, 1858-09-10
Later from China.

THE ALLIES AND THE CHINESE FIGHTING AGAIN
CAPTURE OF FORTS on THE PElHo.
The political relations between the Allied
Pleuipotcntiarie5 aud the Emperor seem
all ont Of sorts, and the allied forces had
occasion 10 batter and occupy some Chi
neEe fort,ications ut the mouth Of the
-'rver Peigo, which leads to the capital,
Pekjn. 1t is stated that tho U. S. Minis
ter, Mr.. Reed, in conjunction with the Rus
sian Envoy, had used his best endeayors to
induce the Chinese authorities to yield to
the demands of the Plenipoientiaries Of
England and France But no such diSpo-
sition having been cviHccd by the Chinese,
on the 10Th May, the Allies determined to
resort to force. This resolution was car
ricd out On the next day (the 20th) by the
attack and capture Of the forts command-
ing the river. The Chinese kept up a
spirited fire but the close position taken
by the gun boats, aud the firing from their
heavy guns conld not have been long re-
sisted. The casualty on tho. part Of the
| Allies is said to amount to 50 killed and
wounded, most of whom belong to the
Freuch force, who suffered severely from
the explosion Of mines in the forts. The
gun-boats then went up the river in the
direction of Tientsin Some of the Manda-
rims had solicited three days truce through
tho Russian Envoy, which was fatty re-
fused by the Allied Admirals. Lord e.
gin was determined to push on to Pekin,
for which purpose, orders for military rein
iorcements had been sent down to Hong
kong. 1t was said that Mr.. Reed had al
most succeeded in obtaining the acques-
cence of the Imperial Commissioner TO all
the demands, with the exception of the es-
tablishment Of resident Ambassador at
Pekin, which point, it is said, the Allied
Plenipotentiaries were not disposed to
forego.
The Friend Of China thus describes the
attack on the forts:
One hour was given for the battering OF
the forts by the gun-boats The precision
with which the allies threw their shell is
spoken of by American and Russian spec
tators as excellent indeed The hour up,
on went the Slaney,n towing boats irOm
the ships outside with landing parties from
the Hndacieus," Nemesis Phlege-
thon," Primauget," Calcutta" "Furi-
ous," Pury," and Pique "-one portion
of the English Blue Jackets under Capt.
Sir +. Nicholson of the last mentioned ship,
the senior post captain present, taking the
fort on the right bank, Capt. Hall, with
another section Of the boats, the fort on
the left. The business of driving the Chi
nese out was soon over. Cunning rasealsl
they had laid trains for heavily charged
mines, and .direful were the consequences
to our intrepid allies, the French, no less
than lifty-eigbt OF whom were blown into
the air, four ieutenantS, one Of them first
Of the Fasee, and eleven men, being among
the killed. The English had twenty-five
killed and wounded. On the Nimrod,"
Slaney," Opossum," and French gun
boat, devolved the task Of capturing the
fort highest up Half an hours lombard
ment was sufficient to induce its desertion.
BY quarter past IL the whole affair was
over; eighteen hundred Europeans had
driven out thirty thousand of the elite Of
the Chinese army. The weight of metal,
however, was all on our side, saying moth
ing of experience at working. The two
lower forts contained about seventy guns,
the upper one thirty-two thirds Of them
being of brass or composition metal, vaula-
bic as prizes.
A writer in the China 1Iaa says:
These forti6cations were admirably stu
ated TO command the passage, their guns
and ammunition were abundant and effect
iye-all that was wanting, as usual in Chi
na, were skill and courage The loss Of
life among the defenders was probably un-
der three hundred killed outright, whose
bodies were found in the forts the wound
ed we're carried off. The officers stood
with their men in many ecases, one or two
were found dead, killed by their own haud,
and the people report that Tah, the Man
chu commaDder-in-chief, was drawn out Of
the water where he had attempted suicide.
THE PLENIPorENrIARIEs GOING TO HEAD
ouARrERs,-The latest dates received at
Canton from Tientsin on the Peiho, reach
the llth June. 1t afpears that at that
date, the Chinese Commissioners continued
to refuse to yield the point OF the residence
Of Foreign Ambassadors at Pekin. The
Earl OF Elgin aud Baron GroS had there
fore determined upon moving to Pekin.
Their Exceilencies, 1t was said, would at
tempt amicabe and friendly negotiations 10
i the first instance but as reluiorcemenis
hence were anxiously looked for, it would
appear that they were determined to resort
to force if necessary.
The Friend Of China remarks that the
Earl of Elgn met H. f. To Min-gah, the
i Chinese Commissioner, for the FIRST time on
9th June. 1t appears that little time was
wasted in compliments. The Earl at once
took the seat of honor, and by deport-
ment, described as at the same time calm
= aud digniGed, still cold, and by no mesus
calculated to induce an impression that the
Chinese would find him eager 10 listen tC
+ their overtures and make hGsty Gompro
misses. The Baron Gros had an intervieS v
next day with To Min-gah.