The Express.
London, England, 1860-10-18 00:00:00

lIIGHWATER AT IMMO* JIIIIDGL

Tits Da It —Anima 6i lia.....Aftinioon. Ih. ?AL
Tv-autauf 0. 411m.....Afternoos. 61s. 110.

LONDON, THURSDAY, OCT. 18.

Yserratuiv a skilful artist held up to us a glow-
ing picture, to stir the heart of the moat
phlegmatic Englishman. The letter of our special
correspondent converts us into spectators of the
moving scene presented on that July morning
when, at a signal from the Admiral, the British
expedition moved grandly out of Talien Bay.
In the vivid description we watch with him
for the dawn till the first streak of day ap-
pears, and the sun shines over the hills
upon the curling smoke of fifty steamers.
We hear the click of the chains as from every
aide anchors go up to the cheery song of the
sailors, until ship after ship has spread her
broad canvas to the breeze. Like a flight
of white sea-birds, ship after ship mimes
out of the bay, a long interminable line of
sails, extending from the harbour to the distant
horizon. As we look at that stately procession,
and see the flag of Old England thus nobly borne
on the opposite side of the globe, is it possible to
help feeling a glow of pride at the reflection of our
nation's greatness ? Is there any meaning in the
hinted fear lest some should turn away their eyes
from a scene in which their country unfolds its
night t There is no such danger. Nature, which
is strong enough, if need be, to set aside duty and
silence conscience, may safely be left to take
care of herself. Whatever a sober judgment may
have decided, whatever experience may yet dis-
close about the right or wrong of this Chinese
business, our hearts will go with our countrymen
and we shall infallibly find ourselves rejoicing in
their success.

The expedition, having left Talien Bay on the
26th of July, landed at Pehtatig, whence the
latest letters are dated, on the Ist of august.
The forts of the place were undefended, no mili-
tary preparations being made for our reception,
unless we so call a kind of infernal machine such
as a more civilised nation employed against us in
the Rattle campaign. The friendly feeling of the
people protected us against mischance from this
cause, and was soon rewarded. The occupation
of Pehtang was found to be a military neces-
sity ; and so at a moment's notice 30,000 people
Weir, turned out without house or home. Women
with babies in their anus, young girls, and old
men were hurrying through the streets, driven
from house to house, and finding no rest. Within
twenty-four hours every house wee broken open.
The men began to poison their wives, meters,
and marriageable daughters as soon as we
approached, and the corpses of the girls were
found in the houses. The very man wbo warned
us of the explosive mines left by the Tartars for
our destruction was driven by the plunderers in
our train to poison himself and family. His wife
and children died, but he, leas susceptible to the
drug, was recovered by our surgeons. Taken from
the hospital to his home, "on beholding the
" scene of desolation which awaited him
" the poor fellow burst into tear; and
" regretted that his life had been saved—
" ruined, wifeless, and childless as he was."
Ruch are the ordinary incidents of war, as it
always has been, and such atrocities do statesmen
knowingly entail on a people when they send &hos-
tile army into a country. The people at Pehtang
received us with the utmost civility and concilia-
tion until we took possession of their houses and
property, and abused their wives and daughters.
Being simple and ignorant they were unable to
understand what they bad done to offend us, or
why we landed in hostile array on their coast. On
hearing the affront we had come to avenge, they
made the characteristic remark that it was a Taku
affair with which Pehtang had nothing to do.
That community of national life which we transfer
from our own Western experience to theirs, and in
virtue of which we claim to make one part of the
empire answerable for what is done in another, is
to them tigmenitary and unreal. Thus all that
they suffer comes to them in the character of
wanton aggression. This does not seem the best
prepa:ation for the introduction of "GOD'II truth,"
whitfa Captain SIIZZAJRIO Ossoame and writers of
his school tell us is one of the ends of this war.
Tit.-re is no doubt that we can repeat this pro-
ems to airy extent we please in China. Such is
our numerical strength, so extensive are our re-
laurel., so superior are our Enfield rifles and
Arint.trong guns to gingals and wooden cannon
bound with hoops, that we may carry desolation,
murder, and rape, even into the Imperial palace
of if we are so minded. It is little else
that we eau carry there. Wo cheat ourselves with
phrases, and talk of the blessings of civilisa-
tion, but it is utterly untrue that these repeated
wars do anything at all for the civilization of that
country. Our wars are simply wars of couve-
silence, the most wicked of all wars. They are
unblushingly ju►tified by arguments such as are
used to justify slavery anti other enormities,
by which the general conscience of mankind
is revolted. Their character s not altered, as far
as we are concerned, because the Chinese meet
oar rain:rior force with tr-achvry, as they did at
the Nam. We are engaged lit a systematic attack