SIR HENRY POTTINGER.

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considered an equivalent for the trouble and expense of fitting out and despatching large expeditions to the Far East. Moreover, there was no guarantee for its durability. Taoukwang had not taken the least step towards meeting foreign Governments on a common footing, and it was an open secret that he would repudiate all sympathy with, and responsibility for, Yihshan's personal engagement. The English plenipotentiary resolved, therefore, to follow up the recent successes without delay, and by moving the scene of action one stage nearer the capital he hoped to effect his object, and to bring home to the Celestial Government the necessity of conceding the just demands of the English Crown and people. Before the end of August, therefore, the English expedition sailed from Hongkong, and on the 26th of that month Amoy, which had for a time been a port open to foreign trade, fell into the hands of the invaders. The defence made by the Chinese was described as "short but animated," and with only trifling loss to the assailants a strong position, with 500 cannon mounted in its batteries, and defending vast supplies of munitions of war, was lost to the Emperor of China.

The Chinese authorities had neglected no means in their power of making Amoy capable of standing a siege; and in their hearts they trusted for a time to a belief in its impregnability. The town of Amoy is situated on an island, the largest of a group lying at the entrance to the estuary of Lungkiang, and it has long been famous not only as a convenient port, but also as a place of opulence. Nearly 200,000 persons dwelt in the city at this time, and about half as many more inhabited the prosperous villages that covered the island. On the eastern side of the harbour is the large but flat island of Quemoy, with abundant rice-fields and a toiling population; and on the western is the elevated but barren islet of Kulangsu. On the chief island, and facing the sea, the Chinese had raised a rampart of 1100 yards in length, and this they had armed with ninety guns of different sizes. The flank of this fortification was defended by another battery of forty-two guns, while on the island of Kulangsu were many other guns in position which may be designated by

the convenient term of batteries. No lack of energy or caution could be laid to the charge of the Chinese authorities. The town of Amoy was one of the principal places in the province of Fuhkien. Those entrusted with its custody were prepared to perform their duty.

When the English fleet appeared off the entrance of the harbour, the Chinese sent a merchant ship with a flag of truce the use of which, when convenient to themselves, they had thoroughly learnt to inquire what they wanted. The reply was the surrender of the town. It would be difficult to justify the necessity of this proceeding, for the people of Amoy had inflicted no injury upon our persons or our trade, and their chastisement might not bring our envoys any nearer to Pekin; nor can the action be approved of on the theory that to have passed on without touching Amoy would have been to have left a strong hostile position in the rear of our expedition. Amoy was strong only for itself. It threatened nothing; its capture had no important consequences, and to have left it unharmed would not have interfered with the grand result.

The summons to surrender meeting very naturally with no response, the English fleet approached the batteries for the purpose of engaging them. The first shot was fired from an English vessel, and the batteries replied briskly from all sides. The Chinese stood to their guns "right manfully," to use the phrase of an English tar who was present in the action, and were only induced to abandon their position when a landing party, having gained the rear, opened a destructive fire upon them. Then, after a faint resistance in hand-tohand encounter, the Chinese were worsted, and sought safety in flight. Some of the officers, preferring death to military dishonour, committed suicide, and one of them was seen to walk calmly into the water and drown himself sooner than yield to the hated foreigner. The defence of Amoy was creditable to the Chinese; and had the direction of the defence been as skilful as the construction of the lines, it is not improbable that Sir William Parker's attack on Amoy would have failed.*

*The fortifications and sand batteries were excellently built.

"The

CHUSAN OCCUPIED.

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After a few days Amoy itself was evacuated, without any definite arrangement being made with the Fuhkien authorities, who had disappeared and did not present themselves to the victor. Three war-vessels were left at the anchorage, however, and a small garrison of 400 men was stationed on the island of Kulangsu; but the main force of the expedition sailed northwards to bring the occupant of the Dragon Throne to his knees, or to what is called reason by the stronger power. The fleet was dispersed during a severe hurricane, after passing through the Formosa channel, and only reassembled off Ningpo after a week's delay and waste of time. But Ningpo was not the first object of attack, and the fleet, leaving that place behind, proceeded to again seize and occupy the island of Chusan, which, despite many proofs of insalubrity and the undoubted heavy loss which English soldiers had experienced from a fluctuating or inclement atmosphere, presented such inducements from its position that the English commanders held it to be necessary in the first place to make sure of its possession.

The chief town of this island is known as Tinghai, and great preparations had been made there to avert the fate which had befallen it in the previous year. Here, again, the defences were admirably constructed, the artillery far from inefficient, and many of the soldiers animated by a fierce spirit of hostility and by a laudable anxiety to do their duty. Moreover, in the artillery-duel that ensued the Chinese artillerists held their own, for neither side succeeded in inflicting any serious damage on the other. But when the English batteries were never completely silenced by the ships' guns, and it is believed they never would have been." The stolid courage of the Chinese against Europeans and superior arms first attracted attention during this period, and it was prophesied about this time, "Let the Chinese be trained and well found with European implements and munitions of war, and depend on it they will prove themselves no contemptible foe "—a prophecy to be realized, perhaps, in a future generation. Another spectator describing the scene wrote as follows:-"An officer of low rank was the bearer of a paper demanding to know what our ships wanted, and directing us 'to make sail for the outer waters ere the Celestial wrath should be kindled against us and the guns from the batteries annihilate us!' The batteries were admirably constructed, and manned by Europeans no force could have stood before them."-"Chinese Repository," vol. x. p. 621.

troops landed and advanced to carry the batteries by storm, the superiority of Western discipline was asserted; and although the Chinese fought valiantly, and did not retreat until the line of bayonets was at spear's length, the batteries fell in rapid succession. Yet, to those who were not prejudiced against the Chinese as mere Asiatics, their valour on this and many other occasions had something in it noble and worthy of respect in the highest degree.*

Chusan having been thus speedily reoccupied, for the fall of Tinghai† signified the capture of the island, as no subsequent attempt was made at resistance, a garrison of 400 men was placed in charge of the island, similar to that left in occupation of the island of Kulangsu off Amoy. From Tinghai the main force still under the joint command of Sir Hugh Gough and Sir William Parker, with the plenipotentiary Sir Henry Pottinger accompanying it, sailed for Chinhai, a seaport of some importance on the coast of Chekiang. With the futility of bombardments impressed upon them by their late experience at Amoy and Tinghai, the arrangements to attack this town were made almost independent of an useless cannonade. A force of rather more than 2000 men was landed, and Sir Hugh Gough made his dispositions for an immediate attack. Dividing his small army into three columns, of which he assumed the command of the centre in person, he moved his two flank columns towards the sides of the enemy's position. Thanks to some inequalities in the ground their approach was not observed, and when the

* "Many of the Chinese,” wrote an officer in the attack, "seeing our men advance into the battery, quickly turned, and a very smart affair followed. They assembled in great numbers close to some brass guns, and there fought like Turks; in their haste, however, they fired too high to do much injury, and some of the advance saved their lives by making good use of their pistols. At this place General Keo, the chief naval and military commander, was killed, and all his officers sticking to him to the last also fell with him. Their conduct, in fact, was noble: nothing could have surpassed it."-" Chinese Repository," vol. x. p. 624.

+ In Sir Henry Pottinger's proclamation to the people it was said that "years may probably elapse before the said city will be restored to the Emperor's authority," as it was to be held until the demands of the English Government were not only acceded to, but carried into full

effect."

BATTLE OF CHINHAI.

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Chinese saw only the few men that composed the centre body advancing to the attack they boldly left their lines, and, drawing up in battle array, hastened to engage the foreigners whom in their imagination they had already exterminated. The opposing lines had come within short musketdistance before the presence of the two flanking columns was revealed, and the rapidity of their fire left the Chinese not even the time for flight. Astonished by the sudden revelation of so many foes, those of the Chinese soldiers who escaped the murderous fire to which they were exposed, broke into panic-stricken flight; but many of the braver preferred, even in the midst of this disorder, an honourable death to a cowardly safety. Some fell by their own act. Hundreds perished at the point of the bayonet, hundreds more were drowned in the swift-flowing stream of the Tatsieh. Chinhai shared the fate of Tinghai, and its occupation left the English commanders free to devote their attention to the capture of Ningpo.

Apparently the Chinese had trusted so implicitly to the defences of Chinhai that they thought it was unnecessary to make any further preparations at Ningpo. When Sir Hugh Gough reached this important city, he found no one to resist him, and the townsfolk in their anxiety to allay the wrath of the victors had gone so far as to shut themselves up in their houses, and to mark their doors with the phrase "submissive people." The occupation of Ningpo, although effected without any military operation of consequence, was of the greatest importance, for it completed the effect produced by the successes at Amoy, Tinghai, and Chinhai; and showed a large number of the coast population of China that the foreigners possessed the military superiority, and were resolved to assert it without the least compunction. Ningpo was garrisoned, and a public notice was issued by Sir Henry Pottinger, informing the mandarins and other authorities that he held Ningpo to ransom, and that unless the amount were forthcoming within a stated time he would hand over the town to pillage and destruction. This threat, which struck even those on the spot as unduly harsh, was probably never meant to be put into execution, and was only employed with