The Sun.
London, England, 1860-12-17 00:00:00

LORD ELGIN.

Camp before Pekin, Oct. S.
My Lord,—it the close of my despatch of the 23d of
September, sent by the last mail, I informed your Lord-
ship that a brother of the Emperor of China, by name
Kung, had written to apprise me that he had been ap-
pointed to treat with me in the room of Prince Tsai and
President Muh, who had been superseded because of their
mismanagement of affairs, and that I had referred him, in
reply, to the notifications which the Commanders-in-Chief
had issued some days previously, and which was to the effect
that if the British and French subjects illegally detained in
captivity by the Chinese authorities were not at once set at
liberty Pekin would be assaulted.

On the following day I received a further letter from
Prince Kung, which stated that the persons in quest'on
had been captured after the fight had commenced on the
18th ult., and that they could only be restored after her
Majesty's fleets and armies should have left Taku. The
Prince added that there had been a dispute between Mr.
Parkes and the Imperial Commissioners Tsai and Muh on
the subject of the presentation of the Queen's letter to the
Emperor of China.

As I had the good fortune to be within reach of Lieute-
nant-General Sir Hope Grant at the time when this letter
reached me, I thought it proper to confer with him before
answering it. I found that he inclined to the opinion,
that it would be advisable to take advantage of the oppor-
tunity afforded by it to restate to the Prince, not only
the serious consequences that would ensue if he refused
to deliver up the British subjects whom he had illegally
captured, but also the conditions on which, if they were
accepted within a period of three days, peace between
Great Britain and China might still be concluded. I was
moreover, desirous to inform the Prince that the Queen's
letter to the Emperor had not been, as he insinuated, men-
tioned by me, for the first time in the despatch to Prince
Tsai and the President Muh, of which Mr. Parkes had been
the bearer, but that I had referred to it in the very same
terms in a letter written to Kweiliang, at Tien-twin; and,
further, that I had always treated the question of its presen-
tation as one of courtesy, not of war. I enclose a copy of
this communication of Prince Kung, and of my answer; is
of my correspondence with Sir Hope Grant, and of a letter
from me to Baron Gros in reference thereto. Further letters
between Prince Rung and me, the copies of which are
likewise enclosed, followed on this correspondence. Not-
withstanding, however, various endeavours on his part to
raise discussions which might, as he hoped, enable him to
escape from the necessity of categorically accepting or re- '
fusing the conditions offered, I deemed it to be my duty to
adhere to them, and to require that her Majesty's subjects
detained at Pekin should be restored before any steps for''
arresting hostile operations were taken. I could not admit
the principle that they should be dealt with as prisoners
legitimately made during war. At the same time, as their
lives might have been put in jeopardy if the Chinese autho-
rities had been driven to despair. I thought it proper to in-
timate that their unconditional surrender would cause the
prospects of peace to improve.

On the sth inst. the Commanders-in-Chief, having re-
ceived from the fleets and from Tien-tsin the supplies and
munitions of war which they required, advanced on Pekin.
On the afternoon of the 6th the main body of the English
force was encamped on the north face of the Tartar city,
and the French army, with the British cavalry, at the
Summer Palace of the Emperor, having encountered on
their march to these points no enemy except a few strag-
gling Tartars who fled on their approach.
On the morning of the 7th inst., I received a despatch
from Prince Kung, of which I enclose the translation, in
which he goes a great way towards the acceptance of the
conditions prescribed by me in the communications which I
had previously addressed to him. I may mention that he
refers in it to a letter written to me on the day preceding,
which however has not yet reached me. It was agreed

that the authorities in Pekin should be informed that the
city might still be spared the calamities of an assault, if her
Majesty's subjects therein detained were immediately re-
stored, and one of its gates given up to the Allies, and that
Mr. Wade should require a mandarin of proper rank to
meet him at some point between it and our camp, in whose
hands he might place, with suitable explanations, a paper
stating these conditions in the names of the Commanders-
in-Chief.

I enclose a copy of the document which, in pursuance
of this arrangement, was delivered by Mr. Wade to the
mandarin sent to confer with him. Mr. Wade leads me
to hope that Mr. Parkes and others who are with him may
be restored this evening. But as Prince Kung has left the
city, and is now at a considerable distance from it, some
time must elapse before we learn what view he takes of
the demands preferred in the final summons of the Com-
mander-in-Chief. I have, &c.,
ELGIN iND KINCARDINE.
The Lord John Russell, &c.

Received September 24.
The Prince of Kung, Imperial Commissioner, makes a
communication in reply :
The Prince has just received the despatch of the British
Minister, requiring that the officers of his Excellency's Go
♦ernment, who are still absent, should be desired to return
to the army without delay. The officers of his Excellency's
Government had, on an earlier occasion, in person, discussed
at Tungchow, with the late Imperial Commissioners, the
Prince I, and his colleague, right propositions, to the whole
of which asse.nt was given, it is to be presumed, to the
satisfaction of his Excellency the British Minister. The
discussion of the question of personal presentation of the
national letter* had not yet been satisfactorily terminated,
when the British officers in question, going off in anger,
fell in with the troops by the way ; an encounter ensued,
and they were seized in the melee. It is not, therefore, the
Chinese Government that has been at all wanting towards
the maintenance of friendly relations.
The officers in question are now in the capital ; none of
them have suffered harm ; t but with peace still uncon-
eluded it is scarcely possible that they should be sent back
again. The city of Tien-tsin and the forts of Taku have
both been taken and are still in possession of the British
Government. What occasion is there then for alarm about
a few British subjects who may be missing ? If the two
Governments are indeed to be friends, if (the British Go-
vernment), desiring a cessation of hostilities, will take its
men of war out of the Fort of Taku, the Chinese Govern-
ment, so soon as the different concessions it is asked to make
shall have been discussed and disposed of, will send back
the officers in question, such as they shall find them to b 3,1
in order to the perfecting of friendly relations.
The letter addressed by his Excellency to his officers

could hardly be delivered while the present state of hos-
tility continues. It shall be delivered as the force has been
withdrawn.
A necessary reply, addressed to the Earl of Elgin,

Sze., &c.
liienfung, 10th year, Bth moon, 9th day (23d September
1860). Translated by
THOMAS WADE, Chinese Secretary,

The undersigned has received a despatch under date the
23d inst., from his Imperial Highness the Prince of Kung,
and makes this communication in reply :

'The subjects of her Majesty the Queen of England now
detained in Pekin, were at Tungchow, or on their return
from Tungchow to the British camp, under the protection
of a flag of truce, and with the knowledge and consent of
the Imperial Commissioners, the Prince Tsai, and the Pre-
sident Muh, when the bad faith and imprudence of the
General. in-Chief Sang-ko-lin-sin brought on a conflict
between the armies of England and France, and that of
China, on the 18th inst. Their arrestation under these cir-
cumstances was a violation of the law of nations, and their
subsequent detention an act of perfidy which expose the
Chinese Government and its officers who have taken part
in the proceedings to the just vengeance of the British
army, which is now quartered at a distance of 30 li from the
gates of Pekin.
The Prince states that a dispute had arisen with respect
to the mode in which the letter from ber Majesty the Queen
of Great Britain to his Majesty the Emperor of China, of
which the undersigned is the bearer, should be presented,
and gives it to be understood that this letter was alluded to
for the first time in the communication of the undersigned
to Prince Tsai and his colleague, which Mr. Parkes took
with him to Tungchow on the 17th inst. This is an error,
and if the case has been represented in this light to.thee. I mln-
perial Prince, his Imperial Highness has keenstdecthe
er
terms
rdunder-
his communication to Kweiliang of the 3d
signed referred to the letter in question in
itnhe same
in which he referred to it in his communication to the Prince
Tsai and the President Muh, of which Mr. Park es n as the
bearer. Neither at Tien-tsin nor at Tungchow did he pro-
pose to make the delivery of her Majesty's letter to the
Emperor the subject of a treaty stipulation. The presenta-
tion of letters from Sovereign to Sovereign, and the recep-
tion by Sovereigns of ambassadors from other Sovereigns
with whom they seek to cultivate relations of friendship,
are matters of courtesy understood and practised in all
civilised States. A State affecting to be civilised, which
refuses to reciprocate such acts of courtesy, necessarily ex-
poses its professions of amity to suspicion.
In order, however, to give further proof of his sincere
desire for the re-establishment of peace between Great
Britain and China, and to afford the Imperial Prince a last
opportunity of averting a blow which Will entail the destruc-
t tion of Pekin, and the probable fall of the dynasty now ruling

in China, the undersigned makes the following proposals :
If within the space of three days from he date of this
letter the British (and French) subjects detained at Pekin
be sent back to the head-quarters (of their respective na-
tions), and if the Imperial Prince intimates his readiness t
sign the convention placed in the hands of K.eian
Tien -tsin, the bulk of the British army willtaldvgance

The autograph letter of her Majesty.
t Mortal injury.
This is a mere formula, which it might be almost as
well watraivlated. It might be rendered all in good order."