The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1859-09-27

pd&18ge t6ey
would be ared into But the Englsh regarding the threats
Of the Chinese a. 80 much empty boasng determined TO
pass up the river at all hazards and 30 began 70 make
their preparations Our Commodore, dsbeleving the as
serons Of the Chinese and having been informed by the
British Admiral that there was In reality no such place as
North Bend concluded 70 follow the English up the river
should they attempt the passage He therefore remained
under the IRE Of the forts and looked on.
Al haHpast two O'Clock in the afternoon the work com
menced, the Admiras boat taking the lead and essayng
10 heAye up one Of the stakes. The second one
that was attempted proved the signal for q &C.
neral cannonade both sides. A shot was
first fred from one Of the forts, and was
promptly returned by every Of the gunboats twelve
in number The slaughter was really terrihc-such
have never read or heard Of before The gunboats
ceived tremendous damage and TO add 70 the difficulties
Of their position, the tide, which had been high
arrival, receded gradually and left them aground when
they soon became perfect wrecks During the hottest OF
the fire Commodore Tatnal had his barge Manned and
started for the Admiras gunboat When alongside the
latter shot from OF the forts struck the barge and
killed the coxswain, John Hart, instantly The Commo
dore found only three survivors Of the murderous fire
board the gunboat out Of force Of thirty five and the
Admiral himself was lying among the slain with o.
his legs broken.
The action lasted until eight clock night and the boat
had by that time exhausted oil their ammunition 400 rounds
EACH that they completely at the mercy Of their
antagonists target for the destructive fire of the fort
in river not five hundred yards in width. There
bu, French gunboat engaged in with the
English An English officer, who had been at the siege Of
sebastopol remarked in my hearing that at ,mc
the slaughter great the firing at
this engagement The English have lost in killed and
mis- y hundrQ mon az mar cd
50 severely too that they are dying hourly large
number who landed were killed in attempting
the forts in the face Of difficulties which would think
should have caused the commanders ponder well
they gave the hazardous order TO attack The had
to jump up TO their waists in water, with the
almost certainty Of destroying their ammunition and on
reaching terra frmd. instead Of finding Arm, they had
to wade through mud into which they sank deeper and
deeper, after having passed trenches filed with quick
sand and run all sorts Of dangers and annoyances.
While the soldiers were in this helpless condition blue
lights repeatedly fred from the forts TO enable the
Chinese to down the French and English with muir
derous v6leys Of grape and canister. Out Of
pany of three hundred men who had landed only
turned alive Every head cut of and put in bags by
the Chinese who thus exhibited them to their enemies.
Such defeat surely the English have never met with;
yet they fought like lions and nched grape shot,
1t is generally supposed the forts manned by Euro
pean renegades all nations though some do assert that
the Russians played the principal part in the defence
am certainly Of opinion that the English Admiral
altogether sanguine and anticipated little resistance
the stout resistance of these ncomprehensbe Chinese
soon diabused his mind of the idea that the
yielded up easily last year. they would also
be surrendered without opposition SO soon us be would
order the attack.
The Torquan had small share in the fight. She took
in tow the boats conveying the landing parties and acted
as q messenger boat during q part Of the action. Our
Minister did approve Of Commodore acting in
with the English in the engagement Shortly after the
Of the firing Mr. Ward went on board aunk
Of reach Of the shot 1t understood to be the in
enon Of the Commodore had not the Torquan grounded
to have returned to his ship and sent his marines,
British ia landing. "a fortunate thing" says Mr.
Ward, our Minister, the Torquan was grounded,
otherwise the most OF you would have been murdered
there guns enough mounted on the forts to drive
away twelve line of battle shipsn How far the admins
traon will sanction Commodore Tattnals proceedings
is Of course impossible say with facts
ing in the face that here peaceful mission,
and that only few hours our Minister was told that
would find all ne looked for-and what is more, he did
receive it yesterday.
last Wednesday, June.a0 the Torquan went in search
Of the river that had existence and returned during
the day with the report that they had landed with in
terpreter at a small town near stream, and just had
troop Of mounted cavalry discovered gallopng TO
wards them, thousand strong All hands very natu
rally took shanks mares as fast they could carry them
to the boat returned and mad report OF their failure
which created SOME merriment 1t was given up for a
certainty that John Chinaman going receive
Mr.. Ward. Yesterday, however, at A. NJ, two large
unks loaded with produce came within ashort distance
of us and anchored. small boat, lowered from Of
the unss and having eoared Chinese official bearing
alongside The answer was in the highest degree favora
BILE seems the party who landed from the Torquan had
been mistaken for the English, and the cavalry which
chased them TO their boat part Of guard, 1000
strong, which have escorted Mr. Ward TO Pekin,
and had been 'oaiting several days IN expectation Of his daily
Gr7iral The produce present for Minister cone
sisted of nineteen hogs nineteen sheep thirty three sacks
of -four nineteen of RICE besides ducks chickens geese
eggs and vegetables in great quantities The answer to
his letter stated that the Commissioner would meet him
whenever convenientthat he would send piloto bring
his ship up the river eight miles great deal OF CORES
pondence has since passed between the officials the Eng
lish squadron lying in close proximity.
appears to have been the aim Of the British Admiral
to entrap Commodore into taking joint part in the
engagement. How nearly this object was accomplished
you judge for yourself It has been blind piece Of
business all through and there every reason to believe
had Commodore acted on the information afforded
him the 24h Of June by the Chinese, by returning
and making his way to the North Bend, our Minister
would have been by this time close on Pekin.
The following vessels form the squadron in the Gulf Of
rchli-Fagshp Chesapeake, Highfyer, Cruiser, Fury,
Magician Assistance transport ship, Hecr Troop ship
Gnboas in action with the f0rts-Plover, Reshral MINI
rod, Lee Naughty, Opposum, Banterer Forester Star
ling, Janus, Cormorant (Admral's tender), and the
French frga.e Duchayla, in the Gulf Of Pchii. Gun
boat in action with the fors:-Nosegay. have since
learned that the English have succeeded in raising three
Of their gun boats and in getting them out Of the river
The number Of officers killed and wounded is g.
Iforgot 10 mention yesterday that twelve of the hogs
were killed and offered to the crew. but they refused to
take them preferrDg to have them sent board the
English ships for the sick and wounded This Of
done Funny, is it not We help to fight their bat
ties and then help feed their wounded with produce
coming direct from their enemy.
very quiet day We have for the Fourth Of Julynoh
ing unusuala little bunting displayed At
fire salute Of twenty guns and during the day splice
the main brace perhaps We all on the qui for
the pilot that is to take the North Bend. should
like before closing this letter to inform you Of arrival
Pekn and favorable reception but the mail goes in
hour and must therefore conclude
NEWSPAPERS ACCOUNTS.
THE ALLIES WEIGH ANCHOR AND nun TO THE
MOUTH OF THE PEIHO-MEETING THE BARRIERS.
ron the Peiho (June 2s) Correspondence of Ceylon
Observer.
To the Of In