TARTAR SOLDIERS.
THE Manchus, commonly called Tartars, conquered China in 1644, but the subjugation at that date was by no means complete, and it was not until the 24th of November 1650, that Canton was taken, or rather delivered into the hands of the besiegers, by the treachery of its governor.' The Dutch ambassadors, who were in the city shortly after its capture, thus describe the scene:—
“It was upon the 25th of November, 1650, when the Tartars, upon this advantage, rushed with their whole army; which was soon subdued by them. The besieged not being in a condition to make any resistance.
“The whole Tartar army being got into the city, the place was soon turned to a map of misery ; for every one began to tear, break, and carry away whatever he could lay hands on. The cry of women, children, and aged people was so great that it exceeded all noise of such loud distraction, *o that, from the 26th of November to the 15th December, there was heard no cry in the streets but, Strike, kill, and destroy the rebellious barbarians. All places were full of woful lamentations, murder, and rapine.”
After the overthrow of Canton, the Tartars, following the plan which they had adopted in Peking and other cities of the Empire, established a permanant garrison composed of Tartars and of the Chinese and Mongols that had sided with them. Their encampment remains to this day, occupying about one-fourth of the entire area of the city and still retaining a few of its original characteristics, although the descendants of the warlike conquerors have lost much of their martial bearing, by adopting the luxuries, and taking up the more objectional characteristic, of the conquered race. " In establishing an encampment there were in equal portions men of the three nations who had accompanied the conqueror from Manchurian Tartary," Manchus, Mongols and Chinese. These were divided under eight banners distinguished by colours, red, blue, yellow, and so forth. In the quarters of the Tartar city occupied by the different banner-men at Peking there is a paper lantern of the banner of the occupant placed on a stand before each door-way.
The banner-men of Canton number 1,800, many of them being extremely poor: for although their nominal pay is good, it never reaches the recipient in full. The government pittance is thus insufficient to support them, and while during the past two centuries they have been steadily losing their national characteristics, they have scorned to imitate the patient industry of the Chinese, or to adopt their trades and occupations. Hence the great poverty and destitution in many of the mud hovels of the Tartar quarter.
Thoroughly drilled and disciplined, and with a commissariat that would provide effectively for their wants, they would still make good soldiers. Under Jui-lin, the present able governor-general of the two Kwang provinces a number of Tartar and Chinese soldiers have been instructed in the system of European drill, and in the use of foreign arms.
The reader cannot fail to be struck with the fine manly build and soldierly appearance of the Tartar
artillery-men shown in the photograph. These men formed the native guard of Sir D. B. Robertson, our consul at Canton.
" A History of the Kwang -tung Province," Bowra, p. 93.
