New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1858-12-02
The Pirates q he chinese Seas.

a II
chat early holiday reading, when, having mastered
E,ob1son frts5e We discovered and at once devouTed
The H:st9rs n ts Buccaneers. stealing our way per
hans themes into the pages of Able Raynal, opening
M Robertson. ranging up and down some old library
avouFipr alike healthy and unhealthy histories, but
slvays hunting tie shelves and earnestly peering
abonteyen az the cost of having to construe indif
frent Latin or spell out the lives of the Conquista
dares in hard, Grabbed Spanish-for adventures on
salt water and deeds Of pirates on the Spanish Main
How we all used to sympathize with the chiyaTous
aud phrenetc MontbaT whose name was cry to hush
infants souailina with a Spanish twang! How we
followed the desperate eareer0 that dare devil Welsh
man named Morgan when with his piratical band he
pushed up an intricate river, landed his buccaneers
fought pitched battle with great army, plundeTed
and burnt the huge city, and returned laden WIN
precious metals aud with digntares, tatiFe
Of huge ransans The historian speaks solemniy Of
these English and French sear0hhers, telling us now
they were produced and almost JustIled by spanish
oppression aud how they dealt the Fst DloW ~ span
ish greatness by shVering the anlty o. hef western
possessions The sehooboy thinks only Of MS reckless
ioval adventurous life and as he grows rom mop,
ble-dehoy to a signing yoath, he covers ms old
heroes with the glaze q romance enanses ~ MoIgan
into Conrad gives his Conrad Medora, sleeps ms
old fayurites In chYarY and sentiment and even after
Ms days o seepish sentiment past carries sort
of unconessed peHchant os bold pirates and pratica
cruisers into his manhood
We'll The great Platonic year brings back in its cycle
mast events and facts that grow hazy in their distance
are sometimes shot down in all their native coarseness
fresh and unpublished at our own DOORS II any boy OF
man wishes 70 see piracy taking the dimensions OF an
institution be may still lind it. Along thousand
miles Of coast ndented by deep bays and frnged by
protecting nets with far upstretchlng lnets where
craft Of small draught may shelter and where square
rugged vessels cannot pursue, bold pirate chiefs with
ahaven heads and plated tails are still masters OF the
ocean. There they still live and flourish drinking
their samshn ioly, smoking their opium leisurey
spending their syeee silver recessly, surrounded by
stinkp0fs and rocket spears, and hollow bamboos
crammed with curious eOmbushbles, and eongrega'
ton Of rusty more wonderful than terrible to
behold and perhaps chanting as only Cinnamon can
chant some Chinese version OF The sea, the sea, the
open sea-. The Sci Kings Of the Baltic were not SO
absolute as they The poor trembling transport junks
laden with the sugar from Forn1osa OF their timber
from NiRgpo, are as paralyzed as cartridges with
hawk above them when these ships prey with their
wingshaped sails and huge fms ofoars, come outupOn
them rushing with their amphibious implements Of
swift propulsion, Even the wretGhed fisherman does
not dare to venture from the shore without license
from some pirate Chief or The convoy Of lorcha,
whose protection Is almost as expensive as capture,
and whose Portuguese captain is hardly lin name,
less piratieal than Yang or hwang or A'Pak The
swift opium clipper must dread camin these waters,
for despite their dissemination for European propn-
guilty the Sea Kings collect like Yultures around her,
and pound her from distance until the prey is dead,
and they come near safely to deVour 1t has hap
pened more than once, although the stories may not
be noised loudly in the ears OF underwriters, that
even steamers have been carried in thesmoke ofstnk-
pots. You will meet no sailor who has nayigated
these seas in sailing ships who has not tales to tell OF
Ouud5 received or captivity suffered, hairbreadth
escapes achieved from the clutches OF the pirates oil
the China Seas.
To let this Institution alone would DE policy, il
we were so selfish and gainseeking people as oul
enemies would make us out. The Chinese merchant
is awakening to the advantages OF insurance, and i
we let the evil thrive it would gradually drive all tbs
iunks out Of competition and throw all the eoaatpE
trade into European hands But that has not been th
view have taken OF our duties as civilized nation
We have ia late treaty undertaken to assist thu
Chinese Government 10 destroy this ancient nstitu
zion and sh09t, hang Or deliver over to the still
less tender merGes of the Mandarins all the bold free
hooters of the Celestial seas. Yesterday we published
the account Of serious commencement OF operations
for the performance Of this duty aud aOmepart this
was tale OF adventure almost worthy of the Spanish
Main. The dispatches show list OF results tending
considerably the Encouragement of the rovers
OF China a fortified stOekade taken l26 piratical
crafts destroyed 563 guns captured az pirates killed
(without counting Commander Gresswells unenume
rated kiled) and six cargo vessels and o. sailors
captured are sufficiently tangible results. We ought
also value highly the services OF the officers engaged
in these expeditions in that they eifeeled their object
at very small sacrihcefon our side We are glad to
see that Captain Yanstart s again In these seas and
the names oil Commanders GressWe and BROKER; and
Lieutenants Wynnatt Arthur, and Bevan, are well
known already to the reader Of the events Of this
Chinese war. They would have done their duty with
enemy than Chinese pirate and it is indeed only By
mixture of skill and real daring that these enemies
are conquered With such little loss But, although
we confess il il unfair towards these most neritOTiOu
officers, our English instincts for hard fight vii
come ont and the public interest will probably skin
lightly the services OF the larger expedition t.
follow the fortunes Of that single little gunboat Whic
alone in distant waters, and almost unarmed, Tough
desperate fight with four large pratcal junks tul
armed and fully manned The Stauneh dartjRl
about among her ponderous enemies must have looket
in size like wasp among bats. Those who saH
those small vixen craft at Spithead not very long ago
must almost laugh at the impotence OF Leutenan
Wildman ashing himself on to great junk, with
poop az high az his funnel boarding the huge thnl
in the smoke Of stinkpots and then rowing off in hi
g captains gig'2-such mighty gig.-t0 board AM
burn flying foe ofequal dimensions. This last wa
real bit Of British bounce Lieutenant Wildmal
does not tell US how many men he had to man hi
gig but we cannot with any probability allow hin
more than four for many Of his men were wounded
some were board his prize-he magnfleently call
them paTtYh-and OF course he left a 50 10 humble
on board the Staunoh Az he had about thirty mel
TO begin with, he could not have had many SPAR
hands lett for his boarding expedition, and he
to have treated the sea kings with very little consd
Grafton. But, so far as landsmen can draw nefence
from facts, 1t may be and ought to be an axiom tina
in naval matters audacity always wins,
There Is, however great deal yet to be done heor
we have purged these seas and the only possible
way to succeed will be to dsarm all uacommissioneC
ships Poor old Admiral Wang himself, il be ha,
Il
could not tell la Chinese pirate from a Chinese man
of.war, or even from Chinese merchant.rnan II,
could predicate of some given ships that they IN
doubtedly were pirates but be could honestly declar
of no one armed junk that her guns are only used 10
proper purposes. II would appear from the fact
mentioned by Lieutenant Wildman, and from tn
oreha rig of some of the ships destroyed in the Sou
that the convoy fleets which some time since ande
their crewsapd fought bloody battle in the EurOpea
settlement at Ningpo have now undisgaisediy take
up piracy as trade. Bat steamt especially in II
form Of these pestilent little gunhQats is intolera
even Of a shred Of romance. Even If England al
France should relax after seasonof energy, the Ri
SLAMS viii soon have little SebastOp0l at Gastri
Bay, and many little gnnbpats and big ships up al
down these seas. The Straits OF FormOsa will soon
as safe a. the British Channel even the mouth
the Canton river may perhaps be well poiced, andtl
pirate hauuts at Lintin wit be inhabited by hone
folk. Piracy, on respectable scale may becon
extinct and China may soon have no living repreSen
alive oFthose great piratieal chiefs, never hither
absent from her history, who drove the Dutch out
Fprmosa, changed an Imperial dynasty, and only tt
other day forced the GoaTG Of Pekn to take a piIa
feet into its pay aud makeits master i high Nay
Mandarin.
A pions old lady could NOT get the run of a certa
hymn, Ii which Canaan aud Jordan were spoken
R4ft ola ani5I5 WALL atsg,ss 4