The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1874-02-21
A TRIP TO pEKlN AND THE INTERIOR
ny JOHN l.. MENUS.

A delightful trip of one afternoon and
night on the fine coast steamer Chill,
brought us to the bar off Taku, where we
were obliged to wait all day to tighten the
ship so as to float through the channel,
there being only eleven feet of water at
the highest point Of the tide. The forts
which presented such serious resistance to
the English and French fleets in 1859, and
which in the hands Of Western power
would render the entrance Of hostile feet
impossible, are the only objects on the fat
shores that are seen outside the bar. Mod
orn guns of the latest and most effective
kind have been added to these fortifca-
tions; and farther up the river military
works are in process Of erection, several
thousand men being employed in their
construction. These works are being car
ried on under the direction of the Provin-
cial Governor, Ii Hung Chang, who, as a
prominent and effective officer, has no
rival in the empire. China having at last
learned the lesson Of her weakness as com.
pared to Western nations, is endeavoring
to command the approach to her capital
STILL she does not yet realize how much
she has to learn before she can assume an
independent position among the nations
who are every year making their influence
more and more felt upon all classes of her
citizens.
At Ticntsin we found the people in a
great state of excitement and consterna-
tion in consequence Of the rising of the
waters Of the river. This is the third year
that these foods have devastated this
whole region, breaking away the banks Of
the river and spreading over immense
tracts Of country, destroying crops, sweep,
ing away whole villages, and affecting dis
astrously the material interests of the en-
tire province.
Leaving Tientsin for Pekin we passed
for several hours over the fields which q
few weeks ago were covered with rich
crops, the tall sorghum still appearing
above sthc urace of the water. To tn,
west from this point there stretches as fal
as the eye can reach, a vast lake OF sea, t.
the distance Of more than one hundred
miles These repeated and unprecedented
calamities, the natives very generally at
tribute to the anger Of heaven in conse
quence Of the sins Of the inhabitants, ant
not unfrequently reference is made to th'
massacre of the French in june of 1871
as the event which has brought upon then
such misery. The walls Of the Roman
Catholic cathedral, just outside the city o
Tientsin, stand magnificent ruin, just a
they were left by the fire at the time Of th'
massacre As our boat passed il, It pre-
scented scene Of dcsolation which | shal
not soon forget IL could not be approch
ed except by boat, the water standing sew
cral feet high in the entrance. The wal
Of the adjacent burying-ground had beef
undermined and had fallen down, and tn
beautiful monuments at the graves of tn
Sisters of Mercy 40 cruelty massacred thre
years ago, only rose few feet above the de
vastating food
Neither native nor foreign residents hay
come to any agreement as to whether thi
inundation is due 70 the unusual fall o
rain in tho province, or to an influx 0
water from the sources of the Yellow rivcI
which have burst their banks and forme
new channels in this direction. II is mos
probable that this effect has been produces
by both causes combined One hundre
miles up the river, where the country !
higher, aud the water had subsided int
its ordinary channel, We stil found that
large portion Of the fields had been swep
by the food and the crops seriously IN
jured and in some places destroyed
good forcigs engineer to open new chan
nels for draining this country, Is It's great
.est want ut present.
Saturday night, Sept 9th, we reaehe