The Sun.
London, England, 1859-09-12 00:00:00

'HI SUN, LONDON

The 3d battalion of Grenadier Guards are under
orders to proceed from the metropolis to Dublin on
Saturday, Ist of October, to relieve the 2d,.laattalion '
of the Scots Fusilier Guards, who return to London.
The 27th company of the Royal Engineers, which
has rejoined head-quarters at Brompton Barracks,
Chatham, from Woolwich, where the men were en-
gaged in completing the Armstrong gun factory,
will devote the whole of their time to practical sub-
marine operations, and those parts of sapping and
mining in which they have not been trained, in
order that they may be made thoroughly efficient
in those branches of engineering operations previ-
ously to embarking for the Mauritius.
The following officers from Chatham garrison
have embarked with the reinforcements proceeding
to India from that station :—Ensign J. P. Jones,
Bth Regiment ; Lieut. N. X. Gwynne, Ensign C.
G. Gibaut, and Ensign C. E. Hussey, 20th Regi-
ment ; Ensign C. E. Fellowes and Ensign J. F.
Caldwell, 24th Regiment ; Brevet-Major T. Teulon,
Ensign W. Trocke, Ensign C. J. Stone, and Ensign
A. C. Crookshank, 35th Regiment ; Lieut. H.
Fraser, Ensign A. C. F. Armstrong, and Ensign
H. F. H. Gibsone, 73d Regiment.
On Saturday orders were received at Chatham for
the following troops to proceed from that garrisol
to Gravesend, to embark on board the chartered
ship Aliquis for Calcutta, viz. :—Three officers and
71 non-commissioned officers and men of the 20th
Regiment, two officers and 78 men of all ranks of
the 43d Light Infantry, and one officer and 116
men of the 77th Regiment, together with two offi-
cers and 89 men of the Ist battalion sth Fusiliers,
from Colchester ; total 8 officers and 354 men. As-
sistant Staff-Surgeon W. Orr, from Shorncliffe, pro-
ceeds in medical charge of the reinforcements.
The draught of troops for India from the camp
at Colchester has just been completed. The entire
strength of these reinforcements is 11 officert, 3
sergeants, 6 drummers, and 605 rank and file. The
draught was despatched as follows :—Capt. Barnes,
Ensigns Sargeant and Bullen, a drummer and 199
rank and file of the 37th Regiment ; Ensigns Sul-
livan, Heyland, and Watt, a drummer, and 6 men
of the 56th Regiment (the former embarked in the
Alfred for Calcutta, and the latter, in the Tiptree
for Bombay) ; Capt. Unwin, Lieuts. Simpson and
Gandy, 1 sergeant, and 267 men of the 6th Regi-
ment ; Ensign Brenan, 1 drummer, and 6 men of
the 34th Regiment ; and 46 rank and file of the
88th Connaught Rangers (all embarked in the
Surrey for Calcutta) ; 8 rank and file of the Ist
battalion Ist Royals ; 1 sergeant, 2 drummers, and
6 men of the 44th Regiment (embarked in the Gos-
forth for Madras) ; and Lieut. Miles, 1 sergeant, 1
drummer, and 87 rank and file of the Ist battalion
sth Regiment (to embark in the Aliquis for Cal-
cutta.) This large draught, added to that which
left a few weeks since, of course considerably re-
duces the force in camp. Dr. Macqueen has been
• appointed staff-surgeon to the 10th battalion, in the
room of Dr. Bain.
A large space of ground adjoining the Hut bar-
racks has been appropriated for an extra drill
ground for the troops attached to the 3d battalion,
quartered in the huts, and is now being enclosed
and covered in, in order that no interruption to the
drill may take place in wet weather.
In consequence of the recent accident at Hythe,
the practice ground of the Royal Artillery en-
camped at Shorncliffe has shifted to Seabrook, near
the Coastguard station, and the men now fire at a
floating target, moored nearly 2,000 yards out at
sea.
On Friday morning last the troops in garrison at
Edinburgh were reviewed in the Queen's-park, by
Viscount Melville, the General commanding in the
district, and in the presence of his Royal Highness
the Prince of Wales. The forces present consisted
of a company of Royal Artillery, from Leith Fort,
with field train, the 16th Lancers, from Piershall
barracks, and the Westlork Rifles, from the Castle.
The Prince of Wales wore the uniform of a colonel
in the army, and the members of his suite, Colonel
Bruce and Capt. Grey, were also in uniform. For
about two hours the troops were exercised in the
manceuvres of mimic warfare. At the close the
troops defiled before the Prince and the General,
and then returned to quarters. In the evening the
Prince of Wales honoured the officers of the 16th
Lancers by joining them at mess. Lord Melville,
Col. Bruce, Capt. Grey, Capt. Jones,
and the Rev.
Mr. Tarver were present. On leaving the barracks
his Royal Highness was loudly cheered by the
soldiers.
On Saturday orders were issued for schoolrooms,
with quarters for the schoolmaster and schoolmis,
tress, to be constructed at Christchurch barracks,
Hants, and also at Piershill barracks, Edinburgh,
to provide for the education of the troops and the
children of the married men stationed there.
One of Boydell's patent traction engines, as em-
ployed in Woolwich Arsenal, was received on Sa-
turday at the royal carriage department from he
e
manufacturers at Thetford, to be forwarded to Ca
at the request of the Egyptian Government. The
new engine is built on an improved principle, is
fitted with numerous additional appliances, which
were suggested from time to time during the various
sexperiments which took place in the presence of the
se.lect committee at Woolwich Arsenal, and has
couie out under an entirely new exterior. The huge
ungainly looking flaps or slippers forming the end-
less. railway, which formerly gave the invention so

( From the Times.)
The Treaty with China is at an end ! By an act
faithless, barbarous, and treacherous, that Treaty
has been violated! But the barbarians who have
so rudely abrogated their compact will now learn
what are the tremendous penalties imposed by civi-
lisation on a sanguinary and causeless breach of
treaties, and feel the vengeance which even their
perverted subtlety and crude metaphysllics
rem must
emb ad-
mit to be necessary and just. We aer
how, in consequence of certain outrages on the per-
sons engaged in carrying on our commerce with
China, the great nations principally engaged in re-
lations with that Empire found it incumbent on
them to take such steps as would bring the Chinese
authorities to reason in their connexion with the
civilised States of the world. Those outrages were
but aggravations of the ordinary conditions under
which any trade with China was maintained, not-
withstanding the severe chastisement administered
to the Chinese Government in the conflicts it had
provoked by its insolence and ignorant presump-
tion. In the course of the war which ensued, Eng-
land, France, the United States, and Russia, by a
course of action concerted or independent, succeeded
in obtaining a series of concessions embodied in
treaties, which were accepted by the representatives
of those States with reasonable satisfaction, and by
England especially with entire content. One of the
incidents of the treaties obtained by France and
England was, that the Ambassadors of those coun-
tries should repair to Pekin to exchange ratifica-
tions with the Ministers of the Chinese Emperor.
Lord Elgin, who seemed assured of his success, and
Baron Gros, who represented France, had acted
throughout the whole of the operations in a
spirit which promised the best results. But it
must be admitted that, notwithstanding the
triumphs of the Allies in all those operations—
notwithstanding the easy capture of Canton, and
the success of expeditions which met with little
opposition except from tortuous navigation and
narrow channels there have been, since
the Treaties were signed, manifestations of a spirit
which ought to have inspired some fear either that
the Chinese Government was not sufficiently strong
to coerce its own subjects, or that it was determined
to resist as far as it could the execution of the
Treaty.which we had forced upon its officers. In
the neighbourhood of Canton hostile forces were
collected after the war was at an end, which, as
far as we knew, were openly countenanced by the
mandarins of the Court. We were told, too, of
mysterious consequences that would follow if we
persisted in thrusting our ambassadors on the Celes-
tial presence in Pekin ; but still we were quite as-
sired of our complete success. There were, indeed,
some merchants, and people connected with silk,
and tea, and opium, who shook their heads, and
said, " This is all very well, this Treaty ; how do
you know the Chinese will carry it out ?" But we
had taught them severe lessons. Had we not given
that obstinate but intelligent sage many proofs of
our power ? Did not our flag float over Canton
and in Hongkong, and were we not lords in Shang-
hai ? Had we not battered down all their forts,
crushed their war-junks like eggshells, and brushed
away their legions of braves almost without an
effort ? Accordingly, when Mr. Bruce arrived, and
the French ambassador was ready, the expedition
of steamvessels, which was probably regarded
rather as an escort than as an actual display of phy-
sical power, started for the mouth of the Peibo.
The telegrams, which will be found in another
place, tells the rest of the story. It is sad enough,
but neither England nor France, in spite of the loss
of many brave men, and of a naval calamity which
has not had its counterpart since those great nations
met as enemies, can be permitted to consider it as
altogether concluded.
On the 17th of June, according to the telegram
sent by Mr. Rumbold, Secretary to the Chinese
Mission, Admiral Hope arrived off the Peiho River.
His exact force we do not know, but the account
of our losses gives us an unhappy proof that lie
was in command of a oonsiderable number of
men-of-war, all probably of light draught though of
heavy armament, and belonging to the class of
steam sloops and gunboats. We have as yet no
precise indication of the strength of the expedi-
tionary flotilla belonging to France. Admiral Hope
must have discovered immediately on his arrival
that the fortifications which had been demolished
by our fleet at its last visit were restored, but " no
guns or men were visible." That there were both
guns and men in abundance we shall soon see,
though Admiral Hope did not. And here there is
a mystery on which the telegram throws no light.
How was it that the English Admiral did not take
steps to ascertain the nature of the defences, which
most have been thrown up and re-established with
no object but to resist his passage? If any
.doubt
of their purpose could have been entertained it
must have been dispelled on finding that " the
entrance to the river was barred with booms and
stakes." For three days the flotilla lay off the
mouth of the Peiho, and off those forts, and off
those booms and stakes. On the 20th of June the
British and French Plenipotentiaries joined the
squadron, and it would appear that they sent on
shore to the Chinese authorities to announce their
arrival. When the announcement was made can
yet be precisely determined, but it is probable
that the Plenipotentiaries lost no time in commu-
nicating with the Mandarins, and that on the
morning of the 21st, at furthest, they had informed
the representatives of the Government of Pekin
that the Ambassadors of England and France had
arrived with the view of exchanging the ratifica-
tions of the Treaty. For four days at least the
fleet remained inactive, waiting for the Chinese to
take the proper measures for their reception, and
for their progress up the river. During the interval,
however, grave doubts must have filled the minds
of our Ambassadors in reference to the intentions
of the authorities on shore. It is all but impos-
sible, if the ordinary vigilance of British sailors had
been exhibieed in our squadron, that guns could
have been mounted secretly in the reconstructed
forts, and that a large land force could have been
assembled to support their fire, without any one on
board the ships observing the fact. Had the smallest
suspicion been excited respecting the animus of the
Chinese Government it is evident that the circum-
stances under which the expedition had set out
would be completely changed. Instead of a peace-
ful voyage through the yellow waters of the Peilio
our ships would have proceeded on an undertaking
full of risk, exposed not only to the perils attendant
on a navigation which one of the most skilful and
daring of British sailors has declared to be grave
and extraordinary, but to the very serious aggrava-
tion of such contingencies offered by the hostile
occupation of the banks of a difficult and imper-
fectly known river.
However that may be, it seems that at the end
of five days the Plenipotentiaries, having received
no reply to their communications, resolved " to
force a passage." They had on their flanks the
forts of the Peiho reconstructed, and probably
strengthened. They had before them "the booms
and stakes" which barred the entrance to the river.
In fact, it would appear that ever since Sir Michael
Siymour's fleet left the channel the Chinese had
been busily engaged in preparing to defend it. And
here we may be inclined to ask why one of our
many steamers was not left to cruise off the mouth
of the stream, and to
anchor soprevent, when it would have
been easy to
any endeavours to rebuild the
forts, to booms, or to sink stakes in the
river !We are told that " when (on the 25th
June) an attempt":
as made to force a passage, on a
sudden batteries supported by a Mongol force of
apparently 20,000 men were unmasked, and opened
a destructive fire," If these batteries were of
guns in the forts their existence ought to have been
known to us. But the words
on a sudden" and
" unmasked" speak to us of a fairpri •
se, and we wait
with impatience the details which shall explain to
us how it was possible for a British squadron to be
surprised by a sudden fire from masked batteries at

a place where it had been lying for at least one week
before the engagement. The painfulresults, however,
are only too explicit. A " severe action" took place.
Our light gunboats were probably sent ahead at full
speed to break through the booms and stakes. We do
not know how the tide was running, but it is plain
enough the attempt was not successful. Screws
may have become fouled or broken ; the vessels
were probably brought up in places covered by the
fire of the batteries. As to the 20,000 Mongols and
their matchlocks, our steamers would have made
short work and little account of them, unless they
were very seriously engaged with artillery, or the
musketry fire was very close. The broadsides of a
few heavy frigates would have cleared forts and
Mongols away like a whisk of leaves in autumn,
but the Peiho was only fit for gunboats, and gun-
boats, with all their advantages, even as heavy-
metalled steam sloops, have their weak points and
their drawbacks. It is unprofitable to speculate—
it is unwise and may be unjust to censure—but
here is the very painful and very humiliating fact
that the Chinese defeated us—we can scarcely credit
it as we write the words—that they defeated us
with heavy loss—that the Cormorant screw steam
gun vessel, the Lee and the Plover gunboats, were
captured or sunk, and 464 British officers and sailors
were killed or wounded. That there may be no
mistake about the completeness of the repulse we
are told that the Plenipotentiaries have returned
to Shanghai, that the hope of carrying out the
Treaty has been abandoned, that a fresh war is
considered imminent, and that, though the Allies
occupy Canton, all trade with the interior is inter-
rupted.
When we consider that the loss of officers and
men in this attack is very much greater than that
of the whole British fleet in the engagement with
the sea defences of Sebastopol on the 17th of
October, 1854, we may appreciate its actual severity,
but in the necessity of another Chinese war the re-
sult is still more unfortunate. The names of Shad-
well and Vansittart among the wounded would
imply that the two heavy frigates which they com-
manded—the Magicienne and the Highflyer—were
engaged in the action, and the Comusanderin-Chief
of the naval force in the East Indies must also have
taken part in the operations, as he is returned in
the same list. Of the loss of officers there are two
estimates. The smaller is only too heavy. What-
ever may be the preliminaries or the incidents of
the encounter, we know enough to entitle us to in-
sist with calm resolution that for every drop of this
blood there shall be c )mplete satisfaction ; that the
barbarians, whom no treaties can bind, shall be
made at least to feel the consequences of breaking
them, and that England and France—or England
without France, if necessary—shall teach such a
lesson to these perfidious hordes that the name of
" European" will thereafter be a passport of fear,
if it cannot be of love, throughout their land.