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was performed in the following manner, without reference to any longer or shorter term of preparation or previous instruction. Two burning lamps and three cups of tea were placed on a table, probably to suit the sensual apprehension of the Chinese. A written confession of sins, containing the names of the different candidates for baptism, was repeated by them, and afterwards burnt, by which procedure the presenting of the confession to God was symbolized. The question was then asked if they promised not to worship evil spirits, nor to practise evil things, but to keep the heavenly commandments?" After this confession and promise they knelt down, and from a large basin of clear water a cupful was poured over the head of every one, with the words, "Purification from all former sins, putting off the old, and regeneration." Upon rising again, they used to drink of the tea, and generally each convert washed his chest and the region of his heart with water, to signify the inner cleansing of their hearts. It was also customary to perform private ablutions in the rivers, accompanied by confession of sins, and prayer for forgivenesss. Those who bad been baptised now received the different forms of prayer to be used morning and evening, or before meals. . . . . On the celebration of festivals, as, for instance, at a marriage, a burial, or at the new year, animals were offered in sacrifice, and afterwards consumed by those present at When they engaged in prayer they used to kneel down all in one direction, toward the side of the house whence the light entered, and closing their eyes, one spoke the prayer in the name of the whole assembly.'*

members of the congregation, the rite of baptism | seizures which have occurred among ignorar: and excitable people in other parts of the world. One poor man in particular, named Yang, was subject to such trances, in which he was in the habit of speaking in the name of God the Father, and in a solemn and aweinspiring manner reproved others for their sins, often pointing out individuals, and exposing their evil actions. He was also said to have the gift of curing sickness by intercession. Yang conceived himself to be under the immediate direction of God the Father, in whose name he spoke, and Siau, another of the God-worshippers, spoke in the name of Jesus, the Elder Brother,' and, as has happened frequently before, the supposed revelations were uttered in the first person, whose presence the man was for the time as if emanating from the Divine Being by possessed; not as if the utterer meant to claim for himself any share in the Divine nature. The latter interpretation was erroneously put by many Europeans upon the declarations of the God-worshippers. Hungsiu-tsuen did not confirm with his authority all the utterances made at these revivals, but declared that the words of those moved were partly true and partly false, and that some were from the devil, and some were from God. He appears to have placed implicit confidence in the revelations of Yang and of Siau. Hung-siu-tsuen was now austere and reserved in his manners, strict in his moral behaviour, and severe upon the shortcomings of his followers, who submitted implicitly to his dictates, although he had been absent when the congregation of God-worshippers was formed, and also when the ecstasies, or revivals, first took place among them.

the ceremony.

A little later the God-worshippers commenced destroying the idols and interfering with the worship of their neighbours. Fungyun-san and another of the leaders were seized and committed to prison upon a charge of rebelling against the authorities. Hungsiu-tsuen vainly repaired to Canton to petition for their release: Fung-yun-san, however, was sent home to his own village and set at liberty after he had given securities not to return, his companion having died in prison. Hung-siu-tsuen remained quietly at home during seven months, assisting his elder brothers in leading the buffaloes to the hills to graze; frequently communing with Fungyun-san, whose village was close by, and unfolding his religious views to the youths who led their oxen to the common pasture. The two friends then set out together in 1849, and rejoined the God-worshippers in the province of Kwang-si; a collection having been made in their own district to meet the expenses of their journey. During the absence of their leaders some of the God-worshippers had experienced a remarkable series of ecstatic fits or trances, closely resembling the

* 'The Taeping Rebellion,' p. 81, note.

Up to this point, however we may lament the ignorance and the mistakes of these people, the general tendency of the movement seems to have been good, and the objects of Hung-siu-tsuen laudable. To awaken the people from the miserable torpid idolatry of Buddhism, and to open to them even a glimpse of the Divine nature and of Christian morality, was surely a great and noble design, however blind the leader may have been to the cardinal truths of Christianity which he had desired, but had not been permitted, to know. But the God-worshippers, as we have seen, soon became suspected by the authorities, and in the end they became identified with local parties. It may almost be said that rebellion lay in their way, and they found it. Indeed, it is probable that the thought of it had long been familiar to the minds of the chiefs, who could not hope to be allowed by the Tartar Government to destroy the temples and idols, and to subvert the religious belief and institutions of the

nation. There is reason to think that Hungsiu-tsuen had studied military tactics, with a view to their practical application; and one of his comrades, a disappointed scholar like himself, takes credit in his confession (made under torture when a prisoner of the Imperialists) for having instructed Hung-siu-tsuen, after the rebellion broke out, in tactics; on which he had himself read many treatises while he was a priest.

The immediate cause of the outbreak is stated in several different ways. It is said that a young believer and iconoclast, being thrown into prison at the instance of a certain graduate, who was the determined enemy of the God-worshippers, perished through want and ill-treatment. It appears, however, that the province of Kwang-si contained two hostile races of inhabitants-the older dwellers in the land, called the Puntis, and those who had more recently settled in it, called the Hakkas. The God-worshippers were chiefly connected with the latter, who, being in difficulties, sought their protection, and obtained it by conforming to their worship. The God-worshippers having become involved in some disturbances, the magistrates attempted to seize Hung-siu-tsuen and Fungyun-san; their own people came to the rescue, and the rebellion commenced. Hungsiu-tsuen summoned the God-worshippers to unite together. They had already begun to convert their property into money, and to deliver the proceeds into a common treasury, whence the wants of all were supplied: a principle which has been adhered to throughout. Old and young, rich and poor, all the members of the congregation, came with their families to join his banner, which soon attracted to it, in addition, such people as those who were fain, of old, to resort to the cave of Adullam.

The rebels in the first instance (about the end of 1850), seized an opulent market-town, whose shops supplied their wants, and whose strong situation (nearly surrounded by a river) enabled them to make a stand. They next proceeded to take possession of Tai-tsun, a large village, where they found abundant provisions. They deserted their first quarters, upon which the Imperialists vented their rage, burning the shops, and plundering whatever they could find, under the supposition that the inhabitants were abettors of the Godworshippers. Many of the inhabitants were killed. These cruelties greatly incensed the populace, and many of them joined the rebel force. A rigid discipline was established; and the local chiefs of the ancient and formidable Triad association, which has for its avowed object the expulsion of the Tartars, and the restoration of the Chinese dynasty

of Ming, though they made overtures to join the movement, were so awe-struck by the decapitation of a teacher who had misconducted himself, that they drew back, saying: 'your laws seem to be rather too cruel; we shall, perhaps, find it difficult to keep them; and upon any small transgression you would perhaps kill us also.' Hung-siu-tsuen, on the other hand, declared that it was too late to speak of restoring the Mings. At all events,' said he, when our native mountains and rivers are recovered, a new dynasty must be established. How could we at present arouse the energies of men by speaking of restoring the Ming dynasty?'

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The officers of Government were soon compelled to report to Pekin that the culpable lenity and inaction of these magistrates had permitted the formation of a secret society; that the heads of this society had stirred up the common people in Kwang-si to revolt, and plunder and burn the villages, routing the troops of the Government wherever they fell in with them. Hung-siu-tsuen,' writes the governor, is a man of dangerous charac ter, and he practises the ancient military arts. At first he conceals his strength, then he puts it forth a little, then in a greater degree, and lastly comes on in great force. He constantly has two victories for one defeat; for he practises the tactics of Sun-pin.'

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The army of the insurgents was systematically organised; in action, whoever backed out was executed; while rewards and promotions were given to the victorious;' and minute regulations (generally of a humane and provident nature) were promulgated for the guidance of the troops upon the march, and in all their operations. The first great advantage obtained by them consisted in their sudden capture of the important city of Yunggnan, in the eastern part of Kwang-si, which they effected, according to the Canton account, by advancing quickly to the walls, which are not very high, and then throwing an immense quantity of lighted firecrackers into the town, the continued explosion of which brought confusion among the soldiers within, and caused them to retreat; after which the insurgents easily succeeded in scaling the walls and entering the city. They then plundered the treasury, killed the officers, broke open the prisons, and possessed themselves of the granaries. The district magistrate and the lieutenant-colonel, together with various subordinate officers and their families, were put to death, to the number of several score. The chief, Hung-siu-tsuen, made a triumphal entry into the town, when, under the title which he had already assumed, of TienWang, or Heavenly King, he was proclaim

ed the first Emperor of the new dynasty of Taeping, or Great Peace.

Some months after the taking of Yunggnan, the new potentate issued (Nov. 1851) a proclamation, giving the title of king to his chief leaders, and assigning to each great officer his appropriate functions. By this proclamation he required all his officers and soldiers to follow his doctrine, which he proceeds to lay down:

Our Heavenly Father, the great God and supreme Lord, is one true Spirit (God): besides our Heavenly Father the great God and supremne Lord, there is no Spirit (God). The great God our Heavenly Father and supreme Lord is omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent the supreme over all. There is not an individual who is not produced and nourished by him. He is Shang (Supreme). He is the Te (Ruler). Besides the great God our Heavenly Father and supreme Lord there is no one who can be called Sbang, and no one who can be called Te.

'Therefore from henceforth all you soldiers and officers may designate us as your lord, and that is all; you must not call me Supreme, lest you should encroach upon the designation of our Heavenly Father. Our Heavenly Father is our Holy Father, and our Celestial Elder Brother is our Holy Lord the Saviour of the world. Hence our Heavenly Father and Celestial Elder Brother alone are holy; and from henceforth all you soldiers and officers may designate us as your lord, and that is all; but you must not call me holy, lest you encroach upon the designation of our Heavenly Father and Celestial Elder Brother. The great God our Heavenly Father and supreme Lord is our Spiritual Father, our Ghostly Father. . . All the kings above referred to are to be under the superintendence of the Eastern king. We have also issued a

proclamation designating our queen as the lady of all ladies (empress), and our concubines as royal ladies. Respect this.'

Fung-yun-san, the ancient comrade of the chief, was the Southern king; Yang, the seer; the Eastern king; Siau, who in his trances supposed himself to be under the inspiration of Jesus, the Elder Brother, was the Western king; and Wie-ching, an adherent of influence, the Northern king. From the commencement of the rebellion up to the present day, the chief has devoted a great deal of his attention to the framing of proclamations, orders, creeds, and doctrinal addresses; and from these, as well as from the more vulgar orders of the day issued by his subordinates, the spirit of the rebellion is to be learnt. The Decalogue was ordered to be observed. It will have been noticed that polygamy was not prohibited. Heaven was promised to the bold and venturous; hell was to be the lot of the timid and indolent; all who should transgress the Seventh Commandment were to be instantly beheaded.

The Imperial forces, in due time, invested the city of Yung-gnan: and in April, 1852, the Taepings, being hard pressed, sallying out in three bodies, forced their way-not without considerable loss-through the ranks of the Imperialists. The tactician ex-priest was taken prisoner and sent to Pekin, where after making, under torture (as we have already mentioned), a long confession-in which Hung-siu-tsuen is described as a magician, a winebibber, and licentious-he was cut into small pieces, a punishment regarded by the Chinese with the utmost horror.

The Taepings proceeded steadily northward, occasionally foiled, but generally taking the several cities that lay on their line of march, and evacuating them as soon as they had obtained what necessaries they required. Their plan seems to have been to spring a mine under the walls, and take the town, if possible, by assault. At length, on the 12th of Jannary, 1853, they occupied the three cities, adjacent to each other, of Han-yang, Wuchang, and Hankow, where they collected money and provisions to an immense extent, and, having loaded their vessels with men and stores, they proceeded down the Yangtsze river to Nankin, which they took by assault in March, 1853, meeting with very little resistance. The tribe of Hakkas, which formed the basis of the Taeping force, are noted for courage and endurance, and their adversaries behaved in the most dastardly

manner.

Mr. Meadows states the garrison in the city to be not less than 7000 or 8000 able-bodied men. He says:

dear to man; for the imperial family, which had 'These Manchus had to fight for all that is always treated them well, for the honour of their nation, for their own lives, and for the lives of their wives and children. This they well knew, the Heavenly Prince having openly declared the first duty of his mission to be their extermination. It might have been expected, therefore, that they would have made a desperate fight in would seem as if the irresistible progress and inself-defence; yet they did not strike a blow. It veterate enmity of the insurgents had bereft them of all sense and strength, and of all manhood, for they merely threw themselves on the ground before the leaders, and piteously implored for mercy with cries of " Spare my life, Prince! spare my life, Prince !" They may have been paralyzed by the thought that their impending fate was the retribution of Heaven for the indiscriminate slaughter of whole populations by their ancestors, when they conquered the country; as at Canton, for instance, where the Chinese still speak revengefully of the extermination of the inhabitants on the forces of the present dynasty taking that city.

6

Only about a hundred escaped out of a popu *Cited by Commander Brine: The Taeping Rebellion, p. 157.

lation of more than twenty thousand,* the rest —men, women, and children-were all put to the sword. "We killed them all," said the insurgents, with emphasis; the recollection bringing back into their faces the dark shade of unsparing sternness they must have borne when the appalling execution was going on. "We killed them all, to the infant in arms. We left not a root to sprout from." The bodies were thrown into the Yang-tsze.'

This was very cruel; and men who judge hastily have often said, on hearing of such atrocities, that the Taepings are the greatest villains in existence and quite out of the pale of humanity, and that it is our duty, on that account, to take an active part in their extermination. Yet, let us consider what has taken place in civil war in other countries, before we say that the Taepings are so much worse than others. Did not Oliver Cromwell put to the sword the garrisons of Drogheda and Wexford? Did not General Monk-afterwards Duke of Albemarle-put to death the whole garrison of the town of Dundee? Or, turning to more modern times, and to the history of a people whom the English public at one time, and after the events we are about to refer to, delighted to honour-the Greeks in the war of independence-what do we learn from their very able historian, Mr. Finlay

In the month of April, 1821, a Mussulman population, amounting to upwards of 20,000 souls, were living dispersed in Greece, employed in agriculture. Before two months had elapsed the greater part were slain-men, women, and children were murdered without mercy or remorse. Old men stiil point to heaps of stones and tell the traveller, "There stood the tower of Ali Aga, and there we slew him, his harem, and his slaves;" and the old man walks calmly on to plough the fields which once belonged to Ali Aga, without a thought that any vengeful feeling can attend the crime.'t

Gordon, a warm Philhellene, observes :"Humanity is a word quite out of place when applied either to the Turks or to their opponents."'*

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So much for Greece. We will not ask what has been the conduct of the Servians at Belgrade during this very year. But, to return to China. Mr. Forrest, a gentleman belonging to our Consular establishment, who passed some time at Nankin among Taepings, says, in a passage cited by Captain Blakiston (p. 55), that certain cruelties of the Taepings are hardly a counterpart of Tsing (Imperial) atrocities. But the other day, at Ngan-king, the Imperialists enjoyed a three days' slaughter, and left neither man, woman, nor child in that unfortunate city. The Great River is crowded now with their headless victims.' And we learn upon the high authority of Dr. Legge-a much respected missionary, who has spent many years in China, that on the score of cruelty, the case must be about even between the two contending parties: inclining to the Imperial side, if we may judge on the principle that the more cowardly are the more cruel.'t

The proclamations and orders issued to the army by Yang, the Eastern king, as ?-generalissimo, are all designed to stir up the Chinese national feeling against the Tartars. He declares that the empire belongs to the Chinese, and not to the Tartars; that the food and raiment found therein belong to the Chinese, and not to the Tartars. Can the Chinese,' he asks, 'deem themselves men?' Ever since the Manchus have spread their poisonous influence through China, the flame of oppression has risen up to heaven; while the Chinese, with bowed heads and dejected spirits, willingly become the servants of others. How strange it is that there are no Again, at the sack of Tripolitza: - men in China! If all the bamboos of the Women and children were frequently tortured southern hills were to be used, we fear they before they were murdered. After the Greeks would not be enough to detail the obscenihad been in possession of the city for forty-eight ties of the Tartars; and if all the waves of hours, they deliberately collected together about the Eastern Sea were to be employed, they 2000 persons of every age and sex, but princi- would not be sufficient to wash away their pally women and children, and led them to a rasins, which reach to heaven. They deprived vine in the nearest mountain, where they murdered every soul. General Gordon, who return- the Chinese of their national headdress, comed to Tripolitza with Hypsilantes, and whose fa-pelling them to shave their heads and wear miliarity with the Turkish language enabled him to converse with those who were spared, estimates the number of Mussulmen murdered during the sack of the town, at eight thousand souls. Many young women and girls were carried off as slaves by the volunteers who returned to their native places, but few male children were spared.

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a long tail behind, thus causing them to assume the appearance of brute animals [a custom which the Taepings have discarded]; they have also abolished the national dress; they have interfered with the purity of the language, introducing the slang of the capital, designing to seduce the Chinese by their Tartar brogue. They are indifferent to the sufferings of the people by drought or inun

* History of the Greek Revolution,' p. 237.

'London and China Telegraph,' vol. iv. p. 493.

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dations. They have corrupted the adminis- | chiefs, and occupied himself more than ever in composing orders and proclamations, odes, and expositions of doctrine. At this time be addressed to Mr. Roberts a warm invitation to join him. He says:

tration of justice. Offices are to be obtained
by bribes; crimes are to be bought off with
money; rich fellows engross all authority,
while heroes are filled with despair. The
corrupt mandarins of the public offices are
no better than wolves and tigers. All this
originates in the vicious and sottish monarch
at the head of affairs, who drives honest peo-ing.
ple to a distance, and admits to his presence
the most worthless of mankind, sells offices
and disposes of preferments, while he refuses
men of virtuous talent. The rich and the great
are abandoned to vice without control, whilst
the poor and miserable have none to redress
their wrougs.

In consequence of the multiplicity of public affairs engaging my attention, I have not had But I have promulgated the Ten Comleisure to instruct the people morning and evenmandments to the army and to the rest of the population, and have taught them all to pray morning and evening. Still, those who understand the Gospel are not many. Therefore I deem it right to send the messenger*. . . . in person to wish you peace, and to request you, my elder brother, if you are not disposed to abandon me, to come and bring with you many brethren to help to propagate the Gospel and administer the ordinance of baptism. So shall we obtain the true doctrine. Hereafter, when my enterprise is successfully terminated, I will disseminate t'e doctrine throughout the whole empire, that all may return to the one Lord, and Worship only the true God. This is what my heart truly desires.'

Unhappily it was not safe for Mr. Roberts to make his way to Nankin, and this chance of diffusing the Christian religion was also lost.

Therefore, says Yang, 'I, the General, in obedience to the Royal commands, have put in motion the troops for the punishment of the oppressor. As soon as a city has been captured, I have put to death the rapacious mandarins and corrupt magistrates therein, but have not injured a single individual of the people, so that all of you may take care of your families and attend to your business without alarm and trepidation.' He even details the measures which he has taken for the instant decapitation of marauders and oppressors. But he remarks that it is necessary The want of vigour at head-quarters apthat the rich should have in readiness stores pears by the insufficient manner in which of provisions to aid in the sustenance of his Hung-siu-tsuen allowed a really great entertroops; they are to report to the Taeping prise, the march towards Pekin, to be underchiefs the amount of their contributions, and taken. Soon after the capture of Nankin, are to be furnished with receipts as security that the rebels despatched a small army of 6000 hereafter the whole shall be paid. As soon as or 7000 men, under leaders who did not ocNankin is taken, arrangements are to be made cupy the first rank, to make its way to the for holding examinations, and conferring de-northward. Northwards, accordingly, did grees according to the original customs of the Chinese. The temples and monasteries of the priests of Buddha and Taou are to be given to the poor; and, as to the priests of these deities, at present we are seizing them throughout the country, and putting them to death, and we are inquiring into those who have been foremost in the building and repair of the Buddhist temples, that we may have them apprehended likewise.'

When they entered Nankin, professing these sentiments, the Taepings numbered over 70,000, their ranks having been swelled by the absorption of local rebels in the countries through which they had passed, and by pressing into their service lads under eighteen years of age. Indeed, it would seem that one-third of their force generally consists of boys. They also had many female officers and privates in the force. Hung-siu-tsuen now termed Nankin the heavenly capital, and residence of the heavenly king. He imitated the style of the Emperor of China, and shut himself up with his numerous concubines; was seldom accessible even to his

this small army press to the distance of 1300 miles, the imperial troops following but seldom overtaking them, till they established themselves, in the end of October, 1853, at Tsing-hae, not far from Pekin itself. Here it would seem that a second force was to have joined them, somewhat later, by a different route, but the Imperial Government made unwonted efforts, and the Taepings were obliged to evacuate Tsing-hae, after an occupation of about three months, and to return towards the South before the second army could join it; and thus the Tartar dynasty escaped its greatest, danger, for the combined forces of the rebels might have captured Tientsin and then waited for reinforcements from Nankin. It must be allowed that the chiefs showed great want of military spirit in lingering at Nankin, and sending out an inadequate force upon so important an expedition. For the exact succession of military events, for the places taken, lost, retaken, again lost, and again recovered-for the burnings and plunderings, and massacres of both parties-we must refer to Com

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