The Sun.
London, England, 1859-11-10 00:00:00

THE AMERICANS IN PESIN.

We have been favoured with the following very
interesting letters, describing the progress of the
United States' mission to Pekin. It is important
to observe how strongly they insist upon the neces-
sity of reparation being exacted for the late out-
rage on the Peiho

PEKIN, AUG. 10.
We have reached this capital of the East, and
are about to depart from it, after long delays and
many vicissitudes. Nor can we sum the results of
•ur tour in the triumphant bon snot of Caesar,
6' Veni, vidi, vici 1" for, though we took part in a
battle, as you have heard, our party was not victo-
rious ; and though we have made a long and tedious
journey, we have experienced much, but seen little.
The veal is, therefore, all that remains of the for-
mulary, and we wait with some anxiety to supple-
ment it with redivi.

After the unfortunate battle our Minister, feel-
ing bpund if possible still to preserve neutrality,
and to carry out the objects of his mission, entered
into correspondence with the Viceroy of this pro-
vince. The result was an invitation to an inter-
view on the Bth of J uly. He was received wiih all the
tawdry magnificence so characteristic of China, and.
the Viceroy, at his request, memorialised the Em-
peror to allow him to proceed to Pekin. The Im-
perial consent obtained, we set out for the capital
by land on the 20th of July.
Our own cortege consisted of twenty-five vehicles,
each drawn by two mules, and we were accom-
panied by a numerous escort of Chinese, civil and
military. The highest of the former was (excuse
the Hibernianism) a Manchu of the grade of Salt
Commissioner, a gentleman of great affability and
high polish. The leader of the military was s
colonel, decorated with a red button, and a Maho-
medan in faith. All the arrangements for oar
accommodation were made on a very expensive
scale, and secured us as much comfort as the
country could afford. And as to honour, the
array of buttoned and feathered officials who ac-
companied us by the way, and the new ones who
met us at every stage, wat enough to satisfy
the most fastidious as to the distinction with
which the first American Embassy was greeted.
The Viceroy had welcomed our Minister on the Bth,
and now, on the 20th, he was entertained at his
stopping place by the Treasurer, or Poo-tsing-sze'
the next provincial in authority ; and at each suc-
cessive stage the local grandees came in swarms to
tender whatever theirjurisdiction could afford.
After two days of weary travel through barren
heaths, we struck the Peiho, above Tien-tsing, and
proceeded thence to Tung-chow in boats. To track
up a distance of 360 le against a rapid current re-
quired no less than five days, but the voyage was
the reverse of tedious, for though the scenery wag
neither enlivened by opulent cities nor emboldened
by lofty mountains, it unfolded at every turn of
the many winding stream a new and pleasing land-
scape—

" E'en on a plain no humble beauties lie,
Where some bold river breaks the long expanse,
And woods along the-banks are waving high,
Whose shadows in the glassy waters dance,
Or, with the moonbeam, sleep in midnight's solemn
trams."

We entered Pekin on the 27th ult. with our escort
of cavalry largely augmented, and affording (not
me, but brilliant escort) a spectacle to not less than
100,000 of the citizens. Among these some myriads
were large-footed Tartar women, who appear to be
free from the restraints imposed on their sex by
the Chinese.

Thus far our journey was an ovation. But we
found it was to end in a quasi imprisonment, for
that extreme Oriental jealousy which so long con-
fined the English to the suburbs of Canton and the
Dutch to the island of Dezima still reigns supreme
in this metropolis. Thus, when we were snugly
installed in the Hotel of the United States Lega-
tion, we soon found that for the interim we were
in a prison. A host of officials stood ready to obey
our wishes, and of all things that we desired but
one was withheld--liberty of locomotion. Assured
that we should be allowed to perambulate the
streets, and see the lions of the capital as soon as
our business should be settled, we were not per-
mitted to go far from the door of our lodging
place. We were not even suffered to exchange
visits with the Russian Embassy ; and Chinese
diplomacy has played its game so well that, though
our Minister early fixed his own day for departure,
they have protracted the business up to the present
hour, and we are to leave to-morrow morning.
But, you will ask, what business ? That which
we proposed was simply to deliver a letter of the
President and exchange our treaty. But the Chinese
Ministers said they had orders to bring us into the
presence of the " Son of Heaven." Of course they
expected us to conform to the " rites"—excepting
that, in honour of American independence, they
would exact but one kneeling, and three" kotows,
or prostrations—one-third of that required from
tributary nations. This was out of the question,
and his Imperial Majesty finally consented to re-
ceive our Minister according to our own etiquette,
his Officers signing a paper to that effect, but exact-
ing a private compliance, so far as kneeling on one
knee. To this condition Mr. Ward returned a nega-
tive, and our visions of the place all vanished. The
Emperor was disappointed, and even somewhat in-
censed, but he has become pacified, ratified our
treaty, and received the President's letter. Politi-
cally our mission has been successful, and, with the
exception I have made above, the Chinese have
treated us magnificently.

SHANGHAI, AUG. 30.
We arrived from the north on the 22d, and, hav-
ing received an invitation to go over to Japan in
the Powhatan, I ran down to Ningpo ; saw my
family, from whom I had been absent three months,
and brought P- back with me, hoping he may be
benefited by the voyage. We expect to get under
way early next week, and, after touchin6 at Naga-
saki, to run up to Jeddo. It is a rare thing in one
cruise to visit the two chief capitals of the East.
As to Pekin, the time for missionary, occupation
has not yet come. The policy of the Chinese Go-
vernment must first undergo a thorough change, and
that change is not to be brought about by gentle
means. The haughty spirit which they manifest
now calls loudly for the humiliation they are to
suffer next year. Though I disapprove of some
things in the policy of Mr. Bruce, yet I feel that a
successful campaign in the North is equally indis-
pensable to the true interests of both China and
England.
"On looking over my letter, I find necessary
to enter a caveat against misunderstanding. As to
the suspicious and restrictive policy exercised
towards us, that was altogether negative, no actual
constraint being placed upon our movements. At
the outset, however, the Chinese Ministers requested
Mr. Ward to keep his suite indoors until business
should be completed. To this he consented, and we
were fettered by the word of our own chief. Our
missionaries at Ningpo and here have just passed
through a period of great peril, owing to tumults
excited by the ' Coolie traffic,' in connexion with
the defeat at the Peiho. The chapels of Syle
and Muirhead were nearlyfdestroyed. Things are
now becoming quiet, but they will not be on a secure
basis until British prestige is restored.
" I remain, &c.,
" W. A. P. M."

TILE PRINCE OF WALES.—Thero were illumi-
nations last night on the occasion of the birthday of the
Prince of \Vales. The theatres and the Royal tradesmen
at the west end of the town disp!ayed some brilliant devices
in honour of the day.

Sir Robert Peel, Bart., M.P., by the demise of
his mother, becomes possessor of the family mansion in
Whitehall-gardens, and the family plate, besides an annuity
of £5,000, charged upon the patrimonial estates in Stafford-
shire.

It is not expected that the packet with the Bom-
bay mail on Saturday will take any
.spocie on account of
the Government. About £150,000 is at present engaged
on private account.
The accounts irom Italy mention that the New
Sardinian home loan of £4,000,000 is to be issued at the
price of 80, and that owing to certain arrangements regard-
ing the payment of the instalments this will practically be
reduced to 76. If this be correct, the fact stated in the last
Paris letters, that the applications had reached five times
the amount proposed, will not appear surprising. But it
has been suggested that there must be some mistake, sines
the lowest 5 per cent, stock quoted at Turin is at 83 to I,
while the English Loan, contracted by Messrs. Rambro, rs
quoted 84f in Genoa. On the latter, however, there is a
dividend of 21 per cent., payable on the lst of next month.
SUICIDE IN A POST-OFFICE VAN.—Yesterday
morning a man named Thomas Melia, aged 50, hung him-
self with a rope in a Post-office van, in Warwick-place,
Bedford-row, Holborn. No cause is assigned for the rash
act.

A CIIILD KILLED BY DRINKING HOT TEA.—An
inquest was held at 'Wakefield on Tuesday, on the body of
a little girl named Alice Goldthorpe. Last Saturday after-
noon, Mrs. Goldthorpe, the child's mother, had "mashed"
some tea, and put the teapot on the kitchen table. While
the mother's back was turned, the girl got hold of the tea-
pot spout, and drank a quantity of the boiling hot liquid.
She was terribly scalded, her throat was soon afterwards
swollen up, and she died in convulsions. A verdict of "Ac-
cidentally scalded " was returned.
HORRIBLE DEATII.—On Monday an inquest was
held at Cambridge touching the death of Hester Borbon,
who was burnt to death on the previous Saturday night.
Deceased was a married woman, and was in the habit of
getting intoxicated. She had been " charing," but her son
stated that she was " getting on" at 2 o'clock, and so dis-
posed to drink that she had been known to take quarter!'
loaves out of the house to get beer with. Between 6 and 7
deceased was seen standing, all in flames, between the door
opening from one to the other of the two rooms of their
wretched habitation. She fefl on the entrance of the first
spectator, a neighbour with whom she had been drinking.
and never spoke afterwards. The body presentedsadhad
spectacle. There is every reason to believe deceased a
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