The Sun.
London, England, 1859-09-19 00:00:00

THE DISASTER IN CHINA•

(From the Debats.)
" The advanced state of the season removes all
hope of being able to commence any serious opera-,
tions in the North of China before the middle .oer
next spring. Pekin is situated in the same latitude
as Naples, but during the summer the heat is as
great as in Egypt, and in the winter the cold
severe as in Sweden. Before carrying the war int., t
such a climate it will be necessary to make rag%
preparations which have not been yet thought 01.0
Referring then to the amount of forces likely
be required, our contemporary says : had
" If the personal experience which we have
of the Chinese gives us a right to have an opinica
we should say that a corps of 25,000 men wsut
be amply sufficient to obtain the results which we
propose as the object of the new expedition:
That would be about 12,000 furnished by es"'
power, that is to say, for the French, an ordinary
division with its details of artillery,
engineers!
&c. It would perhaps be advisable to add
to them one or two squadrons of draffoons or A
can Chasseurs. There are plenty of horses in the.
north of China, the Mongols last year brought
cavalry into the field against the allies, and by Pay-
ing regularly for the animals which might be
brought for sale, enough would bo doubtless
cured for the artillery, and for mounting a seas
corps of 200 or 300 men, who might render
portant services. If it should be considered iti-
d-
pensable to have immediately at command a certain
number of horses, the most simple plan would be
to purchase them beforehand at Manilla, and to
have them conveyed by one of those transpo ,
which have been built expressly for the purp?rse,tS
and which can carry from 300 to 400. In taki
fro
ng
advantage of the south monsoon, the voyage nt
Manilla to the Peiho can be made in a week or ten
days. The horses of the Philippines are small and
not very strong, but they are tractable and full
of spirit. As to the artillery, there would
be no necessity to have a great number
of guns, or any of large calibre. Rifled mountain
guns, such as were used in Kabylia, would
suffice for all the eventuality of the campaign, as
the Chinese never take artillery with them. For
the attack of fortified places, the old 12-pounders,
rifled, which throw shells of 241 b. weight to a dis-
tance of more than 4,000 metres, would find it only
child's play to destroy all the works of the Chinese.
feet
titcoonnopt:lfeeo
conveyance
The most delicate point will be to organise the
means of transport for the materiel of the army.
It must not be supposed that this organisation pre-
ferkoimn,
theaf te rseaa,lla,nil
pre-
sents any very formidable difficulties, particularly
when they can be fo(r7esseemni.lesP)
only about 30 leagues
is united to it by the River Peiho, of which advan-
Tteigeoe.
tcoulds n
tbhbhborei
boats
etn tsreoai
necessary
eersfrnso
au. t
urrhylpet
aicadnnateepoeerwitbanaolrftlghhtetaawhstseibololersnyteloooyrnineds
sd
ee
luthenflat-
bottomedot
and the sick ; and in order to move those barges it
would be well to be pros ided with a certain amount
of steam apparatus which could be fitted up on the
spot, similar to the steam gunboats which were built
for navigating on the lakes and rivers of Italy.