Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes County, Ohio) 1856-1865, 1857-02-12
Correspondence ofthe New York Times.
Very Interesting Details of the
China News.

OF q large AmericQn Ndcdt Force-
Erciting Scenes and Incidents.
CANTON, China, Oct. 80, 1855.
| send the particulars, in as much detail
as l have been able to obtain them, of the
circumstances attending the bombardment
of this great city, by the English naval
forces under Real Admiral Sir Michael
Seymour. The firing is not over, and
where the matter will end no man can pre-
dict.
The immediate origin of the affair was
an outrage committed on the British flag
about two weeks ago by the authorities Of
Canton. A small loreha, or river-trading
boat, haTing English papers made out in
due form, owned as English property, and
sailing under the English flag, was boarded
on her arrival here, under the charge Of
having on board certain notorious pirates
the flag was hauled down, and the crew,
twelve in number (Cbinese) carried off, put
in prison, and three of them .decapitated.
Subsequently, when Mr.. Parks, the British
Consul, went on board one of the man-of-
war junks to expostulate, he was treated
with great indignity and unceremoniously
,'hustled off" 1t is but Just, however, to
say that he is reported to have provoked
this treatment by his harshness and incivil-
ity on board the junk. Commodore Elliott
of the frigate SybiNe, who was at Wham-
poa at the time, proceeded very promptly
to make reprisals on the Chinese, and dis
patched steamer to Canton, which seized
aman-ofwarjun and very quietly brought
her down to Whampoa
Yek, the Governor General of Canton,
with surprising abstinacy, continued to re-
fuse accession to the demands of the En-
glish, which were that he should restore
the crew which he had taken from the
lorcha, with a suitable explanation and
apology, and should hoist again the flag
which he had lowered The English ac-
cordingly strengthened their forces at Can
ton and its neighborhood, and evinced such
a determined disposition that the Govern
or sent back the lorcha's crew, with the sub
stitution of three Chinese in the place of
those he had decapitated, but without ex-
planation of any kind Admiral Seymour,
who had by this time arrived, refused to
receive the men under such circumstances,
and sent them back to the Governor
whose slender mercies," which are notori-
ously most @cruel," 1 presume they have
by this time experienced.
The United States sloop-of-war Ports
mouth, Commander Andrew III. Foot, had
been ordered to Whampoa few days pre-
vlous to the commencement of the these
difficulties, in consequence of rumor that
the rebels were descending upon Canton,
and in order to protect American interests
during their expected invasion. AT o.
clock on the morning of Wednesday the
22d, Captain Foot received note from
our Consul, Mr.. Perry, stating that the
English were preparing to attack the city.
Accordingly he fitted out an expedition
Immediately. and proceeded in command
of the force, some seventy-five strong, in
cluding seven seamen and marines, to Can
ton, in order that Americans might be pro-
tec:ed in their persons and property.
By this time almost the whole English
naval force in the China sea was concen-
trated at Canton and Whampoa, with the
exception of a frigate and partially dis
mantled brig, which remained at Hong
Kong, but sent up detachments of their
men. On Thursday, as two steamers with
boats in tow, were proceeded from Wham
poa up the river, the Chinese commenced
hostilities by firing on them. The Admi-
raj at once commenced taking all the forts
the whole length of the river from Canton
to the Boccoa Tigris, occupying about fif-
teen minutes, on an average, in the cap
ture of each fort. These were manned and
supplied with numerous guns, many of
them of enormous size, but in no case did
they return more than few shots to the
English, and in most instances the soldiers
ran away without any attempt at resistance.
The English landed. spiked the guns, and
in several cases destroyed all that was COM
bustible about the forts by fire, but did not
attempt to occupy any except one round
fort Immediately opposite the Facto-
ries, and one known as the "Dutch Folly"
which commands the Governors Palace,
and part of the city, and in which they
planted a few thirty-two Founders and one
or two mortars.
Meanwhile, at Canton the foreign resi-
dents, European and American, had been
making active preparations for defence, and
had shipped all their specie and treasure
to Whampoa, where it could be under the
guns of the large ships which cannot get up
the river to this city, or for Macao or Hong
Kong. The gates and streets by which
communication is had between the Facto-
ries, as the foreign establishments are call
ed, and the rest of the city, were closed
and barricaded, and all the stores were
closed and business everywhere suspended.
The Chinese servants, from compradors to
coolies, have all returned to their homes,
refusing longer to incur the perils of serv-
ing the foreign residents, who are left to
shift for themselves. All the streets lead
ing to the factories are commanded by field
pieces, and by detachments of marines and
seamen from the men-of-war. The Ameri-
can forces under Captain Foot, were sta
toned with their boat howitzer, twelve
pounder, at the head of New China street,
and a file Of marines at the American
Consulate. The French Consulate being
in the immediate neighborhood of New
China street, as is also the American seat
of legation, receives an incidental protec-
ton from our force, which is acknowledged
in Il very grateful and polite note from the
French Charge ID 4fairs to commander
Foot. The U. S. sloop-of-war Levant hav-
ing come quite unexpectedly from Shang-