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“... while thia year 146 men were
taken off the Governors command, making
a total reduction of 4;360 non-efficients. Tlie
actual number of men now retained is
17,407 men. The Governor used to have
a body-guard of 310 men and five Banners
()of cavalry : these, and two battalions
of infantry which have been raised and are
maintained out of the economies effected
by the dismissal of the non-ecients just
referred to, are included iu the number
of the standing army above given. The
strength of each battalion uob being tho
same, the coat of their maintenance varies
accordingly, and it is now proposed to
bring them to a uniform strength.
The Memorialist then proceeds to give
some elaborate and not very intelligible
figures by which he indicates the changes
he proposes to make in the disposition and
strength of certain corps and battalions,
the result of which appears to be that the
standing army of ShaiiBi will conBiBt alto-
gether of 21,533 men, of whom 4,126 will
be new. The annual cost of thia...”
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“...rain which has fallen. Similar services
will be held at other state temples by
Princea and high ocers named. The
altars will be removed from the Ta-kao
Tien and Ohio Sheng Sdu, but prayers
will still be offered for a continuance of the
rain which has been vouchsafed.
(2) A Memorial from Chiu Shun, Gov-
ernor of Hi and Assistant Military Ad-
ministrator in the New Doininiou, report-
ing a mutiny amongst certain of the troops
under hia cuminaud and its prompt aup-
presaion.
He atatea that one battalion of hia per-
sonal troops have hitherto been 8fcatiu"ed
to Lite south of a place that ia known as
Sui-ting Ch6ugt midnight on the 29ili
vf March the men of tlie battaliun aud.
denty went to their commandant, a Deputy
Lieutenant General called Wan Sheng, and
deniandtid their pay. The attitude of the
men waa excited and violent, aud the com-
mandant was in the act of fiuppressing
their excitement when over three hundred
mounted Maliommedans from llan-chung
and Shan Chow suddenly uppeured with...”
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“...and
May, On the 2nd and succeeding days of
July urgent cotiununications were received
from the Prefect of T*ai-chow and Colonel
Hau Oiiiii-wen stating that they had heard
thafc certain member of the Kolao society
having induced the disreputable members
of the llaietHchii population to join them,
were going about inciting the people to
rebellion, and a day whs tixed for a rising
to take place. Great alarm accordingly
prevailed amongst the inhabitants nnd re-
inforcetnenta were solicited, ft battalion
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“...difficulty it will
be neceaaary that to reduce the number
of ortieers, and this can be done by antHl-
ganuuiug two battalions into one. Each
battalion being thua considerably against
increased, its numbers can be gradually
reduced by weeding out, thus eventually
bringing it down to its proper complement
without giving the officers any pretext for
objection uc>pposition. Vacancies amongab
the ranks caused by death, dismissal^ or
the weeding out of iiieffectivea will not
be tilled up for the time being, and aa
soon aa a thousand vacanciea have thus
been created, 500 sturdy soldiers picked
from the wholo forces of the province will
be selected to form a new battalion, each
man thus selected being given double pay.
If there are not autticient eifeccivea to be
found Htnngat tlie regular troops, a selec-
tion will be made from among the irre-
gnlars5 and the battalion of regular troopa
tlius formed will be governed by the
same rules aa those which control the irre-
gular troops.Referred by Keucript to...”
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“...Gazette of 14th August).
The Alemorialista have now to report
that they received some time ago a de-
spatch on thia subject from the acting
Governor of Kuaugai furniBhing them with
tlie details of the occurrence aa described
by the prefect and magistrate, together
with a copy of his Memorial to the Throne.
Enquiries were then made, and it was
found that as the battalion in question
under General Hu Tiiig-kuu waa cumpoaed
mostly of Huuau iueii, arrangements
had been made for ita disbandment in
that province, and an officer had been
sent down to carry the arrungements
out,* As this officer had not yet re-
ported the arrival of the battalion in
Hunan, orders were flenfc by express mes-
aenger to General Hu Ting-k4uu to acor-
tiin by a given date who the murderers
were, attd bo give them up for tranHinisaioti
to Kuangsi, where they would be duly
tried. The General haa now replied to the
following eft* ct :
He states that on arrival at Nan-ning
Fu after the march from Lung Chou, ao
many of hia men...”
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“...To add fco the
iniscliief, it bo happened that the weather
Was excessively wet and changeable, hot one
day and cold the next, so that the malarial
poison was intensified. Agait, all the
in the van of the army were obliged to live in
holes dug in the ground, order to avoid
the large shells that burst overthem, ftud
they were further exposed to the steaming
heat which caused pefitileixce to rmi still
Jiioro at riot, until tha Jiving and tbe dead
lay mingled together, and the ranks of
whole battalion were voided in a few
days. After a while there were no coflina
leftlarge pits bad t> he dug, into which
the dead were laid in flocks like sheep, no
lesa tlian from teirto twenty thousand inen
having died from first to laat, of whom a
Iftxge launber were possibly killed by tbe
enemy without the fact having been uacer-
taiued or reported.
The Memorialist would veuhire to re-
niark with reference fco this pitiable state
of things, that the soldier? in queafcion,
who were doing theiv duty in the...”
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