ed round them. Bowlby, De Norman, and the rest, do not seem to
be in Pekin as we had hoped. Parkes and Loch were very badly treated
for the first ten days; since then, conciliation has been the order of
the day, and, I have no doubt, because I stood firm. If I had wavered,
they would have been lost; because the Chinese, finding they had a
lever with which they could move us, would have used their advantage
unsparingly. Parkes and Loch have behaved very well under
circumstances of great danger. The narrative of their adventures is
very interesting, but I cannot attempt to give it in this letter. They
seem to be in good health notwithstanding the hardships they have gone
through.

In a public despatch of the same date, announcing the restoration of the
captives, he wrote:-

To no one of their numerous friends is the return of these gentlemen a
matter of more heartfelt gratification than it is to me. Since the
period of their arrest, I have been compelled, by a sense of duty, to
turn a deaf ear to every overture for their restoration which has
involved the slightest retrograde movement of our army, or the
abandonment of any demands previously preferred by me against the
Chinese Government. I have felt that any such concession on my part
would have established a most fatal precedent, because it would have
led the Chinese to suppose that by kidnapping Englishmen they might
effect objects which they are unable to achieve by fair fighting or
diplomacy. I confess that I have been moreover, throughout, of
opinion, that in adopting this uncompromising tone, and boldly setting
the national above the personal interest, I was in point of fact best
consulting the welfare of our friends who were in durance. But it was
not to be expected that all persons would view in the same light a
question of policy so obscure; and apart from the warm personal
interest which I feel in their safety, your Lordship can well
understand that it relieves me from a great load of anxiety to learn
from the result that the course which I have followed was not ill-
calculated to promote it.[8]

Later in the same despatch he expressed himself anxiously yet hopefully
about the captives who were still missing:--

It is a matter of great concern to me, that we know as yet nothing
certain respecting the fate of Mr. Bruce's Attache, Mr.