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LITERATURE.
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CHINA AND JAPAN , * SO many . events of startling importance havebeen crowded into thfc history of British relations with the East since the spring ' of 18-37 ; that it would be hardly safe to assume that the i * eader will recollect exactly the circumstances of Iiord Elgin ' s Mission to China , of which Mr . Laurence Oliphant was destined to be the historiographer . The famous quarrel with Commissioner Yeh arising out of the capture of the " Arrow" lorcha occurred in the previous autumn . War in the Canton river was the consequence ; but the forces on the ' . spot being too weak for an attack on Canton , an 'English expeditionary corps of live thousand men was despatched . The hour of the Chinese Emperor ' s humiliation being clearly at hand , not only England , but France , Russia , and the United States determined to send plenipotentiaries to take advantage of a time so favourable for extorting treaties . Lord Elgin accordingly started with his " secretary , " Mr . Oliphant , and a numerous train ; but while they were . actually upon their ronte the great rebellion suddenly burst over the heads of the Anglo-Indian Government , and our troops , only arrived in China to be sent to Calcutta with all speed . The gentlemen of the Chinese Mission , who had left their countrymen at home talking- of little else but Commissioner Yeh and a march to Pekin , suddenly found themselves su ? ' le pave , and of no importance whatever in the exciting budgets of Oriental news . They accordingly sailed for Calcutta in the hope of being able to lend a hand to their .-suffering countrymen but Calcutta itself escaped the great hurricane . Lord Elgin returned to Hong Kong ; troops at length were spared , and in December operations against Canton were recommenced . Mr . Oliphant was an ¦ eye-witness ,- and had " a splendid view * ' of the bombardment . He saw the usual ridiculously feeble resistance of the Chinese , and the customary vigorous assaults pf the British and French- —the regular amount of slaughter , in picking , oft " " scampering Chinamen with Minie rifles , shtill-dropping in various parts of the city , and burning of whole quarters pf the suburbs . " The result was of course the capture of Canton , finally crowned by the capture of the refractory Commissioner Yeh himself . Satisfied with this first step in the " chastisement" of the . Celestials ,, Lord Elgin now Avended his way northward ; and , having collected a force of lifteen vessels of war and gunboats at the mouth of the Peiho rirer . ( since become so . famous ) , it was determined , in conjunction with . our allies , to make a movement up the river " of a mixed' hostile and diplomatic character . " It is of interest fco ' rcad again in Mr . Qliphnnt ' s narrative the story of the bombardment and CjTptiire of those very forts which so recently baffled our admiral , and helped the Chinese to their-. first-victory over British forces . The Chinese'had ' on ' this occasion attempted to cheek our advance , not by stakes , but by bamboo-cables buoyed across the river . These , however , one of our steam vessels , the " Cormorant , " soon brolco through , and then concentrating a tremendous lire . upon the northern forts , succeeded in . silencing them in fifteen minuted . The southern forts did better , the Tartars who defended them standing to their guns more stedfaslly than was anticipated . The . storming parties , however , completed the success of our attack . The Chinese not anticipating them , were taken by surprise , and fled . " Not above two hundred in all , " says Mr . Oliphant , " were killed . " The English as usual , attained these results with small cost—one killed and three wounded being the sum total . It seams difficult to believe that these were the very forts , defended by Tartar troops in both cases , which since repulsed our vessels with n . destructiveness and . a carnagejso complete , Mr . Oliphant accounts fov-the difference by the fact , that our sailors had in the latter instance ( o cross a ' -greater distance of mud , and that the garrison this time , expecting us to land and storm as we had dono before , were prepared for us on the land side . But it must bo obvibus to any one \ vji 0 remembers tho facts . of the unsuccessful attack , that these reasons are inadequate to account for our disasters . In tho first enso , although the . Chinese defences and their guns proved to be admirable , —and they were certainly not insufficiently manned- * -the execution done by them whs ridiculously small . Nor was the lire of their numerous gingalls upon onv men less innocuous . But in the second enso , so well directed was their pvactice , that scarce a vasacl of our small Hoot escaped destruction ; ro sharp and murderous was than' fire , that ourmeft found it impossible to advance under it , and the result was n destruction of life among the attacking party , as compared with their numbers , altogether unparalleled . It is impossible to resist the conclusion , that tho best troops m the service of tho Emperor have begun t ; o perceive that they must take some hints in the military art from thoir invaders . With thp Chinese , improvement in thoir fighting powers h a matter of lifo nnil death , and there may be uircmntituncofl which will sharpen tho military wits even of the wont " unprojrvosHivo " people . Ihe oxaol-. lonco of their defences , their bomb-pvoftf chambers , thoir ffiuis ; flandbnir-batterios , canister shot , niid " beautifully innde rocket * , struok tho storming" party with surprise on thoir taking possession . It is evident ( hat , although wo hiivo hitherto beaten tho Chinese with nn case which rendered our attacks scarcely anything but mere buU'hury , very little would bo wanted entirely to elumtfo the iueoot . things . Tlio Cliinoso have appeared cowardly because like all m-disoiplincu troops ,-they have boon subject to panics under a regular and bUiI / iiI ntUok . Observation of theStudies of thoir ononuos , a hXtto q > cipli » o ,
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be . The very name of Austria is an execration among all Russians with whom I come in contact . ^ , . „ , , ,, This week a conference of the north-western fotates will be held at Berlin , to consider the best means to provide for the defence of the coasts of ; the Baltic arid North Sea . Some doubts are entertained Whether Hanover will take part in this Conference , owing to the fact that the question is already under the notice of the Federal Diet , and to which Hanover and other States would rather confine it . It is evident that Hanover regards Prussia with a very jealoiis eye , and strongly objects to her taking the initiative in this or any other Federal question . It is tolerably clear that the Hphenzolleras have become masters of the " Bund , " and remain so , in spite of the efforts of Austria , Saxony , Hessi-a , and' Hanover .. However deplorable an intestine war would be , it is but natural that these ancient dynasties should struggle fiercely against the overgrown influence of their comparatively modern rival ; Saxony more especially recollecting the narrow escape she had from utter annihilation in 1815 , when Lord Castleeeagh declared it to be his aim to annex Saxony , to Prussia , however much he might regret to destroy so ancient and honourable a dynasty as that pf Saxony , The Vienna journals are occupied chiefly with J , he discussion of the tliree Imperial patents lately published upon the subject of the national debt , the regulation of the licences for trades and handicrafts , &g . The . re forms introduced by these edicts are regarded as an earnest of the more-. extensive-informs promised to be completed by August of this year . The reforms are to appear at intervals , and bit by bit . The extension of the Protestant agitation in Hungary , which has been joined by nine tenths of the whole population ; the occurrences at Pesth , the military reinforcements which are being despatched from Vienna to Hungary , —these and many other circumstances sufficiently prove that there is something more than the mere factious outbreaks of students spurred on by discontented Magyar nobles * as the official journals would make the world believe . Yet , after all , ' .-the' official press maybe quite correct . Perhaps the Liberals and Protestants have made a inouiitain of a mole-hill . Governments that will gag the public press must be prepared to . suffer more from underhand falsehoods than from open truths . The Austrian press is forbidden to speak the truth , but other journals are not prevented thereby from reporting the facts , ¦ or what ' may " be" mere travellers' tales ! . However ,, there appears to be siifiicient " foundation for the belief that a very dangerous agitation exists in Hungary , which requires all the wisdom and energy of tiie . Austrian l-ulers * to keep .. from'bupstriig into civil vvnr . # Jfhe agitation combines three elements , each dangerous enough in itself , viz ., the ecclesiastical , the political ,. aiid the national , but the last is the mainspring of the Other tw . o , I have-already pointed out to your readers the real cause of this cry for separate nationality . The political and religious disputes are mere excrescences , growing out of the desire for independence , in opposition to the Germanizing attempts which have been made against them these many years past by the Qiibi . net of Vienna ; The Government has sought to force the language of about two millions of Germans upon fourteen millions of Hungarians and neighbouring Sclavonians— -in the schools , iii the administration of justice , wherever , in fact ,, the influence of the officials extended . For this the German population were not to blame . Had . the propagation of the Gernian proceeded from the people , it would have been legitimate and inoffensive to the mass of the . people , who would have received it for the sake of convenience , as has boen the case in other quarters . The Government is beginning now to perceive the absurdity of the propaganda .-and would retrace its steps . A decree luis fust been published in tho Cracow Gazette ordering justice to bo udministered in the . language of the country , and culling upon the officials to employ , in all their , transactions , the language of the pcoplo among whom they reside . This is now done to isolate the ^ Hungarians as much as possible , by removing the chief cause of discontent ainong tho surrounding nationalities . The movement-in Hungary appears to be at this moment exclusively cccksinsiticjil . . The congregation of Debroc / Jn lias not only adopted the petition against tho Jniporjul Patent , but further , nud of their own accord , huvo resolved upon informing tho authorities , by 1 otter , of thoir determination not to obey its prescriptions . Other congregations huvo acted in a , similar manner . Tho Delcjlu of Toineavai- gives the following account of an all'air which has beon exaggerated considerably . On tho 30 th ult . tho Evangelical Protestants of Temesvur liokl an electoral convent , which was very Humorously attended . They had mot to elect according to custom certain ollkers for tho management of-t ) io affairs of their community . TlioiV pastor , however , required them to conduct tlio election according to tho Imperial Patent . This all "but twenty rufused to do , and left the church in a body . Tho remaining twenty electors them declared that they wore as much opposed to tho Imperial Patent as thoir brethren ; but as the offices of inspector und cmjhior wovo vacant , and as < ronfusion might ensue if they iongcoulinuiMl so , they would elect under tho express declanitioh that tho oloofion did not tuko place in obodionco to tho Imperial Mandate , but from shear necessity . The Hanoverian Chambers opened on tho 3 rd iust . Tho Government demanded onp million iivo hundred thousand thulors for railways , and a credit for tho military department , m lilcowiso a grant for tho purpose of , erecting- n now arsonal . Tlio Railway which is to unite Hanover and Broinon with thoir ports oP G-Boste-JMCundQ and Bremorlmlon has boon cominonood , but nilvnnoos ut a vovy slow rate . Tho natives jocularly allow ton yours for its completion . Ton yoara tho Governments of Hanovcv « ud Bremen took to consider about it .
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Jan . 14 , 1 SG 0 . J 'The Lender aha-Saturday ' Analyst * '' - 43
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~ * Narrative of tf , o Mirf < fW iu '« Minion to IM »« » " < ' f «» l % '{ ' * Team 1867-0 . « y I ^ urouw Oliphunt , I ' jrlvuto Boorotnry to Uid Ultfiii . Black wood and Sons ,
Literature.
LITERATURE .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 14, 1860, page 43, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2329/page/15/
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