rejected. The answer concluded as follows:-- "The despatch written on this occasion (by the British Minister) is, in much of its language, too insubordinate and extravagant (for the Council) to discuss its propositions more than superficially. For the future he must not be so wanting in decorum. "The above remarks will have to be communicated by the Commissioner to the British Minister, whom it will behove not to adhere obstinately to his own opinion, as, so doing, he will give cause to much trouble hereafter." Lord Elgin and Baron Gros left Ceylon in the Pekin, and arrrived at Hong Kong on the 21st of June. They proceeded without delay to Shanghai, which General Sir Hope Grant and Admiral Hope, the military and naval commanders of the British forces had reached on the 16th previously. The place of rendezvous for the English was the bay of Tah-lien-hwan, in the gulf of Pecheli. This bay lies open to the south-east, being completely land-locked on every other side, and it afforded excellent anchorage for the ships, which, including gunboats and transports, amounted to about 200 in number. The French expedition was at Chefow, on the north side of the promontory of Shantung, where Baron Gros joined it. The English forces left Tah-lien-hwan bay, and the French Chefow, on the 26th of July, to meet near the mouth of the Peiho river. They proceeded to Pehtang, twelve miles to the north of the Peiho, where they disembarked, and where they remained encamped until the 12th of August. Pehtang is described as a wilderness of mud and water, destitute of tree, plant, shrub, or grass, amidst a scene of utter misery and desolation." We may mention as a curious illustration of our anomalous position with respect to this strange empire, that on the 18th of August a large body of the Taiping rebels, who have for many years kept up a war with the Chinese Government with considerable success, attacked Shanghai, in which a British garrison had been left by General Sir Hope Grant when he proceeded to the north. The attack was, of course, repulsed; and no further attempt was made. But it was a singular fact, that we should at the same moment have to contend against the Chinese Government, and a body of men, who like ourselves were in arms against that Government, and who, therefore, ought naturally to have been our allies in the enterprise. While fighting against the Emperor, we defended Shanghai against the enemies of the Emperor! The following extract from a despatch written by General Sir Hope Grant to the Secretary at War, under date August 24, will show the operations of the allied forces after leaving the village of Pehtang on the morning of the 12th of August; an earlier march having been rendered impossible on account of the heavy rains, which flooded the country, and made the roads impracticable :-"The troops marched according to the following dispositions-viz., the second division of Infantry, an Armstrong battery, a rocket battery, Madras Sappers, and the Cavalry Brigade, with three sixpounders. The whole, under Major General Sir Robert Napier, struck off to the right of the road leading from Pehtang to Sinho, for the purpose of turning the left of the Tartar position. This column experienced the greatest difficulty in getting through the deep heavy ground, which extended for more than two miles out of Pehtang, and considerably delayed the departure of the main column under Sir John Michel, which moved along the causeway leading directly from Pehtang to Sinho, and which was composed as follows-viz., the 1st Infantry Brigade, a company of Royal Engineers, an Armstrong battery, 1000 French Infantry, and a French battery, all under Brigadier Staveley. This was followed by the 2nd Infantry Brigade, two 9. pounder batteries, and a rocketbattery, succeeded by the main column of the French. "On approaching the intrenched camp the Tartar cavalry moved rapidly down to attack Sir Robert Napier, who was at this time about two miles and a half off, on my right flank. His report of that part of the engagement I beg to enclose. "Sir John Michel's division deployed at the same time in front of the enemy's works, and opened fire with Lieutenant-Colonel Barry's Armstrong battery and Cap tain Desborough's 9 pounders, a French battery being on the left, together with a French and an English rocket battery. These guns kept up such a heavy fire that the Tartars were unable to resist long, and they abandoned their works, being closely followed into their second entrenched line at Sinho, which they were unable to de fend, and fled to Tangku. The enemy's force was composed principally of cavalry, and numbered about 4000 men. At Sinbo I was joined by Sir R. Napier's division, and the cavalry, who had cut up a good number of the Tartar horsemen. "The loss of the Chinese was about 100 men. "On the 13th I reconnoitred the ground along the banks of the Peiho leading to Tangku, and found it tolerably firm, though intersected with creeks and ditches. I ordered these to be bridged during the night, and on the morning of the 14th an allied force moved from Sinho towards Tangku, keeping their right flank on the bank of the river. "On arriving within a mile of Tangku, a battery and some junks on the right bank were silenced by two Armstrong and two 9-pounder guns; and a party of sailors, who had been brought up for the purpose, crossed the river and burned the junks. The whole of the artillery was then advanced to within 600 yards of the entrenchment, and opened a heavy fire on the walls; two French batteries deployed on our left, the enemy replying with ten or twelve guns, and a brisk fire of gingals and matchlocks. The artillery gradually advanced to within 350 yards, and, the enemy's guns being silenced, a breach was commenced, when a passage across the double wet ditch was discovered at the river's edge by the 60th Rifles, and an entrance was effected, the Chinese retiring with great precipitancy. At the same time the French advanced with great gallantry, and entered by the main gate, which had been partially broken in by the artillery fire. The garrison of Tangku retreated, some into the North Forts and some across the river to Tangku. "I am happy to say that our losses in these two engagements were very slight, owing to the enemy being completely paralysed by the superior fire of our artillery. 66 Forty-five guns were captured in Tangku." The Allied forces then proceeded to attack the Taku forts. The first against which the operations of the British troops commenced was the uppermost fort on the left bank of the Peiho, distant about two miles from Tangku. On the 20th of August the road was made practicable to within 800 yards of the fort, batteries were traced, and the heavy guns were brought out ready to place in position by daybreak of the following day. The Chinese opened fire during the day, and were replied to by Armstrong guns at 2000 yards' range, with good effect, and the firing gradually ceased. During the night, batteries were constructed for the heavy guns and mortars and for one field battery, also for two 8-inch guns, and the whole were placed in position by daybreak of the 21st. It had been arranged with the admirals that the gunboats should cross the bar that morning, and should engage the outer North Fort and the flank of the outer South Fort, at the same time that the attack on the inner North fort was commenced by the land forces. At 5 A.M, however, the Chinese opened fire upon the troops from all their forts within range, and the guns of the allies were forced to reply an hour earlier than had been intended. A storming party was formed, and the field guns were advanced to within 500 yards of the uppermost fort, while the French pushed on to the salient point, Prossed the wet ditches, and at tempted to escalade the walls, but failed, owing to the vigorous resistance of the Chinese. Their fire was so effective that our sappers were unable to lay down the pon toon bridge, and fifteen men engaged in carrying it were, by one discharge, knocked down, and a pontoon was destroyed. At this juncture Sir R. Napier caused two howitzers to be brought up to within fifty yards of the gate, in order more speedily to create a breach, and a space sufficient to admit one man had just been made, when our storming party, who had partly crossed by the French bridge and partly swam over, forced their way in by single file in the most gallant manner. "At the same moment," says Sir Hope Grant, the French effected their entrance, and the garrison was driven back step by step, and hurled pellmell through the embrasures on the opposite side."* The General proceeds :-- The following spirited account of the mode in which the fort was first entered is taken from The Times newspaper. It is from the pen of an eye-witness. "All this time the fire of the enemy continued incessant. Cold shot, hand, grenades, stink pots, and vases of lime were showered on the crowd of besiegers who stood upon the berme. The ladders placed against the wall were pulled into the fort, or thrown over, and in vain did man after man attempt to swarm through the embrasures. If the defence was desperate, nothing could exceed the gallantry of the assailants. Between English and French there was nothing to choose. A Frenchman climbed to the top of the parapet, where for some time he stood alone. One rifle after another was handed to him, which he fired against the enemy. But his courage was unavailing, and he fell back, speared through the eye. Another, pickaxe in hand, attempted to cut He was shot, away the top of the wall. and Lieutenant Burslem, of the 67th. caught hold of his pick and continued the work. Lieutenant Rogers attempted “About an hour after this the whole of the forts on both sides of the river hauled down their war banners, and hoisted flags of truce. General Montauban and I sent each an officer to ask their meaning and summon them to surrender, but they only received an evasive and insolent reply, and were defied to come on to the attack." The outer North Fort was next attacked. Sir Hope Grant says:"This fort was stronger than the first. They are all constructed on the same plan, being redoubts with a thick rampart heavily armed with guns and wall pieces, and having a high cavalier facing seawards, the guns of which were all turned in towards us; they have two unfordable wet ditches, between which and the parapet sharp bamboo stakes were thickly planted, forming two belts, each about fifteen feet wide, round the fort, an abattis encircling the whole, and further covered by pieces of water, which force an advance to be made only on a narrow front." No resistance, however, was made by the governor of this Fort. The allied infantry pushed on, crossed the ditches, and scaled the walls without a shot being fired by the enemy, and 2000 Tartars were made prisoners. to force his way through an embrasure, but was driven back. He ran to another, but it was too high for him. Lieutenant Lenon, 67th, came to his assistance, forced the point of his sword into the wall, and placing one foot on the sword, Lieutenant Rogers leaped through the erbrasure just after Jean Pauchard, drummer of the French 102nd, had got over at the right angle. Lieutenant Rogers acted with conspicuous gallantry. He was the first Englishman in the place, and was afterwards of the greatest service in existing others through the em brasures." In the evening it was observed that the garrisons of the South Forts were abandoning them, and English and French troops crossed the river in boats, and occupied them without any opposition. The whole of the forts, which contained about 400 guns, many of which were of a very large calibre, were now in possession of the allies, and the enemy had entirely disappeared. In the meantime, some evasive attempts were made by the Chinese Government to put a stop to hostilities by negotiation, and Lord Elgin was informed, by a despatch from Hang and Wan, two ministers of State, that Kweiliang, with whom he had negotiated the treaty of 1858, and Hang Fuh, the Governor-General of the province of Chi Li, had been appointed Imperial Commissioners to treat for peace with the Plenipotentiaries at Tien-tsin. Admiral Hope proceeded to Tien-tsin up the Peiho river on the 23rd of August, accompanied by Consul Parkes in the Coromandel, with a division of five gunboats. They anchored about ten miles below the city, where they ascertained that the Tartar General in Chief, Sang-kolin-sin, had, after abandoning the Taku forts, passed Tien-tsin on the previous day, with a small body of horsemen, and that there was no intention of defending the works which he had caused to be thrown up to protect the place, from which the garrison and all the guns had been withdrawn. Upon this Ad. miral Hope determined to occupy Tien-tsin with the small force Our loss on this occasion consisted of-Killed men, 17. Wounded: officers, 22, men, 161. under his command; and having reached the city and landed a body of marines, he hoisted the English and French flags over the east gate of the city. Mr. Parkes then had an interview with the Viceroy and Commissioners, and arrangements were made for supplying the British troops with provisions, which were punctually furnished, and the inhabitants evinced a friendly disposition, without appearing to be much alarmed at the presence of their "barbarian visitors. A Chinese proclamation by Sang-kolin-sin, issued about a week previously, was observed on the walls, which announced that the allies had been defeated, and were suing for peace, and that therefore the people need not be alarmed nor remove from the city. Mr. Parkes also had an imperial edict shown to him, by which Sangko-lin-sin was deprived of his three-eyed peacock's feather, and his Command-in-Chief of the Manchoo-bordered blue banner, as a mark of the Emperor's displeasure at his conduct of the campaign. In consequence of the professed desire of the Chinese Imperial Commissioners to negotiate a treaty of peace, Lord Elgin, in the belief that they had full powers for that purpose, desired his secretaries, Messrs. Parkes and Wade, both thoroughly acquainted with the Chinese language, to wait on them with the draft of a couvention containing the terms upon which alone peace would be concluded by the Allies. At the interview, however, it transpired that there was considerable doubt as to the extent of the powers possessed by Kweiliang and his colleagues, and on being !ressed to produce any edict in vesting them with the requisite authority, they admitted that they had none, except one, to which they referred, and which was manifestly insufficient. They then proposed to write to Pekin for the powers required, and desired that the Allies should wait "three days or so" at Tien-tsin until an answer was received from the capital. Lord Elgin, however, resolved not to be thus trifled with, and on the 7th of September he wrote to the Commissioners, and after reproaching them with their want of good faith, said that he would not submit to the delay which the necessity of a reference to Pekin would involve, and added, "He has accordingly called upon his Excellency the General Commanding Her Britannic Majesty's army in China to provide him with such a force as will enable him to proceed without loss of time to Tang-chow; and he has further to intimate to the Imperial Commissioners, that he can neither receive their visit nor enter into any convention with them for the re-establishment of peace till he shall have reached that city." On the 9th of September, therefore, the Allied forces left Tientsin, and General Sir Hope Grant says: "On the 13th inst. I reached Hooseiwoo, forty miles from Tientsin, and, as several letters had been received by Lord Elgin from some fresh Commissioners of high rank, I halted while Messrs. Parkes and Wade went on to meet them at Tangchow, twenty-five miles distant. On the 15th these gentlemen returned, having made satisfactory arrangements with the Chinese Commissioners, by which it was agreed that the Allied forces. |