The Sun.
London, England, 1858-07-15 00:00:00

- • (-4 lrte. P-rt
Cuit, tinder data 6010'
and the prociamat4on in qu
" Hsi• _
"To the British Mereiotli
THE ,REBF.LLION..7.--7.49,,
ports large bodies of soil*
protection of Hattgchow.
closely invested by to imperialis who ,
from2oo to :300 camps within a mile of the oity
wall. The rebels have only:one 't ate 4eft:opehr for
ingress and egress to the river. The. tnwn ofrOhin-
•keang is in ruins, but in poisemiou of the,impe,
rialists. . 4 z.

THE PROCEEDINGS -014 'THE' PLENIPO-
-
Not a little anxiety has teen felt to know:the ex-,
act character of the news brought by EI:M.'S-steam
ship Sampson heat ,the Gulf of :Pecheli, butthese,
So far as we can learn, indicate no essential change
in the position' of affairs. Tsung-lutt, one of the
cominissioners who met. Sir J. .13,6 wring
at Tien-
tsin ;in 1854,• had been appointed to coder with the
'plenipotentiaries ; but, from this nothing can be
deduced as yet. His mission may only be. to'in-
duce them to return- to the south, or he may have
power to treat with them ; but the former supposi-
tion is the more probable, as there is no intelli-
gence of any one friendly to foreigner's having been
admitted into the councils at Peking,. His, • ap-
pointment, however, had led to the suspenaion of
hostilities against the two forts at the mouth of the
river, so there is no-question that Lord Elgin is pre-
pared to causetroubles in 'the northbefore the Can-
encqueslion is settled. To further this end, the
o,6lpson leaves on" Saturday next for cheli, with.
x Officers .and, Mk Man of the ,Royal Engineers.
two gunboats are to start for. the same ple.6e,. On •
an I same daY", or immediately after. The 59th ,
Legit. is also reported under orders for the north
companies now in Hong-J(ong 'to' be-relieved
ly Indian troops.
'ne .ettracts "which we -subjoin from the-Nerth
Mina Herald of the 15th May wilLsprve to palmy
telerablyilistinct and accurate-idea-of the _posi-
ion of Lord Elgin and the other plenipotentiaries
t he mouth of the Peiho. It does not 'appear
,hat Lord Elgin is actin; on any fixed principles,
it following any definite line of policy; like other
British statesmen of the time,- he is feeling his way,
and acting aiLthe necessities of the moment dictate.
Finding the possession of Cantonegaireenn treat
'volt ege-ground ftotn whichhe might enforcetie
claims ou the Court of Peking, he moved north-
ward, in the hope that the Imperial commissioner
would be mere reasonable the nearer the plenipo-
tentiaries approached to the seat of empire. • Dis-
appointed in the expeQta, ion of meeting with the
corntnissioner at the mouth of the Yangetze-kiaug,
aut.' refused di, ect intercourse with Peking, he ad-
vanced to the Peiho, evidently in some ignorance as
to what obstacles he might meet with, and enter-
taining a saogu'ue estimate of the means atlhis dis-
pq al for makiug an impression. Possibly he may
have adopted the best course open to him in the
circumstances, but it must have Lem hit upon
pretty much at haphazard. The bar at the mouth
of the Tien-tsin River forms a serious obstacle to
the employmmt of the more formidable portion of
his naval force. It does not yet spyear with any
certainty that a commissioner with proper powers
has been appointed to treat, nor can it be said that
Lord Elgin has sufficient material means at his
comm ir.' to make the Chinese submit should they
coat inw: obs' inate.

" Peiho, April 29, 1858.
" On the Mb inef., the day of our arrival here, we
had the Furious, Pique, Cormorant, Slaney, Mississippi,
add the America, lying at various distances from the
eqore. the lasi, a aussian se-rimer, the nearest of all.
" Early the n( xi day we had a fine view of the four
Nes et the mouth r f the Peiho—the morning sun ren-
dering them se ry distinct egainat the horiz in. Few
flees were set n cornoared with the previous day, nor
re any troops visible ; but when I tell you we were
timer six raises r ff. it will not seem very surprising -that
We cmild fie: learn many statistics of teis sort.
Oa Monday (tile 19th) a boat that bad been towed
up from Shengbae was despatched, with a party of
Men in her, to the mouth t f the river, to make observa-
tion', atet to get some provision?. Meanwhile, two
mititary officers came off to the fl set, recognised as bar-
ing been on hoard the ships here in 1854. One was
Chin, a yiefu of Tien-thin prefecture, the other was
Chang, a Shan-fu cf the same ; the first wore a blue
button, and ranks abut as high as a lien'.-colonel, the
second were a crystal knob, and ranks as high as major.
It'hey stayed on felled the Mississippi an hour, and then
dff to the Furious, where their boat ren aim d a!ongside
drily a short time. In neither case did they see the
plenipotentiaries. Poor fellows, thee', feel that they are
ie a bad position, for the responsibiiity rests with them
o drive all these ships away from the coast, and if any
sebseqeent evils come upon the country through their
rot:lane:se, they will be visited for it _ with disgrace, if
with nothing worse.
"Next day about noon the Shanghae boat returned
from the month of the river, where she had remained all
night immediately undir the forts ; the tide and wind
Were against her, and the party on board bad rather a
rough night of it, not being prepared for a bivouac.
The notice of our arrival and intentions was delivered to
nn officer, who was brought down to the beach over the
thud on men's shoulders, and took the paper, promising
to return an answer in the morning. None was brought,
however, nor did any boat come off with provisions.
Tee forts had a considerable number of men in them,
but apparently not an extra getrisor. 'On the beach the
:eons were trained so as to fire on hey vessel entering the
r.ver, and inn we; a at work erecting a new fort, which,
'tete the old oues, seeined to be made oftne purest tnurf,
bet this perhaps'ruight be found to be mixed with some
stone or limb r.
"'.he cheonel was found to be shallow indeed, only
five feet on the 'bar, which at low water was dry on both
sides of it, leavieg less than half a mile passage. Thus
ehal!ow water is a better defence to Peking than all the
forts and troops in the cocney. at will prove a great
obetaele in the way of future trade with Tietetsin and
the tnetrepolie It was found that the channel had
'Altered somewhat since the survey made by the John
Hancock in 1854, but. bad not deepened at ell anywhere.
"In the of ernoon of Toesday, the French Minister
arrived from Shangha-o in the Audacieuse, with a gun-
,
boat in company.-
" The calm plea,ant morning of the 233 was rendered
even more charming by the change from the b iisterous
weather of Tenrsday ; everybody looked happy, and
even the gulls chirped more merrily as they flew about
us. During the day two civi lane, of higher rink than
the ter) military men Chin and Chang, came off to the
Russian steamer ; and the French gunboat went into
the river, proceeding up to the forts, Several confer-
enc,s were held, and notes passed between the four mi.,
nisters, one and another visiting here and there.
"Ey eight o'cicc's next morning (Saturday) messen-
gers from the four ministers were on their way for the
chore, each with a letter addressed to the governor-gene-
ral of the province of Chihli, and enclosing another for
the Prime Minister Yu,granting the Chinese Government
time to send out an envoy. The four boats in which the
tnowroedwetod tihneto mouth
the stream
rmi
veesrs ebnyg etrhsepsr
acne
eeyd
twh
eeyre
together. 'As they advanced towards the forts, a large
concourse of people, trce)ps, and officers, and others,
I were assembled along the shore—numbering perhaps
2,000 persons, moat of them drawn together by curiosity.
Some tents were erected near the torts, one of them a
large and imposing one, like a marquee, and other things
indicated the presence of an officer of some rank higher
than any before seen. The LleuteColonel Chin, who
cline off to the ships en Monday, came down to the wharf
to receive the letters. Both he and those with him ex-
pressed such disinclination to have the foreigners come
on shore, that the latter agreed to avoid any irritating
procedure by hrndiog him the letters from 'their boats—
the to :v receding tide having interposed a few feet of
muddy bank between them, not easily or pleasantly to
be passed over. All the letters were received by the Chi-
nese officer, who conversed pleasantly enough with the
foreigners. After a few words they all returned out of
the river, and on reaching the Slaney their boats were
towed back to the ships.
"It is not known how many junks have passed up
into the river, but if the Lumber of vessels which have
gone in and out since our arrival is an index of the usual
commerce of the river and city, Tien-tsin must be,the
en trepot of a large t:ade. The junks are of all sizes, some
apparently small coasting boats, coming aaroos the gulf
from Liautung, while the largest ones are like those sees;
in the Canton river for size, and are perhaps grain juukS
from the south. No obstacles have been yet placed in
their way; and though note came off to any ship with
provisions, they seem to fear no danger, as, in fact, there is
none yet to h ar. Their rulers, however, must apprehend
something, fur they are throwing up a new mud fort near
the others, and are arming the old ones with guns of dif-
firentsiz)s, vat yi g fit m Camundere to 42-pounders,
many
of them brass. They had better turn these latter to a
better u e, by casting them into cash, than trying to de-
fend this river, where they are hkely to lose therm. In
the forts and along the beach there are more than 100
pieces of artillery.
"The French admiral arrived on the 25th, augmenting
the number of ships by the addition of the Nemesis and
four small steamers. Oa that day the Russian Minister
visited two high Chinese officers, who had reaohed Ta-ku
the day before. One was '['sung-lun, a Manchu, a vice-
president or shillang of the Hu-Po, or board of revenue,
and etc led superintendent of the grain and granaries atd
the capital, and one cf the persons formerly appornte
to confer with Mr. Arleen() and Sir J. Bowrine in 1854.
Tee other is named Wu, or, when read in fell, Wurgnot 1,
and is a member of the Nui-Kobe a ta-bioh-se, which
answers to an under secretary f the ca
countries. Ile bas not beretofore, I thibinetnk, ain ppeared iu
any official relation towards feeiguers, and as he is a
o western
Manchu is likely never to have seen them. They are
both °dicers of the second rank.

GRAND 31ar OF ENGLAND AND WALLS.—Size, 3 feet
6 inches 11. 3 fret.—On July 24, instead of July
reviowily announced, will be issued with
17, 94 P
he Illustrated limes a large and carefully engraved
tmap Engiand and Wales, which has been upwards of
a yar preparation, and based throughout on the
Ordnauce surveys. Every railway and town in the
kingdom is d:stiLctly ddirted, and the utmost pains have
been tak,u to insure accuracy. Nice of the Paper and
Map, si, ; or free by post tor 7 stamps. No map of
the same can be vurchaed for a lest prioethali 53.
Office, 11S, Flc4et•ztr. e:.