The Sun.
London, England, 1858-08-30 00:00:00

ENGLISH LIFE IN CHINA.

Tile following interesting letter, received from a lady at

Hong-Kong, has been forwarded to us for publication
"Hong-Kong, June 21, 1858.
" —,—As my husband is incapacitated himself from
writing this mail, I shall send you a few lines instead. I
lave to thank God most fervently that his life has been
spared, for never man bad a more narrow escape. You
must have observed from the public reports in what a very l
unsatisfactory state our relations with the Chinese in '
the south are at present. The universal opinion is that
matters have been most sadly mismanaged, and that things
are worse here now than ever they were. Be that as it
may, the Chinese at this present time are certainly become
more offensively troublesome, and we hear al
most daily
reports of attacks and attempts at murder, broad
daylight, and sometimes in the very streets of Hong Kong.
My poor husband was one of those unhappy victims six
days since. But I will tell you all about it. He has a friend
living about one mile and three quarters off, whom he often
Ones to see before breakfast, and takes a short cut across the
bill to his residence, but he always goes armed with his
revolver, and prepared for emergencies, knowing well the
temper of the Chinese just now. Last Tuesday (June 15)
he set off for his morning walk, and I was sorry to see it
begin pouring with rain soon after he started. Towards
nine o'clock I was made aware of his return by our little
dog (who had accompanied him) rushing up stairs, and soon
after he himself walked in, but such an object that I never
can forget—the blood streaming down both sides ofhis white
face, and the colour of his hair quite hidden in a mass of
Wood and dirt, though he had taken the precaution of going
in the bath-room first, and changing his clothes and wash-
ing himself, so as to frighten me as little as possible. More-
over he was bent double with pain, and could scarcely move
from some extensiveinjury in his side. I sent for a medical
man at once, who came very quickly and examined him ;
but the side was such a complete smash and so swollen that
he could not then tell If any ribs were broken. It seems
that three Chinamen suddenly set upon him, though be was
in a measure prepared for them too, and even had his hand
on his pistol at the time he met them ; but he says their
agility of movement quite astonished him, and with a most
instantaneous spring the first man was pinioning both his
hands by the wrists. But with a strong wrench he threw
bim off, and started back a pace or two to fire. His pistol
was almost close to the wretch's breast when he pulled the
trigger, and the cap missed fire. With a yell of triumph
they all rushed towards him, when he sprang down this
side of the nsountain path to gain time to recock his revolver,
and in turning round to fire his revolver a second time his
foot slipped, and he rolled over and over down the side of the
ravine into a water-course, all among the bed of rocks, and
was completely stunned and wedged in there. One of the
gang fell too, and, to make matters worse, came down with
his whole weight on his chest. The two other men followed
very quickly, and of course he was at their mercy then. The
wretches first began pounding his head with stones, and
broke it in several places. Then they put mud in his
eyes to prevent his seeing their faces, and so recognising
them afterwards, and one—the man at whose breast he had
fired—hit him a violent blow with his fist just between his
eyes; but, strange to say, he tad not lose his consciousness
fir more than a few seconds, and kept his senses clear to the
last. Two mon held down his hands, and one knelt on hiscbest
and rifled his person. Of course they took everything—pistol,
watch,ring, even his handkerchief,and I only wonder they left
him any clothes, or left him alive to tell the tale, but I sup-
pose they were satisfied with their booty, and so made off
before they were surprised. One circumstance seems to me
most providential; the Chinaman who fell down the hill,
when he got up had a huge knife handle in his hand, but no
blade—that must have been broken eff in the tumble, and
he spent some time in looking for it among the grass. Had
that weapon been whole and sound, he might have cut eff
my poor husband's head with it, taken it to Canton, and
obtained the head-money. Oh, we have very mach to be
thankful for, in spite of his sufferings. How be ma-
naged to get home is a perfect miracle. The doctor
said ' he must have had a deal of pluck to do it ;' but his
strength held out no longer, and he was helpless directly.
Ills side was first fomented, and then leeched the next day to
reduce the swelling. About the fourth day, broken bones
were discovered, and those he has not been able to have
bandaged yet on account of the tenderness and swelling, but
I hope to-day the doctor will pronounce it in a fit state to be
4one, for the support will be such a relief to him. He is pro-
gressing most satisfactorily towards recovery ; his wounds
are healing nicely, and there has been no fever. The worst
now is that no trace can be found of the ruffians, notwith-
standing the exertions of the police; but Chinese are too
cunning for Englishmen. Our precautions and laws seem to
have no power to reach them, and until we fight them with
their own weapons, and oppose stratagem to stratagem, they
will always keep the upper hand. Since this attack on my
husband he has made up his mind to have a good big dog
at once from England, to be his walking companion. Fire-
arms are not to be depended upon in this damp climate, and
if he had only a faithful dog with him on this occasion, I
fumy it would have created a diversion in his favour ; so
will Mr. be so good as to be on the look-out for a
tnorough-bred Newfoundland pup, and by next mail I hope
Mr. will be able to write to him himself about ship-
ping and forwarding it. My mind seems so fall of this one
subject that I can scarcely think of anything else, but I can-
not finish my letter witnout saying how sincerely I hope
you are all well. What nice weather and delicious spring
produce you must be having at home now, while we are
grilling cut here. We are able to get ice in Hong-Kong
now, which is a great comfort to us ; you can fancy how
acceptable it has been to the poor invalid.
" P.S.—Only imagine, on our own territory, not in
Chinese jurisdiction, we are defied to the utmost, and no
one can walk in the streets without being well armed.
Whenever. the doctor or any visitor comes their daggers,
b.-Awe-knives, or revolvers axe laid on the drawing-room
table as regularly as possible, and pat about their persons
again when they take their departure."—Evening Herald.

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.

MEETINGS FOR THE WEEK.

The following are all half-yearly:—
THIS DAY—Blackburn, Blackburn, at 1 ; Staines and
Wokinghavn, London Tavern, at 2; East Kent, 2, Moor-
gve .street, at 2; Newry and Armagh, Armagh, at 11.
To-MoßßOW—Newport, Abergavenny, and Hereford,
Lo,u Tavern, at 12; Worcester and Hereford, London
Tavern, at 3; Furness, 9, Old Burlington-street, at 12;
Sorewsbury and Hereford, Shrewsbury, at 1; Sittingbourne
and Sheerness, Queensborough, at half-past 2; Herne Bay
and Faversham, Herne Bay, at 1 ; Rhymney, 28, Great
George-street, at 3; Wells and Fakenham, Fakenham, at
2 ; Boston, Sleaford, and Midland Counties, Euston Hotel,
at 1 ; Northern Counties Union, London Tavern, at 11.
THURSDAY—South-Eastern, Bridge-house Hotel, tl.
SATURDAY—North British, Edinburgh, at 1.