little accuracy,
but there was one point of difference in their proceedings. On
previous occasions we have always found their forts open on one side;
so that, when they were turned, the troops left them and escaped. In
this instance they were enclosed with ditches, palisades, stakes, &c.,
so that the poor fellows had nothing for it but to remain in them till
they were pushed out by bayonets. Almost all our casualties occurred
during the escalade. I went through the hospitals yesterday, and found
very few who had been struck by round shot. A very small portion of
the force was engaged, so that my opinion of its unnecessary magnitude
is not shaken. I need not describe the action for you, as you will no
doubt see elsewhere a detailed account of it. My own personal history
will not be indifferent to you. I left the 'Granada' at about 5.30
P.M. on the 20th (Monday). Found some dinner and a tent at the camp at
Sinho. Started next morning at about 5.30 A.M.; rode into Tangkow,
where I now am, and mounted to the top of the Head-quarters' House,
whence I had a very good view of the operations. I was dislodged after
a while, because a battery opened fire at about fifteen hundred yards
from us, and some of the balls fell so near, that we began to think
they were perhaps firing at me. On being dislodged from my Belvidere,
I took some breakfast to console myself; and soon after, seeing the
British flag on the fort which we had been attacking, I rode over to
it. We met a good many of our own wounded, and all round the fort were
numbers of the poor Chinamen, staked and massacred in all sorts of
ways. I found the two Generals there, and soon after the Admiral came
up from his ship under a flag of truce. Two letters came to me from
the Chinese; but, true to my policy of letting the fighting men have
all the prestige of taking the Forts, I would not have anything to say
to them. The messengers were told that they must give up the forts to
the Commanders-in-Chief before I would listen to them; and that, in
the meantime, the army would proceed with its operations. They moved
on accordingly, and I returned to my post of observation at Tangkow. I
had hardly reached it when the rain began, and in about an hour the
roads had become absolutely impassable for artillery, and nearly so
for everything else. The troop