514
Six Months with the Chinese Expedition.
Ser.
most beautiful island appertaining to the Central empire, the first European bauner that has floated as conqueror over the 'Flowery Land.' The dawn of day brought much the same spectacle as the preceding, excepting that a few guns were mounted on the joss-house hill, and the mandarins were seen actively employed running about along the wharf. Soon afterwards they were remarked to take their different stands with the troops, one among them with his party in the martello tower being particularly conspicuous. The war-junks were drawn up and crowded with men. The British men-of-war were lying in line with their larboard broadsides towards the town, at a distance of two hundred yards from the wharf and foot of the hill. They consisted of the Wellesley, 74; Conway and Alligator, 28; Cruizer and Algerine, 18; and ten gun-brigs. At eight o'clock, the signal was hoisted to prepare for action; still, however, time was given by the commodore, hoping to the last they would repent, and it was not until two o'clock that the troops left the transports in the boats of the squadron, and took up their position in two lines in rear of the men-of-war, to land under cover of the fire. At half-past two the Wellesley fired a gun at the martello tower: this was immediately returned by the whole line of junks, and the guns on the causeway and the hill; then the shipping opened their broadsides upon the town, and the crashing of timber, falling houses, and groans of men resounded from the shore. The firing lasted on our side for nine mi- nutes, but even after it had ceased a few shots were still beard from the unscathed junks. When the smoke cleared away a mass of ruin presented itself to the eye, and on the place lately alive with men, none but a few wounded were to be seen; but crowds were visible in the distance flying in all directions." Page 54.
Lord Jocelyn, in laboring to justify the conduct of the leaders of the expedition in attacking the Chinese, blames "these infatuated people;" yet he adds, " they most justly observed, it seemed hard that they should be made to suffer for the sins of the Canton govern- ment." It certainly was so. Those officers, we think, behaved manfully. They knew well their position. To have yielded without a struggle, would in them have been mean and traitorous. Far bet- ter would it have been to have taken some uninhabited spot for a place of rendezvous, and thus have "saved the effusion of blood, until all negotiations had failed." The first attack should have been inade, if made anywhere, at Peking, or on the obstructions to the capital-for to that point the expedition ought to have moved at once and directly, with all its combined forces, provided all just and pro- per demands were not met at Teëntsin.