The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — 1850-05-28 (Liverpool, Merseyside, England)

THE DEATH OF THE EMPEROR OF CHINA.  " Pious country !" exclaims the ingenious and patriotic Lien Chi Altangi of his native land—" pious country ! where, if we do not grieve at the departure of our friends for their sakes, at least we are taught to regret them for their own" The Citizen of the World's exulting tribute to the Agours of a' Chinese mourning, has, we la. ment to say, lately received a notable illustration in the fate of no less a person than Tao-Kwang (the Lustre of Reason (himself. "Upon the 14th of the first moon," says the official announcement, " his Majesty departed upon the great journey, mounting upwards on the Dragon to be a guest on high !" In homelier phrase, we have to announce that the Emperor of China died on the 24th of February—a victim, it is said, to the severity of the rites with which he celebrated the decease of his mother-inlaw, the late Empress Dowager, who preceded him by thirty-one days. Among his more personal antecedents, we may mention three. In 1828 be murdered a Mahomedan Tartar Prince, by name Jehangie, who had surrendered himself on the faith of the royal promise. In 1832, he killed his eldest son by a hasty blow. Later still, when he became involved in hostilities with this country, he is said to have suggested the brilliant notion of crippling the power of the English by cutting off their tea, and thus destroying them by constipation ? If Tao-Kwang's last catastrophe was of a piece with the prudence of his antecedents—if he died a victim to a barbarous devotion to barbarous ceremonies—if his offer to sleep in straw in the garden, with the corpse of his mother-in-law, be deemed neither dignified nor wise— it is also certain that he has found in his son and successor, Yih Chu, a mourner no wit less fantastical and extravagant. In order to insure the due sympathy of his officers—they are imperatively required to assist at a solemn banquet of the dead. Meats were to be offered, and tea to be served, to the defunct sovereign; and, in anticipation, it may be, of these dainty offerings being declined by their august object, the ministers and officers of the court were to beat their heads against the ground periodically during the ceremony, and to howl and groan in chorus. These deadly-lively festivities were to last three days. For a hundred more the Flowery People were commanded to walk in the white garments of grief, their caps undecorated by tassel or button, their beards unshorn, their tails untrimmed, their eye-brows growing wild, in barbarous immunity from tweezers. As a climax to the whole, and " to satisfy in some degree, his babelike affection," the Emperor was pleased to extend the mourning appointed for his subjects, by his predecessor, from twenty-seven days to three years. Well, who knows, after all, whether there may not be a grain of sly meaning in all these monstrous mummeries ? It is certain thatlby their means our celestial neighbours are enabled to secure a spirit of loyalty within their borders, which is quite irrespective of the reigning prince. His decease is rendered so formidable by the rites with which it is celebrated, that, be his rule what it may, its continuance cannot fail of being regarded by his subjects as a minor nuisance compared with its close. To leave this portion of our news, and to descend from the elevation to which the Vermilion Pencil has for a while transported us, we observe, with prosaic satisfaction, that the accession of the new sovereign, by bringing the able Keying into office, is considered likely to hasten the legalising of the opium trade; and that the Chinese authorities are evincing a growing desire to avail themselves of British aid, in their endeavours to put down piracy.