The Sun.
London, England, 1859-09-14 00:00:00

THE DISASTER IN CHINA.

HONGKONG, JULY 22.
Intelligence from the north is of the most disas-
trous nature, our forces having been repulsed at the
entrance of the Peiho with very severe loss. Mr.
Bruce arrived off the Peiho on the 18th .of June,
and sought communication with the authorities on
shore. No officers of rank were found, but some
messages were interchanged between some petty
Mandarins and Mr. Bruce's suite. The tenour of
these was, that the foreign Ministers would be al-
lowed to proceed to Pekin by a passage to the north-
ward, but that no man-of-war would be allowed to
enter the Peiho. They disclaimed acting under Im-
perial orders, stating that the forts and barriers
were constructed by the country people to protect
them against pirates. Failing to obtain any satis-
factory intercourse, Mr. Bruce handed the matter
over to Admiral Hope, who, on the 25th of June,
proceeded to force a passage.
The result is given in the encloseilextracts from
the North China. Herald of the 9th and 14th inst :
" Her Majesty's ship —, off the Peiho, July 1.
" On the 25th of June, the negotiations with the
Chinese having come to nothing but a put off to
gain time, the Admiral with his flag flying in the
Plover, followed by the gunboats Lee, Nimrod, Cor-
morant, Opossum, Banterer, Starling, Forester,
Kestrel, Janus, and Haughty, proceeded to take up
a position off the Peiho forts, ready to attack in case
the Chinese should offer any resistance to clearing
away the barriers. At 2 p.m., the stations having
been pretty well obtained (with the exception of
the Starling and Banterer, which were on shore—
the former on the south and the latter on the north
bank), the Plover and Opossum weighed ; the latter
proceeded to clear away a passage through the iron
stakes which composed the first obstruction. Two of
these having been drawn, the Plover, followed by the
Opossum, passed through them, and also the second
boom, which had been destroyed by the flag captain
on the previous night. On arriving at the second
she attempted, together with the Opossum, to break
through it, but without effect. Almost immediately
a single gun was fired at her, and directly all the
masks were rolled up and a tremendous fire was
opened on the squadron, and the action became ge-
neral. The Lee, by signal from the Plover, passed
through the stakes to the support of the Admiral.
The Plover and the Opossum were, however, soon
obliged to slip, the fire being too heavy for them,
and, followed by the Lee, dropped clear of the
stakes at 3.15. The gunboat Plover suffered very
much in killed and wounded. An officer was sent
to the reserve to order up reinforcements, but the
tide was too strong for the boats to attempt to pull
up. The American flag officer very kindly offered
to tow the boats up to a position to enable them to
reach the gunboats. At 4.30 the enemy's fire was
slackened considerably, orders wore sent down to
the reserve, for Marine and Naval Brigades to pre-
pare to land, and the Forester and the Opossum,
together with the Toeywan, proceeded and towed
them to the Nimrod, the place of rendezvous. At
an early period of the action the Admiral had been
wounded on board the Plover• by a splinter in the
thigh, and that vessel was almost entirely disabled.
He shifted his flag to the Opossum. When there
he took his station on the caboose, and thence issued
his orders, until a round shot cut the mainstay on
which he was leaning and caused him to fall to the
deck, a height of some eight feet, breaking a rib
and severely shaking him. After a short time he
left the Opossum in the Du Chayla's gig, and pro-
ceeded to the Cormorant, where he remained. At
5.45 the boats, having assembled alongside the Num-
' rod, pushed for the shore as near the stakes as pos-
sible and opposite to the left bastion, about 600
yards distant from it. The landing here was com-
posed of mud about knee deep, and the greatest
difficulty was experienced in getting up the scaling
ladders and bridges. The Marines and Naval Bri-
gade, a small portion of which had only just landed,
pushed to the front under a very heavy fire from 6
guns in flank and in front. The fire from the walls
of gingalls, rifles, and arrows was also very heavy.
" No check had hitherto taken place, but here a
ditch, five feet deep and ten broad, occurred, and
the men, having no choice, plunged across, and
thereby wetted their ammunition. A party of some
50 officers aid men again pushed on and crossed
another wet ditch, which took them within 20 yards
of the wall. In the meantime Capts. Shadwell and
Van sittart, as also Col. Leman, having been wounded,
the command devolved on Commodore Commerell
and Major Parke. It was now about 9 o'clock, and
darkness had set in. The position of the landing
party was most precarious ; 50 officers and men
alone remained in the first ditch, and about 150 in
the second. Many had been killed and wounded,
and, with the exception of a small body 150 yards
further back, no reinforcements appeared to be of-

fering, and the men already at the front were per-
fectly exhausted, and without dry ammunition or
rifles fit to use. The officers in vain encouraged the
men to charge to the walls, but it was ineffectual ;
the men were few and done up, and even if they
had not been they never could have carried them
against the thousands that lined the walls. Under
these circumstances the commanding officer des-
patched an officer to the rear to ask for instructions
and the senior officer sent him back immediately
with orders for the force to withdraw, as no rein-
forcements could be sent. Directly this order was

received the wounded were despatched to the rear
by twos and threes, and two hours having been
given them to get to the boats, the small advanced
partyretreated in good order from ditch to ditch,
examining the ground in their retreat for any
wounded that might have been overlooked. Many
poor fellows, alas ! in the retreat fell to rise no
more, but the wounded were saved and brought off.
"In the meantime the boats of the squadron
under Capt. Willes employed themselves in embark-
ing the wounded and landing party, and at 1 o'clock
or a little after they were all off. The gunboats did
their duty ably, and covered the landing party up
to the latest moment it was prudent to fire, and shortly
after, as a testimony of their hard-fought day, the
Lee and Kestrelsunk, and the Haughty just managed
tokeep herself afloat till the morning, when she went
down, but fortunately out of range. At 3 a.m.
the Cormorant, with the Admiral on board and full
of wounded, was so fast aground that it was consi•
dered necessary to leave her, as she was right under
the batteries, and at daylight the enemy would
doubtless concentrate their fire on her, whereas, if
she were temporarily abandoned it was hoped the
enemy would cease firing on her, and the next night
we should be able to get her off. For the same rea-
sons the Plover and Starling, both immoveably
aground, were cleared of their crews. The morning
of the 26th showed our squadron in sad condition,
hardly a gunboat but was disabled. However, dur-
ing the day the carpenters of the squadron were
employed patching them up temporarily, and the
Starling having floated, her second master pro-
ceeded in a dingy and cut her cable, hen she
drifted out of range with the ebb. Two night at-
tempts were made by Capt. Willes to recover Cor-
morant and Plover, but without success. The Cor-
morant's ship's company having remained till 11
a.m. to endeavour to float her, a most terrific fire
was opened upon her from batteries both north and
south, and it soon became evident she was sinking.
Orders were therefore sent down to Commander
Wodehouse ordering him to abandon her if he had
no hopes. Her ship's company and officers were
embarked accordingly, but not before the water was
up to her lower deck, and half-an-hour afterwards
she went down head foremost. The same night
fresh attempts were made on the Plover, but it was
found impracticable, as she was full of water, and
gave no hope of her being able to float. At daylight
the Kestrel, sunk on the 25th under the batteries,
was observed drifting out, and, having been towed
by the Janus into shoal water, was eventually reco-
vered. During that day the enemy got on board
the Plover over the mud, and saved us the trouble
of destroying her by setting her on fire themselves,
but not before a great portion of her stores had been
recovered.
" The next two or three days the boats of the
Chesapeake were employed destroying the aban-
doned vessels as much as possible.
" I have no time to add more, as I hear a vessel is
going to Shanghai. Pray let me hear from y.O as
soon as possible. We shall in all probability re-
main in the gulf till nearly the last.

" Iler Majesty's ship -, off the Peiho,
July 3.

" The whole of the squadron had assembled off
the Peiho by the 18th of June, and preparations
were immediately made in case warlike measures
should be necessary, we in the squadron, however,
never dreaming that the Chinese would be so mad
as to resist. Several letters and messages passed
between Mr. Bruce and the Mandarins, the purport
of which will never be known until they are pub-
lished in the English papers, but the question at
issue seemed in the end to have resolved itself into
this :—The Mandarins said that Mr. Bruce would
be received at Pekin by going some round-about
way, but that the river was blocked up by barriers,
and no man-of-war would be allowed to pass. Mr.
Bruce, on the other hand, was determined that he
would go by the river, and force the passage if ne-
cessary. Of course the matter now fell into the
Ad-
miral's hands, and warlike operations immediately
commenced. On the 24th the whole of the Naval and
Marine Brigades, with the French frigate Du Chayla,
were towed in over the bar and put on board some
junks which had been detained for the purpose out of
gunshot of the forts. The remainder of this day
was spent in making the final preparation for an