506
Capture of Captain Anstruther at Tinghae.
SEP.
any part of the world must be productive of fevers and dysentery. Curtail the wholesome subsistence of a regiment, and place them under similar on a marsh circumstances in summer, and the con- sequences will be just the same as they were at Tinghae.
ART. II. Capture of captain' Anstruther at Tinghae, with notices of the conduct of the Chinese, and native drawing of the cage in which lt. Douglas was confined.
LORD Jocelyn, in his interesting little book, alluding to captain An- struther, says: "This officer was a particular favorite with the whole force, and in his frequent walks into the country around Tinghae, when performing his military duties, had apparently made himself a great friend with the country people, for whose amusement he used to sketch likenesses much to their astonishment. The night but one previous to his capture, the artillery camp was aroused by screams proceeding from his tent, and when some of his brother-officers trac- ed the sound to his quarters, he was found asleep, but upon being awoke, said that he had been dreaming that the Chinese were carry- ing him off, tied arms and legs to a pole, and gagged, within sight of the camp. This is curious, as from what we were able afterwards to discover, through the means of a paid agent, it was nearly the case, and he was borne within half a mile of the very tents."
p. 122.
The few particulars which we have now to lay before our readers, are derived from an authentic source, and present a striking picture, on the one hand of patient and cheerful endurance of sufferings, and on the other of dastard cruelty, which draws the Chinese into very unfavorable contrast with those whom they love to stigmatize as
barbarians.'
nese.
On Wednesday, the 16th September, 1840, captain P. Anstruther, of the Madras artillery, was seized and carried off by a party of Chi- He left the camp at 10 o'clock A. M., and passed out from the northern gate of Tinghae, about 1000 or 1200 yards, to a point, on the left of the great northern road, where there are several houses and gardens, and from whence a road branches off to the westward. Pro- ceeding along this road, he ascended the pass between the hills, and then turning to the left he gained the top of a knoll, where he pitch- ed a small flag, and took sundry bearings, in order to facilitate the