English and French Fleet in 1859, and afterwards captured only by an attack by the allied army from the landward side, have now been greatly multiplied and strengthened. The American officer Li Hung Chang has been employed to instruct the Chinese Torpedo Corps at this point, and he himself told me that the artillery and Torpedo Corps were very efficient, and that he much doubted if any number of hostile ships could now force the passage.
It is generally agreed - even by the French themselves, that France will require an army of ten thousand (10,000) regular Troops to conquer and hold Annam and Tonquin alone; while she would require an army of at least forty thousand (40,000) to take Peking; which might eventually prove a second Moscow.
I have the honour to be
Your Lordship's Most Obedient Humble servant,
P.L. BOWEN
on my return to Hongkong