Sang-ko-lin-sin (or Yang-ko-lin-tsin, for the
name is variously spelt), displayed unusual
resolution in resisting Admiral Hope's attack on
the Peiho forts, and whose slaughter of our
countrymen has been the cause of the present
toilsome and costly expedition. Prince
Sang-ko-lin-sin ranks, I believe, third among the
generals of the Chinese empire; but it is
reported, and perhaps truly, that he is the most
trusted and most able of all the imperial
servants, and had often been mentioned by the
Pekin Gazette previous to his encounter with
her Majesty's forces at the Peiho. He is beyond
question celebrated for the masterly manner in
which, with a smaller army, he succeeded in
forcing back the Taipings when they menaced
the Pekin Canal. He is universally named by
Chinese lips as the future generalissimo of China
in the event of a regular " barbarian " war, and
he certainly proved himself, on the disastrous
day of the Peiho, no despicable antagonist, even
for British seamen and soldiers.

From this sketch of the existing Chinese
army it will be perceived that only a very small
portion of it is available for actual hostilities,
either with rebels or with European invaders.
In fact, the soldiers of Chinese, or Tartar-Chinese
descent, have never voluntarily engaged
the Taipings. The settled military corporations
have waited to be attacked in detail, and have
been invariably worsted. The more mobile
portion of the army, forced into action by the
repeated mandates and threats of the court of
Pekin, have waged a feeble strife, mostly from
behind stockades and walls, with the unsparing
human locusts who devastate the land. The
Mantchou and Mongolian troops alone, hardy
and faithful, have averted the devastating visit
of the Taipings from the metropolis, and have
guarded the emperor's palace and person.

Had these been the sole supports of the
Chinese government, the rebels, inspired by a
thirst for plunder and a furious fanaticism, none
the less furious because its purport is unintelligible,
would have been the masters of all
Southern China years ago. But, although
Lowland China has not, as India has, any hereditary
families or tribes of martial adventurers,
there are generally in every village a
few young men who are more restless, bolder,
or perhaps poorer and more dissolute, than
their neighbours. For these, there are three
resources: piracy, Taipingism, enlisting in
one of the local corps, whose members are
technically styled the "Braves." Of these alternatives,
piracy pays the best, Taipingism being
decidedly the least lucrative. But every man
cannot have opportunities of leading a seafaring
life, and the "Brave" has this advantage: his
relations will not be exposed to torture or
imprisonment as a vicarious means of punishing
a distant offender: which often happens when
pirates are very obnoxious to the magistrates.
The Brave has good pay, much better pay than
the nominal soldier, and he really receives it,
with only such trifling deduction as a pay corporal
may chance to exact. During the first period of
our recent hostilities, the Canton Braves received
each three hundred cash a day; after the city
was taken, and before our famous expedition
against the White Cloud Mountains, the
Mandarin Committee were alarmed into increasing
the remuneration to the extravagant amount of
half a tael (three shillings and fourpence) a day
for " whole armed" men, and half that amount
for "half armed" men, who had only clubs
and spears. When our Marines marched to the
White Cloud hills, prepared for a hard struggle,
and the mandarins found that even Sycee silver
could not bribe their braggart retainers into facing
the Fanquis, this pay was greatly reduced. I
believe these prudent warriors exist now principally
on a salary of rice, and many of them have come
into Canton in hopes of employment in the
service of the " foreign devils."

A " Brave" is variously armed, but he seldom
or never bears the bow and quiver of the
Tartar troops. A "whole armed" man ought to
have a matchlock, two swords, a shield, a helmet,
and a bundle of rockets, fire-sticks, firepots, and
other pyrotechnic offensive tools. The " half
armed" have seldom anything more dreadful than
a fish spear and a knotted cudgel, but they are
robust in body, and can bear the fatigue of hauling
and pointing guns remarkably well. Their officers
are always the inferior " one button" mandarins,
and are notorious for timidity and incompetence,
always keeping well in the rear of their men, so
that none of them have ever yet been killed or
captured by our people. No pension is given to
a " Brave:" for the obvious reason that his
service is a brief and temporary one; but he has a
claim to be compensated for wounds, and has a
large bribe in the shape of " head money." A
Taiping's head is paid for, at the rate of one
tael: a European's, at four times the amount;
but as yet very little money has been thus
obtained by the " Braves."

The Fourteenth Journey of
THE UNCOMMERCIAL TRAVELLER,
A SERIES OF OCCASIONAL JOURNEYS,
BY CHARLES DICKENS,
Will appear Next Week.

Now ready, at all the Libraries, in Three Vols.
post 8vo,
THE WOMAN IN WHITE.
By WILKIE COLLINS.
SAMPSON LOW, SON, and Co., 47, Ludgate-hill.