely ad-
mitted that he was not in a position to establish the treat-
ing. Though there were numerous cases of bribery, he
proposed to investigate first the charge of intimidation.
This was a matter of personal interference. On the
Thursday or Friday before the election, the
learned counsel stated, a body of pugilists were
fetched from Birmingham, and received at Chelten-
ham by Mr. Boodle, one of Mr. Samuelson's com-
mittee, and they were taken by Mr. Boodle and Mr.
Dowell to the central committee-room of Mr. Samuelson,
and there they were kept until the poll day. About eight
male at first, and 12 more afterwards, making 20, on the
Saturday. When they arrived Mr. Chesshyre intro-
duced to the room where these pugilists were all the
different members of the committee, Mr. Lenthall and
others, and they were then made known to the committee. 1
They were taken out in small bodies on the Saturday to
scour the town, and on the Sunday Mr. Gardner had ob-
tained the assistance of Field, the detective, and it ap-
peared that Mr. Boodle found out this, and he promised
one of the men (Cookey) £5 if he would give him a good
thrashing. A signal by whistle was to be given. The
signal was given, and Cookey fell on him and gave
him a most formidable beating. Cookey at once repaired
to the committee-room, and skewed how he had beaten
bis man, on which £1 was given him and a bottle of brandy
for him and his friends. Mr. Huddleston further stated that
for the polling day definite orders were given to the'pugilists.
They were told to keep the " blues " from the poll, and to
help the " yellows " (Liberals) to vote. This was done by
order of Mr. Boodle and other members of the committee,
and when the work had been done £3O was paid to the
men, and they were sent back to Birmingham. Cookey,
it seems, was dissatisfied because he did not get the X 5
for the thrashing he gave Field. There was some corre-
spondence between him and certain members of Mr.
Samuelson's committee. Mr. Huddleston mentioned
other cases of violence, and also some cases of
attempted bribery. He stated that there were several
cases of actual bribery. There were four cases of a
peculiar character, in which members of the working
committee were allowed the privilege of nominating
youths on the committee, who were paid for doin'
nothing. They were paid 11s. each, and being dis-
satisfied they applied to Mr. Chesshyre for more ; but
he replied that he could do nothing until the election
petition was concluded. There were also cases of
the payment of sums of money by Boodle to a second
party, which were passed over to a third party. Lastly,
Mr. Huddleston came to the cases of payment of rates for
voters.. Of these, he said, there were at least eighty cases.
tie referred to the new Reform Act, which, he pointed j
out, at section 4t provided for this class of cases. This
section provided that if any person, either directly or
indirectly, should corruptly pay any rate on behalf of any
ratepayer, for the purpose of enabling him to be registered,
he was guilty of bribery.