The name of Kan-wang (the Shield king), has been of late years familiar to Europeans, as representing the man in whom great hopes were placed by missionaries and others, who trusted, that by his means the errors that had crept into the religion of the Taepings would be eradicated, and that thus the rebellion might go handin-hand with the progress of Christianity. As in subsequent pages the Kan-wang will be the subject of frequent notice, it is requisite, in some measure, to trace his previous career. The fact that he is no other than Hung-jin, the relative of the Tien-Wang, and the man from whom Mr. Hamberg obtained all his information respecting that chief's early life, will at once interest the reader in the following account. At the period when the Society of God-worshippers broke out into open revolt, Hung-jin was acting as a school-teacher in a village in the Hwa district (Kwangtung). Hung-siu-tsuen sent a request from Kwang-si that he, together with other relatives, would join him as early as possible. Upon this Hung-jin and fifty other relatives and friends started on their journey; but, when they arrived near the district of the God-worshippers, they heard that the latter had raised their camp and had marched elsewhere, and that the government officers were seizing upon and murdering all persons connected with them. After several ineffectual attempts to reach his relative, Hung-jin returned to Kwang-tung. Upon his arrival at home he found that the fact of Hung-siu-tsuen and Fung-yun-san having raised an insurrection in Kwang-si was already known to the magistrates of this province. A police force had arrived at the village, seized the people, demolished the ancestral tombs, and were extorting money from the inhabitants. Some of the near relations of the two leaders had been taken and put into prison. Hung-jin, no longer safe, passed his time in staying with friends in other districts, and twice again attempted to penetrate into Kwang-si, and in both cases was foiled by the vigilance of the government officials. At last he became involved in a small local insurrection and was taken prisoner. He managed to escape through the negligence of his captors, and, by the means of a distant relation who happened to be a Christian convert, he reached Hongkong in April, 1852. Here he was introduced to Mr. Hamberg, who, in his account of the circumstance, says, "I was astonished to hear a person from the interior of China speak with such interest of the Christian religion, and display so much acquaintance with it. I liked to listen to his animated narratives about Hung-siu-tsuen, Fung-yun-san, and their followers, though at the time I could form no clear conception of the whole matter, which was then little known and still less believed." After a short stay at Hongkong, Hungjin obtained an engagement on the adjoining mainland as a teacher, but he returned again to Mr. Hamberg at the close of 1853. Early in 1854 he embarked for Shanghae, on his way to Nankin, having previously been baptized. The kindness of Mr. Hamberg provided him with sufficient money to defray his expenses, and he took also with him a number of religious books. He stopped at Shanghae several months, but, finding it impossible to reach Nankin, or in any way to hold com munication with his friends, he returned again to Hongkong. During his absence Mr. Hamberg had died, and he was received by some members of the London Mission Society, and was subsequently employed by them as a catechist and preacher during the years 1855-58. His character at this period is thus spoken of: -"He soon established himself in the confidence and esteem of the members of the mission, and the Chinese Christians connected with it. His literary attainments were respectable; his temper amiable and genial; his mind was characterised by a versatility unusual in a Chinese. His knowledge of Christian doctrine was largely increased, and of the sincerity of his attachment to it there could be no doubt."1 In June, 1858, Hung-jin again determined to try and join his friends at Nankin, and, to this end, started by land in disguise and gradually worked his way up to the province of Hoo-peh. When Lord Elgin's expedition was at Hankow in December, he was heard of as being among the rebels at a small town in the neighbourhood, and managed to get a letter put on board one of the vessels, addressed to his teacher at Hongkong (Mr. Chalmers), informing the latter that he had got so far on his way and was trying to reach Nankin. This city he reached in the spring of 1859; and a few days after his arrival his relative the Tien-Wang appointed him to the high rank of Kan-wang. In a letter to the Rev. Mr. Edkins he says that he felt unequal to this position of responsibility, but was very anxious to promote the diffusion of true religion, 1 Missionary Magazine. M Writing of the Tien-Wang he states that, "On meeting with his relative, the Celestial king, and having daily conversations with him, he was struck by the wisdom and depth of his teaching, far transcending that of common men." This letter was written in 1860, more than a year after his arrival. This unexpected elevation of a man who for years had been holding the position of native catechist in our principal Chinese colony naturally gave rise to hopes that his influence would have a great effect in spreading the Christian religion among the Taepings: these hopes, however, were doomed to be disappointed. The Kanwang is hardly deserving of blame in this matter, for, circumstanced as he eventually was, it would have been very hazardous for him to have adopted any other policy than that which he has up to the present time followed. - CHAPTER XI. Defeat of the imperialist army besieging Nankin-Capture of Soochow Attack on Shanghae - Mr. Holmes' residence among the Taepings - Edicts. DURING the greater part of the year 1859 no important change took place in the position and power of the Taepings, but in the winter of that year and 1860 the closer investment of their capital made it necessary for them to adopt a system of tactics totally differing from what had until then been followed. Hitherto the main stream of the Yang-zte-kiang had been sufficiently open to them to admit of their junks bringing down to Nankin supplies from the upper country. Their armies, both on the north and south banks, were constantly occupied in loading these junks with the spoils from the granaries of the conquered cities, and forwarding them to their beleaguered friends. The occupation of the river by the imperialist fleet now entirely closed this means of communication, and consequently the garrison were forced to turn to the stores within the city, which, day by day, were becoming more scanty. Some of the features attached to the long-protracted siege of Nankin present an interesting picture of the peculiar system of warfare adopted in China. From the year 1853 the imperialists had been constantly besieging the city; but yet, although their army carefully invested the three |