ch was with the General. I wonder
he is not come to inform me of what has happened.

[Sidenote: Treacherous seizure of Mr. Parkes and others.]

At the time when these words were written, nearly the whole of the party
which had ridden forth the morning before, 'in high spirits at the prospect
of an early and successful termination of the war,' had been treacherously
seized by the soldiers of Sang-ko-lin-sin, and Mr. Parkes and Mr. Loch were
being violently hurried off, with their hands tied behind their backs, in a
rude springless cart, over a badly-paved road, to the prisons of Pekin. The
details of their capture and imprisonment, together with such particulars
as could afterwards be ascertained of their companions' fate, may be read
in the very interesting narrative of one of the victims.[5] We can here
touch only upon those points in which their story is mixed up with public
events.

[Sidenote: Cause of the change.]

As to the origin and cause of the renewal of hostilities, it is impossible
to speak with certainty; nor is it probable that we shall ever arrive at a
better opinion on the subject, than that which was formed by Lord Elgin on
the spot. In his report to the Government he wrote:--

To hazard conjectures as to the motives by which Chinese functionaries
are actuated is not a very safe undertaking; and it is very possible
that further information may modify the views which I now entertain on
this point. I am, however, disposed at present to doubt there having
been a deliberate intention of treachery on the part of Prince Tsai
and his colleague; but I apprehend that the General-in-Chief, Sang-ko-
lin-sin, thought that they had compromised his military position by
allowing our army to establish itself so near his lines at Chang-kia-
wan. He sought to counteract the evil effect of this by making a great
swagger of parade and preparation to resist when the Allied armies
approached the camping-ground allotted to them. Several of our people,
Colonel Walker, with his escort, my private Secretary, Mr. Loch, Baron
Gros' Secretary of Embassy, Comte de Bastard, and others, passed
through the Tartar army during the course of the morning on their way
from Tung-chow without encountering any rudeness or ill-treatment
whatsoever. At about a quarter to ten, however, a French Commissariat
officer was assaulted by some Tartar soldiers under circumstances