The Winslow mail., 1900-09-13
GREAT TAI PING REBELLION.
Recent Occurrences at
Tientsin.


The great Tai-Ping rebellion in
China originated in a packet of Amer
ican missionary tracts, printed in Chi
nese. In 1888 Rev. l. ]. Roberts, an
American missionary in Canton,
handed the tracts to Hung-Siu-Tseu
a young Chinaman of towering ambi-
ton, who was embittered because he
had repeatedly failed to pass the Chi
nese civil service examination. By
this ac: millions of persons lost their
lives. g-Siu-Tseun declared that the
tracts were the key to visions he had
seen and began preaching new doc
trine which somewhat resembled the
doctrines of Christianity. 1t included
Venerable Man" in the heavens. with
a golden beard. who removed from
Hung his old heart and gave him new
heart; an address by this Heavenly
Father" who said all men ate his food
and wore his garments, but wor-
SHIPPED demons, and a miGdle-aged
man who called himself Hung's Elder
Brother" and taught him how to slay
demons with the Sword of Faith"
The demons were the idols. The
elder Brother" was the Intermediary
between the Heavenly Father" and
misguided men, says the Philadelphia
Press.
Hung's disciples called themselves
the Church of Cod They demol-
ished temples and idols and Hung lived
among cattle to show his humility,
and abandoned his queue and let his
hair grow long, as a token of disavow-
ing the Manchu demon dynasty. He
followed a career strangely like that
of John the Baptist. In 1850 rebel
lion arose in the Santon province, ow-
ing to the wretchedness of the people,
and the rebels declared themselves fol-
lowers of the true God, seeking. to es-
tab.ish the Tai-Ping or Great Peace"
Soon the humble preacher, who had
abased himself as a herder of cattle,
assumed the title of TienrWang, or
'King of Heaven and a great insur-
rection against the Manchus infiamed
Middle China. In 1853 Hung-Siu-
Holy Trinity, with God and Jesus
Christ, commanded a vast army led by
generals, to whom he gave the rank of
kings. He took the great city of Nam
king, and put 10000 people to the
sword, after the example of the Old
Testament. He declared that he had
come to punish idolaters with fire and
sword
At this point, when the cattle herder
was raised to a pinnacle equal to the
first successes of Mahomet, he retired
into seclusion to mediate, and the i'm
perial forces laid strong siege to his
capital, Marking. But the divine rebel
gave no sign and refused to see his
kings, who humbly sought an audi
ence. When the. situation was desper-
ate he ordered his soldiers to sing a
chant expressing faith in the interpo-
sition of God, and, sure enough, after
the Tai-Pings had sung and shouted
this acclaim to God the imperial
armies besieging Marking were scat
tered and the divinity of the cattle
herder was rendered doubly certain to
his followers.
In 1S56-6O, while the imperial gov
ernment was at war with the powers,
the Tai-Pings grew in strength and
held undisputed sway in Middle
China. But so vast is the Celestial en-
pire that it may contain several rebel
lions at the same time. be at war with
the powers and yet have peaceful prov
inces left. and continue to hold court
at Peking as if nothing were going ON
The foreigners in China at this time
were harassed by both the Tai-Plngs
and the animosity of the Peking gov
ernment. which in spite of'the rebel
lion, displayed a disposition to fight
all of Europe.
So. while the foreigners were threat
ened by both the Peking forces and the
Tai-Pings, the Legitimate dynasty was
fighting the Tai-Ping rebels and the
powers, and the Tai-Pings, in turn
were attacked by both imperial
armies and the English and French
troops. These complications resulted
in foreign intervention in 1862 and tht
crushing of the great rebellion in 1856
by the Ever Victorious" army under
Gen, Chinese Gordon"