The Sun.
London, England, 1859-03-03 00:00:00

THE ENGLIS.

LTI" GARRISON AT CANTOLV.

CANTON, JAN. 12.

The troops in Canton, just sinking into the slum-
ber of an ordinary garrison life, were very roughly
roused up in the course of last week.
One of the chief evils to be guarded against in a
garrison and climate like that of Canton is that
listless ennui that enervates both mind and body,
and leaves the soldier, with few resources in himself
and none of the sanctifying influences of o home, to
take refuge in drink and other sensual vices. Com-
manding officers have worked well and successfully
to meet this evil. Athletic games and other amuse•
ments have been got up in the different corps and
battalions, while the General issued an order that
each brigade should march once a week into the
country, taking their dinners, cooked, with them,
and returning home before dark.
The men rightly regarded this as a great boon.
It varied the monotony of their life within the
lines, and all felt the better for turning their backs
for the day on mouldering joss houses and dingy
yamums, and inhaling the fresh breeze of the
country.
Several of those marches took place, and nothing
could exceed the good conduct of our men or the
apparent good-will of the Chinese. The poor
flocked in crowds to share the remnants of our
soldiers' dinners, while, to avoid the very appear-
ance of evil, we refrained from entering their
populous villages.
On Tuesday, the 4th inst., Colonel Holloway
went out with his brigade for their usual weekly
march. The friendly Chin-chins greeted them
along the way, and when they sat down to dinner
the average hundreds of hungry and eager expec-
tants watched for the scraps or scrambled for the
cash that was scattered among them by the officers.
But a sudden change came over this busy scene.
The beggars, young and old, cast from them the
untasted tidbits, and rushed in a fright past hun-
dreds of ungathered cash, for they saw the many-
coloured flags of the Quatttuug Braves cresting the
top of a neighbouring hill ; and though this was a
pretty sight in itself, and much admired by the
soldiers as they reclined after dinner, it convinced
those poor people, who were up to the customs of
the country, that the sooner they got out of the
way the better for their personal safety.
Oolonel Holloway, strong in his own good inten-
tions, believed (as any reasonable man well might)
that this was only a deputation from the surround-
ing villages to welcome us, and so we rode forward
with a few mounted officers to meet them half way
and cement the friendly bond. His reception was
indeed warm enough, though I can't call it friendly,
for ere he could carry his kind intentions into exe-
cution a storm of rockets and gingal bullets burst
around the astonished picknickers, and compelled
them to make use of more deadly weapons than
knives and forks. I need scarcely state with what
result. The Braves, though plucky enough at
long bowls, have a wholesome dread of British cold
steel, and a few well-directed shots, with a dash
forward by two companies, ended the affair, and
drove the Braves flying in all directions, but not
before some of them paid at the cost of their lives
for this act of foul treachery.
The escape of our people was most providential.
A rocket passed between the body and arm of one
of our officers (Mr. O'Grady), merely drawing a few
drops of blood; had it gone two inches on one side
it would have cost him his life, while an inch on
the other would have cost him his arm. One of
our men had the strap of his water-barrel cut from
his back ; another had the sole shot from under his
boot ; while the call to arms was suddenly cut
short, and the bugle, squashed with a ball, flew from
the hand and mouth of the astonished bugler who
was blowing it.
Those marches into the country had taken place
with the full concurrence of Teh-Qui. He had given
notice throughout the towns and villages of the
district of the friendly nature of them, and there-
fore satisfaction was required, through him, for this
gross outrage. However, those refractory subjects
of the Emperor rejected alike the threats and coax-
ings of the Governor, and when Capt. M'Cleverty
attempted a direct communication with them they
fired on the flag of truce.
It was now apparent that we had to deal, not
with an isolated case of a few ignorant and discon-
tented villagers, but with an opposition to the Im-
perial treaty and the presence of Europeans in the
province, well organised and widely extended.
The league of the Quantung gentry was up and
at work with its old bitter hostility, collecting mu-
nitions of war at Shek-tseng, preparing to make
the next summer hotter for us than even the last,
and no doubt resolved to pay their last year's prices
for Englishmen's heads. A triumvirate sitting in
Shek-tseng, directed the operations of the league.
The Chinese pride of those provincial magnates
had quite got over the fall of Canton, and attributed
it to cowardice and treachery on the part of the
Tartar garrison, but there was Shek-tseng within
nine miles of Canton, defended by true Chinese
Braves. No European had ever crossed over its
beautiful bridge, nor ever should in their day, for
they had placed 20 pieces of heavy ordnance in
position to guard it. All this was to be kept quiet
until the summer had set in, when Europeans could
not stand the sun, and then the League would teach
the outside Barbarians and cowardly Tartars in
Canton such a lesson.
Such was the information brought in after the
outrage of the 4th. The intemperate zeal of one of
the leaders in attacking our Marines gave timely
notice of the storm that was brewing against us in
Shek-tseng, and so it was wisely determined not to
waste our strength on outlying villages, but to
advance direct on this Gibraltar of the league, and
cut away the fountain of the evil.
The expedition thus planned was most success-
fully executed. On Saturday last, at 7 a.m.,1,700
picked men started from the north gate, while a
naval brigade of 400 men, under Capt. M'Cleverty,
R.N., went round in gunboats.
Had our people the pick of the entire year, they
could not have lighted on a more propitious day—
dry, cold, and bracing. You felt the buoyancy of
home as you marched over the Chinese paddy-fields
Two hours brought the troops to a village within
1,000 yards of Shek-tseng, and the gunboats to the
mouth of the river that runs by it, and then the
work began.
The enemy had got the range of this village and
the mouth of the river. They opened a well-directed
fire, and sustained it for a short time with very
great vigour. Of the first four shots they fired two
hulledab le thedw lln fromn gunboats,
while in the village the leaves
the trees and the old walls to
such a way as to warn those who
tumble
uemgn too f
a
valued their safety to move forward as fast as pos-
sible, for within 800 yards of the place you were
much more secure than at 1,000 or 1,200.
The position of Shek-tseng looked no joke from
this village. There was the deep unfordable river
between us, while the beautiful bridge we wanted
to cross abutted on an island that growled upon us
with twelve well worked guns, while this island was
connected to our side of the water by a narrow
wooden causeway.
The attacking party consisted of 200 French on
the right, 150 Ist Royals in the centre, and the
same number of Royal Engineers on the left. All
these were thrown out in skirmishing order, and
supported by the Ist battalion of Royal Marines,
under Col. Lemon.
The rest of the troops formed a corps of reserve.
Three of our rocket tubes, with seven English and
one French howitzer, tooliup a position between the
skirmishers and opened a very telling fire. The
French, with their usual promptness, rushed for-
ward, determined to be first up, but as they at-
tempted to pass a little hamlet with a thick hedge
in front of it, they were met from behind the hedge
with a fire of gingals that wounded two of the party
and compelled them to retreat a little and gather
together to make a full sweep through the place.
The General, noticing this, ordered the 65th Bengal
Native Infantry up in support. Meantime the Ist
Royals and Engineers were advancing steadily, the
former making beautiful practice on the Chinese
gunners in the island (I noticed afterwards the side
stones of the embrasures dotted with the marks of
their bullets and trickling blood round more than
one of their guns), while the Engineers, up to their
knees in thick mud, worked on to the front and
reserved their fire for the final rush.
At this critical moment the naval brigade topped
the hill omi the Shek-tseng side of the river. Cap-
tain M'Cleverty had made short work of the inner
side batteries, and arrived at the nick of time to
turn the position. The Chinese, who up to this time
behaved with great pluck, now fled for their lives.
In rushed the Engineers, followed by:Royals and
Royal Marines, and Shek-tseng lay at our mercy.
The place was full of munitions of war, even to
waterproof coats and hats for the Braves next
summer. So besotted were these people that they
utterly disbelieved in our power to take this town,
and though.they had ample notice of our approach
the wives of the chief men remained in the place,
and were found all together in the women's quarter
of the town, utterly paralysed with terror.
Everything was done to save them from ill-
treatment. Guards were set to prevent any male
entering that part of the city, and when on leaving
we burnt the rest of the town, the General not
only spared that quarter, but humanely caused
several houses between to be gutted to prevent the
possibility of the fire extending.
• The next day we made a march of some 20 miles
:through 'one of the richest and most beautiful
Countries I ever passed over. The whole of it was
cultivated like a garden. A great part of our
road was arched over by trees that would grace the
noblest of our parks at home, while a river, 350