The western Democrat. [volume] (Charlotte, N.C.) 1852-1870, 1857-09-15
1nrsREsr1na FROM CHINA.

Hone KONG, June %.
Wcwant peaceful country to trade with
and a. strong government to treat with
Yet every success short of actual occupa-
ton of the city only weakens the authority
without breaking the obstinacy OF the
rulers. The rumors that reach Us from the
i, terror all say that the rebels are making
head again. and that some common course
Of action has been established between
bodies which had before acted Independently
of each other. i place no absolute talth III
any statement of fact made by Chinese
about his own country. The merchants
here have the most important Pccuniary IN
terests in obtaining Information a. 10 tn"
movements of the rebels. Whether certain
roads are open, and whether the product OF
certain l,rav;uces can come down, are ques-
tioms If money import. TOthejn kno~lcdge
is dollars. 5ut | have been told by the
heads If the mast entcrprishg houses that
this information cannot he bought They
srud nut their spies, and the spies, having
rasscd their time at the nearest spot oIt OF
sight in drinking sam>hou, aud sleeping IN
the Sha.Ie. come back with most precise in
Mountaineering. for this has happened,
with a document purporting t" be Il copy OF
the last memorial addrcs<ud by Yeh TO the
Emperor Time, however, shows that all
this is falschood and fnfgcry. 1t Is false
hood and it Is forgery, not because the sry
could not get real information for money.
1 I e G.
put no faith, therefore, in specific news
from the interior. when / am told thai
ENJOYS from the rebels have held interviews
with the elders of al the villages aud towns
on their western iinc of march, and that
compact has been entered into thf their
advance shall be unrr>isted. thDt private
property shall be spared, and that none but
mandarins shall he masSacrcd | do not re-
ceive It, although coming from the best
available authority. rs reliable intelligence.
But these rulnnrS are so consistent with
the natural sequence of effect from cause
that | believe they have sOfne foundation i'll
fact. The rebellion was quenchrd for
time in the blood of the 100000 human
creatures who in the years 1855 and 1856
were put to death in the execution ground
of Canton, subsequently more favored
criminals were turned into novels built ex-
presSly for that purpose, and found there Il
knife, a fatal dose of opium, and rope,
and wers told to spare their families the ig-
pominy of public execution by voluntary
death. But the West has again risen to
protect the fugitives who come among them
with dollars in their pockets, and the East
has found new prOsclytes to Legitimacy and
plumber. Meanwhile scarcity presses more
or less heavily upon the whole population.
In Canton the rich are flying, and the poor
are starving. Even in Pekin q speak on
the authority of memorial which the au-
thorities allow to appear in the Gazette)
mans labor will hardly suffice to procure
rice for his own belly, whereas formerly it
would feed him and his family. While
physical distress thus swellS the ranks of
the insurgents, Ych remains impossible as
ever, During the bOmbardmcnt of Canton
he was accustomed to retire within grotto
made of English cotton bales and smoke
ing. He preserves his usual habits. How
qua goes to him and states the necessity for
yielding 1eh stares ct him and says moth
ing Howqua retires and some days after
comes back with other Chinese merchants
to beg that the trade may at least be
opened with Cacao, so that the tea may 60
down and be exchanged for rice. Yeh still
answers only by silent stare. The Chi
ncse now remember or invent romantic
history for their proconsul. They say that
feh's first wife and all her kin were muir
dered by the Cantonese, and that in long
past days he vowed to be revenged by the
destruction of their city,-a fiction by no
means improbable so far as the murder is
concerned, for the Cantonese would murder
any one, but somewhat incompatible with
the notorious fact that by his vigorous
measures he preserved the city from being
sacked by the rebels.
This state of things cannot long continue.
One man, with few hundreds of pirates
and robbers connected with soldiers. cam
not keep down fouriShing population of a
million of people, especially when every one
of that million has seen the fires and heard
the explosions that told the destruction of
the Imperial fleet. five delay to take Cam
ton, it is to be feared that the rebels will
anticipate us. If this should happen, what
are we to do! They are not much better
affected to the ''outer barbarians" than the
mandarins are. We shall then have no one
to fight with and no one to treat with. In
driving out the rebels we shall only be doing
the work of the Emperor. and our claims
to compensation would be presented to an
exhausted Treasury. On the other hand,
we ought to know more of Chinese politics
than the best informed among us yet know,
before we undertake to guarantee the Tartar
dynasty i'll return for commercial advanta-
gcs.
Some doubt was expressed as to whether
We really had the great Wang himself for
an adversary at FatShan. This is now