The Press.
London, England, 1858-09-04 00:00:00

FURTHER CONFLICTS IN THE CANTON RIVER.

Captain Jenkins, of her Majesty's ship Actaon,
and seven marines of the Tribune, have been in
rather a precarious state at•Whampoa from the effect
of gunshot wounds received on the night of the 7th
July. The affair in which they were engaged ori-
ginated in this wise. A party living in a chop
abreast the Tribune moored off the upper part of the
entrance of French River, as it leads down from
Whampoa New 'Town towards Sunchv, was alarmed
by the appearance of numerous lanterns on the hill
forming the north-east corner of French Island ; and
concluding—a natural conclusion in these times of
direful anticipation—that the bearers of these lights
must be bravos, whose object would be the erection
of a battery, and the shelling of the gunboat Forester
as she lay helpless in dock, he lost no time in calling
on board the dete,on, moored off the upper corner of
Danes' Island, to report the circumstance to Captain
Jenkins. That officer at once determined on landing
on the island, and frustratinc, the operations of the
braves before the batteries could be completed. In
eluding boats' crews from the Tribune, a hundred
men were detailed for the service, and about ten p.m.
they were landed quietly at the landing-place, about
halfway down French River. Thence they marched
on to the large village of Sam-tsciang, which was
scoured from end to end without a man being seen.
The party were returning, taking with them three
men of the village, when, just as they reached what
is termed the water-gate, close by a large pond, a
gingall battery opened fire with terrific effect. One
of the Tribunes received no less than twenty-seven
bullets, and is not expected to live ; whilst, as we
have said, six others and Captain Jenkins were also
wounded more or less seriously. Captain Jenkins's
worst wounds are two slug-shots in the right chest,
besides others in the arms and thigh. The volley
fired, the gate's defenders rushed off up the hill as
bard as they could scamper—not before two, how-
ever, had received shots from the revolver of Lieute-
nant Downes, of the Tribune, who was close by. The
three Chinese who were with the marines at the time
were killed.

On learning what had occurred, Captain Edgell
determined on giving the villagers a lesson, and for
this purpose directed the gunboats Janus, Dove,
Drake, and Woodcock, under Viscount Gilford, to
proceed to that part of French River at which the
party had landed ; and, though the village cannot
be seen from it, the range, as found by Lieutenant
Bullock, was within eight hundred yards for shells.
From the Tribune, Volcano, and Hornet, rocket
parties were sent to the top of the hill forming the
south-west corner of Danes Island, whence there is
a prospect of nearly the whole village, with a range
of but from eight hundred to one thousand yards.
These rocket-batteries, which made beautiful play,
were—Extreme left, Tribunes, under Lieutenant
Downes ; Hornets, Lieutenant the Hon. C. Denison ;
Tribunes, Mr. Flooks. Extrema right, Volcanos,
Master Commanding Hockley. At a quarter to four
on Friday afternoon, the villagers having had twenty.
four hours given to them to take their furniture and
persons away, the ball was opened with a shot from
one of the Tribune's pivot-guns ; and though the
distance thrown exceeded a thousand yards, it went
over the hill and plump in among the bricks and
mortar. The Aaron, still further off, followed suit;
whilst under the rocket-battery hill was the pinnace
of his Imperial Majesty, the Dordogne, which kept
up a steady fire for the hour to which operations
were limited. The gunboats each fired about fifty
rounds of shot and shell in the usual proportion, the
Dove's and Drake's balls playing "the very dickens "
with a three-storied pagoda right in the range of the
village. The hour up, Captain Edgell, Commander
Colville, of the Hornet (who, by the way, had charge
of the rocket-party), Viscount Commander Gilford,
and the captain of the Dordogne, with small parties,
landed to look at the effect of the bombardment,
which it was seen we-s quite sufficient for the purpose
of teaching the Chinese that, boast as they may of
their myriads, we have an arm long enough to reach
and to wow them down like grass, while wo remain
scatheless. The Baron do 'lranquilye, Consul for
France and Spain at Canton, and Mr. Vice-Conant
Winchester, also landed, but as Captain