The Sun.
London, England, 1860-12-28 00:00:00

passed the Board of Punishments, where Parkes
and Loch had been so long imprisoned, and close
by the Russian Embassy.

A broad street runs from the centre of the Impe-
rial city on the south to the central gate of the
Chinese city. A large square or enclosure is in
front of the gate entering the Imperial Palace, on
the east side of which are the great Boards of
Office of the empire. The first visited was the
Board of Ceremonies, which has been in its day a
magnificent building ; it has still fine court-yards
and halls. But the Board of Revenue was a heap
of ruins, and the Boards of Civil Office, War, &c.,
in very little better condition. The Board of Cere-
monies was therefore decided on as the place best
adapted for the ceremony of signing the Convention,
both on account of its position, which was good,
and from its better state of repair.
No house, however, had been pointed out that in
any way could be made suitable for the Embassy.
Prince Kung was therefore requested to have some
private palace at once prepared for Lord Elgin's
reception, and the Prince of I's was named, as being
in a convenient situation. It is a building of vast
extent; the outhouses alone could accommodate
3,000 soldiers with ease; but the palace and gar-
dens were not in much better condition than the
other buildings visited. 300 Chinese workmen
were, however, set to work, and it is surprising
how much they can do in a few hours towards
making a place look habitable and comfortable.
But the state of decay of the public buildings as
well as private, even when owned by one of the
greatest and richest princes of the empire, like the
Prince of I, gives a melancholy impression for the
future of China.
The 24th was the day named for signing the
Convention ; for some days previous Messrs. Wade
and Parkes were busily engaged in discussing the
clauses of the Convention, and making arrange-
ments for their-coming into immediate operation,
together with those of the treaty of Tien-tsin, as
soon as the ratified treaties were exchanged. Among
the Chinese Deputies were Hang-ke and Wang.
The latter was, I believe, associated with Tan, Go-
vernor-General of Chil-li, when they ineffectually
attempted to stay Lord Elgin's advance in 1858.
On the morning of the 24th Lord Elgin and Sir
Hope Grant entered the An-ting gate, accompanied
by an escort of 600 men and 100 officers from the
regiments at Pekin. The Commander-in-Chief,
with the Head-quarters and his personal Staff, rode a
little in front of Lord Elgin, who was carried in his
State chair by 1G Chinese, dressed in scarlet ; his
horse, saddled. was led behind him, and the mem-
bers of the Embassy rode on either side.
The 2d Division, under Sir Robert Napier, lined
the streets, and as Lord Elgin passed followed at
intervals, taking up strategical positions along the
line of route in case treachery was intended by the
Chinese. Considerable crowds lined both sides of
the road ; they were extremely orderly, merely
evincing great curiosity to get a glimpse at the
"Great Barbarian" by attempting to peep into his
chair as he passed by.
The Board of Ceremonies is about three miles and
a half from the An-ting gate, and it was past three
o'clock before the procession arrived there. Dense
crowds surrounded the entrance and filled the
streets and square in front and on every side of it.
The guard formed up on either side of the court-
yard, where the dais on which the ceremony was to
take place opened. The officers ranged themselves
on the left of the dais, the place of honour, and on
the right were assembled a number of Manda-
rins. At the back of the dais were two small
tables and chairs, that on the left for Lord Elgin,
the one on the right for Prince Rung. Close to
Lord Elgin's chair was another for the Commander-
in-Chief ;on either side, at right angles, were ten
small tables and chairs for the high officers of each
nation ; behind them, again was another row, for
the accommodation of other officers.
As Lord Elgin's chair entered the gate the troops
presented arms, and the bands played " God save
the Queen." His chair was carried to the front of
the dais, when Prince Kang advanced to receive
him, accompanied by all the Mandarins. A cold
bow from Lord Elgin and an anxious hesitating
salutation from Prince Rung, and Lord Elgin passed
at once to his seat and sat down, motioning Rung
to take the one on his right, which is considered
the lowest. A table stood in the middle of the
space, in front of which the boxes containing the
convention and treaty were placed.
Business was immediately commenced by Lord
Elgin telling Mr. Wade to hand the translation of
his full powers to Kung,with the request to see his
in return. Prince Kung said his were not so full,
but equally ample as to powers, and gave Lord
Elgin the Emperor's decree conferring on him fall
powers to negotiate and conclude a peace, and also
to affix the great seal of the Empire as a ratifica-
tion to the treaty. The convention was signed, each
Plenipotentiary affixing his seal.
The treaties were then exchanged, Kung sealing
it with the great seal of the Empire, certifying
under his seal and signature that the ratification of
the treaty had been duly effected, and that affixing
the great seal of the Empire meant the acceptance by
the Emperor of all the conditions and responsibilities
contained in the treaty.
A few interchanges of good wishes for the results
of the treaty, and hopes that it would be the means
of establishing a good understanding between the
two Governments, passed between Lord Elgin and
Prince Kung, the latter remarking that a great
many mistakes had been made heretofore in their
intercourse with foreigners, and that matters had
been very badly managed, but he had now taken it
into his own hands, and he hoped a new state of
things would commence.
Lord Elgin then rose; Rung walked a short dis-
tance across the platform, and then stopped ; Lord
Elgin did so likewise, and it was only after vigor-
ous beckoning of the Mandarins attending on Kung
and Lord Elgin stopping that Rung was induced,
after a few hesitating pauses, to accompany him to
the edge of the dais.
Prince Kung is about 28, but looks older; his
countenance is not devoid of intelligence, but there
was an expression of anxious, nervous care, partly
fear struggling with anger, no doubt at finding
himself in a position so different from the one he
had, been accustomed to hold in the presence of the
high officials of the Government; yet there was a
curious mixture of familiarity and respect in the
manner of the officers towards him.
The manner of Lord Elgin was quiet and digni-
fied, and the Chinese could not fail to be struck by
the stern and calm manner in which he performed
his part of the ceremony.
The
he
has pursued has been such as to
impress on the Chinese the feeling that in-agreeing to
exchange the ratifications and sign the convention he
considered he Was
bestowing on them an immense
benefit ; but that he
had not forgotten, and could
not easily forget, the treachery that had character-
ized their proceedings throughout, and that before
such feelings could be erases
the Chinese Govern-
ment would have to show by their conduct that they
were sincere in their professionals fulfil the engage-
ments they have accepted. The serious attention
with which the great Princes and Ministers of the
manner, as if im.
were tiding
Empire watched Lord Elgin's
pressed with the dangerous crisis they
over, but alive to the dangers that still threatened
and surrounded them, was one of the most interest-
ing scenes in the day's proceedings.
It is sincerely to be hoped that the recollection
of the dangers they have escaped may
live long in
the memory of those in power, and may iNduco
them for the future to follow a less tortuous policy
than they have done heretofore, and the only way
to insure this is to visit the least departure from
the treaty with immediate and severe punishment,
and the position we shall now hold will always
enable us, even with a small force, to effect this.
The Ambassador's and Commander-in-Chief's
return was in the same order as that in which they
went, but the streets were occupied at different
points by the troops of Sir Robert Napier, who
had placed them with great skill, so that the
capital of the Chinese Empire was in the actual
possession of the British troops.
The appearance of Pekin is disappointing. The
great width of the streets makes the houses look
small and mean, but the wood carving in front of
mast of them is most wonderful in the quantity and

minuteness of its detail. Many of these carvings
are gilt, and in a long street of these shops the
effect is good. In dry weather the strt ets are four
inches deep in dust; in wet, a foot deep in mud.
There is a raised road in the middle of the street,
on which two carts can easily d::ve abreast; on
either side of this road there is a lower one of about
the same breadth. The wall of the Imperial City,
which occupies the centre of Pekin, is high and
handsome, but not ,intended for defence ; the top
has the yellow tile ; inside this wall are the.
palaces of the Imperial family. The Emperor's
Palace, or the Interdicted City, as it is called, is in
the centre of this city, and surrounded by the same
kind of wall.
Lord Elgin and Baron Gros have taken up their
residence in Pekin.
By this mail Lord Elgin sends his Private Secre-
tary, Mr. H. B. Loch, to .England, as bearer of the
convention and ratified treaty ; Sir Hope Grant
sends Major the Hon. A. Anson by the same oppor-
tunity with despatches for the War-office.
The French army retires from Pekin on the Ist
of November, one battalion only remaining as an
escort for Baron Gros. The convention and treaty
are to be published in Pekin, and circulated
throughout the Empire. The English army and
the Ambassadors do not leave Pekin befQ
of November. re the 9th

(FROM ANOTHER CORRESPONDENT.)
CAMP BEFORE PEKIN, OCT. 27.
Being in some doubt as to the date of your latest
advices from the expedition, I may just recall to
your recollection that on the 18th of September two
parties, one English and the other French, in all
37 persons, who had left Ho-si-woo for Tungchow
to make arrangements for the pacific reception of
the allied Ambassadors in the latter city, were
seized by Sang-ko-lin-sin, who had come down to
give us battle on the very ground on which it had
been agreed the allied army should encamp. Mr.
Parkes, who had left Tungchow early in the morn-
ing for the purpose of starting a market, an under-
taking in which his repute is well established, as
he passed through Chiang-kia-wan, an old market
town between four and five miles south of Tung-
chow, found the roads thronged with cavalry, and
preparations for a general action well under way.
He despatched Mr. Henry Loch, Lord Elgin's pri-
vate secretary, who was with him, to inform Sir
Hope Grant of this rock ahead, and himself gallopped
back to Tungchow to obtain some explanation of
this movement from the Prince Tsai and Muhyin,
the Imperial Commissioners with whom the original
agreement about the camping ground had been
made. These gentlemen's replies to his queries were
so far from satisfactory that he resolved to re-as. 1
semble all those who had accompanied him and to I
beat a retreat. Mr. Loch had obtained the General's I
permission, as soon as he had delivered his message,
to rejoin Mr. Parkes, and with him came Major
Brabazon, R. A. Ihe party further included Mr. De
Norman, first attache to the legation, and Mr. Bowl-
by, your correspondent. They were escorted by 19
sowars and 1 dragoon, under the command of Lieut.
Anderson, adjutant of Pane's Horse, a gallant man
and much esteemed. Mr. Parkes's interesting nar-
rative will, I trust, ere long be public property, and
I shall therefore avoid the details of his capture.
The party were surrounded shortly after they got
clear of Chang-kia•wan, still without menace. Mr.
Parkes and Mr. Loch, quitting the rest in order to
obtain Prince Sang-ko-lin-sin's leave to continue
their journey, were led by a Mandarin to the point
at which the said Prince had pitched his tent, and
were there seized and thrown down before him.
They saw their companions no more. From the
statements of some of the sowers since released, it
appears that Lieutenant Anderson refused to allow
them to cut their way out, relying on the protection
of the two flags of truce with which they were
provided. He and they were carried, with Major
Brabazon and some French officers and men simi-
larly entrapped, to Tungchow ; thence, as it would
seem, to Yuen-ming-Yuen ; where the Emperor
was still residing; and thenCe, some of them, if not
all, into Pekin, to be subsequently distributed
throughout the country in sections of four or five,
at different cities within from 30 to 40 miles of the
capital. Two of their number, Brabazon and the
Abbe de Luc, a missionary attached to General de
Montauban, had turned off on the morning of the
19th, half-way between Tangchow and Pekin, as the
sowars understood, for the purpose of communicat-
ing with the allied Commanders-in-Chief, who, hav-
ing driven Sang-ko-lin-sin from his position north
of Chang-kia-wan, with considerable loss, were
encamped about that town. Mr. Parkes and Mr.
Loch, with a few others, were carried into Pekin on
the 19th, and remained in durance till the Bth of
October, when to the great delight of all their ac-
quaintances, they reappeared, little, if any the
worse for their confinement.
On the 19th, the day after their seizure, the
Generals made an effort to ascertain something
about them, and to warn the Chinese of the risk
they ran should evil befal the prisoners. Mr. Wade
was sent on with a strong escort, and eventually
succeeded in obtaining access to the Mandarin of
Tung-chow, to whom he delivered a note, but from
whom he could obtain no information. A large force
was discovered still lying west of Tung-chow, at
and about the Pa-li-Chias, orEight-li-Bridge, north
and south of which it was encamped. This position
was attacked and carried by the allied force on the
morning of the 21st, and it is not impossible that
Brabazon and the Abbe de Luc were either killed
in the melee or put to death by their captors when
they found they must fly. This is mere conjecture,
but they are the only two we are unable to trace
after their separation from the rest on the 19th at
a point somewhere in thee neighbourhood of Pa-li-
Chias. The Abbe spoke Chinese, and might have
been taken by Juilin, the high officer commanding
the Pa-li-Chias force, to serve as his interpreter
should he need one.
The sad story of the rest is soon told, but before
proceeding further I should state that as a move-
ment towards Pekin was now inevitable and an
assault of the capital itself not an impossibility; it
was deemed best to halt for our siege train and a
supply of ammunition. These reached us not before
the 2d of October, and on the 3d we began to march
forward once more. In the meantime the Emperor
had fled from his country palace at Yuen-ming-
Yuen, leaving his brother, the Prince of Kung,
some said Regent, but at all events Imperial Com-
missioner for the settlement of Barbarian affairs,
and his Highness lost no time in commencing a
correspondence with the foreign Ministers. Day
after day couriers came in with flags of truce,
and at last a letter from Parkes and Loch,
dated September 29, written in the presence of their

gaolers, who were now, however, treating them so
far well that we became sanguine on behalf of the

others, of whose fate we were still ignorant.
As there was little doubt that anything that was
written to Parkes in reply would be read, his
friends' ingenuity was taxed to shape their messages
so that they should be cheering to him, and yet un•
compromising to his keepers, who, having failed to
bully him into the proposition of terms less hard
than those already known to the Chinese Govern-

merit, now tried to make him their mediator by

improvements in his diet and lodging. He showed
himself a perfect Regulus. " You must do what

you have been called 'upon to do, 0 rulers," said he,
"or the Allies will advance, whether you keep me
or let me go." Still, till we did advance, there was
ne hope of liberty for him or his comrades. Other
letters followed, but still no prisoner returned to
us. It Was evident that the Chinese were afraid
to think what they had done, and yet hesitated to
restore to us
what they considered might be made
a pledge that no new demands should be pressed
upon them, and no Punishment inflicted.
The morning of the oth saw us under the north
wall of Pekin. We had commenced our march
with the French on our left; that is to say,between
angle
ec
force was citnyOrth-westerly, from a
The general direc-
tion us a and thethe ns,
h
point some three miles east of Pekin at which we
had lain the evening before. The country in front
of us was, as the French said, pas malbeise, and be-
came more close as we advanced. Some cavalry
pickets seen outside the large earthwork which

encloses evenly a tract of ground a mile wide on
the north of Pekin lured us to bring up our right.

Pursuing them, we came to a haltlyithiu the said