to Pekin, and never saw anything of the rest of their party. Parkes
was known by sight and reputation, and his position and that of
Loch was, in a manner, recognised. Their cords were unbound after
eight hours, when they were heavily ironed, separated from each
other, and each put into ward with sixty prisoners--murderers and
felons of the first class--with whom they ate and slept and lived.
By day they were allowed to move about in their wards; at night
their chains were fastened to staples in the prison roof. They
represent their fellow prisoners to have behaved uniformly with
kindness towards them, sharing with them any little comforts they
possessed, and carrying their chains when they moved. But they were
treated with extreme rigour, and their allowance of food was scanty.
After the 29th September a change of treatment was adopted.
Parkes and Loch were taken from prison, and confined together in
a temple, where they were treated with every consideration. Their
dinner was furnished by the Véry of Pekin, and mandarins visited
them, bringing little presents of fruit. During this time the
diplomatists were trying to turn Parkes to political account.
They wrote to Lord Elgin to say that the prisoners then in Pekin
were very well, and that the basis of a treaty was being arranged
with Mr. Parkes, which would no doubt be satisfactory to all
parties. And thus matters went on until the joyful day came of the
prisoners’ release.
The firing spoken of as the immediate cause of the detention of our
people, began thus: Colonel Walker and his party had been left in
the lines of the Tartars, who were at first rudely good-humoured,
as he moved about and observed how completely the guns, now in
position behind a ridge of sandhills, covered the ground allotted
by the Commissioners for the encampment of our forces. Suddenly
Walker’s attention was attracted by a cry uttered close to him.
He saw a French officer who had come out of Tung-chow during the
morning, and had attached himself to the English, in the act of
being cut down and pulled off his horse by a party of soldiers.
Walker rode up to him, and catching hold of his hand, essayed to
drag him away. A mob closed round Walker; some attempted to lift
him off his horse; whilst others, taking advantage of his right
hand being engaged, canted his sword out of its scabbard and made
off. A mortal blow was dealt to the poor Frenchman; swords were
drawn on all sides; and Walker calling on his men to put spurs
and ride, galloped for his life towards our troops, now drawn up
within sight, about half a mile away. The party was pursued by
cavalry, and fired on by Tartar infantry and guns in succession;
but they reached our lines alive, with one horse severely, and two
men slightly, wounded.
An immediate advance was made by the Allied forces; the enemy were
speedily driven from their guns, and their cavalry was swept away
by successive charges of our horse. All their guns, seventy-five in
number, their camps, and quantities of arms, were captured by our
troops, who occupied for the night the walled town of Chan-kya-wan,
which gave its name to the battle. That place is twelve miles from
Pekin, in a direct line, and four from Tung-chow, which is the port
of Pekin on the Peiho; and lies to the right of the direct road
from Tientsin.
But the victory did not lead, as we had fondly hoped, to the
immediate recovery of the prisoners, victims of treachery so dark
as to have been unsuspected even by the experienced and wary
Parkes. The night before the foul plot was carried out, the Prince
of Ee had entertained our people at dinner, and, smiling, had
bidden them adieu. An officer, deputed by the Prince, attended the
party in the morning, and it was perhaps not unnatural for Parkes
to believe that he could induce the Prince to countermand the
movement of troops which he then saw, and which he supposed to be
unknown to the High Commissioner. The Prince’s reception of Parkes,
of course, dispelled this expectation, and no time was lost in
returning to camp. Even then there was no appearance of immediate
danger to the party, unless from possible excitement of the rude
soldiery through whom they had to pass; for both Chinese and
Tartars had up to this time invariably shown the fullest confidence
in the protection of flags of truce, under which officers had
frequently passed between the Allied and Chinese camps during the
war then waging.
The soldiers, however, possessed that reverence for the emblem of
peace which animates most other savages; and it was at the hands of
San-ko-lin-tzin, the commander-in-Chief of the Chinese army, and
the apostle of competitive examination, that the Chinese Government
was degraded to the last degree by the deliberate violation of a
flag of truce, and by the capture of the heralds whom it should
have shielded.
Having ascertained that a considerable force of Tartars was
encamped between Tung-chow and Pekin, Sir Hope Grant advanced on
the 21st September to attack their position. Again the Tartars were
completely beaten, their camps and guns all captured, and great
loss inflicted on the enemy by our cavalry. The King’s Dragoon
Guards made a capital charge; and a squadron of Fane’s horse, under
Lieutenant Cattley, attached for the day to the French, after
driving the enemy into a village, galloped quickly round it, and
falling on the enemy’s flank, as he emerged on the other side,
inflicted signal punishment. The number of Tartar troops on or
about the field this day is estimated at 80,000 men, of whom 30,000
were actually engaged. The allied forces numbered 6200--viz.,
English, 3200 of all arms, and fifteen guns; and French, 3000, with
twelve guns.
The action of Pā-li-chow left us in possession of the important
strategic point called the Pā-li bridge, whereby the paved causeway
from Tung-chow to Pekin crosses the canal constructed between those
places. It further gave us the line of the canal on which the enemy
had rested, and left the approach to Pekin open to our troops.
Our success was immediately followed by a letter from the Prince
Koung, brother of the Emperor, and heir to the throne, announcing
to the Ambassadors that he had been appointed, with full powers, to
conclude a peace, in the room of Prince Tsai.
After the fight of the 18th, Sir Hope Grant had sent an express to
summon General Napier, with as much of the 2nd division as could
be spared from Tientsin. The General had already succeeded in
procuring from the Chinese authorities carriage for his troops,
which the Commissariat was unable to furnish. The order found them
ready to move, and General Napier reached headquarters on the
24th, having marched seventy miles in sixty hours, with a supply
of ammunition, which was much required, escorted by a company of
Brownlow’s light-footed Punjabees.
The army halted in the position it had won until siege guns had
arrived by water from Tientsin; fourteen days’ supply had been
brought up the river, and all available troops had been collected.
The force in front was strengthened by all the infantry of the
garrison of Tientsin, which was replaced by the 19th Punjab
Infantry from Tahlien Bay, and by marines, whom the Admiral landed
from the fleet.
Advancing from Pā-li on the 6th October, the British took up
position on the northern road leading from the gates of Pekin to
Tartary, without falling in with any of the enemy, except a picket,
which retired with precipitation. The French who were to have
operated on the left between our flank and Pekin, marched, through
some misunderstanding, across our rear, and took possession of the
imperial palace of Yuen-Ming-Yuen, “the Fountain of Summer,” six
miles to the North of Pekin, and four miles away to our right. We
heard nothing of them all night; but Sir Hope Grant found them the
next morning, when arrangements were made for the division between
the two forces of the treasures which the palace contained. But in
the absence of any British troops the arrangements broke through,
and our prize agents, finding the principal valuables appropriated
by the French, abandoned their functions. Thereupon on the 8th
indiscriminate plunder was allowed; but as of the British a few
officers only had access to the palace, and none of the men, our
officers were ultimately desired to give up all they had brought
away, and the property they had collected was ultimately sold by
auction for the benefit of the troops actually present in the field
before Pekin.
A most spirited sale ensued of china, enamels, jade, furs, silk,
&c., which realised £5000; and this sum, added to the amount of
gold and silver bullion which had been brought in, enabled the
prize agents at once to make a distribution amongst the troops,
ranging from £3 for a private soldier, to £60 for a first-class
field officer. All our generals surrendered their shares to the
troops. The arrangement made was perhaps the fairest that could be
arrived at under the actual circumstances of the time; but of a
booty worth at least a million of money, belonging to the imperial
crown--therefore prize of the fairest character--the British troops
have profited only to the amount of £25,000. The balance has gone
to the French, who take the broadest view of the question of
halves, or to the Chinese peasantry, who plundered as they pleased,
after the departure of the French, on the third day of occupation.
On the 8th October, the first-fruits of our advance on Pekin were
realised, in the surrender to us, by the Chinese, of Messrs. Parkes
and Loch, and the Sikh orderly who had been taken with them. A
French savant and three men were given up at the same time. Our
poor fellows looked wonderfully well; but M. d’Escayrae’s hands
were still contorted by the pressure to which they had been
subjected during the twenty hours in which he was bound. The
delivery of prisoners was the direct result of an intimation sent
to the Chinese, on the 7th October, that unless all the prisoners
still in their hands were delivered up immediately, a gate of the
city placed in our possession without opposition, and competent
persons deputed to conclude a peace, Pekin would be taken by
assault; but if all the prisoners were given up, our troops would
not be allowed to enter the city, and the lives and property of the
inhabitants should be respected.
Saturday, the 13th October, at noon, was the period fixed on for
compliance with our demands. Before the time elapsed, eleven of our
Sikh horsemen who had been prisoners, were delivered up alive,
and the remains of all who had perished (save poor Brabazon and
the Abbé), were received in coffins. On the 17th they were buried
in the Russian cemetery, with all the honour and solemnity that
could be paid. The Ambassadors of England, France, and Russia, the
Commanders-in-Chief, and the allied officers not on duty, attended.
The Roman Catholic and Greek prelates showed, by their presence,
generous sympathy in the untimely fate of our countrymen.
But as the complete fulfilment of the demands was still uncertain,
batteries were erected against the city wall at a distance of 150
yards, by the British and French respectively, and arrangements
were made for opening fire at noon of the 13th, if the gate was not
by that time given up. Every one agreed in hoping that thousands of
inoffensive people might be spared the misery of an assault; but
the 2nd Division must have felt something like a pang when, at the
appointed hour, they saw their General ride with an escort through
the gate, and found, by the display of the ensign from its top,
that the Tartars had surrendered to us the command of the Imperial
city.
Yes, we were there, masters of the capital of China--at the
very end of the map of the world--at the point which appears
to schoolboy minds the limit of creation. We held the massive
four-storied keep which frowns like a line-of-battle ship above
the Gate of Peace; our troops and field artillery were actually on
the walls which commanded the whole of the interior of the city,
and they could move to any point along the fifty feet road which
the summit of the wall presents. The walls and gates adjoining,
together with some few larger double-storied buildings, were the
only objects visible from our position varying the universal
dun-colour of the city houses and enclosing walls. The broad
street which leads from our gate into the city was packed with a
dense crowd, anxious to make out the foreigners, and indulging
in sonorous “Ei Yaws” at every novelty which met their wondering
eyes. Electrified indeed were the Celestials when the bands of a
French regiment, and of our 67th and 99th, struck up within the
gateway, and guards presented their clanging arms as the Generals
rode by; but the climax was reached when Desborough’s guns were
spurted up the steep stone ramps which lead from the base to the
summit of the wall, fifty feet in height, drawn by six horses of
fabulous stature, and driven by the terrible barbarians who eat
their enemies.
The surrender was carried out in good faith; but the appearance on
the walls of guns of heavy calibre, evidently recently moved into
positions whence our batteries were observed, spoke either of
divided counsels or of tardy resignation on the part of our enemies.
Still our success was insufficient. No retribution had been exacted
for the violation of the flag of truce, and for the murder of our
countrymen, and no one seemed to feel certain whether a treaty
was to be obtained or not. It was useless to demand the surrender
of the persons who had instigated the barbarous treatment of the
prisoners, for they were known to be very near the person of the
Emperor, and there was therefore no chance of our getting the real
offenders. An atonement in money, for the iniquities perpetrated,
though repugnant to our feelings, appeared to be the only kind of
demand with which the Chinese Government, humiliated and beaten
as it was, could be expected to comply. The readiest means of
obtaining a treaty was obviously to remain at Pekin until we got
it; but the French Commander refused positively to detain his
troops at the capital after the 1st November, and the English
General was greatly indisposed to incur the risk of keeping his
force there through the winter, in the absence of complete and
timely arrangements for provisionment, which it was considered the
advanced period of the season rendered impracticable.
Accordingly, on the 18th October, an ultimatum was addressed by
the plenipotentiaries to Prince Koung, requiring him to reply by
the morning of the 20th, whether, after paying, as a necessary
preliminary to further negotiations, a sum of money in atonement
for the murders committed, he would on an early day sign the
convention already agreed upon? His Excellency was told that the
Summer Palace, which had been partially plundered before the fate
of the prisoners was known, would now be entirely destroyed, that
its ruins might present a lasting mark of the abhorrence of the
British Government at the violation of the law of nations which had
been committed. He was also told, that in case of refusal to comply
with the demands now made, the Imperial Palace of Pekin would be
captured, plundered and burned.
In support of the ultimatum, the 1st Division of the British force,
with cavalry, proceeded on the 18th and 19th to complete the
plunder and destruction of the Summer Palace, whose smoke, driven
by the northerly wind, hung over Pekin, whilst its ashes were
wafted into the very streets of the capital. The French declined
to take any part in this act of punishment--first, because they
thought the palace had already been destroyed on their quitting it;
and further, they feared that this demonstration would frighten the
Chinese out of all hope of making any treaty at all.
The result showed that not one-fourth of the Imperial pavilions
which constitute the Summer Palace had been even visited in the
first instance, much less burned; and great booty was acquired by
the troops employed as well as by the members of the embassy, navy,
and staff, who were able to accompany the force. And so salutary
was the effect produced on the advisers of the Imperial crown, that
a letter acceding to all demands was received at daylight on the
20th, to the renewed disappointment of the 2nd Division, who again
were under arms for the assault.
On the 22nd, the atonement-money, amounting to £100,000, was paid;
and on the 24th, her Majesty’s Plenipotentiary, accompanied by
the Commander-in-Chief, and escorted by a division of the army,
entered in state and triumph the gates of the dim, mysterious city.
The Ambassador was received by a deputation of Mandarins, who
accompanied Lord Elgin to the hall, three miles distant, at the far
side of the Tartar city, where the Prince Koung, surrounded by the
principal officers of state, awaited his arrival.
At five o’clock that afternoon, ratifications of the treaty of
1858 were duly exchanged by the representatives of the sovereigns,
and a convention signed, which, commencing with a recital of the
Emperor’s regret at the occurrences at the Peiho Forts in 1858,
declares Tientsin a free port, and thereby opens the Peiho to
within seventy miles of Pekin for the traffic of the world. The
provisions of the convention permit free emigration of Chinese,
with their wives and families, to all parts of the world, and
transfer a territory at Cowloon, opposite Hong Kong, where our
troops were encamped in 1860, to the British Crown. An indemnity
of three millions sterling to the British is guaranteed; and
stipulation is made for the establishment of a British force
at Tientsin, until the terms are fulfilled. A portion of the
indemnity is to be paid 31st, December, 1860, whereon Chusan is to
be evacuated by the English and French troops. But no provision
is made for the evacuation of Canton, to which the French are at
present understood to be disinclined to agree. The remainder of the
indemnity is to be paid by periodical instalments of one-fifth of
the gross revenue of the customs of China.
After signing the convention, Lord Elgin expressed a hope that the
treaty would inaugurate friendly relations between the powers.
Prince Koung replied that he himself had been about to utter the
same words; and acknowledging that foreign affairs had hitherto
been greatly mismanaged, observed, that as their administration was
now exclusively placed in his hands, he had no doubt their future
management would be more satisfactory.
The Franco-Chinese treaty was ratified by Baron Gros and the Prince
Koung on the following day.”
CINTRA, CONVENTION OF.--This disgraceful convention was concluded
between the British army, under Sir Hew Dalrymple and the French
under Marshal Junot. The latter were allowed to evacuate Portugal
and to be carried home to France in British ships, taking with them
their ill-got gain; signed the day of the battle of Vimeira, August
22nd, 1808.
CITATE.--Fought 5th January, 1854, between Omar Pacha and the
Turks, on the one side, and the Russians on the other.
“The army to which was allotted the first active operation was
that commanded by General Fishback, with Generals Engelhardt and
Bellegarde under his orders. This force was to occupy the extreme
west of the Russian line of attack, and to drive the Turks from
their position at Kalafat. By the time, however, that Fishback had
reached Citate, a village within a few miles of his destination,
he discovered that his force of about 15,000 men was inadequate to
dislodge an equal number, strongly intrenched, and in unimpeded
communication with Widdin, on the opposite side of the river,
whence considerable supplies of men and ammunition could doubtless
be obtained. He resolved, therefore, to postpone the assault until
the 13th of January (the Russian New Year’s day), by which time he
would be in possession of the requisite reinforcements, which he
anticipated would raise his force to 45,000 men. Achmet and Ismail
Pachas, who commanded the garrison at Kalafat, were well aware of
the plans of the Russian commander, and determined to forestall
his action. At daybreak, on the 6th of January, they sallied from
the town with fifteen field-pieces, 10,000 regular infantry, 4000
cavalry, and 1000 of the irregular troops, known as Bashi-Bazouks.
Three thousand men from the garrison at Widdin crossed the river
to defend Kalafat from surprise; and at Moglovitz, between that
town and Citate, a similar number were detached as a reserve. About
nine o’clock the Turks reached Citate, and opened a side fire upon
the village, while the infantry vigorously charged in front. After
three hours of sanguinary street-fighting, the nature of the ground
forbidding organized military combinations, the Russians retreated
to the works they had thrown up beyond the village. The Turkish
field-pieces were now brought to bear upon the intrenchments, and
several vigorous assaults were made and as bravely repulsed. In
the midst of the conflict, a large body of Russian reinforcements
arrived, and the Turks, who occupied the gardens and orchards
round the village, were exposed to an energetic assault in their
rear. Nothing daunted, and favoured by their position, the
Ottomans fought nobly, and succeeded in routing the newly-arrived
reinforcement of the enemy, just as Ismail Pacha appeared upon
the scene with the reserve from Moglovitz. Concentrating their
forces, they now rushed at the intrenchments, and, beating down
all opposition, drove the enemy from the position they had held.
Nearly 2400 Russians dead in the streets and earth-works, a like
number wounded, four guns, and the depôts of ammunition and arms
which they captured, attested that day the prowess of the Turkish
arms. Their own loss was about 200 killed and 700 wounded. For two
days they held the place against the attempts of the Russians to
recapture it; and then, emerging into the open field, drove the
Russians before them back to Krajova. Then, retiring in triumph,
they re-entered Kalafat, which, now mounting 250 heavy guns, and
garrisoned (including Widdin) by 25,000 men, might safely promise
a desperate resistance to any further Russian attempt.”
CIUDAD RODRIGO.--This strong fortress of Spain was invested
by the French, June 11th, 1810, and surrendered July 10th,
following.--Remained in the hands of the French till stormed
gallantly by the British, under Wellington, January 19th,
1812.--Loss of the British and Portuguese 1000 killed and wounded,
equal number of French, and 1700 prisoners.
CLONTARF, BATTLE OF.--Fought between the Irish and Danes on Good
Friday, 1039. The Danes were signally defeated, 11,000 of them
perished in battle, but the Irish had to deplore the loss of Bryan
Boiroimhe, the King, and many of the nobility.
CLOSTERSEVEN, CONVENTION OF.--Between the Duke of Cumberland, third
son of George II, and the Duke of Richelieu, commanding the French;
38,000 Hanovarians laid down their arms and were dispersed,--signed
September 10th, 1757.
COALITIONS AGAINST FRANCE.
1st. Prussia issued her manifesto June 26th, 1792.
2nd. Great Britain, Germany, Russia, Naples, Portugal and Turkey
signed them, June 22nd, 1799.
3rd. Great Britain, Russia, Austria and Naples, August 5th, 1805.
4th. Great Britain, Russia, Prussia and Saxony, October 6th, 1806.
5th. England and Austria, April 6th, 1809.
6th. Russia and Prussia, ratified at Kalisch, March 17th, 1813.
COLONEL.--This word is derived from the French, and means the chief
commander of a regiment of troops.
COMMANDERS-IN-CHIEF OF THE BRITISH ARMY SINCE 1674:
Duke of Monmouth 1674
Duke of Marlborough 1690
Duke of Schomberg 1691
Duke of Ormond 1711
Earl of Stair 1744
Field Marshal Wade 1745
Lord Ligonier 1757
Marquess of Granby 1766
Lord Amherst 1778
General Seymour Conway 1782
Lord Amherst again 1793
Frederick, Duke of York 1795
Sir David Dundas March 25, 1809
Frederick, Duke of York May 29, 1811
Duke of Wellington Jan’y 22, 1827
Lord Hill, Gen’l Commander-in-Chief Feb’y 25, 1828
Duke of Wellington again Dec. 28, 1842
Viscount Hardinge Sept. 25, 1852
Duke of Cambridge July 15, 1856
CONFEDERATION OF THE RHINE.--The League of the Germanic States
formed under the auspices of Napoleon Bonaparte. By this celebrated
League the German States had to raise 258,000 troops to serve in
case of war. It terminated with the downfall of Napoleon.
CONFLANS, TREATY OF.--A compact between Louis XI of France and the
Dukes of Bourbon, Brittany and Burgundy. This treaty put an end to
the “War of the Public Good,” in 1468.