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

ARRIVAL OF LUCKNOW FUGITIVES AT

---
LUCKNOW.
In anticipation of the arrival of the Europeans
who were so long pent up in Lucknow, the follow-
ing notification was published in a Calcutta Gazette
Extraordinary:—
Fort William, Home Department, Jan. 6.
Notification--Within the next few days, the river
steamer Madras, conveying the first of the ladies and
children, and of the sick and wounded officers of the
Lucknow garrison, will reach Calcutta.
No one will wish to obtrude upon those who ,are
under bereavement or sickness any show of ceremony
which shall impose fatigue or pain. The best welcome
which can be tendered upon such an occasion is one which
shall break it as little as possible upon privacy and net.
But the rescue of these sufferers is a victory beyond
any
price ; and in testimony of the public j.y
with
which it is bailed, aad of the admiration with which
their heroic endurance and courage have been viewed,
the Right Hon. the Governor-General in Council directs
that upon the approach of the Madras to.Prinsep's Ghaut
a royal salute shall be fired from the ramputs of Fort
William.

The Governor-General in Council further directs that
all ehips of war in the river shall be dressed in honour of
the day.
Officers will be appointed to conduct the passengers on
shore, and the state barges of the Governor-General
will be in attendance.
*_As soon as the telegraph shall announce that the
madraB has Passed Atcheepore, two signal guns will be
fired from the fort.
By order of the Right Hon. the Governor-General of
India in Council CECIL BEADON,

Secretary to the Government of India
The Lncknow fugitives accordingly landed kora
the Madras ammo; on the morning of Saturday,

Jan. 9, under a royal salute, and amid the cheering
of some hundreds of the Europoan community of
Calcutta.

INDIAN COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.
BOMBAY, J. 13.
Exchange on London—Six months' sight, 21. 11(1,
to 2a. 14d. for document bills ; six months' sight, 2.1,
lid. for credit bills.

Freights—Cotton : to London, 11. to 1/ 53. per ton
to Liverpool, 1/. to 1/. ss. per ton ; to China, re. 6 to
per candy.

CALCUTTA, TAN. 8.
The bulk of the last English mail reached us on the
30th nit. by the steamer Bengal. The commercial in-
telligence received on that occasion was of such a gloomy
and dispiriting character that it has caused almost a
complete stagnation of business in some of the markets
here. Things were dull enough before, but since receipt
of the last advices they have assumed a much more
gloomy aspect.
In the produce market we have to report another
fortnight of great dulness, which will doubtless continue
to increase unless more favourable news are received
from home, and that does not appear likely for some time
to come at least. With the exception of saltpetre, rice.
and jute, which have been moving off from purchases
made previously, the market has been quiet and inactive.
The general Beale of value is declining, and we can
hardly say when this downward tendency will end, not-
withstanding that stocks are far from being anything
like heavy.
In the import market we have not such a dismal
account to give, and considering all circumstances we
may look upon the state of the market as pretty healthy
and promising. Mule twist has for some time been very
dull, and scarcely any business has been done In it.
In gray goods both shirtings and jaconets of heavy make,
a good business has been on foot, and in some instances
value has advanced a shade, and continues generally
steady. As regards metals nothing of consequence has
been done, and so long as the means of transit are un-
procurable metals must be neglected.
The Money Market.—We have no alteration to report
in the position of monetary matters, Rates of the bank
continues as before, and the cash continues on the in-
crease. In the bazar capital is abundant and procurable
on pretty favourable terms. All reserve and diffidence
have however not passed away.
Exchange.—Rates on England remain unchanged, and
we have to report no more than a trifling scale of opera-
tions generally at 1-14 to 2-2 per rupee. Our quotations
are :—On London : Treasury and Bank Post Bills, 2s to
2s. Old. ; 60 days' sight Colonial and other Bank Bills,
2s. Old. to 2s. Oacl. ; Oriental and other Banks, 6 months'
sight, 2e. ld. to 2s. 11d.
Freights.—Notwithstanding the large amount of
available tonnage in the river, little business is doing, in
consequence of the extremely dull state of the produce
market. The American business has received a check,
and business does very slowly on tbat account, notwith-
standing the large number of American vessels now
in port.

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. Ia the dark
and drizzling night of the previous day I had 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 to the tide. The splash of oars
and the hail of the watch, and lights dotted here
and there, told that other ships were around us; but
nothing more of this mysterious enemies' country
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 aro in the middle of
the hostile city. We are anohored, it is true, off
the westward point of Henan, just where the river
breaks into two streams to form the island. We
look down the channel whioh divides Honan 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 wafer we
can see ; the rest is covered with boats—not such as
we see on the Isis, at the bottom of Christ Church
meadowF, 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 I have already
described as being in the 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 drifts 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 they 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
themselves 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
Canton has removed itself without molestation or
injury. They are gone to seek a safer shelter 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 ditchses 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 Rotherhithe—the
warehouses of Hunan ou 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 htaild-
ing rubbish, but having no structure standing but a
newly-built Chinese gateway—a sort of triumphal
arch, whereon is writ 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
hongs 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 iu 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 the melting floating
city. Now it is gone, she passes on after it. We
watch her with intense anxiety. Will our friend
Yeh suffer this ! Or shall we have the contents of
those 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. Lie 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 aro 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 msxim its 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 soldier 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
down the stream, and you will have some idea of
the posit'on of the Nimrod, thellornet, the Cruiser,
the Bittern, the Actaeon, and the Acorn. Half an
hour after they had anchored the gunboats were
running up and down, and the gigs, and cutters and
clingeys were rowing to and fro, and the Chinamen
were going from boat to boat with orange 3 and
bananas for sale, as though we had been settled
hero 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
sow swinging to the tide, ;or 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. Pyrn.
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
is a small Union Jack upon the roof of one of
these, and a larger tricolor upon another. Here,
then, let us land.

There is a part of the " 'long shore " of the
borough of Lambeth which, according to a super-
stition rife among London cabmen, forms a short
cut to the Dover Railway. The streets are of
a preternatural narrowness, and zig-zig 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 carte, 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 rn the Island of Honed,. 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 ar,
all open, let us take refuge in one of them. It is
a strongly built brick building more than 200 felt
long by 100 feet broad. At the other end there is
a 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
building, 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 struggle, 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-do-oainp, sit in conclave—the
Minos and Rhadamanthus of these regi Ai& Let us
stand by a few moments and mark the curious
scene. A knot of Chinamen are chin-chiming Alines
—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, but destroying 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
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 theseheAvy
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 sentence of command. By Jov-3 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 marked put by bamboo sticks, mat-
ting, and piled tea-chests, where, with a chair, a
table, and a sofa, the abandoned household gods of
some departed Chinaman, I establish 'myself is,
peace, within 300 yards of the guns of Mr. Com
missioner Yeh.

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
in 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 behind the city.
Away to the left this plain of roofs stretches to the
horizon. In the foreground, almost at our feet., lie
the waterside houses, almost hovels, and generalty
built on 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 Chinese sentry shows the continuity of
the wall. The first discharge of the Chinese guns
will topple down the iicketty buildings and show
the strength or Weakness of the outworks. It will
also, as our naval friends take 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 marines do swear
A toilsome day brings a weary night. There are
all sorts of " shaves " about night attacks, mines
under the packhouses, firecraf s, and such like ame-
nities. But my eal 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."

4.
" What Brown ?"
" Mrs. Brown."
"Halt, Mrs. Brown ; advance one, and give
parol."

- Confound this family of Browns ! It's a shame (1
Col. Holloway to allow women if, a place like this,
and especially such a restless animal a 3 this Mis.
Brown. She has kept 2,000 men awake all night.
At breakfast next morning I inveighed indig-
nantly against Mrs. Brown. My messinates with
some merriment insist that the respectable name'
Brown is not Sn fault. I supp se 1 mu-t take their
words for it that the dialogue runs, ." Who goes
there ?" "Rounds." " What rounds ?" " Visiting
rounds." " Halt visiting rounds ; advance one and
give the pawl." But I could still swear any
Brown's life away upon the evidence of my ears.
SUNDAY, Dec. 20.
Confusion has subsided into a regulated busy
action. We had Divine service this morning in the
largest pack-house. 1,200 ines formed the con-
gregation. Col. Hocktr has induced his non com-
missioned officers to form a choir, and the psalms
were chanted in a style that would do credit to St.
Paul's, there being no provision for the spiritual

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

TUESDAY, Dec. 22.
Yesterday and to :day, all day long, up and down
the river. With a revolver in our pockets we do
not hemitate to trust ourselves to a Chinese sanpan.
These wretched boatmen are glad to earn English
shillings, and have not enterprise enough for open
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 Dutch
Fel), and for two others on the penin-
sula called Frenoh Folly, about a mile fur-
ther down the fiver. How beautifully these
men (aided by the crews of the Cruiser, the
Nimrod, and the Hornet) throw up their breast-
works among those ruins of the old forts, and bolt
cunningly and quickly they construct their maga;
zinc. Chinese guns are pointed on the spot, and
riflemen are perched on the stones about us to re-
turn their fire sbould it open. But Yeh does not
disturb us. He proposes, no doubt, to let us go the
length of our tether and kill us all in the city. with
mines and musketry and grape.
Captain Dew has arranged a barrel which hoists
up to the truck of his mainmast. From that elo"
vated and uncomfortable spot I could see into the
courtyard of Yeh's yamun. Two Mrs. Yehs were
hobbling about quite cheerily, but I think I sot
signs of removal.

WEDNESDAY, DBC, 23.
Last night the General arrived and the news soon
spread that a conference was held on Monday, all
which the two Plenipotentiaries, the two Admirals
and the General were present, and that the diplo-
matists formally handed over the affair to the belli-
gerent:.

The business of to-day was a reconnoissance in
force to get a near view on the forts to the north of
the city. At 2 o'clock the Dove, the Janus, the
Drake. and the Kestril gunboats, with 70 Marines
and 25 French bluejackets(who are disciplined like
our Marines), started. The two Admirals and the
General, and Colonel Holloway, with their suite,
were in the Dove. West of the city, the river,
which washes the base of Canton, makes a sharp
turn to the northward, so that about four miles up
the stream is at the same distance from the forts as
it is at the pack-houses. Up these four miles we
steamed ; passing Puntinqua s garden with its little
white pagoda, and many other well-wooded enclo-
sures—passing also a dismantled fort on the left
bank, and arriving in about an hour at the village
et Tsing-poo. This was where Gough landed t°
attack the city. The bank consists of elevated
ground—hillocks from which batteries might Pro?,
the river—and there are buildings and loop-holed
walls whence deadly discharges might coran;
The leaders jumped from their boat, and we Pal'
the French the compliment of allowing the
first of heir blue jackets to land a moment before
the first of our marines ; then away we all went in'
land at a killing pace, for the two Admirals and the
General stretch out like prize pedestrians. It was
beautiful breezy walk over a mile and a half of un'
dulating country. We were now in front of the
forts, which rise before us in extended panoranne
view—not confused and foreshortened as we see
them from the pack-houses. They extend along e
spur from the White Cloud Mountain—a line of
mamelon-shaped hills which stretch from the moun:
tain down to the north of the city, and one of whichs
extends int) Canton itself. It was a pretty Fig's
on th a sunny Decembrr day to see the little part°,
of redcoats and bluejackets pested upon different
hills to prevent our being cut off, and ready to 51.11):
port each ether, while the reconnoitring Patel
climbed the nearest elevation, where, within 1,
yards of Gough's fort, and within 1,500 of a ben"
armed bastion, the chiefs took a survey throng"
their glasses of the heights to be climbed. CaPtei:
Bate mapped the country, Major Clifford, whesic
miniature Victoria Cross attracts every eye, Ws
plans of the fortifications, and your humble WWnt.
made a rough sketch of the interesting paeorart
before LP. We are within range of all these gunge
and tremendous in size they are. There are somefellows in that bastion training a gun to beer if f
us, and we expect every moment to see the pun o,
smoke. The monster guns of the Chinese Weil
solid shot, and, being fired upon the non-rene.t
principle, carry to enormoes distances. At Fatah
I saw a ball fired from 2,000 yards come on W 217,
e gunboat, pass through a gun carriage, knocklri.
it into splinters, and gone out through the et,_eria
I suspect, however, that there is some truth
at
what a deserter told us yesterday. He sari that
Yeh is waiting for reinforcements, that he hasssi,e4
to collect all the forces of the two quango, and
given orders that not a gun shall be
should precipitate the attack before his succon_r:
have come in. This man was disbelieved becell„...'
he was an ill-favoured, hang-dog looking fell"cran
fired lest 1..
as though a deserter was likely to look like
honest man.
It was a rapid affair, that reconnoisance, mere'
turned as swiftly as we came, and were back in 011 r
quarters by 6 o'clock. pa
To the General it was very useful, for it shnvfcio
him, if I mistake net, that an attack on this sad
would cost him 500 men. The blue-jackets are all
for going helter-skelter at the forts, and swear ba
could carry them in four hours ; so, in all Pr°.
bility they would • but the General prefers c",,r
tainties to probabilities.
fOr
To me this little expedition was invaluable,
it is only little by little that I can hope to gs,ill6lor
to convey to my readers an accurate idea
19`
great city. When I look at It from the Pt
k.
houses I despair of being able to see orhe
to deseit'be
the assault. Canton is at least as large as ~„a
Surrey suburbs of London ;it is quite as fiat, `,‘
1,000,000 inhabitants.
it contains Captain Dell
pork barrel at the main-truck of the Nimrod
„f
be occupied by the captain for the purpose?
directing 1).;s guns ; but if this were not so, it won
not be of much use for close observations t° th
dizzy head and swimming brain of a jandstei-es
flow can I hope to follow the fortunes of 5,000,131
penetrating that labyrinth by different routes
To-day there was a reconnoissance on the eastern
aide of the ci y. Two gunboats at daylight le„"1., to
TIIURSDAY, Dec. 24tero
the reconnoitring party at a creek about a rasod
the east of the Wrench Folly. We struck '"„Aieci
over low hills covered with graves, and soon re'd
a picket-house, which had twice fired upon ants
pulsed previous small exploring parties. We en
prepared to force it, but the party was wit:3"-We
as we approached. They were about 200. the
crossed a paved causeway leading toward,: and
city. and continued our trot over the steel' 01
slippery graveyards and over the dry, hard Pb the
fields until we arrived at an eminence whicuired
leaders seemed to think gave the reci fool
coup cCceil. We were now about 800 jarued the
the great eastern gate of the city,
outride the,
same distance from the eastern fort ,1,0 for'
city. The gate lay to the west of us and•
was to the north. Some intervening trees Pate 1)11
intercep ed the view of the city walls and 0,, 'seen
the fort was open to view. The Genera ba:tta°l
enough. This is evidently the route of th at*
ing party. The fort before us will be. takenw,
rush, and this will give us a strong
the wall can be breached or escaladed. Over..o the
wall is the northern half of the city, whe..r
public offices and great yamums and pleasUrvrpg.
dens are, and where there are no narrow at .31
position ttetbot
Thence our storming party will assault the rfoite
zine-hill, and thence all the long line of hill The
we saw yesterday will be taken in reverse- r or
General, I am told, makes it a point of honour,
rather a point of art, to take that terrible 1,,c etS
Fort without the loss of a man. It is luckelne
y: t
we have not Russians to fight with here. el-'hts of
hands of the engineers who fortified the Iltering
Sebastopol this city would be impregnable•
rowjed
the reconnoissance every eminence was
with multitudes of Chin' se, and Mandarins 's; bet
were running about the walls. with little flag_e se
if they contemplated any attack we were 0.700,
gone before they could make their prepareell 0,0"
The reconnoitring party were back to ur t otir
at 11 o'cluck, having accomplished a "m°l4
factory" survey of the ground.
t
In the afternoon proclamations were -'s utstblie
along the Cantonshore, warning the inbabi.t% the
Yeh had rejected the terms offered, and tu'„. erolll.,
city were not surrendered within 48 hours liissoin:
be bombarded and stormed. The sets
this proclamation was chosen so that it in4titorven;.
on Saturday night. Sunday will then tat oleo
and thus give the people some more boors
°,
out, and the authorities more time to 10 the
preparations, and make up their minds 'ls
futility of resistance. ofuaii
o
We must have this city. The island
~.boete
would be in a few months the charlle_tuderfe
lly
British troops. At present they are vi_u_ are oIZ
healthy. In Col. 'locker's battalion ther_c',lo to the
15 sick out of 700 men. This is attiibuta",ed, Sit'ss
cold weather, the plentiful fresh ration
,!!
;uucl.t:e.
even Shanghai mut on five times a evee..icine W11:0
extraordinary supplies we have of clewnvienci't,
The intAligent arrangements of the c°lodgellellse
must of course have their due acknowt sick/0,
But all these will be powerless to preverie onlY, of
if hot weather should find us here. I hav-idena
scribed the allied position yet, not the folio to
Ronan. e prck-hotte4 and stores only eeind our
fringe of this gt eat Wand. count's 0010
Lei racks is a swamp. The stagnant water gene'is
to the wall at the rear of our quarters.
_coition
aspect of the island to the back of our