The Sun.
London, England, 1861-01-14 00:00:00

TBE PEACE OF PEKIN.

(From a Correspondent of the Times.)
PEKIN, Nov. 7.
Since my last date everything has been going
ox most smoothly. The treaty has been signed by
the Emperor, and is being printed in Chinese for
distribution over the empire. The way of printing
it is very peculiar. It is first written on thin paper,
which is pasted on a board about four feet square,
then all the paper, and a film of the board are cut

away, leaving the letters standing in a low bas-
relief ; then two tables, the size of the board, are
placed about a foot apart ; on one is the paper to
be printed on, eight feet by four ; half of it is
heavily weighted to prevent its moving ; the other
half is doubled over on the first ; the board is fixed
on the second table, two men stand opposite each
other, wet the type with Indian ink, and then,
taking each a corner of a sheet of paper, stretch it
from the first table over the type, and let it fall
upon them, rub the sheet over with a rather hard
flat brush, and it receives the impression ; the sheet
is then lifted by the corners again, and let fall be-
tween the two tables.
The allied forces are leaving as fast as possible.
The last will be on their march to the Taku Forts
or Tien-tsin on the 9th or 10th. The French left
on the Ist, to embark for Cochin China and Mada-
gascar. I have heard it is intended these troops
are never to return to France, the expense being
too great, but they will be expended at the two
abovenamed places. Before they left the French
Roman Catholic missionary bishops were pre-
sented to Prince Kung with great pomp. On
the 2d the English troops which were encamped
and quartered in he villages about three miles
from Pekin were concentrated round the gate we
hold, it being thought they were too much scat-
tered with an army of 30,000 Tartars so close to
them. This army is the Emperor's guard, and
when he made it known that he intended to retreat
with it 30 miles to the west of the city his council
addressed a memorial to him, which was found in
the Summer Palace, stating " that they all had the
profoundest reverence for the skill which prompted
such a measure, but to their weak minds it occurred
it would be better if he left the city to march east-
ward, and assist San-ko-lin-sin ; they also begged to
remind him of the important and significant fact
that every one of his august ancestors who had
taken the same step had never returned at all, or
were brought back as prisoners." He went, how-
ever, and these troops are in trenched between him
and Pekin. He is about 30 miles away in the
mountains, ready for a start into Tartary at a
moment's notice. His brother, Prince Kung, said
to be the most intelligent of the Imperial family,
paid a friendly visit to Lord Elgin at the Embassy
on the 3d. He came in a sedan chair, and was
accompanied by a host of every variety of the genus
Mandarin on foot and horseback, their grades being
known by the peacock's feather or different
coloured balls on the crown of their caps ; first
comes the feather, then the red ball, then the blue,
and, lowest of all, the white one. It struck me
forcibly at the time that at least two-thirds of their
number were more or less marked with the small-
pox. Some, according to Chinese notions of male
beauty, must be considered very handsome, for they
were enormously fat; others were haggard, thin,
sharp-featured, and waxen-looking, opium-smoking
being written on their features.
Prince Kung appears to be about 31 or 32 years
old ; he is rather short, and would be handsome in
the face if the mouth and chin did not spoil the
other features, as they do all high born Tartars, by
making them look sheepish. He was dressed in a
puce-coloured satin robe, with the Imperial dragon
coiled in a circle about a foot in diameter, and em-
broidered in gold on his breast, shoulders, and
back. He wore a common Chinese cap, with-
out any ornament. lie remained over two hours,
and during the conversation after lunch said " that
until our visit this year they did not know that
India was merely a province of the British Em-
pire ; they formerly believed Great Britain to be
a very small island, the population of which was
so large more than half were obliged to live in
ships." He was received with great ceremony, the
Royals and Dragoon Guards lining the entrance
and courts of the Embassy, and th full band of
the 67th playing during his stay, with which he
was much pleased ; so were the Mandarins, for
they listened to it like children. Lord Elgin re-
turned his visit next day, and afterwards dined
with the Russian Minister. After the treaty was
signed permission was given for any one from the
fleet, or the stations on the road to visit Pekin, or,
as it is correctly pronounced, " Pechin." Great
numbers took advantage of the opportunity, and I
dare say go back pleased with being able to say
they have been here, but very disappointed with
what they expected to see, for Pekin is, without
any exception, the most contemptible city to a
stranger I ever saw; it is built upon a perfectly
level plain of mud, so that there is no drainage,
the Peiho, into which it might be turned, being
14 miles distant, and so sluggish in its current it
would not carry what was thrown into it away.
There are no latrines or any receptacles for filth
the public and crowded streets supplying all de-
mands without regard to decency. Two or three
of these are as broad as Regent or Oxford street,
but the majority of them are very narrow. In the
broad ones a mud cartway runs up the centre with
a ditch of stagnant stinking water on either side,
then comes a deep pathway, on which itinerant
vendors of everything, more particularly of old
clothes, mended shoes, travelling " old curiosity
shops," and the man who has "killed his pig," and
brings it to market, erect their stalls, or spread
their wares on the ground. Here you may have
your dinner from a portable cooking shop,
selecting your luxuries from puppy dogs, cats,
or other suspicions-looking things which
no one but a Chinaman has any name for in the
larder vocabulary. Here the barbet with his shop
on his shoulder stops, makes room for himself;
tinkles a little bell, and soon has several heads to
shave and. tails to replait. Here is a blind fellow
playing a full band of instruments, consisting of
cymbals, flutes, fiddles, bells, and drums, altogether
with his arms and legs ; a little further on you
come upon two or three boys yelling forth Chinese
songs like our own folk at home, and selling little
books of them, no doubt, at " three yards a penny,"
and here, and we stopped to see him, his invitee
tion to do so was so polite, we came upon a juggler,
a ma-i whom had Barnum once seen he would have
been bought up on the spot and carried to Eng-
land or America to astonish you at home, as he
certainly did us. As soon as he had cleared a circle
with the old " string and balls" he spread the con-
' tents of his wallet on the ground, and stripped him-
self to the waist. He was a poor thin fellow who
seemed to suffer from the effects of the tricks he
performed. He first of all spoke for about five
minutes with all the volubility of Charles Mathews,
evidently saying something witty, for the people
round laughed heartily. In the middle of this
harangue, however, he was seized with a fit of
choking, and after an effort of trying to get some-
thing out of his throat drew forth a little slip of
bamboo, like a Lisbon toothpick, then another and
another, then he sneezed, and out they came from
his nostrils, then from his eyes, until he completed
the number of 37, by making one appear half-way
out of each orifice at the same time, and then threw
the lot on the ground for any one to examine. He
next took three glass balls, about an inch in
diameter, and, placing them singly between his
lips, sucked them into his mouth and swallowed
first a red one, then a blue, and last of all a white
one; here was a little interlude of toothpicks and
talking, after which he walked gravely round the
ring, stopping four times; each time he gave him-
self a shake and a jump, when the balls were dis-
tinctly heard to jingle inside him. On completing his
round, after several efforts, he spat the balls out on
the ground in the same order he had swallowed
them, the red first, the white last. He then took
two more balls, onaenodf
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let fall on the ground to show
they were solid, then, placing them between his
lips, swallowed them like the smaller ones, butwith
difficulty, the ball swelling the throat as it went
down; here more toothpicks and talking, while he
prepared two swords, about an inch wide and 20
long, very like polished hoop-iron, clashed them to-
gether to show they were real, and passed both
down his throat at once, until they struck the balls
with an audible click; withdrawing these, he placed
his hands behind him, and arter several apparently
painful trials each ball rose in the throat, and fell
from his mouth to the ground with a heavy thump.
Other tricks he did, only suited to a Chinese
audience, which I cannot tell you of; but after his
exertions he appeared quite satisfied with the trifle
each threw him. The shops on either side the street
are only one story high, and, amid all the mud and
filth, are made as gaudy as gilt and the primitive
colours can make them. They have no windows,
the only light being given by the door, which in
windy weather is close by a curtain of matting to
keep out the dust, which, by the w ay, is very peen.
liar. Outside the city it is common brown mud,
but inside the walls the ground is black like pow-
dered coal, and on hot, windy days blows about in
clouds. The day the treaty was signed the whole of
the Embassy, and those who accompanied Lord El-