The Sun.
London, England, 1842-11-24 00:00:00

CHINA.

The folloWing letters give some interesting details
of the capture of' Tchang-Keang and Nanking :
" July 30, 1842.
• • i
ea
he storming and capture of Tchang-Keang on
the 21st instant, has been one of the most important,
,its it has been the most sanguinary engagement we
'aye yet. had in China. The city is situated on the
western bank of the river Yang-tze-keang, near its
intersection by the Grand Canal, about 40 miles below
I\ranking. The fleet arrived off the town on the 20th,
and the troops were landed next morning.
• It has been almost entirely a military affair. The
troops were divided' into' three brigades, which attacked
the
town at different points. As little or no resistance
W4anticipated, the services of the naval force were
47,8,1dered unnecessary, with the, exception of one
ening Steamer,. and it was- the envied post of the
'''ttekland to co-operate with the Royal Artillery in
j„le,cting a breach in that part of the wall which over-
. . esiZtrs: brigndeaodme. commands the river, for the entrance of the
The wall which surrounds the town is built of
t4di, about 25 or 30 feet high ; it is very abundantly
al/„P,,rdied with bastions, embrasures, port-holes, &c.,•
hat
was fortified with 12 and 6 pr. pieces, and jingals.
.at part of it which is nearest the river (about a
• quarter of a mile from it) extends over a rising
ground uansdtroofn• gconsiderable elevation and steepness, and
and fort-like appearance. On this point
.:...IZ-Aucliland and rocket corps of the Royal Artillery,
th,Lehwas stationed on a bill close adjoining, opened
fire at ten o'clock, and it is merely necessary to
ate that the appearance of the wall afterwards gave
ti1.,1:131c evidence of the manner in which they
tasl "i- Time. however, was not allowed them to
taia 'e a breach in the wall ; their fire had been main-
uhneed and returned with srit for about half an hour,
n the advance of then appers and miners with
threerifh_,ladders, followed by her Majesty's 55th Madras
‘.'-'rigade, and 2d and 6th Regiments of Madras
eeative
nt. r-nfantry, (which composed the whole of the
brigade) was the signal for them to cease firing.
the ladders were planted with magical rapidity, and
peogrenadier company of the 55th (who were, pro.-
liaaaY 'Peaking, the forlorn hope) commenced then-
RifPelts ascent under egiver of a close fire from the
of 'les' who were stretched on their fronts on the face
kept
tiro hill, picking. off every man who showed himself
embrasures ; from which, however, the enemy
galimt up a very deadly fire for some minutes, and a
niany of our men fell dead and wounded. The
,Than who reached the top of the wall was Lieut.
ha;(led4Y, of the grenadier company of the 55th ; he be-
lle . w ith • matchless gallantry—slowly, but firmly,
h;1/4,cl'inhed the ladder. On reaching the top he waved
daftod, and then deliberately seated himself on the
an,,, an d assisted his men over. At this moment the
. mtf,;.‘"ety and interest which was felt by every one for his.
eo who witnessed his daring conduct was intense. I
uid scarcely breathe ! It was more than miracti-
..,..wn,s that he was not -shot dead or hurled from the,
11411' It-was like a man jumping into his own. coffin .
Ile was•severelv wounded in Abe . foot' by Jingal ball
while
's:l2t6 on the wall, Which disabled him for the rest off H
ara4 flay In about a quarter of an hour the ensign of
y arid the colours of the 55th were-shown
.!,,,,}l6'l1-tile wall, which was responded to by three hearty
froM the fleet.—but• though the colours were ••
e sheers
the place was by no - means taken ; on the
tielntrary, they had the greatest difficulty in driving
e enemy from the walls; the' Tartars fought with
41;eat bravery, made repeated charges on our men
'th their long spears, and disputed every inch of
ki;'gr, "IA- The British -bayonet; -however, at length
zs,4le,vailed. They returned to the town and took
eiter in the houses, from which they kept up a
,ti,'nost deadly and harassing fire; our troops were fired
Iltlfrorn all Quarters, without being able to see from
~.w„,-'nee it came, and it was not until they made a
0-Perai
charge and' closed in upon the houses, that
they were able- to return the fire with any effect. This
-tstructive firing was protracted for five or six hours,
or in
need I may say for the rest of the day, till dark-
,.
--e3B favoured their escape from the walls or gates,
."111 which they were allowed to pass out without
hexcepting
'3lldran e such as bore arms or gave other
evidence of•
at I did not witness, I will say nothing about the
'''.liveinsents and achievements of the other brigades.
.1443t3 is. greata many cases of coup-de-soleil occurred
‘tiring the day. The heat was great, though nothing
at it is in some parts of India. Colonel Driver,
oftt.th( Oth Madras Native Infantry, and Major Uniacke,
the
s Royal Marines, died from this cause, but the'
hiti -11,l'red most, having 'lost about twenty men ;
Probably owing to their having been on board
bei,,o oil
I,4Bllcalthy
12. pSalt provisions for seven months, and to their
very 'resh from England. They had, however, been
in the Belleisle, although not fewer than
slnlsi including her 'crew, came out in her.
with ladred through a part of the town next day
,least an escort. It was almost entirely deserted, at
wir no further resistance was offered by its now ter-
rnt;stricaeo
inhabitants. I need not say that the
dead disgusting sights met the eye at every step. The
the and wounded of the enemy (although most of
,direln had been carried away) were lying about in all_e
lattactl°4N no attention whatever being paid to the
o 1.• Already had the houses and shops been broken
slii;kand the most valuable property (as teas, bales
• tr' furs, &c.) was scattered about like rubbish.
11,,ti_le houses which were supposed to have any con-
,e,eun with Government, or Government officers,
ilt4e either burned or being burned. As at other
eans2,we have taken from the Chinese, suicides werei
4reiii-tted to a fearful extent—men, women, and chi
dlowere found strangled, or taken out of the wells
ieea,:eants.
•But whydwell on scenes so repulsive !
the to winch humanity should blush ; but which are
a° frequent and unavoidable concomitants of war!
10,4,,,1-'ne Mandarin, besides a good many persons of
.4,t'r,r.ank, are on board the flag-ship.
all-tbe natives are very kind to us, and have been
f
• t along- They occasionally bring
,us presents of
tat 'lmes, &c. Their vegetables are very fine. They
Ilerse excellent brinjals, French beans, celery, enem-
ies, ; for these they will not take payment, un;
it be a
written,slip of paper, with British Protection
upon it, which they are all very glad to get.
rt. 4 lot;he yang-tze-Keang is a most noble river ; at
er Part the navigation is rather difficult (at least
el a.'tound it so, having no previous knowledge of its
✓ln. el) on account of sand-banks—but for 40 miles
eow: this it is very deep, and here, off Tchang-Keang
ae ft is about IA- miles broad, it is only at certain
44rts tlytt anchorage can be found for the ships. The-
urrent, at the springs, is rapid,—more than a six-
dared
~
„ Can pull against.
The
Weather is now about the hottest—the
d7lllolTleter averaging, in the shade, from 84 to 90
g• Fahrenheit, and I have only once seen it above 90.
• "'The country on the western bank of the river is
4te
Astern s parts
i picpicturesque and beautiful, that on the
I,,,bank
will have s a dead flat, and, as it is marshy, I fear
a good deal of fever. Should we winter
- as is expected, we are in hopes of being.
1• ,d° establish a bazaar, and to have an alnind an t
elf fresh provisions. They have very fine
1.3%1

" Chin-Keang-foo, 35 miles from Nankin,
18th August.
;,: INily deli. ________,—We did the business entirely at
f
t.T--11'"ee, ass an Irishman would say, and put it outo
__.ie Aleads
1 11 of the Chinese that our guns were the only
1411il"au'e thing amongst the barbarians; they
now confess it is our men and not our
(as they now
call us) escaladed
Sufis.
The Powerful nation
this fort in
splendid style, and soon
Were
masters of
fopplace although
glit splendidly and
the the Tartar troops
17 Ito the last. A Chinese
tnandarin, writing stood
`these barba-
rians are very fierce,
to Nanking, says,
against
'glen,.
little
of _, , they ('pen and there is no standing
our strongest gates with a It
PoWst.der, and walk over our highest walls with pieces
telt'
as took I never saw such loss of life and
enough,
but ~ .spune here ;we lost officers and men . .
property
,le_elt pss even to compute thloss of the
" , for when they found thecouldstand no longer
y
'aist us, th - and
, ety cut the throats of their wives
the children, or drove them into wells and ponds, and
fr_ n destroyed themselves ; in many houses there were
s,Oeh eight to twelve dead bodies, and I myself have
,e‘n a dozen women and children drowning them-
-1 ,i
u'es in a small Ipond the day after the fight. The
's h le of the city and suburbs are a mass of ruins, `'hole
beenstreets have been burnt down, and the place has
ty._ completely gutted by Chinese plunderers. We
1701113 Y a Joss house on a hill on the banks of Yang-
..),\L—Keang river, together with a company of her
f jest3's 138th ; the 55th and 6th Madras Native In-
the-antr Y occupy a. similar bill on th opposite side of
tr 6 City, about three miles from thine the rest cf the
. ops are up at Nanking."

OFFICIAL DISPATCHES.
The following :ire the dispatches transmitted to the
‘2overnor-Gelieral of India, 1w Admiral Parker, de-
tribing the operations of the British fleet in the
ang-tze-Keang river up to the 26th of June :
SECRET DEPARTMENT.

BOMBAY CASTLE, OCT. 8.
The honourable the Governor in Council is pleased
"-) l'e-publish for general information the following gene-
ral order issued at Simla, on the 23d ult., by the Right
1. on. the Governor-General of India, directing the pub-
leat-ion of a dispatch from Vice-Admiral Sir W. Parker,
• Naval Commander-in-Chief on the coast of
C:hina, enclosing copies of his Excellency's reports to the -Admiralty of the successrul operations of the coin-
Lined forces .in China, -in the ct;pture of- Woosung,
Paoushan, and Shaughae.
By order of the Ron. the Governor in Council,
J. P. WILLOUGHBY, Secretary to Government.