The Sun.
London, England, 1865-08-26 00:00:00

LONDON; SATURDAY, AUGUST 2G, 1865.

The good old town of Portsmouth is just now in
a state of unwonted excitement. The arrival of
the Admiralty yacht from Brest yesterday morning
betokened the near approach of the English fleet, to
be followed by the French vessels, for whose recep-
tion such busy and costly preparations are being
made. No trouble, ingenuity, or expense has been
spared to render the visit of the French fleet to
the English seaport as brilliant as possible, and
judging from the gaiety of the decorations and the
animation of the town, it will appear to the visi-
tors to belong to that gay and light-hearted
country rather than to their grave and uni-
maginative neighbours. It is only to be hoped
that the weather may be a little more propitious
• than it has hitherto proved, and that the cruel rain
which has so unseasonably interfered with the fes-
tivities at Cherbourg and Brest may have done its
worst before the arrival of the French fleet over
here. At Brest all went off, however, better than
at Cherbourg, though the courtesy and hos-
pitality of the hosts were all that could
be desired at both places. Our French
friends were moved to cordial admiration
of our English seamanship, of which there were some
most brilliant displays. The men, indeed, are more
to be noticed than the ships, since any country can
now possess ironclads, which would have been a
marvel to the last generation, but there are few
nations that can show such gallant and well-trained
crews to man them. We hope that no unkindly
clouds and storms may mar the pleasures of the
occasion, but that the pleasant interchange of
national courtesies may conclude without any dis-
appointment or contretemps.

It seems that the fears experienced by the Im-
perial party in the Chinese capital have been only
too well founded, for, according to the intelligence
brought by the last telegrams, Pekin is in the hands
of the rebels. NIGENFEI, as we heard by the last
mail, was encamped at a distance of only elle hun-
dred miles from the city, with nothing in the inter_
vening space to offer him any opposition. The
artillery and the European troops which were
under the control of Li, the ex-Tartar, who was the
cause of so much mischief, were ordered up to Pekin
to protect the capital, but Li, choosing for some.
purposes of his own to misunderstand or disregard
the order, despatched them to Nankin, and conse-
quently the Imperialists lost their most valuable
means of defence. It is not indeed positively cer-
tain that Pekin has changed hands, but the rumour
was currently believed at Shanghae, where there
are good sources of information, and it appears to
b 3 certain that NIGENFEI is encamped in the vicinity
of the city. The singular thing is, that rumour
with the same breath tells us that Pekin is in the
hands of the rebels, and that the Taeping rebellion
is extinguished. A careless reader, who has always
associated the name of rebels with the Taepings,
may well feel somewhat amazed at this contradic-
tory intelligence, but the fact is that the rebels
who are threatening, if not actually capturing,
Pekin, belong to a new and powerful rebellion.