The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1858-03-11

Great separations were being made in Paris
for the II als of the State prisoners. A French
refugee Aad been arrested and committed to
prison il. London, on a charge of being impli.
Gated in he conspiracy against the Emperor's
life. 1t gas said that the man would be for
warded to Paris. AS the day of trial approa ched,
Napoleon was more and more embarrassed. Il
was said shat the relations between France and
Austria we're becoming more intimate daily.
The an aual report of the Atlantic Telegraph
Compane was published in London. An exten.
sion of $50 shares and the extinction of the
rights of the projectors by purchase were rec.
ommendel.
Capital Durham had, It was said, sold the fa.
nous An srican barque Adriatic to the Russian
Governm mt
The N ,bommedsns at Jsffs had committed
most grpss outrages on the persons Of an
America, missionary and his wife and daugh.
ter.
We haze news from India, dated at Bombay
on the 18th of January. The rebels had been
twice defeated near Lucknow. Quiet prevailed
generally in the Provinces, and some of the in.
sprgent RsSahs had spoken of peace terms.
The laeies from Lucknow had arrived in Cal
cutta il safety.
Their, is no later news from China. Canton
was in possession of the allies, who commanded
all the positions around the city also. The
Chinese, however, continued firing from the
house ps.
Import; mt from China - Bombardment of Can
ton-Fshe City in Possession of the English and
French.
The sity of Canton was virtually in the pos
session of the English and French on the 18Th
Of Decercber. A note, dated the morning of
the 2Sh, after the bombardmen. had com.
menced, says:
" The arrangements for the bombardment
are now complete. To give you some idea of
the fire " lich has been opened. just fancy 25
gun'boats mounting in all about 60 guns,
throwing shot and shell of the largest and most
deadly d, ;cription, together with six l3 inch
mortars, seighing each about six tons, besides
the; broad sides of the largest men. of.war. The
des'ructit q must he terrific After the city has
been suff GENTLY fred into, the naval brigade,
witt the roops, will advance on Coughs Fort,
which p ice, yon are aware, commands the
town. ] ne naval force will be in three divis-
ION. all lnder the command of commander
the Hon. J. G. Elliott" -
F;dmir Seymour, in dispatch dated De.
cen Der Z nth, Says
"The jty of Canton was assaulted and taken
by scala !e this morning By the naval and mil
itary forcSs of the allied Powers, with very tri.
hinS loss as to the numbers, but most serious
in tae lot of Captain w. T. Bate, of her Males.
tvs ship Acteon, who was killed by jingle
bali Will accommodating suitable position
for Sur ST fling laddere."
/ The Fl ,nch Admiral writes:
'Cant is at the mercy of the allied forces.
The Mort Forts seem 10 have been abandoned.
The flag, of France and of England are hoist,
ed On tbs hvestory pagoda. Our loss is small
for an al ,cking force. / am acting in concert
with Adj iral Seymour and General Strauben-
zee, to n, ke sure the results of the victory OBJ.
tanned by the arms OF England and of France.
The fire ON the allied feet was excellent. and
con.rlbut IN no small degree to the success"
= The anton correspondent of the Times
writes til. Yehs reply to the demand OF the
Plenipot' !iary before the bombardment com.
merced ! IS simply to the effect that Lord Ell
gin had tter settle the matter amicably, as
Sir HeorI Bonham did on former occasion,
and for itch he (Sir George) was made a K
q. r., in roof of which he (Yeh) begged to
enclose, a Hong Kong newspaper, containing
an annop cement Of that interesting fact. As
for Che a pericans, he knew very little about
theIa, an. scarcely was aware of the existence
ever of s ,h a nation as the French.
The ga lie writer, narrating, on the 29sh. the
capture the East Tor Lin's) Fort, says:
"Our en- were well under cover, and skir
mishers ere pushed forward, who, with the
deadly h. ieit, made it dangerous for the gun
ners to al lear In their large embrasures They
continued their fire, however, with great peril
uacity, u, il the nine-pounder feld-pieces were
got into ,siton, and battered and shelled the
place fire the village side and across the ra-
vine whic separates the village from the fo,t)
at c'cse q ,srters. storming party was now
formed, b the Cinnamon had had enough of it.
and after ring a general volley at the advanc
ing colun > they absconded in some mysterious
way. and sere seen swarming up the hill to-
wards Gt Ugh Fort, and, a moment after, two
men app, red In the embrasures, waving the
English d French flags.
"Abou an hour after the fort had been in
our posse. ion, it blew up with loud explosion
The occp ying party, and also the troops en-.
caD'ped on the hill side, were put in motion,
assembled he hill, and descended on the other
side. W Captain McCure's and Captain
Osborne's men, conspicuous by their white gait
ers over cir blue trousers, gather on a little
sumnit disappear in the valley beyond
There we psf sight of them. Volleys of mus
kerry and lights of rockets continued in that
direction r several hours, and there was all the
appearsn of an obstinate fight, which lasted
till sundo, q.
Then anne the highland such o night
The ships Almost ceased from their firing, but
the city 81 IN became like our own Shropshire
iron coun les at pight-a plain of fire. At first
it appeare as though the besiegers were bent
upon redg ing the place to ashesj but, little by
little, as ,ained, by a change Of position, some
idea of th scene as g whole, the destruction
was not Ihout plan. There was great
blaze at Il northwest angle of the city. The
gate ther1 is surmounted by Chinese guard
house, wiz the usual gro.esque upward pointed
roof. Shek and rockets were poured in volleys
upon this tructure, and it soon became sheet
OF fame, trough which the roof, the rafters,
and the is, stood out in dark outline.
"By CO stant showers of rockets the flame
was led NJ and down the city wall, and in an in
credbly 81 ,rt time the long shin line of fire shot
high into ie heavens, and then subsidized into a
smopldern smoke.
"While this was still raging, those vengeful
r4csets ds cribed a new. parabola. They came
hurting t rough the moonlight along the line
of tae ea, ern wall. They sought out three
spots whie have been marked as the object of
the triple ,ssault of the English and French
troops to-, orrow. As those dreadful twenty
four pour rockets few, flames arose. They
seemed to- Sad the FIRE about as q tame element,
precisely they willed and, strange to say,
it nsSer s, ,med to spread inwards Or to stray
frous the j re Of the city walls.
Taesd y, December 3O.-I mark the change
of dsys, It they are not divided by repose
Ali Sight sbe city was grit by a line of flame.
The sppr och of morning was indicated by q
SUSPENSION of the rocket practice, and by the
reopaning if the mortar battery with redoubled
energy. 3 the day broke, the flames sank
down, and he sun rose upon perfectly smoke
less city.
ut ism " twenty minutes after ten. In four
hours. thesefore, the hill defences of the city
have bee, cantured. Coughs Fort vet holda