The Sun.
London, England, 1861-06-17 00:00:00

the whole, however, we had no reason to complain
of the conduct of the people ; the race of gamins is
much the same all the world over.

A three days' ramble through Pekin, or at least
those part accessible to foreigners (against whom
the official quarter is hermetically closed), showed
me little to admire, if I except the Wall and one
lovely view called Pay-hay, formed of a picturesque
group of templesi embosomed in trees, on the bor-
ders of an ornamental piece of water. Dirt, ruin,
and bad smells reign supreme in the capital of the
" Lord of Ten Thousand Years."

On expressing my intention of visiting the Great
Wall, the nearest part of which is about 50 miles
from Pekin, in an almost due northerly direction, I
was of course told of the many insuperable obsta-
cles to be overcome, the risk of falling into the hands
of the rebels, of being attacked by robbers, and,
more perilous than all, of meeting the Emperor on
his entry into the capital ; but old travellers in the
East are accustomed to these auguries, and I started,
together with Mr. Dick, confident that bad roads
and rough fare would prove our worst enemies.
Passing out of the Antin Gate (through which our
army made its entry), we made a detour of a mile
or two to visit the Russian cemetery, where a hideous
stone monument, bearing the following inscription,
has been erected to the memory of our poor mur-
' dered countrymen :
" Sacred to the memory of Captain L. B. Bra-
bazon, R.A. ; Lieutenant R. B. Anderson, Fane's
Horse ; Private S. Phibbs, Ist Dragoon Guards ;
W. de Norman, Esq., Attache to H. M. Lega-
tion ; T. H. Bowlby, Esq., and eight Sikh sol-
diers • who, treacherously seized in violation of a
flag of truce on 10th September, 1860, sank under
the inhuman treatment to which they were sub-
jected by the Chinese Government during their
captivity."
No Englishman can stand before that stone and
think of the terrible tortures inflicted upon those
brave men, to most of whom death so slowly brought
relief, without feeling that the most treacherous
and foul murders ever committed under the sanction
of a Government have been but inadequately
avenged, and that the destruction of a miserable
palace and the exaction of a few thousand pounds
are but poor compensation for suph.livcs as have
been lost to the country. That the authors and
perpetrators of outrages the full extent of which
has never yet been divulged are known, and might
have been brought to justice, admits of no doubt.
The cowardly murderer of poor Brabazon lives, and
holds at this moment a high command under his
Imperial master; but not one has been brought to
justice, although to have hanged such wretches
from the highest turret of the walls of Pekin would
have done more towards teaching the Chinese Go-
vernment humanity than all the treaties that could
be concluded or all the sermons that missionaries
can preach.
An old Chinaman, a devout Christian (if crossing
oneself frequently be a proof of faith), is the guar-
dian of the cemetery. He pointed out the order in
which the bodies of Anderson, DeNorman, Bowlby,
and Phibbs lie buried (that of Brabazon has not
been traced yet) ; but there is nothing to dis-
tinguish the different graves, or, indeed, to show
that human remains lie beneath the sandy soil
upon which you stand.*
Passing the Llama temple, which an inscription
in chalk tells us served as Military Train stables
during the occupation, and which bears terrible
marks of the spoiler's hand, we proceeded on our
route through a sterile tract of country, and reach-
ing the village of Harei-lung-koun at night, slept
at a small inn, in company with some 20 or 30
cutthroat-looking Mongolian soldiers on their way
to fight the rebels.

Another day's journey brought us to Chataou—a
hamlet at the foot of the Great Wall. The road for
the last 15 miles had been so bad that we were
obliged to leave our horses at Nankan, hiring in
their place Tartar ponies. Nothing less sure-footed
than these shaggy, hardy, little beasts could have
carried us through those rugged mountain paths,
which we would have done on foot but that one
mile's march over the sharp rock which forms the
pavement would have left us shoeless.
At daybreak on thefollowing morning we climbed
the highest peak of the mountain range, and there,
standing on the top of the Great Wall, reflected upon
the stupendous folly of this wonderful work of human
industry, which is said to have cost the country
200,000 lives from sheer physical exhaustion. The
Wall, which is built of stone and brick, is 20 feet
me. and ID fcct, Lroad, surmounted by a double
parapet, loopholed on the north side. As far as the
eye can follow the mountain range it winds over
the ridges of the precipitous black rocks like a
gigantic serpent crawling along, and with its breath
poisoning all around ; for turn where you will,
nothing meets the view but the desolate, dreary tract
of rock, unrelieved by a blade of grass or a tuft of
moss, and huge boulders strewing the base of the
mountain sides. It was the whim of a tyrant to
build L'a wall where Nature had already built a
barrier far more effectual than anything that human
art could construct. However, there it remains, after
a lapse of nearly 2,000 years—a monument of the
cruel folly of one man, and the patient industry and
sufferings of many thousands.

Having made an abortive attempt at a sketch,
and tried in vain to discover one redeeming feature
in this vast scene of desolation, I secured my brick,
and, descending to the pass, remounted to proceed
homewards. Our guide could hardly believe his
senses—certainly he doubted ours. When at Nan-
kin mine host inquired what we were going to the
Great Wall for. Our honest answer met with no
credit. Were there not walls elsewhere ? Was
not the Wall of Pekin much better worth looking
at ? And then, as for shooting, why come so far
for game when it could be bought in the market,
at our very doors? His impression evidently
was that we had some sinister project in view ;
but when we returned with the brick the good
man simply burst out laughing, and set us down for
a couple of harmless maniacs.

Before entering Pekin I determined to pay a visit
to the renowned Summei. Palace, and, meeting
with no obstruction, found my way through the
outer enclosure into the midst of the ruins of
Yuen-ming-yuen. The work of destruction seems
to have been tolerably complete, and not the least
effort has been made to restore grounds or build-
ings ; shells of grotesque houses and pagodas, heaps
of ruins and cinders, charred beams, and trees with
their drooping branches singed to death, met you at
every turn, though I did here and there discover a
building that appeared to have escaped detection,
or, perhaps, was gutted without having been after-
wards fired. At one of the principal gates, too, two
monstrous bronze lions, valued at £5,000 each,
remain intact upon their massive pedestals. Cer-
tainly it would have required the greater part of
the transport of the army to carry them away.
I suppose I ought to have felt indignant at seeing
the ruin we have made of a very fair scene, but I
confess I did not. The poor harmless villager,
whose wretched hut was burnt over his head, had
exhausted all my sympathies. I thought of the
graves in the Russian cemetery, and felt disposed
to regret only that the Emperor and his courtiers
had not been present to witness the looting of the
Palace.

On pursuing my researches, I was stopped at an
inner gate by some Eurochoz soldiers, and while
parleying a Mandarin, numerously attended,
emerged from the interior, and requested me to
retire, as my remaining, or penetrating further,
might cost him his place, if not his head. He was
perfectly polite, and so was I, and of course I
obeyed orders, and rode away.
On approaching our Legation in Pekin, I saw the
tricolour flying over a wall immediately opposite,
the French Minister having that day made his
entry, and on the following morning Mr. Bruce
arrived. it is to be hoped that our colours have
by this time been hoisted, although I heard a very
accomplished and experienced member of the Lega-
tion express his hope that Mr. Bruce would not
i
hurting the feelirgs of the poor dear Chinese
officials by flying his national flag in Pekin. We
chliconh
have far more to fear, while dealing with the most
tr falseuekalinndg corrupt
their
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than i in
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.ertam to pursue.

Since this was written I learn that Mr. Bruce has
cattsedOtirkds to b erected over the diacKellt graves