The Sun.
London, England, 1858-07-31 00:00:00

CAPTURE OF THE PEI HO FOR

The Moniteur gives the following account of the
circumstances which led to the late attack on the
Chinese forts at the mouth of the Peiho :
" After the taking of Canton, the commissioners ex-
traordinary of France and England came to an under..
standing with the representatives of Russia and of the
United States of America, to make an application ilium'.
taneonsly to the Prime Minister of the Emperor of China.
They proposed to the Court of Pekin to open negotia-
tions, and requested it to send to Shanghai, before the
let April, plenipotentiaries provided with the necessary
havingpowers
acceptedfo r th at
thesepurpose.
Court
plenipotentiariesrtofPekinnot
of France and England came to an understanding
to present themselves as soon as passible in the Pe-
tche-9, accompanied by their squadrons. They
assembled on the 20th of April at the mouth of the
Peiho. They there met two functionaries, ver-
baily appointed by the Emperor to corns to treat with
the nations who happened to be in the port. Overtures
so evidently not of a bona fide character only showed
an evident desire on the part of the Chinese Government
to gain time. The representatives of the powers then
agreed to make a fresh application to the Court of Pekin.
Notes, still more pressing than those which bad been
previously sent from Canton, were addressed to the
Prime Minister, demanding that Chinese plenipoten-
tiaries, invested with full powers, should be sent to Ta-
800. The governor-general of Tcbeli was named Im-
perial Commissioner; but, in informing Baron Gros and
Lord Elgin of his nomination, he confined himself to de-
claring that, by order of the Emperor he came to know
what they detnanded in older to refer to Ptkon and get
his instructions. The demands of the representatives
of the powers had been before so clearly set forth that
this persistence of the Chinese Government could only
be considered as a wish to protract the question. Never-
theless, not being willing to reject any chance of ar-
.,•, • . .

France and Eogiandco'nented to grant a fresh delay to
the 13th May, which would give the Court of Pekin all
the time nee seary to decide on what course it would
adopt. They only obtained an evaoive answer, whin
was, in fact, equivalent to a fresh rdosal. As such a
state of things could not be allowed to continue any
longer, the plenipotentiaries of France and England were
obliged to concert measures to put au end to it as
promptly as possible ; and after consulting on the
subject with the admirals, they addressed, on the
morning of the 20th May, a communication to the
governor-general of Tcheli, stating that they had come to
the resolution to advance towards the capital, in
order to treat direc ly with the Chinese Government.
They added teat the admirals commanding the naval
forces of France and England were obliged, in order to
guarantee the security cf the reoresentatives of the two
powers, to demand that the Imperial C,namissiouer
should deliver up to them the forts on both banks of the
Peiho, as well as the battery placed at the bend of the
river, and that if within two hours they were not de-
livered, they would be attacked and taken. Such were
the circumstances in which was accomplished a brilliant
feat of arms, which delivers to the squadrons the month
of the Peiho. and which allows the commissioners of
France and England to freely ascend the river in order
to approach stid closer to the capital of the Celestial
Empire, if the Chinese Government should any longer
hesitate to enter into negotiaione."
Here follows a despatch, addressed to the Minister of
Marine from Admiral Rigaelt de Genouilly, commander-
in-chief of the naval division in the Chinese seas, giving
an account of the capture of the fits alluded to above.
The details differ in but a trifling manner from
those given in the English despatches already published.
The document mentions the following officers as basing
perished is the action ;—M. Meaux, enseigne de vale-
seau, belonging to the Mitraille ; M. Frouasart, clerk
of the administration of the same vessel; M. Baratier,
mate of the first class, acing as officer on board the
Dragonne ; and M. Porquet, enseigne do veissean,
serving on board the Fusee. In addition, M. Regnault,
enseigne de vaisseau, also serving on beard the Fusee,
was badly wounded in the neck with a ball. Several
other officers, belonging to the marines and ordinary
troops, were wounded, and two had afterwards suc-
cumbed. Several men had lost their lives by the ex-
plosion of the powder magazine, and in all 40 persons
had been mere or less injured by the disaster, and among
them Lieut. Veriot of the Nemesis, and the two mates
Villemsens and Gardarre.