by the sentence of the Court. An act of resolution in a native female, recorded in p. 102, is another proof that the Hindu women, even in Bengal, are not deficient in spirit.

From Madras, we have nothing which invites comment this month. At Bombay, Mr. Gibbard, who had been deprived of his commission in the Company's army, for having directed the death of certain natives in Sawunt Warree, was virtually acquitted of murder, by the refusal of the grand jury to find a bill on the evidence for the prosecution. The charge of the judge contains an able exposition of the law, as regards cases of this kind, where the troops of a power like British India are called to interfere between rival parties in a protected state, and are compelled to act offensively against one of the parties. We have given the details of another trial by a passenger on board a ship bound to India against the master for an assault, which the latter justified on the usual ground of its being an act of necessary coercion. The expressions attributed to the master seem (very properly) to have been taken into consideration by the judge in affixing the penalty. The last accounts from Aden represent that another attack from the Arabs was expected.

The items of intelligence from Cochin-China present a singular contrast. On one side, we see the king availing himself of the instructions of the French missionaries in European arts, and on the other, exposing one of those missionaries to tortures and death, with all the perverse and cruel ingenuity of an American savage.

The Australasian intelligence is flat. The discovery of extensive pasture lands, or rather the re-discovery of the Darling Downs, discovered by Mr. Cunningham some years ago, seems to have gladdened the stock-holders. Port Essington has been visited by a terrific hurricane, which has reduced that settlement to a "perfect wilderness." The advices from Port Phillip are encouraging.

The subject of immigration has undergone much discussion at the Cape, in consequence of the receipt of Lord John Russell's Letter of Instruction to the Land and Emigration Board. The peculiar circumstances of that colony, which wants, not capitalists, but mere labourers, and which has but little waste land to dispose of, place it in a different position from that of the British colonies in Australasia and British America. The difficulty seems to be, how to provide an ample fund for encouraging immigration, without hampering and limiting the resources for road-making and other local improvements.

It would appear that the redoubtable Dingaan, king of the Zoolas, and the rancorous enemy of the emigrants at Natal, had heen captured and put to death by one of his former chiefs.

ANTICIPATED DESPATCH FROM CHINA.

TO THE EDITOR.

SIR: The impatience of the public to learn the result of the expedition to China, has led me to devise an expedient for gratifying it. The justice of our cause, the cowardice of the Chinese, and the bravery of our troops, do not permit a single individual in the country to doubt what the result must be: the failure of the expedition is, in fact, looked upon as an event barely within the limits of possibility. Nothing remains, therefore, but to conceive the means and operations whereby this certain end has been (for it must now have been) effected; and after conferring with several experienced officers of the army and navy, and some old commanders in the China trade, and after receiving some valuable suggestions from Mr. Murphy (to whom I beg to tender my thanks) as to the best mode of combining causes and deducing consequences, I flatter myself that the following anticipated despatch to Lord Auckland, the Governor-general of India, will prove not far from the truth:

"Peking, 25th August 1840.

"My Lord:-I have the honour to congratulate your lordship upon the complete success of the expedition, which you were pleased to place under my command, and to inform you that her Majesty's troops are in possession of the city from whence I date this despatch, and in fact masters of the whole Chinese empire, after a course of triumphs which have added fresh lustre and new trophies to the military renown of Britain. I might say of this army, without arrogance, we came, we saw, we conquered.'

6

"His excellency the admiral will report in detail to your lordship the brilliant feats of the naval part of the expedition; I shall, therefore, briefly state that, on arriving at the Bocca Tigris, we captured a war-junk of formidable dimensions, which had been sent thither apparently to reconnoitre, but which surrendered without firing a shot. Upon interrogating the people on board, in the hope of gaining some information respecting the preparations of the enemy, their means of defence, the strength of the forts, &c., we found the poor creatures so paralyzed with fear, that they had not the power of articulation. The officers were in the same condition, or stupified with opium, and the commander of the junk (an admiral in the Chinese navy) had expired just previous to her surrender-whether from suicide, or the intensity of his terror, we could not, of course, ascertain. Left, therefore, to conjecture, it was deemed prudent to lose no time in sending forward the troops to Canton, forbearing from actual hostilities until a gun should be fired by the enemy, and then to strike a salutary terror by displaying the superiority of her Majesty's

arms.

This resolution was soon to be put into execution. Upon reaching the first fort, where the Chinese had engaged some Portuguese and Lascar gunners, several shots were fired, and one was distinctly heard whizzing above the main-top-gallant-mast-head of the admiral's ship. A broadside from that vessel, accompanied by three hearty cheers, was sufficient to lay the whole fort in ruins, precisely (to use the admiral's own words, in a private letter to me) 'as if it had been made of ginger-bread;' and the garrison was seen flying across the country, with the utmost precipitation, their tails streaming in the wind.

"The advantages attending this prompt procedure were soon apparent. All the other forts, some seemingly of great strength, were regularly evacuated as the expedition approached, and as there was no prospect of resistance, the troops were put on board the boats and small craft, and proceeded up the Canton river, exhibiting rather the appearance of a regatta, than that of a hostile force coming to take possession of the largest empire in the world.

"Upon reaching Canton, we found the landing-place occupied by a vast body of persons, and as we could not be satisfied whether their intentions were peaceable or not, I ordered Mr. Gutzlaff, the interpreter, to go forward and ascertain the fact. He returned with the gratifying intelligence that they were all friends; that they consisted mostly of respectable opium-smugglers, in Canton and its vicinity, who not only professed the utmost friendship, but offered to co-operate with us in overthrowing the tyrannical domination of Taou-kwang; advising us not to delay for an instant our advance to Peking. Mr. Gutzlaff brought a letter from one of the principal men, which I think your lordship will be convinced not only breathes a warm spirit of attachment to the British cause, but is no despicable evidence of the progress which the English language is making amongst the more influential portion of the Chinese nation, affording the grand prospect of our language spreading over this vast part of Asia. It is as follows: First chop sir high, Glad come have you-opium have, you have, we have, eh ?-Lin he bow-wow,* English ho-hot-fan-kwei ever for, Han-jin no go down up tea give much ever.'

"Having effected a landing outside the city of Canton, without the slightest disaster-if I except some trifling pecuniary losses sustained by a few incautious officers who, staring about them, suffered their pockets to be picked by some of the lower order of by-standers I established my head-quarters in the late British Factory, which I was mortified to find stripped of all its elegant furniture, and much deteriorated, the walls being scribbled over with Chinese characters, the import of which Mr. Gutzlaff reported to be of the most insulting kind. The characters were accompanied by rude attempts at caricature-for example, a human figure, with red hair and a blue jacket (no doubt intended for Capt. Elliot), was represented hanging upon a gibbet, with a chest of opium dangling from his legs. Such an insult upon the British nation and uniform roused the indignation of the army, and I had much difficulty in restraining the troops from committing excesses upon our friends the opium-traders, which I should have been grieved at, for a more kind, inoffenfensive, and honourable body of men, I never saw.

"The requisite arrangements having been made, I directed the troops to march towards the city-gate, preceded by some pieces of heavy artillery and a corps of sappers, expecting it would be necessary to force an entrance; but we soon found that this barrier, which had been impassable to our peaceable countrymen, asking for their just rights, was open and undefended. A few Tartar guards were stationed there, for ornament's sake, for their countenances and demeanour indicated the utmost courtesy and civility. Being at the head of the advanced column, and Mr. Gutzlaff not being at hand, I inquired of one of these men whether the governor was in the city, using the Canton jargon: 'John Tuck Lin, where?' The fellow threw a grotesque expression of alarm into his countenance, and pointed up the street, imitating with his feet the action of a man running very fast. I deduced from

• A clerical error probably for påh-haou, ie. 'bad'—meaning 'a bad man.' ' very good."

Ditto for haoù-haou,

this the inference that his Excellency the Viceroy and Commissioner had abandoned the city, which we soon discovered to be really the fact.

"I now called a council of my officers in the Viceroy's palace (whence so many insulting edicts have been issued, commanding foreigners to tremble intensely '), when it was resolved to commence the march to Peking by land, all my officers being of opinion (in which I concurred) that such a measure would strike great alarm into the Chinese, make us better acquainted with the country, and, if necessary, facilitate co-operation with the malcontents, of which we were given to understand there are great numbers, comprising the aboriginal mountaineers, a hardy race, the members of the Triad societies, and the opium-dealers and opium-eaters, who are to a man our fast though secret allies.

"We found the roads in admirable condition, paved, lighted, and watched, and without even a turnpike; and meeting with no opposition, we passed through admiring crowds till we reached the city of but I must entreat your lordship to dispense with the proper names of places, which I fear I should write very improperly, the language being execrable, you meaning I, and emperors and kings being called by such indecorous names as shang and wang. It must suffice to say, that it was a city of immense size, there being no less than ninety-nine bridges (it is contrary to their absurd laws to build a hundredth), and 87,600 streets, running very regularly, at every possible angle. Nothing could exceed the hospitality of the inhabitants, who brought provisions of every kind (I may say so literally), and seemed to demand no other return than the pleasure of being allowed to see us eat them. The eating-house keepers rushed out of their shops with viands ready dressed, consisting of pieces of flesh on wooden skewers, and cauldrons of rich soups. Some of the European troops (the only part of the army that touched the animal food) experienced a slight nausea after eating the soup, which was at first attributed to the richness of the article; but an artillery-man having found in the soup a fragment of vertebræ of a suspicious kind, I directed it to be examined, and Assistant-surgeon pronounced it to be the tail of a dog. I summoned before me the Chinese cook, from whose shop it came, who, upon being shown the tail, manifested no fear or surprise, but imitated the barking of a dog, patting the pit of his stomach at the same time. Upon inquiry, I found that the viands which had been so greedily devoured by the army had consisted of dogs, cats, rats, mice, snakes, lizards, grubs, and caterpillars of various species; a fact which your lordship may be sure I did not fail to conceal from the knowledge of the army.

"Next day, we resumed our march, when our scouts brought us intelligence that a vast force was collecting in the line of our advance, with the intention of stopping our further progress-intelligence which, I need not assure your lordship, was hailed with enthusiasm by the army. I took the precaution to cover my flanks well, and to keep the troops together, and towards the evening we came in sight of the enemy, who presented, indeed, a' most formidable aspect, the line extending, on either side, apparently to the horizon. His front was defended by batteries of great strength, and several rows of breastworks, one behind the other, bristling with cannon. The most experienced of my officers reported that the number of the enemy could not be less than 900,000 fighting men.

I thought it prudent to delay an attack till the ensuing morning, when I determined to carry the entrenchments by assault, and marching boldly up to

them, covered by a heavy fire of artillery, our soldiers leaped over the breastwork in the very face of the enemy, who were so astonished that they fled with loud cries, literally choking up every avenue with their dense masses, our troops having nothing to do but to secure the prisoners, who bawled terribly for quarter. I am happy to announce to your Lordship that this splendid victory, which has left in our possession 847 pieces of cannon (most of them, indeed, made of wood) and 96,000 prisoners, was gained without the loss of a single man.

"The incumbrance of so many prisoners was soon felt as a serious evil, and I consulted with my officers what had best be done with them: to liberate them on parole would have been impolitic, without some security for its observance, and these people do not understand such an obligation; whilst it would be impossible for us to recognize them again, their faces being so much alike, that, when my tent has been crowded with Chinese, they have appeared to me only as the multiplication of one person by a set of mirrors. To have dismissed them absolutely, would only have been to recruit the ranks of the enemy. A young officer (Captain, whom I beg strongly to recommend to your Lordship's notice) relieved us from this dilemma, by sending in a proposition that we should cut off the tails of all the prisoners and let them go, whereby it would be easy to recognize them if taken in arms again. This happy idea was immediately adopted, not without great opposition on the part of the prisoners, who implored us to take all they had and spare their tails. These people are extremely fond of tails; they give this name even to their money, which at first caused some confusion.

"As soon as the necessary arrangements were completed, I put the troops again in motion, and we made forced marches, in order to reach Peking before the panic occasioned by our late victory could subside. Not the slightest demonstration of resistance was exhibited; the people in the cities offering us tea and food in abundance, and letting off crackers from their pagodas, in token of rejoicing. Every where even the rabble were most attentive and civil, calling out' Fan-kwei!' meaning 'foreign genii !' and other expressions of delight, amongst which I could recognize Opium, opium !' The confidence thus inspired led to a slight inconvenience, for a small party, under the command of Ensign —, having been detached from the left flank to beat up a few soldiers who appeared to be in ambuscade, the latter showed some resistance, being commanded by a Tartar mandarin, and the ensign was compelled to retreat, having, to use a phrase hardly perhaps suited to the gravity of a despatch, 'caught a Tartar.'

"With this exception, no opposition was offered till we came in sight of the city of Peking, when we were met by a large body of mandarins, with very white beards and very long nails, who proposed terms of capitulation. I however signified to them, that I would settle the terms when I was in the imperial palace. I accordingly pressed on the advance of the troops; the city gates were opened, the streets were almost deserted, and I dismounted at the palace, and was conducted to a splendid apartment by some very fat eunuchs, the personal attendants of the emperor, who has fled to Je-hol in Tartary.

"My first care was to secure the army against surprise, and my next to put the deputation of mandarins in possession of the terms of capitulation, agreeably to your Lordship's instructions, namely, first, the surrender of Commissioner Lin, and the payment of the full market price of all the opium destroyed by him; secondly, the disbursement of all the charges of the expedition, and