Democrat and sentinel. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1853-1866, 1857-04-22
Hisrellnllrol!s.
HIGHLY INTERESTING FROM CHINA
terrible SCENES AMONG THE IN
SIJRGENNS

sURGENUS.
Death cf the Eastern and Northern Kings
Destruction Of the Porcelain Tower.
! The New York Commercial is indebted tc
a friend for Hong Kong paper, containing
long letter from the Rev. DR.. Bridgman
carrying the narrative down to the middle o
| last December 1t is too long for our col
umns, and will rather gain than loose in in
terest in this latitude by abridgment and we
! present to our readers careful synopsis. DR.
Bridgm ans inform alton was obtained from
/ three eye-witnesses Of what he describes =
! These persons were with the insurgents at
Nanking Chinkiang, Wuliu and other places
/ in Nganhui were frequently at the palaces
/ of the chiefs and had the amplest opportuni-
I ties of acquiring information. One of them
( was an illiteratc native, and the others being
/ foreigners were uuacquainted with the Chinese
/ language, aud DR.. Bridgman therefore expe-
rienced some difficulty in fixing exact dates
! Of occurrences but of the substantial truth OF
the narritivo he entertained not the slightest
doubt.
The native was youth aud was in the
! service of the insurgents for more than year.
| though only as bearer of burdens. The for
egners were gentlemen at large" adventu-
! rers We presume, for they had first entered
! the service of the imperialists, but receiving
no pay, and seeing no prospect of any. went
over to the insurgents, with whom they re-
mained until the two principal rebel chiefs
were cut off, when they abandoned the insur-
! gents also, and coming from Marking by the
way of Chii,kiang and Tantu. reached Shang-
! hal in the latter end of December They re-
! ported that they left only seven foreigners
with the insurgents, viz five Manila men,
one Italian and Negro
! The two chiefs of the insurgent force were
! Yang. ''the Eastern King" and Wei Chang
hui, ''the Northern King" As mentioned
above, both these chiefs are dead Yang was
it seems, proverbial for instigating the most
! bloody massacres of all who stood in the way
of his ambitious designs as well as for his
blasphemous assumptions. He had reached
| the pinnacle of despotic sway, and lived in
true oriental luxury IL MS palace at Nanking.
He rarely went. beyond tne gates of the city,
but U't.inin the walls was all but supreme
One OF sne leaders among the insurgents, Hung
olutsinen, and entitled the :. Celestial King
for some reason had become obnoxious to him
and Yang resolved to encompass his death. =
This design he communicated to one of his
generals, who for some reason not assigned.
revealed the plot to the intended victim
Hung, who appears to have been a Brother OF
! the Northern King, sought aid from him and
the massacre of the Eastern King aud his fol
! lowers was determined upon.
The mode of accomplishing this was truly
! Chinese 8 hc Northern King, by concert
! with the Celestial King, entered the city in
the dead OF night, posted his followers quick
! iy and silently at every avenue to the palace
of the Eastern King, and at given signal,
Yang and hundreds of his officers and people
! lay weltering in their blood. lang's follow
ers In the city, however, were counted by
tens of thousands, and further treachery was
necessary to complete the tragedy. With the
mornings dawn came the revelation of the
massacre, and the design Of Yang was an
nounced rs the reason for it. In order to ge,
more OF his followers into their power, how
ever, deception was necessary and the females
of Hung's palace became a decoy From the
balustrades of the palace they announced that
Wei. the Northern King, and his men. had
exceeded their orders; that as punishment
Wei was to be bastinadoed and Yang's sur.
viving officers, as some atonement, were inyi
! ted to be present at the infiction of the pun.
ishment. At this announcement, the North
ern Kings followers. being previously In
4
| distress.
The reader probably anticipates the sequel
1t is thus described by DR.. Bridgman =
q IS the second day advanced. some of th.
iavorites were permitted to enter and rife the
palace of the slaughtered REBEL But the
scene OF greatest interest lay in another quar-
ter. In front of Hung's palace, in accordanc,
with the summons of the previous day, mu
titudes had assembled at an early hour. ant
there. not many yards from the tribunal from
behind which DEGREES were brought forth and
proclaimed aloud by his female heralds, th.
chastisement began. Wei and his captains
meekly (and cunningly) submitted. g
+ The sham succeeded five or six thousani
of eYang's troops that nothins
harder than the bamboo awaited dtheln-ai
lowed themselves TO be deprived of their arm
and placed for safe keeping in two large bull
ldings. on or close to their late masters nos
desecratcd palace. Once in, their fate wa
/ sealed every one of them was put TO death