Late in the summer of 1853, some few months after the capture of Nankin by the Ti-pings, the Triad society, alive to the advantages of the movement, rose up against the obnoxious Manchoos in many parts of the country.
About the end of July, a body of the Triads succeeded in gaining possession of the city of Amoy, one of the treaty ports, meeting with but slight resistance, the inhabitants being glad to receive them. By their singularly moderate conduct, the movement became very popular; in fact, all their supplies were brought in by the country people, and their principal strength was composed of these villagers, who remained and fought against the Imperialist troops as long as the insurrection lasted. Several cities in the neighbourhood were captured, and the wealthy classes remained aloof from both contending parties; their disposition towards the government was far too adverse for them to assist it; but they contented themselves with simply withdrawing their support, well knowing the savage revenge the "paternal" rulers would wreak upon them and their helpless families, if they were to join the rebellion, and it should afterwards fail. The country people throughout the district remained hostile to the Imperialists until their recapture of Amoy, when, to save their own and relatives' lives, they were compelled to return to the Manchoo slavery, those being lucky who escaped the indiscriminate vengeance of the government.
Captain Fishbourne, senior naval officer on the station, was present at Amoy when it was captured by the Triads. He reports:—
"The insurgents having placed guards over the European Hongs, there was nothing to apprehend, so we proceeded to Hong-kong, when, after landing Sir George Bonham, we returned in the Hermes to Shanghae."
Upon the 11th of November the city of Amoy, which had been for some time besieged by a vastly superior force of Imperialists, was evacuated by the Triads, who, being short of supplies, marched out of the city in broad daylight unmolested by the cowardly besiegers, who then marched in to perpetrate the most revolting barbarities, in their ordinary manner, upon the defenceless inhabitants. A large squadron of pirates composed the naval force employed by the Imperialists in their siege of the city, in the same manner as in their attack upon Ningpo when held by the Ti-pings, on the 10th May, 1862, although upon this latter occasion the Imperialist pirates were successful, an alliance having been entered into between them and the British squadron commanded by Captain Roderick Dew, R.N.
Captain Fishbourne, who was an eye-witness of the return of Amoy to Manchoo rule, thus describes it:—
"Having engaged pirates, the authority was committed to them, to sanction the atrocities that these would certainly commit; and, as if that were not sufficient, they encouraged them to more than they might otherwise be inclined to, for they promised them six dollars for each head they would bring in.
"On the entry of these savages, the first thing they did was to disperse in every direction in search of heads; regardless of anything save that the people who possessed them should be helpless; it mattered not to them that they were equally infirm and unoffending: they had heads—these they wanted.
"All found were brought to the Chinese admiral" (it is said, the same pirate chief who afterwards became Captain R. Dew's ally), "whose vessel was close to us, so we saw all that was passing. He then issued a mandate for their destruction. At first they began by taking their heads off at the adjoining pier; this soon was fully occupied, and the executioners becoming fatigued, the work proceeded slowly, therefore an additional set commenced taking their heads off on the sides of the boats. This also proved too slow for them, and they commenced to throw them overboard, tied hand and foot. But this was too much for Europeans; so missionaries, merchants, sailors, marines, and officers, all rushed in, and stopped further proceedings. The mandarins, executioners, staff and all, took themselves off very quickly, for fear of consequences they could not calculate upon, but which they felt they had richly deserved: 400 poor creatures were saved from destruction; 250 of these were wounded—some with twenty, others less, but more dangerous wounds. Some had their heads nearly severed; about thirty died. The Mandarins then removed their scene of butchery a mile outside the town; and during the next two days, after having obtained possession, they must have taken off upwards of two thousand heads, or otherwise destroyed that number of people. For days bodies were floating about the harbour, carried out by one tide and brought back by another, each time not quite so far, so that finally they were only disposed of by being taken to sea.
"The only feeling the brutal pirates evinced, was that of disappointment at being deprived (as they said) by us of three thousand dollars.[24]