The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-12-01 00:00:00

UNDER THE WALLS OF PEKIN.

. folloWing letter, which is interesting, from
tile tlitelinillaYfee that supplies an account- of
the very laiesk iie64itetiees teported to have
taken place before Pekin,' is Ito eapt sin
_Car-
rington, of the Marine Battalion /lo* serNliWg in
China. This officer was severely wounded hi die

storming of the forts of Taku, having received a:
gingall ball, which passed transversely through
the lower lip, and, notwithstanding which, though
d6ested to tithdraw to the rear by the colonel of
of the' b'attali'on; be; with great gallantry, kept
his phtee with the starters: He served with the
Marine PaitateW in the Crimea; olunteered for
duty in the trenches; eind Wns contintaliy in the
front :
"Under the Walls of Pekin, Satuttinyi §epf. k‘.

"I will resume my account of occurrences up to' this
point. I cannot exactly tell you that Song-chow is
taken, but I believe that the results are .much about the
same. We had a very agreeable day yesterday in
moving about after cavalry, from five o'clock in the
morning until sit in the evening. Our brigade, which
consisted or a wing of the 99th Regiment and our
battalion, with a battery of artillery and some cavalry,
moved round to clear out some intrenched positions
between Song-thaw and Pekin. t beliete that at the
same time 'the French force and our other brigade
were to assault Song-chow. General Grant and all
our chief people remained with us. The fighting—if
after the Crimea I may apply that name to- it—began
about half-past nine o'clock and lasted till -about one
o'clock. Sir John Mitchell, who commands the division
up.ltere, cautioned us not to be in a hurry to fire, but
to let the Tartar cavalry come quite close up to us. It
was soon after this that down came a whole cloud of,
horse. We remained quietly waiting for them, and the
Dragoons were also quiescent, for the purpose of -giving.
them, at the proper moment, the treat of a charge.
But our cavalry were denied a chance; as, although the
Tartars are by no means afraid of the Sikhs, they cannot
stand the gleam of the movements of the "King's Dra-
goon Guards." However, these masses of Tartar horse
advanced steadily within about 200 yards, when, greatly
to their consternation, but unfortunately too much in
anticipation, the 99th, who were on our left rear, opened
fire. This suddenly brought up the Tartars, and
then we formed line. Meanwhile the Dragoons,
considering they were in accesible distance, charged
the Chinese cavalry. The Tartars waited until our men
had neared them within fifty yards, and 'then they fired
a volley, wounding a captain rather badly, and killing a
trooper. They then turned about, and made rapidly
off. If the ground had only happened to be tolerably
favourable, very few of them would have escaped, but
the sly fellows were on the other side of a broad ditch,
over which our first line of dragoons went in fine style
and safely, but on account of the prodigious dust which
was kicked up by the charge the second line could not
see the ditch, and,so the one half of them were baffled.
However, a considerable number managed the ditch
and caught up the broken enemy, laying them straight
with somewhat greater rapidity than they had expected.
"After the defeat and rout of this body of cavalry we
kept following the enemy, and cleared out four camps.
All the tents were left standing, to which we set fire.
About two o'clock we halted near a military village,
and after taking it (its defenders bolted after a few
shots) our men were let go in to refill their water
bottles. I assure you it is very hard and thirsty work
charging cavalry about such a dry and insupportable
country. The millet has been but lately cut, and
vou have a plain of stalks, standing about a foot
and a half high, with sharp tops that pierce like
spikes. Several of the horses have been lamed by
these points. As I had no immediate or nobler
exercise for my sword, I strolled about the vil-
lage, trying my skill at cutting heads, indeed;
but on this occasion only heads of puzzled fowls, as they
ran past me to accidental cover. This is very pretty
execution for hungry men, In company with two other
as equally skilful headsmen, I secured about 20 foWls,
which established quite a passible cuisine for us. Nor
should we have been without our dessert, for in one
.garden I found some delicious grapes. However, there
was no time to cook, and therefore I was compelled to
put up with only a fragment of biscuit.
"We set fire to this place before leaving, which is
only seven miles from Pekin. I wish we had made a
dash on ;• I verily believe we should have taken the
Celestial metropolis, with very little loss, for most of
the Chinese troops were outside.
"And now for some news which will be very interest-
ing. I have told you all about the loss of Mr. Parkes
and of the Times' correspondent. I can now add that
when we sent in fur the captives, the Chinese returned
the artful and dubious answer that Mr. Parkes had
already left to return to our camp, and that they had
not seen him since he set out. I think the Chintte will
not dare to touch Mr. Parkes or the prisoners. We
have sent a second messuage to say that if the prisoners
were not given up in two days, we should force our way
in and sack Pekin. This of course we shall have to do
if Mr. Parkes and our other friends do not speedily
appear, whether the treaty thereby be spoiled or not. A
flag of truce came in this day with a despatch for
Lord Elgin. The latest reports are of negotiations
•
again."

BIRKENHEAD CHURCH AND SCHOOL SocrEry.—A
meeting in aid of the above society was held last night,
in the Argyle-rooms, Birkenhead, and was attended by
a considerable number of persons. The chair was occu-
pied by the Rev. A. King, 8.A., who introduced to the
audience the well-known and celebrated Pastor Chiniquy,
whn has been justly styled the Luther of America.
This talented convert delivered a strong and energetic
address on the present state of Popery in the Canadian
province, and gave a cheering. and most satisfactory
account of the great progress the Word of God was
makinz amon,st its Roman Catholic inhabitants. The
Rev. R. C. 'King and other gentlemen subsequently
addressed the meeting.
THE VOLUNTEER NIOVEMENT.—ThiS MOITHICItt Still
goes on most progressively in Liverpool, and while the
present companies are daily being augmented
are in the course of formation. The employes con-
nected with the corporation water works, under the
control of Mr. Duncan, the engineer, have formed them-
selves into a very strong company, numbering upwards
of 100, and will form a very valuablewh adjunct to
will
brigade. Their uniform will be nearly the same, with
the exception of a variation in the colour of the facirws,
and the trousers, which will be a dark blue insteadbof
black. Mr. Duncan has been appointed captain, Mr.
Duncanson and Mr. Sherlock lieutenants.
Nor BAD FOR AN EDITOR. IN HIS EXTREMITIES.—
A western journalist, whose wife had just presented him
with twins, and who for this reason was compelled to
neglect his paper for one day, gave the following excuse
to his subscribers :—" we were unable to issue our paper
) yesterday in consequence of the arrival of two extra
males."