132 Papre Serra’s Notices of China. 
of 1813,* when with an arquebuse he slew two or three of the rebels and 
intimidated the remainder, who had already penetrated within the precincts 
of the palace, for which he obtained due eulogies from his father in the 
public decrees. 
The former Empress Mother, whose son now fills the throne, having 
expired in a paroxysm of rage caused by the present Empress Mother, who 
was then a concubine; the latter, on her elevation, ill-treated the prince, so 
far as to make him remain two hours prostrate, on one occasion, when, ac- 
cording to custom, he went in the morning to do her homage. These causes 
have, however, proved insufficient to prevent Taou-Kwane, since he has 
ascended the throne, from continuing the customary ceremony, at first 
daily, and now every five days. 
* On the 18th of October 1813, as the Emperor Kra-KiNnG was about to enter Peking, on his 
return from a summer's excursion to Jeho (literally Thermopylae, or “ The Hot Springs”), a party 
of conspirators entered the Imperial palace, and kept possession of a part of it for some time. 
The first intimation of this occurrence was conveyed in the following Proclamation from the 
Emperor :— 
“ Proclamation—to announce a revolt which has taken place, and to inculpate myselfi— 
Eighteen years have elapsed since, possessed of only inferior virtue, I looked up and received 
with profound veneration, the throne from my imperial father; after which I dared not resign 
myself to ease, or neglect the affairs of government. I had but just ascended the throne, when 
the sect of the Pé-déen (white-lily) seduced into a state of confusion four provinces, and the people 
suffered more than my feelings can bear to express. I ordered my generals to go against them, 
and after eight years’ conflict reduced them to submission. I then hoped that with my children 
(the people) I should have enjoyed increasing pleasure and repose. On the sixth of the 
eighth moon (in 1813) the sect of J”héen-le (celestial reason), a band of vagabonds, suddenly 
created disturbance, and caused much injury, extending from the district of Chang-yuen in the 
province of Pe-che-lee, to the district of Tsaou in Shan-tong. I hastened to order Wun, the 
viceroy of Peking, to lead forth an army to exterminate them and restore peace. This affair, 
however, yet remained at the distance of a thousand /e from the capital. But suddenly, on the 
fifteenth of the ninth moon, rebellion arose under my own arm. The calamity has sprung up 
in my own house. <A banditti of upwards of seventy men, of the sect Z°héen-le, violated the 
prohibited gate, and entered withinside: they wounded the guard, and rushed into the inner 
palace. Four rebels were seized and bound; three others ascended the wall with a flag. My 
imperial second son (the present Emperor) seized a matchlock and shot two of them; my 
nephew killed the third. For this deliverance I am indebted to the energies of my second son. 
The princes and chief officers of the Loong-tsoong gate led forth troops, and, after two days’ and 
one night's severe exertion, completely routed the rebels.” The paper’goes on to cast the blame 
on his own remissness, and on the vices of his delegates; and to call for a general reforma- 
tion.—J. F. D. 
