the most respectable and influential of the mercantile class that have remained, and have assured them of my anxiety to afford them all the protection consistent with our instructions to press the Chinese government. Proclamations have been issued, calling upon the people to open their shops, which I have engaged shall not be molested. This they have done to some extent, and confidence appears to be increasing."

It it gratifying to be able to state, that the conduct of the troops after taking possession of the town, was such as to call forth the warmest commendation from the Commander-in-Chief.

No event of any importance occurred after this for a long time. The Chinese at Canton employed themselves busily in erecting new fortifications, and the whole of the passage from Macao to that city, is described as having become one succession of batteries and earthern breast-works.

Early in the present year, the district cities of Yuydo, Tsikee, and Funghwa, distant respectively forty, twenty, and thirty miles from Ningpo, were "visited" and temporarily occupied by detachments of British troops. The resistance offered by the Chinese was too contemptible to give any interest to these operations; and we willingly spare our readers detailed accounts of various unimportant successes gained by our troops, whenever they came in contact with the Chinese.

Sir Henry Pottinger returned to Canton in the spring of this year, but did not interfere with the operations of the Canton authorities in throwing up works and erecting fortifications, so long as they refrained from building

batteries below the usual anchorage.

But the Chinese were resolved to make a bold attempt to drive us from Ningpo and its neighbourhood; and, after concentrating a large body of troops, amounting to not fewer than 14,000 men in the vicinity, they entered Ningpo on the morning of the 10th of March, by getting over the walls at different points, no resistance being offered by the British, who allowed the enemy to penetrate to the market-place, when our troops attacked them, and drove them back instantly with great slaughter. As they retreated in confusion, field guns drawn by ponies were brought up, and poured on the dense and flying mass a discharge of grape and canister, at a distance of less than 100 yards. About 250 dead bodies were left within the walls.

On the night of the same day, Chinhae was also attacked; but the guards at the gates having been doubled, the Chinese were repulsed with great loss. In these impotent attempts on the part of the enemy, the British forces did not lose a single man.

After the unsuccessful attack on Ningpo, the Chinese attempted to annoy the British garrison, by obstructing the supply of provisions; and intelligence having been received that a body of 3,000 or 4,000 men were encamped at the town of Tse-kee, about eleven miles westward of Ningpo, Sir Hugh Gough determined to attack them. A force about 1,100 strong was taken on board, and in tow of the Nemesis and Phlegethon steamers, on the 15th March; and on arriving near Tse-kee, the Chinese were seen posted in a tolerably strong position, immediately to the

west of the town, the walls of which were scaled without any resistance. When, however, the British troops went out to attack the encampments, the Chinese fought well, keeping for some time a fire from gingalls and matchlocks. The marines and sailors were directed to attack them on the hill which formed the right of their position, while the 46th took the centre, and the 18th and 26th the left of their camp. Here it seems the much shorter distance which the marines and 49th had to traverse (and no doubt impatience to engage), brought on the fight rather prematurely these getting into action much sooner than the 18th and 26th, who had a long distance to go over steep hills; the 18th were unable to get at the Chinese till they had begun to run, and they then did execution on the flying mass. According to all accounts, the Chinese displayed more courage on this than any previous occasion, and their loss as well as numbers are variously estimated in different letters; the former at from 4 to 900 killed; the latter at from 14,000 to 15,000; although most of the letters mention the enemy to have been about 6,000 strong. On our side the loss was three killed and 20 wounded. That night the British troops slept in the neighbourhood, and on the following morning burnt the camp and several houses in the city and suburbs. Intelligence of another camp, at about five miles' distance, being received, the troops were marched there, but found it utterly deserted. On the following morning, the troops returned to Ningpo and Chinhae.

The Chinese troops who fought on this occasion were the élite of their army, and were under the

command of Commissioner YihKing, who had been sent to exterminate the " Barbarians." They included 500 of the Imperial Bodyguard, whom Sir Hugh Gough describes as remarkably fine men, and the Kansich troops from the frontiers of Turkistan, "a strong and muscular race, accustomed to border warfare, and reported by the Chinese invincible."

Ningpo was evacuated by the British on the 7th of May. The fleet sailed from thence to Just-inthe-Way, a place of anchorage between Chusan and Chinhae, leaving about 150 troops at the latter place, with one of H. M.'s ships, and one transport. The Admiral and fleet sailed from Chusan, and joined the other ships at Just-inthe-Way, leaving at Chusan 300 troops and H. M.'s brig Clio, with eight transports. On the 13th the fleet left Just-in-the-Way, and sailed for the River Tseentang, to attack the city of Chapoo, which is the great mart of the Chinese trade with Japan, not far from its mouth. On arriving there on the 16th, the place was reconnoitered in the Phlegethon and Nemesis, without interruption. The line of land from E. to W. for about three miles, ending at the suburb of the city, comprised three separate hills; the slopes between were fortified by field works, and on the last of these hills next the town were two batteries, about one-third up, consisting of seven and five guns. In front of the town, facing the water, was a circular battery, mounting fourteen or fifteen guns; and further to the westward another, altogether about forty-five guns on the sea face. The hills and works appeared to be covered with soldiers. On the 17th the fleet moved in; and on the 18th, the Cornwallis,

Blonde, and Modeste, being an chored abreast, and as close to the batteries as possible, opened their fire, which was very faintly returned. To the right (eastward), the troops disembarked on a fine sandy bay, without accident, and headed by Sir Hugh Gough, pushed on over the heights, and joined the troops between the heights, and soon came upon a causeway leading to the city. The Chinese fled before them in every direction. As soon as possible after the troops moved from the east, the naval brigade landed at the west end of the heights, and joined the troops between the heights and the suburbs. Up to this time, every defence had been carried with scarcely any loss; but about 300 Tartar troops, finding escape impossible, took possession of a joss-house on the spot, and defended themselves desperately, until the house fell in upon them, when about forty were taken alive, the rest perished. On this occa sion we sustained some loss. The Chinese forces amounted to 10,000 men, one-third of whom were Tartar troops.

The following extract, giving an account of Chapoo, is taken from a letter written by an eye wit

ness:

"Chapoo presents many features in common with all Chinese towns -narrow, irregular, and filthy streets, stagnant canals, and crowded buildings; stores of grain, and immense temples used as public buildings as well as places of worship. There are two distinct towns; the one occupied by the original inhabitants of the country, the other by their conquerors. Both cover a space about four miles in circuit. A wall divides the Tartars and the Chinese: both

live as a separate people, obeying the same laws, however, wearing the same dress, and speaking the same language; but in their social habits differing from each other in a remarkable degree. The Tartar town is laid out like a compact encampment, and consists of lines of huts running parallel, and only interrupted by the canals. Each hut has its own little compound, and on the bamboo fence separating it from its neighbour, a rich vine is almost in every instance grown ; the remaining space is occupied by the family well, a peach tree, and a few beautiful evergreens, tastefully arranged, and twisted into grotesque shapes. The interior is less pleasing: in general only a cold, damp, clay floor, a few chairs and tables, chests, and rude bedsteads; and in the richness of their dress alone do they rival the Chinese."

Sir H. Pottinger rejoined the squadron before it sailed from Chapoo; and its subsequent ope rations are concisely detailed by him in a "circular," dated on board the steam frigate Queen, in the Yang-tze-Kiang River (off Woosung), 24th June:

"After the necessary delay in destroying the batteries, magazines, foundries, barracks, and other public buildings, as well as the ordnance, arms, and ammunition, captured at Chapoo, the troops were re-embarked, and the expedition finally quitted that port on the 23rd of May, and arrived on the 29th off the Rugged Islands, where it remained until the 13th of June, on which day it crossed the bar, which had been previously surveyed and buoyed off, into the Yang-tze-Kiang River, to the point where the river is joined by the Woosung. At this point

the Chinese authorities had erected immense lines of works, to defend the entrances of both rivers; and seem to have been so confident of their ability to repel us, that they permitted a very close reconnoissance to be made in two of the small steamers, by their Excellen cies the Naval and Military Commanders-in-Chief on the 14th inst.; and even cheered and encouraged the boats which were sent in the same night to lay down buoys to guide the ships of war to their allotted positions of attack. At daylight on the morning of the 16th, the squadron weighed anchor, and proceeded to take up their respective stations, which was scarcely done when the batteries opened, and the cannonade on both sides was extremely heavy and unceasing for about two hours; that of the Chinese then began to slacken, and the seamen and marines were landed at once, under the fire from the ships, and drove the enemy out of the batteries, before the troops could be disembarked and formed for advancing: 253 guns (fortytwo of them brass) were taken in the batteries, most of them of heavy calibre, and upwards of eleven feet long. The whole were mounted on pivot carriages, of new and efficient construction, and it was likewise observed, that they were fitted with bamboo sights. The casualties in the Naval arm of the expedition amounted to two killed and twenty-five wounded, but the land forces had not a man touched. It appears almost miraculous, that the casualties should not have been much greater, considering how well the Chinese served their guns. The Blonde frigate had fourteen shot in her hull, the Sesostris steamer eleven, and all the ships engaged more or

less. The loss on the part of the enemy is supposed to have been about eighty killed, and a proportionate number wounded.

"On the 17th of June, some of the lighter vessels of the squadron advanced up the Woosung River, and found a battery deserted, mountfifty-five guns, of which seventeen were brass. On the 19th, two more batteries, close to the city of Shang-hai, opened their guns on the advanced division of the light squadron, but on receiving a couple of broadsides, the Chinese fled, and the batteries, which contained forty-eight guns (seventeen of them brass), were instantly occupied, and the troops took possession of the city, where the public buildings were destroyed, and the extensive government granaries given to the people.

"His Excellency the Admiral proceeded up the River Woosung with two of the small iron steamers on the 20th inst., about fifty miles beyond the city of Shanghai, and in this reconnoissance two additional field-works, each mounting four heavy guns, were taken and destroyed, bringing the total of ordnance captured in these operations up to the astonishing number of 364, of which seventy-six are of brass, and chiefly large, handsome guns; many of the brass guns have devices, showing that they have been cast lately; several of them have Chinese characters, signifying the tamer and subduer of the barbarians;' and one particularly large one is dignified by the title of the 'barbarian.'

6

"The Chinese high officers and troops are supposed to have fled in the direction of the cities of Soochow, Wang-chow-foo, and Nankin. The same high authorities

have made another indirect attempt to retard active operations, by an avowed wish to treat; and have also given a satisfactory proof of their anxiety to conciliate, by the release of sixteen of Her Majesty's subjects (Europeans and natives of India), who had been kidnapped; but as the overtures were not grounded on the only basis on which they can be listened to, they were met by an intimation to that effect."

The Chinese were greatly alarmed at the entrance of the English squadron into the waters of their great river Yang-tze-and Elepoo, a commissioner, who had previously been employed to negotiate with our forces at Chusan, but who had subsequently been degraded at Pekin for being too peaceably inclined towards the "barbarians," was again entrusted with office and sent to the scene of action. Some communications took place between him and the officers in command of the expedition with a view of terminating the quarrel without further hostilities, but these produced no results, and it was determined to advance and take possession of the great cities of Chin-Keang-foo and Nankin.

The fleet sailed from the anchorage off Woosung on the 6th of July. It consisted of upwards of seventy sail. The first opposition occurred on the 14th at Suyshan, where a few shots were fired from some batteries, which were however destroyed by our guns. On the 20th the whole fleet reached the city of Chin-keang-foo.

"This city, with its walls in excellent repair, stands within little more than half a mile from the river; the northern and the eastern faces upon a range of steep hills; the west and southern faces VOL. LXXXIV.

on low ground, with the Imperial Canal serving in some measure as a wet ditch to these faces. Το the westward, the suburb through which the canal passes extends to the river, and terminates under a precipitous hill, opposite to which, and within 1,000 yards, is the island of Kin-shan, a mere rock, rising abruptly from the water; a small seven-storied pagoda crowns the summit, and a few temples and imperial pavilions, partly in ruins, and only occupied by Chinese priests, run round its base and up its sides, interspersed with trees. The island is not more than a few hundred yards in circumference, and by no means calculated for a military position, being commanded completely by the hill on the right bank of the river."

Early on the morning of the 21st the whole of the troops were landed in three brigades-the first under Major-General Lord Saltoun, the second under MajorGeneral Bartley, and the third under Major-General Schoedde. Lord Saltoun advanced to attack the encampments in front of the city, which he soon took and destroyed, driving the enemy before him over the hills.

Sir H. Gough having determined to take the city by assault, he directed the body of troops under the command of General Bartley to advance against the south gate, which was soon blown open by means of powder-bags, and the men rushed in, but found after traversing a long archway that this gate did not lead into the city, but only an outwork of considerable extent. Major-General Schoedde, however, had previously taken possession of the inner gateway, having escaladed the city walls at the north angle, and after clearing [T]