The Sun.
London, England, 1860-12-31 00:00:00

OCT. 25.
Winter is fast closing in upon us; the nights,
and sometimes the days, are intensely cold. The
first ice of the season has made its appearance,
and the adjacent hills of Tartary have for some
days been capped with snow. It is time to think
of our winter quarters, and the present intention
seems to be to leave at Tien-tsin the 31st and 67th
Regiments, the 2d battalion 60th Rifles, Fame's
Horse, two batteries of Artillery, and some of the
Military Train. Hongkong is to be garrisoned by
the 44th, now at Shanghae, and Canton by the
09th. The Ist Royals and 87th are to return to
England, as will probably the 2d Queen's and 3d
Buff's. Probyn's Horse and some of the Punjaub
infantry go back to India. The force at Tien-tsin
will be under the command of Brigadier Stave-
ley, C.B.
The Ist division was sent out on the 18th to
complete the destruction of the Summer Pa-
lace, which had been so successfully shorn of its
grandeur some days before. It is now a heap
of blackened ruins, and the demonstration was
accompanied by a threat that if our terms were not
speedily accepted we would do to the palace and
public buildings of Pekin as we had done to the
Palace of Yuen-ming-Yuen. You will be glad to
hear that to our former terms has been added the
stipulation that a sum of £lO,OOO each should be
paid forthwith for the families of the English officers
and gentlemen who died in captivity, and £l,OOO
for each soldier.
The French are to start immediately for their
winter quarters, which are to be at Tien-tsin, on the
left bank of the Peiho ; ours being on the right.
We shall most likely follow, if all goes on smoothly,
in a week or thereabouts. Our troops are tolerably
healthy, with the exception of two regiments which
were some years at the Cape of Good Hope, and in
them the proportion of sick is over 10 per cent. It
is strange that service in one of the finest climates
in the world should invariably tell upon men after-
wards ; yet the fact is indisputable, and may well
give rise to a doubt as to the policy of establishing an
invalid depot there, for thither and not to England
all the invalids of this army are going.
An issue of warm underclothing has been made
to the troops, and the Military Store Department
promise more on our arrival at Tien-tsin. The
Commissariat, too, are making active preparations
against a time when rivers and roads will be impass-
able. In the matter of food the troops have had little
cause of complaint since they landed, as the rations
have been good and sufficient, with the single excep-
tion of the paltry modicum of rum—one dram daily
of 63 to the gallon ; whereas in India the soldier is
entitled to two drams of 40 to the gallon, and when
he is hard worked he generally gets a third. The
Europeans feel this the more as they see the Pun-
jabee regiments drawing their liquor according to
the Indian scale.
To wind up my letter with the most important
intelligence of all, I can now tell you that the treaty
has been ratified and the war is at an end. Yes-
terday Lord Elgin, escorted by 400 infantry and
150 cavalry, and accompranied by the diplomatic
and-military staffs, and three officers of each
regiment, went into Pekin for the purpose
of meeting the Chinese Plenipotentiary Kung.
The procession was formed at the Llama Temple, a
fine building in our lines, which contains a magni-
ficent white marble monument to Confucius ; and,
starting at 2 p.m., we entered the city by the An-
ting gate, and wended our way for about four miles
through the streets to the appointed place of meet-
ing. The streets through which we passed did not
seem to contain better houses or shops than are to
be seen in Tien-tsin or any other provincial town,
and were only remarkable for clouds of black dust,
with which we were almost suffocated, and which
made one think one was marching through a coal-
yard. It had been suggested that the streets should
bo watered, but difficulties were raised, and the
dust-allaying process was confined to a few hundred
yards from the gate. Our destination was a com-
mon looking building, like a large shed, entirely
open at one side, near but not within the precincts
of the palace, and to which a look of temporary
grandeur, evidently foreign to it, had been imparted
by red cloth and carpets. Down the sides of the
room were chairs and tables covered with red cloth

—for the English on the right as you entered, and
for the Chinese on the left ; and at the head of the

room sat Rung at a small table, a corresponding

place being set for Lord Elgin. Kung is the Em-
peror's brother, and has a high reputation among

his countrymen, many of whom would be glad to
see their present imbecile ruler deposed and Kung
reigning in his stead. He is a surly, dissipated-
looking young man, and the whole proceeding
seemed sadly against his grain, as he regarded
neither the barbarians nor the treaty with a favour-

able eye, and his restless demeanour formed a
striking contrast to the dignified bearing of the
British Envoy. The attendant Mandarins were
plainly and uniformly dressed in dark purple silk
robes, with a square of embroidery on the chest and
back, and the only difference in the Prince's apparel
was that he wore several round instead of two

square pieces of embroidery, and a velvet instead
of a cloth hat. He rose and advanced to meet Lord
Elgin, who, after an interchange of bows, took his
seat with Sir Hope Grant on his left, and the
business of the day began. 'Phis was soon over,
being simply a matter of sealing and signing, and
at the conclusion Lord Elgin and Kung rose, more
bowing ensued, and we sallied forth into the dust

once more.
Tea was handed round during the ceremony, and
a collation of some kind was said to be prepared,
which Lord Elgin declined on account of the late-
ness of the hour. Before the assembly broke up

Signor Beato succeeded in' taking a photograph
of the scene, the Mandarins having been requested

to remain steady for the purpose, a request with
which they willingly complied. I hear that the
French treaty is to be signed in like manner to-day.

(PROM ANOTHER CORRESPONDENT.)
CAMP BEFORE PEKIN, Our, 25.
I should have written you by the last mail from
before this place, only we had outmarched all our