8 



THE REBELLION. 



Chap. L 



rebels were known as tlie Kwang-si men, as they 

 belonged to the province of that name, which had 

 been for several years in a state of great disorder. 

 In 1850, three years before the time of which 

 I write, a memorial, presented to the government 

 by a number of gentlemen in the province, shows 

 that fully two-thirds of it was overrun by robbers, 

 who committed great violence upon the inhabitants. 

 " At the time the petition was written hundreds and 

 thousands of fields were lying uncultivated ; the 

 communications were in the hands of the outlaws, 

 so that the supplies of government could not 

 travel." About the close of 1850 the well-known 

 Commissioner Lin was summoned from his retire- 

 ment in Fokien in order to put down the insur- 

 gents, but he died on the way. Sundry other high 

 officers, civil and military, were sent against them, 

 but apparently with but little success. In August, 

 1851, Hung-sew-tseuen, subsequently known as 

 Tai-ping-wang, seized Yung-ngan, a city of a sub- 

 prefecture in the east of the province, and held it 

 until April, 1852. The insurgent force, of which 

 he was the chief, advancing slowly at first, then 

 commenced its northern march by moving upon 

 the provincial capital Kwei-lin. The rebels soon 

 left this city behind them, and, after seizing and 

 abandoning various places in the south of Hoo-nan, 

 in the middle of December took Yohchau, a city 

 on the river Yang-tse-kiang. Before the end of 

 the month they had crossed this river, and stormed 

 Wu-chang, the capital of Hu-peh ; then descending 



