The Sun.
London, England, 1860-12-29 00:00:00

ELGIN AND KINCLTADINE.

Of the British subjects captured, therefore, Cap tain Bra-
bazon, of the Royal Artillery, is alone unaccouixted for.
The silence of the Chinese authorities, who always plead
ignorance of his fate when questioned on the subject, arid
rumours which reach us from various quarters, lead me •to
fear that he must have met a violent death. It is repor.te
that, together with a French gentleman (a priest, acting . 14,
interpreter to General de Montauban), he was beheaded
after the action of the 21st ult., by direction of a Chinese
General who was wounded on that occasion, and who in its
exasperation is said to have ordered that those two pri-
soners, who chanced to be in his power, should be e: ae-
cuted. lam inclined to credit this report, although Ih; Ivo
no positive eTiteuce of its accuracy. Captain Lug* Lou

THE STATEMENT OF MR. PARKES.
Pekin, Oct. 30, 1860.
My Lord,—l have the honour to enclose for your
lordship's perusual a very interesting and detailed
narrative by Mr. Parkes, of the occurrences which
took place while he was detai•ued as a prisoner by
the Chinese authorities.

Painful as is the process by which this experi
ence is acquired, such an incident as the capture of
Mr. Parkes affords us an insight into the working
of the Chinese system which we should never other-
wise, probably, have obtained.
_ _

Mr. Parkes' consistent refusal to purchase his
own safety by making any pledrs, or even by ad-
dressing to me any representations which might
have embarrassed rr.e in the discharge of my duty,
is a rare example. of courage and devotion to the
public interest, and the course which he followed in
this respect, 'or leaving my hands free, enabled r,-,e
to work orAt the policy which was best calculated to
secure 11,is own release, as \Nell as the attainment of
the D ational objects intrusted to my care.

I am, &c.:
ELGIN AND KINCARDINE.
To Lord John Russell, &c.

British Head-quarters, Pekin, Oct. 20, 1860.
My Lord,____l have the honour to lay before your
Excellency the following statement of the circum-
stances which attended my capture and subsequent
imprisonment

I left Ho-se-woo at 4 a.na. on the morning of Mon-
day, the 17th of September, accompanied by Mr.
Loch, private secretary to your Excellency; Mr.
De Norman, First Attache to her Britannic Ma-
jesty's Legation ; Colonel Walker, Deputy Quarter-
master-General ; Mr. Thompson, Deputy Commis-
sary-General; and Mr. T. W. Bo wlby. The escort
consisted of five men of the King's Dragoon Guards,
and 20 sowars of Fane's Horse, under Lieutenant
Anderson.

Shortly after passing Matow we were met by a.
colonel and three other Chinese officers, who had
been sent out, as they stated, by the Imperial Com-
missioners to escort us into Tung-chow. On ap-
proaching Chang-kea-wau I pointed out to Colonel
Walker the point, five le south of that place, pro-
posed by the Imperial Commissioners, and agreed
to by your Excellency, as the advanced position of
our army, and as we rode over a part of the ground
we could see no indications of there being any
Chinese force.in that vicinity. After passing Chang-
kea-wan, however, we observed bodies of Tartar
horse between that place and 'rung-chow, and were
informed by their commander, Tih-hingah (the
Lieutenant-General commanding at Sin-ho when
that place was taken on Aug. 12), who rode firs and
to meet us in a most friendly and courteous manner,
that these were some of the troops which bad lately
held the country between Tung-chow and Ho-se-
woo, and had just been called in by order of the

Imperial Commissioners. He congratulated us
with much apparent werrnth,on "the conclusion of
peace ;" and in a soldierly way made the voluntary
observation—" Let us forget that, we have been
enemies, and henceforward kuow each other as
friends."
Writing after the event, I now see a serious sig-
nificance in the removal of several small bridges,
placed across the small canal or streatnlet that runs
past Chang lea-wan, at a point which I afterwards
knew, by sad experience, to be the spot
,Whence
Sang-ko-lin -sin directed, in person, the movements
of the following day. I had observed these bridges
on the occasion of my previous visit to Tung-chow,
but, in the absence of any other cause for suspicion,
we naturally did not now attach an important
meaning to the circumstance of their removal.
On reaching Tongchow, at about 10.30 a.m., we
we went at once to the Temple pointed out by the
Chinese officers as the place selected both for own
accommodation and for the meeting with the Im-
perial Commissioners. All our personal wants were
readily supplied, and at about 1 o'clock I was ad
mitted to an interview with the Commissioners—
Tsai, Prince of I, and Mull-yin, who were assisted
on this occasion by Hang-ki, late Assistant-Com-
missioner at Tien-tsin, and well known to me when
he formerly occupied the position of Superintendent
of Customs at Canton.
Having delivered to the Commissioners, who re-
ceived me courteously, your Excellency's despatch
of the 16th September, they raised discussion en
three points—namely, the escort, the immediate
withdrawal of the forces, and the presentation of
her Majesty's autograph letter to the Emperor.
They objected to the escort being taken by your Ex
cellency beyond Tun gchow ; urged th at the forces
should commence to retire the moment the convention
was signed ; and called the delivery of the letter a
new demand which they had then heard of for the
first time. To these objections I replied that it had
already been settled at Tien-tsin that your Excel-
lency should take the escort to Pekin; that it could
not be expected that the forces would retire before
your Excellency had concluded all matters con-
nected with the exchange of the ratifications of the
Treaty of 1858 ; and also that this was not the
first time that the delivery of the Queen's letter
had been mentioned, your Excellency having
already been in written communication on this
subject with the Commissioners at Ticn-tsin.
As the discussion proceeded, the Commissioners
withdrew their objections to the first two points,
but continued to oppeee the presentation of the let-
ter by your Excellency in person with great
earnestness, It could be received, they said, in a
manner which denoted, in their opinion, high
respect, and an autograph reply could be returned ;
but the whole ceremonial should be conducted by
a Prince or Imperial Commissioner appointed fot
the purpose, and there could be no occasion foi
your Excellency to have an audience with the
Emperor on this acccunt. I explained the object
of the letter—th tame was a mark of the respect and
friendship enterd by the Queen for the Em-
peror, but that the honour due to the former would
not allow of the letter being presented in any
other way than by her own Ambassador ; and that,
seeing that your Excellency had come from a great
distance for the purpose of establishing friendly
relations with the Chinese Government, it would
be unfortunate if the latter were to prove them-
selves still opposed to closer intimacy, and unwil-
ling to reciprocate the cordiality and good feeling
shown by her Majesty. Finding, however, that
these arguments had little weight with the Com
missioners, I tried to avoid the question, which, I
said, might be considered by themselves and your
Excellency on another occasion, and endeavoured
to draw their attention to the other business I had
on hand ; but, as they insisted on recurring to it, I
elistinctly declined further discussion, on the ground
that I was not authorised to speak on the subject,
but that I would not fail to report all that they
had urged to your Excellency.
The meeting was interrupted at 4 o'clock by the
arrival of the French Secretary of Embassy, who
was then received by the Commissioners according
to appointment. I was at one time invited both by
the French officers and the Commissioners to assist
at that interview, and at about 6 o'clock I was once
more left alone with the Commissioners, who again
brought up the question of audience, and unreason-
ably insisted that I should decide this without any
previous reference to your Excellency. Having at
last satisfied them, as I thought, that this was im-
possible, I prevailed on them to proceed with the
consideration of other matters. The terms of the
proclamation in which your Excellency proposed
that the Imperial Commissioners should make
known to the people the circumstances under which
the allies desisted from further hostilities were dis
cussed, and they accepted, apparently witbh co;nir-.
plete approval, the draught suppliedi
mueld bre put
Wade, I begged, therefore, that it
thatshould
night, and
in the hands of the type cutters
ve, directions to
while they gave, or affected
that effect, their Secretaries ett.roragnnigf
t sin particulars as to the f eath\evidthocmume document.
The Commissioners next naomrnied the officers who
were to accompany Col. Walker and myself at day-
liht the neat morning to mark out the position of
g