CE--PRINCE KUNG--ARRIVAL OF MR. BRUCE--RESULTS OF THE MISSION.

[Sidenote: The landing.]

On the 1st of August the landing of the allied troops was effected in
perfect order, without the slightest opposition on the part of the
inhabitants, at the point already mentioned, viz. near the little town of
Pey-tang which is situated at the mouth of a river of the same name, about
eight miles north of the mouth of the Peiho. What Lord Elgin saw of the
operations is described in the following letter:--

_August 2nd._--There have been a few days' interval since I wrote, and
I now date from Pey-tang, and from the General's ship the 'Granada,' a
Peninsular and Oriental steamer; for I owe it to him that I am here. I
need hardly tell you the events that have occurred--public events I
mean--since the 28th, as they will all be recorded by 'Our Own.' We
moved on the 29th to a different anchorage, some five miles nearer
Pey-tang. ... All the evidence was to the effect that the Pey-tang
Forts were undefended, at least that there were no barricades in the
river, and therefore that the best way of taking them would be to pass
them in the gunboats as we did the Peiho Forts in 1858, and as we also
passed Nankin that year ... but it was resolved that we should land a
quantity of men in the mud about a mile and a half below them. This
was to have taken place on the 30th, and those of my gentlemen who
intended to leave me, as better fun was to be found elsewhere, kept up
a tremendous bustle and noise from about 4 A.M. However, at about 6,
they were informed that the orders for landing were countermanded, on
the plea that there was too much sea to admit of the horses being
transferred from the vessels to the gunboats. Next day, the 31st, it
was raining, and the sea seemed rougher in the morning. However, at
about 9, the gunboats began to move. The General had agreed that I
should have his ship, and that I should move either over the bar or as
near to it as I could manage. ... I anchored the 'Granada' outside the
bar, and as I did not choose to lose the sight of the landing, I got
into my row-boat ... going at last on board the 'Coromandel,' the
Admiral's ship. The landing went on merrily enough. It was a lovely,
rather calm evening. We were within a long-range shot of the Forts;
and if shot or shell had dropped among the boats and men who