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

" Her Majesty's ship -, off theyeiho, July 1.

" On the .25t11 of June, the negotiations with tke
Chinese having come to nothing but a put off to
gain time, the Admiral with his flag flying is 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 Pais 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 draw', the Plover, followed by the
Opossum, passed through them, and also the second
boom, which had been destroyed by the flagcaptain
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-
ceedei to the Cormorant, where he remained. At
5.45 the boats, having assembled alongside the Nim-
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 gingalle, 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
Vansittart, 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
party, retreated 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 coantime 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 gunborits 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 Kestrel sunk, and the Haughty just managed
to!keep 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, when 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 tho 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 you as
soon as possible. We shall in all probability re-
main in the gulf till nearly the last.

" Her 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 pnrport
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

f attack on the forts, which are very substantially
j built, and have evidently had the benefit of Euro-
pean skill in their construction, as did also their
guns during the action. The principal forts con-
sist of three bastions connected by curtains and
armed with guns of from 24-pounders to 50-
pounders. One] of these forts is on the south
bank of the river and another on the north, but that
on the north runs at right angles to the south '
batteries, and thus any ships anchoring parallel to
the south forts—i. e., in tho line of the river—are
exposed to a raking or longitudinal fire from the
north forts. Besides these there are two or three
other batteries which took part in the action, but
without much effect. Four very formidable barriers
crossed the river, the outer one being so situated
that it was not more than 600 yards from any gun
in the batteries, and consderably less than that
from most of them,. The fill..'' captain partially
destroyed one of these barriers during the night of
the 24th, but was fired on by the batteries, and
retired.

"On Saturday, June 25, the gunboats Janus,
Kestrel, Lee, Haughty, Plover, Starling, Opossum,
Banterer, and Forester, with the despatch-vessels
Nimrod and Cormorant, took up their positions, the
inner gunboat, the Banterer, being close to the
outer barrier on the north side of the river, the line
of vessels crossing the stream from that point dia-
gonally, or in a southerly direction. The Admiral
had hoisted his flag on board the Plover, and with

the Opossum leading, he proceeded about 2 p.m.
to force his way through the outer barrier. The
Opossum steamed at it, but it was too strong for
her; however, by hooking her anchor to one of the
piles she managed to drag one up, and so made
room to pass through, and then steamed on towards
the second barrier. Every one now began to think
that the Chine§e were going to let us pass through
quietly, but that idea was of very short duration,
for the Admiral, following the Opossum, had no
sooner pushed the bow of the Plover through the
barrier, than bang went a gun from the batteries
into her. She immediately returned it, and the
whole of the forts opened fire as if by magic
(this was at 2.40 p.m.) A tremendous can-
nonade ensued, and it lasted without intermis-
sion until between four and five o'clock, the Chinese
firing with remarkable precision and causing ater-
rib!, loss on board the gunboats, the Plover and
Opossum had to retrace their steps and join the
rest of the squadron. So severe was the tire that
in a very short time the Plover and two other gun-
boats had to be reinforced from the Naval Brigade.
The Admiral was wounded in the early part of the
action, but refused to leave the deck. His gun-
boat was evidently a mark for the enemy until
he shifted to the Cormorant. The tide falling,
several of the vessels grounded, and the enemy's
fire was now cutting them to pieces below the
water line. The southern batteries, however, had
begun to slacken their fire, and it being thought
that a landing might be effected with a good
prospect of success, an officer was sent to inspect
the proposed spot for the landing, and reported it
practicable. The signal was immediately made for
the landing parties, and the two brigades ap-
proached in two vessels for some distance, and
then pulled in towards the shore. Directly they
commenced landing they were assailed by a
tremendous fire from all the batteries, and
a dreadful carnage ensued. The mud was so
heavy that the men could scarcely struggle through
it, and they were mowed down by dozens. Many
who were wounded fell and were smothered in the
mud ; others were actually drowned in this dread-
ful morass from pure fatigue. Many more con-
trived to push on towards the batteries, but scarcely
a man ha .1 a dry cartridge. The two ditches were
crossed, but the utter impossibility of bringing up
scaling ladders or bridges through such a sea of mud
baffled all attempts at storming. The Chinese threw
out fireballs which, in the darkness that had now
come on, showed very distinctly the position of our
people. Capt. Shadwell, who commanded the Naval
Brigade, having been severely wounded, and many
other officers and men killed and wounded, it was
but too evident that any further attempt would
only entail a still greater sacrifice of life, and there-
fore the retreat was reluctantly ordered. The Chi-.
nese gave a yell of triumph when they saw this
movement, and, if possible, redoubled their fire, while
our poor fellows retraced their steps a best,they could
many having to crawl on their hands and knees to
prevent sinking into the mud altogether. By 1 p.m.
the wounded and the remains of the leading party
were embarked. To return to the gunboats,—the
duel between them and the forts recommenced with
great fury and continued until long after dark,
when at length, all the ammunition being expended
and the vessels all being in a sinking condition, the
firing gradually ceased, and by 10 o'clock the ac-
tion may be said to have ended. The Lee and Kes-
trel had already sunk and the Cormorant was fast
following their example, and they, with two or
three other gunboats, bad to be deserted during the
night. Thus ended this most disastrous affair;
the only redeeming point in it is that our men,
though beaten, fought everywhere with the most
desperate resolution, and haa there been firm foot-
ing for the Marine and Naval Brigades there can
be no doubt that the forts would have been carried;
as it was, their part of the fighting was a strug-
gle against mud, and not against China-
men. Between the 26th of June and this
day we have managed to rescue all the
vessels from under the guns of the batteries,
except the Cormorant, Lee, and Plover; they
are utterly destroyed, but the remaining
have been patched up sufficiently to make them
float. The Kestrel, floated out in the most extra-
ordinary manner, and managed to steam out and
join the rest of the squadron last evening ; and the
Chinese, who have kept up a desultory fire on our
vessels ever since the 25th, are now left in the quiet
enjoyment of their victory. The Americans, though
they took no part in the action, have been extremely
kind in assisting our wounded, and in various
other ways have earned the good wishes of the
whole squadron. I send you a list of the killed and
wounded, which you will see is a very heavy one,
considering that the total number of men of all
arms engaged did not exceed 1,300 men. There
may be one or tlllO names omitted, but it is very
difficult to discover among so many vessels who are
in the list of casualties. I cannot now ascertain the
number of seamen and marines in eash vessel, but
the total loss, including officers and men of all arms,
is 464 killed and wounded. The officers are as
follows

" CASUALTIES BEFORE THE PEIIIO FORTS ON
JUNE 25, 1859.

KILLED. •
Lieut. Graves, R.N., the Assistance, killed on
shore.

Lieut. Clutteximek,R.N., the Coromandel, killed
on shore.

Lieut. Rason, R.N., the Plover, killed on board.
Capt. M'Kenna, Royal Regiment, killed on board
the Plover.

Mr. Herbert, midshipman, the Chesapeake, killed
on shore.

Lieut. \Voolridge, Royal Marine Brigade, killed
on shore.

Lieut. Inglis, Royal Marines, the Hightlyer
killed in boat.

WOUNDED.
Admiral Hope, severely.
Capt. Vansittart, the INlagicienne, loss of left leg
below knee.

Capt. Shadwell, the Righflyer, severe wound of
foot.
Capt. Willess, the Chesapeake, slightly.
Col. Lemon, Royal Marine Brigade, severely.
Lieut. Purvis, R.N., the Highflyer, slightly.
Lieut. Buckle, Magicienne, slightly.
Mr. Burniston, master, the Banterer, slightly.
Mr. Armitage, raidshipman, the Cruiser, severely.
Mr. Po wlett, midshipman, the Cambrian, severely.
Mr. N. B. Smith, mate, the Chesapeake, Beverly.
Mr. Phillips, second master, the Plover, slightly.
Lieut. Longley, Royal Engineers, the Plover,
severely.
Rev. H. Hewliatt, chaplain, Royal Marine Bri-
gade, severely.
Capt. Masters, the Chesapeake.
Capt. Slaughter, Royal Marine Brigade.
Lieut. Williams' Royal Marine Artillery.
Lieut. Crawford, Royal Marine Artillery.
Lieut. Collier, Royal Marine Brigade.
Lieut. Carrington, Royal Marine Brigade.
Lieut. Smith, Royal Marine Brigade.
Lieut. Perceval, Fury, slightly.
TOTAL KILLED AND WOUNDED.
British, 464; French, 4 killed and 10 wounded,
including Capt. Tricault (Du Chavla), wounded in
the arm.
TOTAL OF MARINE BRIGADE ONLY.
Killed. Wounded.
Officers
Sergeants
Buglers
Corporals .. 1
Rank and file 24

. 104

142

" JULY 14.
" Since our issue of the 9th the Hon. F. W.
Bruce and M. de Bourboulon, the Ministers of Eng-
land and France, with their suites, have arrived in
Shanghai, the former in the Coromandel, the latter
in the Du Chayla. The Magicienne and Assistance
are gone to an anchorage off Chinhae, Ningpo, near
Kinfang Island, where the British squadron will
rendezvous, to recruit the sick and wounded. The
Hesper arrived yesterday from the Gulf on the
Bth. The Admiral in the Chesapeake was
waiting until the disabled gunboats were ready
to accompany him to the rendezvous. The High-
flyer was to leave on the Bth for Shanghai, under
sail, where she will take her station again as

guardship. The Cruiser and two gunboats will re-
main in the Gulf. The American Minister was
bolding communication with the Chinese officials
at a more northern entrance to the Peiho. It is
expected he will proceed to Pekin."

(Fiona the Ceylon Observer.)

The lamentable intelligence we have to convey
by this mail is a new difficulty with the Chinese.
authorities, which led to an attack on the 25th of
June from and upon the Taku Forts, at the month
of the Peiho, resulting in the total defeat of the
British force, with the loss of no less than five gun-
boats and. between 400 or 500 men, or about one-
third of our force employed.
The following letter contains a graphic and mov-
ing description of the engagement at Teku, and
of the heroic valour displayed by our officers and
men :

" OFF THE PETHO, June 28.
" I feel scarcely equal to the painful task of at..
tempting to describe occurrences which I am alto-
gether incompetent to depict in sufficiently striking
and vivid colours, and yet on the vivid as well as
correct representation of which, I feel, depends the
honour of all the brave men with whom I am
serving—nay more, of Old England's stainless flag
itself.

"As I did not keep a journal of the previous
day's proceedings, I shall confine myself to those of
the ill-starred 25th.

" At daylight on the morning of that day the
gunboats weighed and proceeded to make a last
attempt to remove the barriers that the Chinese
had placed across the entrance of the river, and
were evidently determined not to remove of their
ownaecord.

" These,however, being composed of strong iron
bars and chains, successfully resisted all the efforts
made for their removal up to 12 o'clock, when the
order was given that the men should have their
dinners, after which it was generally understood
we should open fire on the forts. Strange to say,
during the six or eight hours in which these preli-
minary measures were being effected neither was a
single gun fired from the forts, nor was there a
symptom evident that their occupants were pre-
pared to defend them. Every embrasure was
screened with matting, and not a head was visible
over the ramparts ; And this, although the gunboats
were all only from 500 to 700 yards distant, and
were all at sixes and sevens from some getting
aground, while others had to haul them off, and
the space in which they had to move being too con-
fined to allow of their manoeuvring.
" Dinner having been finished, about half-past 1
o'clock the signal was run up to prepare for action,
and the Opossum Lieut.-Com. Balfour, with Capt.
Willes, R.N., and the Plover, with our brave old
admiral, pushed in close up to the first barrier. No
sooner did they arrive there, than suddenly, and as
if by magic, the mats that screened the guns in all
the curtain batteries were triced up, and the whole
of the guns opened fire. Our vessels being all well
prepared however, the fire was immediately re-
turned, and the action became general.
" It was at once evident, though, that we bad no
ordinary Chinese artillery to contend against.
Their fire, both in weight and precision, was such
as few men, and I feel certain no Chinese cam-
paigners, ever before experienced. In a very. few
minutes the Opossum had several of her crew killed
or wounded. In the Plover the Admiral was se-
verely hit ; her gallant commander, Rason, and
Capt. APl(eana, of the Ist Royals (doing duty on
the Admiral's staff) were killed, and almost every
man of the crew disabled; while the Haughty
(Lieut.-Com. Broad), Lee (Lieut.-Com. Jones), Kes-
trel (Lieut.-Com. Bevan), and Cormorant (Com.
Wodehouse), were so severely crippled that they
were in a sinking state. The Lee, indeed, would
have gone down at once but for Lieut. Broad, in
the Haughty, dashing in to her rescue, and towing
her out under a heavy fire. Nevertheless, the
bombardment was kept up with unabated vigour,
and in about two hours the enemy's fire began sen-
sibly to slacken ; and (although they had got our
range so exactly that almost every shot told, while
ours, though admirably directed, did comparatively
little damage to their mud walls) shortly after four
o'clock it became almost silenced.

" At about five o'clock, the anxiously expected
signal was accordingly made for the troops to land
and assault, which was briskly answered by them;
every boat containing them striving to be the first
to reach the shore. Not a soul in the squadron at
that moment, I believe, doubted our obtaining a
speedy victory. Just as the first boat touched the
shore, however, bang went a gun again from the
forts, immediately followed by a perfect hurricane
of shot, shell, gingall balls, and rockets from
all the southern batteries, which mowed down our
men by tens as they landed. Nevertheless, out of
the boats they all leaped with undiminished ardour
(many into water so deep that they had to swim
to the shire), and dashed forward through the mud,
while the ships threw in as heavy a covering fire as
they possibly could.
" The enemy's fire, however, continued to be so
deadly, and the mud proved so deep (in most places
reaching up to the men's knees, at least—often up
to their waists) that out of the 1,000 men who
landed barely 100 reached the first of the three
deep and wide ditches, which, after some 500 yards
of wading through the mud, presented themselves
before the gallant few who got so far, and oat of
that small number scarcely twenty had been able
to keep their rifles or their ammunition dry. Never-
theless, they boldly faced those new difficulties,
and some fifty of . them, with a crowd of officers
(among whom were conspicuous the commanding
officer of the French contingent, Commanders Com-
merell and Heath, Maior Parke, and Lieut.
Hawkey of the Marines, Major Fisher and Lieut.
Maitland of the Engineers), succeeded in getting
as far as the furthest bank of the third ditch, from
which they would certainly have made a good
attempt to scale the walls had ladders been forth-
coming ; but, out of the number that were landed,
all but one had either been broken by shot or had
stuck in the mud. With the remaining one, how-
ever, ten devoted men sprang forward, three of
whom were immediately shot dead, and five
wounded severely.
" A vertical fire of arrows, as well as a constant
fusillade, was kept up on the select band who now
crouched in the ditch, waiting, but in vain, for rein-
forcements ; and that any of them afterwards
escaped alive is miraculous. Seeing what insur-
mountable difficulties presented themselves, the
order was at last given to retire ; the lion-hearted
commander of the troops, Colonel Lemon, of the
Royal Marines (who was one of the first into the
furthest ditch) ; Captain Vansittart, of the Magi-
cienne ; and Capt. Shadwell, of the Highflyer—all
having been severely wounded. The latter was
badly shot through the foot shortly after landing,
but nevertheless managed to struggle manfully for-
ward, even to the advanced trench. Poor Captain
Vansittart had his leg shot off. Lieutenant Graves
of the Assistance, Lieutenant Clutterbuck of the
Coramandel ; young Herbert, of the Chesapeake ;
and Lieutenants Inglis and Woolridge, of the Royal
Marines, were all killed while gallantly cheering
on their men ; and at least three-fourths of the
officers who landed were more or less severely hit.
In effecting the retreat even more lives were lost,
perhaps, than in advancing, as the Chinese, by
lighting blue lights, were enabled to discover the
exact position of our then reeling and thoroughly
exhausted men, and so to shoot them down like
birds. Even on arriving at the water's edge, mat-
ters were not improved, as so many of the boats had
been smashed to pieces by round shot that there
were not enough remaining to take off the surviving
men. Several were drowned in attempting to get
off, while many had to remain for more than an
hour up to their necks in water before they could
get a place in a boat ; and even then their dangers
were not past, as the fire from the forts continued
so heavy that several boats full of wounded were
struck and swamped while pulling off to the ships.
The Coromandel was made the temporary hospital
ship, and the scene on her upper deck was truly
horrible. It was nearly one o'clock before the last
boat load of wounded was brought off to her, and.
long ere that hour she was crowded with the muti-
lated and the dying. Every
exertion,
was made by the medical staff (towhom,
andho w eve,
espe-
cially to Dr. Little, of the Marines, great credit is
due), and long ere daybreak every sufferer had his
wounds tended. Every operation (and their num-
ber was sickening) I was gratified to hear was per-
formed under the influence of chloroform.
" Our proportionate loss has, indeed, been fright-
ful-434 killed and wounded. The Ist battalion of
Marines alone, which landed barely 400 strong, has
lost altogether 172 killed and wounded ; the Chesa-
peake 26 killed or missing, and 34 wounded ; and
the gunboats, 90 killed and wounded. No expecta-
tion whatever is entertained of those wha are re-
turned missing being still alive. With such enemies
as the Chinese, and under the peculiar circumstances
‘:esstqiUlla.dron
of
,t,hielcase,
beliefall tohurtouogfhtohuetqtui
Hope
ls
that Europeans manned the batteries as well as
Chinese. Men in grey coats, with cle,sely cropped
issuuchnilNi,oe
: hair, and with Russian features, wQre distinctly
visible in the batteries, and the whole of the fort-
fications were evidently of European designing.
Some of those who advanced near to the wall even
go so far as to declare that they heard men calling
for " more powder," in Russian ; and this morning
it is reported that two dead bodies floated out of
the river, dressed in Chinese clothes, but having
incontestably European faces. The damaged forts
have already been repaired, and have never ceased
to fire upon the boats that are still engaged under
Capt. Willes and Commanders Comnaerell, Heath,
and Wynniatt, in struggling to rescue the stranded