The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-12-31 00:00:00

ANOTII ER EXAMINATION.

Being exhausted with fatigue and want of food, which.
I had not tasted fOr. upwards of twenty-four hours, I fell
asleep, but Was soon made sensible of my position by
being balled tip and again carried before the same board
Ofinquisitots. It *as then abont midnight, but the hour
•
ol
did not,preveint t 4 .ection of a large efoifti, composed;
lioweVr.'r, t this iti4ant)e; of 06116e-riinners, Janes:,'
tors, and the other inimefais ili-i-Jiiffc;tlS effChinese
law. The mandarins, as I was placed kneeling in my
chains before them, warned me that they would force
the truth from me if I did not give it willingly ; and,
in proof of their earnestness, they ordered four tor-
turers to seise me, even before they began to put
their questions; by the ears and the hair of the head
and fade: • T,lll ,first asked ,rile If I *et.e a Chinese.
told tiledi.tlicy had tiiil-37.ttiliidlirit hair
to see that I was Jiot:.• , Their next questions related tq
my age, tength, of, residence in China; bow and where I
had been employed, &c. They then proceeded as
follows i
_lnquisitors
,—State the name of your headman.
Answer' one do you mean ; the Ambassador,
Genefal, of Addiiral linqtlisitors `,angrily)—Yon have-
no such functionaries. I)net presume to rise steli titles.
Here the torturers suited their action to the tone of the
mandarins, by pulling simultaneously at my hair, ears,
&c. Inquisitors—Now give the name of your head man.
Answer—Which one? Inquisitors—Tho head of your
soldiers. Answerin Englishy—Lientenant-General
Sir Hope Grant, Inquisitors—What I' Answer (in
English)------Liententint.,General Sir Hope Grant.
Inqiiisitors Say soniething that We gad. understand.
Ans*er i I Mil dtiligtd id use the 14nglish terms as you
will not let Mb gii'e yoti these iii Chinese.- They
attempted to write dawn, in Chinese sounds, "Lieutenant
General Sir Hope Grant," but not streededing they asked
the narilea. another head Irian.
..,A.iis*Ct; (in English)
:AnihasSiddi.Eitraohlinary the Rift df Illnin. Finding
it equally impossible to write this down in Chinese, or •
to get on with the examination, they told me I might
revert to Chinese names and titles, and I then gave

them those of the ambassador and the commanders-
in-chief. Inquisitors: flow many soldiers have
you ? Answer:
.Not less than 20,000 fighting men.
. .

Inquisitors That is false. (Torturers .cluieheeme as
before.) Repeat how many. Answer ; Not less than
20,000 fighting Om; in Ithich I do nut ioqlude followers,
6.;c. .I•lidVe stated that once to yoii, add hafe iio abet
answer to give. Here I was again threatened, both by
mandarins and tortnresr, but deeming .it ddngerous; to
swerve from any statement I had once made, I adhered
to that which I had already ~riven them, and it was
taken 'down. Inquisitors : How many soldiers have
the French ? Answer : lam less acquainted with their
force, but they cannot have kis than 10,000 fighting men.
ingitisitors 'YoU are Tying again. The same ques-

Lien was repeated and enforced br the torturers, but I
returned thb sddie atilWer, and it ttas noted down. I
then apliiinCd that &Mg tilyseg a Eifillati t diAld not
be expected to be familiar with military Matters, dr to
know all the particulars of so large an army as the
present combined force. Inquisitors—So lat'ge an army
do you call it. What arc 30,000 men ? They arc a
mere•nothing. They then proceeded
,to examine me iu

[e same strain as to the :nuir: her of our cavalry and

artillery, ships, steamers, horses, Chinese coolies, &c.,
and in particular of the range of our field and siege guns,
which I gate theth at three miles and up*attls, together
with other particulars of their destructive properties.
Bat the remark which probably gave them most dis-
pleasure, and caused me some pain at the hands of the
torturers, was the use on my part of a term fur her
Majesty denotinc, equality of rank ,with the Emperor.
They had inquired after our "Prince," to which I had
replied by stating • that .we had many princes both in
England and India, but that they were all under one
sovereign, as in the Case of the empire of China. " What
do you
.mean by using such language?" they said.
"You have yourself shown that you have been long in
China—that you can speak our language and read our
books; and you must know; therefore, that there is but
one Emperor, who rules over all lands. It is your duty
to communicate your superior knowledge on this subject
to your countrymen, instead of encouraging them in

their extravagant ideas. They then insisted that I had
often been at Pekin—that I had confederates there, and

that they
.would force me to reveal their names. I
firmly denied this, and told them that. I knew but three
persons in Pekin. Inquisitors: Name them: Answer:
The two imperial commissioners, Prince of.l and Muh-
yin—and the assistant commissioner liang-ki. I made
this reply ,in the hope of disarming their suspicions,

hick I could see were very strong On this pohit ; and

the idea that through our Chinese coolies, or in some
other way, we had set treason at work within the wails
of the capital, was one which evidently gave them con-
siderable apprehension.
Towards the close of the examination, throughout
which I was compelled to remain kneeling on the stone
floor, I obtained their permission to make a statement on
my own account. I then told them why I and the other
gentlemen of my party had come to Tung-chow; that we
were all employed in the cause of petite, and not of war;
but, although acting under a flag of truce, and admitted to
interviews with the Imperial Commissioners, we had been
seized and were now being treated, not even as prisoners of
war, but as common felons, and as offenders against Chinese
law. I was urging that this great, and to me unac-
countable, mistake should not be persisted in, when they
interrupted me by saying, "That is your account, but
we have another story. Besides, if, as you state, you
are a civilian, and have nothing to do with soldiers or
their movements, why are you always seen with the
advance ?" To this I answered, that we always kept
an interpreter in the front, to be ready to receive over-
tures or communications from the Chinese authorities,
and to look after the interests of the people. The exa-
mination ended, I was ordered back to prison.
[ln his interview with the President of the Board of
Punishments he found the same ignorance of foreign
countries. His fellow prisoners were kind and respect-
ful to him ; 'most of them were burglars and murderers.]
In the prison roll, which was hung up ou the wall, I
found myself returned as "a rebel," and that I was one
of five, out of a total of seventy-three, who were ordered
to wear the heaviest chains. On the 22nd of September
I was removed from the common prison to a separate
ward, about eight feet square, on the opposite side of
the court, the four jailers appointed to watch me crossing
at the same time, and putting up in the same little room.
This was scarcely done when I received a visit from the
inspector of the prison, who, instead of making me kneel
before him, as he had done on previous visits, desired
me to be seated, and introduced another mandarin of
small rank as his relief. Their object was to endeavour
.to induce Mr. Parkes to open negotiations ; but in this
they were unsuccessful.