CHINA. 



119 



preMDce of the whole army, of Chu-Wan-moi, the 



:i-on. 



:ILJ Kuo-chuan, govern- 

 li.' In- ileprhed nl lii-i ollicial IMIII..II, 



; .my with Li lliio-nien, guv 



his punishment lie. before all other :nl- 



tlie Hoard, tli:ii all may know the Ik'ht- 



.eiiteniv hereliv awarded. 



.iiimiaml Li uung-chang strictly to in- 



..1 report to the throne the names o!' the 



rs who l>\ their feeble, opposition allowed 



.|>e thrill. 



.!,! to Li Hiing-chang himself, the officer 

 !v commissioned to superintend the operu- 

 lirected against the Nien-fei, inasmuch as over 

 ,il>sed without any sensible advan- 

 -ultiiiL; IVom hi> generalship, he has certainly 

 ! the tni>t reposed in him by his sovereign ; 

 .-fore order him, in expiation of his present 

 win renown for himself by at once tak- 

 ing active command of the troops, and leading them 

 into Shan-tang, where, in conjunction with others, 

 he must seniir the country and stamp out the small- 

 irk of rebellion existing there. Any subse- 

 quent failure to cope with the manreuvres of the 

 will draw down on the aforesaid commis- 

 sioner and governor a punishment so heavy that they 

 will lind it difficult to bear up against it. Tremble 

 and obey ! 



On March 12th, the American bark Rover, 

 owned and commanded by Captain W. Hunt, 

 of Port Jefferson, Long Island, was wrecked on 

 the southern coast of the Island of Formosa, and 

 the captain and crew massacred. The Island 

 of Formosa has been partially colonized by 

 Chinese within the last two centuries, and the 

 shores of the bay near the scene of the murder 

 arc already settled by a mixed race, who are a 

 between the Chinese and the aborigines. 

 Tliis mixed race aflfeets constant hostility 

 toward the natives, but maintains a close con- 

 nection with them, which is strengthened by 

 marriage ties, and these relatives are known to 

 them in their crimes and share their plun- 

 der. One Chinaman, belonging to the crew of 

 the Hover, escaped the massacre, and made a 

 detailed statement to the United States consul 

 at Swat oo. He stated that after he reached the 

 Chinese village, on the day following the mas- 

 sacre, he induced a Chinaman belonging to the 

 settlement to go among the savages to persuade 

 them not to kill the officers and crew of the 

 Rover, but allow them to be ransomed. On 

 the return of the man on the following day, he 

 learned thatfiveof the captain's boat were mur- 

 dered on the afternoon of the attack, and that 

 the other boat had arrived in the night and two 

 of the crew were murdered on the morning of 

 the next day. As soon as the news reached 

 Mr. Legendre, the United States consul at 

 A nmy, he proceeded to Taiwanfoo in the 

 United States steamer Ashuelot, reaching that 

 place on the 28th of April. lie wrote to the 

 authorities of the island, stating the circum- 

 stances of the massacre, and asking an immedi- 

 ate investigation. Mr. Legendre also asked 

 that the persons implicated in the outrage 

 should be punished according to the Chinese 

 laws, and offered the assistance of the Aslme- 

 lot to that end, and the recovery of the prison- 

 ers, should there be any in the hands of the 



natives. To this the Taotai, general, and pre- 

 fect the highest authority in tin- island re- 

 |ilied on the following day, relating the action 

 taken in the murder of the crew of a Hriti-h 

 \e-M-l, lint which was afterward explained to 

 have reference to the crew of the Rover, the 

 mi-understanding arising from an error of the 

 linguist at the Mritish consulate, when Mr. 

 Carroll represented the affair to the Taotai. 

 The Taotai said that he knew that all of the 

 crew of the Rover had been murdered. He 

 declined any assistance from the American 

 ship-of-war, but at the same time promised 

 to do every thing in his power. As the 

 Chinese authorities made no inquiries about 

 the case, Admiral Bell, commanding the 

 United States squadron in the Chinese waters, 

 sent an expedition, consisting of the Hartford 

 and the Wyoming, against the savages. The 

 crews of these two vessels had a fight with the 

 Formosans on the 13th of June. After four 

 hours' advancing against a deadly and at times 

 invisible foe, the party were compelled by ex- 

 haustion and loss from sun -strokes to return to 

 their ships. Lieutenant-Commander Macken- 

 zie was killed, but no other casualties were re- 

 ported beyond those occasioned by the heat. 

 The savages, it seems, were well armed, 

 although no other evidences of intercourse with 

 civilized nations were discovered. They pur- 

 sued an admirable plan of retiring slowly be- 

 fore the crews, frequently ambushing them in 

 the deep jungle. In his dispatches to the Navy 

 Department at Washington, Rear-Admiral Bell 

 suggests that the only effectual remedy against 

 barbarous outrages on shipwrecked mariners 

 by these savages will be for the Chinese authori- 

 ties to occupy the island with a settlement pro- 

 tected by military. In July the American 

 consul at Amoy induced the Chinese authorities 

 to send a force of fully 2,000 men to South Bay, 

 which expedition the consul accompanied. The 

 expedition arrived at the limit of Chinese juris- 

 diction on July 23d. A deputation of Chinese 

 interceded for the savages, and offered security 

 for their future good behavior. The United 

 States consul had an interview with Toketok 

 (head chief of the southern savages of Formosa) 

 and the chiefs of the eighteen tribes, whom he 

 called to account severely. The chiefs pleaded as 

 an excuse former massacres by whites, but prom- 

 ised future good behaviour if generously dealt 

 with. The consul insisted on kind treatment 

 of distressed foreigners, which was also agreed 

 to. A fort was erected for the refuge of ship- 

 wrecked mariners, and the Chinese became 

 security for the savages' good faith, and signed 

 an agreement to assist foreigners in dealing 

 with the savages. The consul returned on the 

 15th of October, bringing the body of Mrs. 

 Hunt and some relics of the Rover. 



Among the most memorable events in the 

 history of China during the year belongs the 

 establishment of a college at Pekin for th 

 study of foreign languages and foreign 

 knowledge in general. The proposition for the 



