1842.
Summary of Official Documents.
477
on the northern bank of the Yangtez' kiáng have been wholly useless, the positions of defense occupied being all on the southern shore. Two thousand one hundred and fifty men from the departments north of the Yángtsz' kiáng were summoned to Súchau.
The reinforcements from different parts mentioned in the preced- ing details had not arrived, at the time when the departure of the English fleet from Wúsung was first reported. On the 29th of June, its departure from the mouth of the Wúsung river, and its anchorage outside, with the arrival of additional ships, (which had before been sailing northward,) and the detention of a number of merchant junks, was announced to the emperor. From the ambiguous character of the enemy's proceedings, it was supposed that he might be returning to Shanghái, to try if a more successful issue could be arrived at than before, when no booty was obtained (the brass guns, useful to himself, excepted); and from the seizure of junks, and plunder of the clothing of its crews, it was thought that to obtain an entrance, in a Chinese disguise, to the interior of the country, was intended. The loss of booty at Shánghái suggests to his majesty a new mode of resistance, that of strong walls with an empty country, and he commands that measures be speedily taken to repair the defences of Shánghái.
On the 29th and 30th of June, it is announced from Tsungming, that some of the enemy's ships are beginning to move about; and to attack that island, it is feared, is the object. Reports of the 1st and 2d of July show, however, that their destination is farther west, and that they are learning, in small boats, the depth of water.
At length, on the 6th, 22 vessels move as far as to Cháng-án shá (the island of which Harvey Point is the western extreme); the following day, 26 follow them; and then some move on to the northwestward, while others yet remain there. Aroused by this intelligence, the high officers hasten to throw into the post of Ngópítsui stronger means of defense. The 9th of July brings the fleet to Lángshán, on the northern shore; but for reporting this, the officer on the southern shore is disgraced, and his disgrace announced to the people, in order that their minds may be quieted. The approach of the surveying squadron to Kiangyin is reported on the 10th, and that of the whole fleet on the 12th. At this time, the governor-general, after a conference with the high commissioner, Kíying, was in the neighborhood of Kiáng. yin, making arrangements for a vigorous resistance, with guns (which when the enemy approached, the magistrate, acting under his orders, removed,) as well as with stakes and sunken junks, and fire rafts. While his preparations were yet making, however, the steamers arrive,
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