The Express.
London, England, 1859-09-16 00:00:00

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LONDON. FRIDAY. SEPT. 16.

Tae French account of the reptiles of the allies
at the Pedro adds bat little to our knowledge of the
military operations of Jane 25, but it supplies some
facts of interest respecting the conduct of the
Chinese and the intercourse of tke Admiral and the
Ambassadors with them just before those events.
It was on the 17th of June that Admiral More
arrived at the mouth of the Peiho. DalMg the
three drys which elapsed before he was joined by
the Ambassadors he had b:en in communication
with the inferior Chinese authorities on shore, and
satisfied h,rneelf by their 'venire repi,es that the
Imperial Government did not intend to permit our
advance towards the capital. As we now learn, the
resolution to fdrce the penage of the river wan taken
la a °Deference of the Mi&sien with the Admiral
en the 21st, so that we may sesame that tb•re clear
days were employed in preparations for the attack. On
the 22nd the Chinese local authorities were formally
summoned to remove the barriers from the river without
delay, the Admiral announcing that in their default
be should perform that operation 10:wolf, en appeal
towhich ao reply wee vouchsafed. Thug, it will be assiki
plenty of time was allowed to estimate the opposi-
tion to be ex pected, and weigh the chances of news&
Admiral Hore apperi to have expected that the
engagement would resemble that of last year at the
same place, when the well-directed fire of a dozen
ganboate, ender Sir Wolin. SiTtiouk, silenced
that of the Chinese forte in an hour and a halt, and
prepared an esiy victory for our t-oops on lending,
The invisibility and death-like silence of the Mongol
garrison, and the concealment of the". gone, offering
so strong a contrast t, the blryt-2 and osten-
tation of the Tartar braves with whom we had to
de last year, seems, however, to have suggested to
some persons at least an unpleasant se•picion that we
had this time to do with men of more self 3oorroand
and resolution than the men of the month ; bat, mays
the French writer, it wry too late to draw beck."

The studiously refereed An of the forte in the
forenoon of the day, and its e-tful suspension before
the landing, are more remarkable then its precision
and effect of which several eurrespondents slth the
squadron have token note. Adm;-al Belmont last
year spoke wit► great respect of the improvement of
the Chinese artillery. The close resemblance of this
dissimulation and cunning to that which was fatal
to our countrymen at Petropaoloffsky Is the best
coc;trosation hitherto offered of the suspicion that
the Mongols " from the Ammar " had the advantage
of foreign direction and smla••nce. The signal for
landing on this occasion appears to have been
given partly became the gunboats were not is a
condition to prolong the encounter, and partly from
the belief that the forts were silenced. The hour of
the !endive, five o'clock, wee certainly late, but
Admiral /lore must hare expected to be much more
successful than Admiral Ssvitovn, if he thought that
it could have been effected earlier, for the interval
between the commencement of the gunboat attack
on the forts and the landing was about the same in
May, 1846, and Jane, 1819. All the ill conse-
quences of disembarkation with an ebb tide on mud
banks, and the exposure of our men to the dangers
of fighting in the dot k, must, therefore, be set down
to the originally defective plan of the action.
It is pretty clew that Admiral Hors never con-
templated a landing in the mud. Hs expected to be
able to force the boom, and make his way up t a
point where the tide-way contracts. Foiled in his
purpose by the strength of the stockade and the
weight and precision of the enemy's Om, he scorned
to turn back. There would have been nothing dis-
creditable in withd-awing to re-oonlider a plan
which had been f-nitrated by unexpected obstacles,
and the result supplies overwhelm;ng mason, for
regretting that this course was not adopted. Yet
the correspondent whose admirable letter we printed
on NVedneeday says that " when the signal for
" landing was given there ems not a soul in the
" squadron who doubted of oar speedy victory." Had
the forts been really silenced, as the cessation of their
fire led our people to suppose, this expectation
might have been realised. The lesson of this repulse
will sot be lost. We have hitherto treated the
Chinese as if all their art and cunning were re-
served for diplomacy, while in war they may
be treated as children. Even at this moment we
rue no reason to raise oar estimate of their
valor., but we most be prepared to eucounter more
skill and science in our collisions with their troops.
Bir MICHAIL SETYOUR last year noticed the improve-
ment is their material of war, the propels is now
extended to their tactics and practice. It is impeln
tent that we should take account of their advances
is the art of war, because systematically operating
with forces out of all numerical proportion to theirs
we rely for success on superior skill and science ; but
by no progress which they an make can this cowardly
people expect to escape the just retribution for trea-
chery and murder.

To hear Colossal NORTH and his friends of the
Horse Guards talk, it should teem that the abolition
of Bogging means the abolition of all military
discipline. The gallant Colonel says that in one year
no fewer than Mut° men deserted their standard',
and therefore he concludes that if desertion is to be
stopped, tlaggiog must be resumed. This is a 1311111-
take, and the sooner the mistake is corrected the
better. There can be no doubt that desertion is
the most serious Clime of which a soldier, sea soldier,
can b.,. guilty. The man who deserts not only com-
mits a groin breach of faith—in fact, perjury in its
worst form, but robs the public purse. And of
course if desertion cannot be checked, the army must
be dissolved. The question it , what is the best
means of checking this moot striae' evil?
One thiog is ab.indaittly clear, that the men
who have been found guilty must not be
elevated into martyrs. They most be disgraced
in the eyes of their comrades, and in the eyes
of their fellow-citisesur. Oil officers steeped in the
traditions of the Peninsular war may recur with
fond regret to the days when A /gin was the
panacea for all evils. Bat they forget that times
have cheesed. Fifty years ago 200 lashes admin-
istered to a soldier's back were in the ordinary
CA■79O. Such a punishment Irma approved not only