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Rh the North-west, where its fortifications were strongest, but had prepared for an assault in the South and especially in the East. The bombardment also caused a great panic in the city, while the Chinese five-ton guns could not be brought to bear upon the British ships so as to reply to their fire.

The following day (May 26, 1841) the rain poured down in torrents and put almost a stop to the movements of both sides. The British troops were waiting for fresh supplies of guns and ammunition, but before nightfall all preparations for the assault of the city walls were completed and fifteen pieces of artillery in position before the northern gates. Next morning (May 27, 1841), at the very moment when the attack was going to be sounded, a sudden stop was put to the movement of the troops, to their intense disappointment. The news came that Elliot had concluded a treaty of peace. This Treaty of Canton, arranged between Elliot, Yikshan and Kikung (May 27, 1841) was based on the following stipulations, viz. (1) that the Tartar troops and the braves from the other provinces (between whom and the volunteers there was a deadly feud), amounting to about 35,000 men, should immediately evacuate the city without display of banners; (2) that the Imperial Commissioners should leave the city within six days and proceed to a distance of at least 60 miles; (3) that the British forces would not leave Canton nor retire beyond the Bogue, until the following payments had been made, viz. $6,000,000 as a ransom of the city to be paid within one week, $300,000 compensation for the pillage of the factories, $10,000 for Mr. Moss and the other sufferers by the attack on the British schooner Black Joke, and $25,000 for the owners of the Spanish brig Bilbaino; (4) that a promise be given, not to re-arm any of the fortified places at the Bogue or inside the river, and to stop all further warlike preparations until affairs should be settled between the two nations; (5) that trade should at once be resumed at Canton and Whampoa.

It will be noticed that Elliot did not expressly include among the stipulations of this Treaty either the confirmation