Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1858-05-21
vol. XII.
Chinese War, Prisons, and E1eculions.

The sdvices from China by the last steam
er are to February 27lh, and state that the
Chinese forces are mastering ia large mum
bers around Canton, with the determination
to re;ake the city. The Chinese NANTES;
no disposition to negotiate for peace, ana
dispatches are said to have reached Paris de-
manding rein.orcements. The deteraina-
lion of the Allied Powers to capture Pekiu
the present year had been given up, though
not The intention of the Commissioners to
proceed to the northward of Canton.
| The "outside barbarians" by the capture
| OF Governor Yeh 6aye obtained an inside
view of the horrible bar5arties practced un-
der his administration. y more atrocious
/ system of rule more brutal kpler never
disgraced any country or age of the world.
II seems that in the space of two years this
mandar:an caused no less than seventy thou
sand ''rebels'' to be executed in Can ton, and
that the mode Of execution rivals that of the
most degraded savages. The prisons of Can
ton too are of the worst descriptik sd the
treatment of prisoners is horrible ii the ex-
treme. We append some extracts from the
Canton correspondence of the London
Times
JAILs OF CANTON.
Lord Egn and the commissioners have
! made tour of Inspection TO the jails OF Can
ton, and the results of their experience have
been set forth in the China Hai! as follows:
Each of these establishments contains sew
eral different prisons, and the description ol
/! one OF these will answer for the whole. 1t
was entered by an open court yard about tif-
teen yards long by six broad. This court
yard is paved with granite slabs, and toierably
clean and airy, thanks to the rain, wind and
sun to which it is exposed; on each side Of
the yard are three compartments or dens,
each about five yards long by four broad, and
separated from each other ans from the court
yard by double rows OF posts, similar to those
which are used in baFricading the doors OF
the common Chinese houses in Hong Kong,
the posts of one row fitting between the
| posts OF the other row, leaving space barely
| tor man to pass his hand through. The
| doors of five of these six rooms were open,
| the whole of the prisoners having access to
| the open yard. Inside are boards and trus-
sells. on which the prisoners lie, the floor
being, far could be Judged from the filth
with which 1t was covered, as nature formed
it-cf earth; the height of the rooms is am
| pie enough, and, on the whole, the prisoners
were far better than we had expected, and,
if properly kept, would have no cause for
complaint.
On entering, the warning voice of the
turnkey drove the poor wretches into their
dens, but tap on the head soon silenced this
officlons personage, and the friendly voice of
a foreigner telling them in Chinese to come
out, soon brought about seventy creatures on
! their kness before such messengers of hu-
man:ty as had never before stood in that
horrid place. The sight o. these poor crea-
/ lures was dreadful; their forms diseased and
| emaciated-their eyes gazing in astonish-
ment, with the vacant stare Ct lunatics-their
filthy rugs dropping from them-their hair
unshorn and uneombed, long and horribly
stiff, black and abundant, in wful contrus t
with their pale and gaetly Textures; there
they knelt, trembling with cold, weakened
by starvation, and in some cases apparently
i callous even to the event--so strange and
wonderful it must have been to them-which
| was then taking place, of an inquiry into their
eokditlon by foreign occupants of the city.
All the horrors OF an English prison, poor
house and lenatic asylum were lNre accuIel-
lated, without single one Of the reeem ming
features which mark those establishments
| in our own more civilized country. The
prisoners were ordered to stand Up, and then
questioned, while some Of the visitors went
into the cells to examine them. Many of
the pour wEetehes were actually too weak to
come out of their deHs TO thank their deliy-
erers Goregners. officers and soldiers ir
the court yard of the prison. Lengthened
suffering, incarceration, had produced that
callousness which, with excessive weakness
prevented them from coming to see sight
they had never before witnessed. They were
told TO go outside and managed to raise their
scarecrow figures and stagger along in front
& of their foreign visitors.
One poor child, boy Of thirteen years ot
age, was also prisoner in this horrible place
He was told to get up, but, with an empty
idiotc smile OR his face, he merely raise
his eyes anG sllufiied few inches along on
the board on which he was sitting; he was
prisoner for rebellion! The poor creature
mad net strength enough to stand his limbs
were frightful to look at--literally he was
living skeleton, and two of The abler prison
ers carried him out. The five dens were
emptied and while Mr.. Parkes was talking
with their late inmates, the other foreigner.
looked intothe sixth den, the door closed
1t is difficult 20 realize the horrible nature O
the contents ofihat room. AS the door open
ed plteous lamentable cry arose from abou
: twenty human beings, not one of whom
could stand. Deaths grip was hard on man,
: of them; there was one poor fellow lyin!
2 croucn,,,d on the ground in a corner, bis rib
actually protruding-ne 11,.,as dead! Yes. m
living, the dying. the bleeding, the Saving
d the sick, the diseased, and the dead, were al
congregaied in this one hole. These poo
creatures who were bowling from pain ant
> hunger, might. and were it not for this visi
: would soon have followed their dead comrade
who still shared their wretched charnel hous,
to where alone they could look for release tt
their sufferngs-the grave. One of thei
number could speak English pretty fiuentl
: and from him it ascertained that th
n whole OF them had that day been beaten
l. Not one of them could walk, and it wa
5 areadtul to see the agony they suffered i
n trying to drag their bleeding forms into tn
/ open air. Some had been beaten on tn
W thighs, others on the feet and ankles, an
,e they were all ironed, notwithstanding the
in were not able to stand, much less to escap,
n THE FIELD OF BLOOD OF CANTON.
N Threading our way under the guidance {
or some experienced friends, we came to ca
d, penter's shop, fronting the entrance to
small potter's field. 1t is not rood in arei
of an irregular shape, resembling most q
oblong. A row of cottages open into it Q
| one side; there is well on the other. Tt
70 ground is covered with half-baked potter.
IT there are two wooden crosses, formed of III
e. barked wood, standing in an angle with