The Sun.
London, England, 1857-01-16 00:00:00

CHINA.

The China Mail of Hong Kong, of November 20,
contains intelligence from Canton four days later
than that brought by the last mail. We read :
The principal incident during the week bas been the
proceeding of the United States squadron, consequent
upon an unjustifiable attack made upon a party of naval
()inners and civilians by the " braves" occupying the
Barrier Forts, and which is likely to involve the Ameri-
cans also, much against their will, in a quarrel with the
Chinese. The particulars are as follows :
"On Saturday, about half-past four in the afternoon,
the Portsmouth's six-oared pinnace, in which were Com-
mander Foote, his First Lieutenant, Mr. Sturgis, and
the Rev. Mr. Macy, was pulling up from Whampoa to
Canton, and when abreast of the lower fort, a gun was dis-
charged at them, which crossed the bow a little ahead.
Mr. Sturgis took the flag from the stern of the boat, stood
up, and waved it, to show the Chinese they were Ame-
ricans, and then told the men to " pall away—it most
have been a mistake ;" but scarcely were the words ut-
tered, when a second bullet passed close to, followed by
a shower of shrapnel, which dashed up the water all
around them. The men pulled ahead, and as soon as they
neared the second fort, the party received from it the
like treatment, the guns in the latter instance being, if
possible, better served, so that it was miraculous how
the party escaped. They did so, however, put about,
and retarned to Whampa, where they reported the
circumstance to Commodore Armstrong, and he
promptly determined to destroy the forts, and then
write to the Governor-General what he had done, and
his reasons for doing it, and intimate at the same
time his contentment with the satisfaction he bad
taken. In execution of this resolve a boat was des-
patched on Sunday morning to sound, and ascertain whe-
ther the depth of water was sufficient to permit of the
Portsmouth and Levant anchoring within a close dis-
tance of the forts; the boat, ic doing so, was fired
upon and one man killed, his head being taken off by
a round shot, On Sunday both vessels got under weigh,
the Portsmouth being taken in tow by the Williamette.
The Commodore was on board the Levant, but merely
as a spectator, the vessel being under the command
of Capt. Bell, of the San Jacinto, Capt. Smith, her
own commander, being absent on duty in Canton.
guarding the factories. The Levant unfortunately
grounded before she could be got within range; but
the Portsmouth was towed up to the station fixed
upon, and as she approached in tow of the steamer,
the forts opened fire upon both vessels, thus affording
a second confirmation that there was no mistake on the
part of the Chinese in their Saturday's attack upon the
party of Americans in the pinnace.
"At length, after several shot had struck the Wil-
lamette, the sloop was cast off, and Captain Foote, with
great coolness, dropped his vessel up (still under fire) till
within 450 yards of the large fort, upon which the Ports-
mouth poured her broadside. The engagement with the
two forts within range, lasted an hour and three quarters,
by which time the forts were silenced, but the sloop con-
tinued her fire half an hour longer, until 230 shot and
shell had been thrown into the forts. The resistance, it
will thus be seen, was of I he most determined kind, but
their firing could not have been equal to that upon the
Barracouta the other day by French Folly and the
twenty-three war junks, which were silenced in thirty-
five minutes, y:'.; not until the steamer had
been struck by shot in fifty places, one man
killed and three wounded ; whereas, after nearly two
hours' engagement, the Portsmouth bad only a dozen
shots in her, and one man mortally wounded. The firing
on the part of the Americans !asted until dark, and it
not being deemed prudent to land a force in the night,
the storming of the forts was delayed until morning,
when the Commodore, considering his force inadequate,
determined to recall his men from Canton, and wait
their arrival. The ships lay quiet the whole day, the
Chinese making as great a display as possible, both
inside and outside the forts, six guns being actually
placed in position under the walls, flags waving, &c.
The Commodore left the vessels at noon, and proceeded
on board the San Jacinto at Whampoa, where he met
Dr. Parker, the U.S. Commissioner, after a consulta-
tion with whom, he wrote a letter to the imperial com-
missioner, demanding satisfaction within 24 hours—a
most extraordinary proceeding, it seems to us, at such
a moment. The men from Canton had meanwhile
arrived, but orders had of course been issued to suspend
operations to the intense disappointment and disgust of
every man on board the squadron, from the commanders
downwards. The letter reached Canton on Tuesday
morning, and had then to be translated, so that it
would nut reach its destination till yesterday morning.
Yeh will of course give explanation enough to satisfy
Dr. Parker—and there the matter will rest. The feel-
ings of the Americans on the subject may be judged of
by Honesty's letter, subjoined ; and we have only to
say theat, in our opinion, the attack having been once
commenced, the forts should have been taken, even if
they were not destroyed ; that thus the Chinese might
not have had it in their power to boast, as they are cer-
tain to do, that the ships did make
,the attempt, and
failed.

" The pluck displayed by the Chinese on this occasion
may in some measure be accounted for, if the rumour
mentioned in the accompanying letter from Whampton
be true, of white men being engaged along with the
Chinese in the fort. The forts them-elves are said to be
manned by junk-men under the command of Shap-'ng-
tsai's, lieutenant, and a gunner, a deserter from the
Salamander, is reported to be with him. That seamen
are being engaged for service by Chinese is certain ; and
if for the rebels, why not for the imperialists ? There
are hundreds of idle scoundrels in Hong Kong at present
ripe for anything. , Our correspondent speaks of the
pirates on the river sometimes disguising themselves in
European clothes. A closer examination would perhaps
show them to be Europeans in reality, and not merely
in appearance:—
" Nothing has been heard here to the present time
(18th, 5 P.m.) of the doings of the Levant and Ports-
mouth, which went up on Sunday to take the Barrier
Forts. It is said the delay was caused by one of them
taking the ground on Sunday evening, and that further
delay takes place on account of the Chinese being better
prepared to receive them than was expected. It is re-
ported by Chinese that the forts re-occupied are now far
better manned and armed than over they were, and some
affirm there are white men amongst them. When the
Barrier Forts were first taken, I was told by an officer
then present that one white man was seen running away
along with Chinese.
"'The river is much infested with pirates now, and
about thirty boats are prowling between this and the
Bogue, some flying ayellow fig with Chinese characters
on it. They are small pilot boats, and boats similar to
such as used to run as Murrow's post-boats, with white
sails ; and the crews sometimes dirge' se themselves by
wearing European hats or other clothing. The Chinese
inhabitants say (apparently with truth) that they are all
fitted out from Hong Kong.
" • The master of a British merchant ship, returning
from Blenheim Reach on Sunday evening, at about 8
o'clock, was attacked by a long piratical boat containing
about twenty men. He attempted to fire on them, but
his musket missed • and before he had time to re-cap he
al
found himself with a rather uncomfortable-looking
three-pronged pike at his breast and another at his back,
silently intimating that he had better remain quiet and
allow the thieves to strip him—which they very speedily
did of his watch and chain and other articles. This
occurred within pistol-shot of the Sybille.'
" We must now proceed to give a brief account of
Admiral Seymour's proceedings, so far as we have
gathered them.
" After the capture of the Bogue forts, the Calcutta
and Nankin remained behind for the purpose of blowing
them up—no easy job ; and the fort at Ty-cock-tcw
having fired upon the Hornet, Captain Stewart took
possession of it on the 16th, after driving out the Chinese,
and spiked its 65 gene.
" On Saturday, early in the morning, the steamers
wore annoyed by a number of long pull-away war-junks,
which came out of the narrow creeks, fired, and retired.
The boats chased them, but returned unsuccessful. The
Sa-meen fort also fired upon the steamers, and several
shot reached as far down as opposite the actorie-i, but
without doing any damage. A body of artillery was
sent to destroy the fort, and the party having been
molested by some of the enemy's sharp-shooters, the
Samson sent a few shells among the houses, which
dislodgtd them. One shell went right through the
roof of Dr. Hobson's Hospital, and must have done
much damage, al the building is known to have been
filled with " braves" at the time, and a hideous yell
issued from it immediately after the explosion. The
business was completed in the evening, when the trains
'were fired, and tour mines which bad been sunk exploded.
During the night, one of the Nankin'e boats astern
of
the Barracouta was towed under water, and two poor
fellows drowned.
"Capt. Cowper of the Royal Engineers has been busily
engaged in arrangements for the defence of the Factories.
Chains, it is said, are to be sent up in the Barracouta, in.
tended to be stretched across the river as a defence
against fire rafts. The Barracouta will also take up four
officers and 100 men of the 59th Regiment, to replace the
Americans, withdrawn, and relieve tho Winchester's crew,

who are to return to Hongkong. Dutch Folly, in addition
to the Sybille's 68-pounders, is armed with the Samson's
92-cwt. gun, and garrisoned by the Sybille's men under
Lieuts. Dent and Nares, Mr. Hudson, mate, and Messrs.
Jackson, Brice, and De Beigh (midshipmen.) French
Folly is still in the bands of the et i iese, strongly manned,
and heavily armed. The Calcutta aid Nankin are en-
gaged in the destruction of the Bogue Foit4, the Sam-
son and Comus are at the Barrier in the Macao passage ;
the Coromandel off the lower Sa-meen fort ; the Niger
and Hornet nbremt of the Factories, with two junks
anchored ahead, a boom being carried from the junks to
the shore, leaving a very large passage for the boats,
which must bear a pass from the British Consulate,
and have the British flag flying. The Barracouta leaves
this to-night, or early to-morrow, with men and am-
munition. Yesterday, while a cargo-boat was load-
ing with gunpowder, &c., at the Ordnance Wharf,
two lads strolled down with baskets filled with
chips of wood, with the intention, apparently,
of emptying them into the sea, instead of which they
suddenly set them on fire, and threw theta into the
boat ; and the sentries were so astonished that they
allowed them both to escape. The gunpowder being in
tins, no damage was done ; but the very act itself
shows there is more daring in Chinese than foreigners
are inclined to give them credit for.
" P.S.--We have just heard that replies from Yeh
were received yesterday afternoon, to despatches from
Sir John Bowring and Dr. Parker, but their contents
had not transpired. A party of braves' made their
appearance yesterday at the barricade near Acow's
Hotel, beating gongs, waving flags, and shouting va-
liantly. The guard was turned out, but the enemy
bad retired—frightened, probably, at the sight of the
Winchester's field-piece."

TO THE EDITOR OF THE " CHINA MAIL."

Canton, 19th November, 1856.
Sir,—On Saturday the 16th instant the first cutter of
the U.S, ship Portsmouth, containing Captain Foote
and others, was proceeding from Whampoa to Canton,
when she was fired upon from the Barrier Forts. It
was half-past 4 in the afternoon when this occurred ; the
American flag was in a position that does away with all
chance of a plea of mistaking it, while no less than two
round shot, and three charges of grape after the round
shot, were fired into the boat by the Chinese "braves !"
At the first discharge of grape, the boat was turned
for the ships, where she arrived at 6 o'clock, and after
an hour Commodore Armstrong decided upon taking
possession of the two forts, and then advising the Go-
, vernor of Canton of what had occurred. The insult
having been avenged, the " property " might then have
been returned to the rightful owner, or retained, accord ;
ing as the reply from Governor Yeh might indicate a
wish for war or peace with the Americans.
Who can doubt that the result would have been peace,
and that on return of the forts, the American flag might
pass in a Thames wherry without danger ?
However, we will follow the matter, and learn how
valuable is the assistance of able advisers, particularly
where they have a strong spice of the Anti-Imperial-in-
favour-of-piratical-" Rebelism !
At daylight on Sunday, the San Jacinto's cutter com•
tnenced sounding the river from Whampoa tu the Barrier,
which was accomplished after the loss of a man from a
shot while throwing the lead. At 4 p.m., 24 hours after
the Portsmouth's boat had been fired into, that ship
and the Levant were nearly in position to open fire.
With only water enough to float the Portsmouth, she
was towed up to her berth by the Williamette, in the
most gallant style on Captain Curry's part, who was
for many minutes in the midst of a hot fire from the
forts, which had opened long before the ship was near
enough to suit Captain Foote. After the steamer bad
been ordered to " cast off and take care of herself," Capt.
Foote dropped with the flood for five minutes, till with
in 450 yards' distance of the nearest fort (the large
one at the right end of the barrier), having been then
under heavy fire some time. " Starboard"—" Let go
anchor"—" Haul in spring"—" Fire 1" came in quick
succession, and to cut my story short, the ship fired
220 8-inch shells in the following two hours and fifteen
minutes.
All were well placed at their nearest neighbour, and
at the round fort on the left, some 1,500 yards distant.
At dark, firing ceased, the forts keeping it up till 15
minutes before the ship stopped, and giving a sample
of what is in store at the French Folly at this time !
The two forts are said to be filled with English guns
and junk-men crews, and certainly we have never seen
anything in the way of Chinese gunnery before to
equal them.
During this time the Levant was aground, out of fire,
and could not take part in the action. The Portsmouth
was hulled three times, one marine mortally wounded,
and her rigging badly cut.
After the fire it was not deemed prudent to send away
boats from the ship, as the latter required their whole
crews to take care of them in the position they held,
and having no steam to move down with. On Mon-
day morning the Cum Fu embarked the balance of men
from Canton, for the purpose of manning boats and
taking possession ; but, that day, before they had ar-
rived from Canton, arrived the mighty doctor Peter
Parker (that extraordinary compound, as a worthy
member of our community dubbed him—semi-clerico,
semi-politico, semi-medico, semi—. N.B.—lt was
only want of fire-wood that saved his effigy last night
from throwing more light on this community than the
original ever succeeded in doing, on board the San
Jacinto, and cunningly detecting the peaceful promised
end of a matter thet he felt would deprive his rebel
friends of an ally in the Americans. What does he do ?
Stops all proceedings at a point where the Chinese are
sure they have whipped the Americans—(as far from the
truth as it is !)—and writes a despatch calling on Yeh
to beg pardon in twenty-four hours