Directory_and_Chronicle_1850 — Page 663

1850.

Journal of Occurrences.

621

mismanagement should be punished one whit the less severely on account of his high reputation earned by the many meritorious acts of his past life; it is our duty, notwith- standing these, therefore, to denounce him in severe terms, and to request that his in- signia of rank be taken from him for the time being.

The petty magistrate Ku Hán, the subalterns Taiang Chau-kang, Hwang Ta-tsiuen, and Hwang Shun-tsiuen, sergeanta Yáu Ting-fah, Wang Ting-siang, and Hwang Hiung- tai, and the sergeant-elect Sin Yung-fang, who were surrounded at the same time as Shi-poh, have all been temporarily deprived of their insignia, but it is not expedient that they should be allowed to withdraw themselves from this troublesome business, and they are therefore charged to continue at their posts and endeavor to redeem their cha- racter; and as they shall be found to show a sense of shame and exert themselves or the reverse, a report will be presented, when the whole affair shall have been settled, for your Majesty's further decision concerning them: but as regards the taan-taiáng Tai- ching-eh, the acting adjutant-general to the Tituh, and the ex-commandant of the Tsing- yuen brigade, Kiang Ki-siu, who were detached with troops by circuitous routes to at- tack the enemy on both flanks, it is not yet apparent whether the engagement of one of these corps with the enemy, before they had joined company, took place in consequence of an unacquaintance with the roads through which they had to march, or whether there was an intentional delay [on the part of the rearmost corps]; the truth will be, with permission, shortly ascertained, and each of the parties disposed of according to his merits.

The above are the particulars of the movements of the troops and of the defeat sus- tained by the civilians and military denounced; this joint statement of the same em- bodied in a respectful memorial, your Majesty's servants dispatch by an express courier. Prostrate they implore your Majesty's sacred glance thereon, and instructions as to whether their conduct has or has not been that which it should. A respectful memorial

The wary and cowardly fúyuen contented himself with guarding all his defenses, and running no more hazards of defeat, until the outrages and levies of the insurgents had so exasperated the inhabitants of the districts into which they had come that the gentry gathered their braves, and on the 24th of this month attacked the "thieves" in conjunction with the imperialists. A slip issued in Canton soon after, thus noticed the result:-" Letters have come to the provincial capital from Yingteh and Tsingyuen, saying, that from the 24th to the 30th of Nov. the government troops had daily entered the hills, seizing and pursuing the insurgents to the Black Stone country. For two or three days they fought together with thundering clamor. The insur- gents were defeated, more than a thousand taken prisoners, 13 large guns and over 500 small arms captured, with spears, swords, and other warlike imple- ments without number." The accounts of their defeat, of the people running together to pursue them, and the rancor exhibited in destroying them, according to the most credible accounts, are proofs of the hatred they have aroused. Of course, Gov. Yeh took the whole glory of the victory to himself, though he is notorious among the citizens of Canton for his cowardice, and has throughout shown the most dastardly fear.

The following directions for entering the port of Shanghai are taken from No. 3 of the North China Herald. They will form a good addition to the surveys given in Vol. X. page 383 by Capt. Bethune of the "Conway," and in Vol. XII, page 427 by Capt. Wellesley of the "Childers," both which they explain, and render more satisfactory. They are given in a communica- tion addressed to the editor:-

The directions given by the surveying officers are, I think, too vague to be of much use in practice to strangers; particularly, in giving courses and distances to be made good, when there are no marks available, and the strength and di- rection of the tide are constantly varying. The Admiralty Chart of 1843, drawn from Collinson's survey, is very correct; and every vessel bound to Shanghai should be provided with it. The following remarks, I think may prove of ser- vice, as the result of several years' acquaintance with the place, in all weathers. Vessels bound to Shanghai should make the Barren Islands or Saddle Group in the northerly monsoon, as being the most weatherly land fall; but in the south west monsoon, it is more advisable to steer for Monte Video, a bold pre- cipitous island, about forty miles more southward. If late in the day, anchorage should be caught under the Saddle Islands, which afford shelter in both monsoons,