EAST INDIA AFFAIRS, ETC.
During the preceding year the British power in India came into hostile collision with the Ghilzies. This collision was thus brought about. The Khoord Cabul Pass is a long and dangerous defile through which the road between Cabul and Jellalabad runs, and which, therefore, it was necessary to keep open for the purpose of safe intercourse between Cabul and British India. This part of Affghanistan was occupied by the eastern Ghilzies: and it was thought advisable to purchase from them the right of traversing the pass without molestation. An agreement was, in fact, entered into with the Ghilzee chiefs, whereby it was stipulated that a certain sum of money should be paid them yearly out of the Cabul treasury, if they would keep the pass open, and offer no molestation to our troops on their passage between Cabul and Jellalabad. Owing, however, to the financial difficulties of the Cabul treasury, or to some mismanagement on the part of the officer who was appointed to disburse the money, the whole amount of the stipulated sum was not paid, and the Ghilzies immediately rose in arms and closed the passes. It was necessary to open it by force; and Major-general Sir Robert Sale was sent by General Elphinstone from Cabul for that purpose. The brigade which Sir Robert commanded entered the pass on the 12th of October. The Ghilzies were posted behind a breastwork near the middle of the pass; and as the assailing body approached, the enemy withdrew from this position, and occupied the steep and precipitous ridges of the mountains on either side, from whence they opened a well-directed fire. General Sale was wounded in the ankle and obliged to leave the field; and Lieutenant-colonel Dennie then took the command. Under his direction one section of the brigade got possession of the heights, and their guns were established in a deserted fort on the southern gorge of the pass; but the other division marched back through the defile to the camp at Boothak. But, although the Khoord Cabul Pass was thus cleared, the force under General Sale was compelled to fight with the enemy during eighteen days in their route to Gundamuek, which was reached on the 30th of October. After this the British troops commanded the route to Sookhab; and on the 12th of November they reached Jellalabad. In the meantime a fearful tragedy, which ended in the total destruction of our Cifeul force, had commenced in that city. The British troops were placed in a cantonment on the north side of the city, which cantonment consisted only of a low rampart and narrow ditch, in the form of a parallelogram, thrown up along the line of the Kohistan road, one thousand yards long and six hundred broad, with round flanking bastions at each corner, every one of which was commanded by some fort or hill. The “Mission Compound,” where Sir William M’Naghten, the envoy, and his suite resided, was attached to the cantonment on the north side, and surrounded by a single wall. On the eastern side, about a quarter of a mile off, the Cabul river flowed in a direction parallel with the Kohistan road; and between the river and cantonments there was a wide canal. In itself this cantonment was most insecure; but General Elphinstone threw a bridge over the river so as to render the communication between the Seeah Sung camp and the cantonment still more easy. The most extraordinary oversight, however, was the allowing the commissariat stores to be placed in an old fort detached from the cantonment, and in such a state as to be wholly indefensible. The troops were thus placed when a rebellion took place under Ameenoollah and Abdoolhah Khan. It commenced by an attack on the dwellings of Sir Alexander Barnes and Captain Johnson, who resided in the city of Cabal; Sir Alexander, his brother, Lieutenant Burnes, and Lieutenant Broadfoot were murdered. On discovering this, General Elphinstone sent an order to Brigadier Shelton to march forthwith with a body of troops to the Bala Hissar, or royal citadel, situated at the eastern extremity of the city; the rest of the troops in that camp were withdrawn into the cantonment, and the whole of the camp followers when collected amounted to twelve thousand, exclusive of women and children. A long and miserable siege now took place. The Affghans surrounded the cantonments, and poured in a constant fire from every quarter; and, at length, on the 11th of December, the commissariat fort being captured by the enemy, Sir William M’Naghten was compelled to sign this humiliating agreement with the rebel chief:—“That the British should evacuate the whole of Affghanistan, including Candahar, Ghuznee, and Jellalabad: that they should be permitted to return unmolested to India; and that supplies should be granted to them on their road thither—certain men of consequence accompanying them as hostages; that means of transport should be furnished to the troops; that Dost Mahomed Khan, his family, and every Affghan then detained within our territory should be allowed to return to their own country; that Shah Soojah and his family should have the option of remaining at Cabul or proceeding with the British troops to Loodianah, in either case receiving from the Affghan government one lac of rupees per annum; that an amnesty should be granted to all who had taken the part of Shah Soojah; that all prisoners should be released; that no British force should ever be sent into Affghanistan, unless invited by the Affghan government.” The chiefs, in retiring from the conference, took with them Captain Trevor as a hostage. Much delay took place in carrying any of these terms into effect; and in the meantime a trap was laid for Sir William M’Naghten, into which he fell. On the 22nd of December two Affghans came into the cantonment, and had a private conference with him, in which they made a proposal on the part of Akbar Khan, that Ameenoolah Khan should be seized the next day, and delivered up to the British as a prisoner; that the Bala Hissar should be occupied by one of our regiments: that Shah Soojah should continue king, and Mahomed Akbar become his Wuzeer, or prime-minister; and that our troops should remain in the cantonment until the following spring. To these specious terms the envoy unwarily assented; and on the 23rd of December, accompanied by three officers, he left the Mission-House to attend a conference with Mahomed Akbar Khan in the plain toward Seeah Sung. While in the act of conference, however, Sir William M’Naghten and the officers were seized from behind by armed men; and he and Captain Trevor were murdered; the other officers escaped with difficulty. The situation of the British troops was now evidently desperate, and Major-general Elphinstone deemed it necessary to provide for their safety by again attempting to negociate with the enemy. A convention was entered into, in pursuance of which the troops commenced their march on the 6th of January. In the whole there were 4,500 fighting men about 12,000 camp followers, and a large number of women and children. Their retreat was most disastrous. The snow lay deep upon the ground, and the rear-guard had scarcely quitted the camp before it was attacked by the enemy. As far as Bareekhur the whole way was strewed with the dead and dying, who were immediately stripped and left naked by the Affghans; while the merciless Ghuzees hacked the dead corpses to pieces with their long knives. While at Bareekhur a communication was opened with Akbar Khan, who now offered to restrain the Affghans from further outrages, provided hostages were delivered to him as a security that the British would not march beyond Tezeen, until General Sale had evacuated Jellalabad. The proposal was accepted, and Major Pottinger and Captains Lawrence and Mackenzie became hostages. The troops now proceeded to the Khoord Cabul Pass; but Akbar Khan’s promise was futile: they had to force the difficult pass with considerable loss. The next morning the treacherous chief sent to the encampment, professing his concern at his inability to restrain the Ghilzies, who had been most active in the attacks of the preceding day; but he offered to protect the ladies, provided they would put themselves under his care. Eight ladies, including Lady Sale and Lady M’Naghten, placed themselves under his protection; those who had husbands being solaced by their company. In resuming the march the contest recommenced, and it did not cease until they reached Jugdulluck. Few, however, reached that place. Of the whole force which had left Cabul, amounting to more than 16,000 persons, not more than three hundred are said to have escaped. At Jugdulluck, Akbar Khan effectually interfered, and the unfortunate British were allowed to occupy, without molestation, a ruined enclosure, where they lay down, worn out by fatigue, and helpless, in the snow. Out of this number only one man, Dr. Brydon, lived to reach Jellalabad; the rest, subsequent to the protection afforded them by Akbar Khan at Jugdulluck, were all slain, either by the Affghan troops, or by the inhabitants of the villages through which they passed in their flight. As for General Elphinstone, he was detained prisoner by Akbar Khan, who sent for him under pretence of treating personally with him.
The enemy now approached Jellalabad, which was occupied by Sir Robert Sale, who had maintained his position there since the day on which he reached it. This gallant general had been engaged in several encounters with the enemy, in which he had uniformly punished them. When the enemy approached Jellalabad, Lady Sale, then a prisoner in the hands of the Affghans, wrote a letter, exhorting lier husband to defend his position; saying that she preferred death to dishonour. Sir Robert Sale refused, when summoned, to abandon his post, and he was consequently besieged by the enemy. Vigorous efforts were soon made to relieve the besieged garrison. Lord Auckland was about to retire from the government of India, and a new governor-general, Lord Ellenborough, had arrived at Calcutta on the 18th of February. In the meantime Sir Jasper Nicholls, who was commander-in-chief of the British forces in India, was urged by Lord Auckland to push on to Peshawar as many troops as he could spare. A body of 3500 men arrived at Peshawar on the 27th, but he having failed to force the Khyber Pass, was compelled to remain passive until joined by Major-general Pollock, who, when he arrived, took command of the forces destined for the relief of Jellalabad. A portion of the forces under his command consisted of Sikhs, the troop of the Maha Rajah Shere Sing, ruler of the Punjaub, under General Abitabile. On the arrival of Major-general Pollock at Peshawar, accounts were received from Jellalabad, representing General Sale as in want of immediate succour. Two brigades, consisting of 4,000 men, under the command of Colonel Bolton, had not yet joined his forces; but General Pollock nevertheless resolved to advance forthwith, having under his command about 8,000 men. The task he had to perform was one of the most difficult nature. From Jamrood, on the eastern side, the Khyber Pass extends for twenty-eight miles towards Jellalabad; and the defiles had hitherto been considered as impassable to an army if opposed by an enemy. The pass was defended by the Khyberries; but, despite their opposition, his whole force cleared it by the 14th of April; the first instance in history of an army forcing its way through these dreaded defiles in face of an enemy. The Sikh troops were left in possession of the pass, and on the morning of the 16th of April the troops, under the command of General Pollock, came in sight of Jellalabad, and were loudly greeted by the beleaguered garrison.
Before the arrival of General Pollock at Jellalabad, General Sale had, however, gained some important victories over his adversaries. The most important victory was obtained on the 7th of April, and Sir Robert Sale thus describes the contest:—“The troops issued from the Cabul and Peshawar gates at daylight this morning. So far from the Sirdhar (i.e. Akbar Kahn) having made any dispositions to avoid the encounter, his whole force (not falling short of 6,000 men) was formed in order of battle, for the defence of his camp, its right resting on a fort, and its left on the Cabul river; and even the ruined works, within eight hundred yards of the place, recently repaired, were filled with Ghilzie marksmen, evidently prepared for a stout resistance. The attack was led by the skirmishers, and a column, under Captain Havelock, which drove the enemy in the most satisfactory manner from the extreme left of his advanced line of works, which it pierced, and proceeded to advance into the plain; whilst the central column directed its efforts against a square fort upon the same base, the defence of which was obstinately maintained. With the deepest regret I have to record that, whilst nobly leading his regiment to the assault, Colonel Dennie, C.B., of her majesty’s thirteenth light infantry, received a shot through his body, which shortly after proved fatal. The rear of the work having been finally gained by passing to its left, I gave orders for a combined attack upon the enemy’s camp. It was in every way brilliant and successful. The artillery advanced at the gallop, and directed a heavy fire upon the Affghan centre, whilst two of the columns of infantry penetrated his line near the same point; and the third forced back his left from its support on the river, into the stream of which some of his horse and foot were driven. The Affghans made repeated attempts to check our advance by a smart fire of musketry, by throwing forward heavy bodies of horse, which twice threatened in force the detachments of foot under Captain Havelock, and by opening on us three guns screened by a garden wall, and said to have been served under the personal superintendance of the Sirdhar; but in a short time they were dislodged from every point of their positions, their cannon taken, and their camp involved in a general conflagration. The battle was over, and the enemy in full retreat in the direction of Lugliman by about seven a.m. We have made ourselves masters of two cavalry standards; recaptured four guns lost by the Cabul army and Gundamuck forces; and seized and destroyed a great quantity of materiel and ordnance stores, and burned the whole of the enemy’s tents. In short, the defeat of Mahomet Akbar in open field, by the troops whom he had boasted of blockading, has been complete and signal.” After his defeat Akbar Khan retired in the direction of Cabul, but his troops deserted from him to a man. Such was the state of affairs when the junction between the forces of General Sale and General Pollock took place at Jellalabad. The garrison was suffering severely from want of provisions, but plentiful supplies soon began to pour in from Peshawar, and the two generals subsequently resolved upon offensive operations. At this time the monarch whom the British power had placed on the throne at Cabul was dead: he had ordered a general levy of troops to be made in his capital, to march upon Jellalabad; and, while he was on his way to join these troops at Seeah Sung, he was fired upon by fifty Juzdilchees, who were placed in ambush, and was killed. General Pollock remained at Jellalabad upwards of four months, during which time his troops suffered severely from sickness, and their ranks were greatly thinned by death; and it was not until the 20th of August that he commenced his march towards Cabul. The prisoners, male and female, which were captured by Akbar Khan were in separate forts within the valley of Tezeen, where General Elphinstone died; and during the period of General Pollock’s stay at Jellalabad, Akbar Khan sent two of the British officers in captivity to treat for the liberation of the whole. He wished, however, to make our evacuation of Affghanistan the condition of restoring the prisoners; but as this proposal could not be entertained, all negotiations ceased, and the prisoners were subsequently removed from Tezeen to forts between Cabul and Bameean. Previous to his departure from Jellalabad, General Pollock had issued a manifesto to the chiefs at Cabul, stating his intention of marching upon the city, and promising them that if they restored the prisoners, their property would be protected and their city spared; but that if they allowed Akbar Khan to remove them, they must all be held responsible for the consequences, and that every house in Cabul should be razed to the ground. At length, on the 20th of August, General Pollock advanced from Jellalabad. The first conflict with the enemy took place at Mammoo Khail, about two miles from Gundamuck, where about 12,000 troops under the command of the chiefs Hadji Ali and Kyrrollah Khan were defeated. The two chiefs retreated towards Cabul, and General Pollock advanced thither on the 7th of September. On the 8th he reached the Soorkah, a small river, from which he had to traverse the formidable pass in order to arrive at Jugdulluck, which is about twenty miles distant. An obstinate opposition was made to his progress from the heights by which this pass is surrounded; but it was overcome by the prowess of the British forces, and the enemy took refuge in flight. Their onward march still lay through a difficult country; but General Pollock did not again encounter the enemy until he arrived at the valley of Tezeen. Here the pass was occupied by Akbar Khan himself; and while the British troops were halting to allow the cattle to recover from the effects of the fatigue of their forced march, they were attacked by the Affghans, though without success. A general action took place on the 13th of September, which General Pollock has thus described:—“The valley of Tezeen, where we were encamped, is completely encircled by lofty hills; and on the morning of the 13th it was perceived that the Affghans had occupied in great force every height not already occupied by our troops. I commenced my march towards the mouth of the Tezeen Pass, where I had left two guns, two squadrons of her majesty’s third dragoons, a party of first light cavalry, and the third irregular cavalry. The enemy’s horse appeared in the valley, with the intention of falling upon the baggage; but the dragoons and native cavalry made a most brilliant charge, and with such effect that the whole body of the enemy’s force was completely routed, and a number of them cut up. The Pass of Tezeen affords great advantages to an enemy occupying the heights; and on the present occasion Mahomed Akbar neglected nothing to render its natural difficulties as formidable as numbers could make it. Our troops mounted the heights, and the Affghans, contrary to their general custom, advanced to meet them, and a desperate struggle ensued; indeed their defence was so obstinate that the British bayonet, in many instances, alone decided the contest. The light company of her majesty’s ninth foot, led by Captain Lushington, ascending the hills on the left of the pass under a heavy cross-fire, charged, and overthrew their opponents, leaving several horses and their riders, supposed to be chiefs, dead on the hill. The slaughter was considerable; and the fight continued during the greater part of the day, the enemy appearing resolved that we should not ascend the Huft Kothul. One spirit seemed to pervade all, and a determination to conquer overcame the obstinate resistance of the enemy, who were at length forced from their numerous and strong positions; and our troops mounted the Huft Kothul, giving three cheers when they reached the summit. Here Lieutenant-colonel Cunningham, with a party of sappers, pressed the enemy so hard, that they left in their precipitation a twenty-four pound howitzer and limber, carrying off the draft-bullocks. Having heard that another gun had been seen, and concluding that it could not have gone very far, I detached a squadron of dragoons, under Captain Tritton, and two horse-artillery guns, under Major Delafosse, in pursuit; the gun, a twelve-pound howitzer, with bullocks sufficient for two guns, were soon captured. The dragoons again got among the enemy, and succeeded in cutting up many of them. Captain Broadfoot with the sappers advanced, and, with the dragoons, happened to fall in with another part of the enemy, of whom upwards of twenty were killed. I have ascertained there were about 16,000 men in the field opposed to me, of whom a considerable portion was cavalry. Mahomed Akbar Khan, Mahomed Shah Khan, Ameen Oolla, and many other chiefs with their followers were present.” After this decisive battle Akbar Khan made no further resistance; and on the 15th of September they encamped on the race-ground at Cabul. During their march from Jellalabad, Prince Futteh Jung had arrived in the camp as a wanderer; and on the 16th, General Pollock, accompanied by him, marched to the Bala Hissar, and there planted the British colours. Several of the English prisoners had already joined the camp; and before the 21st of the month, the whole of them, with the exception of Captain Bygrave—who was subsequently liberated—were restored to British protection. By these successes the stain brought upon the British arms was effaced, and the prestige of our name regained its former influence in the East. It was, however, resolved that we should leave Cabul; and a proclamation to that effect was made by the governor-general. But, before leaving Cabul, General Pollock despatched General M’Caskill with a body of troops into Kohistan, where the Affghan chiefs were still assembled in considerable force. On the 29th of September, General M’Caskill made himself master of the strong town of Istalif, totally defeating the numerous bodies of Affghan troops collected for its defence, under Ameenoollah Khan and other chiefs of Cabul and Kohistan. This town was set on fire; and a work of plunder and savage slaughter commenced, which brought a great stain upon the British arms. For two days the place was given up to fire and sword; and all the bitterness of hatred was manifested by the soldiery, both European and native. “Not a man was spared; the Affghans were hunted down like vermin; and whenever the dead body of an Affghan was found, the Hindoo sepoys set fire to the clothes, that the curse of a ‘burnt father’ might attach to his children.” General Pollock also determined to destroy the Char Chouk, the principal bazaar in Cabul, where the remains of the unfortunate Sir William M’Naghten had been exposed to insult. This bazaar was destroyed by gunpowder; and indeed the whole city, with the exception of the Bala Hissar and the quarter of the Kuzzilbashes, was laid in ruins. About this time General Pollock was joined by General Nott from Candahar; and on the 12th of October the two armies left Cabul, the advanced column being under the command of General Pollock, and that in the rear under General Nott. No event of consequence occurred during their march, and on arriving at the fortress of Jellalabad it was levelled with the dust, and rendered unfit for human habitation. Along the whole line of march, indeed, every kind of devastation was committed by the troops, who were exasperated by the sight of the unburied skeletons of their unfortunate companions in arms, who fell during the fatal retreat early in this year. When the British forces at length emerged from the Bolan Pass, which they did on the 1st of October, thereby evacuating the whole of Affghanistan, they had left behind them a name which will long be execrated in that country. It is true they had suffered deep wrongs; but mercy to the vanquished is a nobler quality than unlimited revenge. The spirit of revenge appears to have pervaded the whole of the British community in India. Even the governor-general, Lord Ellenborough, exhibited it in a proclamation issued to all the princes, and chiefs, and people of India. He writes:—“My brothers and my friends,—Our victorious army bears the gates of the temple of Somnauth in triumph from Affghanistan, and the despoiled tomb of Sultan Mahmoud looks upon the ruins of Ghuznee. The insult of eight hundred years is at last avenged. The gates of the temple of Somnauth, so long the memorial of your humiliation, are become the proudest record of your national glory—the proof of your superiority in arms over the nations beyond the Indus. To your princes and chiefs of Sirhind, of Bajwarra, of Malwa, and Guzerat, I shall commit this glorious trophy of successful war. You will yourselves, with all honour, transmit the gates of sandalwood through your respective territories, to the restored temple of Somnauth. The chiefs of Sirhind shall be informed at what time our victorious army will first deliver the gates of the temple into their guardianship at the foot of the bridge of the Sutlej.” In another proclamation Lord Ellenborough announced that all the Affghans then in the power of the British government should be permitted to return to their own country, and that the Affghan chiefs who were thus released, were, before they passed the Sutlej, to present themselves at the durbar, or levee, of the governor-general in his camp at Ferozepore.
The insurrection at Cabul, which has been described, was not confined to that quarter of Affghanistan. At the time it broke out, General Nott was in command at Candahar, with a force of nearly 10,000 men. The hostility of the Affghans in this part of the country soon displayed itself; Candahar was invested by a large body of insurgents under the command of Mahomed Atta. This chief was joined by Sufter Jung, one of the sons of Shah Soojah; but Tiniour, the eldest brother of that family, remained nominal governor of Candahar. His fidelity, however, was afterwards suspected, and he was placed in confinement. On the 12 th of January the insurgent chiefs took up a strong position on the right bank of a river running through the Achuzye country, about five miles from Candahar. They mustered about 5,000 men; and General Nott attacked them with a force consisting of five regiments and a half of infantry, 1,000 horse, and sixteen pieces of artillery. The position of the army was formidable, being protected in front by canals and a marsh, and both flanks resting on strong gardens. The enemy, however, was routed, and compelled to flee in all directions. Tin’s success was followed by another victory over the insurgents, on the 10th of March; after which they disappeared from the neighbourhood of Candahar. The situation of the British troops, however, at Candahar, Khelat-i-Ghilzee, and Gliuznee, being thought precarious in the midst of a population universally hostile, Brigadier-general England, who commanded the forces in Scinde, determined to march to the relief of General Nott. In his route General England encountered a formidable opposition at the Rujjuk Pass, where Mahomed Seedez, with a large army, was posted to impede his progress. In an engagement, General England, indeed, lost nearly one hundred men, and he was compelled to return to Quetta: This attempt, therefore, for the relief of Candahar failed; and, not long before this, the British had another humiliation in the surrender of Ghuznee. Ghuznee was garrisoned by about 1,000 troops, under the command of Colonel Palmer, and when the general rising on the part of the Affghan population took place, that fortress and Khelat-i-Ghilzee, in which was a garrison of five hundred men, were invested by the insurgents. Colonel Palmer was obliged to capitulate; and on the 6th of March the garrison marched out from the citadel, and were quartered in a portion of the town immediately below. Scarcely, however, had the troops taken possession of the quarter assigned them by the terms of the capitulation, when they were suddenly attacked by the infuriated Ghuznees. Day after day the murderous attacks continued; and in the end the whole were either slain, or sent in camel-chairs to Cabul, to be kept in custody by Akbar Khan. It was these events that determined General Nott, on evacuating Candahar, in order to co-operate with General Pollock, in case the resistance offered by Akbar Khan should be of such a nature as to render a reinforcement of the British troops necessary. Candahar was evacuated on the 7th and 8th of August, and the troops marched onwards without molestation till they came to Gonine, about thirty miles south-west of Ghuznee. Here General Nott found that Shumsooden, the Affghan governor of that fortress, was awaiting his approach with about 12,000 men. This force, however, was quickly defeated, and their guns, tents, and ammunition captured; General Nott then moved on Ghuznee, which he found full of armed men, under the command of Sultan Jan. Ghuznee was stormed, and the enemy driven from thence in all directions; after which the city and the whole of its works were destroyed. General Nott now advanced upon Cabul, and at Mydan he again encountered the enemy; but the British troops dislodged them from their strong positions; and General Nott effected a junction with General Pollock without further molestation.
In China the British troops still pursued an inglorious war. In the month of August, last year, Sir Henry Pottinger and Sir W. Parker had sailed for Hong-Kong, which was the place of rendezvous for the ships destined for the expedition to the northward. On the 21st they sailed from that island, and anchored on the 25th in the harbour of Amoy. This city is said to have been inhabited by about 70,000 people; and the Chinese army garrisoning it was 10,000 strong. The number of guns possessed by the garrison was about five hundred; and the place was so strongly fortified by nature and art, that the Chinese fancied the place to be impregnable. Amoy, however, wanted a brave and skilful garrison; and lacking this, the place was soon captured. The mandarins and soldiers fled, leaving the city occupied by only a few coolies. This success was attained without the loss of a man on the part of the British; and the number of Chinese killed is supposed not to have exceeded one hundred and fifty. Sir Hugh Gough was mainly instrumental in effecting this conquest; but, on the 30th of August, the troops were withdrawn from the city, a garrison of five hundred men only being left on the island of Cohun-soo, which is distant about 1,200 yards from Amoy. In the proclamation addressed by Sir H. Pottinger on this occasion to “her Britannic majesty’s subjects in China,” he says:—“Her majesty’s plenipotentiary deems it quite superfluous to say one word as to the manner in which this important service has been performed. The facts require no eulogium. The Chinese government vainly imagined that they had rendered Amoy impregnable; but they were undeceived in presence of the viceroy of the provinces of Chekeang and Fokien (who, with a number of high officers, witnessed the attacks from the heights above the town), in the short space of four hours from the firing of the first gun; and had the opposition been a hundred times greater than it was, the spirit and bearing of all employed showed that the result must have been the same.” The state of the weather prevented the expedition from putting to sea and continuing its progress northward before the 5th of September. On the 21st it reached the Chusan group of islands, and afterwards reconoitered the Tinghae and Chusan harbour. The walls of Tinghae were escaladed, and the British colours soon waved over the fortifications. In this attack upon Tinghae the enemy suffered severely; several mandarins were killed, while, on the side of the British, two only were killed, and twenty-four wounded. The next place attacked was Chinghae, which was captured with the same ease, although it was enclosed by a wall thirty-seven feet in thickness, and twenty-two feet in height. Sir William Parker writes concerning this conquest:—“About eleven o’clock we had the gratification of seeing the British colours planted by the troops in one of the batteries on the opposite side of the shore: and in a few minutes the others on that side were all carried, and the Chinese observed flying in every direction before our gallant soldiers on the heights. At a quarter past eleven the wall of the citadel was breached by the fire from the ships; and the defences being reduced to a ruinous state, the Chinese abandoned their guns, which they had hitherto worked with considerable firmness, and a large portion of the garrison retreated precipitately towards the city. Not a moment was lost in making the signal for landing the battalion of seamen and marines, with the detachments of artillery and sappers. Before noon, the boats were all on shore; every impediment presented by the difficulty of landing on rugged rocks was overcome, and the force gallantly advanced to the assault, with a celerity that excited my warmest admiration. An explosion at this time took place in a battery near the citadel gate; and the remnant of the garrison fled without waiting to close it. The citadel was therefore rapidly entered, and the union-jack displayed on the walls. Our people had scarcely passed within them when another explosion occurred, happily without mischief, but whether by accident or design is uncertain.” Captain Herbert having secured this post, quickly re-formed his men, and advanced towards the city; the Chinese still occupying in considerable force the walls of it, as well as the two batteries beneath the hill on the river side, against which our troops had already turned some of the guns taken on the right bank. A few volleys of musketry speedily dislodged them from both positions, and the battalions of seamen and marines pushed on in steady and excellent order to attack the city.
The wall was escaladed in two places, and in a short time complete possession was taken of Chinghae, the Chinese troops having made their escape through the western gate. Subsequently Sir Hugh Gough captured Ningpo with the same facility, after which no event of importance occurred during the past year. Early in the present year the district cities of Yuydo, Tsikee, and Ftmghwa were temporarily occupied by the British troops; and the Chinese made a bold but ineffectual attempt to recover Ningpo. After their unsuccessful attack upon Ningpo, the Chinese attempted to annoy the British garrison by obstructing the supply of provisions. A body of about 4,000 Chinese soldiers were encamped at the town of Tse-kee, about eleven miles westward of Ningpo; but they were quickly driven from thence by Sir Hugh Gough with great loss. Ningpo was evacuated by the British on the 7th of May, and on the 16th the fleet came to the city of Chapoo, which was captured. Sir H. Pottinger, who had recently been to Canton rejoined the squadron before it sailed from Chapoo: and its subsequent operations were detailed by him in a “circular,” dated on board the steam-frigate Queen, in the Yang-tze-Kiang river. Its operations were first chiefly confined to the destruction of batteries along the Woosung river; after which the fleet entered the great river Yang-tze. In this river operations were directed against the cities of Suyshan, Chin-Keang-foo, and Nankin. The two former were captured: but when preparations had been made for attacking the latter, Sir Hugh Gough and Sir William Parker received instructions from Sir Henry Pottinger to suspend hostilities, in consequence of negociations which he was carrying on with the Chinese high officers who had been appointed by the emperor to treat for peace. Full powers had been given to three commissioners, Keying, Elepoo, and Newkéén, to negociate a treaty of peace which was finally concluded on the 26th of August. The conditions of this treaty were:—That the Chinese should pay 21,000,000 dollars; that the ports of Canton, Amoy, Foo-chow-foo, Ning-po, and Shang-hae, should be open to British merchants, with permission to consular officers to reside there; that the island of Hong-Kong should be ceded to the British in perpetuity; that correspondence should be conducted on terms of perfect equality between the officers of both governments; and that the islands of Chusan and Kolang-soo should be held by the British until the money payments were made and arrangements for opening the ports completed.