he proclaimed himself as sent by heaven to drive out the Tatars, and to restore in his own person the succession to China. At the same time having been converted to Christianity, and professing to abhor the vices and sins of the age, he called on all the virtuous of the land to extirpate rulers who, both in their public laws and in their private acts, were standing examples of all that was base and vile in human nature. Crowds soon flocked to his standard. Teen-tih was deserted; and, putting himself at the head of his followers, Hung Sew-tseuen marched northwards into Hoo-nan and Hoo-pih, overthrowing every force which was sent to oppose him. The first city of importance which fell into his hands was Woo-chang Foo on the Yang-tsze-Keang, the capital of Hoo-pih. Situated at the junction of the Han River with the Yang-tsze Keang, this city was a point of great strategical importance. But Hung Sew-tseuen was not inclined to rest upon his laurels, knowing full well that he must be able to call Nanking his before there would be any chance that his dreams of empire could be realized. Having made Woo-chang secure, he therefore moved down the river, and after taking Gan-king on his way he proceeded to the attack of Nanking. So wide-spread was the disaffection at this time throughout the country that the city was ripe for falling, and without much difficulty Hung Sew-tseuen in 1852 established himself within its walls, and proclaimed the inauguration of the Tai-ping dynasty, of which he nominated himself the first emperor under the title of Teen Wang or “Heavenly king.” For the next few years it appeared as though he had nailed the flag of victory to his staff. His armies penetrated victoriously as far north as Tientsin and as far east as Chin-keang and Soochow, while bands of sympathizers with his cause appeared in the neighbourhood of Amoy. As if still further to aid and abet him in his schemes, England declared war against the Tatar dynasty in 1857, in consequence of an outrage known as the “Arrow” affair. In December of the same year Canton was taken by an English force under Sir Michael Seymour and General Straubenzee, and a still further blow was struck against the prestige of the ruling Government by the determination arrived at by Lord Elgin, who had been sent out as special ambassador, to go to Peking and communicate directly with the emperor. In May 1858 the Taku Forts were taken, and the way having thus been cleared of obstacles, Lord Elgin went up the Peiho to Tientsin en route for the capital. At Tientsin, however, he was met by the imperial commissioners, who persuaded him so far to alter his plans as to conclude a treaty with them on the spot, which treaty it was agreed should be ratified at Peking in the following year. When, however, Sir Frederick Bruce, who had been in the meanwhile appointed minister to the court of Peking, attempted to pass Taku to carry out this part of the arrangement, the vessels escorting him were fired on from the forts with such precision and persistency that he was compelled to return to Shanghai to await the arrival of a larger force than that which he then had at his command. As soon as news of this defeat reached England Lord Elgin was again sent out with full powers, and accompanied by a large force under the command of Sir Hope Grant. The French likewise took part in the campaign, and on 1st August 1860 the allies landed without meeting with any opposition at Peh-tang, a village twelve miles north of Taku. A few days later the forts at that place which had bid defiance to Sir Frederick Bruce twelve months previously were taken, and from thence the allies marched to Peking.
Finding further resistance to be hopeless, the Chinese opened negotiations, and as a guarantee of their good faith surrendered the An-ting gate of the capital to the allies. On the 24th October the treaty of 1858 was ratified by Prince King and Lord Elgin, and a convention was signed under the terms of which the Chinese agreed to pay a war indemnity of 8,000,000 taels. The Emperor Heen-fung did not live long to see the results of his new relations with the hated foreigner, but died in the summer of the following year, leaving the throne to his son Tung-che a child of five years old.The conclusion of peace with the allies was the signal for a renewal of the campaign against the Tai-pings, and benefiting by the friendly feelings of the English authorities engendered by the return of amicable relations, the Chinese Government succeeded in enlisting Major Gordon of the Royal Engineers in their service. In a surprisingly short space of time this officer formed the troops, which had formerly been under the command of an American named Ward, into a formidable army, and without delay took the field against the rebels. From that day the fortunes of the Tai pings declined. They lost city after city, and, finally in July 1864, the imperialists, after an interval of twelve years, once more gained possession of Nanking. Teen Wang did not survive the capture of his capital, and with him fell his cause. Those of his followers who escaped the sword of the victors dispersed throughout the country, and the Tai-pings ceased to be.
With the measure of peace which was then restored to the country trade rapidly revived, and, with the exception of the province of Yun-nan, where the Mahometan rebels under Suleiman still kept the imperial forces at bay, prosperity was everywhere re-awakened. Against these foes the Government was careless to take any active measures, until in 1872 Prince Hassan, the adopted son of Suleiman, was sent on a mission to England with the object of gaining the recognition of the Queen for his father's government. This step at once aroused the susceptibilities of the Imperial Government, and a large force was instantly organized and despatched to the scene of the rebellion. The war was now pushed on with vigour, and before the year was out the Mahometan capital Ta-le Foo fell into the hands of the imperialists, and the followers of Suleiman at that place and throughout the province were mercilessly exterminated. In the succeeding February the Regents—i.e., the dowager-empresses, who had governed the country since the death of Heen-fung—resigned their powers into the hands of the emperor. This long-expected time was seized upon by the foreign ministers to urge their right of audience with the emperor, and on the 29th June 1873 the privilege of gazing on the “ sacred countenance” was accorded to them. From that time until his death from smallpox on the 12th of January 1875, Tung-che's name fails to appear in connection with any public act of importance.
The Emperor Tung-che having died without issue, the succession to the throne, for the first time in the annals of the Tsing dynasty, passed out of the direct line, and a cousin of the deceased emperor, a princeling, said to be not quite four years old, was chosen to reign in his room, under the title of Kwang-seu or “Succession of Glory.” Thus is the country again doomed to suffer all the inconveniences of a long imperial minority, at a time, too, when events seem to show that the civilization of China has grown old, and is like to vanish away ; when the introduction of new ideas and western modes of thought is about to stretch the old bottle of Confucian tradition to its fullest extent ; and when, therefore, the empire will sorely need wisdom and strength at the head of affairs to guide it safely through the critical times which lie before it in the future.
