fellow kept "watch and ward" over the elder M'Nally, and gave him some rough treatment. M'Nally's wife screamed loudly for assistance, and her cries attracted the attention of some neighbours, on whose approach her husband's assailants fled. The noise was also heard by a police patrol, who followed up the traces and captured the probable evil-doers. In this case the sufferer had incurred just resentment by his conduct to a girl in the village. The locality of these offences is the King's County. In February, a poor fellow named Harrison, "Lord Plunkett's ploughman," was shot dead close to his own house, in Mayo, probably because his master had recently evicted his tenants. In the same county a Mrs. Walsh was murdered at Kilcoula. this terrible accident to be then forcing 37,500 cubic | body. Whilst the party was beating M'Nally another feet per minute. The inspection of the works was efficient and systematic; the men were provided in every instance with safety lamps of the most approved construction; and these were examined and locked by a special officer before they were delivered to the workmen. It is probable that this great catastrophe was occasioned by one of the men recklessly exposing his light to the explosive air. At the inquest, numerous instances were given of the incredible carelessness of the men. It seemed, for one example, that the miners are so reckless of their lives, that they carry concealed in their dress false keys or picklocks, with which to unfasten the door of their lamp-sometimes for the purpose of trimming the wick, but more frequently in order to light their pipes. Smoking had in consequence been strictly prohibited, but without effect; the men carried down with them concealed parcels of tobacco; and their companions, though aware of the necessity of the prohibition, will not interfere. One fellow, who had been watched and detected by the overseer, lying on his back with a glowing pipe in his mouth, paid his fine with great reluctance, owing to its being what he considered "not a fair catch." It is worthy of notice, that three only of the unfortunate fellows who perished on this occasion died from the effects of the explosion; all but six died of the choke-damp. Of the 142, seventy-two died of chokedamp without any signs of fire; the corpses of sixty-five bore the marks of burns; three were evidently burnt to death; and three died from injuries caused by the "falls." STATE OF IRELAND. Although the physical and with it the moral condition of Ireland had unquestionably improved, yet the annals of the year had been marked by terrible bloodshed. Many of these outrages may be traced to the secret Ribbon tribunal, but the greater part are due to private revenge, or those unpremeditated outbreaks which occur in every community. At the Cork assizes, Mr. Justice Christian, in passing sentence on three prisoners, said, "The peasantry in this part of the country use towards each other deadly weapons with a ferocity such as is not to be surpassed by what takes place amongst the most savage tribes inhabiting any portion of the earth." These persons escaped conviction for murder, but the manslaughters they had committed deserved, one four, and the others eight years' penal servitude. On the other hand, a "Correspondent" says that after the assizes he is able to state that "the Irish judges had not, within the present century, discharged a circuit so free from the charges of murder, homicide, or other very serious crimes." This optimist, however, then proceeds to give an account of a "murder" in Mayo, a "wilful murder" in Meath, and two "homicides" in Dungannon. The state of the King's County and Westmeath had given the authorities some anxiety. In January Mr. Dunne, a large landowner, and agent for the estates of Sir C. H. Coote, was followed and shot at his own door in Tullamore: he was dangerously wounded. On the 28th of the same month, a miller, Mr. Hewitson, was attacked and robbed at Ballyduff, and so injured that he died. On the 30th a serious outrage was perpetrated at Clontentin, near Banagher. The house of an old man, named M'Nally, was attacked, between 11 and 12 o'clock at night, by a large party of men, armed with heavy bludgeons, who forced open the outer door, and having thus effected an entrance, they also forced the door of an inner room, and dragged Christopher M'Nally, the son of the owner of the house, out of bed, and forced him into the kitchen, and from thence outside the door, where the ruffians beat him with their murderous weapons, inflicting severe wounds on his head and COLONIAL.-AUSTRALIAN EXPLORING EXPEDITION. We are indebted to an Australian publication for the following graphic account of the Australian expedition of Burke and Wills. The extract is so condensed that it is given with little variation. In September, 1858, a public meeting was held in Melbourne to provide means for organising an elaborate scheme of exploration in the interior of the continent. Upwards of £3,000 were immediately raised by subscriptions for the purpose, and this sum was subsequently increased to £10,000 by a supplementary grant voted by the provincial legislature, by whom the governor was authorised to spend a considerable sum in procuring camels from India for the purposes of the expedition. Some time necessarily elapsed in obtaining the camels and completing the arrangements for the undertaking. Some difficulty also arose in the selection of a suitable leader; but at length Mr. Robert O'Hara Burke, one of the superintendents of the colonial police force, who had served in the Irish constabulary and the Austrian cavalry, was appointed to that honourable post; and under his guidance the expedition, gallantly equipped, and with the striking novelty of a long train of camels, set out from Melbourne on the 20th of August, 1860, and, turning to the northward, struck away for Menindie, on the banks of the Darling, which it was arranged should be their first dépôt. The personnel of the expedition consisted at this time of Mr. Burke, first in command, and of Mr. Landells, who had brought the camels from India, second in command. Mr. W. J. Wills, of the Melbourne Observatory, was appointed astronomical and meteorological observer; Dr. Herman Beckler, medical adviser and botanist; and Dr. Ludwig Becker, artist, naturalist, and geographical director. To these were added a foreman in the store department, with nine carefully selected assistants to take care of the stores, waggons, horses, &c.; and three natives of India to look after the camels. The stores, including twelve months' provisions, amounted to 21 tons. The plan of operations, after passing Menindie, was to proceed to Cooper's Creek, about one-third of the distance between Melbourne and the Gulf of Carpentaria, where a second dépôt was to be formed to serve as a basis of operations, as beyond this point the party would be entering upon a country that was wholly unknown. Unfortunately, however, in reaching the banks of the Darling, disputes broke out between the leader and certain of the officers, which led to the retirement of Mr. Landells and to a tender of resignation from Dr. Beckler. Some of the camels, too, had fallen into a condition that unfitted them to proceed. The expedition had already become disorganised and broken in its strength. Under these trying and embarrassing circumstances, Mr. Burke determined to divide the party which remained with him, and to push on with a portion to Cooper's Creek before the season advanced, leaving the rest to follow with the heavier supplies at leisure. He accordingly quitted the camp at Menindie on the 19th October, accompanied by Mr. Wills and six men, and taking with him 16 camels of Marsitea, which the natives make into bread), and the and 15 horses. An experienced bushman named Wright, flesh of a few crows and hawks. The rains had made and two natives, went with them as far as a place called the ground heavy, and the camels, enfeebled by overTorowoto, where Wright quitted the party, with instruc- work and fasting, could scarcely struggle through it. tions from Burke to follow shortly and take command of One by one these faithful animals sank under the exerthe dépôt to be formed at Cooper's Creek. At this point tion, until their number was at last reduced to two. Burke gave any of his men the option of returning with Gray was the first of the men to fail. He had long been Wright; but they all declined. Cooper's Creek was complaining of pains in the back and legs; but his reached on the 20th of November. From that date till companions, inexperienced as yet in the dull agony of the 16th of December the time was occupied in making starving, fancied he was shamming. Before long they surveying excursions to find a practicable line of route learned too well that his sufferings were real. When he towards the north. At last, having chosen King and died, which was on the 17th of April, they had hardly Gray to accompany himself and Wills across the great strength to commit his body to the earth; and four days Sahara of Australia, and appointed Brahe as the tem- afterwards, nearly naked and worn to shadows, they porary head of the four men to be left behind, Burke staggered into the camp at Cooper's Creek, where they started on his adventurous errand. This was on the 16th had left the reserve party under Brahe, and where they of December, 1860. He directed his line along the of course expected to experience a relief from all their 140th degree of East longitude, considerably to the east sufferings. What, then, must have been their feelings of that marked on the map as "Sturt's." He took with when they found that on the morning of that very day, him six camels, a horse, and twelve weeks' provisions, the 21st of April, only seven hours before their arrival, but no spirits of any kind. He expressed his belief that Brahe with his party had quitted the dépôt and set out he should return within three months, though Brahe on his return to Menindie! Never, surely, was human said he should not expect him so soon; and the two endurance subjected to a severer test-never was misparties separated in good health and spirits. The diffi- fortune borne with a nobler fortitude! Famished and culties encountered by Burke and his little party proved, exhausted, they were still alive-still without other on the whole, less than might have been expected. They help than the comparatively slender means which travelled over a plain country, sometimes broken up into Brahe had left behind him in a hole in the ground, stony tracts, at the rate of twelve or fifteen miles a day, and which was indicated to them by the words "Diggenerally finding grass and water within the twenty- April 21," which he had carved on a neighbouring tree. four hours. King (the only survivor of the party) says, The gradual way in which the fearfulness of their situaWe went by compass and observation. Mr. Wills tion dawned upon them is well described in King's took observations generally very regularly, and corrected affecting narrative. Still these brave men braced themhis notes every evening in concert with Mr. Burke." selves up for a last struggle. From this moment, howThey made no lengthened halts, but divided the day ever, calamity dogged them at every step. Deeming into three short stages, and occasionally travelled by themselves too weak to follow, with any hope of overtaknight to get more rapidly across the deserts. They saw ing, the steps of the party who had just quitted the dépôt, plenty of kangaroos, emus, and ducks, but could not and who slept that very night at a distance no further stop to shoot them; and they always carried water, that off than fourteen miles, they determined to rest awhile they might be able to avail themselves of a good camp- and refresh. They found the food that had been left for ing ground, even where there might be no springs to them in the hole or "cache," and after remaining some be found. Thus they journeyed until they struck the days to recruit, they resolved, by a strange fatalitycourse of a stream or estuary, which Wills pronounced which seemed henceforward to prevail to the end-not to be the Albert River, but which some suppose to have to return by the way they had come, but to endeavour been really the Flinders River, while others would place to reach the out-settlements of South Australia, in the it on the other side of the Albert, "more to the west-neighbourhood of Mount Hopeless, not above 150 miles ward." They followed this downward, in the hope of coming to the sea, and actually got far enough to detect a slight rise and fall of tides, and to find the water salt. They seem indeed to have gone eighteen miles beyond the point at which these phenomena were observed, and Burke, though he confessed that he had not seen the ocean, pronounced himself perfectly satisfied with what he had done. "We have discovered," he says in one of the fragments of his journal, which has been preserved, "a practicable route to Carpentaria, the principal portion of which lies in the 140th meridian of east longitude. Between this and the Stony Desert there is some good country from there to the tropic. The country is dry and stony between the tropic and Carpentaria. A considerable portion is rangy (hilly), but it is well watered and richly grassed." According to Burke's last despatch it was on the 11th of February, 1861, that the close vicinity of Carpentaria Gulf was gained, but it is probable, from the dates given in Wills's journal, that it was a few days later. At all events, about the middle of that month the party commenced their return homeward, leaving behind them a record of their visit, a few articles that could be spared, and some books, "a quantity of which," says King, "we brought to amuse ourselves with, but no one read them." It was now that the sufferings of this brave little company began. Two-thirds of their provisions had been exhausted, yet one-half of their way was still before them. They were put, of course, on short rations, and these were distributed by lot among the party, and eked out with "portulac, or nardoo" (the spores of a species distant. Wills and King were opposed to this project, but Burke persisted in it, and his companions unfortunately yielded to his resolve. Had they taken the route to Menindie, they would almost immediately have met a party under Wright, which the authorities at Melbourne (alarmed by the accounts which had reached them of the perilous circumstances under which Burke had gone forward with the expedition) had despatched for his relief. Enclosing a letter, descriptive of the route they intended to take, in a bottle which they deposited in the "cache," the three toil-worn men set out on a south-west course. But before doing so they neglected by fatal mischance to alter the inscription which Brahe had carved on the tree, or to leave any outward sign of their visit to the dépôt. Thus, it happened that when Brahe, who had encountered the relieving party under Wright, revisited the dépôt not many days after Burke and his companions had quitted it, they found nothing to indicate that the travellers had been there. Thence presuming that everything remained exactly as he had left it, Brahe did not open the "cache," and consequently did not discover the letter which Burke had written. Meantime, misfortune was closely following upon the steps of the three poor wayfarers. Abroad in the wilderness, at an inclement season of the year, with little clothing, and no supply of food, they wandered on in the direction of Mount Hopeless, till their limbs could carry them no further. Failing in every endeavour to reach the settled districts of the country, the hapless wanderers resolved, as a last resource, to seek succour from the aborigines, whom they at first viewed with sus picion. With this view it was arranged, as Wills had now become utterly helpless, that he should be left at a particular spot, and that Burke and King should go forward to seek the natives. The end was now rapidly approaching, and cannot be better described than in the simple but deeply touching words of King's narrative: "Having collected," says King, "and pounded sufficient seed (nardoo) to last Mr. Wills eight days, and two days for ourselves, we placed firewood and water within his reach, and started. Before leaving him, however, Mr. Burke asked him whether he still wished it, as under no other circumstances would he leave him; and Mr. Wills again said that he looked upon it as our only chance. He then gave Mr. Burke a letter and his watch for his father, and we buried the remainder of the field books near the gunyah. Mr. Wills said that, in the case of my surviving Mr. Burke, he hoped I would carry out his last wishes in giving the watch and letter to his father. In travelling the first day Mr. Burke seemed very weak, and complained of great pains in his legs and back. When we halted (on the second day), Mr. Burke seemed to be getting worse, although he ate his supper. He said he felt convinced he could not last many hours, and gave me his watch, which he said belonged to the committee (of the Royal Society of Victoria), and a pocket-book, to give to Sir William Stawell, in which he wrote some notes. He then said to me, 'I hope that you will remain with me here till I am quite dead; it is a comfort to know that some one is by; but when I am dying, it is my wish that you should place the pistol in my right hand, and that you will leave me unburied as I lie!' That night he spoke very little, and the following morning I found him speechless or nearly so, and about eight o'clock he expired." King then went on to say, that after remaining two days to recover his strength, "I then returned to Mr. Wills. I took back three crows; but I found him lying dead in his gunyah, and the natives had been there and taken away some of his clothes. I buried the corpse with sand, and remained there some days; but finding that my stock of nardoo was running short, and being unable to gather it, I tracked the natives who had been to the camp by their footprints, and went some distance down the creek, shooting crows and hawks on the road." It is not in the power of language to increase the force of this simple description. What a picture does it present! What patience under trial, what fortitude under suffering, what manly resignation and true nobility of soul in the last supreme hour! Not a murmur escaped the lips of either sufferer; each knows that the end is coming; and, without one complaining thought or word, prepares to meet it as may become a man. Here, truly, is majesty in death. The period at which these gallant men died appears to have been the last week in June, 1861. King succeeded in reaching the natives, and making friends with them. He remained amongst them until the month of September, when he was rescued by a relieving party which had been sent out from Melbourne under the direction of Mr. Alfred William Howitt, a son of William and Mary Howitt, the popular authors. Mr. Howitt visited the spots at which the two brave but hapless explorers had died, and gave to their remains a simple but Christian burial, engraving the initials of the name, and the date of the death of each, on a tree which stood by the side of either grave. This perhaps was the most appropriate form of sepulture that could be accorded to men who had perished under such circumstances. It was well that they should lie where they had fallen that their remains should continue, as it were, to sanctify the spot which had been the scene of their sufferings. But the public opinion of Melbourne, which was kindled to the highest degree of admiration for the great work which Burke and Wills had accomplished, and of sympathy for the melancholy fate which attended them, would not allow the heroic remains to rest here. Towards the close of the year, the bodies were exhumed and | brought down to Melbourne, where, for many days, they lay in state in the hall of the Royal Society; and were then interred with all the pomp of a public funeral (at which the governor, the ministers, many members of the legislature, and most of the leading citizens attended) in the cemetery of the city. Thus fell two as gallant spirits as ever sacrificed life for the extension of science and the cause of mankind! Both were in their prime; both resigned comfort and competency to embark in an enterprise by which they hoped to render their names glorious; both died without a murmur, evincing their loyalty and devotion to their country to the last. The annals of British geographical discovery record the names of many great and illustrious men who have perished in the prosecution of their gal lant labours; but upon the scroll of fame on which such names are written, none will be inscribed with a brighter blazon than the names of BURKE and WILLS. Robert O'Hara Burke, born in 1821, was the second son of James Hardiman Burke, of St. Clerans, County Galway. He commenced his career as a cadet of the Woolwich Academy, but left at an early age to enter a regiment of Hungarian hussars in the Austrian service. When this was disbanded, in 1848, he obtained an appointment in the Irish constabulary, which, in 1853, he exchanged for the police force of Melbourne. On the news of the Crimean war, he hastened home on leave of absence, in the hope of getting a commission; but finding himself too late to share the glories of the campaign, he returned, and resumed his duties in the colony. When the exploring expedition was resolved on, his love of adventure and thirst for distinction led him to apply for the command, and his services were accepted. William John Wills was born in 1834, at Totnes, Devonshire, where his father practised medicine. Being destined for the same profession, he entered at St. Bartholomew's, and distinguished himself, especially as student in chemistry. In 1852, the news of the gold discoveries induced him to try his fortunes in Australia, and he settled at Ballarat, where he was subsequently joined by his family, and continued to support his father for several years. His taste, however, had always been for astronomy and meteorology, and he passed all his leisure hours at the office of Mr. Taylor, the head of the Crown Lands Survey in the Ballarat district, where he gave such proofs of ability as to be put in charge of a field party. Here he soon attracted the attention of the surveyor-general, and on the establishment of a Magnetic and Meteorological Observatory in Melbourne, he was attached specially to the staff, on which he was serving when he was selected for the post of observer and surveyor to the exploring expedition. It may be added that Gray was originally a seafaring man, whom Burke enlisted on the Darling; and King, the only survivor, a soldier who had served in India. Almost MASSACRE OF CHRISTIANS IN SYRIA. A frightful massacre of Maronite Christians by Druses took place at Deir-el-Kammar on the 21st of June. The number of slain was put down at from 1,100 to 1,200. "I travelled," writes Lord Dufferin, "over most of the open country before the war was over, and came to Deirel-Kammar a few days after the massacre. every house was burnt, and the street crowded with dead bodies, most of them stripped and mutilated in every possible way. My road led through some of the streets my horse could not even pass, for the bodies were literally piled up. Most of them I examined had many wounds, and in each case was the right hand either entirely or nearly cut off; the poor wretch, in default of weapons, having instinctively raised his arm to parry the blow aimed at him. I saw little children, of not more than three or four years old, stretched on the ground, and old men with grey beards. Beyrout itself was threatened by the infuriated and victorious Druses, and the presence of an English pleasure-yacht in the] harbour, with a single gun, is supposed to have had more effect in averting the danger than all the troops of the Jurkish pasha, whose conduct, in fact, showed that he connived at the massacre." On the 9th of July similar outrages began at Damascus. A mob, consisting of the lowest order of Moslem fanatics, assembled in the streets, and instead of being dispersed by the Turkish troops, of whom there were 700 in the town, under the command of Ahmed Pasha, they were allowed to increase until they began a general attack upon the houses in the Christian quarters, and committed many murders. The soldiers sent to quiet the disturbance joined the mob, and next day the work of destruction was renewed with greater violence. The consulates of France, Austria, Russia, Holland, Belgium, and Greece were destroyed, and their inmates took refuge in the house of Abdel-Kader, who behaved nobly on the occasion, and sheltered about 1,500 Christians from the fury of the assailants. For this conduct he afterwards received the thanks of the British government. The news of these events excited the profoundest sensation in Western Europe, and especially in France, where the emperor, obeying the national impulse, at once determined to send troops to Syria. But as such a measure, to prevent misinterpretation as to French objects in the East, required the concert of the great powers, he applied to them to sanction the expedition. The excuse was the apathy or inability of the Turkish government to put down the outbreak and punish the authors of the massacre; and certainly the conduct of the Turkish authorities in Syria justified the interference. A convention was accordingly agreed upon between her Majesty, the Emperors of Austria, Russia, and France, the Prince Regent of Prussia, and the Sultan, and a protocol was signed at Paris on the 3rd of August, whereby it was provided by Art. I., that "A body of European troops, which may be increased to 12,000 men, shall be sent to Syria to contribute towards the re-establishment of tranquillity. "Art. II. His Majesty the Emperor of the French agrees to furnish, immediately, the half of this body of troops. If it should become necessary to raise its effective force to the number stipulated in the preceding article, the high powers would come to an understanding with the Porte without delay, by the ordinary course of diplomacy, upon the designation of those among them who would have to provide it. "Art. III. The commander-in-chief of the expedition will on his arrival enter into communication with the commissioner extraordinary of the Porte, in order to concert all the measures required by circumstances, and to take up the positions which there may be occasion to occupy in order to fulfil the object of the present convention. "Art. IV. Their Majesties the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Emperor of Austria, the Emperor of the French, His Royal Highness the Prince Regent of Prussia, and his Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, promise to maintain sufficient naval forces to contribute towards the success of the common efforts by the re-establishment of tranquillity on the coast of Syria. “Art. V. The high parties, convinced that such a period will be sufficient to attain the object of pacification which they have in view, fix at six months the duration of the occupation of the European troops in Syria." In another protocol, signed the same day, the plenipotentiaries declared "in the most formal manner, that the contracting powers do not intend to seek for, and will not seek for, in the execution of their engagements, any territorial advantages, any exclusive influence, or any concession with regard to the commerce of their subjects, such as could not be granted to the subjects of all other nations." General Beaufort d'Hautpoul was appointed to command the French expeditionary force, which left Marseilles at the beginning of August. In the meantime, the Sultan had invested Fuad Pasha, the minister for foreign affairs, with full powers to proceed to Syria, at the head of a strong force, to execute summary justice upon the guilty participators in the outrage. He left Constantinople early in July, and whatever doubts may have been entertained as to the complicity beforehand, of the Turkish government in the attack upon the Christians, there can be none as to the zeal and sincerity with which Fuad Pasha accomplished his mission. At Beyrout he hanged and shot a great number of Moslems, and carried out his instructions with the utmost vigour. The arrival of the French was viewed, as might be expected, with the utmost aversion by the Mahometans, but with a general feeling of relief and sense of security by the Christian population, both European and native. By a later convention between the great powers, the stay of the French troops was agreed to be prolonged until the 5th of June, 1861, to enable a plan to be formed for the organisation of a government of the Lebanon, and to secure the tranquillity of Syria. At the end of July, Lord Dufferin was appointed to act as British commissioner in Syria, in conjunction with commissioners on the part of France, Austria, Prussia, and Russia. The object of the commission was to inquire into the origin of the disturbances and outbreak-to alleviate the sufferings and losses of the Christians, and make arrangements for the future administration of Syria, so as to prevent as far as possible a recurrence of similar calamities. WAR WITH CHINA. The disastrous repulse which our forces met with in attempting to ascend the Peiho river, when acting as escort to Mr. Bruce, charged with an embassy to Pekin, and the treachery of the Chinese or Tartar garrisons of the fort at the mouth of the river, who, without notice, and through no breach of courtesy on our part, opened fire and inflicted upon us severe losses, the more severe that the perpetration of them was an insult as well as an act of hostility to the British flag, had to be avenged. Therefore, England and France-the latter power had shared in the odium of the same failure--hastened to punish the Chinese for so flagrant an infraction of the law of nations. Lord Elgin, who had upon another occasion distinguished himself as British plenipotentiary in China, was again appointed to that office, and an expedition in force, fitted out at short notice, left England to enforce upon the Emperor the execution of the treaty of Tien-tsin, and compel reparation for the outrage committed in the previous year. The French emperor co-operated with us cordially and in the most zealous spirit; and, under the command of General Montauban, a strong force was despatched by his Imperial Majesty to China, to act in concert with the body of troops of which General Sir Hope Grant, then serving in India, was appointed to the chief command. Several of the Sikh regiments volunteered to serve under him, and bore out in efficiency and loyalty the high character they had already gained in the Indian service. The French plenipotentiary was Baron Gros, who, in company with Lord Elgin, embarked on board an English frigate, the Malabar, for their destination; but unfortunately, calling on their way at Point de Galle, in Ceylon, the ship struck upon a reef of rocks in the harbour, and soon became a total wreck. This catastrophe was so sudden and unexpected that the ambassadors were in imminent danger, and independent of the property sacrificed, many most important papers and documents connected with the purposes of the expedition were lost. Mr. Bruce, however, had in the interim presented ar ultimatum to the Chinese government. It was despatched | on the 16th of the month. Tah-hen-hwan, in the Gulf from Shanghai on the 8th March, and on the part of the British government our envoy required the immediate and unconditional acceptance of the following terms;1. That an ample and satisfactory apology be made for the act of the troops who fired on the ships of her Britannic Majesty, from the forts of Taku, in June last, and that all guns and material, as well as the ships abandoned on that occasion, be restored. 2. That the ratification of the treaty of Tien-tsin be exchanged without delay at Pekin; that when the minister of her Britannic Majesty proceeds to Pekin for that purpose, he be permitted to proceed up the river by Taku to the city of Tien-tsin in a British vessel, and that provision be made by the Chinese authorities for the conveyance of himself and of his suite with due honour from that city to Pekin. 3. That full effect be given to the provisions of the said treaty, including a satisfactory arrangement to be made for prompt payment of the indemnity of 4,000,000 taels, as stipulated in that treaty, for losses and military expenses entailed on the British government by the misconduct of the Canton authorities. There was also an addendum that in consequence of the attempt made to obstruct the passage of the British embassy to Pekin last year, the understanding entered into between the Earl of Elgin and the imperial commissioners in October, 1858, with respect to the residence of the British minister in China, was at an end, and that it rested henceforward exclusively with her Britannic Majesty, in accordance with the terms of Article II. of the treaty of Tien-tsin, to decide whether or not she should instruct her minister to take up his abode at Pekin. Similar demands were made by the French government. As may be supposed the "Great Council at the Chinese capital were rather taken aback by such imperious commands emanating from the "barbarians," and an answer was returned stating that the demands contained in the ultimatum caused them, as no doubt they did, the greatest astonishment, and, according to their custom, somewhat of a firm, yet on some points temporising, tone was craftily adopted - the defences of Taku could not, under any circumstances, be removed, and the demand for indemnity and the restoration of the ships and material was "yet more against decorum." As to expenses incurred, if China, whose expenditure had been enormous, were to demand repayment of England, England would find that her expenses did not amount to the half of those of China." But what seemed to cap the audacity that appeared in their eyes to characterise the ultimatum was the intimation relative to the residence of a British minister at Pekin. This was the most unreasonable demand of all, and without further parley the ultimatum was rejected. The answer concluded in an extravagant flourish of imperial dignity, and while it perforce invokes a smile at the ludicrous self-sufficiency of the Chinese rulers, their correspondence showed how much those wise men had yet to learn before they could be brought to a right estimation of the nation they had to deal with, and its conclusion was 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 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." But their own troubles were at hand. Lord Elgin and Baron Gros embarked in the Pekin from Ceylon, and on the 21st June reached Hong Kong, whence they started without delay for Shanghai, at which place General Sir Hope Grant and Admiral Hope, the military and naval commanders of the British forces, had arrived of Pechili, a bay affording excellent anchorage for the ships-which, with the gun-boats and transports, amounted to two hundred craft, large and small-was the rendezvous for the British, while Chefow, on the north side of the promontory of Shantung, was that of the French expedition, and there Baron Gros joined it. Both forces left their anchorage simultaneously on the 26th of July to meet at the mouth of the Peiho River, and thence proceeded to Pehtang, twelve miles to the north of the Peiho, where the troops disembarked, and remained encamped until the 12th of August. Pehtang, "a wilderness of mud and water," was ill-suited to such a muster. A curious incident in this war occurred about this time at Shanghai, namely, a descent upon that place by the rebel forces. This attack made on Shanghai, after the departure of Sir Hope Grant, by the Taipings, or Chinese rebels, who had for some years opposed, with varied success, the armies of the emperor, was one of the phenomena of our present invasion of the Celestial Empire, inasmuch as we were compelled to hold our own, vi et armis, against the most determined foes of the very power we were hastening to punish for a most audacious and sanguinary breach of faith. No doubt the Taipings were ignorant or reckless of the origin of hostilities, but the garrison left in Shanghai repulsed them with a vigour and effect which, whatever was their intent, taught them the wisdom of not again becoming our assailants in that quarter. The allied forces broke up their encampment at the village of Pehtang on the morning of the 12th of August, and once fairly in the field the operations were carried on with remarkable rapidity, although the line of march offered numerous obstructions arising from the effects of the recent heavy rains by which the country had been flooded. Following the report of Sir Hope Grant, dated August 24, and forwarded to the war office, the troops were disposed as follows: The second division of infantry, an Armstrong battery, a rocket battery, Madras sappers, and the cavalry brigade, with three six-pounders, the whole under MajorGeneral 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; but for two miles out of Pehtang this column had to contend with the greatest impediments to its progress, owing to the heaviness of the ground it had to traverse, and considerably delayed the movement of the main column under Sir John Michel, the line of march for it being along the causeway leading directly from Pehtang to Sinho. This force was composed of the 1st Infantry Brigade, a company of Royal Engineers, an Armstrong battery, French infantry, one thousand strong, and a French battery, all under Brigadier Stavely. This was followed by the 2nd Infantry Brigade, two nine-pounder batteries and a rocket battery, succeeded by the main body of the French. Sir Robert Napier's column no sooner neared the entrenched camp of the enemy than the Tartar cavalry made a rapid movement and came to the attack with great impetuosity. Sir R. Napier's force was now some two miles and a half off Sir Hope Grant's right flank, while the division under Sir John Michel, deploying at the same time in front of the enemy's works, opened fire with Lieutenant-Colonel Barry's Armstrong battery and Captain Disborough's nine-pounders, a French battery on the left, and French and English rocket battery also coming into action. The Tartars were not long able to resist the fire of these guns. They abandoned their works, and retreated, closely pursued by the troops, to their second entrenched line at Sinho, but from which, being quickly routed, they fled in confusion to Tangku. The Chinese and Tartar force in the field, on this |
