The Sun.
London, England, 1858-02-15 00:00:00

THE BOMBARDMENT OF CANTON.

(Prom Special Correspondent of the Times)
CANTON RIVER, DEC. 19.
It is yet uncertain whether the siege of Canton
will terminate in a surrender, an easy victory, or a
sanguinary assault. But, whatever the event, it
must always be a curiosity in the history of sieges,
so I shall chronicle our proceedings from day to day
in some detail.

It was on Saturday, the 19th of December, that
I had my first near view of Canton. Ira the dark
and drizzling night of the previous day I hid left
our watch tower at Macao Fort and steered right
up the reach towards that vast suburb and those
ruined Shameen forts whereof we had taken so many
four-mile-distant surveys from the top of the pagoda.
We went on, and on till the confused mass of lights
separated into individual twinkles. We were so
close that I could see a Chinese lantern through the
sight of a rifle when we dropped anchor and the
ship swung round t 3 the tide. The splash of oars
and the hail of the watch, and lights dotted here
and tin re, told that other ships were around us; but
nothing more of this mysterious enemies' cduutry
was visible through the murky night. We wrapped
ourselves in our blankets, and fell asleep wondering
what the morning's light would show us.
Day dawns, up sleepers, up, or the buckets of
the deck-washers will souse ye. We rub our eyes,
and the first sensation is to expect to hear the swish
of a shower of grape. We are in the middle of
the hostile city. We are anchored, it is true, off
the westward point of Honan, just where the river
breaks into two streams to form the island. We
look down the channel which divides llon_in from
Canton. But Honan and Canton banks are almost
equally covered with buildings ; the channel is not
really 300 yards wide—it does not appear to be 20
feet. A thin, meandering line is all the wa'er we
can see ; the rest is covered with boats—not such as
we see on the Isis, at the bottom of Christ Church
meadows, nor even barges such as we see upon the
Thames, but wooden house-like structures. Some
are gay, flaunting flower boats, bedizened with
paint and hung with lanterns and lustres. Some
are Mandarin passage boats, with high poops and
elaborate carvings. The great mass, however, con-
ists of floating huts and houses, some two stories ,
high, and covering cargo boats. The habitations
of 100,000 people are crowded in this river, and
give our position the appearance .1 have already
described as being in th© very midst of the hostile
city.

Our little squadron steams and fumes (situated
just as if we were a dozen vessels in Chelsea Reach,
and the river towards London-bridge crowded as I
have said), and the Cruiser, in obedience to a
signal from the Coromandel, detaches herself, and
proceeds into the little thread of channel. There is
a flutter and a panic among the dwellers upon the
water. The outside boats cast off, and the strong
tide (Lifts them rapidly away before our steamer.
How it happens that the channel is not hopelessly
blocked we cannot imagine. But the current is
very swift ; down 1113 go, and the channel is
wider by their removal. Then another tier, and
another, and another is detached, and the tide
sweeps them still more rapidly away. Surely all
Canton is going to vanish down the river. Houses
that looked firmly established on the land detach
themsel.ves slowly, and then send off. Give them
time—why should we hurry these poor people ?
An hour, and an hour, and the channel suburb of
Cantonhas removed itself without molestation or
injury. They are gone to seek a safer shelt,-r in the
numerous creeks which the Chinese only know'.
Perhaps some of them are gone round to the back
of the city. If so, I fear we shall have to disturb
them once more ; but there thousands of back-
waters and ditches and canals in which they can
find safe habitation.

And now the channel is clear. We have an un-
interrupted view along it. It is not nearly so wide
as the Thames at Wapping, and moreover there are
no bridges to interrupt the line of sight ; but the
buildings on each side are much of the same cha-
racter as those at Wapping and Rotherbithe—the
warehouses of Hunan on the right, the low buildings
of Canton on the left. About half-a-mile up there
is a wide interval, covered only with heaps of llaild-
irag rubbish, but having no structure standing but a
newly-built Chinese gateway--a sort of triumphal
arch, whereon is wait in Chinese characters " The
site of Hog Lane." Beyond this interval, as large
or larger than the Temple-gardens—an interval
which will be readily recognised as the location of
the destroyed factories—there are ruins. High
square, brick-built pillars start up from the debris of
their fallen roofs. These are the remains of the
bongs and warehouses, battered or buried during
the retaliatory attack of the British fleet. A little
further on, where the stream slightly widens, there
is an islet in mid-channel. It is covered with the
wreck of masonry. Stones and brickwork are lying
about in shapeless masses ; but nine trees, which
have survived the deed of violence these ruins tell
of, rise in the interstices and shake their leaves and
offer shade. This islet shuts in the view and closes
the vista. It is the site of the Dutch Folly Fort.

The Cruiser has paused before themelting floating
city. Now it is gone, she passes on after it. We
watch her with intense anxiety. Will our friend
Ych suffer this ? Or shall we have the contents of
tlif)se 200 guns which he is said to have brought to
bear upon this channel down upon our decks ?
The excitement among the Chinese is not less than
that among us. The roofs of the houses are
crowded. They know that we are not going to fire,
for our proclamations have told them that until the
time given to Yeh has expired we shall only fire in
defence. But the steamer is nearing the Dutch
Folly, the scene of the last operations, and the
Chinese spectators are as uncertain as we are whe-
ther Yeh will allow the presence of a British man-
of war with 300 yards of his own yamun. "Never
do to-day what you can put off till to-morrow.'
Surely this ralxim iy to be found in Confucius, for

in fighting or in yielding it is a Chinaman's only
rule of conduct. Yeh, although he has rejected
Lord Elgin's demands, is determined to take his
full period of respite. Not a solder appears upon
those small patches of the walls that are not hid-
den by the houses. Even the guns are, as our
glasses show us, clumsily concealed by matting
and wicker shields. The steamer passes through,
and others follow. They cast anchor in mid-stream
and make themselves snug and comfortable, as if
they were at Spithead.' Imagine a row of
ships of war moored stem and stern broadside to
the shore at the Tower stairs and half-a-mile up and
clown the stream, and you will have some idea of
the pcsiVon of the Nimrod, the Hornet, the Cruiser,
the Bittern, the Actaeon, and the Acarn. Half an
hour after they had anchored the gunboats were
running up and down, and the gigs, and cutters and
dingeys were rowing to and fro, and the Chinamen
were going from boat to boat with oranges and
bananas for sale, as though we had been settled
here for a lifetime.
Having thus satisfactorily settled matters on the
river, let us go ashore. Not to that left-hand shore
to which you might jerk a biscuit from this poop
now swinging to the tide, jor our deaths are worth
dollars there. If any accident were to drift us there
our heads would certainly be set up in company
with that of the poor fellow whose head was cut
off in that unfortunate expedition of Lieut. Pym.
To repeat a bad pun made by a friend at my elbow,
"it would not be pleasant promotion to become
head of the staff on that side of the river." On the
Ronan side there are broad stone landing-places and
ranges of warehouses, which by right of conquest,
or perhaps we should rather say by " special occu-
pancy" (a phrase which wants a situation, as the
law has just discharged it), belongs to us. There
it a small Union Jack upon the roof of one of
these, and a larger tricolor upon another. fore,
then, let us land.
There is a part of the "'long shore " of the
borough of Lambeth which, according to a super-
stition rifa among London cabmen, forms a short
cut to the Dover Railway. The streets are of
a preternatural narrowness, and zig-zsg about
at angles of the greatest possible acuteness. Ware-
house walls rise high and windowless on one
side, and wretched shops exude frowsy odours on
the other side. There is a perpetual block of cabs
and carts, a clamour of angry voices of men whose
hope of catching the train grows fainter every
moment, a jostling of pedestrians, a Dutch con-
cert of oaths, and a general mass of confusion
closely packed. We must allow for some change
of circumstances. Substitute laden fatigue parties
for cabs and carts, rushing orderlies for impatient
travellers, marching detachments for a struggling
populace, and then our Borough waterside tho-
roughfare will not be unlike the new British and
foreign conquest 'n the Island of Holm,. We
are scarcely landed before we are swept into the
tide of human beings which rushes and eddies in
this narrow lane. The warehouses to the left aro
~11 open, let us take refuge in one of them. It is
a strongly built brick building more than 200 feet
long by 100 feet broad. At the other end there is
4. doorway leading to the river, and a loft divided
off into compartments. This storehouse is about
30 feet high, and its roof is supported by rows of
square brick pillars. It offers a great area with
comfortable accommodation for a numerous body
of troops.
More than half-a-mile of river front is occupied
by these packhouses ; and when we have filled all
these there are plenty more upon the island. As
we visit several others we find great stores of tea
and bales of English cotton. One is already occu-
pied by a battalion of Marines. Nice beds of junk

matting have been made up along the sides of the
budding, arms and accoutrements are hung upon
the walls and pillars, and in the central parts of the
area the men are squatting or lolling round their
cooking fires and frizzling their rations.
Our object in visiting these places is to obtain a
guide to head-quarters. In the narrow thorough-
fare I see hundreds whom I know ; but all are in a
state of straggle, either on duty or looking for
quarters. At last we find the place where the
senior colonel and his brigade-major, Col.:Hollo-
way and Major Travers, attended by Capt. Ellis,
the colonel's aide-de-camp, sit in conclave—the
Minos and Rhadamanthus of these regions. Let us
stand by a few moments and mark the curious
scene. A knot of Chinamen are chin-chining Minos
—a kindly-hearted and gentle spoken Minos. One
is complaining that some sailors have broken into
his store of preserved ginger, and are not only eat-
ing the excellent ginger, buedestroying it. In a mo-
ment Col. Holloway gives him a Rim and a guard,
and explains to him that if his property is not taken
away in 30 hours the guard will be withdrawn. So
with the owners of tea and with the proprietor of
1 those cotton bales, and so with the stolid owners of
the shops and minor storehouses, all of whom have
neglected the warning given them to clear out.
Fancy the addition which the removal of t lit se heavy
goods by a thousand Chinese Coolies must make to
the confusion of that narrow lane below. This is
only an item of the business done at head-quarters.
Fifty soldiers come to copy the brigade orders
which the colonel and the major have passed the
night in drawing out. Every moment some officer
reports himself. Every minute some to me unin-
telligible difficulty is reported, and is solved by a
prompt st;ntence of command. By Jove I These
military men get through business quickly. Our
little party is dismissed with a word and a scratch
of writing, and in two hours I have a small square
compartment mark*d out by bamboo sticks, mat-
ting, and piled tea-chests, when-, with a chair, a
table, and a sofa, the abandoned household gods of
some departed Chinaman, I establish myself iu
peace, within 300 yards of the guns of Mr. Com-
missioner YE h.

Some of us pass the rest of the day on the angular
roof of the highest pack-house, and look down on
the river and city. There is nothing picturesque
about the view of Canton. No domes and minarets
rise from the mass of habitations. No lofty temples,
no high monuments represent historic memories
and immortal aspirations. The far-stretching dull
level of grey roofs is broken only by the squire
pawnbrokers' warehouses (just like the warehouses
ru our docks); by the little watchboxes erected upon
high scaffoldings of bamboo, and looking like multi-
tudes of pigeon-houses ; by a few Mandarin poles,
and by the mountains and hill forts b:lhiud the city.
Away to the left this plain of roofs stretches to the
horizon. In the foreground, almost at our fee', lie
the waterside houses, almost hovels, and generally
built en piles. Masked by these, and only visible
on close inspection, are the outer walls of the city.
Now and then you can see an embrasure, and the
march of a Chin se sentry shows the continuity of
the wall. The first discharge of the Chinese guns
will topple 'down the ricketty buildings and show
the strength Or weakness of the ou,works. It will
also, as our naval friends lake care to inform us,
knock all our packhouses " into a cocked hat."
The riverswarms with gunboats all freighted with
closely packed redcoats—a terrible sight for the
gazing crowds opposite. These gunboats come up
at full speed, disembark their men at the river en-
trance of the proper packhouse, and in half-an•hour
that packhouse becomes a comfortable barracks.
Those marines, however, are not so jolly. They are
fresh from England, with ruddy faces and sweet
blood on the surface of their skins. They are turtle
and venison to the Chinese mosquitoes. These des-
picable enemies have bunged up some eyes and
blotched many faces. How the mat ines do swear !
A toilsome day brings a weary night. There are
all sorts of "shaves " about night attacks, mines
under the packhouses, firecrafts, and such like ame-
nities. But my real enemies are the mosquitoes and
the Browns. Just as intense fatigue overcomes the
mosquito bites I am startled by loud voices
which every half-hour hold this dialogue :
" Who goes there ?"

"Brown." -
" What Brown ?" •
" Mrs. Brows."
"Halt, Mrs. Brown ; advance one, and give
parol."

- Confound this family of Browns I It's a shame cf
Col. Holloway to allow women in a place like this,
and.especially such a restless animal as this Mts.
Brown. She has kept 2,000 men awake all night.
At breakfast next morning I inveighed indig-
nantly against Mrs. Brown. My mesmates with
some merriment insist that the resp,:ctable name cif
Brown is not in fault. I supp se I mu-t take their
words for it that the dialQ;ue rens, " Who goes
there $" " R- unds." " What rounds ?" "Visiting
rounds." "Halt visiting rounds ; advance one and
give the paroi." But I could still swear any
upon the evidence of my tars.
Brown's life away
St'NDAY, Dec. 20.
Confusion has subsided into a regulated busy
action. We had Divine service this morning in the
largest pack-house. 1,200 mat ines formed the con-
gregation. Col. Rocker has induced his 13011-C? ID-
niissioned officers to form a choir, and the
,psalms-
were chanted in a style that' would do credit to St.
Paul';', there beieg Lo provision for the spiritual

wants cf the marines when brigaded ashore. VI
Admiral attended with his chaplain. It was, h
think, the most impressive religious service I evee=
wituEsed, except, perhaps, that simpler spectacle
which preceded the battle of Fatshan. The ma/
drawbacks were that the principal bass was on
guard, and the tea-chest seats ever and anon broke
down.

TUESDAY, Dec. 92.
Yesterday and to -day, all day long, up and dol
the river. With a revolver in our pockets we do
not hesitate to trust ourselves to a Chinese sanpan
These wretched boatmen are glad to earn English
shillings, and have not enterprise enough for <Pe„
;
kidnapping. I pass hours in watching the Sappers
and Miners (25 of whom most opportunely arrived
by the mail steamer) laying the platforms for
two 13-inch mortars on - the islet called Dute
Fo'ly and for two others on the Pop.'
sula sula called -Frenoh Folly, about a mile flu'
ther down the river. How beautifully these
men (aided by the crews of the Cruiser, 1"",
Nimrod, and the Hornet) throw up their Wall
works among those ruins of the old furts, and howcunningly and quickly they construct their inaglci
mile. Chinese guns are pointed on the spot, on,
riflemen are perched on the stones about us to re
turn their fire should it open. But Yeh does 12°t
6
disturb us. He proposes, no doubt, to let us go ,
length of our tether and kill us all in the city Alt
mines and musketry and grape.
Captain Dew has arranged a barrel which hoiste
up to the truck of his mainmast. From that ele-
vated and uncomfortable spot I could see into tg
courtyard of Yeles yamun. Two Mrs. Yehs were
e
hobbling about quite cheerily, but I think
signs of removal.

WEDNESDAY,. Duo. 0
Last night the General arrived and the news swab
spread that a conference was held on Monday,,Ao
which the two Plenipotentiaries, the two Admir
and the General were present, and that the diPTe,
,
matists formally handed over the affair to the /OA"
gereuts.
The business of to-day was a reconnoissance ilia
force to get a near view on the forts to the northitia
the city. At 2 o'clock the Dove, the Janus, se
Drake. and tls Kestril gunboats, with 70 Mari%
and 25 French bluejackets(who are disciplinedll4
our Marines), started. The two Admirals and the
General, and Colonel Holloway, with their OLT
were in the Dove. West of the city, the
which washes the base of Canton, makes a sllerP
t;;
turn to the northward, so that about four miles ‘,O
the stream is at the same distance from the forts a 9
it is at the pack-houses. Up these four milee.stio
steamed ; passing Puntinqua's garden with its 110,
white pagoda, and many other well-wooded ene
sures—passiug also a dismantled fort on the leas
bank, and arri sing in about an hour at the vllllO
landed ,ea
of Tsing-poo. This was where Gough
attack the city. The bank consists of elevate
ground—hillocks from which batteries might Ilea
the river—and there are buildings and loop-hue,s,
walls whence deadly discharges might COl;ja
The leaders jumped from their boat, and we Pthe
the French the compliment of allowing fase
first of their blue jackets to land a moment be,
the first of our marines ; then away we all s;°°,l tt jhae
land at a killing pace, for the two Admireds
General stretch out like prize pedestrians. It lay
beautiful breezy walk over a mile and a half '9 rho
forts, country. We were noev in front %too
forts, which rise before us in extended parl°r ses
view—not confused and foreshortened as wer;
them from the pack-houses. They extend sloeseaf
spur from the White Cloud Mountain—a litter*
mamelon-shaped hills which stretch from the 01'130
tain down to the north of the city, and one of WaSit
extends int, Canton itself. It was a prettY.tZes
on th sunny December day to see the little ea;:eot
of redcoats and bluejackets pested upon deaes'ir
hills to prevent our being cut off, and reedy t° arty
port each ether, while the reconnoitring P, 900
climbed the nearest elevation, where, within Jevisi
yards of Gough's fort, and within 1,500 of a beaugls
armed bastion, the chiefs took a survey thr°oo;
their glasses of the heights to be climbed. °sloes
Bate mapped the country, Major Clifford, utoolg
miniature Victoria Cross attracts every el°, Olt
plans of the fortifications, and your humble Serrosee
made a rough sketch of the interesting Pall° acs,
before us. We are within range of all these goo
and tremendous in size they are. There are 001 s
fellows in that bastion training a gun to beeruff et
us, and we expect every moment to see the P,,beol!
smoke. The monster guns of the Chinese uresei'
solid shot, and, being fired upon the no.oll-000,
principle, carry to enormous distances. At %oar!,
I saw a ball fired from 2,000 yards come on
e gunboat, pass through a gun carriage, ",,terti•
it into splinters, and gone out through the
%tu in
I suspect, however, that there is some
000,
what a deserter told us yesterday. He o'oo
Yeh is waiting for reinforcements, that he bas hag
Jrae
to collect all the forces of the two
quangs, tit
given orders that not a gun shall be fired lest
should precipitate the attack before his sueccooes
have come in. This man was disbelieved bee
he was an ill-favoured, hang-dog looking fell
as though a deserter was likely to look lit'
honest man. Wets'
It was a rapid affair, that reconnoisancse
turned as swiftly as we came, and were bade
quarters by 6 o'clock.
side
him, the General it was very useful, for it is sidt;
him, if I mistake not, that an attack on 41„1.0011
would cost him 500 men. The blue-jackets WI
for going helter-skelter at the forts, and swear
could carry them in four hours ; so, in all Pr oar
bility they would • but the General Prefer°
tainties to probabilities. for
To me this little expedition was invains-
ger e
it is only little by little that I can hope
to
to convey to my readers an accurate idea frao,l,
goat thie
great city. When I look at it from tu:laserl'''
houses I despair of being able to see or to
so th!
the assault. Canton is at least as large 'l
afld
Surrey suburbs of London ; it is quite as flee,pets,l
it contains 1,000,000 inhabitants. - Captain Dwell
pork barrel at the main-truck of the Ninirnose of
he occupied by the- captain for the luirreoll'a
directing his guns ; but if this were not so, 't el'
not be of much use for close observations all•
4,41:V
dizzy head and swimming brain of a MIL-0 stle'
How can I hope to for lew the fe, tunes of s,''''esl
penetrating that labyrinth by different peaty-
-24'
THURSDAY, Dec' ates'ri
To-day there was a reconnoissance on the 10,0
side of the ci y. Two gunboats at dayliP"'eirle
the reconnoitring party at a creek about a ilaltiert
the east of the Freud. Folly. We struck
red
over low hills covered with graves and soon rod re;
a picket-house, which had twice fired cio:610
pulsed previous small exploring pstrties• .0,101„
prepared to force it, but the party was with
as we approached. They were about tdsll9
the
crossed a paved causeway leading tews"-eop and
city. and continued our trot over the paCT6
slippery graveyards and over the dry, hthich
fields until we arrived at an eminence "resruivol
leaders seemed to think gave the do from
coup d'ceil, We were now about BCO lara,na
the great eastern gate, of the eith ode the
0
same distance from the eastern fort °I 'tbe
city. The gate lay to the west of us au" artin
was to the north. Some intervening trees
Pater v-is
iutercep ed the view of the city walls and gad. 1,
the fort was open to view. The Generaj. _ atta,
enough. This is evidently the route of t.ll:_ao at
ing party. The fort before us
rush, and this will give us a strong poiitlo., ske
the wall can be breached or escaladed. 4-Yi.vers
wall is the northern 11,4.1 f of the city, v"„.00,
public offices and great yarnums and pleas'otreewte
will he. taisivbeoto
dens are, and wnere there are no narrow 040
Thence our storming patty will assault the k„oreo
zintehill, and "thence all the long line of bell The'
we Raw yesterday will be taken in reverego. er, ;
General, I am told, makes it a point of 11°6101 ;
rather a point of art, to take that terrible for'' I
Fort without the loss of a man. It is inclqin
we have not Russians to fight with bere'beighte lilt
•ot
hands of the engineers who forLified. th4e. Daloi
Sebastopol this city would be impregna%, sow,
the reconnoissance every eminence, ti;osolatof
with multitudes of Chinese, and Maneerlfisgs ;
were running about the walls with little
coo s°
if they contemplated any attack we wereatieetj t
gone before they could make their prePtr wale,
The reconnoitring party were backemost Ssi
at 11 o'clock, having accomplished a a
factory" survey of the grouud.
aisti ft, 't
In the afternoon proclamations were sta.s
to
along the Canton shore, warning the /nilb itat
tb
Yoh had rej, cied the terms offered, all
ro st vg
city were not surrendered within 4$ b°ll issuwe
he bombarded and stormed. The time ht
this proclamation was chosen so that mfgit it'ter%er
ou Saturday night. Sunday will tbrouro t° fleas
and thus give the people slime more jools stogy
out, and the authorities more time to.u.is as t
preparations, and make up their fen " • oil
futility of resistance. o f 3 cti
inu,t have this city. The islandb°
would be in a few nraitlis the charnel-
waede
British roes. At pi es nt they are
~ srito tee
healthy, Irt Col. Hooker's ba'talion.tnb°
bUt3'bie 111 j
15 sick out of 700 men. This is arel bee I, the
cold weather, the plentiful fresh rations, erieva,
even Shanghai mut on five times a oreeipiae ?dices
extraordinary supplies we have of quogleasl,ot,
The int 31lie, nt arrangements of the
ewiedgll,`ose
must of course have their due acku`' at sicasje
But all these will be powerless te Preeveve 001,1 c
if hot weather should find us here. I elo igen 4,,
scribt.d the allied position yet, not 1;1, forie]tit
Honan. Tee pack-houses and stores e'' so'abltaie,
fringe of this great i.:l-And. The countilr corae7-1
La. racks is a swamp. The stagnant waterget%
to ihe wall at the r ear of out qu tt ters• T ositia
aspect of the Wiled to the hack Of our r

Th •
vas, I
I ever
,otaolo
only
as on
broke