The Sun.
London, England, 1862-07-28 00:00:00

dened the mud around the forts, and so enabled
the troops to act. " But no sooner were our opera-
tions over, and the forts ours, than a tremendous
storm of thunder and rain broke from the heavens.
If it had come a fzav hours earlier it would have
rendered us perfectly helpless." Tae country on
the south bank of the river is described as being
one continuous garden and orchard, full of delicious
fruits and all kinds of vegetables. In these gardens
the French made themselves at home, whilst our
troops occupied the aria plain. The Chinese now
entered into negotiations, treacherously seized Mr.
Parkes and his companions, and the occupation of
Pekin and the looting and burning of the summer
Palace were the consequences. On. arriving in
sight of the city thf French mysteriously disap-
peared, but found their way, unintentionally no
doubt, to the Summer Palace. "It was a curious
accident," says the author, "that we should be
separated but once during the campaign, and that
upon that occasion the French should march to the
Ewen-Ming-Ewen (Summer Palace). And another
curious fact is, that while General Montauban
assured Sir H. Grant that " nothing had been
touched" (which, of course, he believed to be the
case), any number of richly-jewelled watches were
to be bought at that moment in the French
Camp, " with a very large portion of silver
and gold," while the soldiers' tents and
the ground around them was a perfect blaze of silk
and 'embroidery." The beauty ..1161 extent of the
palace and grounds, Mr.--MlGhee describes as Mar-
vellous. "The grounds extended for six or seven
miles in every direction, and further towards the
hills. If you can, you must imagine a vast laby-
rinth of picturesque rocks and noble timber, lakes
and streams, summer houses roofed with porcelain
of the imperial yellow, theatres and their store-
houses, filled with all the parapharnalia for masquer-
ades upon a gigantic scale, one theatre and its be-
longings covering from five to ten acres of ground,
all richly planted around ; temples more numerous
still, full of quaint deities (some of them, as it has
since turned out, of gold), and every building with
a view of at least one other, and all these filled
with works of Chinese art of great age, beauty, and
value, and in the background a range of hills, their
outline cut clear against the sky; you must think
of all the best gifts of nature, in colour and in form,
of trees, shrubs, and wild flowers; wood, water,
rock, hill, and mountain, you must add ; then deck
the scene with all the' world-famed skill of the
celestial in landscape gardening, thrown in
here and there so well that it looks like
nature's own hand ; scatter those beautiful
buildings round, with their gorgeous roofs peeping
through the dark forest timber; Fee there is an
imperial stag bounding across your paths; conjure
up the quaint old Chinese bridges here and there,
to carry you across the feeder of some placid lake,
with its ornamental waterfowl, and you may be
able to form some very faint and indistinct idea of
the Ming Ewen, which you can no more conceive
than I can describe." With the city of Pekin, Mr.
M'Ghee expresses some disappointment; he says " it
is soon seen, nor are you long in making the dis-
covery that every street is exactly like its brother,"
and "it looks better from the wall than anywhere
else." And of the climate of Pekin in the winter
he speaks with anything but pleasure. "We
imagine that the bracing cold would be the very
thing for us all, and set us up again, after the re-
laxing heat of summer; but experience taught us
another lesson. Any weak point was seized upon
by the cold, and it was only the man who had no
such point about him that kept his health unim-
paired. Diarrhoea, dysentery, chest complaints,
and fever were the prevalent diseases ; and there-
fore the greatest part of the winter we had ten per
cent. of the force in the hospital, and I was informed
upon the best authority, that the month of
January at Tieu-tsin was more fatal to the troops
than the worst month in autumn had been at Hong
Kong." The volume contains translations of
various Chinese State papers as well as documents
relating to the captivity of Messrs. Parkes, Loch,
&c. Some illustrations, too, are given, and although
the theme has somewhat lost its novelty, the plea-
sant manner in which Mr. M'Ghee has treated it
will ensure his work a favourable reception.