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

like that of the Isle of Dogs, without its drains.
Even now, when the nights are become cold, it can-
not •.0 ..eat i. Three m ittthe ii se it
wii h pestilence.
Will Yeh yield ? is still the question in every
mouth. It makes one's heart ache to think of the
miseries that must fall upon this doomed city should
be still hold. It is not we who shall destroy and
plunder, but if we may trust the prec..dent-r tif all
foreign sieges the cotninenceweLt of the Isom ard.-
meet will be the signal for ail the dangerous classes
of Canton to sack and fire the city and carry off
their loot. We shall probably stand by, as we did
at Che-kiang-foo, guarding their exit, and think-
ing we are doing a humane act in allowing "the
poor Chinese to remove their property. For
the merchants and the mandarins, especially the
former, I have no sympathy. It is they who have
rendered all this necessary. It is they who for their
own pecuniary profit excited the populace, subscribed
to hire "braves" and print lying proclamations, and
prevented the carrying out of the treaty. It is
they who have kidnapped and tortured our country
men. It is they who have built triumphal arches
in the city to commemorate the expulsion of the
barbarians, who wear decorations showing the part
they took in the good work, and to travel north-
wards to Amoy, Foochow, Ningpo, and Shanghai,
and twit the contented peeple is those parts with
their cowardice in not cuffing and spitting upon the
barbarians even as the brave Cantonese have done.
Canton must fall. Even in the interest of the
Chinese, Canton must fall. But how gladly should
I close this letter by saying that it has fallen with-
out a shot fired or a life sacrified.
CHRISTMAS-DAY.
The besiegers are resting from their labours. The
59th are come up, but are not disembarked.
The mortar batteries on Dutch Folly have been
completed ; the works on the French Folly have
been abandoned. Everyone's ingenuity is taxed,
and, moreover, the fleet is most heavily taxed, to
get up the materials for some Christmas festivity.
The trees on Dutch Folly have been robbed of their
boughs to do duty for holly—mistletoe we have no .
use for—but the ration beef is not cut in barons
and sirloins, and the plumpuddings, though made
by stalwart marines, are mockeries, delusions, and
snares.
Will the mail take you the news of the fall of
Canton I Not if we have to take it by force. On
Monday morning the batteries open. On Monday,
at 12, the mail leaves. It is not one of the co•itract
mails, and it cannot be delayed without risk of
missing the steamer at G.tlle, a contingency which
happened to the letters to which the last Eagliah
mail ought to have brought us answers. The con-
sequence is that the word " China" does not once
o..cur in our last files of the Times—a pleasant
thought for soldiers and sailors who, 15,000 miles
away, look to home for sympathy and encourage-
ment. SATURDAY, DEC. 26.

This day paeses in anxious preparations. The men
of the pen are preparing copies of the plan of attack
both for the fleet and the army. The boats are
hurrying about transhipping munitions of war. Tile
only people who look quite happy and unconcerned
are the Chinese Coolies, who, exulting iu ti►e mag-
nificent daily ration of two pounds of rice and halt
a pound of salt beef, carry huge loads about right
joyously, grinning and chattering like monkeys.
Captain Hall and Mr. Parks continue their dan-
gerous labour of distt ibuting proclamations. They
land a strongly armed company suddenly in a
suburb anti post up the proclamation or distribute
it to the crowd which soon assembles. Iu ono of
these rapid descents Captain Hall ciught a man-
darin in his chair, not far from tne outer gate. The
captain pasted the mandarin up in his chair with
the barbarian papere, pasted the chair all over with
them, and started the bearers to carry this new ad-
vertising van into the city. The Chinese crowd,
always alive to a practical joke, roared. These bel-
ligerent billstickers have brought off some Chinese
counter proclamations. Arrogant to the last, these
papers say that the rebellious English, having
seduced the French to join in this rebellion, it be-
comes necessary to stop the trade altogether, and
Utterly to annihilate these barbarians.
This evening the orders were issued detailing the
plan of attack.
From the general orders I extract the following :
" GENERAL ORDERS.

" Head-quarters, Honan, Dec. 26.
" Y. The troops under command of Major-General
Van Straubenzee, C. 8., will be formed into brigades as
follows :

" IST, OR COLONEL HOLLOWAY'S BRIGADIL—Iet
Battalion Royal Marine Light Infantry ; 2,1 Battalion
ditto, under oommand of Colonel Holloway, Aide-de-
Cansp ; Brigade-Major, Captain Travers, Royal Marine
Light Infantry, and Aide-de-Camp Capt. Ellis, ditto.
"2D, OR COLONEL GRAHAM'S BRIGADE.—RoyaI Eogi-
seers and Volunteer Company of Sappers, Royal Artil.
lery, and Royal Marine Artillery, Provisional Battalion
Royal Marine Light Infantry, 59th Regt., 33th Madras
Native Infantry, under command of Col. Graham, 59th
Regt. ; Brigade-Major, Major Laard, '77th Regt. ;
aide-de-camp, Lieut. Ifacket, 59th Regiment. The
whole of the Artillery will be placed under the orders of
Col. Dunlop, R.A. Capt. Morrison, let Bat. Royal
Marine Light Infantry, is appointed Provost-Marshal."
The General Order issued by the Admiral is as
follows