Yiking), but for the strongly urged remonstrances, as we are led to believe, of the governor, Liú Yunkò. With the left wing, at Kiáking fú, is liúcháu, another joint commissioner, who having gained rank and nobility by the war of 1831 against Jehanguir and his Túrks, at Cashgar and Yárkand in the farthest west, hopes now to adorn himself with honors wrested by his own right hand from the English on the sea-coasts of the east. At Sháuhing, with the right wing, is Chin Kiáiping, an aged man, lately retired from the chief command in Fukien, but now again called forth as joint commissioner and commander-in-chief in Chekiáng,-with whom are associated the active and intelligent old general Yü Púyun, late commander-in-chief of the provincial force, and all those who, with him retired, defeated, from Chinhái and Ningpò, after the death of that savage self-confident generalissimo, Yükien. Under these numerous officers are assembled many thousands of select troops from almost every province of the empire, foremost among whom stands a detachment of the imperial guards,-a body of the men of Kánsu, tall and athletic inheritors of the blood of Mohammedan Túrks and Tartars,—and a band of aborigines from the mountain fastnesses of Húkwáng or of Sz'chuen, called forth now to meet the new invaders of the country, from whose plains they themselves have by former invaders been long since expelled.

Against this whole force we find marshaled, under the gallant lieut.-general and vice-admiral, sir Hugh Gough, and sir William Parker, besides the necessary detachments of royal and Madras artillery and engineers, only four regiments of foot, the 18th, 26th, 49th and 55th (none of them complete) and two battalions from the navy, consisting of royal marines and seamen. And of so small an array, portions must yet be left to rest upon Chinhái and Tinghái, while the main body is moving forward to meet the left and centre of the Chinese army. That army met and worsted, its right wing will alone remain, hemmed in, resourceless, between the division of the British force at Chinhái and at Hángchau,-and quickly as the dew must it dissolve away. But so dispelled it will become yet more formidable than in its entirety, if, instead of withdrawing from one field of battle to seek elsewhere another, the British forces should repose from their toils amid the scattered, but not subjected, multitudes of the enemy. Blow must succeed rapidly to blow, if final success is to be hoped for. It was by the windmills in active motion that the redoubtable Don Quixote was worsted: he might have come off scatheless in the collision with them, in the calm and idle rest of a breathless summer's day.

It is from such a state of inactive repose, in the very midst of the enemy, that the British forces have recently been aroused by the bold attempts which the Chinese had thereby been encouraged to make; and it is always during such a continuance of inactivity, that a crafty enemy is enabled to organize a system of espionage and secret influence, to send into the invader's camp the vilest agents to kidnap or to poison. Of the proceedings of the Chinese in these respects, sundry accounts have from time to time appeared in the public prints, and others are daily reaching us of their bolder operations, in the night-attack on Ningpò, and the resistance they offered when their advanced post at T'sz'ki was in turn attacked, full particulars are afforded in the circulars issued by H. B. M.'s plenipotentiary to the British community, contained in the last number.

At Amoy, a like state of inactivity has been rendered yet more unavoidable by the smallness of the force left there, five companies of the 18th Royal Irish, at the moment of our writing reduced to three only, on the island of Kúláng sú,-and two or three ships of war in the harbor. Westward from Kúláng sú, au inlet or branch of the sea, for it is such rather than a river, runs up into the land in a westerly direction (soon becoming very shallow), to the departmental chief town of Changchau. Amoy itself, and Kúláng sú as its dependency, are not however subordinate to this city, but to that of Tsiuenchau (Chinchew), situated at the head of a bay somewhat farther up the coast than that of Amoy. More immediately, Amoy pertains to the district of Tungán, a dependency of the department of Tsiuenchau. It is chiefly in this department, as being within a convenient distance of the capital of the province, that I'liáng the late governor of Kwangtung, now a special commissioner and (we believe) governorgeneral of Fukien and Chekiáng, makes at this time his residence. Another commissioner, Tuánkwá, is with him and also the late governor-general Yeu Petáu, disgraced for having been unable to save Amoy. Accounts received from thence to the 15th of April bring us tumors of an intended attack, to be made on Kúláng sú, from the direction chiefly of Chángchau, by 20,000 men, with the aid of a band of pirates and robbers, and a squadron of fire-boats. Not a doubt can we feel, that captain Smith, who, in the Volage and Druid successively, has been so long among us, and has had such numerous opportunities of witnessing these dread attacks by fire-boats, and who so well knows how to temper firmness with kindness and moderation in his treatment of the people, will, aided by the timely warning

which the people will convey to him, easily be enabled to defeat all their machinations.

In the south, taken up with watching the rising progress of Hongkong, or averse to commit themselves to measures that might require a retention here of a large force, the British authorities have permitted the Chinese to rebuild their defenses; and from a little above Whampoa upwards, Canton and its approaches are now much more strongly fortified than ever before.

The foregoing observations having been prepared somewhat too late for insertion in the last number, some more recent accounts have since reached us. At Chinhái and Chusan, several attempts to cause destruction of the shipping by fire-boats and by shallops containing boxes of gunpowder have been defeated (in one case with the loss of four men killed and wounded). The routed fugitives from Tsz'ki were met in their flight by a new commissioner, Chülahang, just arrived from Peking with violent warlike denunciations, and a large store of honorary distinctions for brave combatants. A council of war was held on his arrival, and he strongly urged renewed attacks upon Ningpò, that the enemy might be driven into the depths of the sea. Those who had already felt the effects of British prowess showed, however, great unwillingness again to advance, and Chülahang himself hesitated to become the leader of the new attacks he recommended. To fight to the last by their own posts, and not to seek death in advancing seems therefore to have been the determination with which the council broke up. Meanwhile, it has become the purpose of the British authorities, if report speak correctly, not to approach Hángchau, but to turn the flank of all this force, and by attacking the defenses that have been erected in the Yangtsz' kiáng, to throw open that river to the British forces. The reinforcements which have begun to arrive from India and England, will soon more than double the effective force.

At Amoy the rumored attack has not taken place: captain Smith in the Druid has returned from Amoy to Hongkong, and captain Nias in the Herald has taken his place at Amoy.

At Canton, Yishán has been permitted to send back some portions of his force that had come from distant provinces. Yiking, in the north, it is said has done the same, in order to conceal the fact of the numerous desertions that had taken place in his corps.

ART. V. Journal of Occurrences: members of the cabinet; rumors from Peking; forts at Tientsin; Hongkong.

THE northern capital is now, more than ever before, an object of attention―attracting alike all eyes, foreign as we!! as native far and near. The Gazettes, down to about the middle of April, are filled as usual with memorials and edicts, announcements of new appointmeuts, &c., &c., seeming to indicate little or no concern, by the conductors of the "machinery of government," for its continued safe administration.

The four principal ministers of the cabinet are-as at the commencement of the year-Muchángáh, Pwán Shingan, Páuhing, and

Wang Ting; and fifth and sixth are 奕經 Yiking and 卓秉活

Chó Pinghwò. The original sentence, sending Lin to I'lí," the cold country," has been put in execution; so we have been informed. He left Peking sometime last month. Kishen has been banished to Mantchouria; and old I'lípú sent again to Chekiáng.

The rumor that Táukwáng has fled from Peking to Moukden, we do not find authenticated. The monarchs of the reigning dynasty have been accustomed we believe, annually, early in summer, to retire to the ancient residence of their family in Mantchouria, there to spend the hot months. This precaution for avoiding hot weather, we imagine H. I. M. will probably not neglect during the present season. At Tientsin, and along the Pei ho, from the sea to the capital, the Chinese, by all accounts, have made great preparations for defense. The forts are reported to be more than a hundred in number, and the troops almost innumerable.

At Hongkong, affairs have gone on peaceably. Transports, containing Indian troops, steamers, and men-of-war have arrived and part of them a gone northward.

The settlement on the island itself still progresses rapidly so far as the erection of buildings is concerned. A market for the accommodation of the Chinese, in disposing of provisions has been erected and opened. H. E. sir Henry Pottinger, under date of April 27th, issued a proclamation, declaring Mexican or other republican dollars to be the standard in all matters of trade, unless otherwise particularly specified. This was done at the suggestion of several of the leading English mercantile firms. The Hongkong Gazette and Friend of China of the 12th inst. contains a General Orders of H. E. sir Hugh Gough, which quotes the approbation of the late governor-general of India, lord Auckland, respecting the operations before Chinhái and Ningpò. Another paper of the 19th contains the following notice.

The appointments of land officer, surveyor, and acting colonial surgeon at Hongkong, are, under instruction from her. majesty's government, to cease from the 31st of the current month. The arrangements to be continued for the discharge of the duties hitherto performed by the land officer will be noticed in due time. CHARLES E. STEWART, Assistant secretary and treasurer. Government House, Hongkong, 17th May, 1842.

By order,

THE

CHINESE REPOSITORY. REPOSITORY.

VOL. XI.-JUNE, 1842.—No. 6.

ART. I.

Retrospection, or a Review of Public Occurrences in China during the last ten years, from January 1st, 1832, to December 31st, 1841. (Continued from page 266.)

OPERATIONS against the trade in opium, correspondence regarding the debts of the Hingtái hong, and the visit of the British admiral to China, are the principal topics of local interest in the chapter of occurrences for 1838. In obedience to an imperial order, issued in October, 1837, the provincial authorities, on the 30th of December, sent up a memorial to the emperor, respecting the measures adopted against the receiving ships, the actual condition of those ships, and the repeated seizures made of sycee silver and of opium, and of the boats which supply the ships with provisions. In forwarding this document to his government, captain Elliot remarked that "the interruption of trade is less likely to eusue from the commands of the court, than from some grave disaster arising out of collision between the government craft and our own armed boats on the river. Loss of life in a conflict of this kind, would at once compel the government to adopt the most urgent proceedings; and the actual condition of circumstances, certainly renders such a catastrophe probable in the very highest degree."

For an account of the affairs of the bankrupt establishment of Hingtái, see vol. VI., pp. 160, 304, 590, and the subsequent volumes; also the Blue Book, and newspapers of the day.

Jauuary 18th, 1838. Captain Elliot addressed a communication to the Foreign Office, from which the following is an extract.

"The boat of a Mr. Just (a British subject, and a watch-maker, resident at Canton) was visited a few evenings since, being then about two miles above the 38

VOL. XI. NO VI.