The Sun.
London, England, 1860-11-27 00:00:00

vaicE 4D. STAMPED, sr.

driven the Chinese from their camps, of which there
was one in nearly every cluster of trees ; the Frenoh
had taken the stone bridge on the right, and our
right wing had 'taken the wooden bridge, while the
commander-in-chief with nearly all the cavalry, the
99th and Queen's pursued the enemy two or three
miles along the canal from camp to camp towards
Pekin. The cavalry charged three or four times and
slaughtered a considerablenumber. I don't thinkthat
our killed and wounded on the 18th and to-day
amount to more than 25. The French are encamped
at the stone bridge and we at the wooden bridge,
about seven miles from Pekin. One of the roads to
Pekin passes through our camp, and there are two
more (one of them paved) on the north side of the
canal. _

" A flag of truce was sent in to-day from Pekin,
with a letter, the purport of which is understood to
be a request to re-open negotiations. I have omitted
to mention that Mr. Wade was sent, on the 19th,
with a flag of truce to Tung-chap, and was fired at
five times.

" Mr. Parkes and his party are still detained.
They are said to be at Pekin, and well treated."

"SEVEN MILES FROM PEKIN, SEPT. 22.
"An attempt has been made at negotiation,
whichlas`seride-d in the smoke of more gunpowder,

the partial deception of Lord Elgin and Mr. Parkes,
and, I grieve to say, the capture of the latter by
the Tartars, with the Times correspondent, Mr.
Loch, Lord Elgin's private secretary, Mr. de Nor-
man, Attache, Captain Brabazon, of the Artillery,
and the Adjutant of Fane's Horse, with some 20
' Sowers,' and the murder of a French officer. But
I must, as well as my memory will enable me, take
up my narrative where I dropped it on the 26th
ultimo. The whole of our force were then encamped
at or near the Taku Forts ; now they are scattered
over a space of some 80 miles, to say nothing of the
44th Regiment, who were packed off in a hurry, on
the 27th or 28th, to relieve Shanghai, where it ap-
pears they were not wanted, the Royal Marines
having settled the hash' of the rebels before their
arrival. It was not until the Ist inst., I think (un-
fortunately I have lost the few notes I kept), that
the first move was made towards the North. This
consisted in the advance of our Ist Division, which
crossed the Peiho over a bridge of boats,
about two miles above Tongku, and were followed
on the 2d by the 2d Division (with the exception
of a wing of the Buffs who were left to garri-
son the Taku Forts), the French marching along
the left bank of the river. The first halting place
was about half a mile from the bridge of boats, on a
plain nearly encircled by orchards full of grapes,
peaches, apples, pears, and water melons. The
second march was to a place called Kikko, the third
to Kih-tang-kou, and the fourth brought the whole
army to Tien-tsin, the marches consequently ave-
raging about eight miles each. But although they
were so short, and the start was generally made
before daybreak each morning, still they were much
more fatiguing than any one would imagine, as
they were never finished in less than four hours,
during the last two of which the heat was always
very great, and to men carrying heavy packs as
well as their rifles and ammunition very trying.
At Tien-tsin the army halted for nearly a week on
a magnificent plain immediately outside the town,
living in clover in more senses than one, while the
French occupied a position on the left bank of the
river, and an attempt was made at negotiation,
which, as I have already said, has ended in smoke,
the Chinese Commissioner sent down to treat with
us having declared himself afraid to sign any con-
vention on his own responsibility, and almost
hinting, I believe, that our best plan would be to
advance upon Pekin, and so frighten the Emperor
into submission by a warlike demonstration at his
very door.
" On the 9th inst. accordingly a force consisting
of the King's Dragoon Guards, Fane's and Pro-
byn's Horse, Baring's, Desborough's, and Stirling's
Batteries, the Royal Marines, and 90th Regiment,
the whole under the command of General Michell,
marched past Tien-tsin to a place called Pookoo,
10 miles distant. On the following day they
marched to Yang-tsin, eight miles further; the
next day to Nan-tsin, eight miles further ; and the
next to Hoo-si-woo, when they halted for five days
again, until the 2d Queen's and 60th Rifles and
some 2,000 French came up. Almost the whole of
the road for these last four marches was through
endless fields of millet, extending as far as the eye
could reach, and the camping ground at the end
of each of them was nearly as comfortable as a bed
of thorns, being upon half-cut beds of millet,
the spikes of which wero nearly as sharp and
strong as those surrounding the Taku Forts, and
had, I verily believe, been left so by the Tartars,
in the hope that they would effectually prevent our
advance, without any further aid from their prow-
ess. So far not one of them had shown his face
within range since the dressing they got at Taku.
At Hoo-si-woo, accordingly, Mr. Parkes was em-
boldened to ride forward to Mut-ow, about 10 miles
further on, attended by a cavalry escort and the
gentlemen I have already mentioned, in order, I
believe, to propose to the inhabitants that if they
would send us out supplies of fuel, flour, &c., we
would not molest them, but encamp outside, as we
had previously done in the case of every village or
town we had passed. As far as I can make out
from the various reports I hear, they first of all
told him they would consent to furnish us with
supplies, if we would agree to their selecting the
camping ground for us, but on his replying that
the General could not agree to any such condition,
they immediately made him and all his companions
prisoners, with the exception of a few King's Dra-
goon Guards, who succeeded in cutting their way
out. Colonel Walker, of the Bays, and Mr. Thomp-
son, of the Commissariat, who had ridden out in
the same direction, were also very nearly taken

prisoners, a French officer who accompanied them
being cut to pieces—Colonel Walker only escaping
with the lo.s a his awurd, and a cut over the hand,
and Mr. Thompson with a lance wound in his back.
The Cavalry, Artillery, 21 Queen's, Royal Marines,
and 90th Regiment were immediately ordered out
by Sir Hope Grant, and about midway between
Hoo•si-woo, our friends of Singho celebrity, and
whom we had heard had never drawn rein after
that affair until they reached Pekin, again came in
sight, extending in a wide semicircle before Mut-ow
as far as the eye could reach. The Queen's, who
I were in advance, were immediately ordered to
slants
until the rest of the regiments came up, and
of battle was formed, the French taking the right,
the Queen's the centre, Royal Marines and 99th the
left, and Artillery and Cavalry the flanks. They
had not advanced far in this order before the
fire was opened on them from some dozen points in
the aforesaid semicircle, while the Tartar Cavalry
threatened our flanks. They were promptly met,
however, by ours, but the Irregular Horse who were
on the right flank, the King's Dragoon Guards
being on the left, alone succeeded in getting
among them, with the to-be expected result of
chewing them up' completely of course, Our Artil-
lery, meanwhile, thundered dreadful responses to
theirs, and with very unequal effect—theirs doing
little or no damage, ours telling with deadly effect,
and finally completely silencing all their batteries,
which were planted in all sorts of extraordinary
positions, and were evidently of quite an impromptu
construction, some at the entrances to villages,
others among clumps of trees, and others behind
natural embankments. The infantry the' ad-
vanced, and threw in a smart fire on them as they ,
retreated, our nimble and gallant allies even get-
ting among them with the bayonet, I believe, and
killing great numbers. The enemy flea in every
direction, and did not even attempt to defend
Mut-ow itself, which was accordingly entered and
taken possession of the same evening, and proved
to be a very comfortable sad picturesque little
_ town, with a tumble-down old brick wall of great