Part 24 (2/2)
Of course such a treacherous act could not go unpunished. An ultimatum was sent demanding an apology and the fulfilment of the Treaty of Tien-tsin, including the payment of the war indemnity of 4,000,000 taels. Lord Elgin and Baron Gros, the Plenipotentiaries who acted for the Allies in the Treaty of Tien-tsin, proceeded to Hongkong to enforce the demands of England and France, supported by an army under Sir Hope Grant, in which several Sikh regiments volunteered to serve, and a French contingent under General Cousin de Montauban, afterwards distinguished as Comte Palikao. The Plenipotentiaries came near to peris.h.i.+ng on the voyage out. The _Malabar_ frigate, which conveyed them, was totally wrecked on a reef at Point de Galle, in Ceylon, those on board escaping with great difficulty, and with the loss of many valuable papers and much property. However, Lord Elgin and Baron de Gros arrived at Hongkong in another vessel on July 21. They found that the Chinese Council had returned an insolent answer to Mr. Bruce's ultimatum, which left no alternative but immediate action. The Allied Forces advanced on July 26, the English from Chefow, and the French from Tah-lien-hwan; they captured the Tangku Forts, with forty-five guns, on August 14, and the Taku Forts, containing about 400 guns, on the 20th, the English loss on the latter occasion amounting to seventeen killed and 183 wounded.
Sir Hope Grant's despatches contain cordial references to the gallantry displayed by his French allies in the a.s.sault. Tien-tsin was next occupied on August 23, and preparations were made for an immediate advance on Pekin. The Chinese forces had disappeared, but the Government, anxious at all hazards to keep the ”barbarians” from approaching the capital, opened negotiations for peace, and on September 13 Lord Elgin's secretaries, Mr. Parkes and Mr. Loch, with Mr. Bowlby, the Times' correspondent, and some British and French officers, rode on to Tungchow a town within twelve miles of Pekin, to arrange the preliminaries of an interview between the Plenipotentiaries of the Allies and the Chinese. A camping ground was allotted for the Allied Forces about five miles short of Tungchow, but before Grant and de Montauban could occupy it, a large Chinese army had surrounded the position. Mr. Parkes, Mr. Loch, and their party, protected by a flag of truce, went back to Tungchow to remonstrate against this dangerous violation of the agreement; they were treacherously seized and thrust into loathsome dungeons, crowded with filthy Chinese prisoners, where thirteen out of twenty-six of them died from savage ill-treatment by their captors. Captain Brabazon, R.A., Lieutenant Anderson, and Mr.
Bowlby were among these victims, their hands and feet having been so tightly bound with cords that the flesh burst and fatal mortification ensued.
[Ill.u.s.tration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Notman & Sons, Montreal._
TORONTO.
Capital of Ontario, and the second largest town in Canada.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: EMERALD LAKE, IN THE CANADIAN ROCKY MOUNTAINS.
The Canadian Pacific Railway, in pa.s.sing over the ”Rockies,” opens up some of the finest scenery in America.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: VANCOUVER HARBOUR, BRITISH COLUMBIA.
The western terminus of the Canadian Pacific Railway, and the princ.i.p.al port on the Pacific coast of British North America.]
[Sidenote: Capitulation of Pekin.]
The Allied Army resumed its march on Pekin; the Emperor's Summer Palace, a magnificent collection of buildings, treasure-houses, and gardens, was taken on October 6; on the 12th everything was ready for the bombardment of the capital, and it was made known to the Chinese Government that this would begin the following day at noon, unless the city were surrendered previously. The Emperor had fled, but on the morning of October 13 the Governor of Pekin capitulated. The Allies entered, and before noon the English and French ensigns were flying side by side on the citadel.
[Sidenote: Destruction of the Summer Palace.]
Not till then did Lord Elgin learn the horrible fate of the captives. He decided at once that exemplary vengeance must be inflicted, but not according to the traditional custom of reprisals, by inflicting torture and death on the persons of individuals. No doubt the Chinese officials would have handed over to him as many vicarious victims as he chose to demand, but Lord Elgin decreed such a monumental act of indignation as should never be effaced from the memory of the people of China. The Summer Palace was the most precious possession of the Heavenly Dynasty.
Therein had been stored the best of the art treasures of many generations; the ingenuity of architects, gardeners, and craftsmen of all kinds had been exhausted in erecting and decorating its courts and paG.o.das and laying out the fantastic grounds. Lord Elgin ordered its total destruction. The French and English soldiers were allowed to plunder it first; jewellery, plate, and other costly articles were ”looted” in immense quant.i.ty, and then the whole vast edifice was delivered to the flames. A monument was set up on the site, bearing an inscription that this was done as the punishment for national cruelty and treachery. A Convention between the British and Chinese Plenipotentiaries was concluded on October 24, and Pekin was evacuated by the Allied troops on November 5.
[Ill.u.s.tration: THE CITY HALL, WINNIPEG.
Manitoba is a district of enormous farms. The Capital, Winnipeg--known as Fort Garry until its incorporation in 1873--is one of the ”newest”
cities in the British Empire. Its population in 1871 was 241; in 1891, 25,642. It is the centre for the distribution of the produce of Western Canada.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: _G. H. Thomas._} {_From the Royal Collection._
HER MAJESTY AND THE PRINCE CONSORT AT A REVIEW AT ALDERSHOT, June 1859.
On the left is General Knollys, afterwards Comptroller of the Household to the Prince of Wales, in command of the troops.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: _Carl Haag, R.W.S._} {_From the Royal Collection._
THE QUEEN AND PRINCE CONSORT FORDING THE POLL TARFF, October 9, 1861.
The story of this, the last excursion taken by the Queen in company with the Prince Consort, is told in a very interesting chapter of Her Majesty's ”Leaves from the Journal of our Life in the Highlands.” On the previous night the Royal party had stayed, unexpected and unrecognised, at the inn of Balwhinnie, ”where,” says Her Majesty, ”there was hardly anything to eat; only tea and two miserable starved Highland chickens, without any potatoes; no pudding, and no _fun_.” But in this last particular the succeeding day's exploits certainly cannot have been deficient.]
CHAPTER XII.
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