, 1857-02-20
IMPORTANT FROM CHINA!
Canton BOmbardsd by British and Americans!
TOO CHINESE KILLED!
CAUSE OF THE DIFFICULTY.

Mr CHARLES WILLIAMS, agent LOT w els,
Fargo & Co.'s express, arrived here, on
Monday last, as usual, bringing us news
, mnch ahead of the mail Our thanks are
due to Mr. W. for files of papers of the
Atlantic cities as late date as January
, 9th and from San Francisco up to Feb.
4th. The news from neither the states or
Europe is very important.
From the Weekly San Francisco Herald
of Jan. 3Oth, we extract the following
highly interesting news from China. 1t is
; by far the most important received from
: the Celestial Empire, as far as the "out-
side barbarians" are concerned, since the
famous British "opium" war upon Can
ton.
By the arrival at San Francisco of the
! ship Mary Whittridge, Capt. Cheesebrough
ffty-three days from Hongkong, we learn
that serious difficulties had occurred at
I, that place between the Americans, English
= and Chinese. We give the following sy.
nopsis, furnished by one of the officers of
S the Whittridge:
From what we can learn, difficulty oc.
Cured on one of the launches, between the
e British and Chinese the British consul
was called in his official capacity, when he
was insnlted and assailed by the residents
he then went on board the eighty-four gun
i ship Calcutta, and, together with the Bar.
e raconta, and other British vessels-of-war,
n commented fire on the town of Canton
o The outer walls were taken by the British
the guns being taken from the Calcutta
> and placed OH the steamer Barracuda, by
which means they were the more readily
T brought to bear o. the city, the Barracou.
D ia being of light draught
The commander of the o. S. sloop-of-war
: Portsmouth was going ashore in his boat,
and was fred upon by the Chinese. The
Portsmouth and the Levant then commen.
e ced the attack upon the two forts and the
o Bocatigris, which we're taken by the Amer
r leans.
Seven hundred Chinese were killed
American loss, two --oh board of the
r Portsmouth. The British loss could moi
e oe ms Gscersalneo'
Il me snip O@ur ue Leon haa been char
.ereu W ihc prl''sn Aotnorl.leS ana sem
! way of troops. ....
Hongkong had been declared under
Q martial law. All the shops were closed,
y and business was suspended for time
/ No seamen from British or American
q merchant ship were allowed to land.
FrPrrRR p ,prrcr-, AIRS Since tho recoirt
of ihe above intellicence n conv of tLo
Fieud of China has come IN hand from
which We make the following extracts
e The wav in which the Americans cot miyt
mn in the nnorrel was oe follows.
@ ~ -,
Hne O. v. p ~ company sVe"iner
) San'on on nsr PaSssge 70 hOn9Nong' 11} was
nIeu inIo anu nuiiee " 'nI Ora'eS' Dy
q "hoiil 'no o"ISle, Io,'s us iAougAohg we've
gsiIisoheu. rlnooiuGueu Oy Tue success
n Vi tnen gu1nery' tne braves forgot al dls-
cretloh, aeu wnGn Ialer IN tne Gay lne u
.. S'oop-oi'War rortsmo9'hs gig, on heT
way up 10 Oantoh move IN Signt. they hred
in'o her .oo. OaPt' roo'ee gov up unu waved
n,s nag ~ " s"Iln, out 'ney tooA no ho'lce oi
h MN Oap'' oole ,. Inen returned ana re-
ported the proceedings 70 Commodore
. Armstrong Hihgulafiy' Tue PORTSMOUTH
poat Tue time sue was nreu upon was the
pearGr Tl a uespatch RON MS hNcelloncy,
/ ~ arAei, W tHe eoulInaHulng onlcer OF
I ene AiheIicHu raGVoIy Uuaru' oirecthg
{ nlui W ni'uuia" . a.! .ne inen IRON lne post
o anu ieaSine Nne DIi'isn W nghG out the
odtts .heniSelseS' mem S 50 1la' Tue Oh5nese IN
T sui'eu tne'r oeS' lriehuS' Drecuy when
e EVm' At'ns'r0ng nearu ol ehotheT insult
S lhe nlS' - ue'areu apo'e,J nc loSt no
tllns III ueteInlnils 70 a'enge H. ana
; m1.U IrI,lTe uLIa"eelne,l's WIN Tue steamers
" llilnletse anu Cuihia 70 tow tne forts-
e mouth mouth auu netSn' T Io tue lorVS whence the
a nrlng pIoceeueu. Inere was some olihcni-
~ eo'.ue sup VI Tue tor'Suouths
o s,-e iu'o posl'ion, anu tnS Sah Jacln'os
n iOurth cutIeT, WIN Lieut. WILLIAMSON, was