His titles, Tien-wang, Younger Brother, &c., are no more to be literally understood than any of the extravagant designations of the Manchoo Emperor (Celestial Ruler, Monarch of the Universe, Brother of the Sun, &c.), the Llama of Thibet, or any other Asiatic ruler; but is only the usual Chinese metaphorical style of naming their princes, and setting forth their dignity and high position. The Ti-pings are themselves the very last to entertain any other idea; and often when I have questioned them, they have ridiculed such an heathenish and absurd belief as that their chief was more than mortal. Their replies have always been essentially practical; such as—"He is but a man like themselves, though a very great one." His prophecies, however, were believed to be inspired; his divine commission to earthly sovereignty and propagation of the Faith was likewise universally believed, though the blasphemies attributed to him, and circulated by interested European maligners, are without foundation. "Younger Brother" is the usual and touching Chinese figurative style of expressing an affectionate and dependent situation. The Tien-wang, when using it, simply expresses that relative position he wishes his people to believe he occupies, as our Saviour's faithful servant and disciple.
The Ti-pings, as we may now fairly call them, were allowed but short respite in the city of Yung-gnan. A large army of Imperialists, under the command of a celebrated Tartar general, Woo-lan-tae, invested the city upon every side, reducing the besieged to fearful extremities; till, at last, death by famine or the sword seemed their only fate. During November, 1851, all their outposts had been driven in with great loss, their spirits were damped, and the close of their existence seemed near at hand.
At length, after enduring incredible sufferings from famine and sickness, and a close siege of five months, during the night of the 7th of April, 1852, the Ti-pings sallied out from the city in three divisions, and after severe fighting, in which their losses were very heavy, succeeded in cutting their way through the besiegers and marching to the north-east, unfortunately leaving many of the sick and wounded prisoners, all of whom were barbarously tortured and put to death. Shortly after their escape from Yung-gnan, the Ti-pings laid siege to the provincial capital, Kwei-lin, but being unprovided with guns or sufficient powder to mine the walls, after a month spent before the city, they raised the siege, and marched into the adjoining province of Hoo-nan. At this time the total strength of the Ti-pings, men, women, and children included, numbered less than ten thousand persons. After capturing the city of Taou-chow, in the southern part of Hoo-nan, during the next three months they pressed steadily northward, capturing many cities on the way, and overthrowing all opposition. Early in September they arrived before the capital city of the Hoo-nan province, Chang-sha, and intrenching themselves, commenced a regular siege, which lasted more than two months. Upon this important place all the Imperialist forces were immediately concentrated, and the plains before the city became the battle-ground of many severe actions, generally favourable to the Ti-pings. During the months of September, October, and November, the latter made several attempts to carry the city by assault, but were each time severely repulsed by the garrison, who held out with determined bravery. Upon the 29th of November, the last assault upon Chang-sha was repulsed with heavy loss to the besiegers, and upon the following day the siege was abandoned, and they moved off in a north-westerly direction.
The next movement of the Ti-pings was attended with better fortune, for, reaching the Tung-ting lake, they carried the city of Yoh-chow, which was situated at the junction of the lake with the river Yang-tze-kiang, by storm. Considerably enriched by the granaries and treasury of that city, they changed their line of march and proceeded in a north-easterly direction, down the course of the Yang-tze, conveyed by the large fleet of junks and war-boats they had captured on the lake. Upon the 23rd of December they reached the city of Han-yang, upon the north bank of the river. Capturing this place with but slight opposition, they crossed to the south side, and invested the vice-regal city Wu-chang-foo. After mining the walls and making a practicable breach, upon the 12th of January they assaulted and carried the city, the lieutenant-governor of Hoo-nan falling in its defence, together with a large number of his officers and troops. Collecting immense booty from these two cities and the adjoining unwalled emporium, Han-kow, early in February, with a vast fleet loaded with men and stores, they proceeded down the river. On the 18th, the large and important city of Kew-kiang, situated close to the junction of the Poyang lake with the river, fell before their arms. The city of Ngan-king, capital of the province of Ngan-Hwui, was captured on the 25th. On the 4th of March Wu-hoo was taken, and on the 8th the Ti-ping forces sat down before the walls of Nan-kin.
These successes of the insurgents were followed by the degradation of all Imperialist leaders who should have prevented them. The court of Pekin deprived the imperial commissioner Keshen of his rank of Lieutenant-General of Tartar bannermen; Sae-shang-ah, the general of the Imperialist troops in Hoo-nan, was sentenced to be decapitated; Sin, the Viceroy of the two Kwang, was deprived of his vice-royalty and two-eyed peacock's tail; while all their property was confiscated to the government. Meanwhile the Ti-pings, by their moderation and success, by their kindness, and protection of the country people who did not oppose them;—by controlling their troops and followers from committing the usual excesses and crimes—the scourges of war, even in civilized countries; had obtained for themselves the goodwill and confidence of the people in a very large degree. Reinforcements poured in from every side; all those in local revolt, or in any way aggrieved by their tyrannical authorities; all who were in any manner dissatisfied with the foreign dynasty, or felt a spark of patriotism, flocked to the Tien-wang's standard. And now, as the Bishop of Victoria has said, before the ancient capital of the empire, a body of some 100,000 men, bound together by one religious hope and by one political aim,—the highest and most noble purposes of human ambition—those of civil and religious liberty—were congregated; following implicitly the guidance of a leader they believed sent by divine authority to expel their foreign masters, and overthrow idolatry throughout the length and breadth of the land. Marvellous and unparalleled beyond conception was this rising-up of the people,—as a psychological phenomenon it stands unrivalled in extent and magnitude in modern history. To behold leagued together, not only the effeminate Chinese, but even their women,—wives and daughters fighting by the side of their husbands and fathers, inspired by one common hope and ardour—all animated by a great religious and political object, for the attainment of which they had suffered and fought many years,—is an event never before realized in the history of China.
The Bishop of Victoria thus writes of them:—
"Throughout their long line of march, for 1,500 miles, over fertile and populous districts, plunders, murder, and rape, the usual attendant curses of Asiatic warfare, were denounced and punished by death. With more than Puritanical strictness, they waged an internecine war with the most dearly cherished sensual habits of their countrymen. The ten moral rules of the Decalogue were enforced, and a stricter interpretation attached to its terms. Amorous glances, libidinous songs, and all the common incentives to profligacy, were prohibited and abandoned. The drinking of wine, the smoking of tobacco, gambling, lying, swearing, and, above all, indulgence in the fumes of opium, were denounced and abolished with a moral determination which permitted no half measures."
During the triumphant march of the Ti-pings from the city of Yung-gnan, many proclamations were issued by the Tien-wang and his chiefs, to justify their rebellion and inform the people. The earliest and most important was the following, issued by Yang, the Eastern King:—
"We hereby promulgate our explicit orders in every place, and say, Oh, you multitudes! listen to our words. We conceive that the empire belongs to the Chinese, and not to the Tartars; the food and raiment found therein belong to the Chinese, and not to the Tartars; the men and women inhabiting this region are subjects and children of the Chinese, and not of the Tartars. But, alas! ever since the Ming dynasty lost its influence, the Manchoos availed themselves of the opportunity to throw China into confusion, and deprive the Chinese of their empire; they also robbed them of their food and clothing, as well as oppressed their sons and ravished their daughters; and the Chinese, notwithstanding they possessed such an extensive territory and multitudinous subjects, allowed the Tartars to do as they pleased without making the least objection. Can the Chinese still deem themselves men? Ever since the Manchoos have spread their poisonous influence through China, the flame of oppression has risen up to heaven, and the vapour of corruption has defiled the celestial throne, the offensive odour has spread over the four seas, and the demoniacal influence has distressed surrounding regions; while the Chinese, with bowed heads and dejected spirits, willingly became the servants of others. How strange it is that there are no men in China! China is the head, Tartary is the feet; China is the land of spirits, Tartary the land of demons. Why may China be deemed the land of spirits? Because the true Spirit, the great God, our heavenly Father, made heaven and earth, the land and the sea (and the Chinese honour him); therefore from of old China has been termed the land of spirits. Why are the Tartars to be considered demons? Because the devilish serpent, the king of Hades, is a corrupt demon, and the Tartars have been in the habit of worshipping him; therefore may the Tartars be considered demons. But, alas! the feet have assumed the place of the head, and demons have usurped the land of spirits; while they have constrained our Chinese people to become demons like themselves.[5] If all the bamboos of the southern hills were to be used as pens, they would not be enough to detail the obscenities of these Tartars; and if all the waves of the Eastern sea were to be employed, they would not be sufficient to wash away their sins, which reach to heaven. We will merely enumerate a few general circumstances that are known to all men. The Chinese have a form peculiarly their own; but these Manchoos have commanded them to shave the hair round their heads,[6] and wear a long tail behind, thus causing the Chinese to assume the appearance of brute animals. The Chinese have a dress peculiar to themselves, but these Manchoos have caused them to wear knobs on their caps, with Tartar clothes and monkey caps,[7] while they discard the robes and head-dress of former dynasties, thus causing the Chinese to forget their origin. The Chinese have their own laws and regulations; but the Manchoos have manufactured devilish enactments, so that our Chinese people cannot escape the meshes of their net,[8] nor can they tell how to dispose of their hands and feet, by which means our young men are brought entirely under their control. The Chinese have their own language; but the Manchoos have introduced the slang of the capital, and interfered with Chinese expressions, designing thus to seduce the Chinese by their Tartar brogue. Whenever drought and inundations occur, the government manifests no compassion; but quietly sees our people scattered abroad or dying of hunger, until the bleached bones are as thick as jungle, by which the country is depopulated. The Manchoos also have allowed corrupt magistrates and covetous officers to spread themselves over China, flaying the skin and devouring the fat of our people, until both men and women meet and lament by the roadside to see our fellow subjects reduced to want and poverty. Offices are to be obtained by bribes, crimes are to be bought off with money, rich fellows engross all authority, while heroes are filled with despair, by which means all the noble spirits in the empire are overwhelmed with despair, and die. Should any, animated with a patriotic feeling, seek to revive China from its ruins, they are accused of fostering rebellion, and their whole race exterminated, by which means all heroic ardour is repressed in China. But the ways in which the Manchoos have deluded China, and abused it, are too numerous to detail, for they are cunning and artful in the extreme.... These Tartars, forgetting the meanness and obscurity of their origin, and taking advantage of Woo-san-kwei's introduction, have usurped dominion in China, where they have carried their villanies to the utmost. Let us for a moment look into the origin of these Manchoo Tartars. Their first ancestor was a cross-breed between a white fox and a red dog, from whom sprang this race of imps that have since increased abundantly. They contract marriages without ceremony, and pay no regard to the relations of life or the rules of civilized society. At a time when China was destitute of heroes, they seized upon the government of the country; the wild fox thus ascended the imperial throne, and these unwashed monkeys, having put off their caps, rushed into the royal court, while our Chinese people, instead of ploughing up their holes and digging down their dens, have allowed themselves to be taken in their devices, to be insulted over by them, and to obey their command; and what is worse, our civil and military officers, coveting the gains of office, have bowed down in the midst of these herds of dogs and foxes. A child three feet high is generally esteemed very ignorant; but if you were to tell him to make obeisance to a parcel of dogs and swine, he would redden with indignation. And what are these Tartars but dogs and swine? Some of you have read books and are acquainted with history: and do you not feel in the slightest degree ashamed? Formerly Wan-theen-seang[9] and Sea-fang-teh[10] swore that they would rather die than serve the Mongols. Sze-ko-fah[11] and Ken-shih-see[12] swore that they would rather die than serve the Manchoos. These facts must be familiar to you all. According to our calculations, the Manchoos cannot be above a hundred thousand, and we Chinese amount to more than fifty millions; but for fifty millions to be ruled over by a hundred thousand is disgraceful. Now, happily, a retributive Providence being about to restore the country to its rightful owners, and China having some prospect of a revival, men's minds being bent on good government, it is evident that the Tartars have not long to rule. Their three times seven, or 210 years' lease, is about to expire, and the extraordinary personage of the five times nine has already appeared.[13] The iniquities of the Tartars are full; high heaven has manifested its indignation, and commanded our celestial king sternly to display his heavenly majesty and erect the standard of righteousness, sweeping away the demoniacal brood, and perfectly cleansing our flowery land."
After exhorting the Chinese to join the rebel forces, the proclamation concludes thus:—