The Sun.
London, England, 1858-08-11 00:00:00

(June 4) contains the following despatch from Sir
Michael Seymour to Sir John Bowring

" Coromandel, in the Peiho, May 22, 1858.

"Sir,—l have the honour to acquaint your Excellency
that I wired in the Gulf of Pecbeli on the 24th ult., to
support the Ambassadors of Great Britain and France in
their demands on the Chinese Government, and that, nego-
tiations having failed, the gunboats of the Allied Powers
attacked the forts at the entrance of this river on the 20th
inst., arid captured them with small loss. The position was
strong, and the various forts mounted 138 guns, backed by
the presence of a large body of troops.
" We advance up the river to-day, to enable the Am •
bassadors to endeavour to reopen negotiations nearer to
the c have the honour, &c.,
(Signed) " M. SEYMOUR, Rear-Admiral and
Commander•in-Chief.

" His Excellency Sir John Biwring, LL.D.," &c. &c.

This despatch does not tell us much ; but as my
duties compel me to remain at Hong Kong, at least
until a military force is sent up, I will endeavour to
give you the best account I can of the engagement
from information I have received from various
sources. It appears that from about the 30th of
April to about the middle of May negotiations were
going on between Lord Elgin and the Chinese Com-
missioners appointed to meet him. A hitch had taken
place in the prcceedings on a point of precedence,
to which neither the Commissioners nor Lord Elgin
would yield, for if one concession had been granted,
another would have been asked, and these would
have extended interminably. About the 15th or
16th of May, in consequence of being unable to arrive
at an amicable settlement of the question, arrange-
ments were made to attack the forts at the mouth of
the river. By the 19th, all arrangements being com-
pleted, the following vessels went over the bar :
English gunboats : Bustard, Cormorant, Firm,
Leven, Nimrod, Opossum, Slaney, and Stanch,
with the Coromandel as hospital. French :
Avalanche, Dragonne, Durance, and Fusee.

Early in the morning of the 20th Capt. Hall, flag-
captain to the admiral, landed at the nearest of the
three new forts built on either side of the Palo and
demanded a surrender. This was never for an in-
stant suspected would be granted; but for humane
reasons the course was taken. Three hours were
given the Chinese to surrender; but no signs of
yielding came, and as four bells struck almost
simultaneously in each gunboat, announcing the hour
of 10 o'clock, the action commenced. First went
the Cormorant, which was hulled 12 times as she
passed the forts, but had two men only wounded,
as all except the master and the man at the
wheel were ordered to lie down. The French
boats Fusee and Dragonne followed the Cor-
morant—then the Opossum, and then the Nim-
rod. For one hour the forts were shelled ; imme-
diately at the expiration of which landing parties
were sent from the Audacieuse, Nemesis, Phlegeton,
Primanquet, Calcutta, Furious, Fury, and Pique.
Capt. Sir F. Nicholson, of the Pique, led one portion
of the English blue-jackets, taking the fort on the
right bank; while Capt. Hall, with another party,
attacked the fort on the left. The Frettch lost a
large number by the explosion of a mine, no less than
58 being blown into the air—amongst whom were
five officers killed. The English lost 25 men killed
and wounded, but no officer. The taking of the fort
highest up the river was entrusted to the Nimrod,
Slaney, Opossum, and a French gunboat. By a
quarter-past twelve—that is to say, in two hours and
a quarter from the commencement of our attack—
the whole affair was over. A hundred and
thirty guns in servicable condition were found in the
three forts, two-thirds of which are brass. The
Chinese are said to have stood to their guns to the
last, and fought extremely well. A mandarin was
seen standing to his gun when all hope seemed lost ;
a body of blue-jackets rushed forward to make
him a prisoner, but before they could do so the
infatuated man had cut his throat and left his captors
a corpse only for their trophy.

Reinforcements, it is said, are to be sent imme-
diately to the north, and the 59th, it is supposed,
will be the first to be sent. Gen. Van Straubenzee is
expected down from Canton to-morrow evening,
when we shall hear more about this and about the
expedition against the braves in the White Cloud
Mountains. Whatever portion of our force is sent
to the north it is tolerably certain Col. Graham will
go in command ; the general remaining to look after
Canton.

JUNE 6.

A gunboat with the general and Col. Stephenson
on board came dawn from the liver last evening, and
I am now enabled to give you a brief account of the
action we have had with the braves. At four
o'clock on the morning of Wednesday, the 2d inst.,
the first portion of our troops commenced their
march, and about midday came in sight of the
enemy's camp, situated about five miles to the north-
ward, and eastward of the White Cloud mountains.
As the Chinese were in great numbers it was not
thought advisable to attack them with the force
already brought up, and messengers were sent to
Canton for reinforcements. These carne up during
the night, and the next morning the attack com-
menced. I will not attempt to give you the
particulars, as I was not on the spot myself;
but the Chinese seem to have fought very well,
and retired with their camp in the middle of the day,
when our men were unable to follow them from the
heat of the sun. We had no less than 60 men, it is
said, cut down by sun-stroke out of our small force
of Europeans (about 1,000 men), two of whom
died almost immediately. Previous to this four or
five men at Canton, and one at Hong Kong, have
been killed by the same fatal power. The loss in-
flicted by the enemy is not great, but our demon-
stration has unfortunately been a failure, and will
have no other effect than making these braves
still more insolent ; for on this occasion it
cannot be said we have gained a victory over
them. They did not choose to meet us at close
quarters, but they were enabled to retire with camp
and equipage and all the honours of war. In this by
no means self-gratulatory affair the navy have to de-
plore the loss of Mr. Turnbull, the principal medi-
cal officer of the naval and marine forces at Canton.
The sick and wounded ' had been left in the rear
under an escort, and towards evening Mr. Turnbull
went to pay them a visit. Unfortunately he did not
take an armed party with him, and we have again
before our eyes the picture of a headless trunk, and
our blunted feelings again become strong, while we
long for the extermination of a set of wretches
who practise such cowardly warfare. Among
the wounded is Col. Wynne, of the Engi-
neers, and 13met-Major Travers, R.M., neither,
lam happy to say, dangerously. Four other officers,
I hear, are wounded, but there is conflicting evidence
at present as regards their names. To show as it
were That they had not suffered a defeat, the braves
the next night made a demonstration on the heights
about Gough's Port, or where it formerly stood, and
commenced firing into our lines, and it was some
time before the artillery were enabled to shell them
out of it. The great drawback in this affair seems to
have been our inability to get our artillery up in
time. But who will wonder at it when the absence
of roads is taken into consideration, and these guns
have to be dragged without the aid of horses ? No
one for an instant would doubt the indefatigable
endeavours of the Royal and Marino Artillery when
their services are called into requisition, bat guns arc;
heavy and artillerymen but mortals. I saw quite
enough to convince me, at a review we had at the
nappy Valley betbre the taking of Canton, that the
field-guns we have here, light as they are, cannot be
carried for any length of time over Chinese ground.
The most sensible thing, it appears, we can do itudrr
the circumstances is invariably to charge such
enemies with the bayonet when we come up to them,
guns or no guns.

The superiority of European over black troops could
not have been shown more clearly than in this affair.
With the sun actually mowing our men down, their
pluck and endurance carried them along, while men
of the 70th and 65th Bengal Native Infantry were
dead beat, though used from childhood to a sun in
their own country equally as intense. An officer
Wb.t?
_WO prow states that the EuToPtam quite