The Sun.
London, England, 1860-08-08 00:00:00

THE BRITISH ARMY IN CHINA.

TING-HAE, CHUSAN, MAT 26.
The English mail arrived on the lith, and a
a companies,
olrtcyllaagilpeosxaeeinpsriebtecloy the which
stt,e.twdhNehfa Encounter,
ropnoiowmerritlil:H,rneodihti ihsiin stoa,
tl4h,at,egffc,
bs. The
SirnikoaulllgisehartremGeadnil m
. The
excep-
ot9ii9o.tnbheoßfretelgmlrionieveeed to some adjacent island. There is
some talk of making one small isle the station of
our military invalids. It is only two days' sail from
this port. The Marines remain here, lam told, and
a portion of the Royal Artillery. The sun is getting
very powerful, and our troops mast soon relinquish
their mid-day drill. Two men fainted during
Divine service last Sunday, and there is one serious
case of fever already attributed to the sun.
The discovery of the Government Bank by the
police is one of some importance, as it may give a
clue to what we want to discover—namely, the
system of taxation pursued by the Court of Pekin..
Piece goods, raw silk, and salt are the products of
Chusan. The mountain sides are cultivated and the
valleys are one long lake, for the paddy fields, di-
vided by narrow ridges of earth, are all under water.
The irrigator is a very simple bit of mechanism.
There is a narrow trough, along which a series of
wooden blades, united by pliant withes, are worked
by means of a roller, one set advancing and the
other retiring in turn. Stone, a kind of porphyritic
conglomerate, is so plentiful that nearly all the
bridges are constructed of it, and many, as far as
beauty of design goes, are perfect. A few invete-
rate sportsmen have rambled far into the country,
and brought back roebucks as trophies of their
sport. One was brought down the other day by a
ball in the neck, at 500 yards, which was justly
considered a splendid shot.
The engineer department is still engaged in mak-
ing a survey of the town. Ting-hae was certainly
surveyed before, but the survey has been discovered
to be very faulty, aid the ramparts from the east
gate as far as the Colonel's yanum now lie in a very
different direction from that which they took upon
the former plan. From being the worst of all the
military posts, the east gate has become one of the
best. It was a perfect marsh, but it has been
thoroughly drained and paved with stones by
weekly fatigue parties of men, who worked far
more heartily than soldiers generally do who have
been partially spoilt by Indian service. Shops are
starting up in all directions. The signboard which
now bears the most facetious inscription is that cf
a tailoring establishment—" Moses and Sons, from
Aldgate-pump." A Mr. Richards has opened a
shop in South-street, which proves a great attrac-
tion, and beershops are springing up on all sides.
The allied Commissioners have promulgated cer-
tain rulea and regulations. Every canteen or beer-
shop is to be closed at 8 p.m. Residents and
visitors to the island must provide themselves with
passports granted by the police, and those who
carry firearms subject themselves to a fine, of
which 5 dols. will be the least and 20 dols. the
greatest penalty inflicted. A few cricketers prac-
tice daily on the scrap of common at Chin-tin,
which goes by the name of the Garrison Parade-
ground, as it is the only spot on which a regiment
can be inspected within the walls of the town.
The Tartar play-ground, if got into good order,
would be a better place, and afford scope for double
wicket. On the arrival of the troops forming the
expeditionary force at Hongkong it was notified
that they were placed on English pay from the
date of embarcation. A more resent order says
that the troops are borne on the Indian strength
dip to the date of disembarcation in Chin,a, so they
will be credited accordingly with the difference
between the two scales of pay. The Great Tas-
mania case has justly caused a great sensation at
home. The troops brought from India to this
country justly complain of the smallness of the
rations, and the peas furnished by the Calcutta
Commissariat are of the same cast-iron quality as
those placed on board the Great Tasmania. No
amount of boiling produced any sensible effect upon
them, and they were thrown away, being quite
unfit for human food. The Encounter, with a
company of Marines on board, has left under sealed
orders.

On the 22d I joined a piratical expedition which
was designed to be a combined attack of the allied
forces by sea and land on some 200 desperate
men, chiefly from Canton and Ningpo, led
by an English pirate who has adopted
Chinese manners and morals. The gunboats opened
fire early in the morning with small arms and
canister. Several men were killed, and some 20
boats were captured. From the usual mismanage-
ment which attends combined attacks, the military
force, although on the ground before the time spe-
cified in orders,were four hours too late, and nearly
all the pirates escaped over the mountains. The
troops were of some use, however, in tracking out
pirates of whom information could be obtained from
the villagers.
One ruffian, who was concealed in the mountains,
had a brace of double-barrelled pistols upon him.
In one barrel there were five bullets, and in a box
found in his possession there were 105 dols., jars of
opium, caps, and gunpowder. He was taken on
board the Bustard, left high:and dry upon the mud,
where he contrived to poison himself, before 12
hours were, up, with opium. The Woodcock was to
have returned in the afternoon with a party of some
50 soldiers, but, although they were in boats, wait-
ing to embark, she went without them, and they
were accordingly taken to the French gunboat
Alarme, 6, stationed some four miles off, at one of
the mouths of the channel. I resolved to return with
the French, who waited for the French Commis-
sioner here, who answers to our military magistrate.
We had not gone far before a heavy fog came on,
with rain. At midnight we gave up our search,
and landed at a small village on a rocky island
(which was pointed out by our guide, a Frenchman
and quondam pirate, up to any villany), where we
passed e night in a joss-house. The French ()la-
cers, n'al and military, some seven in number,
soon sat down to a capital supper in one of the four
or five cottages, and I was invited to join the party
which I, dinnerless as the rest, was not loth to do.
We slept as best we could, among the gods and god-
desses, on soft planks or straw, and embarked at 5
on the following day. The captain of the Alarme
met us m route to the ship, and handed over two
bottles of rum to each gig, so that we did not go
without our " morning." I found out afterwards that
he gave his new English charge a warm reception,
plied them with grog and gave them a capital supper
with beds on the lower deck, and breakfast on the
following morning. In this quarter of the globe
French and English pull well together. The
failure of the expedition must be attributed to the
passion of naval officers for military operations, and
the difficulty of conducting a combined attack with
an allied force.

The old order relative to officers' baggage and
tents has been lately published here. Each officer
is allowed two Chinese coolies to carry his baggage,
which must not exceed 1201 b. One bell tent is
allotted to each field officer, to a captain with his
two subalterns, to a surgeon with his three assist-
ants. So that the doctors do not derive any advan-
tage from the Royal Warrant published in their
favour. The surgeon, who ranks, or rather is sup-
posed to rank, with a field officer, not only does not
receive the consideration shown to the officers of
that rank, but he is positively worse off than even
the captain, who ranks below him. However ad-
visable it may be to economise in the number of
tents to be carried, yet it is quite unjustifiable that
the special duties of medical officers should be lost
sight of, and their claims and privileges encroached
upon more than those of any other officers. A
regimental surgeon may have to spend several hours,
not only of the day, but of the night, in the hospi-
tal marquee, surrounded by an atmosphere tainted
by disease. This alone ought to exempt him from
being overcrowded in his own tent, and I cannot
but think that the order arises solely from ignor-
ance of the nature of the duties performed by medi-
cal officers in the field. The Mars has ceased to be
a hospital ship.
The 24th was duly observed at the fiery hour of
noon by our troops, who were drawn up on the
ramparts and fired a feu de joie. The Chinese
powder used by us was either bad or damp, and
half the guns did nothing more than breathe out
flames and clouds of innocuous smoke. I hope to
be able to report in my next letter the capture of
Nankin. There will be few events in the way of
conquest to record this year. Winter at the north
will soon set in with its usual severity. July and
August are rainy months, while from October till
March there are frosts, and the cold is far more in-
tense than at Moscow. A few days ago I met a mili-
tary mandarin in purple spencer and fancy cap, who,
instead of leaving his red tia-zoo, left a thin shiny
card, and inscribed in French, beneath the name,
were the words "Lieutenant of the 3d. Regiment of