The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1861-01-16
HOW THE CHINESE TREAT A PRISONER,


Parkes of his treatment while prisoner. The
whole statement occupies nearly six columns of the
Gazette
Being exhausted with fatigue and want of food
which had not tasted for upwards of q hours, i
fell asleep, but was soon made sensible of my posi-.
ton by being called up and again carried before
the Board of Inquisitors 1t was then about mid
night, but the hour did not prevent the collection
of a large crowd, composed, however, in this in
stance, of police-runners gaolers, ctors, and the
other numerous myrmidonS of Chinese law The
mandarins, as was placed kneeling in nv chains
before them, warned me that they would force the
truth from me if did not give it willingly; and in
proof of their earnestness, they ordered four tor
turers to seize me, even before they began to put
their questions, by the and the hair of the
head and face. They first asked me if | were a
Chinese. l told them they had only to look at nv
face and hair to see that was not. The next ques-
tions related to my age, length of residence in Chi
ma, how and where had been employed, &C. They
then proceeded as follows:
Inquistors-State the name of your head man.
Answer-Which one doy you mean, the An2baSsa-
dor, General or Admiral?
lnquisitors (angrily )-TO GU have no such fupc-
tionaries. Don't presume to use such titles.
Here the torturers suited their action to the tone
of the mandarins, by pulling simultaneously at my
hair, ears, DC.
Inquisitors-Now give the name of your head
man.
Answer-Which one?
InquistOrsThe head of your soldiers
Answer Tin English. )-Lieutenant- General Sir
Hope Grant.
Inquisitors-What?
Answer Tin English. )-Lieutenant-Gener Sir
Hope Grant.
Inqusitors--Say something that we can under
| stand
Answer am obliged to use the English terms
| as you will net let me give YOU these in Chinese
They attempted to write down, in Chinese
sounds, "Leutenant General Sir Hope Grant," but
not succeeding, they asked me the name of another
! headman.
Answer Tin English)-Ambassador Extraordi-
nary the Earl OF Elgin.
Finding it equally impossible to write this down
! in Chinese or to go with the examination, they
told me might revert to Chinese names and titles
and then gave them those of the Ambassador and
| the Commanders-in-C Chief.
lnquisitors-How many soldiers have you?
Answer-Not less than 20 600 fighting men.
| lnquisitors-That is false. [Torturers clutched
me as before. Repeat how many.
| Answer-Not less than 10000 fighting men, in
| which | do not include followers, &C. | have stated
that once to you, and have other answer to
give.
Here | was again threatened, both by mandarins
and torurers, out, deeming it dangerous to swerye
from any statement had once made, adhered to
that which had already given them, and it was
taken down.
lnquisitor-How many soldiers have the French?
Answer am not acquainted with their force,
but they cannot have less than 10000 fighting men.
Inqusitors-You are lying again.
The same question repeated and enforced by
torturers. l returned the same answer and it was
noted down. | then explained that being myself
civilian could not be expected to be familiar with
military matters, to know all the particulars of
so large an army as the present combined force.
lnquisitors-So large an army do you call it p
What are 10000 men? They are mere nothing.
They then proceeded to examine me in the same
strain as to the number of our cavalry and artillery
ships, steamers, horses, Chinese coolies &c, and
in particular, of the range of our field and siege
guns, which ! gave them at three miles and up
wards, together with other particulars of their de-
| CT nrnn 4Iat Ill r
the force came from India they questioned me as
to the resources of that country, and we're much
displeased with my statement that it was within 20
days sail Of China, and had army of upwards of
300, 900 men, and population of more than lO0-
100000. They also equally dsapprove my estimate
of the population of Great Britain, which stated
at about 81, 000, 600. But the remark which pro-
badly gave them most displeasure and caused me
some pain at the hands Of the torturers, was the
use, on my part, OF term for Her Majesty denoting
equality Of rank with the Emperor. They had in
CURED after our "Prince,' to which replied by
stating that we had many princes, both in England
and India, but that they all under one Sow
ereign, as in the case Of the empire of China.
"What do you mean by using such language %
they said: "you have yourself shown that you have
been long in China, that you can speak our Ian
guage and read our books, and must know, there
fore, that there is but one Emperor who rules
all lands. 1t is your duty to communicate your
superior knowledge on this subject to your coun-
trymen, instead of encouraging them in their ex-
travagant ideas"
They then insisted that had often been in Pekin;
that had contederates here, and that they would
force me to reveal their names. | denied all this,
and told them knew but three persons in Pekin
InqUistors-Name them.
Answer-The two Imperial Commissioners
Prince of | and Muh-yin-and the Assistant Com
missioner Hang-ki.
| made this reply in the hope of disarninc their
suspicious which could see were very strong on
this point; and the idea that through our Chinese
coolies. or in some other wav we had set treason
a yVprR vii in tha yvol LIS pF
which evidently gave them considerable apprehen.
SION They were also particular in demanding in
formation as to the number and names of our in
terpreters. L complied by giving them the christian
names and surnames of several of these gentlemen
would be unable to take down intelligiblv the lone
English words, and they soon relinqushed the in
qury. They made pointed inquiries, however
about Mr.. Lay, and when told them that be was
now engaged, by the invitation of the Chinese au-
thorites, in managing their foreign revenue which
had nearly doubled since the collection of it had
been placed in his hands, they reproyed me for
using such language, and called out that Lay was
nothing else than native (Chinese) traitor.
Towards the close of the examination, throue bout
which was compelled to remain kneeing on the
stone floor, obtained their permission to make
statement on my account. | then told them why
| and the other gentlemen of my party had come to
| Tung-chow; that were all employed in the cause
OF peace, and not OF war: but, although acting I'M
der flag of truce, and admitted to interviews with
the Imperial Commissioners, we had been seized
and were now being treated, not even as prisoners
OF war, but as common feons and as offenders
against Chinese law. | was urging that this great
| and, to me, unaccountable mistake, should not be
persisted in, when they interrupted me by saying,
"This is your account but we have another story.
| Besides, If, as you state, you a civilian, and
have nothing to do with soldiers and their move
ments, why are you always with the advance?"
10 this answered that we always kept an inter
prefer in the front to be ready receive overtures
| or communications from the Chinese authorities
and to look after the interests of the people. The
examination ended. l was ordered back to prison.
EXTRAORDINARY PHENOMENON IN INDIA-Sved
Abdollah, professor of Hindostant University
College, London, sends to the Times an extract
from letter he has received from India describ-
ing an extraordinary fail of large slabs meteorc
| stones, preceded and followed by most singular
| physical commissions, at place called Dharam
Sal, situated in tie district OF Kangra northeast
OF PuDjab, among the mountains in the lower
rsnge south of the Himalaya. The writer says:
"On the 18th of July horrible discordant nois es
rumbled forth from the bowels of the earth, follow
| ing each other with the utmost rapidity. Then
succeeded long and loud explosions, which gradu-
| ally decreased in degree and duration. Then came
intensely luminous flames of fire, each flame about
twelve feet in length, shooting with extreme velo-
| city from north to south, as though belched forth
from the mouth of ordnance of extraordinary size
and calibre
"These again were replaced by shower of mete-
ORIG stones, which, wherever they FELL ploughed
| up the earth like so many cannon balls | subse-
quently strolled the field of destruction and
| discovered a number of boulders and meteoric
| stones of divers forms and size, many of which
bore great resemblance to ordinary cannon ball
just discharged from the engines of war, but which,
| when touched by me, felt like many pieces Of
lce No loss of life or personal injury is reported
In connection with this strange freak of nature.
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