The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1859-10-02
The Battle OF Peku.

EXPERIENCES OF AN ENGLISH NAVAL OFFICER.
The following is extract from letter Of The senior
Lieutenant of her Maes,ys ship Hghtyer, written 10 his
father, Captain T. II. Purvis, r. NJ
HsR MAJEsTY's Snip He#FlTER, Jane %, 1859.
little thought, my dear father. when began this let
ter what tlle Of should have tell II appears
the Chinese would have nothing to say TO Minister
il was determined to attack their forts and force tho pas
sage a the river. Alas for the result. The guabpa;s
Nimrod and Cormorant went in 10 attack about 24o p N
the 25th, accompanied distance ont by hired
{Frcnch kind Of temporary gunboat the Coro
mandel. The forts both sides Of the river i'm.
mcnsoly strong, splcnddiy constructed by Russians
from Pekin, and loads Of RUSSIANS fighting the guns.
1t took eight guuboats till $40 p. n. to sienco the
forts, and then they had got them completely unjer.
AT p NJ. all the marines from Canton (abolt
400 odd) 100 sappers the marines and snaarm of
the squadron were landed on mud at at dead low wa,,
close under the heaviest fort ther guns all 6s and A.
ponnders) had the command Of the blue jackets, 81
strong, though having to repenish the gunboats ont
them, they only landed about 40 strong We hal to tramp
up this mud fiat, long quarter Of mile, up TO- and
places knees IN soft sticky mud. should
think 1t took twenty minutes. under mnrderons
fire Of round shot rifle, gingas, machocxs rockets,
rows &c, to get 10 the first ditch The hewn
down by dozens They (the Chncse) he'd lad all their
guns and the firing was accurate The soaking
scarcely be moved There stood, within about eighty
yards, being "poited Ike crows" all our ammunition
wet, waiting for scaling ladders a sccpna ti.rn
which VIC bad ultimately TO swim, and thea could no, get
the scaling ladders up The men We're dead beat and
ammunition all wet The mep and officers were shot
Down mafaefousy geihng w the ladders was Of
four to get across the seco,d ditch up my shoulders ia
mud and water. Alas il was no good they were 10
soHg of us we .ouid not get IN and haf d retreat
sot bioW on my eg on an old wound not healed, when
landed, that "chawed up" Thanks to one ot olr
brave feows of my small got Oft. having
SWIM 70 boat, the ecoundrcls keeping up
0erons ire Two round ehots went through the pilaca,
my beat killing the boa,kecper, aud smashing the boat
Immediately after five more went s'ap through her, de-
inoishihg her "chop chop lest my knfsacs, havef
SACK water bottle water proof coat chage o. clothes,
&c, and te SILK ensign intended TO have planted on
me walls OF the fort Our loss awfni Ia my party
have ionf killed three missing aud think twenty
Wounded some minus legs and some tninas srrns ana
others badly and less badly wounded
The Pope Invol<es the Aid of spain
TRANSLATED ron the Rome (Sept y correspondent d the
| Independence Beige for the Ngw YoRR H1i4tB1
Cardinal Antonel has lately hal mum ,rons interviews
question Of ecccsiast This a s,' ~ r
kncy il may be seenfs tn bs on The eve or ver4ba
solution for Spain The political compi,n4cpS ii the
midst Of which the Holy sands itself now, are not TO
mitted 10 the Ponilrs government propns,lg hav:
| ing for their object the ackro,, stgin,yo{ 81
! least parity, Of the fdits dcconlplt. ID Rom1rna
and having in the meantime notified that France viii
not by force Of arms the temporal power Of nm
Pope the provinces which have freed themselves from
the authority the Holy See the latter disposed To IL
yoke the help Of Spain. u Is even std but cannot
vonch for H. that the Conr Of Madrid promised to inter
ere, " not materially Mt least morally, and 1t s this pro-
mise which is said has determined Cardinal antone
depart from the obstnacy which he showed until
the question Of fjqniatng tbs mortgage,
The position Of the Ronngna Is Similar 10 that Of the
Duchy of Parma.
If the Dukes of Tuscany and Modena have reason 10
md support in Vienna account Of their common pa
cnagc with the House of Austrja the Duchess 81 Parma
or at least her son, the Duke Robert Infant Of Spain
queen Maria Christina has strongly taken In hand tnr
cause of the young orphan at the Court Of Madrid and
with more success than Mt st Cloud.
When the diplomatic will have failed II s
hoped AT the Vatican, ifhc fats acconps in tho Ronngna