The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington, Iowa) 1857-1858, 1857-08-12

u or opinion, BY lar ~ OoH 4DpoetaA&
InoWo that hrs Sor some yearo been ofOog0t -
eas shores, , that Of he famine said 70 b pre-
yailine Ia Ohina-she most populous nation @
The face Of che earth. Tue news On this point
b % full and eircumstantlAl - any We get from
that remarkable country. The famine IL said 70
exceed ell that the oldest man living has Wit
messed. It's influence b said rot 70 Be locAL bot
general. Il used to be the custom Of the ChinoD:
government to lay up stocks Of grain tos eoe's
sons Of scarcity. But the internal wars q ~
ma. that have prevailed now for number g
gears, have no doubt deranged the Affairs ofgov.
ernnent and broken up all it, wholesome and
provident customs. Now, the crops Of rice are
late the price has advanced TO - for common
qualities. At Canton Il il S6.
The exports from Formosa have been prohib
tied, causing thereby famine at Swatow, Am
| oy and the Chinchew coast. Parties have been
dispatched hence to purchase here. At Manil-
la the crop has failed, and famine is anticipat-
ed. The civil strife at present raging is OF course
aggravated BY this famine, adding to the mum
Der Of the discontinued, but its worst feature 10
that it is interfering with the culture Of the COM
ing crops.
The whole province Of Kwang.tung Is in . sad
condition; rice 10 dear famine prevails; in the
district of Qu sin. lying in the department OF
Yochow, east of Canton, robbery and plumber
ing are rife and rampant; even the women are
forming themselves into bands Of robbers, have
seized the sword and gone forth plundering'
But for the credit of their sex, it is supposed
| that their plundering only extends to the abso-
lutte requisites for the sustenance of life.
Again, in the district Of of Sun-neng and hve
other adjoining districts south west of Canton,
not far from Macao, where the Ha-kara arose
last year and fought the Puntees and oyercaMe
them, and then were conquered by their enc
mics, the two classes have now united and form
| ed array of more than one hundred thousand
| strong, attacked and overcome the capitals OF
the ko-mung and Kohsan districts, devastating
the country around for four hundred leone
hundred and thirty Understanding possession
OF all the towns and hamets inclusive.
And with these fearful facts existing, the
madness of the people still continues. Their
desolating outbreaks, and robberies by insur-
| gent armies still continue. At Foochow, it is
said that band of marauders, mastering 10000
strong, and gathering strength as they went, had
taken the city of Kenhing, situated on the bank
Of the river Min, aud not far from the important
| city of Yenping, an emporium on which depends
the trade Of Foochow. Little was known ofthe
gang further than that their object was plumber.
The rich Chinese at Foochow were sending away
their valuabes, and some were talking Of remo-
wing their families. The latest accounts, how
| ever, state that, after pillaging kenhinG. the
| robbers abandoned it, and instead of marching
| upon Yenping, they took the opposite direction.
messenger recently from Canton reports the
capital of Kwangsi, LueiLung, has fallen into
| the hands of the rebel LIE, who makes it his head
quarters. The granary and treasury having been
| exhausted, the soldiers few in number within,
and none to succor them from without, the mill
| itary officers joined the rebels, and opened the
gate Of the city for them to come in and take
possession. The whole province Of Kwang-si
has now fallen into the hands of the insurgents.
This is certainly an alarming array OF facts,
and they betoken terrible state OF affairs in
China. But they should excite no surprise
They are the natural fruits of the internal wars,
| the revolutions, the raising of vast armies, the
| marching, the fighting, the pllagings, the burn
ings, the desolations of towns cities, and prov
inces, that have marked the history of China for
| the last six years more. We have abundant
| evidence that during that period China has been
| eonvulsed with wars, and desolateu by stipend
Gus armies; and we know that while wars rage,
| agriculture must suffer, and all the means OF
subsistence decline We know that in China it
| takes the closest industry and the intensest
| economy to sustain ITS vast and 0vercrowded
population. We know that if one fourth of its
most available labor-the labor of men enlisted
| in fierce, contending armies-be withdrawn
| from the fields, as it has been, it must entail
| heavy loss on the productive capacity of the
1
hosts Of the armies of the insurgents, OF rebels,
and the imperialsts, and their desolating
| m arches, they have paralyzed, for the past six
years, fully one-haf of the productive employ
/ ments of China. In can readily be conceived,
| then, that a famine must be imminent, and its
effects deadly. 1t is hard to regain lost ground,
when three or four hundred millions OF people
1 get scant of food. a famine in Ireland, with
population of only about seven million inhab-
,f,b in ra-,,lts =
aroused the sympathies, and drew upon the sup
| plies of Europe and America; and still the loss
| Of life, and the general wall of suffering was
fearful. Europe and America with all their
| surplus and ready means OF relief, were taxed
| to the uttermost for the succor of Ireland
But what if Famine shall prevail in China?
| What if the wall of three hundred million peo-
pie shall ascend, for bread! What then OF the
few suffering OF Ireland? What a CONTRAST
| And where the granares of the world that shall
afford relief to China?
We think this report from China is truthful
and reliable. A Famine is the natural result of
the disorganized condition of that kingdom for
| years past 1t would have followed like causes,
anywhere in the world.
And the Famine, like the internal war that
produced it, is no doubt, one of the means in
the orderings of Providence, designed especial
ly to "oyerturn and overthrow," until the popu-
stitons and mummeries of paganism, shall be
broken down, and cut through and through, by
the plowshare of Christianity.
But be the mortal end what it may-we safe
ly leave that in the hands of God. There is
another phase Of the matter that Commerce can
comprehend, and improve. II China cries to
the rest of the earth for food, America can do
more than all the other lands in furnishing it,
The grain crops of the United States uurar-
LII oh, Wnarr ,.i,t,a
known will be on hand this year. The market
of Europe cannot begin to absorb it; for Europe
also produces, this year, abundanty.
AT this opportune moment, is it possible that
Asia is coming in to be our customer, and the
consumer of our surplus! VIII China take our
wheat and tiour-and send us back her teas. and
the silser she has been boarding for thousand
years? Who shall say that in twelve months
Iron this date, all the shipping of the Atlantic
cities, now idle enough, goodness knows, shall
not be loading Kindred -four and meal, and
parched wheat and corn, destined for Shanghae
and Canton; and soon return laden with silrer
By the ton for oar pay! With the prospect Of
such a millennium in our money affairs, we snail
watch for the next news from China with the
deepest interest.
But if our surmise is at all correct, what an
ncalculabe loss do We experience in not having
Pacific Railroad completed. Then the -four
| anu gram Vi TIE w est Couiu pdSo Nbotit Univ q
temperate climate to China, and be pure and
sweet on its arrival. VIII not the famine Of
three hundred millions of people, be incentive
enough to lead to the immediate construction of
railroad TO the Pacific? We shall not be sur
prised to find it so.
In the meantime, let US be enquiring how we
can most cheaply and safely ship the surplus
grain crop of America 10 China for sale
What say the Boston China merchants on the
subjects
LnFNER THE MURDERER GROWING WoRsE-
PROBABILITY OF HIS SPEEDY DEATH-For seve.
raj days past Leiner has been growing worse,
and on or two occasions il was believed by
his phy sicians that he could not possibly live.
The danger arises from internal efusion of
pus IN the cellular tissue of The throat, likely to
produce strangulation. lis death may take
place suddenly at any time, and we should not
be surprised to hear of the event at any moment
"A consistent close TO the awful tragedy of