The Sun.
London, England, 1842-08-05 00:00:00

CHINA AND INDIA.

CHINA.

BRITISH NAVAL AND MILITARY FORCE IN
CHINA, AND SUMMARY OF •THE WAR.
The arrival of the last reinforcement, which left Eng-
land for China, will raise the British armament, now in
the Celestial waters, to the enormous strength of 15,000
fighting men, exclusive of sailors and marines, who might,
in cases of emergency, furnish nearly perhaps 5,000
more of a shore-going force The floating armament is
still more formidable than this, consisting of five line-of-
battle ships, and 34 frigates and smaller craft ; making
39 armed sailing vessels in all. , The steam flotilla will,
on the arrival of the last dispatched. vessels from Eng-
land, consist of the 11. C. steamers Akbar, and Menmob,
of 500 horse-power and 1,100 tons ; H. M. steamers
Vixen, Growler, Geyser, Driver, and Lightning ; and
the H. C. steamers Auckland, Sesostris, Queen, Hoogly,
Nemesis, Pluto, Phlegethon, Medusa, Proserpine, and
Ariadne ; the first two being wooden vessels of
1,000 tons, armed with- 64 pr. medium guns, the
two next being also of wood ; :the remaining six, iron
vessels of from 300 to 500 tons. As the next
intelligence of importance will, in all likelihood, bring*'
.us particulars of the commencement of a new series of
operations on a broader basis, and more extended scale
than any which have hitherto been attempted, it may not
be amiss to endeavour to draw up a brief chronological
recapitulation of the principal operations of the expedi-
tion ; noting particularly, in so far as the documents in
our possession permit, the strength of the armament from
tune to time ; and :the periods at which each successive
reinforcement joined it.
The first overt act of hostility betwixt the British and
Chinese on the present occasion, occurred on the 3d
November, 1839, when Captain Elliot having gone up
the river with the Volage and Hyacinth, with a view of
delivering a chop, was attacked by about twenty-nine
war-junks. These were speedily driven off; five of them
having been sunk or blown up,; about 500 Chinese are,
by some accounts, said to have:perished on the occasion.
The two small vessels just •named, were at this time the
only English ships of war in the Chinese waters. H.
M. S. Druid, 44, from Sydney, was the next ship which
reached—she arrived at Macao on the 24th March 1840.
At the same date H. M.'s 26th (Cameronians) and
49th Regts. embarked for China :—they started under
steam on the Bth of April ; the two regiments together
seem to have been above 1,600 strong • they occu-
pied ten transports, And were followed shortly after-
wards by the steamers Queen,• Enterprise, and Mada-
gascar. The two first named vessels returned to India
in April 1841 ; the Madagascar was burnt at sea. A
native corps, about 1,000 strong, under the denomination
of the Bengal Volunteers, formed part of this force.
Simultaneously IN ith this, a force consisting of a Brigade
of Artillery, with two companies of Sappers and Miners,
tinder charge of Colonel Montgomerie, were got in
readiness, and embarked on the '24th April on board of
the transports Rastomjee and JOhn Adams, both of them
apparently badly found in every way, and ill-suited for
the service. On the 28th August, the 37th M. N. I.
sailed on board of the Golconda, Sophia, and Minerva.
The first-named of these vessels 'contained the Head
Quarters of the regiment, consisting of about 300 men ;
she is supposed to have foundered in a hurricane, and
every soul to have perished, as she was never heard of
after passing
.Singapore. The 18th Royal Irish after-
wards joined.
This, with 16' transports, formed the Indian division
of the force : it was under convoy of H. M. S. Wellesley,
Conway, Cruizer, and Algerine, commanded by Com-
modore Sir Gordon Bremer. The place of rendezvous
was Singapore, from which they sailed on the 30th
May. They. reached Macao on the 21st June ; and
having issued a proclamation declaring that after the
27th the Canton river would be placed in a stwe of
blockade, without landing they sailed northwards to-
wards usan on the 28th.

The English division of the expedition sailed in April,
1840 ; they joined Admiral Elliot at the Cape, and were
reinforced by most of the vessels at that station. These
had along with them a large body of Royal Marines.
Admiral Elliot arrived in China in the month of July,
1840, and immediately followed the Commodore north-
ward. The force, when assembled, amounted to the
following :
European troops from the three Presidencies and

Ceylon
Native soldiers and sailors from do. do 2,175
Camp-followers, &c. do. do. do l,OBO

Total 9,915

This, with the force from England, was estimated at
nearly 15,000 men in all. Of this force nearly 2.000
perished from disease, at or near Chusan, in the months
of September, October, and November.
The Bengal Volunteers afterwards returned home, so
that by the month of April, 1841, the force was reduced
to probably about 4,000 fighting
.men of all arms, ex-
clusive of marines. The first reinforcement sent from
India consisted of the whole of her Majesty's 55th,
probably about 800 strong, which left Calcutta in June ;
together with 100 men of her Majesty's 30th ; 280 of
her Majesty's 31st, and 200 of the Cameronians—above
1,300 Europeans in all. About 500 of the Madras
Rifles and armed Sappers and Miners joined at nearly
the same time, with nearly 100 Bombay Artillery men
shortly afterwards—making in all a reinforcement of
2,000 men. The recruits and convalescents of her Ma-
jesty's 26th and 49th, amounting to about 500, joined a
few weeks afterwards. A reinforcement consisting of
about 100 men was in July sent from England ; making
altogether an addition of about 3;300 men, and raising
the expedition considerably above its original numbers.
The heaviest reinforcements however, are those lately
despatched from. India—the 2d, 4th, and 6th N. 1., with
Artillery, Sappers, and Miners, C. troop Horse Artillery,
Gun Lascars, &c., in all amounting to about 5,500 men,
from Madras; 11. M.'s 63d Regiment., from Moulmein;
and a Native Regiment from Bengal :—we are not cer-
tain that either of the last-named regiments have not yet
left. H. M.'s 98th was in February despatched direct from
Dublin; and H. M.'s 10th, by Nast accounts, was about
to sail ; as also were betwixt 500 and 600 Marines and
others. This will bring the whole of the recent rein-
forcement up to nearly 10,000 men. The Bengal Volun-
teers, as already mentioned, returned some while since
to Calcutta; and the Madras 37th Grenadiers have just
returned. Taking these things into account, and making
all suitable alloWances for casualties of every sort, we
shall, after the last of the reinforcements arrive, still have
in China an efficient land force of nearly fifteen thousand
fighting men; with probably not' fewer than 7,000 sea-
men—who, acting on shore, form the finest irregular
troops in existence.