Directory_and_Chronicle_1842 — Page 255

1842.

Journal of Occurrences.

237

cious arrangements concerted by rear-admirał sir William Parker and your excel- lency, and of the conduct of the officers and men engaged on the occasion. Copies of the dispatches have been published in the Official Gazette, and trans. mitted to the authoritics in England. I have, &c.,

(Signed)

By order,

"T. H. MADDOCK, Sec. to the government of India."

A. S. MOUNTAIN, Lieut.-colonel, D. A. G.

General Orders by his excellency lieut.-general sir Hugh Gough, a. c. B., com- manding the expeditionary land force.

Head-quarters, Ningpo city, 18th March, 1842. Lieutenant-general sir Hugh Gough congratulates his brave comrades in arms on the opportunity which was given to them on the heights of Segoan, of proving to the élite of the Chinese army, the superiority of Britons both as soldiers and as men. Sir Hugh Gough will not here particularize, as the frequency of brilliant deeds in this small but formidable force renders it difficult to vary the expression of his approval, and where all did their duty nobly, the lieut..general requests all to accept his warmest thanks, with the assurance that he will not fail in his dispatch to do justice to their gallant and exemplary conduct so creditably displayed as well in the field as in their forbearance towards the peasantry, who were in many cases intermingled with the fugitive soldiers.

The lieutenant-general's thanks are equally due to the battalion of seamen and marines, and he feels assured that every officer and soldier will join with him, in admiration of the spirited advance of a small body of the battalion upon the forti- fied encampment on the hill to the right of the enemy's position, headed by his excellency sir William Parker.

By order,

A. S. MOUNTAIN, licut..col., d. a. g.

Later arrivals to the 10th inst., bring accounts of an attempt on the 5th inst. to destroy the shipping at Chinhái by means of boats con- taining gunpowder in boxes. Two lascars of the Ernaad, transport, were destroyed while attempting to seize one; and the ship itself was somewhat injured by one exploding under the quarter. No other vessel was seriously injured.

2. At Amoy, there was a rumor of an attack upon the force sta- tioned at that place, but by accounts brought a few days since all was quiet. The settlers on Kúláng sú had returned in considerable num- bers, but had not yet brought their families back. The Sesostris steamer arrived from Chinhái, and carried 300 men of the 18th Royal Irish northward, leaving a force of about 300 on the island under the orders of major Cooper. H. M. ship Pylades had been dispatched to Formosa to recover the crew of the Ann lately wrecked.

3. The following imperial command contains the dismissal of Yen Petáu, late governor of Fukien. It will be recollected that I'liáng is the present governor in that quarter.

Formerly, Yen Petáu (late governor of Fukien), having in a detailed report, stated the circumstances of the loss of Amoy; and as I was apprehensive that the report was not true, and as I could not be always admitting him to an audience, I sent Twánhwá to make a secret examination; it is now authenticated that the said officer has reported the facts, and the reports generally tally with each other; and in the number of the new troops (reinforcements at Amoy), and the marines (water braves-i. e. swimmers and divers), the reports differ but little. But the said governor has been managing the affairs of Amoy for more than half a year; yet the English no sooner appear than straightway Amoy is lost! and he forthwith retreats upon to guard. Tungán and Shingkiun; he is stupid and weak, without ability, and he cannot avoid the consequences of his crime.

Now, as Amoy has been retaken, our indulgence shall excuse the severe pu nishment of his crime: but he is to be degraded three steps, and lose his buttqu

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