The man's appearance was so unmistakably South American that I felt no surprise at his language. I had no doubt that his speech referred to the inmate of the opposite cabin, so I instantly returned under its windows to try and make some opening to see who she was. L., my friend, handed me a large bowie-knife he had fortunately brought with him; I managed to pick the window open with this, and moving the curtain with my fingers, I peered cautiously through. I had no occasion to search further—Marie was before me. Yes, there lay my betrothed; within a few feet, almost within reach of my hands; yet I could neither touch, or embrace her—she was in the power of the ruffian I had just seen. My fingers trembled nervously with the curtain and sides of the port, while my heart heaved with sudden and powerful excitement. For some moments I remained thus, riveted and powerless. At the first glance I saw nothing but Marie; but when the sudden shock had passed, a single moment explained the situation. She was sleeping upon a sofa couch, and the table, chairs, and every moveable article of furniture in the cabin, were piled against the door. Her face was turned away from me, but I needed not to look upon that to recognize her; the graceful form, perfectly outlined against the white drapery of the couch, told that it was Marie.

When my thoughts returned, I became convinced I could not be better placed for rescuing her. She was alone, within my reach, and I was at the most concealed spot about the lorcha to take advantage of the opportunity. A dark shadow surrounded the vessel, and, besides this, our little boat was drawn close up under her stern. Nothing seemed likely to interfere with my scheme to effect her escape except one thing, and that was, the ports were too small for egress by them! My friend took my place in the bow of our boat to survey the situation; the instant he placed his hand upon the port, he drew his knife and commenced hacking away at the stanchion: if this could be removed, there would be room to pass through the two ports thus let into one. Desperately my friend slashed away at the woodwork; his knife was sharp, and he made rapid progress. Marie still slept on, and I would not awaken her for fear any sudden exclamation might startle him in the opposite cabin.

The observations and action thus described occupied but a short time. Thoughts are quick, but at such a crisis they speed like lightning. Our work, too, was rapid, and soon would be accomplished; and it would only remain to bring Marie from the cabin to the boat, through the stern ports of the lorcha.

The stanchion was about four inches thick, and my friend had cut it more than half through, when, suddenly he sank down in the boat, exclaiming, "hish." Reaching to me, he whispered that some one was unlocking the cabin door from the outside. I instantly changed places with him, and, raising myself cautiously to a level with the port, peeped through. I saw the door slowly opening, while a hand passed through was holding the furniture that had been piled up, and keeping it from falling as the door was gradually pressed inwards. Marie had evidently fallen into a deep sleep through excessive fatigue, for even this noise did not wake her.

Not a moment was to be lost. I turned to my friend, and whispered him to hand me one of the rifles from the stern of the boat. Upon receiving the weapon, I placed its muzzle close to the cut on the stanchion and fired. Before the smoke cleared away I grasped the sill of the port, the shattered woodwork gave way, and I raised myself into the cabin. Directly I was able to discern anything, I saw that Marie had started from her couch, and was gazing in a terrified manner in the direction of the report; but, calling upon her by name as I advanced nearer, she recognized me and rushed into my arms.

As I hurried her towards the stern ports, the door was pushed further open. For a second I paused, and fired my revolver at the man I had previously seen in the opposite cabin, just as he appeared in the doorway with a pistol in each hand. My shot took effect, for he fell prostrate across the threshold. Immediately afterwards I heard the loud shouting of the alarmed crew, and the noise of hurrying footsteps approaching the cabin.

Upon reaching the port, I found L. all ready to receive me, and hastily passed Marie into the boat. Just as we shoved off, the door was burst wide open, and in rushed a crowd of men, some holding lights, and all armed. We hauled in upon the part of the rope fast to the drag, and, reaching it, set light to the lantern on its upper arm. Directly this was done we cut each part of the rope, letting go one end, and thus sending the drag floating down the river, while the other end was made fast to the bow of our boat. The lantern was not only intended to throw the people of the lorcha off our track, but it was to be a signal to our friends on shore to haul away upon the rope and pull us to the bank. It had just tautened, and pulled us out of a line with the drag, when crash went a volley of musketry from the lorcha, and we heard the bullets go singing past in the direction of the floating light.

Within three minutes after cutting the rope we reached the bank, and were tracked up stream by Philip and his men. Before getting abeam of the lorcha we had the satisfaction to hear a boat pull away from her in pursuit of the now distant lantern.

Upon reaching my vessel I took Marie to the best cabin, and left her with the ayah I had brought to wait upon and attend to her. For some time I was left to my own reflections, my friends being engaged getting the vessel under weigh, and making the crew track her along the bank.

At last Marie was ready to receive me, and on my joining her she gave me an account of all that had happened since our last parting. It appeared that everything had gone on quietly and happily until a few evenings previous to my arrival at Shanghae, when one night Marie and her relatives were startled by a loud knocking at the door. This was no sooner opened than in rushed ten or a dozen men, led by the one I had shot, who was no other than Manoel Ramon, the Chillinian I had rescued her from in the first place at Whampoa. He declared he intended taking them all to Hong-kong, where he stated Marie's father was waiting to receive her. He allowed them to take their clothes and a few light articles; they were then taken to a lonely part of the river, and carried on board the lorcha, which directly afterwards weighed anchor and commenced dropping down the river. Upon getting well clear of Woo-sung, at the entrance of the Shanghae river, the lorcha was stopped alongside a junk, and Marie's two relatives—her aunt and uncle—were put on board, and the vessels instantly separated. Ramon then informed her that her father was dead, that he had been made his heir, and that a settlement had been left her upon condition that she should marry him. For the first few days he had renewed his old protestations of affection, and treated her respectfully; but latterly, finding her aversion immovable, his bearing had entirely altered.

Rapidly flew the time, as, absorbed in our happiness, we remained unconscious of its flight; at last I was startled by the increased motion of the vessel, and knew that a fresh breeze had sprung up. This change had not lasted long, when my friend L. came to the cabin-door and beckoned me to go out to him. Wishing Marie good-night, and leaving her to obtain the repose she needed, I followed him into the outer cabin, and eagerly inquired what had occurred.

"Why, that confounded lorcha's in full chase, and will certainly overhaul us within three hours," said my friend.

I hurried on deck with him, and found it was just daylight, and although we had undoubtedly made considerable progress before the lorcha had started in pursuit, yet there she was, some five or six miles astern, and crowding all sail in chase.

After thinking it over a little while, we decided that sending the light adrift upon the river had brought about the pursuit. When the men sent in chase had come up to it, they doubtless saw at once that it had been sent to drift down the river, and as it was certain it could not have been started above the people they were in pursuit of, it was equally sure that we must be above it. We had not thought of this at the time; we only valued it as a ruse to throw off the close pursuit we expected, and so give us time to return to our vessel undiscovered. So far we were successful, but the whole style of the drag proved to the lorcha's people that we must be above them, and up the river, which caused her to give chase so soon.

We were at this time some twelve or fourteen miles below Nankin, and I at once determined to make for that place with all speed. The sails were wetted down fore and aft, and everything done to make them draw as well as possible. The breeze was moderately strong, but freshening, and the stronger it came the quicker would the lorcha overhaul us, for being of an European and heavier build, and spreading loftier and lighter canvas than we did, it would tell considerably in her favour. Fortunately the wind was dead aft, so our flat and shallow bottom was in this case an advantage, whereas, a beam or leading wind would have made it quite the reverse. The wind increased so quickly that in less than two hours the lorcha had rapidly gained upon us, and was coming up hand over hand in a cloud of canvas. She was yet more than two miles astern, but I was still some six miles below Nankin, and although the breeze was now very strong, I could not, with an adverse tide, hope to reach that city before we were within the range of her pivot gun.

We tried every plan to increase our speed; an old awning was rigged out as a stun'-sail upon one side, and a spare tarpaulin on the other, besides which, several large flags were fastened together, bent to a large bamboo, and hoisted above the mainsail to serve as a gaff-topsail. It was now blowing half a gale of wind, and over a three or four knot tide, the old vessel was staggering along under a press of sail she had never felt before. Following directly in our wake, like a sleuth-hound on the trail, the lorcha presented at this time a striking, though to us unpleasant, picture. Rolling heavily from side to side, her snow-white sails pyramid-like in form, and reaching from the deck to the very summit of her long and taper spars, now bending like willows to the blast; a long furrow of foam following in her wake, and two lines of water leaping from each bow, and tossing high into the air a silver spray, through which the morning sun formed myriads of tiny rainbows; the stoop of the vessel, as with a movement like the bending of a buffalo to the charge, she plunged forward burying her bows deep into the rushing surge, and anon raising them high above as though to shake the dripping element from her head—all these phases in the appearance of our pursuer made her look a thing of life and beauty. While gazing and thinking thus, I was abruptly recalled from the romantic to the stern reality of the scene. The lorcha suddenly luffed up, puff went a column of smoke from her lee bow, and while it was eddying amidst her cordage the splash of a shot a few fathoms from our stern, accompanied by the booming of a cannon, told me the danger had now commenced in earnest, and that our pursuer was aware of our connection with the affair of the previous night.

The shot had fallen so close under our stern that it was certain the next five minutes would find us within range and entirely commanded by the lorcha's guns. Upon the other hand, another half-hour might see us safe under the walls of Nankin, unless some of our spars should be crippled, or a shot strike us below the water-line. If either of these misfortunes should occur, before we could make repairs aloft the lorcha would be alongside; if hulled, before reaching the Nankin batteries we should sink. I therefore made every preparation to run into the bank and get ashore, in the event of such an emergency.

I placed Marie in the hold, right upon the bottom of the vessel, where she would be below the water-line far enough to be safe from the lorcha's fire. My friends and self got our rifles and a few things ready in case we should have to take to the shore. We had the sails continually wetted, and made the crew run fore and aft the decks to help the vessel's way. In a few moments the lorcha luffed up again, bang went her "long Tom," and the shot came whistling over our heads, passing some yards clear of our rigging. We were now fairly within range, and our pursuer fired at us as quickly as the pivot-gun could be loaded and brought to bear. This kind of work went on for some time, till at last the outworks of Nankin showed up only a mile or so ahead. The lorcha had hitherto fired exclusively at our spars, but directly these forts opened to view, she began aiming at our hull. Several large rents were torn through our sails, though fortunately none of our spars had been struck; but the gunnery practice of our enemy now became close and dangerous. Two or three shots hurtled past a few feet over the decks, but then crash came one right amidships, tearing in at one side and passing clean through the other, as we rounded a sand-bank and became nearly broadside on to the lorcha. As we fell into line again another smashed through the stern, and, knocking off the helmsman's head, passed over the bows, raking us fore and aft, but fortunately killing no one else. The lorcha having to round-to each time she fired, in order to get her pivot-gun to bear, her way was checked very considerably; and to this may our escape be entirely attributed. At the time our helmsman was struck we had already reached the first of the Nankin batteries. The people on board the lorcha now saw their mistake, and, ceasing firing, kept steadily on in chase. They changed their tactics—fortunately for us—too late. Hoisting a flag the Ti-pings had given me when I left Soo-chow, I steered past the point of the island just below Nankin, and passing the batteries—crowded with soldiery gazing upon the chase—ran into the creek, leading between some fortifications direct to the walls of the city, and there anchored.

Directly I ran up the Ti-ping flag I was boarded by an officer from the principal fort. To him I showed my commission from the Chung-wang, and requested protection from the pursuing vessel. He pulled quickly ashore, and just as the lorcha was rounding the point of the island and preparing to follow me into the creek, I had the satisfaction to see a gun fired across her bows, upon which she hauled off and gave up the pursuit, her retreat accelerated by another shot from the fort sent right into her.

While watching her through my glass, I plainly observed her owner, Manoel Ramon, propped up in a chair on the quarter-deck.

CHAPTER VIII.

Towards the close of 1854, the detached armies of Ti-pings were gradually compelled to abandon their isolated positions, and retire closer upon their capital. During October, after forwarding all the supplies obtainable to the treasury and granaries of Nankin, the Western armies evacuated the important cities of Wu-chang, Han-yang, and Hankow, and collecting the garrisons of the many others between them and Nankin, retired quickly upon the latter, the siege of which the Imperialists were beginning to press with a vigour encouraged by the weakness of the garrison. This army falling rapidly upon the rear of the enemy's works, put them to flight with great slaughter, and completely raised the siege. After this, another force was marched to the relief of Chin-kiang, which was also invested by a considerable Imperialist army. At the close of the year, both Nankin and Chin-kiang were effectually relieved, and the besieging armies driven back upon the cities of Soo-chow and Shanghae in confusion. With the exception of the Northern army, in occupation of the north side of the Yang-tze from Ngan-king to Kwei-chow, nearly all the Ti-ping forces were concentrated in and about the cities of Nankin and Chin-kiang, when, again committing the error former experience should have taught him to avoid, the Tien-wang separated his forces, and despatched several armies upon widely divergent courses.

The principal operations were conducted towards the south, in the provinces of Kiang-su, Ngan-whui, and the borders of Che-kiang and Kiang-si, and towards the west, along the old route of the Yang-tze and beyond the Tung-ting lake. Early in 1855 the Western division, successful in all its operations, reached the city of Hankow, and Wu-chang, the provincial capital, was for the third time carried by storm, the Manchoo defenders suffering fearful loss. The Ti-pings now held the three cities for a longer period than before; but, although they obtained numerous recruits, they were unable to occupy the adjoining provinces permanently and rescue them from the Manchoo rule. The people at large, finding the revolution was to a certain extent stationary, naturally waited for some grand and combined movement likely to overthrow the Manchoo rule, and, however much they would have rejoiced at the change, were careful to avoid implicating themselves against the government until the prospect of success became more apparent. The fearful experience of former failures warned the nation to be cautious—in fact, the cautious alone remained in the land of the living, the indiscriminate massacres after the slightest attempt at rebellion having exterminated nearly every noble and patriotic spirit in China. Besides, many who might otherwise have hazarded the venture held back on account of the Ti-ping profession of Christianity (a change of the ancient national train of custom and ideas what they not only looked upon with suspicion, but with actual abhorrence). The hatred of the Manchoo must indeed have been intense—or rather, the hand of God powerful—to overcome the old and jealous prejudices of more than 2,000 years, and give the Tien-wang even any adherents.

The Southern army, breaking into several divisions during 1855, was mostly victorious; many cities were captured, and large supplies of every necessary and war material taken. Partisans were sent into all the southern provinces and many local insurrections stimulated, but all too feeble and desultory to be of any real assistance to the cause; though the prompt and savage punishments inflicted by the Manchoo authorities undoubtedly proved very damaging, the fear they inspired awing the people into submission, and terrifying them from rising in rebellion again.

For more than a year the Southern and Western armies maintained their position; but early in 1856 they were again forced to retire upon Nankin, which had become reinvested by the Imperialists. It will thus be seen that, while the Ti-pings were detaching small armies just able to overcome the local Manchoo authorities, the Imperialists, after reinforcing the provincial troops so as to enable them to dispute the ground with varying success, invariably concentrated all their reserves and spare forces before Nankin. Considering that the Imperialists had vastly superior numbers, and, moreover, held the whole of the revenue, and completely surrounded the insurgents upon every side, the greatly superior organization and courage of the Ti-pings is sufficiently proved by the fact that they were able to compete with their more advantageously situated enemy so successfully.

In the middle of the year, the Imperialists were attacked by the recalled Ti-ping forces, before the city of Chin-kiang, and were defeated with heavy loss; about the same time, their lines before Nankin were assaulted by another division and completely broken up.

In this year an event took place, the consequences of which have proved almost fatal to the Ti-ping revolution. From a period long anterior to the commencement of the movement, the position of Europeans in China was most unsatisfactory. The growing dread the Manchoos entertained of foreign intercourse urged them to the adoption of the most repulsive and arrogant behaviour upon all occasions, and it was just at the period this was becoming almost unbearable that the Ti-ping insurrection took place. It was therefore only natural that Europeans should regard the rising power favourably. Directly the organization and professions of the Tien-wang became fully known, it was almost the universal practice to warmly advocate his cause, and sound thrilling pæans in his praise. The clergy and religious world went half mad with joy; the societies for providing Bibles for the naked savages who could not read them, almost feared their work was coming to an end; and the mercantile part of the foreign world entered into the wildest speculations (excepting the opium smugglers). Eagerly the clerical expounders of mercy and goodwill wrote home glowing accounts of the success of their teaching—blessed by an overruling Providence!—eagerly the whole body of merchants, officials, adventurers, &c., watched for some favourable prospect of profit, or, as the thing is speciously termed, of "placing our commercial and political relations upon a satisfactory basis"! All these benevolent and large-minded Europeans waited a little, and when they found the profitable change would probably take a long time to perfect, while in the interval their gain might be diminished, it was absolutely wonderful how their sympathy—like Bob Acre's courage—oozed out at their fingers' ends. Events soon occurred that extinguished the last remnant of philanthropy. The missionaries (only a certain portion of them, be it remembered) found out they could not take all the credit of the rebellion to themselves,—or rather the religious element of it; therefore they gradually cooled down, and some of them began to revile it, at the same time taking precious good care not to put themselves to inconvenience by going to teach the Ti-pings where they were in error. The political and commercial body also found they would have to wait for their ambitious and profitable projects, which did not suit them at all.

It was at such a crisis, the seizure of the opium-smuggling lorcha Arrow afforded a pretext for an appeal to arms; and this furnished all those favourable circumstances, hitherto expected from the Ti-ping movement, by a shorter and more direct road. It was sufficient for a portion of the body mercantile, that they would get their nefarious opium traffic legalized, and their general trade increased; it was sufficient for the body politic that they would be able to place their diplomatic affairs upon a satisfactory standing, and so humble the power of the Chinese government as to be able to do with it whatever they liked, compelling it to conform to their will in every way—and all for nothing, as the Manchoo government would be made pay the expenses England would incur by an aggressive war. The Ti-pings were at once thrown overboard. It mattered not that their cause was righteous and holy; it was no longer profitable to the British trader or his government, and with the usual error of mean selfishness, they took it for granted that the Manchoos would always remain powerless, or else forget to retaliate when they became able, for the gross treatment they had received; neither could they perceive that although delays might interpose before the final success of the Ti-pings, yet that, after a short probation, the willing and unrestricted commerce the latter would encourage, would be more profitable than the unwilling and forced trade the Manchoos were coerced into. Although meanness is generally the result of ignorance, it seems almost a fatality that so large a portion of Englishmen should have acted so wrongfully, and have been so forgetful of their national fair-play. The whole affair speaks too plainly of avarice and incompetent statesmanship.

Commander Brine, R.N., in his valuable and fairly-expressed work, "The Taeping Rebellion," at pages 271-2, very truthfully observes:—

Again, speaking of the treaty settled after the "lorcha Arrow war," he says:—

In this perfectly true conclusion is concealed the real motive of the conduct the British Government has pursued towards the Ti-pings. Not only in China, but over the whole world—from Denmark to America, from Abyssinia to Brazil, from New Zealand to Japan,—the policy of England has been derogatory to her dignity, and would be calculated to elicit merely feelings of contempt were it not so dangerous to her future welfare. It seems, however, that the majority of Englishmen are satisfied with a course of administration which advocates "peace at any price," except when war can be undertaken with impunity, and some aggression committed upon a weak neighbour, who is then compelled to pay all the expenses. I, for one, protest against such lowering of England's dignity and "just influence." I protest against the sacrifice of national honour to mercenary interest,—of principle to profit.

Commander Brine's opinion has been amply verified—he wrote it early in 1862; since which period England, regardless of all pledges of neutrality, has deliberately upheld the Manchoo dynasty, and made war upon the Ti-pings, not to support any high principle, but prompted by regard for the indemnity money to be wrested from the Imperialists, influenced by the profits of the opium trade, and anxious to support the Elgin treaty, which otherwise would have become inoperative.

It is no less singular than true, that the wars with the Manchoo government in reality weakened it but very little:—in the first place, the British troops were always met by the local forces, none being withdrawn from opposition to the internal danger, which was dreaded much more than any arising from the foreign expeditions;—in the second, the indemnity money being deducted from the increased duties levied upon the foreign trade, instead of impoverishing the Manchoo exchequer, was taken directly from the pockets of the foreign merchants; and although the exchequer was so much less in hand, it could hardly be looked upon as a loss, considering that only one-fifth of the gross customs revenue of the ports open to foreign trade was taken, and that the trade has enlarged amply enough to make the returns, minus the indemnity, more than equal to what they were before the war.

Subsequent to the visit of H.M.S. Hermes, and the French steamer Cassini, the next communication between the Ti-pings and Europeans took place a little more than a year later, when the American minister visited Nankin in the U.S. frigate Susquehanna. The few extracts I give from the accounts of the Rev. Dr. Bridgeman, and another writer, X.Y.Z., each members of the expedition, coincide exactly with all opinions ever given of the Ti-pings by credible people who have held personal intercourse with them; and it is a singular, if not a sinister circumstance, that these accounts are all totally different from the dispatches of Sir F. Bruce (British minister at Pekin), and consuls of similar tendencies, who have either never seen the Ti-pings, or at all events know nothing of their government, life, and manners.

The following are extracts from the Rev. Dr. Bridgeman:—

At the city of Wuhu:—

Their unity of purpose Dr. Bridgeman speaks of as follows:—

Of their religion he reported:—

Dr. Bridgeman continues:—

Speaking of the public notices seen on the walls, he says:—

Thus, it appears, the "ignorant coolies" were literary coolies. It was late in 1854 when Dr. Bridgeman visited Nankin, and thus wrote concerning the power and extent of the rebellion:—

It will be seen that Dr. Bridgeman thought—as every one else did until the arbitrary interference of the British Government—that the "progress, and ultimate success," of the Ti-pings was certain, "under the inscrutable providence of God."

The following are extracts from the communication written by X.Y.Z., and published in the North China Herald at that time.

Speaking of the composition of the Ti-pings, X.Y.Z. says:—

Of the civil administration he says:—

Upon perusing such statements, the British public will doubtless wonder at the nature of the reports which emanated from their government, that "the Ti-pings destroyed everything and restored nothing,"—were "ruthless desolaters," "bloodthirsty marauders," "hordes of banditti," &c. It must, however, be remembered, that the authors of these statements knew nothing about the Ti-pings; in some cases had never seen one, and in all cases were anxious to meet the views of their official superiors by prejudicing the public mind against the Ti-pings, and thereby in some degree justifying the unwarrantable line of policy which the British Government had decided on.

The year 1857 passed over without any important military movement, and the Ti-ping Government was engaged in consolidating its power in the districts and cities it held. The extent of territory and amount of population entirely under their control was very considerable. They held possession of about three-fourths of the large province of Ngan-whui, one-third of Kiang-su, one-third of Kiang-si, and parts of Hoonan and Hoopeh. In Kwang-si, Kwang-tung, Fo-keen, and Yun-nan, Ti-ping agents were actively at work inciting the people to rise.

In the meanwhile, the administration of their territory was being perfected;—the title "Wang" was reduced into a sort of feudal rank, into which all governors of cities, lieutenant-governors, and governors of provinces, and generalissimos, were admitted. The whole of their land was divided into departments, or circles, each department into four districts, and each district into twenty-five parishes. After the governors of departments, or provinces, came the district chiefs, or magistrates; then the parish magistrates; and then the five village magistrates, or authorities, appointed over each circle of twenty-five families. The Ti-ping territory included at this period not less than 70,000 square miles, with a population of about 25,000,000. At parts where the Manchoo troops had been driven out of the country, a regular system of monthly taxation was established, considerably more moderate than the old. A tariff for the whole empire was published; while throughout all their cities, the machinery of a regular government was constituted, and the whole conducted with considerable energy and success. The "Land Regulations of Political Economy of the Ti-ping Dynasty" were put into force, and a large part of China reclaimed to native administration. By these regulations, all land was divided into nine classifications, and arranged according to produce. Divisions of fields were arranged according to the number of persons in a family, and the whole property was regulated as the document states, "so that all the people in the empire may together enjoy the abundant happiness provided by the Great God, our Heavenly Father and Universal Lord." Periodical seasons were appointed for the examinations of literary candidates, and filling of vacant offices. Harvest regulations and community of interest were thus provided for:—

From this system, and the vice-royalty of the governors, or wangs, the Ti-ping government assumed a patriarchal feudal constitution. The following regular conscription was levied:—

Religious observances were thus enjoined, in a manner which evinces a spirit far different from that which the world was led to suppose actuated the Ti-pings:—

During 1858 the Ti-pings continued their work of organization, and undertook no military movement of importance. In consequence of so large a concentration of their forces, supplies began to run short, and the city of Chin-kiang was promptly abandoned, and a considerable force detached into the province of Kiang-si. They still retained possession of both banks of the Yang-tze for a distance of about 400 miles, and large reinforcements were sent from Nankin to all their possessions upon the northern side of that river.

In the meanwhile, Canton had been taken by the English and French forces, the Taku forts had been captured on the 20th of May, and on the 3rd of July the Elgin treaty was concluded; a treaty that in all respects proved nearly the death-warrant of the patriots.

On the 8th of November, Lord Elgin started from Shanghae upon the expedition up the Yang-tze-kiang as far as Hankow.

On approaching Nankin, the squadron came into collision with the Ti-pings in a similar, though more serious manner, than on the occasion of the visit of the Hermes. Lord Elgin, with the characteristic arrogance of Englishmen in foreign lands, disregarded the frequently repeated and urgent request of the Ti-ping authorities; namely, that to avoid misunderstandings as to men-of-war approaching their fortifications during a time of battle and blockade (especially considering the Manchoos had engaged some foreign vessels, and reported continually that foreign war-steamers were preparing to attack Nankin, &c.), "a small boat should be detached, to communicate with the garrison; in which case there would be no chance of collision." By referring to the visit of the Hermes, and the correspondence that took place, it will be seen that she was followed by the Manchoo flotilla, which took advantage of her presence to engage the Ti-ping forts, the anxiety of the Ti-ping authorities upon which point pervades all their communications to Sir George Bonham. Perfectly indifferent, then, to the observance of a courtesy which any powerful belligerent in like circumstances to those of the Ti-pings would have compelled, Lord Elgin sent the gunboat Lee ahead of the squadron,—"to communicate if possible," as he reported. But instead of attempting the only correct mode of communication in the case, by sending a boat in first, the Lee, by her backing and filling in front of the batteries and fortified positions, aided by the presence of a powerful squadron in the rear, apparently awaiting the result of her reconnoitre, naturally led the Ti-pings to suppose she was on the scout from a hostile fleet. In consequence of this, the batteries opened fire on the Lee, and the rest of the squadron, prepared for the event, steamed up and opened upon them with "considerable effect." Not satisfied with this, "they on the following morning re-descended the stream to Nankin and bombarded the forts, with but little reply for an hour and a half." What a gallant exploit for British seamen! To silence forts which were perfectly harmless, and slaughter the inmates at their ease.

The Church Missionary Intelligencer of December, 1860, gives the following account of the transaction:—