Page:Twentieth Century Impressions of Hongkong, Shanghai, and other Treaty Ports of China.djvu/60

52 so conspicuously in the earlier chapters of this work. The squadron detailed for this work arrived off the port on August 26th. Immediately after they had dropped anchor a boat came from shore with an inquiry from the leading Mandarin as to the reason for the visit of so many ships, and a request that the commander should specify the commodities he wanted. The childlike curiosity of the functionary was satisfied with a verbal statement to the effect that the fleet had not come to trade; while Sir Henry Pottinger, in a letter addressed to the chief military officer of the province, explained that, differences having arisen between Great Britain and China, it was essential that he should have possession of the town, and requesting its surrender to avoid bloodshed. No direct response was made to the letter, but that the Chinese officials appreciated the character of the crisis that had arisen was shown by the energetic efforts they made to fortify every available position. Finding that the Chinese meant to fight, the British Commander drew his ships up in battle array and proceeded to the attack. The repeated broadsides from the ships made little impression upon the stone wall defences which the Chinese had raised, but a landing force consisting of about twelve hundred troops soon put the defenders to rout. Many of them were killed in their flight, and not a few officers, overwhelmed with the disgrace of defeat, committed suicide. The town was entered by our troops, but was not occupied for more than a few days. At the expiration of that time the occupying force was withdrawn, and after posting a garrison at KulungsuKulangsu [sic], a small rocky island forming part of the fortifications of the port, Sir William Parker, the British commander, took his fleet to Chusan, which was re-occupied after a brief struggle. The next point selected for attack was Chinhai, a large and opulent city at the mouth of the Ningpo River. Thither Sir Hugh Gough and Sir William Parker, the joint commanders, proceeded, together with Sir Henry Pottinger, who was ready to take up the diplomatic threads as soon as the opportunity offered. The town occupies a position at the foot of a lofty hill, on the summit of which is the citadel, a highly important defensive position, surrounded by a strong wall supplied with massive gates. On two sides the citadel is inaccessible excepting at one point where a narrow path winds from the sea, which skirts the base of the hill. The town itself is encircled by a wall about 37 feet in thickness. It was a position of immense strength, and defended by good troops would have been well-nigh impregnable. When the British expedition reached the town it found every prominent point occupied by batteries and the surrounding hills covered with military encampments. Profiting by the experience at Amoy, the British commanders decided not to waste any time on a preliminary bombardment. On the morning of the 10th of October two thousand men with twelve field pieces and mortars were landed to attack the citadel and entrenched camp. Sir Hugh Gough without loss of time divided his little force into three columns, and, assuming the command of the centre column, ordered the advance. The two flank columns, owing to the irregularities of the ground, went forward unobserved from the citadel, and the garrison, thinking they only had to deal with the small centre column, went out boldly to meet them. Before the engagement had barely commenced the flank columns opened fire. So unexpected was the attack that the Chinese broke and fled in all directions. In their flight hundreds were shot and bayoneted and hundreds of others were drowned. To save useless slaughter, Sir Hugh Gough sent out a flag with an inscription in Chinese informing the routed troops that their lives would be spared if they yielded, but not more than five hundred availed themselves of the offer. Altogether not fewer than fifteen hundred of the Chinese fell in this one-sided engagement. While this land encounter was proceeding the ships were engaged in bombarding the town defences on the sea side and driving the soldiers out of the town. The effect of the combined operations was to convince the Chinese commander, Yukien, that the day was lost. In his despair he attempted to drown himself, and, foiled in this effort, he fled to the country, where he terminated his existence in another manner. His determination not to survive his discomfiture was in keeping with high Chinese traditions, which regard suicide as a legitimate means of escape from the dishonour of defeat. It is not improbable, however, that a fear of falling into the hands of the British had some influence in bringing about his decision, for he had put himself beyond the pale by his ferocious brutality towards two foreign prisoners who by his orders had been done to death, one by flaying and the other by burning alive.

As soon as the occupation of Chinhai had been made effective, the British commanders turned their attention towards Ningpo, a city of great commercial importance 12 miles away. The place fell without opposition.