The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1861-01-01 00:00:00

THE ANTING GATE OF PEKIN.

The following is a description of the gate of
Pekin occupied by the allies :
The word " gate" conveys but a faint idea of the com-
plicated structure which bears that name. As you
approach the heavy massive wall, 40 feet high, and, as
will afterwards appear, 55 feet thick at the top, passing
by a bridge of stone over a ditch which may once have
been wet, but now is dry, you come to what I can best
term a "semicircular bastion," having at what, if it were
built according to our ideas, would be its salient angle a
huge square tower of several stories, pierced with four rows
of loopholes, one over the other, and twelve in each row,
and surmounted by that peculiar pagoda-like roof with
which the willow-pattern plate bad made us all familiar.
Leaving this on your right, and keeping along the semi-
circular excrescence till it joins the maieivall of the city,
you come to an archway which is gate No. 1. Having
got into the courtyard inside this said semicircle you find
another archway in the city wall, facing the aforesaid
tower, and this is gate No. 2, surmounted by a tower
similar to that already described, but apparently intended
more for ornament than use, not being furnished with
loopholes, and having a balcony round it at about half
its height from the ground. From this balcony, reached
by means of an antiquated wooden staircase of question-

able solidity, I received my first, and as yet my only,
'View of Pekin, for ingress beyond the immediate gate is
positively forbidden. Facing you as you look towards
the city, a broad street runs north and south, and at right
angles to it similar streets along the foot of the walls,
At the junction of these streets hefore the gate etas an
enormous doted of Wo'nderstineft infinfritnnts, gating
with open eyes `and mouth's at the EuioPean sehliery in
the gate, as the Trojans may haie galed on the Wooden
horse when it had &And their impregnable wall's. To
keep back this curiosity-stricken mdb "NS a task of some
difficulty to the sentries, and so far from fearing rtg were
they, that several adventurous spirits brought with them
supplies of fowls, fruits, and sweatnicats, with which they
dro+e a good trade with the soldiers on guard. The shops
in this part of the train street, as far as 1 could see, seemed
to be small and insignificant, as Were also the houses
on which we looked down from the wall, and f was
struck with the absence of all large buildings, or even
of the pagodas of which I fancied the city had been full.
In this respect, I am told, the Tartar portion of the
city, on which I was then looking down, is far inferior
td the Chinese, or southern half, the inhabitants of
which Would gladly Trade opened their gates to us long
ago; and attnally made ha'ndsortie o#ers of supplies in
case we took AP 6nr 4'uarterS in their city: I its not
at a sufficient eletation to' see the Walt separating the
Tartar from the Chinese eity/ could efearlysee the
whole egtent of the northern and part 6f the ea's'tern
and western walls, each about four miles long, and tell
protided With gates similar to' that on `which I was
standing.

THE FRENCH TREATY WITH CHINA.
The Mdtdatkplittlislies thle, French treaty with
China, and a desp'aidi ilainiT 0.01, contain=
ing an account of the signature of ilie
which resembles, in most of its features, the cere-
mony which took place when the English con-
tention was signed. The following is the Treaty
ofPtdOe.eonqltaed at Pekin on the 26th October,

(AnAtot of the French and

I&60., between die
the Ertiperor of China
••• •I , . ••
Ijis Maiesh* the Etnitieroi of the French and his
Mayesfy tiio dhiaa, wishing to ptit an end
to the differenee whiCh iias tithed Vet*eea the two
empires, and to re-establish and secure foi ever the
tlelatiOni of 130.ce and friendship which existed between:
them, and which regrettable events haie interrupted,
have named for their iCifieetive represeptatives the fol-
lowing personages :—The Emperor ot‘ the Pre*, lean
Baptiste Louis, Baron Gros, Senator of the Empire,
Ambassador and High Commissioner of France in
China, Grand Officer of the Imperial Order of the

Legion of Honour, Knight Grand Cross of several

Orders, ftc., and his Majesty the Emperor of China,
Prince Zing:, Itienther of the Imperial Family, and
High Commissioner :
Who, after having exchanged their full to*efs,tottnd
good and in due form, have agreed to the following
articles :

Art. 1. His Majesty the Emperor of China has seen
with pain the conduct practised by the Chinese military
authorities at the mouth of the river Tien-tsin, iu the
mouth of June last year, at the moment when the Mi-
nisters Plenipotentiary of France and England there
presented themseiVes, on their way to Pekin, in order to
proceed VI the eidhartge of the atitidatiorts of the trea.
ties of Tien-tsin:

Art. 2. When the Ambassador ligh CoVimissiotef of
the Emperor of the French shall be in Pekin, to probeed
to the exchange of the ratifications of the treaty of Tien-
tsin, he shall be treated during his stay in the capital
with the honours due to his rank, and all possible faci-
lities shall be afforded him by the Chinese authorities,
that he may fulfil without obstacles the high mission
confided to him.

Art. 3. The treaty signed at Tien-tsin on the 27th
June, 108, shall he faithfully etecuted in all its clauses
immediately after the exchange cif the ratifications
spoken of in the preceding article, subject, it is sell
understood, to the modifications which may be made
therein by the present convention.
Art. 4. The fourth article of the treaty of Tien-tsin,
by which the Emperor of China engaged to pay the
French Government an indemnity of 2,000,000 taels,
is annulled, and is replaced by the present article,
which raises to the stun of 8,000,000 taels the
amount of the indemnity. It is agreed that the sums
already paid by the custom house of Canton, on ac-
count of the 2,000,000 taels stipulated by the treaty of
Tien-tsin, shall be considered as having been paid in
advance and on account of the 8,000,000 taels referred
to in this article. The stipul aticins made in Art. 4 of the
treaty of Tientsin, on the mode of paying the 2,000,000
tacls, are annulled. The amoddt of the sum which
remains to be paid by the Chinese Government, on
account of the 8,000,000 taels stipulated by the presedt
convention, shall be provided for by setting apart
the fifth of the gross revenues of the custom-house
of the ports opened to foreign commerce, and the
payments shall be made at intervals of three months,
commencing on the 31st December. This sum, specially
reserved for the indemnity due to France, shall be paid
to the Minister of France or his delegates in Mexican
piastres, or in Sycee silver, calculated at the rate of
exchange on the day of payment. A sum of 500,000
taels shall, however, be paid on account beforehand, in
one sum, and at Tien-tsin, an the 30th November next,
or earlier if the Chinese Government think proper. A
mixed commission, appointed by the Minister of France
and the Chinese authorities, shall determine the regula-
tions to be followed for effecting the payment of the whole
indemnity, for verifying its amount, giving a receipt for
it, and, in short, for fulfilling all the formalities required
in such cases.

Art. 5. The sum of 8,000,000 taels is allowed to the
French government as an indemnity for the expenditure
which the circumstance of taking up arms against China
compelled it to incurs as also to compensate the French
and the persons under French protection who were de-
spoiled of their property when the factories at Canton
were burnt down, and likewise to indemnify the Roman
Catholic missionaries who have suffered in person or
property. The French government will divide that
sum between the parties interested, whose claims shall
have been legally established, and in proportion to the
said claims ; and it is agreed between the contracting
parties that 1,000,000 taels shall be set apart to indemnify
French subjects or persons under the protection of
France for the losses they have suffered or the ill-
treatment they have undergone, and that the remaining
7,000,000 shall be appropriated to meet the expenses
occasioned by the war.
Art. 6. In conformity with the Imperial edict issued
on the 20th March, 1846, by the august Emperor Tae-
Nouang, the religious and charitable establishments
which were confiscated from the Christians during the
persecution of which they have been the victims, shall
be restored to their owners by the instrumentality of his
Excellency the French Minister in China, to whom the
Imperial Government shall cause them to be transferred
with the cemeteries and buildings appertaining thereto.
Art. 7. The town and port of Tien-tsin, to the
province of Petcheli, shall be open to foreign commerce,
on the same conditions as the other towns and
ports of the empire where that commerce is already
permitted ; and that shall take place from the date
of the day of the signature of the present convention,
which will be obligatory for the two nations without
it being necessary to exchange ratifications of it,
and which shall have the same force and value as
if it was inserted word for word in the treaty of
Tien-tsin. The French troops which occupy that town
may, after the payment of the 500,000 taels men-
tioned in Art. 4 of the present convention evacuate it,
and go and establish themselves at Taku, and on the
northern coast of the Shang-tong, whence they will
afterwards retire on the same conditions as will preside
over the evacuation of the other points which they
occupy on the coast of the empire. The Commanders-
in-Chief of the French forces shall nevertheless have
the right of wintering their troops of all arms at Tien-
tsin if they think proper, and of not withdrawing them
until the moment when the indemnities due by the
Chinese government shall have been entirely paid, unless
it may suit the Commanders-in-Chief to make them
leave before that period.
Art. 8. It is also agreed that as soon as the present
convention shall have been signed, and as*the rati Aca-
dons of the , treaty of Tieu-tsin shall have been
exchanged, the French forces which now occupy Cbusan
shall evacuate that island, that those which are before
Pekin shall retire to Tien-tsin, or to Taku, on the north
side of the Shang-tong, or into the town of Canton ;
and that in all these places, or in each of them, the
French Government may, if it thinks right, leave troops
up to the moment at which the total sum of 8,000,000
taels shall be entirely paid.
Art. 9. It is agreed between the high contracting
parties that, as soon as the ratifications of the treaty of
Tien-tsin shall have been exchanged, an imperial decree
shall order the superior authorities of all the provinces
of the empire to permit every Chinaman who may wish
to go into countries situated beyond the seas to establish
himself or to seek his fortune, to also embark with his
family, if he desires, in the French vessels which may
be in the ports of the empire opened to foreign com-
merce. It is further agreed that in the interest of these
emigrants, to assure them full liberty of action, and
secure their interests, the competent Chinese authori-
ties, in concert with the minister of France in China,
shall adopt such regulations as will give to these en-
gagements, always voluntary, the guarantees of morality
and validity which they ought to possess.
Art. 10. It is well understood between the contracting
parties that the tonnage dues, which, by mistake, were
fixed in the French treaty of Tien-twin at five maces
(about fifteen sous each) per ton, on vessels guaging
150 tons and upwards, and which in the treaties signed
with England and the United States in 1858, are fixed
at four maces only, shall only amount to that same sum
of four maces, without having to appeal to the last
paragraph of Art. 27 of the treaty of Tien-tsin, which
gives France the formal right to claim the treatment of
the most favoured nation.

The present convention of peace has been made at
Pekin, in quadruple, on the 26th of October, 1860, and

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