"A special proclamation."
While the number and moral power of the Ti-pings increased together, those of the Imperialists as rapidly declined; their extortion and cruelty driving numbers of the people to the ranks of the insurgents. Captain Fishbourne, (Impressions of China, p. 83,) has observed:—
"We know that the authorities at Canton were taking heads off by forties and sixties a day, and the Viceroy admitted that he had taken off three hundred in one day. I visited the execution-ground, and saw pools of blood from recent executions, and the heads were piled up in old bottle-racks. If these were the numbers for two or three provinces, what must those have been for the other provinces in addition? And yet, as the march of the insurgents was so triumphant, these all could not possibly be the heads of insurgents, or even people remotely connected with the movement. It is much more probable that they were the heads of helpless and unoffending people, that were taken off to satisfy the Emperor that Lin, the Viceroy, was making some progress against the insurgents."
These horrible atrocities of the Manchoo rulers were continued for years, and every province the Ti-pings had visited became drenched with the blood of innocent victims. Not only were the entire relatives of any man who had joined the rebellion slaughtered, but many thousands even upon mere suspicion. Do we not remember the brutal Commissioner Yeh's boast, that he had decapitated upwards of 70,000 rebels in one month, in the province of Kwang-tung alone? And these were peaceful villagers dragged from their homes without any crime on their part (for at that time the Ti-pings were far away), and without even knowing what had become of the relative for whose fault they suffered. This being only the slaughter effected by one mandarin, what must have been the enormous number massacred in cold blood by the numerous button, feather, and tail-dignified Manchoo butchers, sent to perpetrate their horrid revenge upon the helpless women and relatives of the men they have never been able to withstand in fair fight, and would never have been able to resist, even in their walled cities, but for the foreign assistance they received.
Almost the first point to be considered with regard to the Ti-ping revolution is its cause, and whether the cause justified rebellion. But few persons have ever denied the existence of ample grounds for the Chinese to rebel against the Manchoo dynasty; their bloodthirsty, murderous rule, their gross tyranny and corruption, their unrighteous usurpation and possession of the Chinese throne, being pretty generally acknowledged. I am no advocate of revolutionary principles or outbreaks against constituted authority, but we must always distinguish between the laws of a country and the unrighteous decrees of a tyrant usurper. Moreover, the progress of liberty and right has always been maintained through collisions with oppressive ruling powers; and the great leaders of the people may be the rebels of to-day, and yet should the morrow crown them with success, they may become the heroes and patriots of the age.
The state of China previous to the Ti-ping rebellion was deplorable in the extreme: the grinding oppression of nearly two centuries had apparently obliterated all that was good and noble in the land, and the debasing influence of the Manchoo invaders seemed likely to consummate the entire destruction of the moral, social, and political condition of the Chinese. To form a proper judgment upon the state of affairs, it is necessary to review Chinese history from the period of the Manchoo invasion.
The last Emperor of the last Chinese dynasty—the Ming—was driven to commit suicide through the success of an insurrection of the people, caused by his misrule, A.D. 1643. Upon the death of the Emperor, the insurgent chief met with universal submission, both at Pekin and in the provinces, and proclaimed himself Emperor. Woo-san-kwei, however, the general of an army employed in resisting an attack of the Manchoos, refused to acknowledge him. The newly made Emperor immediately set out for the city held by Woo, carrying with him from Pekin the latter's father in chains. The usurper having put him to death, to revenge that of his father, as well as that of the late Emperor, Woo-san-kwei made peace with the Manchoos and, calling them in to his assistance, soon defeated the would-be Emperor. When, however, the Tartar king found himself in Pekin, he instantly seized upon the sovereignty, and no effort of the Chinese was able to drive him from the throne, or defeat his hardy and veteran troops. Dying almost immediately after this acquisition, he appointed his son Shun-chy as his successor, A.D. 1644; and so commenced the Manchoo Tartar dynasty, the seventh emperor of which is now reigning. A great portion of the South held out against the foreign government for many years, especially the maritime province of Fo-keen. In Kwang-tung and Kwang-si provinces, the Manchoos were often severely defeated by the natives, who, to the present day, hate them with intensity, and it was not till A.D. 1654 that these provinces were subdued. In many other parts the Chinese still struggled gallantly against the invader; but dissensions amongst themselves, and a general want of combination, proved fatal to their cause. But for this singular want of accord it is probable the Manchoos would soon have been driven back to their native wilds.
A.D. 1669, with the exception of Fo-keen province, the islands of the coast, and mere local opposition, the whole empire was subjugated by the Manchoos. To maintain their power, all the principal cities were garrisoned by Tartar troops of the Eight Banners (a regulation still observed), and these being constantly drilled and kept in a good state of efficiency, together with the main body stationed at Pekin, have succeeded in suppressing the patriotic efforts of the Chinese. At last, in 1674, Wu-san-kwei attempted to remedy his error of calling in the Manchoos, by raising the National standard and declaring against them. The southern provinces, and especially Kwang-tung and Kwang-si, constituted the area of the struggle. Wu-san-kwei dying soon after the outbreak, the national party were unable to find a single person competent to replace him, and although for nine years they successfully resisted the power of the Manchoos, after a long struggle without any combined action, they were compelled to submit. During the general dispersion of the patriots, the last of the Ming princes fled to the kingdom of Pegu for safety, but being delivered up to the Manchoos, was by them put to death; he was the last of his race, for man, woman, and child, every scion of the Ming, had been ruthlessly slaughtered. This was the last national effort of sufficient strength to endanger the power of the foreign dynasty, although to the present day many thousands of Chinese exist among the fastnesses of the mountainous regions of Kwang-si, Kwei-chow, Yun-nan, and Sze-chuan, who have never been subdued, or submitted to the badge of slavery—the tonsure—imposed upon their countrymen by the Tartars. Many of these having fled to the aboriginal independent tribes, have been included in the general term Miau-tze, and in Kwang-si alone they number upwards of 400,000 persons. Besides these, secret societies were formed, whose members were sworn to attempt the subversion of the Manchoo dynasty; but none have been able, hitherto, to carry out their designs; not even the celebrated "Triad Society," at present existing, or the equally extensive one, "The Association of Heaven and Earth."
Upon the defeat of Wu-san-kwei's movement, the slaughter of the Chinese was immense, the province of Kwang-tung was nearly depopulated, upwards of 700,000 of its inhabitants having been executed within a month. This is vengefully remembered by the Cantonese even yet. Many thousands of Chinese families left their country in the course of the struggle, and not less