entering first, to the great disgust of our people. Next
morning at 9 A.M., they advanced to the escalade of the city walls, and
proceeded, with again very slight opposition, to the Magazine Hill, on
which they hoisted the British and French flags. They then took Gough
fort with little trouble, and there they were by 3 P.M. established in
Canton. The poor stupid Chinese had placed some guns in position to
resist an attack from the opposite quarter--the quarter, viz. from
which Gough attacked the city; and some people suppose that if we had
advanced from that side we should have met with some resistance. My
own opinion is, that the resistance would have been no great matter in
any case, although, no doubt, if we had made the attempt in summer,
and with sailors only, as some proposed when I came here in July, we
should probably have met with disaster. As it is, my difficulty has
been to enforce the adoption of measures to keep our own people in
order, and to prevent the wretched Cantonese from being plundered and
bullied. This task is the more difficult from the very motley force
with which we have to work, composed, firstly, of French and English;
secondly, of sailors to a great extent--they being very imperfectly
manageable on shore; all, moreover, having, I fear, a very low
standard of morality in regard to stealing from the Chinese. There is
a word called 'loot,' which gives, unfortunately, a venial character
to what would, in common English, be styled robbery.... Add to this,
that there is no flogging in the French army, so that it is impossible
to punish men committing this class of offences.... On the other hand,
these incomprehensible Chinese, although they make no defence, do not
come forward to capitulate; and I am in mortal terror lest the French
Admiral, who is in the way of looking at these matters in a purely
professional light, should succeed in inducing our chiefs to engage
again in offensive operations, which would lead to an unnecessary
destruction of life and property. I proposed to Gros that we should
land on the first day of the year, and march up to Magazine Hill. He
consented, and the chiefs agreed, so we landed about 1 P.M. at a point
on the river bank immediately below the south-east angle of the city
wall, which is now our line of communication between the river and