The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-07-21 00:00:00

THE CHINESE EXPEDITION.

A Hong Kong letter in the Daily News, dated
May 17th, describes the condition and disposition
of the naval and military force at that place :

" Our preparations are now so far advanced that
whether the ambassador comes or not we are not
likely to wait long. With the exception of one
battery of Armstrong guns, which started from
England to come out overland goodness knows
how long ago, I think the troops have all arrived.
Indeed, it would appear that owing to some mis-
understanding between the Indian and English
governments too many have been sent out, and
that, from the Indian government not knowing
how many were going from other parts of the
world, or the home government being mis- or un-
informed of the numbers going from India, the
force stipulated for in the agreement with the
French has been exceeded ; and the last mail
from Calcutta brought an order from Lord Canning
to send back a portion of the Native Contingent.
In consequence of this, the 11th Punjaub Infantry
has been stopped and landed at Singapore, and
the Regiment of Loodeanah remains here to gar-
rison Kowloon. You must, therefore, strike out
these two from the statement of the expeditionary
force I sent you by last mail.
" General Napier and staff left this on the 11th
in the Encounter, man-of-war, on a special mis-
sion. He is going first to Chusan, then to Shang-
hai, and back to Pootoo, where arrangements are
to be made for establishing a depot for convales-
cents. Two hundred European and three hun-
dred Native Infantry, with a portion of the
Madras Native Artillery, are to be stationed there
for the protection of the place. After finishing
his work at Pootoo, the general will go on to
the Gulf of Petcheli, and make a reconnaissance
with a view to find a favourable spot for landing
the army. Such at least is the camp gossip. His
instructions being secret, no one probably knows
anything about them except the chief of the staff.
The troops have been embarking in transports
all this week. The 31st and 44th Foot, the 60th
Rifles, Ist Royals, 3rd Buffs, the Bth and 19th
Punjaub Infantry, the Madras Artillery and
Sappers, and Barry's Armstrong Battery, are all
on board ship and ready to sail. The first division
will leave in a few days, and in a short time
Kowloon, so lately swarming with soldier life,
will be a desert; and the harbour of Hong Kong,
now crowded with shipping, will be tenanted by
only a few merchant vessels and a solitary man-
of-war. The embarkations have been effected
with great celerity and without any accident.
A floating pier has been constructed in the
little bay at Kowloon. This reaches far enough
out to admit of gunboats coming alongside.
The men are marched down to the shore, along
the pier and into the gunboat, which when full
puffs away with its living freight to the transport,
leaving another to take its place and bring off
another load. From another and smaller pier on
the other side of the bay the embarkations are
made by men-of-war's boats, and the native troops
have a bay and pier of their own, from which
they are taken off to their ships. In this way all
confusion is avoided. Each regiment is kept
separate, the baggage does not get mixed up
together to the eternal confusion of quarter-
masters and frenzy of its owners, and the men
proceed quietly and orderly to their respective
ships. All these arrangements are made by the
Quartermaster-General's department, and one or
other of its indefatigable officers superintends the
operations.
" The whole of the French expedition is now
in China, the last ship having arrived in Hong
Kong harbour yesterday, and the greater portion
has sailed to the north, for Chefoo, a town on the
southern coast of the Gulf of Pecheli, fifty miles
from the eastern extremity of the Shan-tung
promontory. We hear little here of their pro-
ceedings, but it is said that finding Woosung, at
the entrance to the Shanghai river, unhealthy
and inconvenient, they have retained only a
small force of occupation there, and have sent
the bulk of their army on to Chefoo, where the
troops will be landed and the expedition orga-
nised. Chefoo has the advantages of deep water
close in to the shore, a fine climate, and good
anchorage ; and the province of Shantung in
which it is situated produces an abundance of
supplies. Horses and mules are also procurable,
and the water is good. It is probable that one
of our depots will be established there als6. The
rendezvous for the English fleet is in the Day of
Talien-hwan, to the east of the promontory of
Loatie-shan (a portion of the kingdom of Korea),
which runs out into the Gulf of Pecheli opposite
Chefoo, and forms the entrance of the Strait of
Mia-tao, the entrance into the gulf. Talien-hwan
Bay is about eighty miles from Chefoo, and nearly
due north of the latter.
" From these two places, when all is ready and
the time is ripe, the two fleets will sail and make
a descent upon the Chinese coast, in the neigh-
bourhood of the Taku forts. Such at least is the
camp story. Ido not profess to be initiated into
the secrets of the allied commanders. Great
exertions have been made during the past fort-
night, and all the preparations are rapidly
approaching completion. A crowd of transports
left the harbour yesterday afternoon, and will go
to sea to-day. On board are the following regi-
ments :-Ist Royals, 3rd Buffs, 31st and 44th
Foot, 60th Rifles, Madras Sappers, Bth and 19th
Punjaub Infantry. They are conveyed by man-
of-war steamers, and will make their way to the
rendezvous under sail. The cavalry will embark
last, and will be towed up by steamers from here.
It is supposed that the Commander-in-Chief and
the Admiral will leave Hong Kong immediately
after the arrival of the English mail."

SHOCKING A IVRDER.—A sad affair has occurred at
at Condat, in the department of Cantal. A little girl,
six years of age, named Tournadre, having disappeared
three days ago, was sought for, and, after a while, was
found dead in a well. Though there were severe cuts
on the head, and marks of pressure on the throat, her
parents thought that she had been killed by accidentally
falling in, and they made preparations for having her
buried. The day after, an elderly woman, named Bar-
bet, called on them, and seeing the child in a coffin
cried out, "Poor little thing k It is I who have put you
there !" She then stated that she had enticed the
child into the cellar of a house, on pretext of giving her
a religious picture; she then made her kneel down and
pray to God, and next struck the little thing on the head
three times with a heavy ctick, felling her senseless to
the ground, and had then pressed her throat until she
was dead; after which she had tossed the body into the
well. The woman was of coarse arrested, but there is
no doubt that she is insane.

VENGEANCE IN SICILX.—The Messager du Midi con-
tains the following —A letter from Pglermo which has
lust reached us, but which is dated as far back as the
3rd, gives an account of various acts of vengeance
:against the old Neapolitan police. The writer goes on
to say :—Yesterday, at sunset, I was a witness to a
dreadful act. A man who, uuder the fallen Government,
had been charged with the surveillance of boats, was
recognised near the Felice gate. Cries of ,( A police
spy !" were raised, and a crowd of persons rushed after
him in pursuit. The unfortunate man ran through the
streets, the crowd after him increasing every moment.
He took refuge in a chemist's shop,
round which a body
of at least 10,000 persons of all classes soon assembled,
uttering cries of death against him. Two Fiedmontese
officers endeavoured to calm the fury of the people, but
their words were of no effect. The shop was soon filled,
and in a minute after the man received more than fifty
poignard stabs, and lay dead on the ground. The body
was dragged away to be thrown into the sea, and when
it was seen by the people' on the outside, loud applause
and clapping of hands testified the delight they felt at
the death of one of their old persecutors.

A BRAVE LITTLE OraL.—Mary Ann Harris, alias
Stuith, was charged at Westminster Police-court, with
stealing a number of articles of wearing apparel from a
house in King's-road, Chelsea. Fanny Ashley, a very
pretty and interesting little girl, twelve years of age,
said :—Last night I heard a noise up in the first floor
front, and thinking it was the children, did not at first
go up, but at last I went, and on opening the door foUnd
this woman the room. I said, " What's this, missis ?"
and she answered, " I've come to have my portrait
taken." Mr. Arnold : Are portraits taken in the house ?
Little Girl : Yes, sir. She was taking the things of
the horse, and I said " You don't wait them to hive
your likeness taken in." She dropped the things and
said, " Yes, I've' col* to have my likeness taken." I
said, " You stop bare ; you've come to rob my father's
place," and I shut the door and held her. She said she
belonged to a large public-house, and would give me
plenty of money if I'd let her go, but I said I wouldn't.
I then opened the door, and called "Mother !" and the
woman rushed out and I caught her again. She took
off her bonnet, and, putting on her cap, said, "That's
how I came to have my likeness taken." Mother then
came up, and she was given into custody, Mr. Arnold
And did yoo keep her there all the time ? Little Girl -
Yes, and she said she'd pitch me down stairs ? Mr.
Arnold : Then you wouldn't let her go, little girl ?
Little Girl : No, sir. Mr. Arnold : I must say you axe
a very brave little girl. Prisoner, who denied the whole
charge, was remanded for a week,