‘ : ee ip ten y Trion @ eape~ n Ob- o will Pree *"s On ont. posits if paid onths ; ‘+r that wiil ba ‘or dia- at the « The in the ure re ymnidents nd for- 4 from 74 pet and St ow frag® oint, ne. | aunch- n, -Murray peqie Bin aise ¥ Che Examiner. AND GENERAL INTELLIGENCER. “This is tr ue Liberty, when free-born men, having to advise the Public, may speak free.”--Murt ences eee - - cece ————— ett er ome - New SERIES. | ee et a PB PINATES IN THE CHINA | SEAS. Even the members of the Peace Socie- ty must rejoice to hear Wat three of her Majesiy’s vessels have safely returued | frovs periorming a desperate service with- put casualty or damage, for though wat eat all umes an evil itis surely a less vil according as a less agyregate Mmis- gief hus heen wrought by its operations, bur or five years ago it was credibly re- prted, anu never authentically denied, tht ina were civil broil between two of the inwrior provinces of China upwards of 109,000 lives were lost on each side, thous: tue quarr |, even after these re- suits was considered so Commun-piace and insigaiticant as to provoke no nulice whitever on the part of Government,— were on the right track, for in conse- quence of sowe failure of the poor villa- gers two furnish the supplies demanded, the pirates had burut the town, massacred a number of the :phab:tants, and carried away the women and children. From Chuck-shan the expedition was directed to Hoonong, aud trom Hoonony to Fa-lubg, where it is said that the populauon were actually awalling al altack from Unis ter- rible chiefiian. 1 his intelligence proved correct, aud as the squadron neared we specified point they at length saw the fa- mous pirate fleet, numbering no fewer than sixty-four vessels, and carrying 1200 guns and 1300 men. ‘There still, how- ever, remamed the difficulty of closing with them, fur they were withio the shal- lows, where Shaping-tsai had boasted that no English could follow hin, and in very The is one stage of, waritke science ; wit we are now going to relate exein- his juigmeat between the two as re- spects. the interest of human life only. Mne'last Chinese mail fett us in some uncertainty respecting the success of the expedition, consisting of the Fury, Co- | lumbine, and Phiegelhon, despatched against the notorious pirate-chief Shap- | ang-tsai; but ail anxiety on this score has been relieved by the despatches just pub- lished. From the private correspondence and other papers which have reached us we extract the followmng narrative, re- markabic mo less for iis incidental illus- trations uf Chineee character than for the description of the engayement which % contains. [t will be touad very easy to track the proceedinys onthe chart, for the surveys of tue south-western Coast of China are far from perfect, and besides this, the naines of places as rendered into our vernacular tongue resemble each ether so closely—seldoin dilfering in more than two letters out of ten—that any precision of topography becoines well nigh impossible, the reader will ob- serve, however, on glancing at an ordinary map of China that its southernmost point terninates ina short peninsula, off wiiica lies an island of considerable size, called Hainan, situated sumething like Ceylon atthe southen extremity of India. Be- tween the two is a channe) admitting the passage of junks, and ‘eading westward into the Guifof Tonquin. it was sotme- wherein the “barbarian waters” at the head of this guif tsat the encounter took place. On leaving Hong-Kong the three Brit- ish vessels proceeded westward on their search, collecting inteliigence of the pi- rates from port to port, and often meeting with fresh traces of their recent presence. On the fourth morning of Weir expedition they learnt that Shaping-tasi had just sailed from Hainan, that he had attacked and totally destroyed a considerable trad- ing town onthe peninsula, and that he had mide off in the direction of tie nu- | merous wild islands atthe head of the gulf. Thus instructed Captain Hay im- | mediately sailed for Hoi-how, on the is- jand of Hainan, and put himself in com- ronuication with Ho, the Governor-Gene- ral of the district. By this officer and hig colleagues he was most grace ously re- ceived in 2. illuminated artificial garden, to the extreme joy of the loca! population ; and no wonder, for such was the audacity and power of the pirate chief, that he had actually attempted an attack upon this city, and had only been defeated by the shoals, which prevented his heavy junks from coming into action. ‘The Manda- ring professed great anxiety that Captain ffay and his officers should stop to break- “ast in state on the following morning ;) but. on hearing that in the British service such entertainments were usually post- cond til the work in hind was compict- ed, they readily acquiesced, and imnme- diately reinforced the expedition with a quota of eight junks, carrying 100 native | soldiers, under the command of Hwang, an officer who had formerly held office in these waters, and who had been raised to the rank of Mandarian for his distinguish- ed gallantry in repuising the pirates, at- tack spon Hoi-how. W ith these aids the squadron now set gail, and steered for the scene of the most recent atrocities, Pak-hoi. Here thev ard that the pirates had just left, and paired to Chuck-shan to refit. On fol- ing the ae to Chuck-shan, they Z evidence but too plain that they truth for upwards of nine hours the Brit- ish cruis were hunting and pryin plities another, and the reader can form | pa Crees . & aoe about fur the channel, as Captain Hay’s despatch expresses it, “like tarriers at a rat-hole.” At jast a native pilot contrived to escape from the shore to the fleet, and took them over the bar. Oncoming to close quarters, the first of Shapiug-tsar’s proceedings was to behead his agent and his whole boat’s crew on suspicion of treachery, and the next to lash to the mainmast, as a target for four guns, an unfortunate envoy who had been des- patched to him from Canton. He then resolutely awaited the attack with a 6core of his heaviest vessels moored in line, the cuns of which he presently opened upon some of his own junks, which showed syinptons of wishing to escape. The tiviting then became very sharp till a lucky shell fromthe Phlegethon entered the pirate flag-ship, and view all into the air. Singularly enough, the poop of the | defiance stil] flying at the top of the rail- ing until it was consumed by fire. This closed the first day’s action; but the next morning the engagement was restimed under circumstances of greater difficulty, for.the junks had betaken them- selves to spots where they could only be the pirates been but equal either to their desperation or their means of offence, the results must have been serious. On boarding one of the junks, a heavy gun was found loaded to the muzzle, depress- ed soas to hear upon the approaching boat, and behind it lay its capiain dead, with the maich still lighted in his hand. A chance shot had probably saved the whole of the boat’s crew. Inthe large junks which were captured everything was found in such fighting order as woul: have frivate. Quarters were ciesr, spouges | and rammers by the side of the guns, am- | munition in flannel cartridges, carefully | stowed away, and all screened from ac- | and | lcident by blaukets. The shoals banks of the river of course afforded con- | siderable facilities oi escape to the pirate | crews, but the Cochin-Chinese, exaspe- rated by innumerable acts of barbarity, the tables, soon surrounded the fugitives | with spars and knives, and probably gave | a pretty good account of them, » hive every native fort and garrison alowg the shore yielded its quota against these implace- able enemies. After executing this duty, ‘the British squadron returned to Hoi-how, | where they were received with transports | of gratitude and welcome. The opinicns entertained by the natives of the service to peace and commerce which had been thus performed may be learnt from a | “necessary communication” addressed by the Chinese Governor of Hainan to the British authorities at Hong-Kong, and we | are sure our readers will have been | pleased to see from the promotion-list that | the gallantry of those engaged has been | as well appreciated at home. | Perhaps at the next meeting of the Peace Society, some person will favour the srorld with a definition of what, in these days, isstill to be before us. Here were upwards of 1300 men sailing from piace to place, with a fleet of 64 ships, mounting 1200 guns levying contributions wherever they found means, burning all towne which affronted them, massacring nen, and carrying women into slavery. Their vessels were found built, armed, and appointed for fighting only, nor was there anything on hoard resembling mer- vessel remained afloat, with the flag of reached by boats; and had the science of ——— CHARLOTTETOWN, P, E, IshanD, FEBRUARY 16, 1850. chandise except the plunder just carried off trom Lien-Chvuu-fou, and sume goods which were identified as part ef the car- goes of the unfortunate Sylph Greyhound. How are these men to be described, if not as pirates ?—end, if as pirates, is not an agitation for the protection of these “inuocent fishermen” about as reason- able as an appeal to the Society for Pre- venting Cruelty to Animals in behalf of the now ravenous wolves in the Pyre- nees ?”— Times. ONE THOUSAND EIGHT HUN- DRED AND FORTY-NINE. If 1848 was a revolutionary, it was likewise a reactionary year. ‘Lhe popu- lar element, triumphant in the months of February, March, and April, at Paris, Vi- enna, Berlin, Franktort, Buda, Prague, Milan, Rome, Naples, and Messina, spent its force everywhere in lamentable ex- cesses, and was quenched in rivers of bieod. ‘The middie and upper classes, terrified by the fierce onslaugut of com- munisin, united all over Kurope to put it down by force, and so well aid they suc- ceed, that before the end of the year, or shortly after its close, all the above nam- ed capitals, with the excepuon of Rome and Messina, had been occupied by the military, and placed in a state of siege. Tne.first of January, 1848, dawned upon Europe lying in seemingly hopeless bon- dage. Within less than three months, the three most powerfu) Governments had fallen, and most of the others tottered to their fall. Dormant nationalities started to life like spring-flowers. Parliaments and Constitutions rose like card-castles. The .people were omnipotent and their rulers nothing. Society, held together by.mere natural ties, had Jost all legal colierence. Court politics and diplomacy seemed exploded sciences, destined to be superseded by the curt and manly allocu. tions of statesmen like Lainartine ; and nations long gagged and manacled by handed despots, spoke to each other in friendly Janguage, without the interven- tion of forms, things been seen before, no, not since the world began. But the millenium of fra~- ternity did not last jong. ‘The dynasties discraced the smartest Buropean | and overjoyed at so unexpected a tura of soon recovered from the electric shock which the flight of Louis Philippe had | given them, and eevertly and cunningly they repossessed themselves of the reins ; for the follies and crimes of the popular | Jeaders and partizans gave them but too good grounds for denouncing the latter as the enemies of order, as well as of ty- ranny, of property as well as of privilege ; and every man who felt that he had more to lose than he was likely to gain, lent the weight of his influence to the Conser- | vative cause, or at least remained neutral while the struggle went on. The first of January 1849, beheld the various Euro- pean Governments re-constructed, the people again bridied though chafing, the revolution all but spent, and reaction com- plete. arms, but the Austrian bulletins daily proclaimed new successes on the part of the Imperial Generals, and no one antici- pated the glorious struggle of the last campaigne, which was to make the land of the Magyar classic ground, and associ- ate the names of Comorn and Debreczin with those of Warsaw and Praga. Cicily, too, held out bravely against the King of Naples, although the latter was already making preperations for that decisive attack, under which the patriots succum- bed. Rome was under a liberal ministry. Pius IX., who had taken refuge at Gaeta about a month before, had sent an ultima- tum to his former subjects, which they treated lightly. The old chambers had ceased to sit, and a constituent assembly, based on universal suffrage, was on the point of being convoked. At Florence, Gioberti had proclaimed the indepen- dence of all Italy, and Leghorn had hoist- ed the Italian flag. In France, on the other hand, the lamentable insurrection of June had borne its natural fruits. The Republic was at a disount, and every body presaged its fall. The newly elected president had quarrelled with his ministry on what seemed a trivial, but was really a vital question,— whether or not he could, of his own anthority, take possession of certain state papers relative to the foolish | affaire of Boulonge and Strasbourg, where — Never had such a state of Hungary, indeed, was still up in | port, but she has redeemed her ancient he had figured as a pretender to the throne. ‘I'he Constituent Assembly had sunk into contempt, and its dissolution was loudly calledfor. A consulate, an empire, or a mouarchy seemed the only alternat- ives left to the French, if they would escape from the constant apprehension of anarchy and bloodshed, which the first republic had leit as a legacy to the se- cond. Lombardy was in the safe keeping of Radetzki, and a war contribution of 44 milhon livres had been imposed upon iis already impoverished capital. Cuarles Albert was meditating another inroad into that fertile province, where he was sure to find, as before, a host of adher- ents. Venice, the queen of the sea, sull defied the Austrian troops, protected by her navy and her lagoons, and the echoe of her former fame. Berlin was in a state of siege, and so was Vienna, but both in Prussia and Austria a sort of liberal con- stitution had been octroyed, and though the democratic party lua been vanquish- ed, the despotic party felt that they had not cunquered. In Schleswig Holstein, the Danes were threatening as now, to break the armistice, and large bodies of troops were being concentraied in the Isle of Alsen for a descent on the penin- sula. Russia was watching an opportun- ity which soon cast Up, Wuen the youth- ful Emperor of Austria, beaten by the Hungarians, saw his secptre on the point of falling out-of his nerveless grasp, and humbly besought the armed intervention of his * natural enemy” to curb his rebel- lious subjects. ‘I he rest of the continent had escaped the revolutionary storm of the bygone year, felt ic but slightly, and every thing went on there in its usual course. At home, there was a compicte lull in the political “ heaven ;” but parlia ment was on the eve of meeting, and it was foreseen that the tug of war would be fierce and stern on the Irish and Naviga- tion Law Questions. ‘Thus opened the last year of the first half of the nineteenth century. It closes in a very different, and, we are fain to believe, in a much more satisfactory and auspicious manner. With the exception of Germany, which still remains in an anomalous condition, all Europe is again under regular govern- ment, not of the best kind, certainly, but certainly better on the whole than at any former period. Thanks to Russia the colosssus of Austria still stands entire. The Magyars have been outnumbered but not conquered, and now Servia has risen to assert her rights. In the South, Naples groans under tyranny, and Sicily has resumed a hateful yoke, but even the Bourbon Ferdinand has felt obliged to give the latter a constitution, and the for- iner is trampled on only beeause it deserves to be so. Rome has suffered a gross outrage at the hands of professed trieuds. She has been deprived oi the government.cf her choice, and forced to take back her old rulers. Mazzini and Garibaldi are exiles. ‘Tuscany has re- turned under the mild and patient, if old- fashioned, rule of the Duke. Venice, alas, has fallen, and ceased to be a free character for courage and constancy, and given an earnest of what she will do when a better time comes. Sardinia was struck down in the short campaign of Novara, and Lombardy is again an Aus- trian province; but the victor, thanks to the Hungarian war, was lenient to his deniands, and Charles Albert having abdicated and withdrawn to Portugal to die of a broken heart, his successor has been permitted to reign unmolested, and promises fair to be a good constitutional king,—the first that Italy has had since the days of Servius Tullius. In France, the republic, if not thoroughly consolidat- ed, now stands at least more chance of permanency than it did a year ago. Louis Napoleon, whom some considered a bully, and others an imbecile, has prov- ed himself to be neither. His policy, if not the most brilliant or even the most consistent, has not compromised the peace of Europe, as all feared it would, and that, of itself, is no trifling merit, consid- ering the very critical circumstances in which France was placed, as well as the neighbouring countries. The legal condemnation and banishment of the in- surrectionists of June last have rid France of a lot of disorderlies ; while in Prussia and Wurtemberg the acquittals of Wal- deck and Jaeobi have demonstrated the | on’s EuriPipes. ee (Von. 1.—No. 6, supremacy of the Jaw and good effects of the newly introduced system of jury trial. Christendom has happily escaped that curse of curses—a general war; yet we have had the Hungarian death-struggle, carried on on a scale of unprecedented magnitude, the route of Novara—the Roman expedition,-—the massacre of Pal- ermo,-—the insurrection in Baden and the Palatinate, quenched in blood—the sack of Genca, Berlin, Dresden, Breslau, and Ancona—the war in Schleswig Hol- stein, the bombardment of Fredricia, and the Danish blockade. In the east, the seige of Mooltan, and the battle Jhelum have laid all the Punjaub at our feet, and hushed the rising murmurs of disaffection throughout India. In the Colonies, how- ever, matters are not so prosperous. Canada, New South Wales, and the Cape are in deep ferment; Jamaica and British Guiana are alike disaffected ; Cephalonia has been in rebellion; and Malta and Labuan have been both causes of trouble. At home, the Parliamentary Session has been signalised by the pass- ing of two great measures, hot to mention oihers, the Irish Encumbered Estates Act, and the Navigation Act. After an interval of seventeen years, Asiatic Cho- lera has paid a visit to Europe, and the mortality in various places has been alarmingly great. Our own country has not been spared, for many hundreds have fallen victims, stricken down in a day by the mysterious and. noisome pestilence, But it has effectually aided the popular cry for Sanitary Reform: the Central Buard of Health energetically at work ; drainage, sewerage, and a supply of good water are urged as necessities for all our large towns ; and in this manner we may expect the calamity to end in a blessing. The Peace Movement, the Parliamentary and Financial Reform Movement, the Freehold Land Movement, have all ac- quired shape and consistency within the year, and promise to go on increasing in strength until they either accomplish their several objects, or at least do some signal service to the cause of humanity. In the Church, the imprisonment of Mr Shore, and the secession of Baptist Noel and Mr. Bodson, have had no immediate result. Mr. Gorham’s case, which is still undecided, will bring matters to a crisis. The commotion in the great Wesleyan body, raised on account of the ejection of Messrs. Everett, Dunn, and Griffith, has subsided for the nonce, and waits the re- opening of Conference, when a strong effort will, in all likehhood, be made to get the unlucky vote of last year rescind- ed, and a spice of the lay element intre- duced into the church courts. Public indignation has been deeply raised during the year by three atrocious murders, @ Stanfield Hall, Bermondsey, & Liverpool. The caterers to a depraved taste have done their utmost to work up the trage- | dies to the best advantage, and the names of Rush, Manning and Gleeson Wilson, will be eternally gibbetted for the execra- tion of mankind, along with those of Burk, Courvoisier, and Thurtelj, The obituary for the year contains several notable names, including the Queen Dowager, Mehemet Ali, Maria Edgworth, Ebenezer Elliott, Isambard Brunel, John Fielden, Patrick Fraser Tytler, Albert Gallatin, the Marquis Spineto, Lady Blessington, and Horace T wiss, OLD TUNES. BY ELIZA COOK. We love music dearly; love it with deep and fervent adoration that amounts, we suspect, to “blind idolatry” for though the warm impulses of our soul are ever ready to rush into sublime ecstacy at the sound of “ Handel’s Coronation Anthem,” they betray an equal susceptt- bility at the jingling of “Fisher’r Horn- pipe” on a Jem\-piano with which * little Italian boy occasionally refres'’ narrow street. Nay, weeven p-codg to being toucked by the moutirTrgan : drum that, time owt of mind, bave.dro . .~ the groan of the dying in the matrimonial battle fie'd of Pench and Judy. ne reeds ne yyy and the sheepskin flat; but B. neve « happy knack of re- conciling® by some mysteri- ous tute | cov of Jenevolence in cur ol Belt - fee , ingered on our erran oo Ser the conclusion of 4 aes ae