Directory_and_Chronicle_1842 — Page 490

472

Summary of Official Documents.

Str.

approaching the mouth of the Yangtsz kiáng; and directs immediately that the commander-in-chief in the province of Húpe shall assemble as many soldiers as can be withdrawn from that province, and repair forthwith to Kiángsú. Niú Kien is still slow to believe that the enemy will enter the Yangtsz' kiáng, but promises implicit obedience to the emperor's injunctions, to watch carefully every inlet by which entrance can be gained, either into that river, or from it to the waters of the inner cities. The emperor is in part convinced, and hopes it may indeed be so.

He shortly, however, hears from the governor of Chekiáng, that more than 30 vessels are lying at anchor not far from Chápú, 13 at Chusan, 2 at Chinhái, and that a great number of boats have been recently made,-from which it is to be feared that new attacks, and at various points simultaneously, are about to be made. His majesty fears, that, under pretence of entering the Yangtsz' kiáng, they may be preparing for an attack on some other place. He directs that the governor-general shall make Shanghái his head-quarters, and not al- low himself, by any feint of attack elsewhere, to be diverted from that place. A new edict, a day or two later, shows that the enemy's proceedings have at this time become a constant source of anxiety

at court.

Some months previously, Háiling, lieut.-general of the Tartar gar- rison at the mouth of the Grand Canal, had requested permission to stake the Yangtsz' kiáng across at several places of difficult passage: but on representation of Niú Kien, that the sands and sunken rocks in the river were its best defenses, and that staking would be not only expensive and ineffectual, but at the same time a source of alarm to the people, the licut.-general's request had been refused. The differ- ence of opinion becomes now the cause of recrimination. the only incautious neglect on Niú Kien's part: he had failed also to provide an abundance of fire vessels and fire rafts.

sung,

Nor is this

In this position stood the governor-general, when he found it neces. sary to report, on the 15th of June, that the enemy had come to his gates. The commander-in-chief of Kiángsú was with him at Wú. and assured him, from a half century of naval experience, that with the powerful defenses of cannon placed in his hands, victory was certain to be his. Great was then the governor-general's astonish- ment, the next day. He was on the point of sending a message to the commander-in-chief, when the sound of the commencing battle rung in his ears, and he went out himself to the scene of action. The shot flew wildly about him, but he went forward, encouraging the